A, The Resurrection of our Lord, Easter Sunday - Colossians 3:1–4 "Living in Transitory Times"

Colossians 3:1–4 (ESV) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The Early Church referred to Easter Sunday or the Day of Jesus’ Resurrection as the “Eighth Day”!  The resurrection of our Lord on the first day of the week, is a new eternal day, the eighth day for those who believe in him. Many were baptised on the Easter Resurrection anniversary, celebrating the rebirth of an eternal re-creation through Jesus Christ’s resurrection.  Therefore, many baptismal fonts and pools were eight-sided, as a reminder of the eternal eighth day.   Holy Baptism  into Jesus’ death and resurrection is the eternal dawn through which the old seven days of creation have been reborn.

The symbol is simple: turn the number eight on its side and you see the sign of eternity “∞”. Every Sunday is a weekly Easter, a weekly eighth day, a weekly reminder that through Christ’s holy and precious blood the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, and enlightens God’s children. In Christ’s sinless perfection, the angel of eternal death passes over us. Jesus’ victory over sin and death shields us, and the Spirit continues to sanctify us in that holiness.

But, like all those who’ve gone before us we also live in the old seven day week.  We live in transitory times between Eden and Paradise—we stand between what was broken and what will be restored.  Today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the Resurrection, the freedom from death, the forgiveness of sin, the “Cross-road” and rebirth of creation through Christ, who was pushed through death so we might be reborn into his eternal creation.

Yet, creation still groans under the old seven day week.  Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that, “we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22–23 ESV)

We who believe in Christ and not in ourselves look forward with eternal reassurance trusting in things above.  Yet, we wait for the full adoption and  redemption of our bodies. These are bodies burdened with being built in the old seven day week on earth. 

On this first day of what seems to be another  burdensome week, it’s hard to see that our life is hidden with Christ in God, as God goes with us into the next seven days of suspense and uncertainty.

What appears for us in Christ is a paradox, a seeming contradiction between the worldly reality of the old repetitive seven day week and the new eighth day that points us to Christ, his resurrection, and patiently waiting for our resurrection to finally occur!  But it’s not the only paradox, or contradiction that has occurred.  And the signs of this are all around us if we take into consideration what’s been going on over the last century!

A parishioner who lived nearly a century once reflected that each generation, shaped by the Depression and two world wars, tried to give the next “a better life”. But in seeking comfort, we often turned from the eighth‑day paradox of resurrection to the pleasure paradox of this world. In seeking something “better”, we set our minds on earthly things rather than on Christ above. In this paradox of pleasure humanity continues to seek its glory in the darkness and sin of the seven-day week.  The shift from Christ to comfort is not without consequence.

This shift has been growing for more than a century. When we abandon this Christ‑centred teaching, when any part of Christendom trades the eighth day for the seven‑day pursuit of pleasure, something vital is lost.

If we truly believe that the Lutheran confession of Law and Gospel is the clearest expression of God’s Word and his will, then it is not only a blessing for Lutherans — it’s a gift for Christendom and for the world.  If we believe this, this Christ-centred teaching must be necessary for the survival of a broken fragile worldly ecosystem.

So, we must ask ourselves:

What does the world lose when the church seeks earthly glory?

What happens to the world when the life raised with Christ is pushed aside by us individually or as a community?

What occurs when the Holy Spirit’s calling, gathering, and enlightening is resisted in favour of worldly pressures?

A third paradox has been steadily snowballing since we’ve turned from the eighth day paradox of the Resurrection back to the pleasure paradox of seeking something apparently “better” in this life.

History shows the pattern, so too does the bible! When humanity seeks freedom apart from God, a third paradox appears! God withdraws his presence from his people and without his protection the world grows darker. The twentieth century saw this paradox under Hitler and Stalin.

Today we see similar patterns in the messianic politics of Trump and Putin, and in the retaliatory disobedience of individuals and nations across the globe. These are not merely unconnected social or geopolitical problems. They are symptoms of a deeper spiritual disobedience — a world chasing the seven‑day cycle while rejecting the eighth‑day Christ.

Today we can stand, look, and learn from the past.  We can see and learn from our sins now forgiven in the past, to direct us in the future.  We can see the escalating fever, within us, in the world, and in the deep groaning of creation to learn that while we seek greater freedoms in and from this life, God withdraws! Rather than becoming better, everything gets worse!  Such is this third paradox!

So again, we ask ourselves:

How is our world suffering at the hands of Christianity’s disobedience? 

What about the Lutheran Church’s disobedience towards its Christ-centred teaching? 

What are the consequences for the Lutheran Church and the communities in which it lives when seeking the seven-day week for the self rather than seeking the kingdom of God and his eternal eighth day?

If we hold that our Lutheran teaching is true, what happens when the calling, gathering, and enlightening work of the Holy Spirit is rejected?

What does the word of God say when Jews or Gentiles resisted and rejected God’s word?

So, we cry out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, save us from being eternally wounded!”

All are called to repentance through Christ’s suffering and death.  All individuals are called to put the old self to death and be raised!  No one is exempt from being called to repentance. No one can be raised up in Christ’s resurrection without the Holy Spirit working repentance within. 

Worldly struggles today are massive.  Neither diplomacy nor bombs will heal what we have broken. The free‑flowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz will not stabilise the world any more than the end of Covid lockdowns healed our anxieties. The only remedy is repentance — a return to the things above, where Christ is, our peace.

Jesus himself trusted the Father through his death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit now calls us to the same, and to submit once again to God’s word rather than our own words, opinions, and thoughts, or the thoughts, opinions, and words of someone we’ve allowed to become our messiah on social media! 

Thankfully there is no partiality with God!  All people are called to repentance. All are called to die and rise with Christ. All Christians are called daily to allow the Holy Spirit to put to death the sins of our seven-day cycle and trust in the resurrection on the eighth day.

The Church — Lutheran and otherwise — is called again to stand in the eighth‑day light of Christ, trusting that when he appears, we also will appear with him in glory.

Amen.

 

Sermon Summary: “Living in Transitory Times”

Colossians 3:1–4 proclaims that those who have been raised with Christ now belong to a new reality — the life “hidden with Christ in God.” The Early Church called Easter the Eighth Day, the dawn of God’s eternal new creation breaking into the old seven‑day world. Baptism joins believers to this eternal day, marking them as participants in Christ’s resurrection even as they still live within the burdens and groaning of the old creation.

Yet we inhabit a paradox. We celebrate the Resurrection while still walking through a world marked by decay, sin, and uncertainty. Creation groans, and we groan with it, longing for the redemption of our bodies. The tension between the old seven‑day world and the eternal eighth‑day life is not merely philosophical — it is visible in history, culture, and the spiritual condition of humanity.

Across the last century, generations seeking “a better life” often traded the eighth‑day hope for the seven‑day pursuit of comfort and pleasure. When the Church shifts its gaze from Christ above to earthly glory, something essential is lost. When Law and Gospel — the heart of Lutheran, Christ‑centred teaching — is neglected, the world is deprived of the very truth that sustains it.

History shows that when humanity seeks freedom apart from God, God withdraws His protection and the world darkens. The horrors of the twentieth century and the messianic politics of today are not merely geopolitical crises but symptoms of deeper spiritual disobedience — a world rejecting the eighth‑day Christ for the seven‑day self.

The remedy is not diplomacy, power, or prosperity. The only remedy is repentance — a return to the things above, where Christ is. All are called to die and rise with Christ daily, to let the Spirit put to death the old self, and to stand again in the eighth‑day light of the Resurrection. The Church is called to trust that when Christ appears, we also will appear with Him in glory.

 Reflection Questions for Personal or Group Study

1. The Eighth Day & Our Identity

•      Where in your life do you most feel the tension between the “old seven‑day world” and the “eighth‑day” life you have in Christ?

•      How does remembering your baptism help you live with confidence in this tension?

2. Setting Our Minds on Things Above

•      What are the “earthly things” that most easily distract you from Christ?

•      What practices help you re‑orient your mind toward “things above”?

3. The Paradox of Comfort

•      In what ways has the pursuit of comfort or “a better life” shaped your faith, for good or for ill?

•      How might the Church today be tempted to trade the eighth‑day hope for seven‑day pleasures?

4. The Church’s Calling in a Groaning World

•      What does the world lose when the Church seeks earthly glory instead of Christ’s glory?

•      How can your congregation bear clearer witness to Law and Gospel in a culture chasing self‑made freedom?

5. Repentance as the Only Remedy

•      Where is the Holy Spirit calling you to repentance — personally, communally, or culturally?

•      How does repentance restore your vision of Christ as your life, your peace, and your future?

6. Living Toward the Appearing of Christ

•      What does it mean for you that “your life is hidden with Christ in God”?

•      How does the promise that “you will appear with Him in glory” shape the way you face the coming week? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

C, 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 Sixth Sunday after Epiphany - Luke 6:17-26 "Word of Comfort"

Jesus is proclaimed from the mountains to the plains.  The comfort of his proclamation is this: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25 ESV) He says these words to Martha whose brother Lazarus had died some days before.

For us who are being saved in these days of death, before us are blessings and curses.  In a nutshell we are told: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” And, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5&7 ESV)

Psalm One parallels these words of Jeremiah, speaking of the fruit of the blessed, and the wicked or cursed as being chaff, saying “the wicked will not stand in the judgement”! (Psalm 1:5 ESV)

The power of Jesus healed the diseases and touched the hearts of those with unclean spirits, at the “level place”.  What he then preaches is essentially the same he said at the sermon on the mount, recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. 

Matthews Gospel was originally intended to be a catechism for Jewish believers, who would have remembered the proclamation of blessings and curses commanded by Moses, for Joshua and the Israelites to speak the blessings from Mount Gerizim and the curses from Mount Ebal. (Please read Deuteronomy 11:26-29, 27:1-26, Joshua 8:30-35)  So, the Jewish hearers and readers who understood what God was doing through Moses and Joshua would have found great comfort in Matthew’s  Gospel account of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”.  

But at the sermon on the plain here in Luke’s Gospel there’s a wider audience as we’ve heard.  Disciples, Jews from Judea and Jerusalem, and Gentiles from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon hear Jesus proclaim not just the blessings of the sermon on the mount but also the woes or curses. 

Now in this level place, Jesus levels the playing field between the Jews who knew the Law.  The blessings and curses of God made known on the mountains of God, are now plainly set before Jews and Gentile.  Jesus flatly addresses all the discomforts and comforts to all humanity on level ground from the word of God for the first time.   The word of God has descended from the mountain and the Jews, to the plain for the Gentiles too!

Then, all those troubled by unclean spirits heard him, and those with diseases were healed by him.  But he lifts up his eyes to address his disciples.  These are the twelve disciples whom he had just set apart as apostles, together with many other disciples who followed him.  Also in his hearing are other Jews, but furthermore the Gentile Phoenicians from the coastal areas of Tyre and Sidon hear him too.

But with all these present, it’s to his disciples he says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.  Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.  But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.  Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:20–26 ESV)

Are these comforting words?  How do you see those who were healed receiving these words?  As comfort or discomfort?  How do you think the disciples received them?  Jesus levels the playing field with his word of balance, his word of blessing and woe!

But it’s to you Jesus asks: Are you comforted by being poor, and discomforted by being rich?  Are you satisfied by being hungry, and discomforted by being full?  Are your tears comforting, and your laughter in these days of death discomforting?  Are you comforted by being hated, and treated as evil because you believe Jesus, and his word?  And are you discomforted by those who say nice things about you but hate Jesus’ word?

Are you blessed by your comforts this side of the resurrection, or blessed by the promised comforts coming after the resurrection?  Are you cursed and in despair by your comforts this side of the resurrection, or will you be cursed and in despair afterwards?

Jesus’ Word is the great levelling field!  In fact, Jesus himself is the great leveller!  He gives blessed balance to our existence calling out the comforts that need to be named as idols.  But he also shows us the true comfort we can have in him, despite knowing our existence, now, is broken. 

Your being was never meant to be dying.  Jesus teaches he is the way, the truth, and the life.  The Word of God reveals that human existence begins by being born only to be delivered into death, but through Jesus’ death and resurrection your being can continue forever with life!  Surely that is our comfort in this world of discomfort.

We have just sung: “Comfort, comfort all my people with the comfort of my Word. Speak it tender to my people: All your sins are taken away.”

Our sins are taken away!  That should be a comfort for us!  Why?  Because now we can focus on the true comforts of God’s kingdom.  However, using the forgiveness of sins to carry on in our own comforts that teach us to turn from God to selfishness, and the creation of our own kingdoms of idols to worship instead of God, is not what God intends for us. 

You and I are reminded of this in the woes with which Jesus balances the Jews and Gentiles at his sermon on the plain.  As God the Father did with the Jews at Mount Sinai and at Mount Ebal when they entered Canaan.  Jesus continues to balance us with the reality of blessings and woes today, as we’re moved over the mountains of our suffering and across the vast plains of temptation towards our resurrection, being led in the comfort of Jesus’ way, truth, and life.

Yet, we hear the true nature of our existence after Jeremiah tells us we are cursed by trusting ourselves, over against the blessing we receive in trusting God.  He says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  (Jeremiah 17:9–10 ESV)

With our hearts being desperately sick, is there any comfort for us, is there any consolation from the blessings we hear and receive from Jesus and the Word of God?  Some might hear Jesus say, “…woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24 ESV)  And think, “My riches in this existence of suffering and death are the only consolation or comfort I can attain. I just can’t do what Jesus requires of me, even now that my sins are taken away.  Therefore, many are deceived into returning to the comforts of one’s self-seeking pleasures. 

Or, on hearing the blessings of being poor, hungry, weeping, and being hated, they’re too much to add to the suffering and death of our human existence!  So, there’s a temptation to reject these blessings as just nice sentiment.  But sentiment doesn’t have any eternal substance!  One quickly finds themself impatiently returning to pursue the passing pleasures of the heart, believing God’s word insufficient to console and comfort.

If Jesus was to just leave us with his word of comfort, for us to figure out his way, his truth, and his life, without any help, his word would end up being a discomfort to us.  But he doesn’t leave us to our own devices.  Jesus comforts us with a Comforter!

He has led us out of ourselves, and he continues to do so today.  Right from the Early Church era, after Saul became a believer, and became known as Paul, we hear, “…the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”  (Acts 9:31 ESV)

In John fourteen Jesus tells us he has left us the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter; our Helper.  The Holy Spirit helps us in the comfort that, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8 ESV)

Like Simeon who waited his whole life for the consolation of Israel in the birth of the Messiah, now that Jesus has come, has been crucified and has been raised from the dead, we too wait for the consolation of Christianity in the comforting promise of Jesus Christ’s second coming.  

The Holy Spirit comforts us in his work of faith building.  He does this, with ongoing forgiveness, to make us God’s holy people, with the work of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and his word and sacraments.

The Holy Spirit now wages war with the human self within each of us.  He seeks to hinder and stop the old human nature from resurrecting itself and re-creating its idols of comfort and recreation.  He’s sent to comfort and console, and to level us with God’s Word, so we’re easily led to Jesus Christ.   The Holy Spirit works within, so we believe and receive the comforts of Jesus’ Word. 

The Holy Spirit seeks to comfort you with the implanted word that Jesus is the resurrection, but he’s also the re-creation and recreation of life, right now!  That believing in him, although you die, you shall seek, and one day live in, the kingdom of God.  Amen. 

B, Post Pentecost 4 Proper 6 - 2 Corinthians 5:6–17 "A Godly Home"

2 Corinthians 5:6–10 (ESV)  So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,  for we walk by faith, not by sight.  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, as he does to all whom he writes, to call the congregation into faithfulness to Jesus Christ, who is the faithful King of Kings!

While he is with them, he is meek, but in his absence his letters are far from gentle.  In his letters to the Corinthians, he calls them to repentance; to turn away from the comforts of their pleasures to the comforts of Christ. He calls them to take good courage from his guidance even though what he says to them does cause them internal suffering and hurt.

He says, “For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.  As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting.  For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.  For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”  (2 Corinthians 7:8–10 ESV)

Paul prepares the Corinthians for the resurrection of the dead.  He goes to great lengths to unpack this in his first letter to the Corinthians in chapter fifteen, as some in the congregation claim there is no resurrection, which left unchallenged by Paul would have pushed the Corinthians back into a worldly grief that produces eternal death.

Today in the reading from Second Corinthians chapter five,  Paul calls for courage to walk by faith and not sight, to please the Lord while we are in our bodily home, as we wait to be home with the Lord.

He sobers them, and you and me, with a reminder that on our way to being home with the Lord, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”  (2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV)

In saying this Paul affirms what Jesus himself says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.”  (Matthew 25:31–33 ESV)

While Jesus dwelt amongst his apostles, he teaches them to preach this.  We hear Peter speak of Jesus’ judgement to the Gentiles, saying, “he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”  (Acts 10:42 ESV)

Paul says to the Corinthians, and to you and me, after you leave your bodily home, you will receive your due for what you’ve practised, whether good or evil.  A little further on in the text he says something quite strange at its first hearing, “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.”  (2 Corinthians 5:13 ESV)

Here Paul is using the same home language as he first used with the Corinthians, “Home in the Lord or at home in the body”.  When they are beside themselves Paul and other’s whose work is to teach, are at home with the Lord, and seek the hearer to have a Godly home too.  If Paul and other teachers are in their right minds, they suffer in the home of their bodies, to make homes for the hearers with the Lord.

Paul and those who are called to proclaim the truth of the resurrection of Christ and his judgement are led by the Holy Spirit, having been sent by Jesus Christ to guide all disciples of Christ, now that the old self is dead.

We hear, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;  and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:14–15,17 ESV)

Now that you are a new creation, you’re called to examine yourself.  You are invited to look at what germinates within you, to see what kind of home you desire for yourself and what kind of home you proclaim to others, with your thoughts, with your words, and with your actions.

Psalm ninety-two also talks of seeds sprouting and trees growing.  In it the psalmist compares a stupid man as sprouting grass, here one moment, but doomed to destruction, versus the righteous person, like cedars and palms planted in the courts of the Lord, whose evergreen life still bears fruit in its old age.

The psalmist uses the picture of cedars and palms because of their longevity and their fruit, but he also uses them because the cedars are the biggest trees living on the highest mountains of the Middle East.  The palms are date palms, a tree that gives life in the desert, with a fruit that’s the sugar of the Middle East, a tree of life in a desolate place. 

But the psalmist uses the image of the cedar and the palm for the righteous, because those who came into God’s presence to sabbath in the temple, were surrounded by the cedars of Lebanon that built and lined the temple.  The walls of the temple were carved with palms, so that those who came into God’s house came into his sabbath rest on the seventh day.  A re-creation of the garden of Eden, with trees of life.  They came to make a Godly home with the God who seeks to dwell with his people.

As we are at home in our bodies, God seeks to cause Godly grief within you and me.  Those who don’t carry Godly grief put trust in their bodily home and fail to recognise the body is a temporary failing dwelling.  God seeks to sustain you through death to finally reveal the new creation, you’ve hopefully allowed God to work.

At the resurrection our seed of either good or evil will receive its reward.  What will the resurrection reveal about the type of seed that’s germinated within you?

We might be surprised that what we perceive as being good, might just be what God deems as evil.  Whereas the good God looks for, are the very deeds, we tend to overlook and avoid most of the time.

Here again God works for Godly grief that leads to repentance!   In fact, humility leading to repentance is one of the great goods that God seeks, glorifying God’s work of creation, Jesus’ work of redemption, and the Holy Spirit’s work of leading us to drown the human spirit, the old self, in daily repentance.   

Follow Jesus alone!  He is the way, the truth, and the life!   The good, God seeks, are works of faith in him, and what he is doing.  Godly grief leads to a Godly home!  But bodily glory leads to worldly and bodily grief, and eternal death. 

Finally, the pictures of the mustard seed, and the man broadcasting seeds of grain, as parables of the kingdom of heaven, are pictures of God planting humanity and Jesus Christ.

The sickle will be put into God’s crop, and the good seed will be sieved from the bad.  Jesus became the smallest of seeds for humanity and was buried in the ground in death.  Our seed is made good only by this Mustard Seed.  In his resurrection this Mustard Seed has germinated and grown larger than the cedars of Lebanon, and his fruit is sweeter than the sweetest of dates.  In his resurrection, Jesus is the new glorious temple for our new creation in which to rest and tabernacle, with God our Father!

Don’t try to convince God of your goodness, using the tree of your knowledge of good and evil.  It didn’t work for Adam and Eve, and it won’t work for you either!

Those who wish to receive a Godly home on judgement day, will do well to allow the Holy Spirit to make their home in this Mustard Tree, to rest and remain in these branches of Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life!  Amen.

Heavenly Father, you have sent us Jesus Christ, who has constructed and gives us his way with the timbers of the tree of the cross, who is the Tree of Truth on that cross, and the Tree of Life, from whom the Holy Spirit descends to gather us into his branches and helps us bear our cross.  Heavenly Father, give us good courage to trust our home is in the shade of your eternal love.  Amen. 

B, Easter 4, Good Shepherd Sunday - John 10:11,17-18 "The Good Shepherd's Power"

John 10:11, 17–18 (ESV)  "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

The kingdom and the power and the glory are God the Father’s.  In Jesus’ victory over death in his death and resurrection, God the Father has given Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, the kingdom, the power, and the glory.  The Father did this, “when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places”. (Ephesians 1:20 ESV)

Here in the Good Shepherd narrative, Jesus refers to the power he has, as a result of the “command”(literally in the Greek), or “charge” he has received from God the Father. 

As we just heard in Ephesians chapter one, Jesus’ resurrection is usually referred to as passive.  In all but a couple of instances, we’re told Jesus “was raised” from the dead by God the Father or God the Holy Spirit.

Here in John ten, Jesus tells us he has authority to lay his life down and to take it up.  Also, in John chapter two, after he clears the temple and confronts the Jews, he says of his own body, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  (John 2:19 ESV)

Humanity has the power to lay down its life but taking it up again is somewhat problematic!

Many valiant individuals have thrown themselves in harm’s way, to save the life of another.  Many parents or spouses have given their lives for each other or their children.  Soldiers in active combat, in service to our country, have laid down their lives on the battlefield, some even taking their own lives to protect national secrets from the enemy.  Others, blinded by hopelessness, lay down their lives through suicide.

None of these though, who have laid down their lives, honourably or otherwise,  have been able to take their lives back up again!  Once you’re dead, you’re dead!

Jesus’ authority is different.  He has the authority to lay down in death, and he has the authority to take life back up.  He has the power to give himself unto death, and he has the power to return from the dead.  Having been commanded by God, he had the right to die on the cross, and having died a sinless death, pleasing the Father, he had the right to take his sinless life back up!

As a human being, it might seem Jesus’ power to take back his life, as being on an unequal footing with us.  After all, the great claim of Jesus being our Saviour, is that he became like us in every way.  If Jesus is like me, how is it that he can raise himself from death, and I can’t!  Since when I die, despite how noble a cause my death might serve, I still can’t raise myself back to life.

We know that the majority of biblical sources tell us that Jesus “was” raised, and he did not raise himself!  Even in John chapter two after Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  (John 2:19 ESV)  John notes in verse twenty-two, “When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”  (John 2:22 ESV)  They don’t remember Jesus as raising himself but rather that he “was raised”, and they believe!

How do we reconcile Jesus being raised and Jesus raising up himself?  And in understanding this anomaly, what is God’s word to us who live in our Good Shepherd’s resurrection power and authority?

The Gospel of John takes up the new commandment of God in the work of Jesus Christ his Son.  This work was done with authority and power, and he had the  right to do so. 

Be reminded of what we’re told in John chapter one.  “He [The Word who was God] …came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. (John 1:11–12 ESV)

This right to become children of God is the power or the authority to become children of God.  Just as Jesus had the right to take up his life, we have the right to take up our Christian life as the children of God.  In fact, just as Jesus was commanded by our Father, Jesus commands us, saying, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 ESV)

So how Jesus takes up his life, has a very real bearing, on how we too are to take up the commandment to love as Jesus has loved us!

Jesus laid down his life and took it back up again.  But what was this life, and from where did its power come?

Jesus’ authority, power, or right, comes from the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father and God the Son. 

In love, the Father and the Holy Spirit, work through the Son’s vulnerability in the flesh of a human body susceptible of sin.  He was made incarnate in the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit was caused to be seen resting on Jesus when he was baptised in the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness throughout his ministry, where angelic messengers from God ministered to him.

Commanded by God, Jesus willingly, and for the joy set before him, walked the way of the cross, laying down his life. 

When Jesus lay down his life, he lay it right down into the lowest depths on Holy Saturday, the depths of hell!  We hear in First Peter, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,  in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison”.  (1 Peter 3:18–19 ESV)

The Holy Spirit gave Jesus Christ life within his spirit.  So, even in death and descent into hell, the light of his life, shone in hell’s darkness, exposing sin.  Jesus Christ’s sinless life shone in hell!  Not for salvation!  But, as reminder to those who chose not to receive God, that they no longer have access to a Redeemer or redemption.

Jesus lay his life down and took it up again.  Jesus has the power and authority within himself, of himself, but not for himself.  This is no selfish or individualistic whim!  No!  This is Jesus’ freedom in obedience to the command and will of the Father.  He has the power to raise himself, yet he allows the Holy Spirit to raise him, despite having the authority and power to do it himself.

The Spirit gives Jesus’ life; and Jesus takes up this life once again at his resurrection.  Our Good Shepherd’s servanthood in power and authority continues today having been raised.   Jesus our Good Shepherd actively became passive so that passively he became, and now is, active.

Because this is so contrary to who we are, and how we think and work, let me say that again! Jesus actively became passive, so that passively he became, and now is, active.

You now live in the life that Jesus has picked up in power and authority.  You now have the right to be children of God.  The Holy Spirit, who brings you to Jesus in his word and sacraments, authorises you and empowers you to live in the life of Jesus.  To serve as he serves, to love as he loves, and to forgive as he forgives!

You no longer can be condemned, as Paul reminds us in Romans, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”  (Romans 8:34 ESV)

Jesus now eternally serves and shepherds us with life.   In his power and authority, by faith, see him interceding for you before our Heavenly Father. 

But Jesus, our Good and Risen Shepherd, is not only before the Father in heaven, but he’s amongst and within us, his body.  He serves and shepherds us!  So, through us, he might serve and shepherd others with his power and authority!

It is now our right as Christians in the power and authority of Jesus Christ, to serve others as he and the Father continually send the Holy Spirit, to raise us up in newness of life in him, our Good Shepherd.  Amen.

B, Easter 3 - Acts 3:14-16, 1 John 3:2-3, Luke 24:45-49 "The Author of Life"

Acts 3:14–16 (ESV)  But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,  and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.  And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

1 John 3:2–3 (ESV)  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Luke 24:45–49 (ESV)  Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,  and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

*******

The Author of life is raised by God from death.  The Author of life opens the minds of those who are gathered before him.  And he calls those gathered to wait;  to wait to be clothed with power from on high.

The power with which the church is clothed is the power of life!  This life-power is the authority of Jesus’ resurrection.  The promise of God is this: we are made his children.  Life is authored within us by the resurrected Author of life, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

God has placed us in a holding pattern of life.  Although we experience the corruption of dying and death in our daily existence, we are called to expect the revelation of being like Jesus.  But this will only be realised when we see him as he is, at his return, at our eternal resurrection.   Until then, we are dying in this existence!  But we’re dying to live! 

The holding pattern is revealed within us as faith, having been clothed with power from on high.  Faith is not a feeling, although faith can make us feel good at times, for which we are thankful!  But faith gives each of us an expectation of being made like Jesus, despite what our experiences and feelings tell us in this world.

As we age, we experience, the effects of sin on our bodies.  Some of the things we suffer might have come as a result of sinful deeds.  From the sinful things we’ve done!  But the reality is, even if we did nothing wrong, if we did not sin, we would still suffer from our human being, being human, that in its very nature is sinful.

The nature of our being; its feelings, its thoughts, its works, the mechanics of our physical bodies, our senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing, exist and fail in the deconstruction that’s death.  Therefore, we all suffer!   

Jesus came into his own dying creation to reinject it with life, lost when humanity was separated from the tree of life.  For Jesus to fix his creation, he suffered in his creation, suffering that led to death.  The Creator died in his very own creation, so life could be recreated within a creation existing in death.

After Jesus was raised and ascended into heaven, and was hidden from our sight, it may have seemed that all returned to what it was before.  After all, death still exists!  People are still given to following the deadliness of their human nature and hide their sin.  But the reality of true life is now a reality of faith, that exposes the truth about us and the truth about Jesus Christ!

Peter and John are in the temple after the first Pentecost.  The apostles’ minds had been opened by Jesus as he appeared amongst them after the resurrection.  They no longer cowered and hid from the Jews.  In fact, at Pentecost they proclaimed the risen Lord to the Jews, and many became believers.

A man, lame from birth, begging at the temple, walks as a result of Peter’s  proclamation.   They who had their minds opened by Jesus, now open the minds of others.  This was not an act of Peter or John, but rather an act of the Holy Spirit, working with and through the apostles, and within the man who having been healed, “entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” (Acts 3:8 ESV)

The irony of this first healing event should not ever be lost on us!  Here the man whose sinful nature prevented him from entering the temple, now enters the temple.  His inability to enter was not from any sin that he had done, but rather it was the consequences of the nature he received at birth. 

Like him we are lame in every way before God and have no earthly way of entering into his presence.  But now like the lame man who walked and leapt his way into the temple, praising God, we can praise God in his presence too!

But the temple curtain has been torn, and God is no longer found at his mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.  Where is God if he is not in the temple sanctuary? 

Well, God is in his sanctuary!  However, the sanctuary has changed!  God now lives within his children.  He tabernacles within!  God now enters the Jerusalem temple, as Peter and John enter the temple, as the dancing praising healed man enters, and also enters in those who had received the Holy Spirit, as a result of that first Pentecost.

We know that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in seventy AD.  From Good Friday, God no longer sits on his mercy seat in the Jerusalem temple.  In mercy he now rests in the hearts of those who believe.  God now covers the sinful nature of believers, despite the sin that still comes from believers.   By 70 AD, the believers had long been dispersed by persecution from the Jerusalem temple.  God’s mercy now sat in the hearts of the dispersed, and the temple was sacked.   It no longer had a purpose in God’s plan of salvation!

Today, God gathers us as church in Jesus’ resurrection victory.  He gathers us by the power of the Holy Spirit and will continue to do so as he has promised!  The promise we have is that we are God’s children now, called together in power from on high.  Faith in the name of Jesus has made you strong.  Jesus sees and knows you!  The faith that’s received from Jesus, by the Spirit, gives you the perfection of Jesus, for life eternal as we die. 

So, God authors holy life in you now, through his holy word and holy sacraments.  Repentance and forgiveness of sin, confessed, received, believed, and seen only through faith, enlivens and enlightens you, despite the corruption you see working within.

As God opens your mind in his word, he shows you two things, which matures faith within. 

First, he enlightens us with an ever-increasing sight of the sinful nature and its deadliness.  This would drive us to despair and eternal death if he did not graciously and mercifully reveal it to us in a timely manner.  God does not expose us to more than we can bear.

The second thing he does after revealing an ever-increasing sight of our sin is an ever-increasing sight of his merciful presence in his word and sacrament.  This occurs when we are gathered, being forgiven, and fed, so he might continue to tabernacle within us as church.  We then disperse, taking the mercy of God out into the dispersion where others have an opportunity to see Jesus working within us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to confess him and to confess his forgiveness of our sin.

The maturing of faith allows you to witness what Jesus Christ works within your being, despite being sinful.  You clearly see your sin and inability to work your way out of it.  But through knowledge of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and the acts of the Holy Spirit, mature faith finds it’s completion in hope. 

Therefore, everyone who hopes in Jesus Christ is purified as he is pure.  The Holy Spirit works this deposit of the pure holy of holies within you, where the Father sits enthroned on his mercy seat.  Jesus is the mercy seat of God, the Author of life within. 

So, as forgiven and covered sinners, we trust less and less in ourselves, and wait more and more, for the Author of life and his eternal lifegiving goodness. 

Amen. 

B, Easter 1, The Resurrection of our Lord - Isaiah 25:8 Acts 10:39b-40 "Contronym of God"

(There is no video due to technical problems with my radio microphone.)

Do you know words that have two meanings, completely opposite to each other?  These words are known as contronyms (or contranyms).  We use these words all the time, usually without realising the word can mean the opposite of itself.

Dust is one such word.  Dust means to add particles to something, like dusting a cake with icing sugar.  But it also means to remove particles, like when one has to dust the house.

To dust is a contronym conundrum, a challenging contradiction in the one word.

Cleave can mean to adhere to something or someone, like a husband and wife cleave to each other in marriage.  Yet cleave also means to separate, as in to cleave meat from the bone with a cleaver.  To cleave your spouse, misunderstood, could see you incarcerated!

Bolt can be to flee, or it can be to restrain.  He bolted from the burning building or bolt the door before you go to bed.  If one bolts from one’s bed, and the door has not been bolted you’re possibly sleepwalking out into the night!

Fast means quick moving, but it also means unable to move as in stuck fast or fasten.  First-degree can be the most severe, as in murder.  But it can be not so bad, as in a first-degree burn. 

When you put out something, you’re either exposing it or extinguishing it, put out the bin or put out the fire! 

Is tempering making something stronger or softer?   To temper the mood takes the heat out of an argument.  But to temper steel hardens it with fire. 

Being transparent can mean invisible, but also it can mean being obvious. 

Left means what remains, as in left behind, or it means one has gone.  One could even use a contronym in the one sentence.  The girl has left but has left her sister here. 

Our language is very adaptable, but that makes it confusing too!   It gets even more fluid and baffling with colloquialisms and generational nuances.  The confusion of contronyms only increases between age groups!  

Around the house, I’m often told, “Heath, you’re special aren’t you!”  But with the amount of sarcasm with which it’s said, I don’t think it’s a compliment.  Especially, when the kids agree saying, “Yeah, dad is real special!”

Then again, I have told my children that they’re geniuses.  Should they take it as a compliment when they haven’t thought the process through!  They usually don’t!   …think the process through!  … or take it as a compliment!

Listening to young people today, one might wrongly be led to assume many of them are not healthy, or the situation their friends find themselves in, is bad. 

Every bro is sick, eh!  Their best friends are sick, and they do really sick stuff.  I’m glad I’m not there when they’re sick!  So much sick would make me sick!  I hate the smell of my own vomit, even less other people’s!

Contronyms are sick, eh!

I ask a question and get the answer, “Yeah-na”!  Ah, excuse me, do you mean yes or no?  Or are you being indecisive, taking a bet each way?  How does that fit into, the yes means yes and no means no mantra we’ve taught our kids?

Contronyms, yeah-na!

But it goes on!  Some say, “that’s wild!”  But they exclaim it with jubilation.  However, on seeing a nasty tropical storm approach with green clouds full of car-destroying hail, or a fire storm raging towards your house, saying, “that’s wild!”  fills no one with joy!

The confusion of contronyms can be catastrophic!

Filthy when I grew up meant dirty!  When mum saw us come inside after playing in the mud she’d say, “You boys are filthy!”  But today amongst our younger generations, I think, being filthy means being cool.  Yes, we were cool after playing in the mud, but mum didn’t think we were all that cool.  From memory it usually made her a bit hot under the collar when we dripped muddy water through the house!

And for that matter, dirty meant being filthy!  Yet, in our sexually promiscuous society, being dirty is seen as being good.  Regardless of one being covered in mud or being covered in shame, being dirty or filthy is not good.  Especially when good order depends on cleanliness!

The contronym conundrum starts to take on a confusing but sinister tone when words can imply good or bad.  The word wicked is one such word.  Once it meant evil, but now it can mean good.  When good and evil are confused, no longer are we in a contronym conundrum!  We’re actually in a state of confusion and chaos.

Piano Man, Billy Joel sings, “They say there's a heaven for those who will wait.  Some say it's better, but I say it ain't;  I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints; The sinners are much more fun.  You know that only the good die young.”

Being good is good for some, but being bad is better!  That’s the message sung to us!  Not just by Billy Joel, but by most in society today.  Evil is good, good is evil.  Disorder and disobedience are good, because good order needs to be disobeyed as it’s destructive to the rights of the inner self.

In this age of good being evil, and vice versa, Jesus Christ has become a contronym.  When many use his name it’s not to glorify him!  The name Jesus Christ for many is a curse word.

But for us these two words are anything but a curse, they’re the most two blessed words in the world!

Many may use his name as a contronym, as a curse rather than a blessing.  But we allow him to be what he really is!   Therefore, we name evil as evil, and God as the only good.

In the hearing of the resurrection Gospel, all areas of society, all identities, all people, male and female, see in Jesus Christ what is good and what is evil.  The law of God is imprinted on everyone’s hearts having heard the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Perhaps this is why, rebellious humanity finds it so easy to use Jesus’ name as a cursing contronym.

In Jesus Christ conservatism and progressivisms are shown what is evil in them and what is good in them.  After all Jesus was conservative and progressive!  If we conserve anything other than Jesus Christ or progress anything other than his death and resurrection, we must truly ask ourselves, “Have I conserved or progressed Jesus Christ as a contronym curse?” 

However, to abide in his call to repentance and believe his word of forgiveness, conserves Jesus Christ in his Word and progresses his kingdom, the Kingdom of God!    You might identify with a certain identity.  But to be truly certain, we put aside being conservative or being progressive, for the certainty of being in Christ, a Christian!   That might not be good in the eyes of the world.  But then again, they are not saving you from death!

We hear, “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,  but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear.” (Acts 10:39b–40 ESV)

There was much confusion on the morning of that first Easter.  Jesus was dead and then he is alive again.  Despite the confusion, death on a cross since the resurrection, now means life for us! 

The world has no contronym for death.  Unlike the use of Jesus’ name as a curse word, most avoid using the word “dead or death”.  Death scares people, yet in the confusion and chaos of death Jesus Christ, and his word, stand out from all other words!

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, life and death are a contronym on the cross.  “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21 ESV)

Living in Christ is dying!  Dying in Christ is living! 

When Lazarus had died Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26 ESV)

And from Isaiah, “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.”  (Isaiah 25:8 ESV)

God has spoken!  God has acted!  In Jesus Christ the conundrum of death is resurrected as an eternal contronym for life!  Amen.