A, The Second Sunday of Advent - Matthew 3:10-12 "Three Fires:Destruction,Spirit,Refinement "

Matthew 3:10–12 (ESV) Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

It looks like a forest full of eucalyptus trees, but on closer inspection the trees are in uniform rows and not scattered like they are in a forest.  No! These eucalyptus trees are a plantation grown for the purpose of harvesting hardwood. Because the trees were all planted at the same time they have competed for sunlight and have grown tall and straight to make good timber for construction. 

One week the plantation stands tall, and then in a relatively short time it’s flattened.  The timber is harvested.  It goes on to serve its purposes for many years to come.  But the dying limbs and leaves are pushed into piles and burnt.

The plantation forest is a dismal sight compared to its former self. The only thing left is stumps.  Over time the seemingly dead stumps show signs of life and green shoots appear.  Within a year or so, these shoots form a mass of leafy bushes growing out of the stumps.  But these eucalyptus bushes that replace the tall trunks from the tree’s former life are stunted and twisted — not good for any use.

In time the owner of the field looks to a new type of harvest, the collection of electricity in a solar farm.  But first, the stumps are laboriously and painstakingly dug up one by one and burnt with the now dying leafy bushes.  Then the land can be cleared and cleaned for a solar farm to be constructed.

Matthew’s Gospel reports John the Baptist accusing the Pharisees and Sadducees of being a “brood of vipers”, to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance”, if they were “to flee from the wrath to come.” (Matthew 3:7-8)  John refers to them as the trees at which an axe is laid at the roots waiting to see what type of fruit is produced.

Last week we heard Jesus speak about signs of his coming. With the picture of the fig sending out shoots as a sign, we hear about bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.   Here we are reminded of the fig again, when Jesus curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit as he walks the way of the cross to bear the bad fruit of humanity.

On the day after Palm Sunday, Jesus, in hunger, seeing a fig tree, “found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once.” (Matthew 21:19 ESV)

These decisive words from Jesus’ mouth destroy the fig tree. Similarly, John the Baptist’s words to the Pharisees and Sadducees are equally significant as he warns of their destruction without the fruit of repentance.

Three times John speaks of fire.  First, trees are cut down and thrown into the fire.  These trees are those that are not repentant.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees have arrived to see what John was doing at the Jordan River.  Perhaps some were intending to be baptised with others who were fruitful in confessing their sins.  Were they coming to flee the coming wrath through repentance, by confessing their sin?  Or were they coming to make a show before others who were confessing sin and being baptised with a baptism of repentance?  Either way John warns that the axe lies in wait!

Second, John compares his baptism of repentance with the coming of Jesus, saying, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11 ESV)

Here John connects Jesus’ baptism in (by, or with) a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.  This is John’s second mention of fire.  We know that tongues of fire appeared at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given.  This was good fire.  When Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan, he was baptised to fulfil all righteousness.  The fulfilling of all righteousness meant Jesus faced the fires of hell and death at the cross and gained victory over the fires of hell that were meant for us.  This is also good fire, when we allow the judgement to fall on Jesus at the cross through our confession of repentance.  Otherwise, as John rightly mentions these fires of judgement await all those who stand stubbornly unrepentant and will be chopped down and burnt bearing their unrepentant sin.  Then the fire becomes dire and deadly!

John mentions fire a third time to the Pharisees and Sadducees after Jesus winnows the wheat from the chaff that burns with an unquenchable fire. 

Unquenchable fire paints an ugly picture of those whose unquenchable passions resist the refining fires of the Holy Spirit.  Like one in the path of a raging unquenchable bushfire, so too is one who does not allow the Holy Spirit to backburn the human heart and the unquenchable sin that lies within.

Fire may be frightening, but I put it to you, a life “without fire” can also be frightening.  Since the first humans worked out how to make fire, we rely on it for everything.  Without fire, we all bathe in cold water, all food is cold and uncooked, and warmth in winter is just a memory.  Without fire, minerals stay in the ground and never become the metals relied upon in every part of modern life.

One might think fire and peace are mutually exclusive of each other.  The three fires John the Baptist proclaims speak differently. 

The first fire is the promise of destruction for all those who reject the two fires that follow.  Rightly, this fire fills hearts with fear.  As Luther says of Holy Baptism in his Small Catechism, “our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.”  In other words, in the face of this fire, we flee to the cross as knowledge about our sinful selves is daily brought to light.  Like the Prodigal Son in whom the Holy Spirit wins out over the human spirit, you and I are prodigals brought to a right mind and daily returned to the graciousness of God the Father, in his Son Jesus Christ!

We are returned to the second fire which John proclaims!  This is the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit and fire.  In fact, this second fire is essential to overcome the first fire! 

In his baptism Jesus was baptised into the fires of humanity’s sin — your sin!  Having put aside his divinity as the Son of God, as the Son of Man in human flesh in his baptism he received the Holy Spirit on which he relied, to sinlessly be the sacrifice for our sin — your sin! 

Just as under the old covenant God lovingly consumed the sacrifices for the atonement of sin by fire, God joyfully receives the sacrifice of our sinful pride, as we confess our sins in repentance.  Humility is a small price to pay for the reception of Jesus Christ’s sinless death,  for our sin that deserves death and the eternal fires of hell.

In light of Jesus’ sacrifice, the need to make fiery sacrifices under the Law is finished.  All who know their works are not good enough for salvation would agree this fire is very good.  Just like fire is very good for cooking food, washing oneself, and for feeling warm!  The fire of the Holy Spirit that allows us to burn our sins in repentance through Christ is truly very good.  This fire makes us warm when we are cold!  It makes us warm in Christ, as he takes the coldness of death on himself on the cross.

Where the forest, the plantation of Israel was destroyed and thrown into the fire, Jesus has become Israel for the repentant, and we the church are his body of repentant confessing believers.   Jesus is Israel’s shoot from the stump of Jesse, and now stands as the tall, towering trunk into which the church is grafted. 

The Spirit of the Lord that rested upon him, rests upon the repentant church.  This is the Holy Spirit that gives wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord to the body of Christ – his holy church.  Despite our humanity looking like a fruitless fig tree, Jesus does not judge us by what he sees or hears, but by his righteousness sifting the wheat of Holy Spirit-germinated righteousness from the chaff of our humanity.

This brings us to the third fire after Jesus winnows or sifts us.  As we live in Christ, daily allowing the death of self in our baptism and being raised to life in the resurrection of Jesus, we are refined  by the fires of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The fruit of the Spirit is sifted from the chaff of our humanity.  We are being constantly pruned and used as pieces of Holy Spirit-treated timber for the building of Christ’s church on earth. We are Holy Spirit-refined wheat, cleansed to be germinators of God’s word wherever he’s put each of us in this world.

The Advent candle of peace is lit!  Let the peace of God burn in you as the Holy Spirit leads you in your repentance and confession for the forgiveness of sin.  You have been grafted into Christ to bear the fruit of Christ to others.   In the name of Jesus Christ, you are fruitful — let grace and peace be multiplied in you as the Holy Spirit makes him known to you. 

Let the Holy Spirit make you fruitful and faithful in Christ!  May his fire warm your heart, refine your spirit, and strengthen your witness. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and always. Amen. 

A, The First Sunday of Advent - Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24 32-44 "Living like We're Dying: The Armour of Hope"

Romans 13:12 (ESV) “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.”

Advent is symbolised with candles, with light.  The Advent candles represent the light of hope, the light of peace, the light of joy, and the light of love.  Without hope there is no peace, without peace there is no joy, and without joy there is no agape love or selfless love for others as God has loved us.

Today the focus is on the light of hope ­— the armour of light which gives us hope.  We have lit one candle for hope.  Let’s now hear just what real hope is!

Our hope is that Jesus is coming.  But what is this hope?  It’s not a worldly hope, a “maybe” hope, a hope full of hesitation and doubt.  No! Our hope is a certainty that Jesus is returning to judge the living and the dead!  So, how do we know this?

Jesus tells us he, the Son of Man, is coming and he calls us to be ready.  He says, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  (Matthew 24:44 ESV)

Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, just before the reading for today, Jesus says, “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:32–35 ESV)

Some of you like eating figs, some not so much!  But regardless of liking or not liking the fruit, the fig is a marvellous indicator for the gardener waiting to sow summer crops, waiting for the last frost before planting the summer veggies.  At one manse, we had a fig.  The chooks got the figs I can honestly declare.  But once it started to shoot, veggies were planted and they wouldn’t get frosted, even though on the other side of the head-high fence frosts still fell.  I couldn’t tell you the day or the week this would occur but when the fig shot out shoots, it was time to plant.

Similarly, Jesus says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36 ESV) Jesus does not even know exactly when, but he knows the Father knows when it’s coming, and so he knows it is coming.  He also says,  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34 ESV)

From this we know that Jesus is not necessarily speaking about the annihilation of the heavens and the earth.  Jesus tells “this generation” to be ready for he, the Son of Man, is near and is coming!  Then we hear about Noah’s generation where despite the signs all but eight people were drowned when God opened the flood gates and it rained for forty days and forty nights.

Like the fig tree giving signs that summer was coming, there was an ark shaped sign that a flood was coming, yet the people of Noah’s day didn’t read the signs and suffered for it.

Even now after the fact many are tempted to doubt the flood actually occurred.  They don’t believe that Noah heard God and faithfully built the ark, and that Noah’s generation was annihilated despite Jesus faithfully reporting the event.  We should trust Jesus because he was there, at the flood, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, administering the deluge and then drying it up as humanity was reset with eight people coming out of the ark.

 So, the promise is, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”  (Matthew 24:35 ESV) Jesus is the word made flesh.  His word will not pass away, and neither will Jesus having eternally conquered death!

Jesus’ word will not pass away but our world will.  In light of the reality of Noah and the flood Jesus then speaks about the future of his return where two men and two women are working, one of each is taken and the other is left.  It’s ambiguous whether the one taken is taken to heaven or hell, or if the one who remains, does so dwelling in the new heaven and earth, or whether the one who remains misses out!  In the flood humanity was there before the rain, and then afterwards it wasn’t.  We tend to think that those who are taken are taken to heaven, but Jesus does not say either way. 

Therefore, we do well as “this generation” to understand Jesus’ coming happens in our death and will happen, similar to the recreation of creation, as it did in Noah’s time.

Paul tells us to “wake up”, “you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:11,14 ESV)

You are called to dress yourself in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.  In other words, you’re called to live like you’re dying , like Jesus lived like he was dying!  He was dying to forgive, that is, he was dying to give life through the power of forgiveness at the cross. When we refuse to repent and forgive, we remain with “this generation” that gratifies its flesh with its living to die attitude.  That’s death by one’s desires!

Paul calls us to put on “the armour of light”!  This is the Advent hope in Jesus Christ, to die to the passions of the flesh now, rather than when Christ returns when it will be too late.  But how do we put on this armour of light?  Or how do we cast off our works of darkness, which are revelry, intoxication, that’s not just limited to alcohol and drugs, but casting anything off that makes one toxic in the sight of God? And how does one cast off the desires of improper sexuality and sensual pleasures, quarrelling and zealousness for our jealous selves which shows our true colours, that we’re dressed in darkness?   How does one put on Christ, our “armour of light”?

We live like we’re dying!  In other words, we live like Jesus Christ who lived knowing he was going to die and having risen from death now lives and rules eternally.  But the question goes begging, “How do we live like we’re dying?”  How did Jesus live while he knowingly walked the way of the cross and death?

He lived knowing our sin was going to bring about his death on the cross.  We live in the sight of our sin, as a reminder of the death we still face.  Despite our sin being covered it uncovers the reality of death. However, the eternal death we should receive, has been covered by Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit clothes us in him.

Jesus Christ did not live hopelessly, resigning himself to recklessness, irresponsibility, and carelessness — rather, he lived faithfully.  Jesus bore the flame of the Holy Spirit who led him to live faithfully despite death.  You too are called to this life.  Rather than thinking, “I’m dying anyway, so I may as well burn out living recklessly in my desires and pleasures”, in your holy baptism you’ve been dressed in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. 

Jesus put off his divinity and put on the cloak of yours and my humanity and fulfilled the will of the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Now having victory over the cloak of humanity’s darkness and death, Jesus lives, so we can continually allow the Holy Spirit to dress us with life eternal in Jesus Christ, because he has carried our eternal death on himself, and gives perfected life for all who believe they need it!

In the knowledge that our sin brings not just earthly death but eternal death, we’re not to be defeated by this, but rather allow the Holy Spirit to use it for God’s glory.  Our sin is  covered, our humanity is covered, God now allows it to be the catalyst, or a burning wick of repentance, within.  There’s no longer the need to justify yourself!  But rather, you can allow the Holy Spirit to turn you, and to justify you in Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Let the Holy Spirit continually ignite your candle of hope in Jesus Christ and his eternal word!  As hope burns in you, the Holy Spirit will also enlighten you with the eternal candles of God’s peace, joy and love.  Amen. 

C, Last Sunday of Church Year Proper 29 - Luke 19:11-27 "Faithful Banking: Repentance and Forgiveness"

Jesus tells the parable of the ten minas.  A mina was about three months’ wages for a labourer, weighed out in precious metal.   

In Luke’s Gospel Jesus tells the parable in the home of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, after calling him down from a sycamore tree so he could stay at his house.  Because Zacchaeus was a “chief” of tax collectors, he was in charge of gathering taxes from Jews across a city or district.  He likely had other collectors working under him.  Not only was he a chief tax collector, he was rich,  but Zacchaeus was also a Jew.

Tax collectors were not liked by the Jews, because being tax farmers of fortune for Rome, they were seen to be traitors by their fellow Jews.  Roman authorities would have set quotas over areas that the collectors would have to fill. When Rome came calling for the quota, regardless of what you collected, it had to be paid in full. If you hadn’t collected enough, the difference would come out of your pocket.   So, you can understand that if this responsibility was placed upon you to fill the quota, adding extra would be in your best interest, so as not to be bankrupted by not collecting enough tax. 

But if you were the one paying the tax, seeing extra tax possibly banked by your local tax collector who then passes on his quota to the chief tax collector, who also has added an extra increment to his collection, the whole system would seem to stink from double-crossing scandalous pocket-lining crooks.  Therefore, a Jew collecting revenue for their Roman oppressors was viewed by the Jews as sinful and corrupt.  They were banking in badness, and it made these tax collectors rich.

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and he was rich.  Yet when Jesus went to pass by the tree Zacchaeus climbed up to see him, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5 ESV) When the pharisees and scribes saw Jesus go and stay with Zacchaeus at his house it is reported, “when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7 ESV)

However, Zacchaeus, a little man in stature, stood and confesses before the Lord that he was giving half his goods to the poor and repaying anyone he defrauded fourfold.  Since he was a chief tax collector, this could have been anyone who was cheated by other tax collectors under him too. 

It’s interesting to note that Zacchaeus’ name, a Hebrew name, comes from a Hebrew word meaning pure or to be made pure, to be transparent or clean, or made such!  Notice Zacchaeus didn’t seek to justify himself or his wealth, which one might understand him doing, since if not banking enough taxes for the Romans, he would have had to find it himself.

Regardless of whether he was an “honest tax collector” or being made clean in his interaction with Jesus, Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:9 ESV)

This then is the lens through which we can understand Jesus’ parable before us today, the last Sunday in the church year that calls each of us to see on whom or what we’re banking, knowing Jesus is returning when we die or in a special earth-ending event.

That’s why we hear Jesus tell the parable, “Because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.” (Luke 19:11 ESV)

Therefore, Jesus says, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’” (Luke 19:12–14 ESV)

The parable begins with the nobleman, his servants, and citizens who hated him.  In the house of Zacchaeus this is the chief tax collector, his collectors under him, and the Jews from whom they collected tax.  But Jesus calls him a nobleman now having been made pure, or being transparent through his confession to become a banker of honesty and truth.

Jesus here also speaks of himself having been sent by God the Father to receive a kingdom through the cross and then return to the right hand of the Father.  However, the Jews did not understand this and only those who received the Holy Spirit would understand and believe this after the fact.

Like Zacchaeus, whose name means pure and transparent, Jesus is the chief tax collector.  However, a monetary tax is not the commodity in which Jesus banks.  Jesus banks on repentance and forgiveness with sinners.  Jesus is the chief collector of human sin so he can bank it at the cross for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. 

The citizens in the parable are the Jewish pharisees and scribes, or anyone who does not see their own sin and refuses to repent or forgive those who have sinned against them.  Therefore, the parable is for us too.  Jesus is the chief collector, and he has collectors from those who operate under his authority.  But it’s not a collection of tax, rather it’s a collection of sin through repentance and forgiveness. Therefore, Jesus opposes those who are not banking on and building his kingdom through the call to repentance from sin and the faithful forgiveness of sin.

Jeremiah speaks of Jesus when he says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV)

And of the shepherds who don’t bank in the righteous branch he says, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:1–2 ESV)

In the parable, Jesus says of those citizens who refuse to bank in his righteousness of repentance and forgiveness, “But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.” (Luke 19:27 ESV)

This is a warning to all pastors and parishioners who don’t bank on Jesus, the righteous branch, and his commodities of receiving the call to repent and the freedom of giving the forgiveness of sin.  

Paul, another type of Zacchaeus, a pharisee who was made transparent and pure by Jesus Christ, says to the church in Colossae, “we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:9–14 ESV)

Jesus the chief collector of sin banks on you receiving redemption, that is repentance and the forgiveness of sin.  Jesus is the banker of light and seeks to remove the darkness from within you. In his kingdom of light, your inheritance is light, the gift of being made pure through receiving repentance and faithfully forgiving sin.

How much has Jesus invested in you?  He wants to lodge with you today, to purify and cleanse you like Zacchaeus!  He calls you to engage in business with what he has given you.  Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to bring a return through repentance and forgiveness, tenfold, fivefold, or even a percentage above what you’ve been given?   

Like Zacchaeus, are you rich in the reception of repentance, transparent in truth, and faithful in forgiving others?  Or are you holding and hiding what God has given you?  If so, Jesus questions you through the parable, “Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?” Luke 19:23 (ESV)

God is calling us to be collectors under the chief tax collector, fulfilling his will on earth that he has fulfilled in heaven.  That is, he wants you to forgive others as he has forgiven you.  This is truly banking on Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins, a peaceful life today, and the joy of salvation on the last day. 

Banking on receiving repentance and faithfully forgiving continues the collection and nullification of sin, and it’s the only way one can have true peace in the Lord, now and forever, Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, send the Holy Spirit to break our stony hearts so we welcome and receive your rewards of repentance and free faithful forgiveness.  When we don’t bank on these with each other, help us flee to the foot of the cross and demand of the Holy Spirit a heart to forgive as the Lord Jesus has forgiven us. Amen.

C, Post Pentecost 23 Proper 28 - Luke 21:5-19 "Eternal Endurance"

In the gospel reading before us today, Jesus speaks of the temple in Jerusalem and its desolation.  But not only its demise through destruction but also the collapse of creation in future events of chaos!

When what we know and have depended upon for everyday life disintegrates, the restless hearts of humanity will boil over with fear and horrors that history hasn’t even experienced.  The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple—a place where heaven met earth and God dwelt with man—all those years ago in 70 AD, stands as a reminder and warning to us that the collapse of creation is coming. 

God says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.” (Isaiah 65:17–19 ESV)

However, the hearts of those who elevated their created surroundings into their hope were overcome with unquenchable anguish.  Those who lift up this life as their heavenly paradise are heading for devastation just like the temple.

In stark contrast to these terminal times is the enduring name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  He is the new temple.  Through him, heaven meets earth.  He is created like you and me, but he is also eternally begotten.  Not only did he have a human beginning, conceived in the womb of a woman, God the Son has always been there eternally enduring with our Heavenly Father.

Like the temple in Jerusalem, we find a place with God in Jesus’ person.  No longer do we need to have our sin atoned for in the sacrifice at the temple with the spilling of animals’ blood, but we’ve had his blood spilt for us.  The temple of his body was bludgeoned, beaten, and bled; left like temple rubble was Jesus dead on the cross.

We know the temple in Jerusalem has never been rebuilt and will never be resurrected.  Nevertheless, Jesus has!  He lives and rules eternally at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  We also know Jesus lives and rules eternally in the hearts of those who allow the Holy Spirit to create life-giving faith.

As the walls of Jerusalem’s temple crumbled and Jesus’ days on earth ended in chaos, we can expect the same thing to happen to us.  As creation shows its signs of coming down, those living in Christ will increasingly be handed over to torturous times.

Human spirituality will increase, as people look for answers.  Those who are faithful to Christ and his word will be rejected by those seeking spirituality in fruitless idols. Those led by the Holy Spirit will get the blame when temporary human temples tumble down.

This includes “so-called” Christian people too.   Many who call themselves Christian, in whom Christ is temple-ing through Holy Baptism, will cast him out of the temple of the human body, perishing through delusion and deception. They will be caught up chasing myths, whipped into uncontrollable frenzies by mob mentality. In fact, some of the greatest attacks against Jesus Christ and his faithful, will come from within the ranks of dysfunctional church institutions.

Like Judas Iscariot, there will be those who act towards the faithful, as he did towards Jesus Christ. With Christ one minute, then against him the next.  There’ll be those who worship Jesus with us one day, and then the next, turn on us and hand us over to all types of torture, just as Jesus was, and the countless martyrs have been since.

As the true church of Jesus Christ is moved by the Holy Spirit to be God’s mouthpiece, it’s not going to win any favours from the those whose idols are exposed by the light of the truth!  However, when the world is shaken, and you begin to witness horrors happening around you, to you,  know the end is drawing near.

Jesus tells us not to be afraid, not to go after those who come seeking to stand in Christ’s place, or who seek to bully you with fear and dread.   Jesus calls you and all who believe to stand firm in what our help really is.  And our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. 

Confess your sins and call on the name of the Lord, and he will forgive the guilt of your sin.  In fact, you will only endure in him, his word, his flesh, enabled by the Holy Spirit, who will fire faith within.  He will empower you with endurance as the day of death destroys all temporary goods and evils.

You might wonder how you might survive these dreadful days!  These times are here and have been here ever since Christ ascended into heaven — the Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost.   From when the Jewish temple was sacked in Jerusalem in AD 70, and every temple and idol God has allowed destruction of since! 

These times of chaos and destruction also come to us individually in our death.  One day there will be a final event on earth, but for many, we’ll be faced with the destruction of our mortal frame first, just as the temple was destroyed and so too was Christ, on the cross.

But those who live in the body of Christ are adorned with the nobility and eternal beauty of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit in the faith he gives.  Just like one who loves living in the light continues in the upkeep of the candle or the wick, those who allow Jesus Christ to be lifted up as their Saviour, will be lifted up in faith, hope, and love towards him. 

True believers will want to be in Jesus’ presence face to face in the warmth of his love, so they allow the enduring fuel of the Holy Spirit — faith, to burn within.  For them it’s no longer the temple of the human frame primarily important, but he who lives within making it a holy temple of the Lord.

So, it won’t be a surprise when others hate you for not upholding the righteousness they believe to be beneficial.  They won’t like hearing about the truth of our darkness as we confess our sins to the Lord. They will seek to deceive you and make you doubt Christ rather than enlighten you with the word for hope.  Why?  Because the true light of Christ threatens to expose their pleasure in their unrighteousness.

If you’re wondering if you’re one within the ranks of Christ, know you are when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to repentance, returning you to Jesus’ righteousness, rather than a righteousness of your own. Trust Jesus is — the only way, the only truth, and the only life! 

When the struggle is real and it’s before you, Jesus promises, “This will be your opportunity to bear witness.  Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.  You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.  You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.  But not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:13–19 ESV)

Hear what’s happening!  Some may be put to death, but not a hair of the head will perish!  Holy Spirit assisted endurance gains life.  In faithfulness to death, you gain true life!  Just as Jesus endured by the will of the Father, enduring in the Holy Spirit, and knowing full well he would die, we too can endure, knowing full well we too will die.  But like Jesus, death will have no hold over us, your death will be a restoration to whom you were always meant to be, not one hair of the head will perish.  Some of us might even get a few head hairs back, and some lose a few hairs from where they shouldn’t be growing!

In fact, even today as God allows the idols and temples of your heart to be destroyed, he is calling you to endure in the joy and love of having your sinful self, daily drowned in repentance, having all your righteousness die, so Christ might fulfil all righteousness within you. 

As you notice the kingdoms and nations raging, the earth shaking, and the hatred of those against Christ directed towards you, know that death has already been dealt its death in you, because having been buried with him in baptism …you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12 ESV)

In other words, what now can truly harm you?  Nothing, when you allow him to daily raise you through repentance in faith!  And in the true faith that God gives, he will faithfully fill you with peace, joy, and love. 

Do you realise hell is for Satan and his angels!  It’s not meant for humans! God's will for humanity is to daily raise and recreate within us the new enduring eternal nature of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, “But when all these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28 ESV)  God is working in you, enduring in you, with the holy goal that you gain your eternal life in him.  Amen. 

C, Post Pentecost 22 Proper 27 - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 "Thessalonica"

Paul writes two letters to the Thessalonians. It’s recognised that these two letters were Paul’s first, written in AD 51.

If we assume Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension occurred in AD 33, Paul writes these letters to the Thessalonians eighteen years after Jesus ascended to the right hand of our Father in heaven.

In today’s Epistle reading we hear Paul warn and comfort the church in Thessalonica over false letters shaking and alarming hearers that Jesus had already come a second time. Paul calls them not to be deceived in any way, but the reason and reality for why they shouldn’t be misled was no calming bedtime story either.

Paul says, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–5 ESV)

Thessalonica sat on a major trade route, the Egnatian Way, that linked to Asia Minor through Byzantium, later called Constantinople, known today as Istanbul, then onto the Silk Highway to China. And to the west across Macedonia to the north of the Aegean Sea and onto Rome and what is Europe today. Sitting on the major trade route, Thessalonica was a hotbed of ideas and information which moved to and fro amongst the people who travelled “Via Egnatia”. No doubt these conversations likely conveyed many evolving half-truths, as you could imagine!

Then there was a synagogue of Jews, where Paul first preached the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many of these Jews were jealous when Paul reasoned Christ’s necessity from the Scriptures, especially when some Jews became converts along with many Greek men and women. In their jealousy they formed a lawless mob and attacked the house of Jason and other believing brothers. Even after Paul was sent off to Berea by the brothers, these jealous Jews followed and agitated against Paul and the gospel in Berea too. (See Acts 17:1–15)

In his first letter to the church in Thessalonica Paul speaks of this strife, “We had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:2b–4 ESV)

In his second letter, after Paul calls the Thessalonian church not to be deceived in any way by any spirit, he speaks of a coming rebellion, the revelation of a man of lawlessness — the son of destruction, and one who is a restrainer.

The rebellion is apostasy — the falling away from God and his word. Apostates and rebels are those who stand off from God, no longer trusting his word — abandoning the Holy Spirit and the faith he gives, in favour of another spirit or word. These are those spirits and words by whom Paul warns the Thessalonians not to be deceived.

With this rebellion Paul warns of a man of lawlessness. Who is this person? He is “the son of destruction”. This is a Hebrew expression, and Jesus first uses it in his high priestly prayer to refer to Judas Iscariot. Jesus prays to the Father, “I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (John 17:12b ESV)

Any person who is without the law, a lawbreaker, one who commits wickedness without shame or regret, is a son of destruction, is a man of lawlessness. Opposite to Jesus Christ, he is an individual, “who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4 ESV)

The Apostle John refers to the lawless one as the antichrist. This person is not anointed by God, which is what Christ means. Rather they’re against God, taking the place of God. The man of lawlessness does not uphold the law of God, but ignores the law, so a contrary gospel of untruths and hidden programmes might further an antichrist’s agenda.

In his first Epistle, John says, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18 ESV)

Also, “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22 ESV)

“…and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:3 ESV)

Then in his second Epistle John says, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 7 ESV)

Who is this antichrist? In the early church some labelled Caesar and Roman authority as the antichrist. Early Church fathers named it as the next authority to succeed the Roman empire.

Later on, in the Middle Ages Franciscans and some theologians identified the Pope as the Antichrist. Then some said the antichrist was the coming of the Turks with the threat of Islam to Europe. Lutheran doctrine labels Papal and Muslim doctrine as “marks of the antichrist”.

This seems compelling since the Vatican Library now has granted Muslims a prayer room. Also, King Charles, head of the Church of England, prayed recently with the Pope. He is known for his universalism rather than for being “The Defender of the Faith” as was Queen Elizabeth and her predecessors. So, it’s not a surprise the Papacy and leaders lend themselves to being labelled as the antichrist.

Nevertheless, as John has told us there are many antichrists, or persons of lawlessness, both male and female. So, the man of lawlessness can be an individual or individuals who do not uphold Jesus Christ, fulfiller of the law for us, but denies the law and he who came to put us right under the law by becoming our sacrifice.

The reality is any person can be an antichrist, when they put forward a gospel that does not promote Jesus Christ, Son of God, to reconcile us from our anti-God sinful antics. Or, those who inhibit the Holy Spirit from leading us to Jesus. So, it’s not hard for anyone to understand this occurred in the temple and it still occurs in God’s church where parishioners, pastors, presidents, bishops, and popes across Christendom seek to oppose and exalt themselves, not only against Christ and God’s kingdom, but over the kingdoms and idols of the world too.

What may or may not come as a surprise to you is that Paul needs to warn the Thessalonians just eighteen years after Jesus’ ascension. It’s no wonder Jesus said while being led to the cross, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:28, 31 ESV)

The wood was barely dry in AD 51 when Paul warned the Thessalonian church! How dry is it in 2025 after so many spirits inside the church of God, trick people into turning away from Jesus Christ, rather than encourage God’s people to test the spirits. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is not hocus pocus; this is as real as Jesus’ death and resurrection — as real as heaven and hell!

Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15–16a ESV)

Wake up to the reality of this revelation in God’s word! The man of lawlessness, many antichrists, and rebellions or apostasy occur in the Church since the resurrection — it’s still happening before us today! 

But there is good news for the faithful hidden in the denominations who wait on Jesus Christ. Take comfort in what Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, that those who mysteriously work the will of lawlessness under Satan are being restrained. The power of evil is over in all creation at the cross, and on earth where it continues, it does so, restrained with limited power. It’s God’s will to restrain rebellion and apostasy through various means, and he does so for the sake of his saints.

Know that those who succumb to the false signs of Satan and wonders in the world, “God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 ESV)

Hear that those who endure under Jesus Christ, do so knowing, “the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” (2 Thessalonians 2:8 ESV)

Therefore, as the church in Thessalonica did, endure in Saint Paul’s gospel promise, “because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13–15 ESV)

Amen.

C, Commemoration of All Saints - Luke 6:20-31 Ephesians 1:11-23 "Your Heavenly Place"

What is your heavenly place?  This was the question on the minds of those in the Church at Ephesus. Paul writes to the congregation; this is his letter to the Ephesians.

He contends with the believers in Ephesus, who were tempted to believe they were missing out on their heavenly place, as Ephesus was the site of the pagan temple to Artemis, where the heavens had apparently fallen to earth.

Paul had left Ephesus after three years, following a commotion that was only calmed by the town clerk, who said:

“Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.” (Acts 19:35–36 ESV)

After Ephesus had settled, Paul encouraged the disciples of the Ephesian church and departed. Yet he wrote to them because their hearts were far from calm. He also wrote to Timothy after writing to the congregation, to refocus Timothy, who was unsettled as well.

Where was their heavenly place? Was it back in the synagogue, following the works of the law? No! The curtain of the temple in Jerusalem had long since been torn.

God was now present among his people. He was Immanuel, God with us, in Jesus Christ—risen from the dead, ascended into the hidden heavenly place at the right hand of the Father. Through faith, the living saints join the resurrected saints together with the whole company of heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the body of Christ, his church in God’s holy heavenly place now.

Where was their heavenly place? Was it where heaven supposedly fell to earth? Where the gods sent Artemis, where the sacred stone fell, where the Ephesian church saw the pagan temple thrive with crowds gathering from all over Asia and beyond? Where the world worshipped the goddess, led by her priests and priestesses?  No! This was not the heavenly place either.

From the outset of his letter, Paul points to and proclaims God the Father and his heavenly place. He says:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places … as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3, 10 ESV)

Paul proclaims that the heavenly place was where the church was now—where they received and believed their inheritance and their predestination. Where men, women, and children were adopted as sons through Jesus Christ’s Sonship.

This occurred when they heard the word of truth, which uncovers everything and keeps nothing hidden, and the gospel of salvation, which they heard, exchanging these truths through the richness of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, in their personal redemption through believing the sacrificial blood of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Where is your heavenly place? It is the same place! It is here and now, in the heavenly place of hearing the word of truth, which uncovers the whole truth, which calls for the exchange of these truths with repentance, and the gift of forgiveness through confession, glorifying the goodness of a merciful God.

With the Ephesians, we are encouraged by Paul to hold onto this heavenly place. He says: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4–6 ESV)

Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, seated in the heavenly place, and we too are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You are in God the Father’s family, today and forever.

Like Paul, you are encouraged to kneel before the Father in prayer, to combat the rulers and authorities in the deceptive heavenly places that hide the truth—the false heavenly places of this world. These are the powers and principles of people, no different from those the church in Ephesus struggled with and were tempted to adopt, over against the adoption and fatherhood of our Heavenly Father.

Instead of bowing to these false gods, these authorities and principalities of half-truths and hiddenness, Paul bows to God the Father, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:15 ESV)

Having descended into the depths of hell and ascended to the right hand of God, Jesus is, “far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.” (Ephesians 4:14b ESV)

Paul points out to the church in Ephesus: if one is led—or leads others—to a “so-called” heavenly place, and it is not where Jesus is, then one has not been led there by the Holy Spirit, but by the authorities and principalities governing human powers and principles, or directly by the forces of evil that control others. He calls those who wish to remain in Christ’s strength to: “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11–12 ESV)

Today we hear the Lukan Beatitudes. Unlike Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus teaches at the Sermon on the Mount, here Jesus teaches at the Sermon on the Plain. In Luke’s account, Jesus speaks of blessings and woes. These blessings and woes give a clear picture of two heavenly places.

The blessings are the reality one receives when the Holy Spirit helps a person follow Jesus Christ and the way of the cross, to his heavenly place. The woes are the reality one receives when they follow the powers and passions of the human heart, and the spiritual forces of evil into the “so-called” heavenly places.

Four blessings and four woes. Where is your heavenly place?

Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated, excluded, reviled, and spurned as evil on account of the Son of Man.

It’s understandable that the church in Ephesus, and Christians today, would be tempted by the woes. The desire to be rich, to be full without hunger, to laugh, to be wanted and praised by others—this sounds like what all of us want.

No doubt the church in Ephesus saw many favour “the devil they knew”, returning to the synagogue.  Some were tempted by the pagan mob to indulge their pleasures at the “heavenly place” where everyone else was going, the pagan temple at the top of town!

However, as it was then in Ephesus, so it is today. The heavenly place that seems easy, that seems too good to be true, is too good to be true. In fact, it is not true or good at all. The powers and principalities at work promote eudaimonic pleasure—that is, “happy spirits” or “good demons” of pleasure—only to deliver eternal pain.

The true heavenly place may seem a sad and sorry place. But it’s veiled and seen only by those who have faith. One needs the Holy Spirit to look past wealth, fullness, laughter, and the shallow pleasures of false fellowship.

The question everyone must answer for themselves—the same question the saints had to answer, the same question those in hell had to answer—is this: What heavenly place do you want?

It was Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus, it’s also my prayer, and it’s God will for your prayer too—for all the saints God has hidden within the denominations of Christendom: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:17–18 ESV)

In other words, that the Holy Spirit would give you the eyes of faith, to look past human passions—deceptive at best—and to seek holiness in God’s promise: a holy, eternal kingdom; enduring satisfaction; laughter that never sours; and the promised reward, finally revealed on the great day of the resurrection. Unlike those who will weep and mourn when they lose the perishable goods in which they trust today.

Allow the Holy Spirit to give you a discerning heart, to see the shallowness of human goods and the evidence of all hidden evils, of self, of others, and of the evil one. But even more, allow the Holy Spirit to work in you a knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that you wait on him and the coming of his kingdom.

Amen.

C, Commemoration of the Reformation - Psalm 46, Luke 8:9 Romans 3:21-25a "Pacification of our Passions"

Luke 18:9 (ESV) “He (Jesus) also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt…”

From where does your peace come?  We’ve just sung Martin Luther’s paraphrase of Psalm Forty-Six, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”.  In the Psalm's first three verses we hear, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” (Psalm 46:1–3 ESV)

When chaos in the Southern Ocean threatens to overtake you to whom, or what, would you turn?  Do you turn to God, no matter what happens?  Is he your trusty shield and weapon, your faithful helper in all need?  Luther rightly pens that God is a mighty fortress, so do you find yourself fleeing to God’s gifts, his word, and the Holy Spirit regardless of the events of evil that come your way in the world?

Jesus Christ is the only one who does!  In the midst of the storm of life, in the midst of being incarnate in sinful human flesh, Jesus looked to God as his refuge and strength.  The Holy Spirit was his buttress of truth and support as he endured in human flesh that never succumbed to the sinfulness of that flesh. Having put off his divinity, and clothed himself in human weakness, Jesus knew the Lord of Hosts was with him; the God of Jacob was his fortress!

Although Jesus looked to God as his fortress, he still suffered for the sake of the gospel.  In his suffering Jesus glorified God by being that which would pacify the wrath of God for our sin.  Jesus’ suffering for the sake of the gospel was a suffering for the sake of saving us from sin!  Jesus is the only person who can claim to suffer for the sake of being good in God’s eyes.  The rest of us suffer for the sake of the gospel in our sinful natures, and like the Israelites, Jews, and countless Christians throughout time, we suffer every time we turn away from God and reject his pacification, seeking to pacify ourselves.

Jesus tells a parable that compares the pair, a Pharisee, and a tax collector, who’ve come to the temple.  Luke prefaces the parable with these words about Jesus, who: “told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:” (Luke 18:9 ESV)

Jesus tells this parable to the pious whose piety proceeded from the pacification of themselves.  In other words, their peace came from within themselves, either from their pride, their personal power, or their possessions.  Their understanding stood under no one!  Their knowledge of God was even made subject to the self.  Their trust was in themselves.  When people saw and praised their projection of goodness, they took pleasure and found their peace in this piety. Like a baby sucking a dummy (a pacifier), they pacified and quietened themselves sucking on self-pleasure. When our piety is self-centred, we’re dummies sucking dummies!

In the parable Jesus likens these folk to Pharisees.  In our understanding today, a Pharisee, is a sanctimonious person, a hypocritical pretender, who projects themselves as good while being otherwise. Many of us today are guilty of being just this, and this is Jesus’ accusation of the Pharisees.  However, Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees, and our understanding of a Pharisee comes from Jesus’ conflict with them, but of all the Jewish parties in Israel, Jesus was most similar to the party of the Pharisees.  That’s why he came into conflict with them.

Pharisees were strict observers of the Law!  Jesus was too!  In fact, Jesus was a better follower of the Law, he might be looked upon as the perfecter of what the Pharisees were seeking to do.  So, what is the difference?  It comes down to intent and that is spelt out in the parable proper!

What is the intention of the Pharisee when he comes into God’s presence?  He comes in having done his best to keep the Old Testament Law.  That is why he prays, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11–12 ESV)

Keeping the Law required one to do what he had done, and he thanks God for it!  In fact, his piety would outdo you and me!  These men were not half-hearted about God and his word, by any means.  They spent their waking lives seeking to do the right thing.  We might look upon them as holier-than-thou, and they most probably were.  So too was Jesus!  In his human flesh, susceptible to sin, he remained holier-than-thou, holier than you and me, without sin!

However, the intent of the Pharisees keeping the Law was for their own glorification.  There was nothing wrong with trying to uphold the Law.  In fact, God commanded it, and even today we seek to keep the Commandments, by fearing and loving God.  On the other hand, Jesus’ intent was never for his own glorification but for the glorification of God.  Jesus’ piety was a faithful piety that glorified God and his Law!

So why is it that Jesus compares the pair, the Pharisee, and the tax collector, in the parable?  Both stand apart from each other, and others. Jesus constructs the parable placing both men in the temple. The Pharisee compares himself aloof over the tax collector, he makes himself God.  Before God, the tax collector compares himself as an unworthy sinner.  The Pharisee separates himself by taking comfort in himself, and the tax collector separates himself by taking no comfort in himself. 

A tax collector in the temple would have raised the anger of the Pharisees, it would have really niggled their pride having heard Jesus say that the tax collector went down to his house justified.  Who is the tax collector?  He is the lowest common denominator in Jewish society.  Although he’s a Jew — after all Jesus places him in the temple too­ — he collects taxes for Rome!  The tax collector is looked upon as a double agent!  A tax collector in the temple would have received the contempt of Jews, in just the same way you and I might look upon a sex offender, or someone whom you believe has wronged you. Now Jesus says this person goes to his home justified over you!

God calls us all back under his word, both Pharisee and tax collector were sinners in the eyes of God.  The tax collector was justified not because he was down on himself.  If he was, he would have been doing the same as the Pharisee.  He would have been focusing on himself.  If the tax collector sought to work his justification with a woe-is-me, I’m-the-worst-in the-world story, this too is still trusting in oneself, a self-centred pacification!  Still a dummy self-sucking one’s dummy!  Still a pharisee but with a perverse reverse piety.  

However, the piety we’re called to is one like Jesus’ piety. His piety is one that trusted in God the Father, even though he died on the cross.  Earth gave its Creator away and the mountains moved into the heart of the sea, as he descended into the abyss of hell, the depths of the devil’s dominion. Yet Jesus’ fortress was not his life, nor his creation, nor any created mountain of stability.  His fortress was God the Father, his buttress of truth was the Holy Spirit, which rested on his human flesh.

Today you are called to have your passions pacified by Jesus Christ, regardless of whether your passions expose you as a Pharisee, or an unworthy tax collector.  All stand the same before the resurrected Son of God who is coming to judge the living and the dead. 

The law speak, “So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Romans 3:19 ESV)  

All are warned: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth.” (Revelation 14:7 ESV)

You can comfort yourselves, but not like dummies with dummies, you can spit out the dummy of self-soothing and be pacified by the promise of God and his word.

Hear the gospel, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:21–25a ESV)

The blood Jesus spilt on the cross is now your peace.  His propitiation is your peace; his blood was shed for the pacification of your passions.   His blood now gives peace.

We’re called to remember the reality of the Reformation, especially now as many denominations desire to be liked by the world over against submitting to the word.  We’re called to be reformed in Christ, to suffer for the gospel as the world suffers because the gospel’s diluted to a peace in human myths.  Rather than being dummies pacified by dummies, let us continually be turned to the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding and Pharisaic peace in the sinful self, so your hearts and minds are kept in Christ Jesus.

How? Do this by allowing the Holy Spirit to help you confess your sin onto the cross.  To pick up the word of God and allow the Spirit to move you in it, to glorify God. Be still and know that Jesus is God!  Be still and allow the Spirit to humble you before him who will be exalted among the nations, who will be exalted in the earth.  

Jesus is now at the right hand of God.  Having been humbled at the cross he was justified and exalted to the right hand of God, in his holy habitation that will never be moved. Amen. 

C, Post-Pentecost 19, Proper 24 - Jeremiah 31:27-34 "Sweet and Sour - Sour Grapes to Sweet Salvation"

When most of us were children, we would have preferred sweet over sour; a lollipop over salad covered in balsamic vinegar. The taste of sugar in the mouth is a delight, but the taste of something unexpectedly sour makes one’s mouth pucker up, as the sharp sour surprise sends a shudder through the body.

How do you know when sour cream is no good? After all, it’s already sour! The point is that sour is generally associated with things being off. Sour cream is already sour to the taste; is it only once it becomes sour to the eye that one knows it’s off? When little orange and blue spores begin to colonise the cream, then we know it’s time to toss it out.

Yet children today seem to have taken a liking to sour lollies. I would prefer my kids to have taken up a liking for sweet and sour cuisine, or salad covered in balsamic vinegar! Nevertheless, they put these lollies in their mouths and shudder, like babies surprised by something so sour, before the sour disappears and sweet takes over, filling their mouths with delight.

We all know what makes things sweet, but what makes something sour? Vinegar is the answer! When I was a child, it was a surprise to me to see what happens when vinegar or lemon juice is put in milk — to see it curdle instantly into lumpy curds and watery whey.

Sweet and sour; sour and sweet!

On behalf of God, Jeremiah speaks about sour grapes: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: “ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:27–30 ESV)

God plucks up and breaks down Judah and Israel. He has need to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm to his very own people. But God also watches over them to build up and plant, to preserve them, despite the discipline he needs to unleash to break them down. Just as we heard Paul tell Timothy last week, God had to deny his chosen people of Israel, because they had denied Him. However, even in their faithlessness, God still remained faithful, because He cannot deny Himself.

When Israel became sour in the eyes of God, He was sour towards them, to the third and fourth generation. But now Jeremiah gives the Israelites a new message from God. No longer will children suffer for the sins of their fathers; no longer will the father’s faithfulness or lack of it have repercussions on the rest of the household. Now, every member of the household is responsible for their own sin; all women, sons, and daughters will die for their own iniquity. If one eats sour grapes, that one will have their teeth set on edge. If one eats sour grapes, the sourness will sicken the bellies of those who eat them, causing them to suffer.

This is mixed news for Israel and Judah. No longer will someone be born guilty or innocent as a result of what their fathers did or did not do. Rather, all have a clean slate and were accountable for what they did. However, humanity’s sinful nature was still passed on to the next generation. Being human still meant the children’s being was sinful, causing their very own human sinful deeds to occur. No one can accuse their parents of the evil deeds they themselves did. Likewise, no one was covered by the good deeds their fathers did either. Jeremiah, in effect, was announcing that God only has children, not grandchildren.

Ezekiel was commanded to say the same thing to God’s people. He says: “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.’” (Ezekiel 18:1–4 ESV)

Ezekiel goes on to say: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20 ESV)

This was a hard message that Jeremiah and Ezekiel had to pass on to God’s children in Israel and Judah. So why would these preachers of God’s word take this message to God’s people, knowing that they would not be looked upon favourably?

The answer can be found in what God tells Ezekiel: “’Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.” (Ezekiel 3:1–3 ESV)

The sweetness of God’s word made Ezekiel and Jeremiah strong so they would not compromise on telling the people what God had to say to them.

However, all this was a preface to a new covenant that was to come. In this covenant, those who receive the word of God are taught by God. This new covenant was not a covenant from the fathers, passed down by the fathers. This covenant was a covenant of forgiveness to those who see their sour grapes and have their teeth put on edge, so that they turn and receive the sweet forgiveness of God.

Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33b-34 ESV)

The prophecy of a new covenant was given; it would preserve God’s people despite their sin. Like vinegar and sugar preserve pickles, humanity would be preserved by this new covenant. But how, and when?

Some four hundred years passed, then Jesus came as the sweetness of God and persevered in pleasing Him. He gave up the holiness of heaven, to be born into the sour sewer of humanity. He received the Holy Spirit and preserved the holiness of God in human flesh, that in all others had soured the source of sanctification or holiness.

Yet He allowed Himself to be pickled in the sight of God. Despite His sweetness, His preservation of God’s sanctity, He allowed Himself to be soured on the cross. He said, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” (Psalm 69:21 ESV) A hyssop branch, meant to cleanse a person in the old covenant, was dipped in sour wine and given to Him to wet His mouth. Our sinful nature thrust the spear into His side, and like pouring vinegar in milk, the water and blood separated like curds and whey as they gushed from His side.

Jesus didn’t drink the sour wine! He took on the sourness of sin, so we can savour the sweetness of salvation — your only source of salvation! In this new covenant you have been given the Holy Spirit, who works to feed you on the holy honey of God’s sweet word, to give faith, to feed faith. The more you eat, the sweeter it gets.

Like Jesus Christ, you too can love all scripture and declare: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119:103–104 ESV)

Rather than chase the saccharine sickly sweet of the self only to lose the sweet source of eternal salvation, remain in Jesus Christ, in his sweet and sour which he endured to preserve you!  Let the sweetness of God’s word show you your sour and false ways, so the Holy Spirit can daily return you to the cross of Christ.  Don’t let the sweet word of God become bitter in the bellies of those who seek to lead you with God’s word, through a world that’s gone off.  All that’s off will be thrown out when Christ returns!  Persevere in his preservation!

Like a child eating sour lollies, allow the Holy Spirit to help you chew over God’s word to receive the sweetest benefit of the end. Allow faith to be found when Jesus Christ returns. Things are sour now, but sweet salvation is coming.  Like the widow, trust that God our good judge will lead you from the sourness of the sinful self to the sweetness of salvation through the source of holiness, sanctification through Holy Spirit, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.