A, Mid Week Lent 2- Sermon Series "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures - Gift"

By the gifts of Jesus,     Lord teach us how to give.

The gifts of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to give.

Lord God Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit so we might rightly use your Word, to hear and learn how to give as Jesus gave to us.  Amen.

Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed.  Amen.

We all know this table grace.  Some of us say, “let this food to us be blessed”. 

Did you know praying before a meal is a continuation of the rabbinic practice of ritual cleansing oneself before a meal! 

A two handled cup is used to wash the hands and is followed by this prayer, “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.”

This rabbinic practice extended to all Jews, and therefore, we hear Jesus giving thanks many times throughout his ministry.  In fact, Jesus most closely adhered to the traditions of the Pharisees, which is why he came into conflict with them so often.

Ritual purity was central for a faithful Pharisee, so they could be sanctified before God.  However, Jesus’ purity before God was done for no other reason than to give glory to God, whereas the Pharisees practiced the rituals to be glorified in themselves, and by those around them who honoured them for being “so holy”.

We give thanks before a meal, so what we put into our bodies does not defile us and make us unholy. So we receive it as a blessing from God.

In Matthew fifteen, we hear the Pharisees complain to Jesus that the disciples do not wash when they eat.  This is not a complaint about hygiene, but rather about one’s ritual practise and holiness before God.

However, Jesus teaches, “Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?  But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:17–20 ESV)

Jesus’ thanksgiving is not so much about what goes into the mouth but on what the heart is set, when one eats.  It’s at this point I now understand mum scolding me, concerning gluttony, on eating too many sweets when I was a child.  She would say, “One eats to live, not lives to eat!”

So, to give thanks as Jesus gives thanks, we give thanks to God for giving us earthly gifts to sustain us as we wait to receive the fullness of the heavenly gift of eternal salvation.  We eat to live in preparation for eternity, to feast in Paradise with thee.

Jesus’ thanksgiving opens to us his motives for giving.  It’s from what Jesus gives that is remarkable.  It’s not just a lesson on giving, but it’s also one of trust.  Jesus’ gift to you and me is a giving through faith.

As last week, in understanding Jesus’ prayers, to learn how we pray, and how to pray, we return to Philippians 2, to learn the motives of Jesus’ giving, what Jesus gives to us, the cost to him, and the value of what it is he gives to us.

Saint Paul says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (Philippians 2:3–8 ESV)

Jesus gives thanks, but not as we give thanks.  The position from which he gives thanks is quite profound in light of the situation from which he gives.  We thank God for our food, with it usually sitting in front of us, but Jesus gives thanks in faith, with as little as five loaves of bread and two small fish to feed five thousand.

On Maundy Thursday, Jesus took the cup and the bread, and when he had given thanks, he gave the broken bread and wine to his disciples.  (Luke 22:17-20)   To give thanks to God the Father, knowing the body and blood to be given and shed, the very next day was to be his own, takes a humility more significant than all others. 

Jesus emptied himself!  What was left to give?  Nothing?  No!  His life! 

From a seemingly impossible position he gives.  In the same way, as something was made out of next to nothing to feed five thousand, Jesus allowed himself to be made nothing, and even then, gave everything for you and me.

Before Jesus gave himself on the cross, he makes an observation while at the temple in Jerusalem…

“Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box,  and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.  And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.  For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”  (Luke 21:1–4 ESV)

Like the widow, Jesus gave out of his poverty of human spirit, trusting in God by the work of the Holy Spirit.  How does your giving match up next to Jesus’ giving?  Our giving cannot match up to Jesus’ giving, this is the reason Jesus came and gave himself for us.  When you give to God, what do you think Jesus thinks of your giving?”  Do you give out of poverty like the widow or out of our abundance like the rich?

It’s here the Holy Spirit needs to step in before we condemn ourselves before God in our self-justification.  You and I need to be constantly brought back to the cross and receive the forgiveness of our many sins of gluttony, greed, withholding from God, and lack of trust in God’s providence.

We also need the Holy Spirit to inspire us, to give like Jesus gave.  We need the Spirit to motivate us in our giving so we, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than ourselves.  Let each of us look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind in yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

We need the Spirit to give as Jesus gave, we need the Holy Spirit to trust Jesus’ gifts, so we receive them in faith, without hedging our bets, keeping back what we know God wants us to give to others.

Without the Holy Spirit, we are greatly stricken.  With the Holy Spirit, we know we are greatly stricken.  So, in our affliction the Holy Spirit gives us Jesus and we receive the gifts that came from his suffering and death on the cross.

Therefore, “What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?”  (Psalm 116:12 ESV) You are God’s saints!  You are precious in God’s sight.  The Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son to encourage you to die to self and give to God your trust, by giving to others what he has first given to you – yourself, your time, and your possessions.

May we not only pray, “Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed”.  But also pray and live our lives so, “Blessed be God who is our bread, may the world be clothed and fed.” Amen.

Next week - By the toils of Jesus, Lord teach us how to work.

C, Post-Pentecost 18 Proper 23 - Luke 17:11-19, 2 Kings 5:1–3, 7–15c, Psalm 111, 2 Timothy 2:8-15 "Remember, Endure, Remind, and Give Thanks"

 Remember, endure, remind, and give thanks. 

We remember what our parents taught us, we continue in their practices teaching them to  our children, then over and over again we remind them of what we have taught them.

Say, “please”.  Say, “thankyou”.  We teach our children good manners just as we were taught by our parents.  And we repeat this over and over again in our saying please and thankyou by way of example to our children, as well as reminding them to do the same and discipline them when they fail to follow what we’ve taught.

Imagine that having been taught to say please and thankyou by your parents you teach your children to do the same, but in practise you never say please and thankyou to your children or in front of your children with others!  What do you think they will learn?

This “do as I say and not as I do” lesson will be seen with all the hypocrisy it deserves by the young learners.  And they might just ignore the lessons from your lips, in favour of the practice of not saying please and thankyou.

The readings today focus us on thanksgiving — giving thanks.  Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, after initially ridiculing Elisha for his direction to dip himself in the Jordan seven times, is convinced to put his anger aside and do as commanded.

We hear, “Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him.  And Naaman said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.” (2 Kings 5:15a-c ESV)

Saint Paul calls Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, the gospel of promise that, “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”  (2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV)

Here Paul encourages Timothy in the Christian life cycle of death and resurrection — remembering, enduring, reminding, and giving thanks. 

When we die with him, we live with him.  Daily dying to self, letting the pride die, to confess sin, to serve sinners with the love of Christ, bearing the cross that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have set aside for you to bear, even before this world was created.

By enduring in this “death and resurrection cycle”, comes the promise of reigning with Jesus Christ.  When we are reminded of Jesus’ covenant made through his death and resurrection, we remember the many big and small deaths and resurrections we face in this life is a preparation for the great day of resurrection that awaits our final death.  This final death reminds us and causes us to remember our first death and resurrection, when we were baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection outside Jerusalem two thousand years ago.

Paul then says, “if we deny Jesus, he will also deny us”.  Denial here is a refusal to endure, a rejection of remembrance, and stopping all means of being reminded.  It’s here we look at the ten lepers. 

Lepers are ritually unclean.  They cannot come into the presence of God in the temple until they are made clean (Lev 14:1-32).  Jesus sends the lepers to the priests after they say, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” (Luke 17:13 ESV)  They say, “please”.  But only one returns to say, “thankyou!”

This thankful healed leper is a Samaritan.  The other nine are assumed to be Jews.  Can you hear the levels of irony here? 

For the cleansing of leprosy, the priest goes to the leper, but here the lepers are sent to the priests by Jesus.  They plead for mercy and Jesus commands them to go.  Did the other nine realise they were healed on the way?  We are not told.  We are only told of one Samaritan who returns having been healed and is called by Jesus to, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:19 ESV)

To where would he rise and go?  Jesus is going to Jerusalem, he has sent the other nine there as well, to the priests in the temple.  This cleansed Samaritan is told by Jesus, “go your way.”  This is the way of faith.

One would  hope after the nine went to the priests in Jerusalem, they would have witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection and with the Samaritan would have acknowledged Jesus as Lord.  In this way they would die with Jesus and be raised to life.  They then having died to self would have been strengthened to confess Jesus Christ in the face of denial, rejection, and death at the cross.

However, we know Jesus had no support at the cross.  All denied him.  But having been raised from death we now are one with him in his death and resurrection.  Denying him now, puts us on slippery ground knowing he has been raised.  Continuous denial of Jesus Christ is serious stuff, especially when we hinder the Holy Spirit’s work of our death and resurrection in Jesus Christ.

Saint Paul warns Timothy of the seriousness of denying Jesus’ death and resurrection having died to sin and enduring in our resurrection through him.  But even in the face of denial, Paul tells Timothy of Jesus’ faithfulness.

While we are alive, while we remain in the death and resurrection of our baptism, Jesus will continue to be faithful to us despite our faithlessness.  This is good news, as the way of death and resurrection always remains open for us, to be returned to our baptism into Jesus Christ, and the Christian cycle of death and resurrection.  This return is enacted by the Holy Spirit also because of  Jesus’ death and resurrection.

We are reminded here we are always remembered by Jesus Christ; he is faithful to us despite our forgetfulness and faithlessness.  This is why he sends the Holy Spirit as our helper, our reminder, the one who endures with us, setting up events, bringing lepers into our lives to remind us of Jesus’ love and faithfulness, despite the leprosy of our sin.

We are tempted to deny Christ, deny our sinfulness, and deny our subsequent salvation in these times.  Ridicule, being treated with contempt for revealing sin in others through our confession of Christ, being despised and mocked for our faith, tempts us to deny Jesus Christ.  We say, “please save us”, but find it difficult to say, “thank you Lord”, especially before others and the world.

Like Naaman, the leper, and the Samaritan leper, we are reminded of the leprosy of our sin and caused to remember our healing in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit calls us out of denial and unfaithfulness into remembrance, reminding, and endurance. 

Jesus has healed you and says to you, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.  We are reminded that our faith is faith given to us in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We remember his promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us on our way through death to eternal resurrection.  This way causes us to give thanks and praise.

Like Naaman and the Samaritan leper we who see our healing and the way of death and resurrection are faithfully given words by which we too can say, thankyou God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, for reminding me of your faithfulness and remembrance of me, despite my sin. 

Therefore, let us daily thank him for his daily faithfulness to us in our death and resurrection in the words of Psalm 111…

Praise the LORD!  I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.  Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.  Full of splendour and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.  He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and merciful.  He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.  He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations.  The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.  He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever.  Holy and awesome is his name!  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.  His praise endures forever!  (Psalm 111 ESV)

Amen.