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 2 - The Lord's Prayer #3 - Matthew 6:9b,13b Luke 11:13 "Deliver us from Evil into Holiness"

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

Hallowed be your name… But deliver us from evil.

We have an Almighty God, who is our Father in heaven.  He transcends all of creation and the earth.  He is more powerful than the power humanity can collectively muster on earth.  Those who have had opportunity to see his glory, and that of his risen Son, fall down in reverence and fear in his presence.  Yet he wants nothing more than to be in fellowship with us.  He has created us out of his power and glory, to join him in his kingdom, and worship him in his power and glory.

But how can we who are evil come into his glorious kingdom without repercussions?   This Almighty God—who is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, present everywhere, inside and outside of time, perfect in every way, in patience, generosity, and sinlessness—is holy.

Jesus died to bridge the gap between evil and holy; he is the Christ, the Messiah who redeems us through his death.  But how can he deliver us into the Father’s holy kingdom and presence when our being is embedded in evil? 

When the disciples got a glimpse of the glorified Son of God at transfiguration, they were afraid and perplexed; they did not understand or know how to approach Jesus’ holiness. 

When Saul was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, he too recoiled and was blinded by the glory of the risen Christ. 

So too was the Apostle John.  He shared a special relationship with Jesus in his ministry and is call “the one whom Jesus loved”.  But we hear in Revelation, he fell at the feet of Jesus as though dead when Jesus appeared to him on the island of Patmos.

If Paul and the Apostles react this way, those who knew and walked with the man from Nazareth, how are we to come into God’s presence?

The Introduction of the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father and the doxology form the outer layer of Jesus’ prayer.  The Holy Spirit teaches us that God the Father is transcendent and present inside and outside of time.

Now the Holy Spirit leads us from this heavenly eternal transcendent reality and teaches us how Jesus joins the great divide between his holiness and our sinful nature and deeds, which Jesus rightly says, “makes us evil”

The essential nature of God’s Spirit is holy, so the Holy Spirit works to bring us to the glorified holy Son of God and our holy heavenly Father.  This work is spelt out by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer and fulfilled in his death and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit makes us holy, by delivering us from evil into the holiness of Jesus.  Like a courier the Holy Spirit delivers us.

Martin Luther says it best in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed.  He says, “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church day after day he fully forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day he will raise me and all the dead, and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.” 

The Holy Spirit is the great doer and shaker of the Trinity.  He has been sent by God the Father and God the Son, to bring us to the Son so we can receive and believe the Gospel.  This gift makes you and me holy and keeps us, keeping on in Jesus. This gift is God’s Holy Word and hearing it creates faith.  In Romans ten we learn, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  (Romans 10:17 ESV)

The Holy Spirit works faith so we as individuals and as the collective body of Christ remain in Jesus, pray his prayer and other prayers in his name.  The Holy Spirit also fights against all evil within us, and that which works from outside us tempting us to reject God and his holy gifts and live without him.

Living without God or making ourselves God is the evil that leads to all evils.  And the Holy Spirit works tirelessly to deliver us into the bosom of God’s mercy and the holiness of Jesus.  

Jesus was clothed in the weak flesh of humanity with all its desires, he resisted the devil, and pressure from those around him to please them rather than the Father.  He was weak as we are weak, yet without sin.  But despite his perfect life, bore the evil of our flesh on the cross, and was delivered into death.

So, the Holy Spirit leads us to pray, “deliver us from evil”.  We can be reassured we are being delivered from the evil of ourselves into the holiness of God’s kingdom, power, and glory.  We are being delivered from the powers and principles that demonise us within from day to day.

We are being delivered from the evil of this world that comes to us through others, and the many gods we have created for ourselves. These are the evils to which our sinful selves naturally gravitate towards because of the Old Adam within.

And we are being delivered from the devil and his entourage of powers and principalities, that are overcome and completely powerless to the name of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in which we pray, deliver us from evil, into the holiness of Jesus’ name.

After Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray the Lord’s Prayer, he continues encouraging them to be consistent in the power of prayer.  He says, “…I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9–10 ESV)

Then he says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

If God the Father would send his Son to die for you on the cross, and he wants you to be with him in his kingdom, so you can worship him and glorify him, he will certainly give you all the assistance your need to be delivered from all evil into the holiness of Jesus’ name! 

Pray for the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to deliver us from all evil. Amen.

Next week we continue the series on the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come… Lead us not into temptation”.

C, Epiphany 7 - Luke 6:27–38 "On Being Merciful, Perfect, & Holy"

Luke 6:27–38 (ESV) “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.  And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.  “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.  “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;  give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

There are a lot of commands laid out here by Jesus in the Gospel reading before us.  Love your enemies, do good, bless, pray for those who abuse you.  Offer the cheek to those who strike you, do not withhold your tunic.  Give, do not demand back.  Love, do good, lend, and expect nothing.  Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.  Judge not, condemn not, forgive, and give.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  Jesus makes seventeen demands in this text. 

He goes on to say, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,  for each tree is known by its own fruit.  For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.  The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”.  (Luke 6:43–45 ESV)

Sitting down to write this sermon proved interesting as there was commotion going on in the manse yard.  Our dog was excited by all the noise as chaps from the church assisted a fellow removing trees from the gardens.  And there I sat trying to write a sermon on mercy, while outside no mercy was being shown to the pencil pine that had to go because it had outgrown its position and was lifting the paths and fence around it.  And out back trees were being removed so fruit trees can be planted with the hope of getting a sweet crop.

A member who will remain unnamed, but use to be an accountant, asked me if the activity around the manse was inspiring me with my sermon writing.  I told him it’s hard to write a sermon on mercy when trees were mercilessly being chopped down.  To which, with a cheeky grin, he replied, “it’s for the greater good of the pastor.”

This made me ponder why Jesus has given us these seventeen rules!  Has he done so for the “greater good” or is there another point being made?  What fruit is being produced by doing these seventeen demands?  If it is for some greater good, what is this greater good? 

Thinking about trees, now chopped down and cleared away, I know I didn’t hate those trees.  In fact, they looked quite good.  But I know the pine out the front was going to cause ongoing problems that the parish would not love addressing.  And as for the trees on the back fence having to go, I love the pleasure of growing and picking one’s own produce more.

Jesus’ first command is to love your enemies.  But what if they bear bad fruit as the text says?  Am I to somehow love them, for the greater good?  Anyway, what is the greater good, the summum bonum, the ultimate of all goodness?  What would my motives be for doing so, and what measure would I use to determine how to love them.

It’s here I realise loving my enemy is difficult, to say the least.  I am unsettled by the fact that perfectly good trees are cut down for reasons that might be based more on my desire being deemed “the greater good’ or the desire of the parish to not have the “greater evil” by getting rid of the pencil pine now.  And these are non-issues, compared to my desire to have little to nothing to do with one that might be considered as an enemy.

If my thought process is so fickle,  and I can deem my enemy as a bad tree, what is to stop them from considering me the same?  Perhaps I’m a tree that’s lost its purpose and needs to be chopped down in the scheme of someone else’s greater good!   Whose greater good is more important?  World Wars have started over thinking like this!

Our motives are exposed like raw nerves by Jesus in this text.  He shows us we are constantly investing ourselves, our time, and our possessions in schemes that will benefit ourselves.  It may be for financial gain, acceptance of others, a selfish desire to smooth things over, creating a pseudo-peace, because we don’t want to give the time or effort to open and heal wounds in need of healing.  Our motives seem to follow the path of least resistance to pleasure within.

This being the case, then, how do I love my enemies?  How do we as a community under Christ, love our enemies?

Jesus says, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36 ESV)

In Matthew’s account Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 ESV)

Jesus here points us to the Law.  Jesus’ call, to be merciful and perfect, is the same as God’s call to be holy. 

Jesus is reflecting what God said through Moses to the people of Israel.  “For I am the LORD your God.  Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44 ESV)

Jesus calls us to cleanse ourselves of anything that defiles his holiness.

Why does God the Father and Jesus demand holiness?  The short answer is because he loves us and wants to preserve life?  This is the life he has given to us in love, and he wills us to have for each other. 

This love is not love for myself or my motives.  But it’s a love that brings a community together in God’s presence, where there is perfect peace, where God gives, where we receive together with joy, and where we worship him with fervent love for loving us.

Jesus reinforces God’s call to be holy, through being perfect and merciful, to reveal the lies of our love, no matter how great we think our good is, or how bad our evil actually is.  There are no lies in God’s love and holiness.  All is brought out into the light by Jesus.

As much as we, who are in Christ, have been given the holy will to be merciful, perfect, and holy to please the Father, we cannot be this by our own effort.  Jesus was incarnate in our human flesh, he lived a perfect and merciful life, and died in all holiness, because through our love, we cannot do it.

So, should we give up striving?  Well, yes and no!  Yes!  Because we will condemn ourselves if we believe we can be holy by our own efforts?  And no!  Because when we give up, we demonstrate faithlessness in he who is working salvation within us?

God’s holy plan for us is to show us we are as far away from perfection as ice is from steam, as white is from black, as sour is from sweet.

But God bridges the divide between holiness and evil; God’s good and our good intentions; his perfection and mercy and our motivations; his love, and our love.

Jesus is the good tree bearing good fruit, but he bore it on the terrible tree of the cross.  He takes that terrible tree, your terrible tree and makes it his.

Jesus’ love for you is a perfect and merciful love.  His love is compassionate towards all who call upon his name, for the forgiveness of sin. 

Jesus’ love for you is so great he sends the Holy Spirit to do the work of germinating and growing faith and love within you.  Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to mature us into healthy trees producing good fruit, the fruit of faith and love. 

This fruit of love for God, is confession of sin, allowing God to prune us of the dead wood within.  The fruit of love is faith, allowing the daily death of self, the carrying of our crosses, and the bearing of our neighbours’ crosses in prayer and works that spur them onto salvation. 

This fruit of love leads us to see the cross as the place showing us our blessed helplessness.  But it also shows us Jesus is our blessed help at that very same cross.  The cross is the good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and put into your lap. 

On the cross, Jesus was measured, and shown to be the only one, who has the only good and holy motives, the only perfect love, and the most merciful compassion.

He is the Son of the Most High, higher than the highest good.  He is the Holy One of God, sending the Holy Spirit to help us in his Holy Word. 

We are being made holy because he is holy, we are being made perfect because his love is perfect, and we can give and forgive because of his mercy. Amen.

C, Advent 4 - Hebrews 10:5-7,10 "God's Mighty Arms"

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”   And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (Hebrews 10:5–7,10 ESV)

These are the strengths of God in our lives: For Jesus to save us, and the Holy Spirit to help us!

From his mighty arms he gives us all we need in this life.  Salvation and sanctification are two arms of love outstretched toward us, from the Father of light, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  For God to save us and make us holy, is his will for all people on earth.  God’s will is your forgiveness of sin, and his will is for you to believe you are forgiven.

Not only is salvation through Jesus and being made holy by the Holy Spirit, God’s strength in our lives; it also pleases God when we take every opportunity to immerse ourselves in his salvation and holiness. 

When we do this, it’s a “win win” situation for us.  When one is immersed in salvation and holiness, God the Father is justified in his power and plan, and we are forgiven.  This forgiveness comes through the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of his Son, Jesus Christ.  And the Holy Spirit continues bringing forgiveness, first at Pentecost, then through the Word of God and through baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection and through his body and blood in the bread and wine.

When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “your will be done”, it pleases God no end, to hinder and defeat every evil scheme and purpose of the world, the devil, and the old Adam within us.  In fact, when God’s will is done in heaven, he forgives us, sin is conquered by Jesus in his death and resurrection. He has victoriously ascended to the right hand of God the Father, finishing our separation from our Father in heaven.  Jesus now stands as the embodiment of the resurrection as the first born from the dead for all people who trust in him.  This includes you and me!

Although God’s will is done in heaven by God forgiving us our sin, and the devil has been conquered and thrown out of God’s presence, the devil still has limited power on earth.  And because of this, God’s will continues to be done on earth.

This makes earth the testing ground for humanity, where within each of us the battle rages between the will of God and the will of fallen humanity.  With his plan and power of salvation and holiness, God seeks to work forgiveness and good will as we live together.  Yet, the old Adam within each of us struggles to dominate with its knowledge of good and evil, driven by the devil.  And the devil is delirious and riddled with rage because he knows he is judged and is heading for eternal destruction with limited time left to deceive the world.

However, the contest between the devil and God is unbalanced.  God is not going to lose.  He is going to win, and it pleases him when we choose to remain with him.  It’s no wonder evil causes so much fury within those who desire to be in control and do not want to be delivered from evil by God into eternal holiness.

Not only is the devil on the losing side and is limited for a brief time in the restricted realm of creation amongst humanity, but he can only be in one place at one time.  On the other hand, God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.  This means God is present everywhere, he knows all things and he is all-powerful.  And the devil is not, nor is humanity, nor is the old Adam within each of us.

Furthermore, this evil axis of the devil, the world, and our sinful self, is up against the three-fold divinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere in creation and outside of it.

Since God’s will is done in heaven, we know it is done on earth.  Jesus is at the right hand of the Father doing his work of interceding on behalf of you and me.  The Holy Spirit is at the left hand of the Father being our help, giving us the words to pray and leading us into knowledge of our sin and salvation in God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit also brings us into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ and with each other.

The good news for you and me is that the Triune God embraces all who trust in him with the steadfast love of salvation, intercession, and holy help.  And this pleases God when we allow him to love us with his Trinitarian holy hug.

Mary says of God, “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy.” (Luke 1:49–54 ESV)

Mary declares God’s love as an embrace of mercy.  Mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation… in remembrance of his mercy.  In his mercy, he helps, fills, and exalts those who look to him.  But dismisses those who won’t receive his mercy, but rather, trust in their thoughts, thrones, and treasures.

But, our thoughts, our thrones, and our treasures all come from God in the first place!  It doesn’t please God when we trust in them instead of him.  Nor does it please him if we give him what he first gave us as a sacrifice for our salvation. 

Both trusting, in what God has given us, and, giving it back to him, is a feeble attempt to justify the human spirit, the old Adam within or the collective spirituality of worldly humanity.  And it’s a deception of the devil seeking to have us believe we can deliver ourselves out of evil into the holiness of God by doing such things!

But God has a Mighty Righthand Man praying for us.  Jesus Christ is the almighty power of God’s right hand!  God has fought and won the battle with the strength of Jesus’ love, faithfulness, and submission unto death.  And even despite God giving the knockout punch to sin and death in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Father and the Son to help us, and deal with the human spirit with which the old Adam seeks to control and deliver us into self-destruction and death.

God’s will for you is to give you life, today and into eternity!  Psalm 80 testifies to God’s righthand man, the son of man, Jesus Christ, who is made strong for God’s good pleasure, for our salvation, and for goodwill amongst humanity. 

Yet, in our existence it might not always be apparent that God’s will for you is to give you life.  In fact, most of the time it appears God has delivered us over to death and decay.  

Similarly, when you look at Jesus’ ordinary entrance into the world, his life of struggle and opposition received, it looks like Jesus was not God’s righthand man.  That God had left him to die and decay also. 

Still, as Jesus stared death in the face, as the cross and crucifixion awaited him, he was faithful and steadfast towards God’s will, which is your forgiveness.

You too are called to faithfulness and steadfastness, despite what might appear as if you have been left for dead.  But just as Jesus was raised, you too are called to see your resurrection in Jesus’ resurrection.  It pleases God when you see and hear his plan for your salvation fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

For God to give you life, he needs to show you darkness, destruction, and death within yourself, so you might willingly receive his restoration and let his face shine on your darkness so you might be saved. 

Hear Psalm 80… But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!  Let your face shine, that we may be saved!  (Psalm 80:17–19 ESV)

Jesus now shepherds you in his forgiveness.  His face shines on you in his good pleasure.  But it also shines in the darkness to show the way of peace.  Jesus, together with the Father, sends the Holy Spirit to guide you and help you remain within his boundaries and to live, the life he won for you, in peace. 

God promises Jesus will shepherd you in his church.  The prophet Micah declares on God’s behalf, “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.” (Micah 5:4–5a ESV)

In God’s mighty arms there is peace and love, to the ends of the earth.  Amen.