C, Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of our Lord - 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 "Jesus' Fruitful Rs"

1 Corinthians 15:19–26 (ESV) If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

If you were asked, “What are the three Rs?”  What would be your answer?  Once upon a time most would have said, “Reading, Writing, and arithmetic (or reckoning)”.  Even though the words don’t begin with “R” they all have that strong “R” sound in their first syllables.

To ask the question of Google, “What are the three Rs?” There is a surprising number of variations.

Another educationally based three Rs are to Read, Reason, and Recite.  In the economy one might look to financial Relief, economic Recovery, and then economic Reform.  These were the three Rs President Roosevelt sought to implement when he entered office.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are the philosophical three Rs and they’re also the environmental three Rs. These three can be a climate change mantra or even just a commonsense economical use of earthly resources.

Motivationally one might give, Rewards, Recognition, and Reinforcement to move people and productivity in an organisation.

Community orderliness calls for Rhythm, Routines, and Relationships; and those relationships call for Respect, Restraint, and Responsibility.  Marriage calls for Resilience, Respect, and Responsiveness.  In early childhood learning the focus is on Relationships, Repetition, and Routines.

The three R focus for God toward humanity is to Ransom, to Redeem, and to Reconcile. These are the relational three Rs of God to restore the fellowship humanity lost when sin enter the world through Adam and Eve.   Three things led to their sin.  They turned from God’s Reliability, no longer Relishing God, therefore they Required to be like God. God was now less fruitful to them then the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

So, God set about restoring this broken relationship so humanity could come back into fellowship with him.

During the Lenten season we have been called in God’s Word to Reflect, Repent, and be Reconciled.  Lent is a penitential season in the church year.  It is a season of sorrowful reflection, where we’re called to look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word and see our sins.  But not just our sins, but also the fruitfulness of God in his giving of a perfect fruit, the first fruit Jesus Christ, through whom we have freedom to continually have our humanity cleansed. 

The Holy Spirit shows us our sin in God’s Word, or the Holy Spirit causes us to know our sin by sending a servant to show us our error.  Therefore, reflection of the self, directed by the Holy Spirit, sees the call to repentance, as a gift, so a child of God can freely repent.  After reflection and repentance occurs, a repentant person knows they have been reconciled to God, as a child of God.  There repentance is not a work to earn salvation, but rather a willing reception of what God has done, what he continues to do, and what he will continue to do as we live and die in him.

In Jesus’ death, the ransom for your sin has been paid in full.  In his sinless death, he was raised as our Redeemer.  And now we are reconciled to God as his children.

So as a child of God what are your three Rs?   Well, there are not just three Rs, there are many Rs that God gifts us with, now that we’re his children. From Jesus’ resurrection we receive, Rebirth, Renewal, Restoration, Regeneration, Righteousness, Reconciliation, Respite, Relief, Rest, Re-creation and Holy Recreation.

Jesus himself is the new fruit of the resurrection.  The old tree of good and evil no longer grows in God’s Garden.  It has no place next to the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ, the fruitful tree of the Resurrection — the tree of Rebirth, Renewal, and Recreation.  The tree of knowledge of good and evil is dead to you in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  You know it because he shows you how good you must be to overcome your evil, and in that shows you your fruitlessness that leads to death.

In Christ’s resurrection Paul proclaims, “Jesus is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:19–26 ESV)

Paul explains we are made alive in Christ; his resurrection is the hope of our resurrection.  We bear the new fruit of the resurrection which is destroying all the fruits of good and evil, every rule, authority, and power, of and in ourselves, the world, and the devil.  Let your faith in good and evil die with the death of death!  True life is living in the fruit of Jesus Christ.

As you tarry between the death of eternal death in baptism and your human nature’s earthly death, the Holy Spirit wills you to live in the three Rs of God’s fruitful righteousness and faith in Jesus Christ – that is Renewal, Repentance, and Rest.  Amen.

C, The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany - Isaiah 6:1-13 "How God's Holiness Works"

In the readings for today, the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, the reality of God’s holiness when met by humanity causes something to occur.  When one receives God’s holiness through the senses of sight, hearing, and touch something must happen in the exchange, in the transaction of  delivery and reception. 

Jesus’ holiness is transacted in a very physical way.  Teaching the people at the lake concludes with Jesus suggesting to Simon Peter to, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4 ESV)

Completely spent from working through the night and catching nothing, Peter voices his concern, yet he listens and follows Jesus’ call to set the net for a catch.   What happens?  Completely dumbfounded the disciples catch fish!  So many, the boat begins to sink.  Holiness meets nothing and it does something.  The nothingness in Peter hears and sees the holiness of Jesus to which he falls in submission before Jesus and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8 ESV)

Paul teaches the Corinthians how the transaction of holiness works through preaching and receiving so that the hearer can hold fast to the word which does the work.  This is the same word of God which caused no fish to become numerous fish.  The working word exposes the nothingness of our work without the workings of God’s word through his holiness. 

To put this another way, we need a resurrection in just the same way as Jesus was raised after he allowed himself to become nothing.  Jesus did nothing wrong, he did no wrong!  By putting aside, the power of his holiness, his humility allowed others the opportunity to crucify him.  Jesus received the cross and was delivered into death, to be made less than nothing, as it were, so we can believe and receive his holy work to be delivered from death.  We believe we receive the resurrection from nothing we do, because Jesus was made nothing like us to make us something with his holiness.

This is how God works holiness in us.  He does it completely without our work.  In fact, Jesus models this in the reverse.  In his holiness, he allows himself to be crucified; he does not kill himself!  Nor does Jesus bury himself!  He does not raise himself, nor does he cause himself to be seen.  No!  Although he is God and he had the power to do whatever he wanted, he put aside that power to be powerless, to be nothing. 

Rather it was humanity who crucified him.  And it was the Holy Spirit who led him through his ministry to his death, through it, and to his resurrection.  Even today the Holy Spirit continues to powerfully enact Jesus’ passivity and powerful meekness within us!  In our nothingness, God works his holiness within us, with the implanted word, the word of God.  This is God our Father’s mode of operation!  

The Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter six shows us God’s modus operandi very clearly.  In the lectionary today there’s an option for the reading to end after verse eight, where Isaiah says, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8 ESV)

There’s a temptation in this day and age to omit the option to include the seemingly negative words of God, that Isaiah is commanded to receive and deliver to Israel.  Doing so, however, may appease modern ears, but we need to hear it to learn how God works his holiness.  Without learning how God’s holiness works, there is the temptation to cheapen God’s work and dilute his holiness into unbelief and desecration. Or as Paul says, to receive the preached word only to believe in vain.

However, God does not want that for you!  Therefore, I invite you to look at and hear his word and notice how God’s works are consistent and impartial, so his holiness remains holy, and he rescues all who recognise they need God to work his holiness for our eternal recovery.  Alternatively, those who hear in vain will not receive it!  Those who look at the word with their own understanding, see it but know nothing of its work within, because holiness cannot be understood.   Rather, it can only be received and believed.  Therefore, in vanity no one can hang onto holiness.  Also not what God wants for you!

Isaiah seems like the central figure in this text, but he’s not!  He’s only the recipient and the deliverer.  In fact, Isaiah knows his nothingness before God, saying, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 ESV)  Isaiah sees God’s glory and holiness and he knows he is not!  God’s holiness means he is lost to death!  His nothingness cannot stand before holiness.

Isaiah knows the words that have come from his lips, have condemned him in the sight of God.  What he has heard from the mouths of his fellow Israelites is no better.  What he has delivered and received in the past is polluted, and it condemns him in the sight of God’s holy presence.

Despite Isaiah’s and Israelites’ lips being defiled, notice however, that Isaiah six begins and ends with the holiness of God.   This is crucially important for us!

Picture the scene and hear as the seraphim proclaim God’s holiness and glory, but also see to where that holiness and glory leads. 

The foundations and threshold shook as they proclaimed to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3 ESV)

And where does this glory find its germination?  Not in Isaiah!  Not in the nation of Israel!  No after Israel’s destruction, after the nation has been made nothing through fire, a seed is revealed from the nothingness of a seemingly burnt dead stump.  “The holy seed is its stump.” (Isaiah 6:13 ESV)

This is how God works his holiness!  It’s how he worked in creation, creating from nothing, except his holy word.  It’s how he works with fallen humanity, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It’s how he works with Israel and Isaiah.  It’s how he worked through his own Son Jesus Christ and continues to work with the body of Christ, his church on earth.  And it’s how he works his holiness with you and me.  God works his holiness with his Spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit.  God, and his holiness, is the subject or centre of salvation, not the spirit of Isaiah, nor Israel or humanity.

This is good news for us who having looked into the self, see and know we’re nothing without a resurrection from death.  That we’re in need of God’s holiness worked through his Holy Spirit, to tune the ear and sharpen the sight, so we receive Jesus who resurrects life within as the Holy Seed.

See how Isaiah’s lips are healed by the seraph who seared them with a hot coal!  One might think having one’s lips burnt would render Isaiah mute, and that’s right!  Isaiah could no longer speak with his own uncleanness to those who spoke to him with unclean lips.  So, what has happened here? 

We hear the seraph say, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7 ESV)  Not only did God switch off Isaiah speaking with his own sinful lips, his guilt from speaking, expressed through his woe, is also, literally switched off, so that his guilt is taken away.  And the atoning of his sin is literally covered and hidden, by the workings of God’s holiness.  Just as bitumen covers a rutted road, and a ransom recovers the lost, Isaiah’s guilt is turned off and his offensive unholiness is covered.

It's not about Isaiah, but about God’s work with his word making something out of someone as good as nothing.  If it was about Isaiah, how could he volunteer so willingly to take the message God wanted him to take?  Having spoken with unclean lips with those who knew him and spoke to him with unclean lips, how is it that he can proclaim God’s desolation to Israel?  And do it with seared lips?  Isaiah would’ve known he would’ve been received as a hypocrite, by a nation of unclean lips and dull hearts.

The Israelite’s hardness of heart is not licence for us to think we can go and do the same.  Rather, in seeing we are the same, already, the Holy Spirit works to prepare our dull human hearts to receive the good work of God’s holiness.

Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you!  So, like the psalmist, you bow down towards Jesus, our holy temple, and give thanks to our Father in heaven for his holy name, his steadfast love and his faithfulness, for he has exalted above all things his name and his word.  (Psalm 138:2 paraphrased)

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, you are fulfilling your purpose in us. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever as the Holy Spirit daily leads us.  For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, do not forsake the work of your hands. (Psalm 138:8 paraphrased) Amen.

C, The First Sunday after Christmas - Luke 2:41-52 "A Lost Child"

Mary and Joseph are in great distress as they search for Jesus.  After three days they feared the worst but expected the best.  Anyone who has lost a child knows the feeling that washes over oneself when a child goes missing.

The story of the twelve-year-old Jesus missing as the family returns from the Passover feast, could be the original script for the Christmas movie franchise, Home Alone.  The extended family leaves to go on holidays with much chaos and confusion only to leave the youngest child behind.  The mother only realises when they have taken off and are high in the sky.

But it’s not little Kevin who’s been left behind, but Jesus.  And he’s not the youngest, but the oldest, Mary’s first-born son.   Yet every parent knows the feeling when the realisation hits home when a minor is missing.

Separation anxiety is bad enough when parent and child are split up on the first day of school, moving out of home, or marrying and making their own way in the world.  We’ve heard about Hannah making a linen robe for her little boy, Samuel, seeing him only once a year as he serves with Eli in the temple.  Imagine that, seeing your little child once a year!

But that would  be a blessing for those who don’t know their child’s location.  How much worse is it when a child’s whereabouts is not known?  The mind races!  Have they been taken?  Are they alive? Where are they?  One fears the worst!

And then there’s the relief when one sets eyes on the child safe and sound.  Along with the joy of the lost being found, there’s also chastisement, especially if the child has wandered off of their own accord.  Measures are put in  place to protect the minor from going missing again.

Then there are those who have lost children in death.  December twenty-eight is the remembrance for the Holy Innocents, the children martyred by Herod in his rage to rid himself of the rival Christ-child King.  Unimaginable is the grief of those who’ve lost a child, seemingly before their time!  Children are expected to bury their parents, not the other way around.  This would have to be one of the worst things a parent has to confront.

But there is relief for Mary and Joseph.  When Jesus is found he says, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49 ESV)  Here Jesus mentions his Father, but it’s not Joseph.  In fact, Mary is the only parent mentioned by name.  Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus said to them.  Yet Mary remembered and pondered Jesus words, passing them onto Luke at some stage in the future for him to record it in his gospel account.

We know Jesus was not the natural born son of Joseph.  He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit when Gabriel, the archangel spoke to Mary.  Not naming Joseph can be viewed as a deliberate exclusion by Luke, the gospel’s author.  The boy Jesus, naming God as his Father and not his earthly father, Joseph, is a lesson for all fathers to ween their children from their fatherhood.  To teach and instruct their children about their adoption by the Heavenly Father in baptism.  God does not have grandchildren, just sons and daughters!  So, it’s mum’s and dad’s responsibility to hand their children onto their God and Father — Jesus’ Father who is in heaven.  In a similar way Elkanah and Hannah did this with Samuel.

One can imagine Samuel not understanding what was going on when he was young and sent to the temple to live with Eli.  Mary and Joseph also didn’t understand Jesus, having to be in his Father’s house. When we teach of God’s adoption in baptism, children may not understand, and as parents we might sinfully seek to have our children glorify us over God.  But through enduring teaching of our children, they will believe they are sons and daughters of the Father, long before they understand, if ever!

Losing a child is traumatic, no matter if it’s permanent, in death, or even, just for a time!  In a picture similar to Hannah and Elkanah, God the Father, gave up his one and only Son, to be born to human parents, Mary and Joseph.  However, Samuel’s ministry before the Lord differed greatly from Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus’ ministry was a baptism into death.  From the moment Jesus was conceived, he became the child, who was to be lost in death so humanity could be found by the Father, with life in Christ!  

Three days lost was too much for his parents to bear and understand, how much more his death on the cross, descent into the grave and hell, and resurrection on the third day?

How difficult it is for us to understand God the Father turning his back on his one and only Son to allow him to be the Son of Man, to be the Holy Innocent One for us, serving us salvation and innocence in exchange for our guilt and sin.  Serving you salvation to save you from your humanity!

The generations of children growing up today face a myriad of challenges that see too many realise their corruption only to give up and commit suicide.  Some take a longer road to death by giving themselves over to their desires that don’t deliver the perceived pleasures they thought they were going to get.  Like a throwaway Christmas present, over time they realise they’re on the garbage heap of life.

From the moment a child learns to say “no”, every human has always sought to make the pleasure, “all mine”!  These desires and pleasures become sexual in adolescence and adult life.   Then somewhere in there, we add the fixation of amassing goods; wealth and possessions that really aren’t all that good.  And when, and if, these temptations die down, honour and glory become more important as we seek to leave a legacy of our desires that ultimately, lead us to death.

How difficult it is for us children to turn our backs on the addictions that cause death.  So much so, the hopelessness realised in these days is accelerated in parallel with the ease and quickness of the ability to get, and be failed by, our desires and pleasures.

How difficult it is for us to understand that from the moment the Son of God was conceived within  Mary, he was saying “yes” to the will of our Father in heaven.  That when Jesus lay in a manger as a weak human baby, the Son of God was willingly putting aside his divinity to be in an environment of desire, disease, and death.  To serve and save humanity as the Son of Man! 

When he was a toddler and the holy innocents were being murdered by Herod’s men, he understood his mission as the Son of Man, and the Son of God, was to be innocently crucified on the cross, to save us from our desires, diseases, and death. 

Even now as he is at the right hand of God the Father, in all his risen glory, he continues to carry us in prayer before our Father. 

Our Father, together with his Son, send the Holy Spirit to serve us in a way that leads us from our evil, temptation to furnish our kingdoms of destruction and unwillingness to forgive.  To forgive!  To know and welcome God’s will is being done.  To hope in God’s kingdom coming in power and glory!  And to know and believe we are holy, because Jesus is our holy bread, despite the unholiness that leads every person to death.

What we consume and hang onto in this world is death.  We call it life and living, but it’s not!  However, a deposit of life has been placed within your shell of deathly existence.  When Jesus lay in the manger and when the children of Bethlehem were being murdered, he saw you!  When Jesus was asking questions of the teachers in his Father’s house in Jerusalem, when he wept over Lazarus’ death, and when he wept over Jerusalem, he was learning your death and weeping over you.  When he was nailed to the cross, when our sin nailed him there, he said of you, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34 ESV)

And because you do what God does not want you to do, he and Jesus constantly send you the Holy Spirit!  So, you too, do not like what you do, but allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your destruction of death, and resurrection to life eternal, even now in this earthly existence. 

The Father of Lies, the devil, and society in all its good and evil, rages against the destruction of death.  So too does the Old Adam within and it seeks a resurrection of its own that seeks to reestablish the savagery and death from which you’ve been rescued.

But our Lord and Father wins the battle over the devil, sin, and death, through his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

See the almighty heavenly joy, when you, the lost child, are brought by the Holy Spirit into the Father’s house.  See also the heavenly choir sing, “Glory to God in the highest”, when our Father is glorified in his Son Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, at your resurrection and return to be with your Heavenly Father, face to face forever. Amen.

Let us pray. Father welcomes all his children to his family through his Son, Father giving his salvation, life for ever has been one.  Lord God Holy Spirit, let us daily die to sin, let us daily die with him.  Holy Spirit, walk us in the love of Christ our Lord, so we live in the peace of God, our Father.  Amen.

B, Midweek Lent 2 - Mark 14:22-52 "The Cup Passed On"

The way of the cross ramps up a notch as Jesus takes the Passover meal and redefines it with what is about to happen to him. 

The Passover, a meal practised by the Jews since the days of Moses, was a meal  first prepared in haste before the angel of death passed through Egypt pouring out the tenth plague upon all first born.  The angel spared only those who had the blood of the lamb smeared over their doorway, those who had eaten the lamb roasted over the fire together with bitter herbs, dressed for a quick departure from Egypt.

Jesus now takes this remembrance meal and gives it a renewed function.  We remember what he said and did with his word, instituting the bread of the Passover meal with his body sacrificed on the cross, and the cup of wine with his blood poured out as a sacrifice which would, and continues to, save many.

Now that the cup of salvation in his blood is instituted, the new covenant is set to be fulfilled.  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world heads out to the Mount of Olives for the events to be enacted which would make Jesus the Lamb to replace all sacrificial blood required for the old covenant.

Jesus’ interaction with Peter takes on special significance as he tells the disciples what is about to happen.

Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’  But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”  (Mark 14:27 ESV)

Some years prior Zechariah prophesied, “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”  “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.” (Zechariah 13:1, 7 ESV)

Jesus was that fountain of blood, he was the Son from the right hand of the Father, who was incarnated as man, as the shepherd of Israel, was about to be struck.   Jesus’ little ones were to be scattered as the shepherd takes the place of a sheep to be slaughtered, of whom the disciples are Jesus’ little ones.

Peter flatly disagrees with Jesus saying, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” (Mark 14:29 ESV)

Even after Jesus tells Peter he will deny him three times, Peter says forcefully, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” (Mark 14:31 ESV)  The other disciples also agree with Peter.

In the wake of this reading, we heard on Sunday, Jesus scolds Peter with the harshest of rebukes.  We hear,  “But turning and seeing his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’” (Mark 8:33 ESV)

John Mark was Peter’s scribe.  The Gospel of Mark is Peter’s account of Jesus’ ministry written down by John Mark.  Incidentally the naked young man we hear leaving the scene in Gethsemene, is believed to be the author of this Gospel.

How Jesus deals with Peter, which Peter proclaims, and Mark records, seems quite abrupt.  Perhaps today the sensitivities of many would be offended.  We can learn much, however, from not only Jesus’ abruptness, but also the willingness of Peter to preach about his weakness recorded in the pages of Mark’s Gospel.

Peter’s forceful and impassioned statements  “Even though they all fall away, I will not” and “If I must die with you, I will not deny you”  stand in absolute contrast to what happens next.

In Gethsemene, as Jesus prays, we see his human flesh as our flesh.  Peter, James, and John see it too.  Jesus is willing, yet in the weakness of human flesh, he prays and waits, despite being dumbfounded, distressed, and overwhelmed by the weight of the world he is about to carry.

He leaves Peter, James, and John to pray alone.  Jesus knows his fate.  In the flesh of humanity, he struggles knowing what is going to happen to him.  Like any human that learns of their impending death, and struggles with its reality, so too does Jesus!  

With the weight of the known, Jesus stumbles and falls to the ground, he prays that the hour of suffering and death might pass over him.  But he is the new covenant, he is the new Passover Lamb, he has instituted at the last supper, all that God the Father has led him to do.  And he is led by the Holy Spirit to give him the spirit with which to be the Passover Saviour!

Hear in Jesus’ struggle, Jesus hates death.  Like any of us that pray when our utter helplessness is pressed upon us,  Jesus prays, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.  Remove this cup from me.” (Mark 14:36a ESV)

In true faith, Jesus prays a confession about the nature of God the Father.  Everything is possible for God our Father!  With his Word he could have removed the cup from Jesus!  But knowing the evil and the good this cup bears he contradicts what he’s just said and continues, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36b ESV)

What are the disciples doing?  Is Peter waiting, watching, and praying as Jesus asked?  The one who confesses Jesus as the Christ, the one who says, even if I die with you, I will not deny you, cannot even stay awake.  When Jesus returned from praying, he did not find Peter, James, and John supporting him with prayer, but sleeping.  Three times this happened, impressing on us the reality that even if the spirit is willing, we need the Holy Spirit to enliven our weak flesh.

Judas comes to betray Jesus, with him is a mob from the chief priests, scribes, and the elders.  When they seized Jesus, one of them gets his ear cut off.  Mark does not report who, but in John’s Gospel, we’re told its Peter. 

In keeping with Peter’s lack of understanding, demonstrated throughout the Gospels, Peter cuts off the servant’s ear, overcompensating for his inability to stay awake and pray with, and for, Jesus.

But Jesus having come to fulfil the scriptures drinks the cup the Father has given him to drink, and all left him and fled.

Some years later Peter is martyred by Nero on an upside-down cross.  In coming weeks, we will hear more about Peter as he denies Jesus and the cock crows. 

The change in Peter who comes from understanding only the things of man to enduring death knowing the things of God, is a comfort for all in the church of the living God. 

Peter drinks the cup Jesus drank.  But it is said that out of respect for his Lord he was crucified on a cross upside-down. 

The event that is Peter’s life, saw a work of God, that took time!  From Jesus calling him on the sea of Galilee, working with the erratic ebbs and flows of his faithlessness and faith, right the way through to where he trusts the Holy Spirit to lead him as the Spirit led his Lord, even to death on an upside-down cross, all occurred in the fullness of God’s time.

In this Lenten season, there is opportunity for us to reflect on the work God is doing in us.  Our life is God’s event, he works in us as he did in Peter.  He gives us a cup of salvation and servanthood from which to drink, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to drink it over time!  Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thankyou for working with Peter, even as you were sending your only Son to the cross.  Thankyou that our life is your event and that you are patient with us, willing us with your Word.  Help us not grieve the Holy Spirit.  But drink the cup of the new covenant, deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and drink deeply from the font of forgiveness, servanthood, and salvation.   Amen.  

B, Lent 2 - Mark 8:31-38 "The Contrary Christ Cycle"

Mark 8:31–38 (ESV) And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

The cycle of life in which we exist requires death to occur.  From the moment we are born, cells in our bodies are dying and new ones are being created.  The cycle of life before the fall, was not one of dying while living, life then death.  Rather, it was life and renewal of life, around the tree of life.  After the fall we lost access to the tree of life and death became the norm. 

Although we now exist in a realm of death, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now have access to the tree of life, and live in the hope of our resurrection.  Yet in the meantime, we exist with the reality of death.  We call this existence, life, but it is really one of dying.

Most think this life is as good as it gets!  Putting aside suffering, most chase mirages of pleasure while waiting for the inevitable evil of dying.

Jesus’ life on earth, was an existence of death before life.  In fact, he is the only human born into the necessity of dying.  All other life on this earth was not created to die.  It was created to live and continue living in the renewal of the tree of life.

Any person with a knowledge of biological science knows life is meant to continue in renewal.  Scientists know this, and many have spent their lifetime searching for the secret of life, but to no avail.   All have gone the way of death searching for this mysterious elixir for the renewal of ongoing life.

Scientists, knowing life should keep continuing, have no answers to why it would ever stop.  They can only examine the existence of what we know.  That is an existence after the fall into sin.  And from this standpoint, philosophers and other great thinkers join them to determine what is good and evil in this existence.

Life then death, pain and a bit of pleasure, then a deadly oblivion or extinction.  It’s not much of an existence to look forward to!  It’s an existence that says, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will die”.

Jesus came teaching the contrary.  He came teaching death leads to life.  That our existence now, is death, and the one to come, is life! 

Instead of making the most of life before death, he was bringing life to our existence of death, he was making the most of his death for true life to occur.

Jesus is the tree of life, giving life on the tree of death, the cross.  Jesus taught that he, the Christ, the Son of Man, was going to serve humanity by being rejected by those who were God’s representatives and be killed by them, yet after three days rise again to life.

Peter, having confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, was intent on a life of glory now, rather than a life lived under the cross.  He seeks to rebuke Jesus, but Jesus rebukes Satan within Peter, saying “Get behind me, Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mark 8:33 ESV)

Within Peter, Satan had blinded him to an understanding and knowledge of humanity, rather than a knowledge of God.  This is the default knowledge in which all of humanity exists, after the fall, having turned its back on God.  

After Jesus harshly rebukes Peter, he again teaches Peter and the other disciples.  But now he also teaches them with the crowd that had gathered!  Jesus teaches a paradox, contrary to humanity’s expectation of life then death. 

He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:34–37 ESV)

Do you come after Jesus?   If I am to come after Jesus, let me deny myself, take up my cross and follow him! 

But how do I do this?  How do I deny myself and carry my cross?

This is not a human work!  If we could deny ourselves and take up our cross, God would never have had to send the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, he would not have needed to send his Son Jesus Christ, if just one person could have been faithful to God, as was Jesus Christ, incarnate in flesh, to die for the life of the world.

Today we celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving.  We thank God for what we have.  For the most part we continue the Pharisaic practice of giving thanks for our food when we sit down for a meal.  In our practice we invite Jesus to be our guest. 

We say, “Come Lord Jesus be our guest, and let this food to us be blessed.” And to this we say, “Amen.”  But the prayer can continue, “Blessed be God who is our bread, may the world be clothed and fed.  Amen.”

Some might believe our prayer is a kind of gate, that on concluding the prayer we open the gate and start eating.  But the Holy Spirit gathers us in prayer in Jesus Christ to be our guest.  And as the addition to the payer says, it is God who truly is our bread that blesses, us, all we produce, all we have, all we eat, and all we share.  Unfortunately, as with Peter and all of us, what spoils our trust in this, “are the things of man”, encouraged by the father of death, the devil himself! 

But the Holy Spirit, fights the deathly human spirit within each of us!  He plants Christ in us, so we take up our cross, deny ourselves and follow him.  With Christ planted within, we no longer live to die, denying others in favour of ourselves.  But rather, we die to live, denying ourselves so the Holy Spirit might use us to serve, as Jesus served!

In the same way you can plant a seed in the ground, and it sprouts and grows, Jesus is the seed planted in you!   His “death and life” cycle is planted in you, conquering the former “life and death” cycle.  This new Christ cycle is the death and resurrection cycle of God’s Holy Seed, promised to Adam and Eve just after the fall in the garden of Eden.  The promise still exists!  The Spirit wills you to be grafted into the cross!

Just as a watered seed has all the life it needs within to germinate, faith germinates in us, with water and the Word of God.   The Holy Spirit enlightens us with God’s Word, sinking the roots of faith even deeper into the eternal powers of God’s Word.  This increases the death to life cycle of the cross even more!

Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  (John 12:24–25 ESV)

Jesus is the Seed of Life, planted in you.  All life comes from God, a wonderful thing for us dying to live, with all that God provides for us on the way to eternal life.  Even greater is our Lord Jesus Christ who lived to die,  dying to produce the fruit of eternal life within you.   

But there is still another twist!  Now that Jesus has reversed the life then death cycle to a death then life cycle, he gives us true life here on earth now, even as we wait for death then eternal life to be unfolded before our eyes. 

He says, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” (Mark 9:1 ESV)

Some saw a brief glimpse of the kingdom of God in the Transfiguration.  Judas and perhaps some in the crowd did taste death before Jesus’ resurrection. 

But, with the eyes of faith, see and know that the kingdom of God has come with power.   This cycle has begun in your baptism.  Baptised into death at the cross, dying to live in eternal life!  In the midst of death, we are in life, life eternal, right now, because we follow our Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen. 

B, The Transfiguration of our Lord - 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 "A Transfigured View"

2 Corinthians 4:3–6 (ESV)  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Standing on top of a mountain, on a beautiful day, one can feel invigorated by what they can see.  One may have laboured to get to the top, making the view all the more sweeter looking down from where they’ve come.  But even those who ascend by an easier mode of transport are no less stimulated by what the top of the mountain reveals.

Travelling up the mountain on foot or by vehicle, both experience a veil of types getting to the top.  Walkers walk with heads down stepping over rocks, cracks, and bush, trying not to fall.  Driving up a mountain one keeps their eyes on the road as the shrouding canopy of trees keeps the twisting road hidden as it winds its way up the mountain.  Either way there’s an expectation there’ll be visions of grandeur having arrived at the peak at where the view can be marvelled.

There are three main mountains from where we see Jesus in his ministry.  The mountain of Transfiguration is the first.  There is speculation on what mountain the transfiguration occurred.  For us the important thing is not what mountain, but that it occurred on a mountain. 

The second mountain is the mountain of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified.  And the last mountain is the mountain from where Jesus ascended.  The exact location of all three places is the focus of much conjecture, and again for us the importance is not on where the mountains are, but what happened on the three mountains and why it occurred.

Mountains were places where God met with man.  Moses received the Ten Commandments and other parts of the Law on Mt. Sinai or Horeb.  Through Elijah God overcame the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.   From there Elijah fled to Horeb where God commissions him to anoint Elisha and promises there are seven thousand, he will leave in Israel, who have not bowed to Baal.  (1 Kings 19:18)  We also remember Noah’s Ark coming to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

Mountains were understood as the pillars on which the heavens stood.  A holy place for a Heavenly God to meet with his human hosts on earth!  A place of sacrifice where people sought God’s favour or angered God by sacrificing to false gods.   Mt. Carmel and the tradition of Baal worship on mountains comes to mind again.  Think about the mountain built on the plain at Babel to challenge God.  We also can remember God testing Abraham on Mount Moriah when he is reprieved from sacrificing Isaac at the eleventh hour.

Spectacular things happen on mountains, opening the eyes of those there, regardless of the event being very good or very bad.  It’s no different at the three mountains of the Gospel, there is much to see on these mountains!

Peter, James, and John were overcome with the brightness of God the Son on the first mountain.  At this mountain they saw but at the same time they were veiled too!  It was not until after the second mountain that the veil began to come off.  Then in the fullness of time after Jesus’ resurrection and ten days after his ascension from the third mountain was their veil fully removed at Pentecost.

Not only is there much to see on the three mountains, but there is also much to be seen from the mountains! 

On the mountain of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw but only for a moment.  Yet they did not see what Jesus saw.  While they were looking at Jesus, Jesus was looking from the mountain at the whole of God’s creation groaning under the weight of humanity’s sin.  He was viewing all the kingdoms of the world and their glory that Satan earlier had tempted him to covet,  when human hunger and fleshy desire tested him in the wilderness.

Jesus looked out and saw another mountain!  He saw the mountain of Calvery on which the cross would be raised, onto which Jesus would truly be stretched out in sacrificial glory.

Peter, James, and John, could not see this mountain, nor could they understand that the Son of God was the Son of Man.  Nor did they know that to be the true and faithful Son of Man, he would die on this mountain, serving and saving humanity, in a seemingly evil event, from a truly evil event.

However, the evil intentions humanity had for Christ on the cross, God worked for our good on that Friday!  Blinded by sin and evil, we saw him put in the grave, but God had greater intentions for Jesus’ innocent sufferings, death, and descent into hell.  God raised him in glory.

But back on the mountain of Transfiguration, the three disciples did not see this glory, for they did not even understand the glory of the Son of God.  How could they have even begun to perceive the glory of the Son of Man, dying, and being raised in victory over sin and death?  All they could do was, “listen to him” as the Heavenly Father had commanded them!

The veil under which humanity stood, only began to be lifted, once the Holy Spirit came ten days after Jesus ascended from the third mountain.   At Pentecost, those formerly veiled were turned, having had the Holy Spirit shine the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In the beginning God first said, “Let there be light.”   But sin’s darkness veiled the light of life, and instead we saw only death.   Now by the Holy Spirit the veil is removed and “God… has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6b ESV)

At first the three disciples were veiled, then in the fullness of time, having been sent as Apostles in the power of the Holy Spirit, their eyes were unveiled and turned having received the light of knowledge.  Now they could see as Jesus saw from the mountains of Transfiguration, Calvary, and Ascension.

You too now bear the light of God!  The mountain on which you see the spectacular view is the mountain of God’s Word, having been given the Holy Spirit, when you were baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection.  You are a light for Jesus Christ, fully unveiled to shine Jesus into the darkness.  You shine the Light of Light, the very God of very God!  You are a light of the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, to illuminate the Light of Life, Jesus Christ!

We, having had the Word of Life shone in our hearts, not only have a glimpse of the transfigured glory that God promises for us eternally.  We now stand on the mountain of God’s Word with transfigured faith and see as Jesus sees, just as the Apostles saw with the eyes of Holy Spirited faith after Pentecost. 

Just as Jesus served, we too can serve bearing the image of God, for we bear the image of his resurrected Son!  Our knowledge is one of Law and Gospel, death and resurrection. 

Whether the mountain ascent is simple and easy or it’s difficult and dangerous, the view from the top is resurrection glory.

As Jesus leads you up the mountain, there will be times when the going is good and times when it’s downright tough.  Keep in mind the transfiguration of Jesus Christ as he looked out from the mountain of Transfiguration!   He set his sights on the hardships of death on the mountain of death, but endured it, seeing the joy of resurrection victory and the heavenly mountain of ascension glory.

We too live in the knowledge of the all-encompassing power of God the Holy Spirit who sustained and raised Jesus’ flesh, will also sustain, and raise us.

Therefore we, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:10–11 ESV)

So, like Paul, who is given over to death, for the life of the Corinthians in Jesus Christ, we too, “do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV)

Paul says, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,  knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.”  (2 Corinthians 4:13–14 ESV)

The vision we see from the top of the mountain is our resurrection and eternal transfiguration with Jesus.   The Holy Spirit unveils the way of Jesus through the valley of the shadow of death into the glorious cleansing day of the cross and our resurrection.  Amen.

C, Post-Pentecost 12 Proper 17 - Psalm 112 "Blessed"

Psalm 112:1–10 (ESV) Praise the LORD!  Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!  His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.  Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.  Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.  It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice.  For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.  He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.  His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.  He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honour.  The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish!

The readings for this Sunday all dwell on the biblical theme of blessedness; that is, to be blessed as a state of being, to be blessed by someone, or to bless.  What does it mean to bless someone, to be blessed by someone, and the state of blessedness?

To be blessed in its simplest form is to be happy or fortunate.  But if a person seeks to bless themselves or deem themselves as blessed, it’s actually one of the quickest ways to become angry with everyone around them as well as themselves.  So, to be blessed and to bless is much more than being happy, being fortunate, being pleased or pleasing someone else.

At the end of the gospel reading today, when dining in the house of a Pharisee ruler, Jesus says, “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,  and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. ” (Luke 14:13-14a)

Straight away in this text, we see being blessed when one gives a feast to those who cannot repay, is not about being happy.  One may be happy to do this but more is going on.

The biblical definition of “blessedness” has a much deeper function than just happiness and being fortunate.  In Psalm 112 we hear, “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (Psalm 112:1 ESV)

The person who is blessed here can be happy or pleased.  But the question one must ask, “Is why can they be pleased or happy?” 

The Hebrew word for blessed has at its root the meaning to be straight or level.  When one is on the straight and narrow, they move forward with confidence, with honesty, in the right way, on a level path.  Or, if one is “on the level” they are honest and are being truthful. 

When a person is level or blessed, they are balanced.   A good way of understanding blessed as balanced is like that of a level set of scales.  Neither leaning to the left nor the right, but evenly balanced.

The straightness of being blessed also means, straight up and down too.  That is to be upright.  It is no accident therefore, in Psalm 112 that after it says, “Blessed the man who fears the Lord”, it continues in verse two, “His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.  Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.  Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.”  (Psalm 112:2–4 ESV)

Twice the Psalmist says “upright” in these verses.  So, one who is blessed, balanced, level or upright, can endure forever in righteousness.  This person can move forward on a level plain in the face of the ups and downs of trials and tribulations.

In these verses it says, “the generation of the upright will be blessed.”  The Hebrew literally says, “the blessed will be blessed”, when it says “the upright will be blessed.”  But these two Hebrew words have different meanings.

Whereas the first “blessed” we’ve looked at, means “upright or balanced”.  Here the second “blessed” means, “to kneel or bend oneself in adoration or to curse”.  This adoration or cursing is what one does in worship when they’re in awe of someone, or if they hate and curse them because they’re believed to be awful. 

Blessing here is about praise and its opposite; what one says about someone else.  So when it says, “The blessed will be blessed” it means, “the upright or the balanced will be bowed down to, praised and spoken well of”!

Notice these two forms of blessedness are pictures of body language.  One is straight up and down, or balanced and level, while the other is bent bowing, honouring, and saying good to others about them.  This is not surprising as the Hebrew language was originally a spoken language of oral tradition, an unwritten picture language, whereas the Greek of the New Testament is an academic written language.

In the New Testament, the most well-known verses on blessings are the Beatitudes where Jesus teaches the crowd and the disciples at the Sermon on the Mount.

The other word for bless in the New Testament is a Greek word familiar to us in English, eulogy, which means to speak good words about someone.

The readings today all deal with the theme of “blessedness”.  If one seeks to be blessed in one’s own sight and takes the seat of honour, the writer of Proverbs tells us, this can lead to being humiliated.

“Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great,  for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”   (Proverbs 25:6–7 ESV)

Jesus heals a man at the house of a Pharisee ruler.  His fellow diners could not answer Jesus’ logic for healing this fellow on the Sabbath.  Jesus then tells a parable about those who took the honoured positions at a wedding feast. 

Put yourselves in the place of the guest?  What happens when you take the positions of honour?  Will you bless the host, or expect to be blessed?  How level-headed or balanced are you if you take the honoured position, especially when someone of greater honour arrives?  Not only is blessedness about body language.   It’s also about one’s prominence, status, or social standing in society. 

Blessedness not only deals with body language but also reputation.  What is your reputation like with God?  Are you blessed by God?  What does that actually mean?  It means, when Jesus returns in his glory to separate the sheep from the goats, will you be one of the goats who have blessed oneself or one of the sheep blessed by God?  What type of reputation do you have with God?

Jesus says, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  (Luke 14:11 ESV)

I cannot imagine a worse thought than the humiliation of being labelled by God “a goat” or a person of ill-repute on judgement day.   Do you want to be treated by the Eternal Host of heaven the same way you have hosted those God puts before you here on earth? 

What makes us good blokes, good sheilas, good people in God’s eyes?

Let Psalm 112 be the text that judges you.  It starts out with the command to “Praise the Lord!”  Do you praise God as Lord all the time or do you Lord it over others, or do you busy yourself, so others praise you?

Do you fear the Lord, do you delight in his commandments.  What makes your offspring mighty?  When others bless you does it turn people to God or away from God?  Does your wealth and riches fuel righteousness that endures… forever!  Are you gracious, merciful, and righteous?  By whose justice do you conduct your affairs?  Will you be remembered forever?  Is your heart firm in the face of death, or even as you hear these questions?  Are you considering the poor when you leave here today?  Or perhaps, this line of questioning irks you and makes you get angry?

We realise very quickly that our blessedness, when built on ourselves, makes us no better than a ruling Pharisee or his guests, angry because we’re not getting the honour, we believe we deserve.

Yet we praise the Lord!  How can that be, since God clearly shows us through Jesus’ parable, we present ourselves as honoured guests but are quickly humiliated by the Word of God? 

It’s here we’re called to see that God is the one who is inviting us to his banquet.   He invites us, his church, as the bride of the Bridegroom.  You and I are the poor, crippled, the lame, and the blind.  Now married to Jesus Christ the Head of the heavenly house, we can be compassionate to those who like us are poor, crippled, lame, and blind.  Like us who have been made friends in the wedding feast of the Lamb, we can befriend our enemies, just as Jesus has done with us.

So, praise the LORD, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Why? 

Because Jesus is the man who fears the LORD, and delights in his commandments.  We are his offspring, mighty in the land, we are the generation of the balanced, blessedly helpless forgiven sinners to whom God bows and blesses, because we confess our sin and forgive those who sin against us!  The light of God has dawned in the darkness of our hearts, showing us sin to confess. 

Why do we do this?  Because God deals generously with you.  He lends you his Son and the Holy Spirit.  He is justifying you with the justice of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  You won’t be moved while you allow the Holy Spirit to remain.  You are not afraid of bad news; you are firm, trusting in the Good News.  God has won the victory over your sinful self!  You can now distribute freely; Christ has exalted you and in him your righteousness endures forever.

Your old Adam will be angry!  But that is a good sign of your salvation too.  He is angry because he is dying, he might gnash his teeth, but he is melting away, he and all his desires are dying, leaving Jesus the Bridegroom of heaven to take you as his bride, the church.  He forgives and feeds you and me, in his eternal wedding feast! 

Praise the LORD!  Jesus has balanced your scales!  God blesses you; you are blessed!  Amen.