C, Easter 3 - John 21:19 "Summoned to Death"

John 21:19 This he (Jesus) said to show by what kind of death he (Peter) was to glorify God. And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

In the three readings today, Saint Paul, still as the Jewish “Sargent at Arms” Saul, is challenged by Jesus.  Saint John is also challenged as the hidden realm is uncovered to reveal the transcendent dominions of good and evil.  Likewise, Saint Peter too is challenged as Jesus reveals himself a third time to him and the disciples fishing on Lake Galilee.

These three men are challenged to glorify God in their deaths.  However, for us, it is important to know when their deaths occurred, and for what purpose?

We might presume that their deaths came at the end of life.  And in a very narrow context they do.  But death for them, and for us, is the process (or the event) of our existence in this world as we submit to God and his will for us. 

We may call this event, life or living, but the reality is, this existence is one of dying.  But only after our resurrection, or Christ’s return, death will cease to exist and then all will truly live.  That is living with God in glory and victory or living without him in eternal unfulfilled desire and darkness.

So let us hear more about the three examples we have before us in today’s readings.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus is revealed three times after his resurrection.  The first is during the evening after Jesus’ resurrection, Easter Sunday, when the disciples were locked away in hiding, so they wouldn’t be found by the Jews.  The second a week later when Thomas is present.  And in the Gospel reading before us today, while the disciples fished on the Sea of Tiberias or Lake Galilee.

When something happens three times in God’s Word, we are called to stop and pay extra attention to what God is saying to us.  Here at the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus is revealed to the disciples three times.   These are accompanied by three bestowals of peace, together with his breathing the Holy Spirit on them.  Then Peter is summoned three times to feed and tend Jesus’ sheep and lambs, after being asked three times if he loves Jesus.

Peter the archetypal disciple, who denies Jesus three times at his crucifixion is restored with three calls to love. 

Hear Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit and the threefold bestowal of peace he gives the disciples before the crucifixion, so that they might endure all the tribulations of his crucifixion.

Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:25–27 ESV)

“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:32–33 ESV)

Now after the resurrection, after he had overcome the world, Jesus reinstates Peter in threefold peace and love.  The archetypal leader and blunderer is restored to be the archetypal administrator of Jesus’ love, and be the prototypical recipient of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  Peter is called to follow Jesus and pass on the peace of God.

The second of the three men in our readings today is Saul.  He too was challenged in a very physical way on the road to Damascus.  But, within the physical challenge of blindness, Jesus lays upon Saul a greater challenge. 

Saul persecuted the church after approvingly watching Stephen be stoned to death.  After this he went house to house dragging people off to prison.  He was going to Damascus, to do the same there, when Jesus confronted him.  But Jesus doesn’t strike Saul blind for persecuting others, rather Jesus says, “‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’  And Saul said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9:4–5 ESV)

Jesus challenged Saul’s righteousness and ironically in his blindness revealed to Saul that he was the Son of God at the same time.  In his revelation on the road to Damascus, Jesus killed any faith Saul had in his ravaging assault on the believers of the resurrection.

In his letter to the Philippians, Saul now Paul, speaks of his death, saying, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;  as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:4b–8 ESV)

Peter and Paul, both are summoned to die in Jesus’ resurrection and revelation. 

The third person in the text for today is John.  He was the last of the apostolic witnesses left alive.  He survived all the other witnesses of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.  When they were martyred, John had to patiently endure with the knowledge of their deaths, of which his brother James was the first to die at the hand of Herod.

Years after witnessing the resurrection, Peter’s reinstatement, the Ascension, Pentecost, and waiting for Jesus’ return, John endured and led others through tribulations.  Like the last one to be picked on a school sporting team he waited and watched to be chosen next.

But different to Peter and Paul, John is allowed to see the revelation of what is to come, after he has suffered many deaths throughout his life.  Before he finally dies, he is given a glimpse of the heavenly victory to assist us and sustain us as we too are summoned to undergo the many deaths of self we suffer in this life.  And as we do, we glorify God in the many deaths he summons us to endure.

Like Peter, Paul, and John, you and I too are called to glorify God in the many deaths we face. 

Every time we forgive others who sin against us, we die and glorify God.  When we confess our sin, bringing it into the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we die to self and live to righteousness.  Learning about our sin leads to the death of pride, the death of privilege, and the death of vain pleasure.

Added to this, the death of health and self-confidence, are all deaths we endure so God can be glorified and worshiped above all.

From our existence in this world, we only see glimpses of the holy life to come.  We patiently endure tribulation in what we call this life, which is really an event of death. 

But just as the dawn of Jesus’ resurrection followed the darkness of night, we follow Jesus.  The darkness of our existence in this world of death is endured in the joy and hope of waiting to see for real what was revealed to John.  We now live eternally, despite death, knowing we will be raised to eternal life at the dawn of eternity, at the death of death. 

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, may Jesus glorify God the Father in your death and mine, in our baptism, in our existence, and in our resurrection.  Amen.

C, Easter 2 - John 20:19-31 "Peace is with you"

John 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week (the day of Jesus’ resurrection), when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Y

On Easter Sunday, Peter and John left the tomb of Jesus confused and bewildered that Jesus’ body was gone.  Now we hear today on that first Easter evening the disciples were huddled together hidden away from sight so the Jews might not find them. 

Imagine the speculation which took place behind those closed doors…  What went down at the tomb?  Did the Jews now take his body too?  What has happened to him?  Was this now going to happen to them?  What was going on?  Could this whole thing be a trick? 

One thing we know is they still didn’t understand from Scripture — from the Old Testament, as we know it — that Jesus had to rise from the dead.  Understanding this in itself would have been confusing enough, but adding the pressure of being wanted themselves, the disciples’ lives were in complete turmoil.  They were powerless without any direction or peace.

It’s a completely different picture to that of the time before Jesus’ crucifixion.  Even in the midst of suffering, beatings, and the piercing pain on his body, Jesus knew who had ultimate power.  He believed and trusted his Father in heaven despite what he was going through.  His humanity cried out for God to take the cup of wrath away, yet he remained obedient to he who had all authority and power.  Jesus suffered horrendously at Calvary, and in his hands, feet, and side bore the marks of his sacrifice and suffering. Jesus endured the disciples’ and our powerlessness over sin and death, which causes the lack of peace, power, and perfection in our earthly life.

Surprisingly, after Jesus’ death and resurrection from the grave, although he was perfect and without sin, he still bore the marks of sin and death.  One might think — being the obedient Son of the Father, God the Son, the Creator of all that lives — these marks would vanish due to his divine perfection.  Yet they don’t, so even in his complete obedience and perfection, what was still visible, were the marks of our imperfection and his passivity as a result of our sin.

These nail marks and spear wound are the source of great joy to the disciples as he appears amongst them and calls them to peace in his power over sin and death.  Right at this moment Jesus re-creates his disciples and breaths new life into their weak, frail bodies. 

This is the day that the Lord has made!  Today is the day of Jesus’ resurrection and he resurrects our lives too, calling us to peace with his word, breathing new life into us with his breath of the Holy Spirit, and killing the power sin and death once had over us.

We like Thomas, who is called Didymus (which means the twin or double), were not there that first day to witness these things and receive Christ as did the other disciples.  We bear in us the double-nature of being Jesus’ followers yet also struggle with doubt and confusion just like Thomas, and the other disciples too, for that matter. 

Perhaps you’re thinking, “I don’t want to believe unless I see the marks of Jesus too.  How do I really know if Jesus is present anyway?  Could this whole thing be some sort of cruel trick?

When you and I enter into thought like this, our peace can be eroded very quickly.  Then you feel the weakness of your true self and see that you’re far from perfect.  One thing I can guarantee with these feelings is this:  The father of lies and trickery is pleased when our old self rises over the Risen Lord of our hearts and causes us this worry and doubt!

So how do we know it’s God calling us to abide and remain in him?  How do we know where Jesus Christ is, especially when we can’t see him like the disciples did?  How do we know we’re receiving all the benefits of Christ and the cross?  How do I abide or remain in him according to his holy and perfect will, so I might rest in assurance and peace? 

Firstly we hear the word of God.  Jesus says to you, “Peace be with you!”  We hear him say this in his word, in fact three times in the Gospel reading today.  His word has power, so listen to him and rest in peace!  See how many times God himself calls you to peace in the liturgy of the Sunday services! 

God then tells you in his word to believe, when the pastor says, “I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  It’s by Jesus’ command your sins are truly forgiven for his sake.  The pastor is the Lord’s physical mouthpiece announcing God’s forgiveness and peace with you.  The pastor is authorised to stand in the person of Christ (in persona Christi), commanded by Jesus himself to declare God’s forgiveness to all who believe and trust his instruction.

So why does God forgive your sin?  He does so for the same reason you stand in his presence in peace each week, knowing “the church roof won’t fall on you”.   In fact your life continues in him each day — as you believe you’re being recreated by his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave — as you believe you’re daily drowned in your baptism and raised to new life with him.  You live under the power of God’s forgiveness as you live each day in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, each time you come into his presence, God names his forgiveness to you, and on receiving it, you know and trust God forgives your sin, and wants peace with you!

Then you also know God’s peace rests with you, and you can rest in his peace, when you receive his body and blood.  Mysteriously Jesus Christ is physically and spiritually present in the bread and the wine, just as he mysteriously entered the room with the disciples.  Likewise you receive him with joy in knowing he is with us here, right now!  So because of his risen presence, Jesus calls you to rest in his peace and forgiveness.

All these things you receive each Sunday in church.  Each Sunday is an Easter celebration of the Lord’s resurrection and yours too.  Each Sunday you’re recreated in the work of Christ at the cross and his resurrection power over your sin and death.  In fact, each Sunday you and I receive the marks of Christ, which are the reassuring marks of the church, and by these marks, you and I are called to trust we have truly received Christ.  The nail and spear marks that scarred Jesus’ perfect body are the very marks by which Jesus is winning your salvation and healing your wounds.   

Just like Thomas, Jesus calls us all to stop doubting and believe.  And so in chapter twenty verse thirty-one of John’s gospel, hear, “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” 

Each time you come here, know you receive the risen Lord.  Rest in Jesus, knowing your past is forgiven; that he is your strength and power in the present; and, in the future he will lead and raise you from death.  The peace of the Lord is with you; rest in his peace too!  Amen. Y

C, Resurrection of our Lord, Easter Sunday - 1 Corinthians 15:22–26 "Nailed to Jesus"

1 Corinthians 15:22–26 (ESV) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The proclamation of Jesus Christ does one of two things!  It causes belief or it causes unbelief!  For the person who believes, knows they are a sinner and freely accepts what Jesus does for them. 

But one who doesn’t believe, rejects his work, for whatever reason, and continues on being his enemy.

The criminals crucified on the cross paint a good picture of humanity and their acceptance or rejection of Jesus.  Jesus as friend or foe!

In the gospels there seems to be a discrepancy over how the two criminals treat Jesus.  In Matthew and Mark’s Gospel accounts, both the criminals revile Jesus, along with everyone else.  These two accounts demonstrate Jesus’ complete humiliation, but in Luke we hear differently. 

Luke’s Gospel says, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’  But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’  And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” (Luke 23:39–43 ESV)

Modern day scholarship, focusing on exact detail, might assume one view to be wrong.  However, the criminals and Jesus hung there for a period of time.  I would expect if I was hanging on a cross, I would say and do anything to get off it and be relieved of pain.  So too the criminals hanging there, hearing the jeers of those standing around making fun would have railed at him too!  Not in disbelief that he would not save himself though!  But they railed him to save himself in the hope they too would be rescued.  But they are not rescued, and nor does Jesus save himself.

Both men crucified beside Jesus are both criminals.  Both are there because they were caught in their crime.  Both do not want to die but live.  But both know they will die.

It’s at this point I get a picture in my head, of the Industry Superannuation advertisement, where one puts their future in the advertised super and holds their hands in that diamond box shape as they ascend up an escalator.  The picture represents their superannuation profits rising faster than the other who doesn’t use the advertised super.

In the same way, the one criminal, who has been invested only in himself, has a lucid moment, and scalds the other crucified criminal still reviling Jesus.  Instead of holding up a shape of a diamond box, he holds up Jesus and puts his death into Jesus hands.  Perhaps instead of making a diamond box with his hands,  in his heart he makes the shape of his Saviour’s cross and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  From little things big things grow, so the jingle in the advert goes.  So, from a glimmer of faith, Jesus causes big things to happen to the guilty criminal, saying, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Imagine here today, that we are there that first Sunday Easter morning.  We see the crosses now empty on Calvary.  The tomb is empty, it’s the first day of the week.  Jesus has died, Jesus has risen.  But what of the two criminals?  How did their investments pay off?

They both now exist outside of time.  One experienced Jesus as he descended into and passed through hell on the Sabbath, knowing forever and smarting that he missed having a Saviour by “that much”.

The other criminal has ascended hand in hand, with his Saviour, the firstfruits of heaven, with Abel, the first human to die, and with everyone since, who trusts in God’s Saviour.

Are you there with them at the ascension?  Or have you seen the backside of Jesus, as he has departed hell forever, and you now live in eternal separation from God?  The itches of pleasure you placed your trust in, now eternally nailed to you as festering forever sores, but still itching without relief.

The two criminals on the cross are a perfect picture for humanity.  Like the criminals we are all eternally guilty as enemies.  Like the criminals we will have our guilt nailed out for all to see as God sees it now.  Like the criminals we can do absolutely nothing to remove the guilt of our sins and the guilt from its reality.  But like the one criminal we can appeal to one who can save us.

This criminal came to know he was nailed beside a king.  He was nailed up beside the King of Kings, the King of Heaven.  He reviled this king yet still entered the Paradise of Heaven.  He was a sinner but was saved by a Saviour.  He turned to Jesus, from being a foe, to being a friend.  He now worships God in heaven for his salvation! 

But in heaven, there is only one who still bears the scars of the cross, and everyone worships him, our Lord and Saviour, who bears these healed wounds.  The criminal no longer bears the scars of his nails, that is, his sin, since he now glorifies God with a risen and glorified body.

You too will have all your scars of sin removed forever.  Like the criminal, you will have the blood of the Lamb wash you clean, and you will enter paradise to worship God the Father, Jesus Christ, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in all their oneness and glory.

But for now, as we wait in time, you remain nailed on your cross!  So, carry your cross, and like the guilty criminal, look to Jesus on his cross.  Like the criminal, you too are guilty, like the criminal you too will die, but like the criminal you too will receive the sentence of eternal life.  You are in Paradise with him today! 

O the sweet joy this sentence gives, to know my Redeemer lives on this day of sweet, sweet, resurrection victory.  Amen.

C, Maundy Thursday - The Lord's Prayer #7 - Matthew 6:11 "Give us today our Daily Bread"

This is the last sermon in the Lenten series and as you can see by the diagram, we come to the crux of the Lord’s Prayer.

From the outset, theological language scholars struggle to know what the Greek adjective “daily” actually is.  There are several possibilities such as: give us this day the bread of existence; give us this day the bread for today; give us this day the bread for tomorrow; or give us this day the bread for the future.

Within the context of the Sermon on the mount, Jesus talks about the things we need for survival, saying…

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19–21 ESV)

And, “…if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  (Matthew 6:30–34 ESV)

Every day has enough of its own trouble, so we pray to our Father, “give us what we need every day.”  So, what do we need every day from our Father who is in heaven?  Or put better, “What does God require of us every day?”  What does God require of you if every day has enough of its own troubles and deceptive treasures?

Jesus highlights the troubles of the day, as working for treasures that leads your heart away from the true treasures of heaven, as well as being anxious and distracted in one’s desire to have what one decides to be enough of these treasures.

It’s here you’re called out of trusting yourself, back to trusting OUR father in heaven.  You are called to know that Jesus not only teaches God’s children to pray this prayer, but has been praying these petitions for you, and on your behalf before the Father.  He has proven himself 100% faithful to the Father, even unto death, and is now raised in victory over death, and intercedes on your behalf, before the Father, for your victory over death.

Our Father in heaven, Jesus the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit want God’s kingdom, power, and glory, to be your eternal reality in community with them.

For this to happen, God gives us access to him through his holy name, to call on him, to deliver us from every evil within and from without.   Having begun the work of moving us from evil to holiness, he continually seeks to lead us away from all kingdoms, which lead to evil and death, to his kingdom.  This is a kingdom of holiness and peace, set apart for you to be with him in all his power and glory.

While we are here on earth, he forgives us our sin.  It is his responsibility and pleasure to do so!  Because he is a steadfast loving God, we have a right to receive his forgiveness and a right to be able to forgive others.  He gives us the freedom and the will to accept that responsibility of passing his forgiveness onto others. 

As Christians, or, children of a loving God, we give the right to others to receive our forgiveness.  When we struggle to forgive, God gives us the responsibility to ask him to help us forgive as he has forgiven us.

If these are not enough troubles for each day, then we can add on what we need to eat, wear, and sleep.  But as we have heard he wants us to seek first his kingdom and the treasure of his holy righteousness and will.

Each day it pleases God that we ask him for the bread to sustain us now, tomorrow, and forever!

In fact, when we pray for our daily bread, the Lord’s Prayer names the treasure or bread of eternal life in our praying for deliverance from evil into the holiness of God’s name.  The Lord’s Prayer names the treasure or bread of eternal life which leads us from the temptation of building our own kingdoms into his kingdom of peace and sabbath.  The Lord’s Prayer names the treasure or bread of eternal life which restores in us the will of God, so, in prayer we can confess our sin, praise him for our forgiveness, forgive others, and confess our unity as his children through our common forgiveness of sins.  These are our daily bread. 

Therefore, our daily bread and true treasure of the heart is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ gives us himself in this prayer when he gives us the words to pray it.  Jesus’ prayer, our Lord’s Prayer to his Father and our Father, is the word of God given to us from he who is the Word made flesh.  The Lord’s Prayer is taught by Jesus, the source of grace, who fulfils grace, at the cross!  The Lord’s prayer is both treasure from the mouth of God, and treasure in the ear of God, for all who receive it from Jesus, believe it in the heart, and pray it to the Father with the mouth.

If it’s our Father in heaven’s good pleasure to give us eternal rest in his kingdom of power and glory, how much more will he give us our daily bread each day of our troubled life on earth?  Therefore, Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and his righteousness, his treasures, and everything we need for this life, like, food, clothing, and shelter will be supplied by our Father who loves us.

If God would go to such lengths to provide for your salvation, by having his Son die for you, and raise him, why would he then not provide the lesser things for you? 

Furthermore, why would Jesus, who faithfully died for you, mandate for humanity on Maundy Thursday, a new covenant to receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation?  As well as command us to do this eating and drinking of his body and blood in remembrance of his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, if he would then go on to not give us the things we need for this life? 

Also, why would Jesus tell his disciples and then after his resurrection and ascension, send the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth, give us understanding in his word, engage faith within us, creating the will in us to do the greater work of confessing our sins, now that he has gone to the Father and prays ceaselessly for us, if he wasn’t sustaining us in this life? 

And why would the Holy Spirit move us to baptise in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and believe in our baptism into God’s kingdom, if he weren’t going to lead us through this kingdom of life, and away from all its troubles that end in death?  Only then not to raise us from death into his kingdom of eternal life, peace, and holy community!

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer you are in community with the Triune God, glorifying him in his presence and fulfilling your function in creation with all others who believe and pray.

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer you pray a Holy Spirited lifegiving prayer, because you are allowing God the Holy Spirit, to turn you from your helplessness, and place you in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and he in you.

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer you are forgiven and fed on God’s holy eternal living bread. 

Jesus Christ is our most treasured and holy daily bread.  Amen.   

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, let all your gifts to us be blessed, blessed are you our daily bread, may the world be clothed and fed.   Amen.

C, Palm Sunday - Luke 19:37–40, "Within One Short Week"

Luke 19:37–40 (ESV) As Jesus was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,  saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

The crowd on Palm Sunday welcomed Jesus with great gusto, as he rode that donkey towards Jerusalem.  This was the new King David, whom they hoped would ride into the capital, overpower the Romans, and route the fake King of the Jews, King Herod.

But as Jesus nears Jerusalem, he weeps for it, the City of David, named “Yara Shalom”.  A city named, as a place flowing with peace.  Jesus knew that as in the past, in coming days there would be no peace, he would be tossed out of the city as rubbish, like unwanted excrement the Son of God would be thrown out as useless.  No!  There was to be no peace, safety, or friendship to be found in this place named “flowing peace” – Jerusalem!

Ever since the kingdom of Israel split into Judah and Israel, prophets had been killed for calling Jerusalem and Samaria back to God and his peace.  Time after time messengers had come, calling kings, priests, and the Levites back to God.  What reward did they receive but hatred, stoning, and death!

Things had not changed much.  Herod the Great wanted to kill the baby Jesus, and now his son Herod Antipas, was seeking to do the same. 

Earlier in Jesus’ ministry some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.  Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”  (Luke 13:31–35 ESV)

Now the Father was sending his very own Son, who knew Jerusalem and all Israel wanted a king unlike him.  They did not want a king of flowing peace, instead they wanted a piece of a king who would do what they wanted.  They wanted a politician, a zealot, a popular man making magical moves to heal, restore and protect their gods of greed and want.

And so, we see this man of Galilee enter the city with great expectation, that he was going to confront the Romans and challenge their authority.

But surprisingly, he doesn’t!  Instead, he enters the house of God, the temple in Jerusalem, and challenges the worship practises of those who also secretly saw him as a threat to their security and authority.  And so, with great suspicion they interrogate him, saying, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” (Luke 20:2 ESV)

This looks little like a king coming to assume his kingship in a city flowing with peace.  Jesus knew and we now know by the end of this week the only thing to flow would be Jesus’ blood as it flowed from his head, his hands, his feet, his back, and from the spear wound in his side.

Within one week all would seemingly fall to pieces.  Peace would not flow; things would change.  Support would be withdrawn.  The crowd would turn on him.  His disciples would scatter!   The Son of Abba, our Father, would be swapped with a different son of a father, Barabbas the criminal!  Discipleship at the cross broke down and was shown to be pathetic and useless!  In the face of death denial reigned.  Jesus was abandoned, all love ran away and evil surged in.  The tide was out, and Jesus was left high and dry.  Dead on the cross.

Within one short week, what had happened?  On Palm Sunday, the stones would have cried out if the disciples kept quiet!  On Good Friday Peter did not dare associate himself with Jesus, lest he be numbered as one of the Galileans with him, and be stoned like many prophets had before.  And then sealed behind a large stone in death, the Lord lays buried in a tomb.

But it was Steadfast Love laying in that tomb.  The King of Kings lay in the vault of death.  Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of Man, took humanity through a tide change.  It was the lowest of low tides, but the tide of love had changed forever.

You see, at the beginning of the week, the love of the people was a veiled love.  The crowd was there, the emotion was there, the hype was there, the support seemed to be there, but the love that was there was self-love.   The love that was there, was a love that veiled everyone’s evil within.

Within one short week, from Sunday to Friday the tide of love, ebbed and was found wanting.   What was exposed at that low was the loveless evil of humanity.  The emotion and hype of the mob ebbed and exposed fear and hatred.  Politicians and priests were exposed as people pleasers.  And the closest supports sought self-preservation over steadfast sentry duty supporting the Saviour.

Nevertheless, steadfast love lay hidden behind stone.  From there he would descend into hell and shine the steadfast love of God in the darkness of death.  There, the dead will always know what they refused.   There, Jesus exposed their rejection of steadfast love from God, and salvation from the evil of sin within, so God would count them without sin.

Within one short week the tide would turn, God silenced the love of man, and from the grave the love of God was raised.  The stones that would have cried out if the disciples could not have praised God on Palm Sunday, saw the stone rolled away and the steadfast love of God raised and revealed in all glory.

What kind of a King are you seeking this Easter? 

What type of people is this King of Kings looking for?

Our Father is looking for sinners?  Those who believe, their love is a cover for evil, their love is sin!  The Risen King is resolutely looking for those who seek steadfast love, to cover their evil, with the robes of his righteousness.  Jesus Christ is looking for those who need his steadfast love – this week, next week, and every week of their lives, so they might live in the hope of their resurrection to eternal life. 

Jesus Christ is seeking those who need forgiveness, who need change, who know they are nailed to a cross of eternal death and need him and his holiness to be exchanged with their weakness.  These are our deadly, hopeless, and evil ways, which were brought to light, forgiven, and covered within one holy week.  Amen.

Blessed are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Let us not cover up our sin; but confess it, receive forgiveness, and believe what God has covered.  Let us be surrounded by shouts of deliverance and pray (Palm 32), “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38)  Amen.

C, Midweek Lent 5 - The Lord's Prayer #6 - Matthew 6:10b,12 "Forgiving them on Earth"

Your will be done on earth – as we forgive those who sin against us.

Part two of God’s will is for his will to be done on earth.  This is his horizontal will.  We covered his vertical will, in part one last week.

God’s vertical will, is done in heaven when he forgives us our sin.  Put another way, God the Father makes himself responsible to humanity, by finding a way that all might be restored to a right relationship with him.  This is God and humanity, coexisting in peace with each other, in a community of tranquillity and peace, as there was before the fall in the Garden of Eden.

For God’s will to be fulfilled in heaven he sent Jesus Christ to live the perfect life as a human being.  Despite bearing the nature of God the Son, he put his rights aside as the Son of God, and faithfully lived under the responsibility of God the Father as a created Son of Man.  He was faithful to the Father, even unto death.  Never losing faith, never losing hope in God who would redeem him.

God raised Jesus to his right hand in victory over sin and death.  In his faithful death,  he bore our guilt and sin, in his innocent loss of all human rights, when he was nailed to the cross.

It was Jesus’ right to suffer for our sin!  It was his right to be lifted up in love for you.  In doing so he not only gave us the right to become children of God, through the forgiveness of sin, but he died sharing the responsibility of the Father.

God the Father at the fall made himself responsible for the salvation of humankind.  He promised to send a Saviour, who would crush the head of the snake under his heel.  Saint Paul speaks of this verse in Genesis three when he says to the Romans, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”  (Romans 16:20 ESV)

We are children of God because of Jesus’ joy in putting aside his human rights, for yours and my eternal rights as holy adopted Sons of God.  Jesus made himself responsible to you in this life, by also sending the Holy Spirit to walk with you.  He does this to uphold your rights as children, so you and I don’t slip back into demanding the rights of self-righteousness.  But rather as God’s children we carry our crosses, bearing the rights of others, as it was Jesus’ right to die for us.

What are these rights?  These are the rights to forgive others, as we have been forgiven. 

Jesus takes our rights seriously, and we know this because he has given us the Holy Spirit, to be our helper. 

This right to forgive each other, is the will of God on earth.   Our right to forgive, is the responsibility lived and written in the Word of the Gospel, the good news of God’s responsibility, and our rights!

Our right to forgive has got nothing to do with a higher power born of our own doing!  Rather, it is solely based on forgiveness given to us as pure gift.  Likewise, our right to forgive others, has nothing to do with them showing some sort of better inclination towards us, to receive our forgiveness.  Our forgiving others is our right, born in the responsibility, good pleasure, and love of God, flowing through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God knows how to forgive sin!  It’s his will on earth for us to know how and why we forgive sin too!  Jesus joins the vertical with the horizontal, being the Son of God and the Son of Man.  He serves God as his faithful Son, by living as a faithful servant of humanity.

We too, being adopted as Sons of God, now function as types of Jesus Christ.  But you and I do so in a way that is greater than Jesus Christ.  We not only can forgive as he forgives, but we must continue to be forgiven, unless God ceases to function as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Recorded in Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus himself says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”  (John 14:12 ESV)

Here we have the two sides of the coin of being a Christian,  “Confession of Sin, and forgiveness of sin!”  Jesus gives you the right to confess your sin and the right to forgive others their sins!  Or put another way, the Holy Spirit bears the responsibility of working confession within you, and your forgiveness of others.

But, if you are like most other Christians, you struggle with confessing your sin and forgiving others.  For the most, we don’t even see a fraction of what we do as being sinful, let alone confess it.  But when we come to seeing the sin of others, we easily see sin, but find it very difficult to forgive it. 

But our right to forgive, in the horizontal sense, is bound to the vertical direction of God’s love and forgiveness.  God the Father comes down in his providence of humanity, God the Son comes down in his redemption of humanity, and God the Holy Spirit comes down in his help of humanity. 

God comes down and finds us helpless!  But he comes down because he knows we are helpless!  Therefore, he comes down to take you by the hand and help you.

Returning to John 14 again, Jesus tells us how we are able to do greater things once he goes to the Father, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.  Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.  If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live.”  (John 14:12–19 ESV)

As children of God, we live as Jesus lives, because he lives.  As Jesus forgives, we forgive!  We also confess because Jesus now lives to forgive! 

When Jesus finishes teaching the Lord’s Prayer in his Sermon on the Mount, he goes onto give a footnote regarding forgiveness saying, “if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14–15 ESV)

Jesus hits home with the full force of the Law here, and it sounds frightening.  What is Jesus saying to us?

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was preached and recorded for the Jews.  Matthew’s Gospel is a catechism for Jewish believers, teaching them that through the Law no one can achieve righteousness.  If one thought they could, here Jesus extends the Law, making it obvious that no one will ever achieve righteousness under the Law.  That is, except him!

Jesus alone fulfilled all righteousness required from the Law, having every right to accuse us, but instead he champions the right to forgive, so we can live.  He neither accuses us or excuses our sin, he binds the sin and sets the sinner free.

You now have that freedom, and with it comes your right to forgive others.  We like Jesus, neither excuse the sin, nor accuse the sinner.  We pray to God the Father, for the Holy Spirit to give us the will on earth, to forgive as we have been forgiven.

After the cross, we, together with believing Jews, look at the Sermon on the Mount and cry out to God, naming his responsibility to help us forgive as we have been forgiven.

Therefore, we pray and demand, with the very demand he has given us to pray, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” “You have forgiven us Heavenly Father, now give us the will to forgive others!”  

God will give you the will to do so!  Why?  Because he sent Jesus to die for your sin, and the Holy Spirit to make you holy in his forgiveness!  And because he would fail to be God, if he did not fulfil his promises made through sending Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

Let us live in peace, knowing you neither have to accuse others, nor excuse their sin.  It’s God’s good pleasure, that we pray individually, and, as the body of Christ, his church on earth, to bind each other’s sin to the cross and loose the sinner. 

It is God’s responsibility to bind our sin and loose us!  And it is our right to loose other sinners and bind their sin, as Jesus has bound our sin and set us free.  Pray to your Father in heaven to give you and me the will to joyfully do this.  Amen.

On Maundy Thursday we conclude the series on the Lord’s Prayer with the centre kernel of the prayer.  We learn what the Holy Spirit does in us when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread." 

C, Lent 5 - John 12:1-8, "Anointed and Embalmed as King"

 Text     John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”  He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.  “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. ”It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

1.         Buried Feet

Why did Mary smear the pure nard over Jesus' feet? The gospel reading we just heard doesn’t tell us why she went to such extremes.  This perfume from the nard plant in India was expensive ointment prepared from the roots and stems of this Himalayan plant.  So when she cracks open the pot of perfume and spreads the entire contents of it over his feet, about half a litre, it makes me wonder what motivated her to do it.  Half a litre is a lot of perfume.  The bible tells us it was worth a year’s wages, 300 denarii, close to thirteen thousand dollars worth, a lot of money in anyone’s language.  Imagine the scent it would leave. Think of aftershave or perfume poured on you feet, not just a drop but a half litre.  Why did Mary do it? Putting a little on sandal sore feet was normal when the host’s guests arrived from some distance.  But Mary buried his feet in so much ointment the pleasant scent would have been smelt just as far away.

2.         Jesus raised Lazarus

Looking back at recent events in John’s gospel sees Mary at Jesus' feet once before.  Both Mary and her sister, Martha, pleaded with Jesus when he arrived after Lazarus’ death, saying, ‘Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died!’  Mary fell at his feet weeping, so much so it moved Jesus, and he wept too. 

So Jesus raised Lazarus, he had earlier told Martha he was the resurrection and the life, and that’s exactly what he did, he gave life to Lazarus.  He cleared the stone away and raised Lazarus from the dead, and in the process made himself ritually unclean through his association with the corpse.  Jesus was the cause of Lazarus’ resurrection, it brought glory to God, but it also caused him to be covered with the stench of death.

3.         Jesus didn’t cleanse himself

As these events were occurring the Passover festival was drawing near.  Within a week lambs would be slaughtered so the Jews could commemorate, remember, and teach their children how the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Israelites, sparing the lives of their first born sons, the night before Moses raised the nation of Israel to life from the land of Egypt.  This festival called for the Jews to make their way to Jerusalem to be cleansed and purified for the Passover meal of bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and Passover lamb roasted over the fire, just as God had commanded Moses and the Israelites many years before. 

But Jesus doesn’t go to Jerusalem to be cleansed.  Rather he and his disciples leave Lazarus and withdraw to a region near the desert.   Jewish ritual expected a person to be cleansed, purified, and made holy, so they could stand before the Lord, who is holy, especially those who had come into contact with a dead body.  In chapter eleven just prior to the meal and Mary’s perfume pouring at Bethany, many stood in the temple area waiting for Jesus to appear.  After all he had raised Lazarus from the dead and was unclean.  But Jesus didn’t show, nor did he receive any cleansing.  No!  Jesus didn’t go to Jerusalem rather he returned to Bethany.  There is a knock at the door; Lazarus opens it to reveal God standing there with his disciples, still covered with the stigma of his death. 

4.         Mary serves Jesus

If I were to ask you to flick through the pages of John’s gospel and find the Last Supper where Jesus gives us the Words of Institution, you would come up empty.  In fact John doesn’t give us an account of the Last Supper.  Instead he speaks of two meals.  Both meals are linked by the attention given to the feet.  At the first meal Mary washes Jesus’ feet and then at the second meal Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. 

It is true that at both meals foot washing caricatures service.  The very nature of foot washing shows both the humility and greatness of serving.  Mary serves Jesus with faithfulness and sheer gratitude when she smears the pure nard on Jesus' feet.  Probably overwhelmed at Jesus’ resurrecting power over her brother Lazarus, she served him with the same passionate emotional fervour as when she cried tears over his feet when Lazarus was still dead.

Mary’s actions came from deep within.  We know that these actions were great.  So great I find it hard to comprehend!  The perfume’s purity is not lost on John as he reports Judas Iscariot’s disapproval and tells us the nard was worth a year’s wages.  Lazarus, Mary and Martha were not excessively wealthy; after all there are no servants to do the tasks of washing feet or serving the meal, which Martha serves.

Mary’s action was also great from another perspective too.  It would have taken a great deal of courage and faithfulness for this woman to let her hair down in public.  It was not something done by respectable Jewish women.  In her action all honour is taken from her and given to Jesus.  Perhaps the perfume that might have been reserved to cover the stench of Lazarus’ death was now floating around the house as the fragrance of life and love.  Or maybe Mary was still covering the stigma of death; Lazarus’ deathly uncleanness in Christ and the upcoming death that awaited him on the cross?

5.         Jesus Anointed and Embalmed as Messiah and King

So what was happening to Jesus at Lazarus’ house when Mary poured or smeared the pure nard on his feet?  Another word to describe Mary’s action of pouring or smearing is anointing.  Mary anointed Jesus.  In fact she anointed Jesus Christ, Son of God, King of the Jews.

When a king or queen is enthroned into their office, they have a coronation.  In recent times we haven’t seen a coronation; in fact the last was Queen Elizabeth many years ago.  But like any royal event their coronation to the throne involves much royal regalia, long processions through the streets, pomp, ritual and ceremony.   

Jesus was on his way to a coronation too.  He was soon to be glorified on the cross.  A little later on in the gospel Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (12:23, 32). Jesus took his throne when he was nailed to the cross, on that throne he draws all to himself.

Mary anointed the King, maybe a little prematurely before his coronation, which would begin on the next day as he rode the donkey into Jerusalem over palm branches thrown down by the crowds. Therefore, how could she not anoint the King of Kings with such an expensive perfume?  After all he is the king who draws all people to himself. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

But paradoxically in a seemingly contradictory way Mary anoints the body of Jesus just as all bodies are anointed before they are buried.  Jesus even says of Mary’s anointing, ‘it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial’ (12:7).  How can a king’s coronation and his enthronement be the very same thing that kills him?  How can the King of Kings draw all to himself if he is hanging dead on his throne?  Well, this is the mystery of the cross, this is the contradiction of the cross, this is the glory of the cross, this is the victory of the cross, and this is the beauty of the cross, where our Lord was enthroned.

Just before Jesus was crucified he washed his disciples’ feet. When he came to Peter, Peter said no to his feet being washed, but Jesus said, ‘Unless I wash your feet you have no part with me (13:8)’.  Mary may have served Jesus at the first meal, but it was Jesus who served, when he washed the disciples’ feet at that second meal, when by his word he raised Lazarus to life,  and when he took the ugliness of death to the cross for Lazarus and also for you.  Jesus has washed us too, eternal death is no more, we are washed and now have a part with Jesus in eternity.  

6.         Jesus’ Service as our Passover Lamb

When we hear that Mary broke the bottle of thirteen thousand dollar scented oil over Jesus' feet, it makes us sit up and take notice.  Why she did it, we can only speculate.  But this double action anointing, together with the events before and after, tell us of God’s Son who was anointed and embalmed as King of Kings, was sacrificed and enthroned on the cross, was buried in death but at the same time buried eternal death, and who was raised to life is also your resurrection and your life.  Sit up and take notice, Jesus serves you, he has cleansed you!  Smell the sweet scent of life bought at great cost for you by our Passover Lamb.  He is the resurrection and the life!  In this King death has lost its stench, and now the power of death has passed over you and me.  Amen.