The Good Shepherd – At the Border

Acts 4:5-12 – The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,  ⁶ with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.  ⁷ When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”  ⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,  ⁹ if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,  ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.  ¹¹ This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’  ¹² There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

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Psalm 23 (NKJV) A Psalm of David – The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.  ³ He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.  ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.  ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

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John 10:11-18 – “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  ¹² The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away– and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  ¹³ The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.  ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,  ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.  ¹⁶ I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.  ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.  ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

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This morning is the fourth week of Easter, known around the world as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the scripture readings for today focus on Jesus as our Good Shepherd: the one who heals our wounds, cares for us tenderly, and lays down his life to save ours. I’ll be focusing today mostly on the 23^rd Psalm.

I also wanted to share with you – as many of you know – I just returned from an intensive trip to our southern border a few days ago and I wanted to share with you what we saw and learned there. I can start out by saying our Good Shepherd, Jesus, is very much present at the border… very much present with God’s people there.

I went to the border, as you recall from the last time I was with you, saying I didn’t believe what we’re hearing from the media, and saying I wanted to know the truth.

I think we found the truth, as much as it’s possible in just a three-day visit.

I went to the border thinking that I’m able to discern what’s true and what’s not by reading between the lines in the news.

Boy was I wrong about that!

I went to the border wanting to return home and speak the truth.

That effort begins today but I hope and pray it won’t end today.

I went to the border, thinking I might find myself scared, or in danger.

We were not in danger, and I wasn’t scared.

I went to the border hoping to be fully present to the people I met, and hoping to share the love of Jesus. I came away feeling a bit overwhelmed with new information and experiences, and hoping we succeeded in representing well. But as our group leader Bri pointed out, “the reality is we are not bringing God to these places and these people, because God is already present.”

You are with us, Lord; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort us.

I went to the border, knowing this Sunday would be Good Shepherd Sunday, and praying that we would see our Good Shepherd in action at the border.

Jesus was there, and Jesus is there.

Our Lord is the Good Shepherd of all travelers – no matter where we come from or where we go. I’ve experienced God’s guidance on other journeys; it’s one of the reasons I love traveling. Our Lord truly shepherds us when we travel and brings us to people God wants us to meet. That works both ways: both for those who travel and those who are visited.

So let me tell you what happened!

First, by way of background:  I was traveling with a group of women – 18 of us – from across the United States. We are members of Women of Welcome, an interdenominational Christian group who see Jesus in the faces of the people coming to our borders, and we meet mostly on Facebook to study together and advocate together.

Our time at the border was organized by a group called Abara – which means ‘ford’, as in crossing a river. Abara is a faith-based ministry serving migrants and refugees on both sides of the border. They provide micro-enterprise opportunities for women migrants; they provide supplies for shelters run by other faith-based agencies; and they provide meals.

At Abara we learned first off that in making these visits we need to be aware of the need for self-care: we need to rest, eat, and hydrate. We need to care for ourselves, and not neglect our needs, so we can care for others. We were also advised not to try to learn everything at once: take notes, take pictures, ask questions.

One of the first things we discovered is that the media has misrepresented many things, not just the things we tend to hear about at home. For example, the media has misrepresented us – you and me. The refugees coming to this country have been told by the media that we Americans hate them. They are told to expect to be abused. One of the best things you and I can do is prove the media wrong, every chance we get. All it takes is a ‘hello’ and a smile.

We can trust our good shepherd to lead us in the paths of righteousness.

Our group was staying in El Paso, TX, and on our first day there we crossed the river to Mexico and spent the better part of the day in Ciudad Juarez. The two cities of El Paso and Juarez are twin cities a lot like Minneapolis/St. Paul: they’re separated only by a river. It’s just that, in Texas, that river also happens to be an international border – but that wasn’t always the case! For literally hundreds of years El Paso and Juarez were one city in Mexico with a river running through it. The region was, and is, truly a “bi-national region”. It’s only since 1850 that the river has been an international border – before then, the city was one.

The really striking thing, which you see and feel right away when you’re there, is the total lack of any sense of conflict. The people of El Paso and Juarez love each other and get along together. Many of them are related; and it is very common for people to cross the river every day to go to work or to go to school.  This helps explain one of the first things we saw when we arrived at Abara’s offices:

At Abara we learned even more about the media’s misrepresentations. For example: The city of El Paso has consistently been listed in the Top 10 safest cities in the United States – for decades! Right now I think they’re at #3 on the list. And while Juarez has had some problems in the past, safety there has improved a lot because the people demanded better. As visitors, our group was able to cross the border with no problems at all, both in a vehicle and on foot.

So what is the problem, then? And where are all the people coming from? What is causing this mass migration to our southern border?

The staff at Abara explained to us that the vast majority of people coming to our border right now, wanting to enter the United States, are coming from Venezuela – a distance of over 3000 miles.

You may have heard in the news that there are problems in Venezuela. There have been disappearances, boycotts, drug trafficking, narco-terrorism, corruption; the murder rate in Venezuela is one of the highest in the world. They have runaway inflation, and chronic shortages of necessities like water. Bottom line, though sources differ, almost eight million people have left Venezuela in the past decade. Not all those people are coming to America! Most of them travel to other South American countries, and those with money – about half a million so far – have gone to Spain!

But for those who decide to try to come to America – because of family or work or for a new start – there are no roads that can take a traveler from Venezuela to El Paso. There’s a place called the Darein Pass in Central America that is essentially a jungle – undeveloped, unsafe, and a haven for violent men. For people who choose to head for America, they risk their lives to do it. Many try to ride on top of trains, which is another kind of danger. People pass through rivers that run with sewage, and they deal with trees and bushes that have 1-2” long thorns on their branches. By the time the people get to our border they’ve lost just about everything but the clothes on their backs.

If people approach our border the legal way – which most of them want to do – they will approach a border official, and request asylum or some other form of immigration such as being a migrant worker; and then they wait. US courts are backed up; the wait for a court date to have one’s case heard can be weeks, often times months.

By the time people get to our border, they have nothing left but the clothes they’re wearing. Many are sick; many are injured; none of them have food or money. And when they arrive at our border they see a desert, and canals where the water has a deadly undertow, and a huge wall. So where do they go? What do they do? Should they try to find a space at an overcrowded shelter? Do they risk going over the wall, not knowing what will happen next?

Border Patrol agents we met told us the safest option for people who decide to climb the wall is to do it near civilization, not far away – and to locate Border Patrol immediately and request asylum – because away from civilization the mountains are dangerous and the desert is deadly. Chances of survival are best if they find Border Patrol right away.

Psalm 23 says, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”  I didn’t see any green pastures there; the region is unimaginably dry. But people on both sides of the border take the time – and find the water – to grow beautiful gardens. The God-given impulse for life and for beauty are very much present and alive at the border.

Even so, sometimes we felt like we were walking in the valley of the shadow of death. We were literally walking where people have died. Where the countries come together, at the corner of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico – in the distance, on a mountain-top, the statue of Christo Rey (Christ the King) stands with arms up, looking out over the nations, reminding us that Jesus sees and knows. Our shepherd is here, and justice is close at hand.

“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows…”

We are, each one of us, anointed with oil. All of us equally are the children of God, no matter where we’re from, or where we are now; and we will all dwell in the house of the Lord forever – no matter which side of any borders we live on today.

Jesus said, “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus is with these individuals, and these families, as they approach our border. Our Good Shepherd walks with them, guiding them and keeping them. The fact they even survive to make it to the border is a miracle in itself. Jesus said, “whatever you do for the least of these you do for me” – not because Jesus has a political agenda but because Jesus really was in their shoes when he walked this earth; and Jesus walks with these travelers now.

What gave me great joy was to see that, in both El Paso and in Juarez, God’s people are stepping up to help. More people are needed to be sure; but with Jesus’ help everyday miracles are happening.

On our first day, we visited a migrant shelter in Juarez called Casa Eudes [photo].  This shelter used to be a Catholic girls’ school and now is a shelter for women and children. It is run by Roman Catholic nuns and sisters who have the biggest hearts for their people. We spent a few hours here… one of the first things I saw when we visited one of the dorms was this: [Jesus photo]

In this place, we witnessed joy – especially in the children. And when the children were smiling, their moms were smiling. In this place each person has their own bed, and their own night-stand to put their belongings on, and they have newly-remodeled bathrooms with curtains on the showers – restoring the dignity of people who haven’t experienced dignity for a long time. The children have a beautiful playground to play on; they also attend lessons; and the women cook for each other. The place is neat and well-organized, like any Catholic school you’ve ever seen.

There was a sense that we were standing on holy ground.  And we weren’t told this directly, but it’s likely at least some of the babies we met were products of rape, because 90% of women making this journey on foot are raped. But the mothers love their children.

The sisters helped us all get to know each other – using the international languages of Jenga, laughter, and ice cream with gummi worms. It was a wonderful, warm afternoon. And we came away asking: why is this so hard? Or as our leader Bri put it, “How did compassion get so political?”

Later that day we drove to the Mexican side of the border and looked at the Rio Grande in the place where three states come together: Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. At this point on the border the river is not very high, and we saw some of the local people enjoying a swim with their dog.

We also saw a lot of high-tech government equipment on the U.S. side of the river: cameras, motion cameras, recording devices… it would be impossible to cross the river without being seen. Border Patrol is always nearby, and anyone crossing will likely be picked up in a minute or less…

…which, for people who want to move to the United States, is exactly what should happen, because contact with Border Patrol is the very first step in the long process of becoming a resident of the United States.

While we were at this place we saw an obelisk marking the international boundary. You can literally stand in two countries at the same time here, as demonstrated here by Abara’s Executive Director Sami.

The next day we met with two border patrol agents.

We heard the same thing from the agents that we heard from people all over El Paso and Juarez: they said, “we are not what they say we are in the media.”  Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people arriving, and there are not enough officers to handle everyone; the Border Patrol needs more people.

Members of the Border Patrol are trained to be law enforcement officers, but they’re being called upon to handle a humanitarian crisis – something they are neither trained nor equipped to do. This is part of the reason why there is such a high suicide rate among Border Patrol agents. What gets to them the most are the migrant children. The officers said: “we’re moms too; we don’t want to see children hurting.”

What they do have to work with is the border wall, and the cameras, and motion detectors both above-ground and underground. Border Patrol’s job is to be present in minutes or less whenever someone shows up on one of these devices. They said they need more walls in some places, but they don’t need walls everywhere. The entire stretch of the border does not need a wall, they said. In remote places where there’s no wall, they watch for footprints, which are basically impossible to hide in the sand.

One other major problem for Border Patrol is the drug cartels. Organized crime today is EXCEEDINGLY organized. They deal in drugs, human trafficking, the sex trade, and extortion. It’s also important for us to know, they said, that 80-90% of the people smuggling drugs into the United States are American citizens who enter the country by air.

Our drug consumption in this country is one of the major causes of death for people in South and Central America.

One thing that kept cropping up in the background of all these conversations is that so much of the security and technology at the border was developed in response to the September 11 attacks. I’ve been sensing this reaction to 9/11 in the background for some time; because as a pastor, our American response to 9/11 reminds me of people I’ve known who have suffered great loss and have never properly grieved that loss.

What I mean is this: when an individual fails to grieve, a part of that person shuts down – a positive part of that person. They may get locked into patterns of behavior and ways of thinking that were appropriate once but are harmful now. They may feel very alone in the world, cut off from others and even threatened by others. As a nation, we responded to 9/11 with a war overseas and fighting each other here at home – and that hasn’t stopped. As a nation we have never worked our way through the grieving process.

At least this is what I think I’m seeing, but I wanted to get a second opinion. So at one point in El Paso I pulled Sami aside and asked him about this. Does what I’m seeing make sense to him? Are we still grieving (or failing to grieve) as a nation? Is that what’s causing the problems we see in our country today?

Sami thought about this for a moment, and then he said gently but wryly, “Americans don’t grieve well in general. It’s not the American way. We tough it out. We push through, we keep going.”

And we talked about other things the nation hasn’t grieved: our history of racial oppression, and what’s been done to Native Americans. Horrible losses for these people groups, but losses for ourselves as well – because there is so much good in these ‘others’ that we’ve missed out on. I mentioned to him something I’ve shared with all of you before: my friend Denise’s fear of the medical profession, because Black people aren’t treated the same as White people by many doctors. I shared with him how my going to the doctor with her was, in her words, “like night and day.” Sami said this was something he’s also been learning just recently; that the same thing happens sometimes in hospitals in El Paso. As a nation we need to confess these things to God – bring them to the cross of our Shepherd – and then face them and grieve them. The longer we put it off, the more strident the public voices will become – and the more harm we will do to ourselves and others.

Our final visit was to a migrant shelter in El Paso. This shelter is a very short-term shelter – the people here are usually here for just a day or two, maybe three. Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church feeds and houses about 100-120 people every night in their gymnasium. The shelter is run by a guy named Mike, who retired from 26 years of service in the Border Patrol, and is now running this shelter in his “retirement”.

The people who stay here have already made first contact with Border Patrol – whether they surrendered themselves at the gate or came over the wall, they are here now; and they have appointments coming up with United States officials. Sacred Heart also provides a clothing bank, a diaper bank, first aid supplies, and chargers for cell phones. (Cell phones are essential because it’s how intake interviews are set up.)

Speaking of the clothing bank: Mike tells us being able to choose what they’re is wearing is a major way to restore a person’s sense of dignity.

Meanwhile, outside the shelter, a mural on the wall tells the story of Jesus and the priests and the people who built this place, and who come to this place; and people pray at the sacred heart.

The Shepherd’s Psalm says, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

As God’s children we can claim this promise for ourselves. There is no reason to be afraid to get close to people who are coming to this country for help. There are people in this country who want us fear the people who come to our borders – but that’s not God’s way. God is very present in El Paso and Juarez. The people coming to the United States have to cross a river to come to us; and we as God’s people need to cross a river too – the river of doubt and fear – to welcome them and to give them shelter, knowing that Jesus will lead us beside still waters.

So where is our Shepherd leading us? We don’t know that exactly, except… ‘home’. Our Shepherd leads us to a forever-place for all of God’s people. One thing seems clear though: we will find our Good Shepherd on the margins of society: with the Samaritan woman at the well; with the poor and the hungry and the sick; with the migrants crossing the border.

One of our fellow travelers, Brittani, who helped organize the trip, wrote this on the way home:

“The border is not [just] one thing. It’s teenage Raina and her five-year-old son playing Jenga while they wait… It’s Sister Krista and Mother Sofia living with and serving vulnerable women and children every day. It’s Mike… it’s the Border Patrol agents, trained for one thing and struggling to do another. It’s Fernando from Venezuela in the plane seat next to me… [And she adds:] There’s no reason it’s not me and our girls in that shelter. I was just born here.”

Britanni also, on the way home, figured out how to spot immigrants who had just been approved and released into the US. This is something we read about in our book club book, The House That Love Built. The author of the book also learned how to spot people who had been recently released. Brittani, who speaks Spanish, found a young man from Venezuela sitting next to her on the plane home, and struck up a conversation. He was 23, traveling alone, and had spent three days on top of a train getting to the United States.

Brittani then texted all of us who were still at the El Paso airport to tell us what to look for, and other travelers in our group – Clare and Jane on one plane, and Eve and myself on another, spotted more. Clare and Jane helped families from Venezuela and Ecuador find their way home; and Eve (thank goodness she speaks Spanish) spotted a young woman traveling alone, and explained to her that when we landed in Chicago, I would help her find her gate for her next flight.

Can you imagine being in foreign country, where you don’t speak the language, can’t read the signs, and all you have is a small bag and a plane ticket to a place you’ve never been before?

Saviour, like a shepherd lead us… let this be our prayer.

I think one of the biggest take-aways from this journey, for so many of us, is the incredible amount of privilege we are born into just by born American. And how very much, as Christians, we have an obligation to use what we have in service to others.

The question in my mind and on my heart right now is: how can we join Jesus in caring for the people who look to America for help? What small part can we play? I am going to be focusing a lot of my attention on answering these questions over the next few months. I will be actively looking for ideas and opportunities.

If this resonates with you please let me know. I’m sure our Good Shepherd will be leading us. AMEN.

Easter 2: Unity and Facing Into Doubts

Psalm 133:1-3  A Song of Ascents

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!  ² It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.  ³ It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.

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Acts 4:32-35 – Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.  ³³ With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  ³⁵ They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

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John 20:19-31 – When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”  ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  ³¹ But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

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Happy Easter!! I didn’t get to say that to you last week. Easter continues until Pentecost, so the celebrations continue! I’ve always thought it was cool that the season of Easter is longer than the season of Lent: because in the end, the good news lasts longer than the bad news. Thanks be to God!

Over the next few weeks of this Easter season, our scripture readings will focus on the disciples’ various experiences of Jesus’ resurrection: who saw it, what was said, what it means to us. Our readings for this week have two points of focus: (1) the unity of believers and (2) facing into doubts. These two things may seem unrelated, but they’re not – as the scriptures will show us.

I’d like to start today with Psalm 133 we read a few moments ago. On the surface, it looks like this psalm has absolutely nothing to do with Easter: it was written long before Jesus was born, and it has no prophecy in it that mentions the Messiah; but the theme is Joy – pure, unadulterated, joy that comes from enjoying God’s presence.

Psalm 133 is one of the Psalms of Ascents – that is, one of the psalms that was set to music and was sung while the people of Israel were walking up the hill to Jerusalem to worship in the temple. You may have heard me say this before, but the Temple Mount is very high – over 2400 feet high. Today, driving from the valley to the top of the mountain takes about a half-hour driving at 60-70 mph on a series of switchbacks – because there’s no way that human or machine could go straight up the mountain. Back in Jesus’ day, it would have taken at least a day to walk to the top, and people would sing to keep their spirits up as they were traveling. These songs were called songs of ascents – songs to climb by, you might say.

Songs of ascents were songs of joy because they called to mind what it was like to be close to God, to stand in God’s presence, to lose oneself in the glory and majesty of God. It’s not an experience people had often – not back then, and not today either. But think of the stories that came out of Asbury recently, where people got caught up in God’s presence and didn’t want to leave, and they kept on worshipping for days. That’s the kind of thing these songs brought to mind. I wish we had more experiences like that – in or out of church! – because experiences like this strengthen the soul, and renew the spirit; they’re like a cup of cold water on a hot summer day.

So this psalm is one of the songs of ascents. But this one’s a little bit mysterious. It focuses attention on two things: (1) oil on the beard of Aaron, and (2) dew on the mountain of Hermon – two things that are completely outside of our experience. But they do have a meaning, so hang in there with me.

The psalm starts out:

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.”

We know from the Old Testament that Aaron was Moses’ nephew and he was the very first High Priest in Israel. When Aaron was anointed to do his job as high priest, there was a very specific recipe for the scented oil that was used to anoint him. (The recipe can be found in the Old Testament.) This recipe was considered holy, and the smell of it was wonderful.

This oil would be poured all over Aaron – his head, his beard, his robes – and the breastplate of his robe included twelve gemstones representing the twelve tribes of Israel, so the oil would get on those too – and all the way down to the hem of his robe. From that time forward, whenever Aaron put on his priestly robes, the smell would remind people of God.

And we know what a powerful thing the sense of smell is! We might walk into a bakery, for example, and smell cookies from a recipe that our mothers used to make, and it will immediately transport us back to the kitchen of the house that we grew up in! Same idea here. One whiff of that oil and it would bring back all the times the people of God spent time in God’s presence.

What’s more, this oil represents the way the Holy Spirit moves and works. Just like on the first Easter Day, when Jesus found the disciples in the locked room, he poured out the Holy Spirit on them. Oil represents the Holy Spirit – which starts with Jesus, the head of the body so to speak, the head of the church – and then flows down over the whole body of believers, every one of us. Jesus’ death and resurrection made this possible. Without Easter there can be no Pentecost. But with Easter, the prophecy of Psalm 133 comes true.

Then the next verse says “It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.” Totally different concept now. Let me start by sharing with you a modern invention being used over in Israel.  The Holy Land, especially in the south around Jerusalem, is very hot and very dry – so it’s difficult to grow crops there. Today, one of the new things that’s happening in Israel is the practice of capturing dew, and condensing down it to water plants. Check this out. This photo shows one way dew can be captured to water crops. This is literally “causing the desert to bloom” as the prophet Isaiah said.

Of course back in Bible times these things hadn’t been invented yet. So the people watched for what they called the ‘dew of Hermon’. Hermon was (and is) a very tall mountain – over 9000 feet tall – tall enough to have a permanent ice cap. Whenever fog or dew or any moisture passes over Mount Hermon, it condenses – and create puddles and then streams that run down the mountain and water the land below. The “dew of Hermon” was life-giving good news.

As is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. This good news is like water in a dry and thirsty world.

Bottom line: if people are to dwell together in God, and in unity with one another, we need the oil of the Holy Spirit; we need the dew of the Holy Spirit, dropping on us, pouring into our lives, making us like Jesus, reflecting God’s image. The promise of God is that one day, in the power of the Holy Spirit, all the separations in the Body of Christ will be mended, and all God’s people will be united once more.

Then as we turn to the book of Acts, this reading continues talking about Christian unity!  Acts tells us that the believers were “of one heart and soul” and that they “held everything in common”.  This kind of unity was a powerful witness, and the Christian church in the early days grew like a weed. Acts also tells us the disciples – both men and women – shared the good news of Jesus’ resurrection with anyone who would listen. Furthermore, they sold their land and held the money in common so that all of Jesus’ people were provided for – no exceptions.

This particular form of Christian unity – this financial sharing – didn’t last long, historically speaking. It certainly is not expected of Christians today. Generosity is expected, but not holding goods in common. Most likely, back then, the disciples were expecting Jesus to return fairly soon – and when that didn’t happen, private ownership became the norm again.

Standard Monastery Layout

But I should add that, down through history, there have been communities of believers who do share everything in common. That practice never died out completely: monasteries, extended families, faith communities of various kinds. A lifestyle like this is not for everyone; and not everyone is called to it; but communities like this still are a powerful witness to what the Spirit of God can do. In our time, think of Mother Teresa: she was a member of an order called Missionaries of Charity, whose calling was to minister to the poor.  There’s another group I mentioned a few months ago, called the Iona Community in Scotland, which is an interdenominational ministry focused on worship. There’s another community nearby in Aliquippa called the Community for Celebration which focuses on worship and on justice in the workplace. Actually there are a number of religious orders here in Pittsburgh, from different denominations or from no denomination – including the one right across the street from Spencer UMC! All of these communities bear witness to unity in the Holy Spirit, in a very unique and powerful way.

So when the disciples in the book of Acts started sharing all that they had, that was a powerful witness, and still is today.

All of these things – everything we’ve talked about so far today – were made possible by the events that took place in the upper room as described in the gospel of John. John tells us it was the night of the first Easter day. And the disciples were gathered in the upper room, afraid, with the door locked so nobody could get in. Earlier that day, they had heard Mary say that Jesus was alive, but they hadn’t seen Jesus themselves yet; and they weren’t so sure that what Mary said wasn’t just wishful thinking. Besides, they were still scared the Romans might be looking for yet more victims for their crosses, so they hid.

In this kind of fear and tension, unity would not have lasted long. But it didn’t have to – because Jesus came, and removed all doubts. Jesus walked into the locked room – how, we don’t know, but it gives us a thrilling look at what resurrected life might be like.

This much, though, is sure: Jesus was not a ‘spirit’ or a ghost. He had a real body. The scars from his torture and death were still on it. This must have been very hard for the disciples to see, because so many of them had run away that night, afraid, and they never saw all that happened to the Lord they loved.

But now they see it, and they are shocked and full of sorrow. But Jesus speaks peace. He tells them they are forgiven, and all doubts set aside, and Jesus shares with the disciples the Holy Spirit – like that holy oil running down Aaron’s beard. And Jesus says, “as the Father sent me, now I am sending you.”

I think all of us may feel like Thomas sometimes: the guy who wasn’t there when the big thing happened; the one who didn’t see with his own eyes. We really can’t blame Thomas for wanting to see what the others saw; and in fact he finally did get to see, and to touch, and to know. Jesus doesn’t fault Thomas for wanting to see – in fact Jesus welcomes it. But Jesus also says, “Blessed are those [like you and me] who haven’t seen and still believe.”

By the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power of that oil running down the beard of Aaron, each one of us is called, to be together, to work together, in the power of Jesus’ resurrection – which makes forgiveness possible, and also makes it possible for us to do the work that God has called us to do in this world.

Each one of us has a story – the same way that Thomas had a story – about how God has reached out to us; how Jesus has touched our lives, how we have entered into forever-life with God. Easter is where our story begins. The resurrection of Jesus – and the unity of the believers around us – makes possible the witness we bring to the world. AMEN.

One Small Thing Might Save You Thousands

So why is a pastor writing a post about money on a faith-related blog? Because I’ve seen too many people lately – friends, parishioners, community members, people I care about – losing huge amounts of money. Thousands and thousands of dollars – sometimes their life savings – gone.

Sometimes they’re lucky and the bank helps them get the money back. Sometimes it’s gone permanently.

A few moments ago I heard yet another story: a friend told me one of her neighbors had a five-figure amount stolen from a checking account.

As a pastor I feel I must say something about this.

The truth is: thieves are getting REALLY GOOD at breaking into checking accounts and making off with your money. They steal checks and forge their own names in the “pay to” line. They take a check you’ve written and add a few zeroes. They steal debit cards. They use card skimmers to steal checking account information. They watch people at ATM machines, looking for PIN numbers.

Keeping a checking account safe and secure is nearly impossible these days. Quite frankly, might as well keep money on the front porch where everybody can see it.

The good news is there is a simple solution:

DO NOT KEEP LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY IN A CHECKING ACCOUNT

Just about every bank these days offers joint checking/savings accounts. Savings accounts are much more secure than checking accounts: they don’t have debit cards, you can’t pay bills from them, and account information is rarely used by anyone outside the bank.

When it comes time to pay bills, it’s easy to transfer just the right amount of money into the attached checking account – either in person, by phone, or online. Pay your bills, and leave the rest of your money in a savings account that will pay you to keep it there. If you’re not making use of the joint savings account your bank offers, you’re losing money – and you’re placing what belongs to you at risk.

Palm Sunday: Arrival

¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.  ¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly;  ¹⁶ the right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.”  ¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.  ¹⁸ The LORD has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.  ¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.  ²⁰ This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.  ²¹ I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.  ²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  ²³ This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  ²⁴ This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  ²⁵ Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success!  ²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD.  ²⁷ The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.  ²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.  ²⁹ O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. – Psalm 118:14-29

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When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples  ² and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.  ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'”  ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it,  ⁵ some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”  ⁶ They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it.  ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it.  ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.  ⁹ Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”  ¹¹ Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. – Mark 11:1-11

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A Prayer from Westminster Abbey

Almighty God, in whom we live and move and have our being,
you have made us for yourself,
so that our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Grant us purity of heart and strength of purpose,
so that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing your will,
no weakness from doing it.
Grant that in your light we may see light clearly,
and in your service find our perfect freedom.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Palm Sunday greetings! What a day this is – a day of celebration, revealing Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – at the beginning of Holy Week once again.

Just as a side note: today, March 24, also happens to be the birthday of Fanny Crosby, who wrote quite a few hymns, including Blessed Assurance, To God Be the Glory, and Tell Me the Story of Jesus which we just sang a moment ago. Also tomorrow, March 25, is the Feast of the Annunciation: the day the angel visited Mary to tell her that she would give birth to the Messiah. So exactly nine months from tomorrow is Christmas!

But one holiday at a time, right? In the very beginning of Christianity, in the early church with its Jewish roots, Palm Sunday was the first day of an eight-day holiday like Passover or Hanukkah. Today we still call it ‘Holy Week’ but back then they actually had things to do, and ways to remember Jesus every day for eight days, starting today.

I mention this because I discovered something new this week that I’d never heard of before. Most Christians today observe Maundy Thursday with the remembrance of the Last Supper, and Good Friday and its remembrance of the Crucifixion. But people also used to observe Holy Saturday as a day of waiting and grieving and hoping-against-hope. Some Christians would literally not speak on Holy Saturday: so that the first word spoken after the crucifixion, on Easter morning, would be “Hallelujah!” I think that’s cool – I might try it this year if I can get away with not talking for a day!

Meanwhile, our Lenten series this spring has focused on Wilderness Living – a reminder of how Israel traveled through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, and also a reminder that we too live in a wilderness, in our own way. Plus it’s a reminder to us that life grows out of what appears to be dead: like a seed. Or a cross.

For today, though – just for today – our focus is on Arrival – specifically, Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem that final time. The disciples and all the people following Jesus see his arrival as a turning point, as a victory. Jesus, on the other hand, sees it as a fulfillment of prophecy and the pivot point into the darkest week of his life. For Jesus, Jerusalem means the Cross.  So Palm Sunday brings an odd mixture of celebration and sadness – and isn’t that just like life?

Today’s focus will be mostly on the celebration: namely the journey from the Mount of Olives through the Kidron Valley and up to the Temple Mount, with all the crowds shouting and celebrating around Jesus.

I was thinking this week how to give an idea of what this journey would have been like. Just to give a rough idea – and I’ve checked the mileage with Google – the walk from the top of the Mount of Olives to the Temple Mount was about the same distance – and the about same topography – as if we started a walk at Hill Top Coffee (on the other side of Brownsville Rd.) and walked down the hill, across the 10^th Street Bridge, and up to Duquesne University (there are city steps connecting the 10^th Street Bridge to Duquesne).

Jesus and the crowd started at the top of the Mount of Olives, walked down the hill (which was a bit winding, just like it would be here) across the Kidron Valley (the Kidron is actually a wadi – usually dry, so they didn’t need a bridge to walk across it, unlike the Mon River), and then up a steep hill (like the cliff below Duquesne). And of course at the top of the hills – Duquesne has a chapel at the top of its hill, and Jerusalem has the temple at the top of its hill. So it’s a very similar walk.

Imagine now doing a walk like that with a donkey, and palm branches, and shouting and singing and celebration… imagine how many people along the way would have stuck their heads out of windows and said “what’s going on?” and maybe even joined the crowd!

This day was different from all previous days in Jesus’ life. Up until this day, if someone had said they thought Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus would have cautioned them to keep it quiet; but not today. Jesus is no longer hiding who he is, he is longer deflecting questions. Now he is being careful to fulfill every prophecy about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Just to give a few examples:

• The presence of the donkey was prophesied by the prophet Zechariah: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” (Zech. 9:9)
• Zechariah also said: “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem… On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.” (Zech 4:4, 9)

Zechariah wrote these things 500 years before Jesus was born! And today we see those prophecies fulfilled.

Other scholars tell us that palm branches were important because they were symbols of victory in both Roman and Jewish culture. Palms were used in Jewish worship, and festivals, and celebrations of thanksgiving, because they were a reminder of the Exodus, and of freedom from captivity and slavery – and a reminder of God’s favor and God’s saving power.

Then in Psalm 118, which we read a moment ago, there are more prophecies that were fulfilled on Palm Sunday. Just to mention a few of them:

• Verse 25: “Save us O Lord” essentially translates in Hebrew to “Hosanna!” Hosanna is a word that means ‘save now’.
• Verse 26: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” – that’s Jesus right there!
• Verse 20: “This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.” – this verse refers to the eastern gate of the city of Jerusalem, which was named “the Gate of Mercy”.

This gate into Jerusalem is still there today, but it has been walled up – get this – by armies who attacked the city hundreds of years after Jesus. The attackers were not believers in Judaism or Christianity but when they heard the story that the Messiah is supposed to enter by the Eastern Gate at his second coming, they walled it up to make sure that doesn’t happen (as if a wall could stop God). It still stands that way today.

• Verses 22-23: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

There’s an interesting story connected to this verse as well. The word ‘cornerstone’ might also be translated ‘capstone’ or ‘keystone’. There’s an ancient Jewish story that says this verse refers to the building of the original temple, the Temple of Solomon. The building was done, as much as possible, in silence – in reverence. So all the stones were cut and shaped off-site and then brought to the Temple Mount to be installed. First Kings chapter six describes all of this happening.

“One day one particular stone arrived onsite that didn’t seem to fit anywhere, [so it was set] aside… and as the Temple drew near to [being finished] the workers discovered they needed one last stone to put in the last supporting arch. This arch would hold the whole Temple together…. and they looked around… and they discovered the stone they had rejected was the one they needed.”[1]

On Palm Sunday, Jesus becomes this cornerstone – this capstone – the stone the builders rejected, which was the one – the only one – that was needed.

So this crowd on Palm Sunday, led by Jesus on a donkey, makes its way down the Mount of Olives, singing, shouting, praising God, and giving Jesus a hero’s welcome… and the temple authorities are watching. They are worried, and they are telling Jesus to silence the crowd before something bad happens.

Other gospel-writers give us more detail on the events of the day than Mark does. Mark says the crowd arrived at the temple, and Jesus and the disciples “looked around” and then went back to Bethany – which would have meant retracing their steps back up the Mount of Olives, and then to the next town over.

Luke, on the other hand, says that this was the day when Jesus turned over the tables of the money-changers in the Temple. So which version is true?

People who research these ancient events disagree on the exact date when Jesus turned over the tables of the money-changers – and many of them say Jesus did it twice, on two different occasions! This much, though, they agree on: Jesus did confront the money-changers in some way on Palm Sunday, and this confrontation – combined with the show of popularity from the crowd – got under the skin of both the Roman and Jewish rulers and became the trigger that put into motion Jesus’ arrest, and trial, and death. [2]

Bottom line, there were less than seven days in between shouts of “Hosanna!” and shouts of “Crucify him!”

Why did the people turn against Jesus so quickly? Probably because what they were hoping for didn’t happen. They expected Jesus to confront the powers-that-be. They were hoping the Messiah would free them from the Romans. When they shouted “save now!” they were thinking about politics, not faith. Many people today make the same mistake.

But the story’s not over yet. To be continued… next Sunday!

For today I’d like to leave us with some words of faith I found on the internet this past week, talking about how people understand the cross and its meaning. The website said…

• Some people see the Cross as God’s victory over the world’s death-dealing powers
• Some people see the Cross as Jesus paying the price for sin, once and for all
• Some people see Jesus’ suffering on the Cross as God’s way of showing solidarity with all who suffer
• Some people say the Cross shines a light on human hatred, violence, and scapegoating
• Some people say the Cross shows us the depth of God’s love
• Some people say the Cross shows us God’s creative, subversive redemption, transforming one of the worst things in the world (the Roman cross) into one of the best things in the world (the Tree of Life)
• Some people say all of the above.

“The overarching point is that the divine mystery of the cross is a kind of cathedral, [all of these things arching and coming together]; an architecture with many points of entry”[3].

This is the redeeming work of our savior Jesus. AMEN

[1] CMJ

[2] Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleansing_of_the_Temple

[3] SALT

Seeds in the Sand

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  ³² It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt– a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.  ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  ³⁴ No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. – Jeremiah 31:31-34   

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Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  ²² Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  ²³ Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  ²⁵ Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say– ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  ²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  ³³ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. – John 12:20-33

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Welcome to Lent, Week 5. Before I head into the sermon, I wanted to mention a few other things happening this week. Today, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day – so happy St. Patrick’s Day! And then Tuesday is the first day of Spring… and Wednesday we remember the birthday of Mr. Rogers; and Thursday we remember the birthday of JS Bach, and Saturday is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Purim – so if you have Jewish friends, wish them a Happy Purim!

Today is also the last of the ‘regular’ Sundays in Lent. Next week is Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week – and as we move forward, drawing closer to the Cross, the darkness and the heaviness of Jesus’ last days begins to gather around us.

Our readings for today focus on the last few weeks of Jesus’ life, and on how the events of those weeks tie in with God’s plan to save the human race from sin and self-destruction, through the Messiah.

Today’s theme – “Seeds in the Sand” – is taken from Jesus’ words in John 12:24-25. In these verses, Jesus is explaining to the disciples that he’s about to die; and while Jesus doesn’t mention the word resurrection directly in this verse, he hints at it by saying that a seed that lands in the soil will bear fruit.

But Jesus is just one seed – so where do the other seeds come from? Well… all of us at some point will be a ‘seed in the sand’; and by the power of God and the power Jesus’ resurrection, we also will bear fruit.

That’s the ‘big picture’ message for today.

Digging into the details, I’d like to start with our reading from Jeremiah. Since about the beginning of this year I’ve been finding myself drawn to the Book of Jeremiah – I’ve been reading it a lot lately! It might have something to do with the fact that worshiping idols was a huge problem in Jeremiah’s time – and worshiping idols, in a slightly different way, is a huge problem in our society as well. So I’ve been reading to see how Jeremiah dealt with it.

Jeremiah was the last prophet in Jerusalem before the city fell to the Babylonians. Jeremiah, sharing God’s word, predicted and then witnessed the fall of Jerusalem.

In Jeremiah’s lifetime, God kept reaching out and reaching out and reaching out to the people of Israel: calling them away from false gods, calling them away from sacrificing their children and their futures to idols, calling them back to the one true and living God. Some who loved God paid attention to Jeremiah’s message – in Jerusalem, people like members of the army, staffers in the palace, everyday people. But the king and the people in power and the religious leaders did not listen. In fact they ridiculed Jeremiah and threatened his life. God gave Jeremiah the job of saying to the king and to those in power, “this is your last chance – the Babylonians are coming! If you value your lives, surrender to the Babylonians. They will take you to Babylon, but at least you’ll be alive!” That was God’s message through Jeremiah.

And they wouldn’t listen.

The short passage we read in Jeremiah (above) sounds like good news. God is saying through Jeremiah:

“The days are coming… when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and write it on their hearts. No longer shall they teach one another, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me.”

This sounds like good news – but the thing is, things didn’t change. The people didn’t listen. These promises of God would be fulfilled at a later time.

Also, these four verses – as encouraging as they sound – are found in between two very dark passages. In the passage before it, God is still asking the people to return to God, and the people are refusing, and we hear Jeremiah speak a word that is usually connected with the birth of the Messiah. Jeremiah says:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children, and refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.”

 We recognize this verse from the Christmas story.  Jesus was born “King of the Jews”; and King Herod – being afraid for his throne – ordered all the male babies two years old or under to be killed.

Jeremiah’s words are indeed looking forward to those ‘days that are coming’ – but they also applied to Jerusalem back then.

Then following our passage, God tells Jeremiah: when the siege of Jerusalem comes, go and buy a field. Again the reason is that better days will come – but not right away. In the immediate future, the Babylonians are coming, and God’s word through Jeremiah is: “those who give themselves up to the Babylonians will live.” In other words, surrender.

These days we don’t fight wars by siege because most cities don’t have walls around them these days. But Jerusalem was a walled city: and attacking a walled city could be extremely costly in terms of casualties. So rather than attack the walls and try to climb over them, an invading army – in this case, from Babylon – would “lay siege” – which was devastatingly brutal. The army would surround the city, and stop any and all traffic coming into or out of the city; and then wait for the people inside the walls to starve to death. When there was no one left alive to fight, the army would simply walk in and take over the city.

You can imagine this meant absolutely no mercy for civilians, for children, or for the elderly. And a siege could take years. The suffering was unspeakable. This particular siege – the siege of Jerusalem – lasted about a year and a half before a handful of people who were still alive finally surrendered. The royal family tried to slip out a side exit, and were captured and killed, except for the king who was blinded and taken to Babylon; and just a few of the poorest people still living were allowed to stay and work the land so it wouldn’t turn into a wasteland. Everyone else still living was deported to Babylon for the next seventy years.

Why did God allow this to happen? Because the people had been unfaithful: they had turned their back on God and God’s covenant time and time and time again; they worshiped false gods, they had done all kinds of evil, including murder; and the people had refused, over and over, to return to the God who loved them. What we see here is the price of loving and chasing after what is not God and what is not worthy of human worship.

These days people don’t usually worship physical idols, or statues, or golden calves – but we have other kinds of idols. And truth be told, even the ancient people didn’t really worship statues so much as they worshiped what the statues represented: the power to grow, the power to give life, the power to give wealth.

Today, in our culture – I used to know a guy who thought American Idol, the TV show, was an evil thing. Personally I think that one’s the least of our worries, although some people do idolize fame and money. But basically the definition of idolatry is making anything (or anyone) more important than God in our lives.

To give a parallel: think about what it means to have a faithful marriage. When we get married, part of the marriage vow is to be faithful to our spouse. With God, when we become believers, our baptism and/or our confirmation includes similar vows of faithfulness to God – spiritual faithfulness. Our relationship with God is meant to last forever. If there’s anything in our lives that we love more than God, or value more highly than God, that thing is an idol.

So if we have committed our lives to God, what would ever motivate us to do something like bear false witness – that is, lie in court? Or be violent? Or be less than honest in our business dealings? Or withhold friendship from someone who is lonely? Or refuse to give food or clothing to someone in need?

This is why I can barely stand to watch the evening news anymore – because I see our country, and people around the world as well, doing these things over and over: not listening to God, just like the people in Jerusalem wouldn’t listen. I pray God’s guidance and mercy on our world!

At the same time, though – unlike in Jeremiah’s day – we have the advantage of knowing the Messiah. God’s promise to send a Saviour is no longer future tense in our world. Jesus is present tense – always present tense. As we come to the Gospel of John, we see and hear our Saviour Jesus entering into his last days on earth.

Just a few days before, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. As a result, so many people were following Jesus that the authorities in Jerusalem were getting nervous. Among other things, they were afraid the Romans might see the size of this group, think it was a rebellious mob, and react with violence. So the authorities in Jerusalem made plans to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.

At the very same moment, John says, a group of Greeks came asking to see Jesus. This was a sign to Jesus: the time of including the Gentiles had come. Both Jews and Gentiles will be part of Jesus’ kingdom from now on; which also signals to Jesus that his time is short. And Jesus says, “Father, glorify thy name” and God answers, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Now, with everything complete, and every prophecy fulfilled, Jesus says, “the hour has come.” His soul is troubled – understandably so, looking at the cross. Jesus knows what’s coming, and he is distressed by it. But for John – and for Jesus – the focus is not so much on death as on what Jesus’ death will make possible: resurrection, ascension, forgiveness for God’s people, and the bearing of much fruit.

Jesus’ death and resurrection will bring salvation and a gateway into God’s kingdom for many people and nations. Jesus’ ascension will make it possible for all of God’s people to have the Holy Spirit living in us, writing God’s word and God’s law on our hearts; and making it possible for us to live with God forever. Death becomes merely a doorway into an eternal relationship.

This, by the way, is very different than what the ancient Greeks and Romans believed about heaven and eternity. Back then they believed – as many people do today – that the universe is not personal, and that if we have any relationship to a “next life” it will only be as a “fragment of the cosmos” as they might say. There will be no conscious awareness; there will be no reunion with loved ones. The Greeks believed – as some of today’s fiction writers sometimes put it – that we are all “star stuff”: eternal but having no memory.

Christian teaching is completely different. God tells us that the “word was made flesh and lived among us” – not in an abstract sense but in physical reality.

That Word is Jesus: who we can love, and be loved by, in a personal relationship. In Jesus and through Jesus we live forever, not as ‘star stuff’ but as actual people. We are eternal beings, still human – and we will know our loved ones when we see them again; and we will know Jesus when we see Him.

This is what the church has taught, and what God has taught, from the very beginning of time. This is the new covenant that Jeremiah predicted: “they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” This is the fruit that grows from seeds in the sand. AMEN.

Lent 4: The Venom & The Antidote

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.  ⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”  ⁶ Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.  ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.  ⁸ And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”  ⁹ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. – Numbers 21:4-10

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And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  ¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” – John 3:14-21

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Welcome to the fourth week of Lent and our theme for today: “The Venom and the Antidote”. It’s an odd title for a sermon, and it immediately raises questions. So I’ll start off by saying, yes, we actually are talking about real snake venom… and yes we are actually talking about a real cure. But these are obviously also meant to be metaphors, a way of describing the life of faith in Jesus.

So I’d like to start with Jesus today, and our reading from the Gospel of John.

This passage includes one of the most famous verses in the Bible: John 3:16.  Something many of us memorized in Sunday School. This verse has gained worldwide fame thanks to a man named Rollen Stewart, who spent amazing amounts of time and money attending sports events around the world – and buying seats where he knew the TV cameras would be (like behind home plate or behind the end zone) – and holding up a sign reading “John 3:16”. (Full disclosure: this guy is a bit nuts and is currently in prison) but during the latter part of the previous century he brought this verse to everyone’s attention…

… including some people I used to work with back in the early 1990s. One evening when a group of us were out having dinner at a local bar, a football game came on the TV, and this John 3:16 sign made an appearance. And one of my co-workers looked at me – as the one churchgoer at the table – and said, “what does that mean?”

I said, “it’s a Bible verse.”

“But you know what it is, right preacher-lady?” (mind you I had not even started seminary yet – but I had a reputation)

I said “Yes, I know what it is.”

And he said “Well??”

“You want me to actually say it right here in this bar?”

“Yeah!”

“OK then!”

So I did:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

And he thought that over for a second and he said “Cool!” And all his buddies at the table said “cool!” too. And they carried on with their conversations.

So John 3:16 is cool. I have it on good authority.

But this is not all there is to the passage. In fact John 3:16 is not even really the main point of Jesus’ conversation.

In this passage, we are listening in on a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus is one of my favorite people in the Bible because he’s an honest Pharisee. He is a member of the Sanhedrin, the body of religious rulers in Jerusalem; but he’s not a hypocrite.  Nicodemus thinks for himself; and where it comes to Jesus, he is honestly curious. He wants to know what Jesus is teaching, and he wants to ask questions.

Nicodemus is also, at this point in time, aware that many of his co-Pharisees are conspiring to kill Jesus – and he wants to give Jesus a heads-up about this. So he does something very risky: he comes to where the disciples are staying, in person, at night, and asks to have a word alone with Jesus.

Nicodemus starts the conversation by saying,

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do the signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

This is a stunning confession! By saying “we” – as in, “we know” – Nicodemus makes clear the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Pharisees know – they know! – that Jesus is from God; but this doesn’t stop them plotting and planning. They can’t face the truth of what Jesus teaches; but Nicodemus has decided to be different.

Jesus is very up-front with Nicodemus from the very start; but he takes the conversation in a direction that Nicodemus doesn’t expect.  Jesus says: “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” And the conversation continues for a while along the lines of what it means to be ‘born again’ or ‘born from above’ or ‘born of the Spirit’. Bottom line, Jesus says, salvation from God is not about keeping rules; salvation is a miracle by which God’s Spirit – the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity – comes into a person and lives in the heart of a person who is willing to worship and follow God.

This sounds like a new teaching to the people in Jesus’ time, but it’s actually a new presentation of ancient truths; and Nicodemus is a bit confused. Jesus scolds him gently saying, “you’re a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things?” Jesus goes on to explain that, while God loves the world and God loves the people in it, people love darkness because what they do is evil. But while this was all still going on, God sent the Son as a savior. Jesus says:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

Why? Because God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not die but have eternal life. In fact, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world could be saved through him. BUT this is the judgement: the light of God came into the world but people loved darkness more, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:16-19, edited)

Nicodemus, being the well-educated Pharisee that he was, immediately recognized and remembered the story of the serpent in the wilderness that Jesus was talking about. His mind would have gone back to the book of Numbers and that last segment of Israel’s journey in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

The people of Israel at that time had been traveling through the wilderness for almost forty years. Many of the people who had been freed from slavery in Egypt had grown old and passed away; others were elderly; and most likely the majority of the people in the tribe of Israel no longer remembered Egypt. All they had ever known was life on a journey – and the leadership of Moses.

At this point, the people of Israel were setting out from Mount Hor to go around the land of Edom. And it looked like they were going in the wrong direction: the Promised Land was to the north, but their path turned south to go around Edom. The people were impatient and they complained against both Moses and God; and their complaints were full of lies: they accused Moses of bringing them into the wilderness to die. They accused God of starving them to death; but then they say “…and we detest this miserable food” (so there actually is food – they are not starving – and in fact the food they have is manna, which has sometimes been called the ‘bread of angels’… wonderful stuff that tasted like wafers with honey.)

And they accused the Lord of Life of trying to starve them and kill them.

First, it is not wise for mere human beings to cop an attitude with God, the Creator of the Universe. Not a good idea.

Second, as one theologian writes, the accusations against God were serpentine in nature: poisonous, bitter, and self-contradictory.

God needs to confront this rebellion. If God does not confront the evil, it will grow and spread, and will result in the deaths of many people, perhaps the entire tribe of Israel. On this journey through the wilderness, the people still need God every step of the way. They need God’s direction and God’s insight; but the people think otherwise. So God sends poisonous snakes into the camp; and the snakes bite some of the people; and the people who are bitten die.

In reaction to this, the people say to Moses, “we have sinned; pray to God to take the snakes away.” Why it is that the people interpret the snakes as having been sent by God to confront them about their sins, I don’t fully understand; although it probably points to some guilty consciences. Apart from this, it seems like in the history of the human race people turn to God more quickly in times of trouble than when things are going well.

That’s what happens here. But God does not take the snakes away. Instead God says to Moses, “make a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and whoever looks at the bronze serpent will live.” This is not idol-worship: God does not say to bow down to the bronze serpent or to pray to the serpent. God only says “look at it” and you will be healed.

Side note: This symbol of a snake wrapped around a pole became the symbol of medicine and healing in the ancient world. The symbol has been found dating as far back as 400 BC in ancient Greece; and most likely the Greeks borrowed the story from Israel’s history, because they were aware of the history. [End of side note.]

Back to our story: God tells Moses to put the bronze serpent where everyone can see it; BUT people who are bitten must still be willing to look at it – to do what God said to do. The bronze serpent by itself does nothing. The fact that there’s a bronze serpent in the camp means nothing. If your brother or sister looks at the bronze serpent, it won’t help you if you’re the one who’s been bitten. And in fact the bronze serpent means nothing at all to people who haven’t been bitten. But for those who have been bitten, looking at the bronze serpent will heal them and they will live.

Notice the double conditional: If you aren’t sick, the bronze serpent means nothing to you. But if you are sick, only looking at the bronze serpent would heal you. Believing that a bronze serpent might heal you is not enough; you actually had to look at it. Head knowledge was not enough; the belief had to be acted on.

The snake bite represents sin. And Jesus says to Nicodemus: the same thing is happening here and now. Just like that bronze snake in the wilderness, Jesus is about to be lifted up on the Cross. Anyone who thinks they’ve never sinned doesn’t need the cross. But anyone who has been bitten by sin and rebellion of this world can look at Jesus on the Cross and be healed.

Notice there are no go-betweens. In Jesus, God is reaching out to each individual person. Each person needs to have the faith to look at the Cross. There is no priest or rabbi or pastor, not even Moses, who can look at the Cross for someone else, on someone else’s behalf. Each person must trust God for themselves in order to be healed, and each person must look to Jesus for that healing.

One other side note: I think this kind of trust is very difficult for people who have come from rough backgrounds: people who have been abused or neglected or kept down or prejudiced against; or people who suffer from PTSD.  People like the Israelites who had suffered from generations of slavery and pain and hardship. It is difficult for people who have experienced these things to trust. I think that’s where a lot of the griping came from in ancient Israel; I think that’s why it was so hard for many of them to look at the snake and believe. And I think that’s why it’s so hard for many people in our world today, who have suffered through trauma and tragedy, homelessness or hunger, to look on the Cross and believe and trust God.

On the other hand, the God we are asked to trust knows our pain.  The Cross makes that very clear. When we suffer we are not alone. God does not leave us alone. God has entered into our pain; and all we have to do is look at the Son of God on the Cross… and trust.

The Bible doesn’t tell us whether Nicodemus walked home that night as a believing Christian. But Jesus gave him the truth, and gave him a lot to think about. Nicodemus ended up being one of two men who stood by Jesus on the day Jesus died. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were the two men who had the courage to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus in order to give him a proper burial. Somewhere in between that nighttime conversation and Jesus’ crucifixion, Nicodemus became a believer. And he did for Jesus what no-one else could have done.

For us today, just like back then, our health and our well-being depends on the man on the Cross: the Son of God, lifted up for us.  We have all been bitten by sin, and we all need to look to Jesus for our healing. Just like God said “look at the snake” to be cured, God says “look at the Cross” to be healed. And all of this is possible because God loves us, and because God is leading us to the Promised Land. AMEN.

Chasing Spiritual Mirages

Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³ you shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,  ⁶ but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸ Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work– you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.  ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹² Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³ You shall not murder.

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ You shall not steal.

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. – Exodus 20:1-17  

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The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.  ² Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.  ³ There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;  ⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,  ⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.  ⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple;  ⁸ the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes;  ⁹ the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.  ¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.  ¹¹ Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.  ¹² But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.  ¹³ Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.  ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. – Psalm 19:1-14

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The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  ¹⁴ In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  ¹⁵ Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  ¹⁶ He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”  ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  ¹⁸ The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”  ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  ²⁰ The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”  ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body.  ²² After 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 2:13-22

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On this our third week of Lent, the theme for today is “Chasing Mirages”.

A mirage, as many of you know, is something found in a desert that looks like a pool of water but isn’t; and for this reason mirages have often caused the death of travelers. A person might think they see water, but when they keep traveling and find no water, it becomes too late: and they may have (in the journey) passed up real water without seeing it.

In a similar way, spiritual mirages can be spiritually deadly. The problem, as always, is recognizing what we’re looking at. In the desert, a mirage can be identified in a number of ways: real water usually has trees around it, or things that are growing, or tracks from people or animals. A mirage, on the other hand, has no signs of life – and as the traveler moves towards it, it never gets any closer; the mirage remains the same distance away no matter how far you travel.

The key to avoiding spiritual mirages is knowing what we’re looking for as we journey through life. Our three scripture readings for today give us some good ideas of what to look for.

In our reading from Exodus, God gives the Ten Commandments: laws organized and put down by God that will help us thrive. The law is not meant to be a killjoy – it was meant to help us live well! It’s like how we, as parents, teach our kids what foods are good for us; or what not to do, like “don’t go running out in the street”.  God’s law is good for us.

In the Psalm, David leads us in a song of praise to God for the goodness of creation, and for the goodness of God. Again, we’re looking at a relationship here. It’s like when we fall in love: we love what the other person does, but we love who they are even more. In the same way we love what God does, but we love God even more.

Then in our reading from John, we see Jesus getting angry. It can be scary when God gets angry! But what is Jesus getting angry at? He’s angry because injustice is happening and we are being excluded.  The events of this day take place in the Court of the Gentiles. Back then, only Jewish people were allowed in the Temple; Gentiles had to worship outside. And we here today are Gentiles. The Jewish buyers and sellers had set up their tables and their moneychangers in the place where we Gentiles were supposed to worship.

Jesus wasn’t having it. He was angry that anyone would try to keep people away from God who love God and want to know God.

All three of these scriptures lead us to love God even more, and to love Jesus for who He is. If nothing else I say this morning makes any sense, take this with you: Jesus stood up for you and for me. We are here today because we love Jesus for what he does and for who he is.

Having said all that, we turn to the concept of spiritual mirages. What is a spiritual mirage? How might we spot them? How might we deal with them?

Again, all three scriptures for today give us possibilities and pointers. For the sake of organization I’ve identified seven kinds of spiritual mirages that are indicated in our scripture readings today:

• The mirage of idolatry

• The mirage of “being good enough”

• The mirage of location

• The mirage of ‘outsiders getting in’ being a problem

• The mirage of corrupt leadership

• The mirage of having to be worthy

• The mirage of ‘salvation by law’, that is, by keeping the rules

I’ll spend a couple of minutes with each.

The Mirage of Idolatry

Back in Old Testament times God was always complaining about the Israelites worshipping idols instead of God. In fact God used to poke fun at those idols, saying things like: “hey look at that! You carved an idol, and covered it with gold and gemstones. Then you nailed it to the table so it doesn’t fall over. What kind of god is that? Is your idol so weak it can’t even stand on its own feet?”

These days we don’t – well most of us don’t – worship things that are made with human hands. But today – and in fact back then too – the real definition of idolatry is making the real God anything less than #1 in our lives. Anything or anyone that is more important to us than God is an idol.

The God of the Bible is a God of relationship. In fact the Holy Trinity has relationship built in: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three-in-one and one-in-three – a relationship that has often been described as a dance; and we are invited to join in that dance. But we can’t dance if we are chained to an idol.

This is why God says in Commandment #1 “You shall have no other gods before me” (or in some translations ‘you shall have no other gods but me’ – which I think is more accurate). God is not trying to ruin our fun! God is saying “this is the only road to life and health and joy and peace” and all those good things we want for ourselves and our families.

This law is the foundation for all the other nine Commandments. Without this one the other nine are irrelevant. In fact the other laws actually help us to identify our idols: things like power, anger, violence, sex, deception, control, and so on.

Personally I believe idolatry is the greatest and most pressing sin of our time. Our culture will value and follow anything but God: sports idols, rock idols, TikTok influencers, talking heads on TV, you name it. Anything that takes up the bulk of our time or the bulk of our attention might be an idol.

God wants to be #1 on all of our lists, because God loves us and knows what we need. One theologian puts it this way: “every time we open our eyes, ears, or nose, every time we taste or touch we can know that… God’s handiwork declares His glory.”[1]  Or as my old pastor used to say: “A Christian is someone who is into Jesus the way a football player is into football.”

So Mirage #1 is the mirage of idolatry.

Mirage #2 is the mirage of “trying to be good enough”. Back when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, they didn’t have much time or opportunity to know God. They had heard stories about God, about Noah and Abraham, but they didn’t have Bibles or worship services or priests. They had never been taught how to relate to God.

That didn’t matter to God. God brought Israel into the wilderness – as he told Moses – so that the people could know God and worship God. It would be a first for them. God gave the law to people who had no idea who God was or what God wanted. The Israelites did nothing to earn salvation; they barely knew about God; but God adopted them, and taught them, and cared for them.

The Law of Moses – the Ten Commandments – was not about setting up rules so much as it was building a framework for a relationship.  The Ten Commandments were not something that, if you broke a commandment, you’d end up in jail. They were a learning process. The laws were loving guidelines for human flourishing. And while God does say to ‘obey’ the Commandments; the word ‘obey’ in Hebrew is deeply related to the word ‘listen’. So ‘doing what is right’ is the same thing as ‘listening to God and saying yes’.

If and when we feel like we’re not good enough for God, remember that God called Israel – and God called us – before we knew God. None of us were ever ‘good enough’. In fact, trying to be ‘good enough’ often sets us up to be taken advantage of by religious hucksters who prey on our feelings of uncertainty. Remember the words of scripture: “while we were yet sinners Jesus died for us”.

I like the old Jewish saying:

“you are closer to God when you are asking questions than when you think you have the answers.”[2]

Mirage #3 is the necessity of location – that is, feeling like we have to be in a holy place in order to worship God. Jesus brings this out in our reading from Luke, when he says “destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days.” Jesus is saying he IS the temple – Jesus IS where we worship. Not in buildings. We meet in buildings, out of necessity. But real worship is done in Jesus.

In our reading from Luke, Jesus is introducing the concept that people no longer need animal sacrifices; and that any barrier that comes between people and God (like these money-changers) makes Jesus and God very angry. In fact one of the things that made Jesus so angry was that these hucksters and money-changers were set up for business in “the Court of the Gentiles”.  Anyone who wasn’t Jewish, could only worship God in the Court of the Gentiles. And foreigners who came seeking God found the place full of hucksters! No wonder Jesus was ticked off.

Bottom line, Jesus is doing away with the old system of worship. From now on people who worship God will worship in Spirit and in truth. So there is no longer a need for a Holy Location.

Which leads us to Mirage #4: The Mirage of ‘Outsiders Getting In’ Being a Problem. In Jesus’ day outsiders were kept out. Gentiles and foreigners had to stay outside the Temple. But this was never God’s plan. In fact, Gentiles have been included among God’s faithful from the very beginning. The nation of Israel was established by God’s covenant with Abraham, but God had faithful people like Noah long before Abraham. There were Gentiles present at Mt Sinai when the Ten Commandments were given. There were Gentiles who sought out Jesus – and Gentiles who Jesus sought out!

God chose Israel to be God’s chosen people, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. But God never intended Israel to be ‘exclusive’. A large part of Jesus’ anger that day at the temple was the ostracism of foreigners who had come seeking help or seeking wisdom or seeking God.

So foreigners coming in, is never a problem with God – in fact, just the opposite.

Mirage #5 – The Mirage Created By Corrupt Leadership

In Jesus’ day much of the leadership of Israel was corrupt in some way. Politically, there was King Herod – a puppet king installed by and controlled by Rome. Before him, starting a couple hundred years before, there had been what’s known as the ‘Hasmonean revolution’. This was a time when Israel, after hundreds of years, finally gained back self-rule, and rebuilt the Temple. This was the period of time during which Hanukkah came into being. But as Israel regained rule, they did not set up the kingdom the way God originally ordered it. When it came to choosing a king, they ignored the descendants of David; and when it came to appointing priests they ignored the descendants of Aaron.  As a result both political and religious leaders of the time were poorly educated, poorly prepared, and didn’t really know how to lead well. It wasn’t long before Israel fell again, this time to the Romans.

This was the time when the worship of God became tangled up with money-changers; and the High Priesthood was either bought or exchanged instead of inherited as God originally commanded. The result was the people were badly taught if they were taught at all – and this infuriated Jesus, because it kept people away from God!

Sadly in our own day, faith leaders can be equally sketchy sometimes.  I’m reading a book right now written by a writer for Atlantic Monthly. The book is called The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory. The author, Tim Alberta, is the son of a preacher, a man of faith, who has been wondering what has happened to the churches in America in the past few decades? And why all the scandals – from Catholic priests to disgraced evangelists to Christian Nationalists?

Just to pull one of many examples from the book, he talks about a group of ordained ministers who have been going across the country doing voter registrations in churches – but they’re being very selective about which churches they visit, and they include a healthy dose of campaigning while they do it. It’s part of something called The American Restoration Tour. These pastors see nothing wrong with selling books and flags and other political items in the lobbies of churches. It’s not all that different from what Jesus turned over in the temple that day 2000 years ago.

The author believes most of the problems in the churches today can be boiled down to one of two things: (1) corrupt leadership; or (2) idolatry of some kind. Often both. The leaders of groups like this are are far more interested in earthly power than in God’s word and God’s will.  God gets really angry when God’s people are misled this way.

That’s just one tip of one iceberg in the Mirage Created By Corrupt Leadership who lead people anywhere but to God.

Mirage #6 – The Mirage of Having To Be Worthy

When the Israelites were in Egypt, they knew very little about God and how to live God’s way – God loved them and saved them anyway.  And God gave them Ten Commandments, which “describes what a graceful, dignified human life looks like.” The Commandments are to us, in the words of the prophet Micah, a way to “do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.”

God is in every way perfect. This can make us imperfect human beings uncomfortable sometimes. But we cannot ‘domesticate’ God. You all know that one of my specialties is domesticating feral cats. But God cannot be domesticated! If anything, God is the one making us worthy of being lived with.

King David says in our Psalm today: “who can detect their errors?” but then he prays to God: “Cleanse me from hidden faults.”  This is our prayer too. Which leads us to the final mirage…

Mirage #7 – The Mirage of Salvation by the Law  (or by keeping rules)

As we’ve already seen this morning, Israel was saved by God before the Law was given. It was not the Torah that liberated Israel from Egypt – it was God who led them out.

In our reading from John today, the Passover – which is what Jesus was celebrating in the Temple – was the celebration of the liberation of Israel from Egypt. It was, for them, what Juneteenth is for our Black brothers and sisters. And because of this it was meant to be celebrated by everyone, not commercialized by sellers in the courtyard.

It was not the giving of the Law, but the beginning of the relationship with God, that was being celebrated. And to this day it is still the relationship with God that counts. We are saved by grace through faith by Jesus who died for us on the Cross – and his death on the Cross is a parallel to the Exodus. By the Cross, Jesus leads us out of captivity and into relationship with God, which will last forever.

By comparison, the Ten Commandments are a kind of an introduction. It’s God’s way of saying “here’s how we do things in My Kingdom. This is how we live.”  We are saved first, and then we learn how to live. David says in his psalm that the Law “revives the soul” – it gives hope, it gives wisdom to those who need it, it gives light to the eyes, it gives us truth. But our salvation is not by law, it’s by a relationship with God.

So to sum it up, these are the mirages to be on the lookout for:

• The mirage of idolatry

• The mirage of “being good enough”

• The mirage of the necessity of location

• The mirage of ‘outsiders getting in’ being a problem

• The mirage of corrupt leadership

• The mirage of having to be worthy

• The mirage of ‘salvation by law’, that is, by keeping the rules

May we always keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. And as we grow in our relationship with God, and may God keep God’s word close to our hearts. AMEN.

[1] CMJ

[2] CMJ

A Desert People

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.  ² And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”  ³ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,  ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.  ⁵ No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.  ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.  ⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  ¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”” – Genesis 17:1-7, Genesis 17:15-16

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²³ “You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!  ²⁴ For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.  ²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.  ²⁶ The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever!  ²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.  ²⁸ For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.  ²⁹ To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.  ³⁰ Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,  ³¹ and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.” — Psalm 22:23-31

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³¹ “Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  ³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?  ³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”” – Mark 8:31-38

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On this second Sunday of Lent, our theme for today is “A Desert People”. Pastor Dylan mentioned in our Thursday night group a couple weeks ago that in the early church, both men and women sometimes went out into the desert to fast and pray and to get away from the temptations and busy-ness of the world. Even today, during Lent, people still fast and pray to draw nearer to God.

The theory behind observing Lent, as the family of faith has always taught, is that the annual remembrance of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection are things we need to prepare our hearts for. We use this time to walk more closely with the Lord through fasting, or through acts of charity towards the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the homeless.

But what does it mean to be a “Desert Person”?

For me, one of the first things that comes to mind is the old movie Lawrence of Arabia. (Yes I know I’m dating myself.) This movie was based on the life of a real person whose last name was Lawrence, who was born and raised in England, joined the army in 1914, and was stationed in Arabia during the First World War. He worked alongside both Brits and Arabs, but over time he became close friends with the Arabs and basically ended up ‘going native’.

There’s a point in the movie where Lawrence has been given Arabian clothes to wear: he puts on the turban, the baggy white pants – very lightweight and flowing because the weather is so hot – and the lightweight white Abaya robe over top. He’s alone at the time, but he walks around in his new clothes, with the wind blowing through them, and you can almost see him changing from a Brit into an Arab. He has become a new man with new loyalties, and he will never again be completely comfortable being British.

In a similar way, the people of God are people who are called to the desert. The people of ancient Israel traveled through the desert; Jesus was tempted in the desert; and today we live in a world that is a spiritual desert. And as Christians, we (like Lawrence) are called to new loyalties, and a new country: the kingdom of God. When we become Christians, we put on the white robes Jesus gives us, and we become new people with new loyalties. We can no longer be comfortable with who we were before.

In our scriptures today we see what this has meant for God’s people in both the Old Testament and the New; and perhaps we can find, in their experiences, things we can relate to today.

We turn first to the Old Testament and the story of Abram. The Bible does not tell us a whole lot about Abram’s background, other than to say he was from Ur of the Chaldees. Ur was about 200 miles southeast of modern-day Baghdad. Imagine this: when God called Abram, Abram left everything he knew – his homeland, his culture, his extended family – and traveled northwest, following the River Euphrates – through Babylon (which is modern-day Iraq), then through Syria, and then turning southwest through Damascus and Hebron and ending up near Bethel near the Dead Sea. It was a distance of about 2200 miles that Abram walked with his family and his flocks of animals! That’s about the distance from New York City to Tempe AZ. Abram did this because God asked him to.

In our reading today, Abram has just settled in his new land, and it’s been a number of years since he heard God’s voice. But now God comes and speaks with him again and says: “I will make a covenant with you. I will make your descendants exceedingly numerous; I will make you a great nation; and kings will come from you; and I give you a new name: you are no longer “Abram” (which means ‘exalted father’); you are now Abraham (which means “Father of Multitudes”). God also says Sarai will become “Sarah” which means ‘princess’. And in the Hebrew language, the name “Sarah” is based on the same letters of the alphabet as the name “Israel”.

Hearing all of this, Abraham falls on his face in worship. He believes God; he believes what God has said; and Abraham orients his life around walking with God. He teaches his family to do the same. All of them together become God’s people.

It’s amazing to think that Abraham and Sarah only ever had one son together. Abraham had other children by other wives, but only the son of Abraham and Sarah would build the nation of Israel. This couple with one son will become a multitude, the Jewish people, through whom God has blessed every nation on earth. Even to this day there are Jewish communities in just about every country on the planet – proving how trustworthy God’s word is!

But from where Abraham stood, he took everything on faith. Abraham never saw the fulfillment of God’s promise with his own eyes. Abraham trusted God; and God was faithful.

Moving then to our Psalm for today: the part of the psalm that we read is taken from the tail end of Psalm 22. The first part of the psalm, which we didn’t read, is a prophecy written by King David. I don’t know if David knew it was prophecy when he wrote it; David was bringing to God his pain at being betrayed and attacked for no reason and being unable to find justice. But what David wrote is also a detailed description Jesus’ crucifixion, written 1000 years before crucifixion was invented.

Let me read you the part we missed – and as I do, see how many references to crucifixion and the death of Jesus you can hear in this psalm. How many can you count?  Here’s what David wrote:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?  2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.  3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.  4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.  5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.  6 But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.  7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;  8 “Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver – let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”  9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.  10 On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.  11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.  12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;  13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.  14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;  15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.  16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;  17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;  18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.  19 But you, O LORD, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!  20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!  21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.

I’m not sure of the exact number of references to the crucifixion there are, but I counted at least twelve. And to list them all would be another sermon for another day! What we want to see here is this:

There will most likely be times in our lives when all of us feel like God is far away or has abandoned us. But the truth is – and Jesus knew this – that God can be trusted. Jesus said from the cross, to the thief next to him: “this day you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus knew, even in the very worst moment, that God hears those who are in distress, that God listens to anyone who cries out to God.

This prayer of David is the prayer of a ‘desert person’: someone who is in deep trouble and distress, crying out to God to save. This prayer has also been paralleled to Israel’s history – in that Israel as a nation was enslaved and then liberated. For the same reason might also be paralleled to Black American History. It’s not hard to imagine a slave in the deep south a couple hundred years ago praying the words, “Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but I find no rest.” It’s not hard to imagine the people at our southern border praying the same prayer today.

At this point, we turn to Mark’s gospel – where Jesus (who is another desert person) spent 40 days in the wilderness not too long before. He is now in a different kind of wilderness: one where he alone knows what’s about to happen. Jesus knows the cross is on the horizon and he wants his closest friends to understand what he’s facing into. He says to them:

“the Son of Man must undergo great suffering… and be killed, and after three days rise again”.

In Jewish ears – which of course Jesus’ disciples were all Jewish – in Jewish ears the phrase “Son of Man” had a specific meaning. The “Son of Man” was a person the prophet Daniel wrote about: a person who had to do with both the promised Messiah and the end times.

The understanding in Jesus’ time was that “the Messiah would come and lead a military triumph [against] the Roman occupiers and [restore the kingdom] of David…”[1].  That’s most likely what Peter was thinking when he spoke up. Peter – and many people like him at the time – had missed the part in the book of Daniel where the prophet predicted the Messiah would be disgraced, suffer, and die.

There’s a strong parallel between Peter’s thinking and the kind of thinking today where people believe that following Jesus means winning elections and writing Christian values into law. God never works that way. God does not conquer using human power. God didn’t do that in Jesus’ time, and God doesn’t do it now. God’s interest is not in power as we understand it; God already has far more power than we can possibly imagine!

God’s interest is, and always has been, being in relationship with God’s people. But like Peter, our imperfections sometimes get in the way. We human beings still have a touch of darkness in us, and we can’t always see where God is leading from where we stand.

This is why the cross is necessary. Jesus does for us what we can’t do for ourselves: on the Cross, Jesus faces the darkness and defeats it once and for all.

Jesus knows the cross is necessary; and he also knows he will rise again. The disciples, on the other hand, have never seen anyone survive a crucifixion. They can’t grasp what Jesus means by “I’ll be back.”

It’s understandable that Peter doesn’t understand all this; but the way he spoke to Jesus in our scripture reading would have been understood in those days as extremely disrespectful. To our ears in the 21^st century, it sounds like Peter is concerned about Jesus’ welfare; but for a Jewish disciple in those days to rebuke his rabbi was unheard of. What’s worse, Peter is echoing what Satan said in the wilderness. Satan said (essentially), “hey Jesus, there’s another way. You don’t have to suffer the Cross. Do things another way and all the kingdoms of the earth can be yours.” It’s probably the most attractive lie that has ever been spoken.

After confronting Peter, Jesus does forgive him; a week later Peter will be on the mountain of Transfiguration with Jesus.

As for us – as we follow Jesus, we become desert people too. We are fortunate to have a lot more of God’s words with us than Abraham did. In fact Abraham didn’t have any of God’s words written down – it was all verbal. But we still have a God who makes covenant promises and keeps them. As we keep our part of the covenant, we trust God, we worship, and we reach out to others in God’s name. But most of all, we receive God’s love and we love God in return.

Entering into God’s kingdom is not something we can do for ourselves. We enter in because God invites us, and because God has opened the door for us through the Cross.

When we believe as Abraham believed, we can’t help but worship. Worship is always the response to faith and to God’s word. Think of the Asbury Revival last year. People started worshipping God one day, and they got caught up in the majesty of God and the presence of God and the glory of God, and they didn’t want to go home. They wanted to stay – for 16 days! That’s just a tiny, tiny taste of what life in God’s kingdom will be like.

And just like with Abraham, when we say “yes” to God, God’s response will be, “walk before me in faith. I will make you fruitful, I will establish my covenant between me and you (and of course for us today, through Jesus)”.

Bottom line, God’s call on our lives never leaves us where we started. Like Lawrence of Arabia, God gives us new robes – the robes of righteousness – and as we put on those robes, we leave behind the old life and the old self. We step into a new world. We step into God’s kingdom. Like Abraham, we will walk from this time forward in God’s way: by grace through faith.

And, just as important, as we follow Jesus and become desert people, we identify with, and become brothers and sisters with, other desert people. And very frequently these people are the disenfranchised. The persecuted. The homeless and the hungry. All the people in the world who can identify with David when he says, “I groan, I cry, I find no rest, I am scorned by others, and despised…”. These words describe Jesus on the cross, and they also describe people in our own time.

We are called to spend what we have and who we are, for the sake of Jesus and for the Gospel. In the (paraphrased) words of St. Francis – you may know the song:

“Let me not seek so much to be consoled as to console, /

to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, /

for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned/

and it is in dying that we are raised to eternal life.”[2]

One theologian calls this “deep physics” – because in seeking to save one’s own life, one loses it; but in giving up one’s life for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, one finds it.

It’s desert living. With Jesus, the desert blooms.

With Jesus, in the desert, we find love and life in the most unexpected places.  With Jesus, in the desert, we find freedom… and strangely enough, as we give ourselves up to Jesus, we find ourselves. We are called to be a desert people, as we grow in delight at all that God has done and will do. AMEN.

[1] SALT

[2] Sebatian Temple, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace, a musical setting of the Prayer of St. Francis (trad)

Lent 1: The Wilderness Within

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,  ⁹ “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,  ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.  ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  ¹² God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  ¹³ I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  ¹⁶ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”” – Genesis 9:8-17

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To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.  ² O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.  ³ Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.  ⁴ Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.  ⁵ Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.  ⁶ Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.  ⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!  ⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.  ⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.  ¹⁰ All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. – Psalm 25, Of David

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“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  ¹⁰ And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  ¹² And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  ¹³ He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.  ¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,  ¹⁵ and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” – Mark 1:9-15

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Welcome to the first Sunday of Lent!  Lent is starting so early this year – I don’t know about you but we still have a few straggly Christmas decorations around that haven’t been put away yet!

A lot of people observe Lent by giving things up… and that’s not a bad idea if there are things we would benefit by giving up. But the tradition of ‘giving things up’ for Lent is actually rooted in an older tradition of fasting. We were talking about this at the Thursday night Lenten study the other night – how people a long time ago used to move away from society and fast, or form communities that were like monasteries that practiced fasting. There is something about going without food for a day, or for a few days – that’s a very effective way of bringing prayer to the forefront of life. There is something about not eating – something about telling our bodies to ‘just hush’ for a minute – that brings spiritual life into focus.

The practice of fasting was common in Jesus’ day as well. In Matthew 6:16 Jesus says “when you fast…” (do such-and-such) – but he doesn’t say “if you fast”.  Jesus assumed that people who love God would fast now and then.

In today’s world some Christians still fast; and some fast only from specific foods (for example from meat on Fridays); and some fast from things that aren’t food at all (for example, giving up social media for Lent).

In the church, for the past 1000 years or so, Lent has also traditionally been a time when new Christians prepared for baptism or for joining the church. So it’s very appropriate that Pastor Dylan is in the process of putting together a new members’ class. If you know anyone who would like to be part of that, please let one of the pastors know.

Turning to our scripture readings for today, the general theme – the concept in common between all of them – is wilderness. Unbridled nature. Our reading from Genesis today talks about Noah and the flood; and our reading from Mark talks about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness after he was baptized. On the surface these two events don’t seem to have much in common but as we dig deeper we will find a number of common threads.

Starting with Genesis: In today’s reading we are listening in on a conversation between God and Noah that happens after the flood. At this point in the story, the flood is over; the ark has come to rest on a mountain top; and all the people and animals have disembarked. And God is promising that a catastrophe like this will never happen again. So we’re coming in at the end of the story. We need to back up to the beginning.

One of the most common questions people ask about the flood is: “why would God do this?” Why would God – who loves people and loves creation – wipe out every living thing on the face of the earth?

The reason God gives us was that the hearts of all the people were all evil all the time. I know sometimes our own world feels like that – but the evil we see around us now, apparently, was nothing compared to what was going on back then. In Genesis 6:1-4 we read:

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of heaven saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of heaven went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

The Bible is describing a group of super-beings, not-quite-human, not-quite-gods – possibly fallen angels – we don’t know for sure. But they were physically large and very strong; and the Bible says these beings caused great evil on the earth, way beyond what mere mortals could do. You and I have never seen evil on this scale.

God would have been evil if he had not done something about the evil. So God looked around for an honest human being who respected God, and he found only Noah. Noah preached God’s word to the people of his generation for 120 years – and nothing changed.

So God told Noah to build the ark. The people asked Noah what he was doing, and he told them and warned them about the destruction that was coming, and they just laughed at him. Anyone who was living at that time could have believed Noah and gotten on the ark and been saved – but they chose to turn their backs on God and do whatever they felt like.

So God, as a last resort, wiped the slate clean and made a new start. And when the ark, with Noah and his family, and all the animals, finally came to rest on solid ground again, God made a covenant: “this will never happen again”. This is what God said:

“I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,  ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you… that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  ¹² God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  ¹³ I have set my bow in the clouds…” (Genesis 9:9-13)

It has been said that a covenant – or a promise – is only as good as the parties who make it. We know that God’s word is good. As for us –whenever we see a rainbow in the sky, do we remember God’s promise? Do we uphold our part of the agreement, and remember God’s words?

The psalm we read a moment ago is a psalm of lament. It was inspired when King David’s heart was moved because people who knew God refused to keep God’s covenants – not just this one with Noah, but many other covenants as well. David is mourning and grieving over the fact that people are not keeping the promises they’ve made to God. In order for a covenant to be good, both parties need to be faithful.  During this time of Lent, it’s good to think about the promises we’ve made to God – in our baptism, in our worship – and think about how we can be faithful.

One other interesting note on this passage in Genesis: this particular covenant – unlike many covenants in the Old Testament, did not involve any animal sacrifices – because the animals are included in the covenant. The animals are named participants.

We’ll come back to that thought in a little bit. For now, we move on to the Gospel of Mark.

The events we read about in Mark – surrounding Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River – are also found in Matthew and Luke’s gospels. But Mark, as usual, is a man of few words.

Mark starts out by telling us that Jesus came to John the Baptist and was baptized. The question is: why? John preached a baptism of repentance – but Jesus, being the Son of God, had nothing to repent of.

Jesus is standing in solidarity with us – in a way that looks forward to the cross.  Jesus takes our place in both situations. Jesus identifies with us, even though he had no sin that needed to be washed away.  And God’s response to this was, “this is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

In doing this, Jesus also demonstrates that confession of sin can be communal as well as individual. That is, it’s possible to confess sin as a group rather than one person at a time. When we pray the prayer of confession in the bulletin on a Sunday, there may be times when we think to ourselves, “I know I’m not perfect, but I’ve never committed that sin” – and this could be very true. But in church we confess as a group. We pray “forgive us our sins” rather than “forgive me my sins”.  Of course we can and should also confess individual sins to God privately. But when we pray together in church we stand in solidarity with each other.

In a similar way, Jesus identifies with us in being baptized, and stands in solidarity with us, and God is well pleased.

Immediately afterwards the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted or tested by Satan. This is another question that people often ask: “Do you really believe in the Devil”?

First off:  I do not think it is wise to spend too much time thinking about evil beings. It’s enough to know the basics. But having said that, probably one of the best books on the subject is CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – which is fiction but speaks a lot of truth!  In the introduction to the book, CS Lewis writes that when he is asked if he believes in the actual Devil, he says:

“…if by “the Devil” you mean a power opposite to God and, like God, self-existent from all eternity, the answer is certainly No. There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. No being could attain a “perfect badness” opposite to the perfect goodness of God…”[1]

But Lewis goes on to say that:

“The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God and, as a corollary, [enemies] to us.”[2]

So Lewis is saying the devil was originally a created being like an angel, and rebelled against God, and is trying to tempt humans to join in the rebellion and disobey God the way it does.

The devil comes to Jesus in the wilderness, because if the devil can get Jesus to fall, to join in the rebellion against God, to do things his own way instead of going to the cross, then God’s plan to save the human race will fail.

But Jesus does not fall. In fact he doesn’t fall for even the tiniest bit of it.

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. The number 40 is significant in Jewish history because the flood lasted 40 days; Moses was on Mt. Sinai for 40 days; and the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land took 40 years. All these sets of 40 included times of testing before something big happened. And now that Jesus has been tested, something big is about to happen again.

One other common thread between these two readings is that the animals play a key role in both events!  Humanity’s fall into sin back in Genesis had horrible consequences for the animal kingdom as well as for people. Before the fall, the animal world was not at odds with itself or with people.[3] In fact, in Genesis we see Adam giving names to all the animals.

The Jewish Torah gives instructions on how to take care of animals. And there’s a passage in Hosea where God says:

“…in that day will I make a covenant… with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.”

That’s God’s promise to the animals of the earth. All of creation – all of it – waits for the redemption of humankind.

Mark says that during the temptation, “Jesus was with the wild animals”.  Jewish scholars point out that “wild animals often assist the heroes of God”; and they point out that “Adam was at peace with the animal kingdom in the Garden of Eden. […] And the New Testament refers to Jesus as the Second Adam, [so it would make sense that] Jesus would enjoy a [good] relationship with the animal kingdom.”[4]

So one side-effect of this whole event is that, through Jesus, the fellowship between humans and animals that existed in the Garden of Eden is being restored. Isn’t that great news?

Jesus tells us later on to share the good news not only “with all people” but “with all creation”. St Francis of Assisi was famous for going out and preaching to animals and to birds. Some people thought he was nuts. But you know what? Those of us who have pets… have you ever mentioned the name of Jesus to them? Have you ever told your pet that God loves them? My cats purr like crazy when I talk like that. Try it sometime with your animals!

Of course we are also called to share the good news with our fellow human beings. What we see in these passages is that being God’s people begins with listening to Jesus. So this Lent, we should take every opportunity we can find to be in God’s word, and listening to Jesus.

Secondly, Jesus calls us to repentance. This does not mean that we are horrible terrible people. It just means that, in some areas of our lives, we need to change direction. Remember the word repent means “to change course” or to change direction.

In a way I kind of think of repentance as being almost like spring cleaning for the soul.  I’ve been doing some major spring cleaning in my office lately – getting rid of stuff I don’t use to make way for some built-ins. As I’ve been doing this I’ve been finding things I haven’t used in a decade or two… and I’ve also been finding about two decades’ worth of dust that flies into the air every time I move something!! Makes it tough to breathe.

That’s kind of how things are with our souls as well. We need to let the fresh air in. We need to clear out the stuff we don’t need any more – the habits that aren’t working for us any more. And we need to re-focus our attention on God and what God is calling us to.

Whatever disciplines we decide on for Lent – whether it be fasting or prayer or volunteering or giving – whatever God is calling each of us to do, we need to be doing that. It will be different for every person, but we will be going through Lent together and we can encourage each other as each one of us focuses on hearing and doing God’s word and God’s will.

The end result will be a closer walk with God, which will bring joy to us and our loved ones – and to our animals. In the name of God, I invite you all to the observance of a Holy Lent. AMEN.

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[1] CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p. vii

[2] Ibid

[3] CMJ

[4] CMJ

Transfiguration

Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.  ² Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.  ³ The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”

⁴ Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.  ⁵ The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.”

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.  ⁷ Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.  ⁸ Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”  ¹⁰ He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.”  ¹¹ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.  ¹² Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. – 2 Kings 2:1-12

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The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.  ² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.  ³ Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.  ⁴ He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:  ⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”  ⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Psalm 50:1-6

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² Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,  ³ and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.  ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  ⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  ⁶ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.  ⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”  ⁸ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.  ⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. – Mark 9:2-9

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As you all know, today is Transfiguration Sunday! Today we remember the day when Jesus took three disciples, went up a mountain, and his appearance changed right in front of them. They were joined by Moses and Elijah, and they heard God saying “This is my son, whom I love – listen to him.”

That’s the story – that’s what happened, according to the eyewitnesses who were there. It’s a very familiar vignette.

But this year, the events in the readings leading up to this Sunday – and also on this Sunday – give a different spin to the story than we usually hear. They detail for us:

1. Many ways that Jesus was revealed and made known as the Messiah to the people of Israel;
2. Some background on Elijah that helps explain why he was there on that mountain
3. A possible motivation for Peter’s actions on the mountaintop
4. A human face on all these events
5. How we might respond in faith to the words and events God shares with us in these passages

…so I’ll need to back up and briefly tie in the past few weeks.

We have been in the season of Epiphany – a word that means “revealing” or “making known”. Our scriptures this past month have focused on ‘making Jesus known’: making it known that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Redeemer promised from the beginning of the human race.

Two weeks ago, in our gospel lesson, we saw Jesus preaching at Capernaum; and we saw him interrupted by a man possessed by a demon; and we saw Jesus cast out that demon and heal the man. Mark tells us the people were amazed and astonished at what they saw and heard; and they said to each other, “no one has ever taught like this before! He teaches with authority, and not like the scribes!” So two weeks ago Jesus’ authority was revealed. …

Last week, our gospel lesson talked about what happened in Capernaum later that day. Jesus went with the disciples to the home of Peter’s mother-in-law, and when they arrived they found the mother-in-law was ill. But Jesus healed her, and she got up, and everybody had lunch together. And she and the disciples and Jesus shared a relaxing Sabbath afternoon together.

The rest of the village of Capernaum was basically doing the same thing, because it was the Sabbath, and they were probably talking over dinner about what had happened at synagogue that morning. As soon as the Sabbath was over, the entire village showed up at the door of Peter’s mother-in-law’s house, bringing with them the sick people and anyone who had demons, and Jesus healed them all.

I have to add – the streets in Capernaum are extremely narrow, and the houses are very close together, so how the entire village managed to gather at the door of this house, I don’t know. But there they were. Mark says Jesus cared for every person and healed every person. Here we see being revealed Jesus’ compassion and his power to heal.

Streets of Capernaum

Then something unexpected happened. While the whole town was basically having a massive block party, Jesus slipped away in the wee hours of the morning. Mark doesn’t say why, other than to say Jesus went to pray. I imagine after a night like this, Jesus was probably very tired and needed to recharge his batteries. God was able – and God is still able, even when we’ve been up all night – to give us a second wind. So Jesus was probably recharging. I expect he was also rejoicing – with God, his Father, in the healing of God’s people. And it seems he was also renewing – a sense of his mission here on earth.

Jesus demonstrates for us the need to spend quality time with God. If Jesus, being the Son of God, needed to pray, then certainly we do too!

Meanwhile back at the house, the disciples notice Jesus is missing, and they go looking for him. And it takes a while, but they finally find him, and they say: “Jesus, everybody’s looking for you!” And Jesus answers, “we need to share the good news in other towns and synagogues.” In a way, the disciples were saying “let’s go back” – but Jesus is saying, “let’s go on”.  And in saying this, Jesus’ mission is revealed.

So over the past couple of weeks, what has been revealed to us about Jesus is: his authority, his compassion, his power to heal, and his mission.  That’s a quick bird’s-eye view of the past couple of weeks.

This week the story turns darker. This week we spend time with the living and the dying.

In our passage from II Kings today, we join the prophet Elijah on the last day of his life. How Elijah knew this was his last day we are not told; but he runs into groups of prophets throughout the day who all predict his demise.

Death is an extremely personal thing. It’s not something we often talk about; but none of us can avoid it. Being born, by definition, means someday death will come.

As a pastor, I’m often called to be present when someone is seriously ill or dying, or to be with a family when someone has died. What I’ve seen is that everyone approaches death differently, and everyone experiences it differently. Death is an epiphany in a sense; it’s a revealing of a different kind.

Some people who are dying want to be surrounded by people and activity – the more, the better –like one last party! Other people prefer to have only family with them. Still others prefer just one or two quiet people nearby, maybe with scripture being read or soft music being played. And more often than you might think, some people just want to be alone in their last moments. These are all normal reactions, very much rooted in who the person is.

Elijah spent his last day on earth doing God’s work.  Elijah was fortunate to have the physical ability to do that – not all of us are that lucky when the end comes near. Elijah walks – I’m not sure how many miles – from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan River. At each stop along the way, Elijah does something for God, and then he turns to Elisha and says, “stay here, I’m going on to the next place.”

But Elisha refuses to leave him. Elisha says, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”  Elisha doesn’t care what it costs or what he might need to endure – he is fiercely loyal to Elijah and will not leave him to face death alone. Elijah has been like a father to him. So Elisha is staying, no matter what.

I wonder how many of us have had mentors in our lives who taught us faithfully the way Elijah taught Elisha? How many of us have friends who stand with us through absolutely anything the way Elisha did? How many of us offer friendship like that to others? Friendships of this kind are very rare and more precious than diamonds. If we have just one friendship like this in our lives we can count ourselves blessed.

As Elijah and Elisha travel on, their first stop is at Bethel (a name that means “house of God”) and the prophets there tell Elisha, “you know, God’s going to take Elijah home today.” And Elisha says basically “yeah I know – shut up”. Actually his exact words were “Yes, I know; be silent” but I think ‘shut up’ is closer to the meaning because these prophets don’t care about Elijah the way Elisha does. These prophets are spectators in Elijah’s life – they are not emotionally involved, they’re basically being nebby in the worst possible way. (When someone you love is dying, you have every right to tell people like that to shut up!)

This pattern of Elijah saying “Elisha, stay put” and Elisha saying “no way” happens three times – a trinity of sorts. The third time, they’re at the Jordan River – and Elijah takes his cloak and parts the river, like Moses did! And the two men walk across to the other side on dry ground.

Why would Elijah want to cross the Jordan into another country right before he dies? No doubt this was God’s leading.  Some say it’s also because it’s near the place where Moses died. Truth is, Moses’ grave has never been found; and Elijah was never buried. So this leaves two question marks in the history of Israel.

When they get to the other side, Elijah asks Elisha, “what can I do for you before I leave?” And Elisha steps into a role usually taken by the firstborn son. He says, “my father, let me inherit a double share of your spirit” – “in other words, twice the wisdom, twice the courage, and twice the love to carry on your work.”[1]  Elijah answers, “you’ve asked for a difficult thing; but if you see me as I leave, your prayer will be granted.”

Elisha’s prayer is granted. He sees Elijah disappear in a chariot of fire – fire representing God’s presence. Psalm 50 says about God: “before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him” – which sounds a lot like what Elisha saw that day.

As the vision fades, and Elijah disappears, Elijah’s cloak lands on Elisha. His prayer has been granted; and Elisha tears his own clothes in grief at the loss of his mentor and friend.

In the Jewish faith, this event makes Elijah a sign of the end times. It means he will come back someday, and his “return would signal the end of the age.”[2]  Elisha’s story also gives the assurance: “[this] journey through ashes and sorrow is never for its own sake. It’s for the sake of what comes next… a radiant new life and a dazzling new world.”[3]

Hold all of this in thought and mind now; hold in mind the depth and the passion of Elisha’s loyalty, and the promise of Elijah’s return at the end times; as we turn now to the New Testament and Mark’s gospel.

In our reading from Mark today we come to familiar territory: the Transfiguration of Jesus. Up to this point, Jesus has been traveling and teaching about the Kingdom of God, and healing people, and challenging the status quo; and recently Jesus has begun to predict his death, which the disciples don’t know how to react to.

Jesus is now turning towards Golgotha, descending into the valley of the shadow of death. The disciples who travel with Jesus are about to experience a mysterious and powerful mountain-top vision, that will be for them like a torch, lighting their way[4] into the dark days ahead.

Jesus chooses three disciples to go with him up the mountain: Peter, James, and John. The Bible doesn’t say why these three were chosen, but it might have to do with the ministries the three of them will have later on after Jesus’ ascension: Peter ministering to the Gentiles, James ministering in Jerusalem, and John as he writes the book of Revelation.

As the men arrive at the top of the mountain, Jesus is changed: his clothes become dazzling white, almost too bright to look at; and a cloud comes down on the mountain-top – not unlike the cloud that came down on Mt. Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments.

The four of them are now joined by Moses, along with Elijah, who we’ve just been reading about: the two Old Testament leaders, representing the Law and the Prophets, whose bodies and burial places were never found – and whose lives passed directly into the hand of God.

These two men now have a conversation with Jesus about his departure. Again here’s that theme of death – we really can’t escape it!  What exactly the three of them said to each other was not written down, but there’s no doubt the two men were preparing Jesus for his end. (Preparing for death is a wise thing to do, no matter who we are. Jesus gives us an example to follow.)

Peter, meanwhile, suggests putting up three dwellings – one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  Most of the sermons and writings I’ve seen on this subject poke fun at Peter for saying this. They accuse him of being… clueless? Not thinking clearly? But I read something this week that says otherwise – a connection only a Jewish person would see.

This author said Peter’s suggestion is related to the Jewish Festival of Booths. The Festival of Booths is a seven-day holiday, every year, that recalls Israel’s journey through the wilderness after they left Egypt. During the Festival of Booths, people live in booths outdoors for a week as a reminder of how they lived in the wilderness for forty years on the way to the Promised Land. The Festival of Booths is a joyful holiday – a celebration of God’s deliverance, that looks forward to the Promised Land. That’s exactly what Jesus has come for – to deliver us from sin and death, and to bring us into God’s Promised Land. Peter has it exactly right.

It’s just the time isn’t quite right yet. God’s voice is heard saying, “This is my beloved son; listen to him!” And the word “listen” – in the Jewish language, shema – means not just ‘hear’ but also ‘obey’. In Jewish understanding, if a person doesn’t act, then they haven’t really heard. Then all of a sudden the vision disappears, and Jesus is alone with the disciples once more.

Jesus tells the disciples, “say nothing about this until after I’ve been raised from the dead” – the meaning of which the disciples still aren’t quite grasping – but that’s OK because they will remember it, and speak about it again after the resurrection. We also see clearly that Jesus knows that his death won’t be the end. Jesus can see beyond his grave – but for now only Jesus can; the others cannot.

On this day, the disciples join Jesus on his final journey… and so do we.

We now stand, in respect to Jesus, where Elisha stood in respect to Elijah. Will we pick up the mantle? Will we carry on the work that Jesus started – speaking God’s word, pointing people to God’s Kingdom, and doing our part to bring healing into the world? Jesus is the one and only true beacon of hope in a world that is growing darker by the minute. It is an honor for us to stand where Elisha stood. Do we love our Lord Jesus as deeply as Elisha loved Elijah?

The message from God is: “this is my son… listen to him”. As we enter into Lent this year, may we listen… and follow. AMEN.

[1] Susan K. Bock, Liturgy for the Whole Church

[2] SALT

[3] SALT

[4] SALT

Of Service To Each Other

^“Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  ²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;  ²³ who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.  ²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.  ²⁵ To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.  ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.  ²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?  ²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.  ³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;  ³¹ but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:21-31

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“Praise the LORD! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.  ² The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.  ³ He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.  ⁴ He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.  ⁵ Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.  ⁶ The LORD lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground.  ⁷ Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre.  ⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.  ⁹ He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry.  ¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;  ¹¹ but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”  – Psalm 147:1-11

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^“As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.  ³¹ He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³² That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.  ³³ And the whole city was gathered around the door.  ³⁴ And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵ In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  ³⁶ And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  ³⁷ When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”  ³⁸ He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”  ³⁹ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” – Mark 1:29-39

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This week, as our bulletin cover shows, we are entering into Black History Month; and today happens to be the birthday of Rosa Parks, who was born on this day in Tuskegee AL in 1913. When she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, she was arrested, launching a case that eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court – who ruled that “separate is not equal” and segregation had to end.

Asked about it later, Mrs. Parks said that her decision to not get up was largely motivated by the acquittal of the murderers of Emmett Till. In the words of poet Nikki Giovanni, “it was Mrs. Rosa Parks who could not stand that death. And in not being able to stand it. She sat back down.”

Her ability to think clearly and act decisively under immense pressure changed the world we live in. May God bless her memory.

Today we are also still working our way through Epiphany: that time of year when God and our scriptures “show forth” and “make known” the Messiah, Jesus. Last week – to recap Mark’s gospel – we saw Jesus in a battle between good and evil when a man with an unclean spirit interrupted Jesus as he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. And all the people in Capernaum remarked how Jesus taught with authority and not like the scribes.

In his teaching, and in his dismissal of the demon, Jesus demonstrated the reality and the power of spiritual gifts. A couple weeks ago in our Wednesday Bible study, we were talking about spiritual gifts – things like healing and speaking in tongues and prophecy. And we mentioned how it seems like in some churches these things happen all the time but in other churches (like the one I grew up in) the spiritual gifts were rarely if ever seen, and seemed a bit of a mystery. I wanted first off to assure you that the spiritual gifts are real, and in this passage we see Jesus using some of them. That is why the people sensed Jesus had ‘authority not like the scribes’ – which is a very accurate perception!

The spiritual gifts Jesus used on that day included teaching, word of knowledge, and healing. We don’t often think of teaching as a spiritual gift, because a lot of people teach… but teaching in the Spirit is very powerful and it goes deep into the listeners – that’s why the people felt that “he teaches with authority”. And word of knowledge, which is sometimes called prophecy, is being able to speak a truth that a person could not know unless God revealed it to them. When Jesus identified the man as having an evil spirit (as opposed to maybe being drunk or having a really bad day) this was a prophetic understanding – this was knowledge given by God. And then Jesus used the spiritual gift of healing to tell the evil spirit to leave. And the spirit left, and the man was healed.

The spiritual gifts all have the same goals: to give glory to God; to teach God’s people about God’s love and power; and to heal the things that are wrong in this world. And this is how we can tell real spiritual gifts from people who are trying to fake them: God’s Spirit accomplishes God’s will.

So that’s a quick summary of last week – which gives us our launching point for this week.

This week Jesus continues to minister in God’s power, making God known to God’s people.

Psalm 147 says: “Great is our Lord and abundant in power.”

And the psalm says God uses this power to “lift up the downtrodden, and cast the wicked to the ground.” The psalmist says God also uses God’s power to make clouds and rain and grass and animals and ravens (although I’m not quite so sure about Baltimore…). Above all, God does good for the people God loves.

Isaiah then talks about this in more detail.  Isaiah reminds us that rich and poor alike share the same end; that life is very short… but God gives power. Isaiah says:

“²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.”

Some of us might remember the movie Chariots of Fire from a few years back – the story of Scottish missionary Eric Liddell who was also a champion runner in the Olympics. In that movie, Eric Liddell preached a sermon on this passage in Isaiah, and I can almost hear his Scottish accent:

“[The Lord] does not faint or grow weary… ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.  ³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;  ³¹ but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

(Here’s a link to the video clip:)

Just in those few short sentences the words “faint”, “weary”, “exhausted”, “powerless” appear nine times! And how often do we find ourselves feeling that way? How often we find ourselves running in a thousand different directions, barely keeping up with everything that has to be done? But in these same verses the words “power”, “strength”, and “run” and “walk” are repeated as well. God is never tired; God is never weary – and those who wait for God “will renew their strength” – if we wait with expectation, looking in God’s direction, and trusting that God’s word is true.

Then we come to our gospel reading from Mark. This passage takes place immediately after last week’s reading. In last week’s reading, Jesus was teaching in synagogue in the morning. In this week’s reading, it’s later the same day. The worship service is now over, and Jesus – along with James and John – goes to the home of Simon Peter and Andrew, which is a short walk from the synagogue – just a few blocks away. It’s kind of like what people used to do after church back in the day: they’d say, “hey, let’s grab a bite to eat!” and then go to somebody’s house. It feels natural to do this; and rightfully so, because the Sabbath day is a day made for rest, and fellowship, and enjoying friends and family.

But as they arrive at Peter’s house, they find that Peter’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever.  So Jesus goes to her, and “raises her up” – and heals her – not just in the sense that ‘the fever’s gone’ (which it was) but in the sense of she feels GREAT! She feels reunited with her family, and she feels healthy and strong, and she can’t wait to start serving lunch!

As the Sabbath day progresses, the mother-in-law and the disciples all eat and relax and enjoy each other’s company. And the rest of the village of Capernaum is pretty much doing the same thing – because it’s the Sabbath, and people relax on the Sabbath.

BUT! All over town, people are still talking about what Jesus did that morning. And as soon as the sun goes down – as soon as the Sabbath is over – the entire town shows up outside the front door!  (And these houses are packed really close together – I don’t know how they got that many people in that street!)  And they’ve brought with them the sick and the demon-possessed for Jesus to heal.

Side note on demon-possession: We here in the 21^st century don’t usually put much stock in devils or demons. We look at the movie The Exorcist more like entertainment than fact.

But many of our Christian brothers and sisters over in Africa see things differently. And the more I think about it, the more I think it’s because they have witnessed far more in the way of in-your-face evil than we have. They have seen, with their own eyes, the violence in Darfur, the burning of villages in South Sudan, the genocide in Rwanda, the decades-long civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They know that pure evil exists; and they know that sometimes people give in to it.

Whatever we may believe about the powers of darkness, I think the important thing to know is to stay away from them, as much as it’s within our power.

James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The opposite is true as well: anyone who goes looking for trouble will most likely find it.

And let’s face it – even if we don’t believe in evil spirits, there are death-dealing forces in our world: addiction, racism, xenophobia, uncontrollable anger, envy, pollution of our air and water, and so many more. One scholar writes that these things “move through the world as though by a kind of cunning. They resist, sidestep, or co-opt our best attempts to overcome them. [Trying to solve these problems is] (he says, is) less like figuring out a puzzle and more like wrestling with a beast.”^[1]

But getting back to Capernaum: the whole neighborhood, it seems, has come to Jesus looking for healing, looking for deliverance from the powers of evil. And Jesus heals them all.

 The apostle Paul writes:

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39)

Jesus has both the love and the power to take away all sickness, and to remove the forces of evil. That night, every person who came to Jesus was healed!

After everyone had been cared for, Mark tells us, Jesus slipped away. It was in the wee hours of the morning. I imagine many of the people were still sort of hanging around, kind of having an impromptu block party, but Jesus disappeared. Mark says he “went to a deserted place” – which would not have been nearby, as the area around Capernaum was fairly populated.

Why would Jesus do this? Mark doesn’t say, other than to say Jesus went away to pray. Was Jesus recharging his batteries, so to speak? Probably. Was he sharing joy with God his father – the joy of seeing people healed and set free and made whole? I’m certain of it. And Jesus was also listening to God – asking: what do we do next? Where do we go next? And Jesus was setting an example for us – because we also need to be with God in prayer, on a regular basis, to recharge and regroup and reconnect.

Some time later, Peter and the disciples realized Jesus was gone, and went looking for him. And after a good long search they found him, and they said, “Jesus, everybody’s looking for you!” – hinting that he should still be with the crowd. Their message is: “Let’s go back!” Jesus, OTOH, says, “Let’s go on!” It’s almost like a foretaste of the Mount of Transfiguration: on that day Peter said “let’s stay here and put up tents” but Jesus said, “Let’s go on!”

It’s a very human moment; because there is something in all of us that wants to put down roots, that likes to find a place to call home. And there’s nothing wrong with that – I think that’s how we’re designed. But Jesus leads in another direction. He says:

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20)

As God’s people, much as we try, we will never have permanent roots in this world. For the time being we may have a sense of rootedness in our families and in our church and in our communities… but it’s only for a time. And knowing this sheds doubt on the line of reasoning that says “well this is how things have always been.” Because they actually haven’t… always been… and even if they have ‘always been’ they’re not meant to stay that way. As the old hymn says, “This world is not our home, we’re just a-passin’ through.”

Jesus says, “Let’s go on!” And we need to be ready to move on with Jesus. We need to know that staying put is not an option. In order to share God’s good news and God’s gifts with others, we need to not stay where we are.

So what can we pull together out of these passages?

First, the call to service is very clear. Jesus serves first: he teaches in the synagogue, he heals a demon-possessed man, he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. But there’s also a call to mutual service: Jesus serves the mother-in-law and then the mother-in-law serves Jesus. Serving goes back and forth, and we are all, each one of us, called to do our part.

Second, Jesus focused his teaching ministry, at least at first, in the synagogues. Mark says, “he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” The word ‘synagogue’ is a word that means “to bring together”. Just like the word ‘symphony’ means ‘to sound together’, synagogue is ‘to bring together’.

Our culture, in our world today, is badly in need of places for people to come together. A sense of community has been all but lost in our younger generations. When I ask my husband’s kids “where do you turn in times of trouble?” they can’t answer; they don’t know. Historically, the church has been the place to turn; it’s been the center of the community. Rosa Parks herself, when she had her experience on the bus, immediately turned to her church for support and fellowship; and she found it there.

We need to find ways to reawaken a sense of community. We need to find ways to be community for our world today. The fact that we have seniors meeting here in this building, and community meetings being held here – these are good things – these are a good start. How else might we be a ‘gathering place’ for our community? How else might we follow in Jesus’ footsteps to confront things that harm our people – and to bind up wounds, and to lead to faith and freedom?

May God lead us to discover answers to these questions – for the good of God’s people and to the glory of God. AMEN.

(photo of Synagogue at Capernaum)

[1] SALT

Jesus Confronts Evil

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.  ¹⁶ This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.”  ¹⁷ Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said – Deuteronomy 18:15-20

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Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.  ² Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.  ³ Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.  ⁴ He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the LORD is gracious and merciful.  ⁵ He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.  ⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.  ⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.  ⁸ They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.  ⁹ He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name.  ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. – Psalm 111:1-10

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They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.  ²² They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  ²³ Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,  ²⁴ and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  ²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”  ²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.  ²⁷ They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching– with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”  ²⁸ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. – Mark 1:21-28

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Our readings today focus on a battle we’re all involved in: the battle between good and evil.

There are some people in the world who believe that ‘good’ and ‘evil’ depends on how you define them, that it’s a matter of opinion.  This is NOT what the Bible teaches. And when we get down to it, it’s not really what any of us believes. We may disagree over which things are right and wrong, but we all believe that there is such a thing as right and wrong. When we look at the world around us, we can see so many things that are wrong: over 100 million people homeless right now, displaced by war or famine; in many parts of the world it is difficult to find drinkable water, and yet in other parts of the world people are recovering from floods; in many parts of the world, rape has become a weapon of war – while in other parts of the world men are proclaiming themselves ‘appointed by God’ while they organize the deaths of millions… I could go on. There is no denying there is evil in this world.

In fact, when non-religious people are asked why they don’t believe in God, the most frequently-given answer is because there’s evil in the world and God isn’t stopping it. People say, “I can’t believe in a God who would let such things happen.”

What our scriptures tell us today is that God IS doing something about it. They also tell us God is including human beings in the work of setting things right.

Scripture tells us that evil came into the world when the first human beings were deceived into thinking they knew better than God what was right and what was wrong. From that point on we see people trying to do things their own way, committing murder and robbery and violence. But there were also people who loved God and wanted to live in a world where God’s love was the gold standard.

It’s not long before the Bible introduces us to Moses. Moses was a man who talked with God face-to-face. We all know his story: how he was saved from the Nile River by Pharoah’s daughter, and raised in the palace, but was then called by God to lead Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land.

Now, as today’s scripture reading from Deuteronomy begins, the people of Israel are about to enter the Promised Land; but Moses won’t be going with them. It’s time now for Moses to rest – to go home and be with God, to be “gathered to his people” as it says in the scriptures.

The people of Israel were terrified at the thought of losing Moses. Forty years Moses has been leading them: two generations. Most of the people can’t remember a time when Moses wasn’t there for them.

I imagine it’s kind of how people in England felt when Queen Elizabeth passed. Most Brits can’t remember a time when Elizabeth wasn’t queen, and they’re almost feeling like “King who?”  But it was also clear, for those of us who watched, that Queen Elizabeth planned her own funeral down to the last detail. She even picked the hymns that were sung.

In a similar way, Moses needs to get God’s people ready to move on without him. He needs to plan those final details. He tells the people that he’s going to be dying. He tells them that God will still be there and will be faithful to them, and that God will support them along the way.

Most importantly, Moses tells them there will be another – another leader like Moses. God will provide someone who will be a “shepherd of the people”. He will be one of the people, and he will be a prophet who will teach God’s word faithfully, and the people will be accountable to follow his teachings.

In a way, God fulfilled this promise through Joshua, Moses’ successor. But God will also fulfill this promise a second time, in a much broader context, when the Messiah comes. This Messiah would be someone who:

• Is from the Jewish people
• Is a good shepherd
• Is a redeemer
• Is a miracle worker
• Is a teacher of the Law
• Who challenges the kings of the earth
• Who is mediator between God and human beings

As it happens, the name Joshua and the name Jesus mean the same thing in Hebrew: “God is our deliverer” – or to put it more succinctly, “Saviour”.

This reading from Deuteronomy is not only a comfort to the people of Israel: it is also a prophecy of someone else who is coming, whose arrival will signal the beginning of a new age – which leads us directly into today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark.

Let me set the scene:

We find ourselves in the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath Day. It is a breathtakingly beautiful location: warm and sunny, at the top of a gentle hill, with the village of Capernaum surrounding on three sides. As we sit in the synagogue, we can hear the waves of the Sea of Galilee lapping on the shore. The scent of flowers drifts in between the pillars of the synagogue. As we look around at those pillars, we are reminded of what our neighbors have told us: that the local Roman centurion built this synagogue for us, for our town. The local centurion is a Gentile believer in God, and this synagogue is here because of him.  (The people don’t know it yet, but that same centurion will one day ask Jesus to heal his servant, and he will say, “Lord I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but say the word and my servant will be healed…” And Jesus will answer he has not found such faith even among the people of Israel. But that day is still in the future…)

Today, in the synagogue, the local rabbi gets up and leads us in prayer. Then he motions to any young men who would like to share a thought, and Jesus gets up and comes to the front. Mark doesn’t say which scripture Jesus was teaching on that morning, but he says the people were captivated, because Jesus taught them with authority “and not like the scribes”. (I don’t think that Mark meant to slam the scribes; I think what he was meant was that, in Jesus’ day, Jewish scribes and teachers frequently taught by quoting other teachers – a technique still used today.)

But Jesus didn’t need this. Jesus teaches God’s word directly. He had no need to quote anyone else because he was the authority. And the people are enjoying his teaching immensely! They’re loving every moment of listening to him.

Suddenly a deranged man, who Mark tells us ‘had an unclean spirit’ breaks in to Jesus’ teaching. The gentle voice of the Savior is interrupted by a man with a harsher voice, and an attitude that has none of God’s love in it. And he says:

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

Imagine how troubling this would have been to Jesus’ listeners – first, for Jesus to be interrupted; and second to hear Jesus accused of wrongdoing – in a voice that is so sure of the accusation.

I’d like us to step back for a moment and notice how clever this accusation is. It’s in three parts. Part one: a rude and accusatory question: “What do you have to do with us?” There is no right way to respond to a question like that, because it’s not really a question; it’s an accusation.

Part two: “Have you come to destroy us?” Why would this question even make sense? Anybody who’s listening to Jesus can feel the life that’s in his words. Listening to Jesus speaks to something deep within each person and brings life. The question is posed to cast doubt on a man who is not only innocent of the charge but is in fact working to do exactly the opposite of destroying life – he is bringing life.

So we have a rude and accusatory question, followed by an outright lie. Then part three: a truth: “I know who you are – the Holy One of God.” God’s enemies know exactly who Jesus is, and they will even admit it if it works to their advantage.

So again the progression is: accusatory question – outright lie – absolute truth. The intended result is confusion, disarray, and questioning on the part of the listeners… and eventually, if people listen long enough, a loss of faith; a loss of trust. It’s impossible to mix truth with lies and be faithful to God.

This same progression can be seen in the temptation of God’s first people in the Garden of Eden. The snake leads off with an accusatory question: “Did God say ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” Followed by an outright lie: “you will not die”. Followed by an absolute truth: “you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.

Same progression, same technique!  Watch for this pattern – accusation, lie, truth – in conversations, at work, in politics, watching the news, you name it. Watch for this.

Back to the synagogue in Capernaum… Mark tells us this man who is speaking ‘had an evil spirit’.  We in the 21^st century in America don’t usually put much stock in talk about evil spirits and things like that. We see movies like The Exorcist as entertainment, as fantasy – not as fact. And there are a lot of good reasons for that.

But I can also tell you that our Christian brothers and sisters in Africa often see things differently. I suspect that’s because they’ve been eyewitnesses to more in-your-face evil than we have. They have seen, some of them, with their own eyes, the violence in Darfur, the burning of villages in South Sudan, the genocide in Rwanda, the decades-long civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They know that pure evil exists; and they know that sometimes people give in to it.

Not that I recommend going and reading up on evil spirits – I do not! – but there might be something more to the subject than we are typically led to believe. And let’s face it – even without evil spirits there are plenty of death-dealing forces in our world: addiction, racism, xenophobia, uncontrollable anger, envy, pollution of our air and water, and so much more. One scholar writes that these things:

“move through the world as though by a kind of cunning. They resist, sidestep, or co-opt our best attempts to overcome them. [Trying to solve these problems is] less like figuring out a puzzle and more like wrestling with a beast.”[1]

It would be too easy to throw up our hands and say “What can we do?” But we follow a God who is greater than all of that. And God calls us to share in the daunting task of restoring this world – bit by bit, acre by acre, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Going back to that morning in the synagogue… notice how Jesus handles the situation. He doesn’t argue with this man. He doesn’t try to reason with him, or make him feel better about the situation. He doesn’t try to find some middle ground. There are times when listening and asking questions are the right things to do – but not when evil is right up in your face.

Instead, Jesus says: “Be silent and come out of him!”

Jesus isn’t even speaking to the man; he’s speaking to the spirit inside the man. What we are witnessing here is a healing. The evil spirit is gone and the man is free! And the people in the synagogue have just witnessed Jesus’ first healing miracle.

We were talking at Bible study this past week about the gifts of the Holy Spirit – the miraculous ones, that is – things like speaking in tongues, or healing, or prophecy. There are some churches where these things seem to happen all the time, like everyday occurrences. But in other churches, like the one I was raised in, people don’t quite know what to make of the gifts of the Spirit. Are they really for real? Do miracles really happen? Have you ever seen one?

For me the answers to these questions are: yes, yes, and I’ve seen evidence of it. Yes, the gifts of the Spirit are real. Yes, miracles really happen. And I’ve never actually witnessed one (that I know of) but I know a woman whose eyes were healed – after the healing she never wore glasses again. The spiritual world is real, and spiritual gifts are real.

As we read this passage in Mark, the first spiritual gift that Jesus uses on this day is teaching. A lot of people in the world teach – but teaching in the Spirit, as a spiritual gift, comes with a power and authority that is otherworldly. Mark comments that the people were: “astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority.” This is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

The second gift of the Spirit Jesus displays is the gift of Discernment – sometimes called Prophecy. It’s ability to know something with absolute certainty, that you couldn’t possibly know unless God told you. Jesus uses this gift when he perceives that the man is being held captive by an evil spirit. He does not see the man as evil; he sees the man being held captive by something stronger than himself. Jesus perceives the evil spirit, and he speaks to it directly.

The third gift of the Spirit Jesus displays is Healing – which in this case might also be called Exorcism. He commands the evil spirit to leave; and the man is free. He is healed, forgiven, and no longer enslaved by evil.

The people who were there that day, as Jesus said these things, would have felt deep within themselves a sense of both the rightness of his words, and the compassion in his words. They would have sensed within the synagogue a feeling of peace and well-being – shalom. And when this man interrupted the teaching, it would have been so jarring people would have immediately known something was wrong; but they see Jesus confront the evil spirit and dismiss it with just a few words. Jesus brings a new reality: a reality in which people who are deeply ill can be healed; in which people who are deeply sinful can be forgiven; in which people – all people – are deeply loved by God.

Ruins of the ancient great Jewish synagogue at Capernaum or Kfar Nahum at the shore of Galilee lake northern Israel

Needless to say, back in Capernaum, word got around. As Jesus once said, you can’t light a lamp and put it under a bushel. Jesus – just by being who he is – is fulfilling the promises Moses made all those years ago. By the next morning, all of Capernaum and the surrounding area had heard what Jesus had done.

For us today, to follow Jesus means to trust that he is who he said he is; and to join Jesus in confronting evil wherever we may find it. This is also why we pray: to bring Jesus’ healing power into those parts of the world that touch our lives. This is also why we worship: because it is impossible to witness what Jesus does, in love and in power, without talking about it! We worship a God who answers prayers, and who sets prisoners free.

Wherever we see needs in this world, we are called to bring them to Jesus; and listen to see if Jesus would like us to help set things right. But wherever we see evil in this world, whatever it may be, bring it to Jesus in prayer. As the people in Capernaum learned that morning, Jesus’ power is real and his love never ends. AMEN

[1] SALT

Jesus Preaches Repentance

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying,  ² “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”  ³ So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across.  ⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. ¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. – Jonah 3:1-5, 10

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Psalm 62:5-12  ⁵ For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.  ⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.  ⁷ On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.  ⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah  ⁹ Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.  ¹⁰ Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.  ¹¹ Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,  ¹² and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.

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Mark 1:14-20   ¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,  ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  ¹⁶As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.  ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.  ¹⁹ As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  ²⁰ Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

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Our scripture readings this morning present us with a subject that is not easy to talk about or to hear about. The overarching theme of our scripture readings today is repentance.

It’s unfortunate that when we hear the word ‘repent’, so often what comes to mind is those old-time hellfire-and-brimstone preachers whose sermons would scare the hell out of people, but only temporarily. It seems too often turning over a new leaf in that particular way didn’t last long.

We have better examples to look at in today’s scriptures; but before we turn to our readings, I thought it might be helpful to hear what a more contemporary preacher might say about repentance. Inspired by the fact that last Monday was the day we celebrate the life and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, I went out to the internet and asked Google: “did Martin Luther King Jr ever preach on repentance?”

He sure did! So I’d like to start today by sharing a couple of the things he wrote. The first is a quote from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Dr. King wrote:

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

That’s a prophetic word if ever there was one. It’s also a great example of how to speak a prophetic word into our culture today.  King makes no apologies; he doesn’t soften his point; he confronts evil head-on.  And he includes all of us in his call to repentance – because sins committed by groups need to be repented of by groups.

The second thing I found that Dr. King wrote about repentance comes from one of his sermons. This was not a famous sermon; it’s just part of the archives that are available today. Here’s what he said (and I wish I could speak this in his voice! When I was reading it on the internet I was imagining his voice – but work your imaginations.) Dr. King said:

“This morning I want to talk to you about the meaning of sin. This sermon is only addressed to those persons who are conscious of moral wrongdoing. If you have no uneasy stirrings of conscience… then this sermon does not apply to you.

“But before you conclude that this sermon does not apply to you… be certain [of what] we mean by “sin”. Usually when we think of sin we think of… of gross iniquities — murder, robbery, adultery, drunkenness. But we must add to this category at least three other categories:

• There are sins of temperament — vindictiveness, stubbornness, jealously, bad temper, malicious gossip…
• There are sins of social attitude
• There are the sins of neglect

It is not alone the things that we do, but the things we have left undone that haunt us — the letters we did not write, the words we did not speak, the opportunity we did not take. How often Jesus stressed this sin. What was wrong with that… man who buried his talent? What did he do? That was the trouble—he did nothing; he missed his chance.

So here they are—sins of passion, sins of temperament, sins of social attitude, sins of neglect. I suspect that every one here fits into one of these categories: So stay with us; you too need forgiveness.”[1]

I feel like I should just say “Amen” and sit down!

Dr. King is right – there is not a single person in this room who is not a sinner. According to the latest statistics, in a random group of any thirty Americans (on average) four are hooked on pornography; eleven use prescription drugs in wrong ways; three drink too much; and more than one in four have experienced either physical violence or stalking in a romantic relationship.

Once we know we need forgiveness, and that God is a God of mercy, it becomes possible to confess our sins to God – usually in private prayer, just between us and God; but sometimes also in public worship. And when we do this, we also become willing to leave those sins behind.

That’s where repentance begins.

What repentance actually looks like will be different for each one of us; but in general, repentance includes a change of direction. Repentance does not mean – as some of those old-time preachers used to lead us to think – that we are low-down, dirty rotten scoundrels.

Rather repentance means being honest with God about where we are in our lives, where our shortcomings are, and being willing to be in a better place doing better things. It’s kind of like, when my cell phone is giving me directions while I’m driving, and I make a wrong turn, and phone says “recalibrating, recalibrating…”. The phone is figuring out a new set of directions to get me back headed the right way. That’s what repentance is like – recalibrating. Getting back on the right road.

Our scripture readings for today talk about repentance from different angles, so I’d like to take a quick look at each, starting with Jonah.

Jonah’s story is unique in history, I think. Jonah is probably the most reluctant prophet that ever lived!  God commanded Jonah to go preach a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. In those days, Nineveh was a very large and extremely corrupt city – badly in need of repentance – and it was also Israel’s arch-enemy at the time. Jonah had no reason to want them to repent; in fact he would rather see God’s judgement fall on those scoundrels!  So Jonah went and traveled in the opposite direction.

God persuaded Jonah to change his mind by sending a whale – and after Jonah spent some time thinking things over in the belly of a whale, he was willing to go. I imagine Jonah probably looked a little strange after being in those digestive juices for a day or two – strange enough to convince the Ninevites that this prophet was for real!

God then repeats his command to Jonah: go preach to Nineveh. And God’s message is: “forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown”. That’s it. Nothing else.

The people of Nineveh believed God, and repented with fasting and sackcloth.

There are two very unusual things that happen in this story: First, God’s call to repentance is going out to Gentiles. This was almost unheard-of in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is mostly about God’s relationship with Israel; and the people of Israel are frequently warned not to mix with Gentiles, because they’ll end up worshipping Gentile gods (which happened far too often).

But the people of Nineveh were uncircumcised Gentile idol-worshippers, and were the enemies of Israel – yet God called them to repentance. And when they did repent, God showed them mercy. This was the first time, but will not be the last time, that God calls groups of non-Jewish people to repentance.

The second thing that’s unusual is that when the Ninevites repent, they do not sacrifice any animals – which is how repentance was done in the Jewish faith in the Old Testament. This introduces the idea that it’s possible to repent and be saved apart from animal sacrifice. The prophet Samuel once said: “to obey is better than sacrifice” – and the Ninevites learned this first-hand. Atonement for Nineveh was by faith alone in God’s word alone.

Next we come to Psalm 62. The word ‘repent’ doesn’t appear in this psalm. The psalm was written by King David and was probably written to be used in public worship. But the words describe the mindset – and the heart-set – of a person who repents well; a person who makes course corrections daily by keeping a focus on God and who God is.

David says: God alone is my rock. God alone is my salvation. God is my fortress – and back then fortresses were not only used for battle but they also included places to eat and places to rest – literally everything a person needed. God is my fortress.

David also says “I trust God; I am open and honest with God.” That’s a scary thought in a lot of ways. I think most of us kind of instinctively want to be on our best behavior for God – because God is perfect and holy, and God is pure goodness and pure love, and God is so much greater than we are. The last thing we want to do is to say, “God, I messed up again.”

But there’s no point in trying to fool God. In fact God knows a lot more about us than we know about ourselves, so we might as well be honest.

David says that poverty or riches count for nothing. He says the poor are a breath, and riches are a delusion. But power and steadfast love belong to God; and God loves us more than we can imagine.

Finally in the Gospel of Mark, at the beginning of the reading, John the Baptist has just been arrested. His voice in the wilderness – calling the people to repentance and to prepare the way of the Lord – has been silenced.

Jesus takes up the ministry where John left off. John has indeed prepared the way for the Lord, and the people are ready to hear, so Jesus begins.

Jesus’ first, and most important message is:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Or to say it in more contemporary language: The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Turn around, believe, and change course.

Jesus calls us to disentangle ourselves from the cares of this world – NOT ignoring the needs of the world (not at all!), but realizing our lives are short; we keep our focus on God, we follow God’s lead, and we trust in God’s loving care.

Jesus then calls his first disciples to follow him and become ‘fishers of people’. What was it that motivated those lifelong fishermen to drop their nets and walk away from everything they had known? Was it a chance to try something new and different? Was it a chance to start again? Was it an opportunity to be part of what God is doing in the world? I imagine the answer would be different for each disciple.

Jesus says: “The reign of God – the kingdom of God – is now here” – and who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

So to sum all this up for us living here in the 21^st century –

First, we need to look back at the history of our faith. One Jewish scholar says: “Repentance is as old as time itself.”[2]  And even in the Old Testament, repentance is universal – it’s for everybody, not just the people of Israel. I find it interesting that even today, our Jewish brothers and sisters read the story of Jonah every year on Yom Kippur, which is their day of fasting and repentance.

But we don’t need a special event to repent: repentance can be done by anybody on any day. So how is it done? The Ninevites repented on both an emotional level and a physical level. They let God turn their hearts, and they let God change the way they lived.

Looking at the history of the Jewish people also reminds me of the way they often begin prayers. They often start their prayers with the words: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe…” and then add more after this. For example:

• “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings snow in its time and rain in its time and the green of spring in its time…” (and then after that they might pray for those who are facing inclement or difficult weather)
• OR “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who places us in families and gives us the gift of children and grandchildren…” (and then they might go on to pray for families)
• OR “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has placed us in this church and in this community…” (and then go on to pray for the church and the community)

I love that prayer because it puts everything in focus: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe…” That’s where we begin.

Second, repentance means trusting God. God is not ‘up there’ in heaven waiting for us to make mistakes so God can get on our case. No; God is like a loving father who wants the very best for us. God wants to hear from us, just like we like to hear from our kids.

Third, in the book of Corinthians, Paul says “the time is short” and he advises the Corinthians to “be ready”. This is not a comment on the end times; it’s a reminder to stay on the path of faith… to keep making those course corrections as we journey through life.

An old Jewish rabbi was once asked by his disciples: “When should we repent?”

The rabbi answered: “On the day before you die.”

Which of course reminds us we never know when that day will be. So we prepare for our future with God by making course corrections every day – checking to see that we’re still moving in God’s direction. As Shakespeare’s Hamlet once famously said, “The readiness is all.”

The Greek word for repentance – metanoeite (which I think is a very nice-sounding word, much nicer-sounding than ‘repent’) metanoeite includes in its meaning continuous action. It’s not something that is done just once, and it’s not something we do only on Sundays. It is an ongoing state of daily change and faithfulness. When we make a daily practice of checking in with God, and steering in God’s direction, the course corrections fall into place.

So Jesus’ call to us – as it was to the disciples – is a call to companionship and closeness and growth and learning as we journey together towards God’s kingdom.  “The time is here, the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe the good news.”  AMEN.

[1] https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/meaning-forgiveness

[2] CMJ

Jesus Calls Us

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.  ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;  ³ the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.  ⁴ Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!”  ⁵ and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.  ⁶ The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”  ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.  ⁸ The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy.  ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.  ¹⁰ Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹ Then the LORD said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.  ¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.  ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.  ¹⁴ Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”  ¹⁵ Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.  ¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.”  ¹⁷ Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.”  ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him.”  ¹⁹ As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.  ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD. – 1 Samuel 3:1-20

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To the leader. Of David. A Psalm

O LORD, you have searched me and known me.  ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.  ³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.  ⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?  ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,  ¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.  ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”  ¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  ¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.  ¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  ¹⁸ I try to count them– they are more than the sand; I come to the end– I am still with you.  ¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me–  ²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!  ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?  ²² I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.  ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  ²⁴ See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. – Psalm 139:1-24

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The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”  ⁴⁸ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”  ⁴⁹ Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”  ⁵⁰ Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”  ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” – John 1:43-51  

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There’s a place in the British Isles I’ve always wanted to go but I haven’t gotten there yet. It is a stunning place: wind-blown countryside and quaint seaside villages and a history that goes back a thousand years or more.

The place is home to a special ministry called the Iona Community. They are, in their own words, “an international, ecumenical Christian movement working for justice and peace, the rebuilding of community, and the renewal of worship.” And as I just discovered this past week, members of the Community are also responsible for creating one of my favorite Facebook groups: Clergy With Cats!

The reason I’ve never gotten there yet is because it’s so tough to get there. The Iona Community has an office in Glasgow, but their facilities are on a couple of wind-swept islands off the west coast of Scotland. Getting there takes at least an eight-hour drive from London, plus a ferry ride to an island, and then a bit more driving. The Abbey is on the Isle of Iona (not a monastery, it’s a large church with dwellings nearby), and their retreat centre is on the Island of Mull. (Those of you my age or older may have heard of Mull because Paul McCartney wrote a song about it: “Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea…”). This is a part of the world so remote that a Beatle can live there undisturbed!

Anyway the folks at Iona, apart from worship and teaching and promoting justice and peace… they also write songs. We have sung at least one of their songs, which I think you’ll recognize – it’s called The Summons, and it goes like this:

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?

It’s familiar, yes?

I was reminded of this song as I was looking at today’s scriptures, because I think the song summarizes our scripture readings better than just about anything. And the location in which it was written – that ancient place of natural beauty – gives us the right ‘feel’ of being in God’s country. The song lyrics to The Summons continue:

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?

The song is a meditation on God’s call, and that’s what we’re talking about today: God’s call to each of us.

This is not the same thing as the sermon series last year about ‘discerning God’s call on your life’. That’s more along the lines of asking ‘what did God create each of us to do or to be?’; figuring out what gifts God has given us that we can use to grow God’s kingdom. These things are important, but that’s a different kind of calling.

The call we’re talking about here is God’s invitation to each of us to belong to God, or as Jesus put it, to “follow me”.

This call only comes when God makes Godself known to us. And as Methodists we believe God makes Godself known to each one of us, as individuals, when God knows the time is right. God calls each one of us in a way that we can respond in faith. God speaks to each one of us and calls each one of us, one at a time, not as a group. And if there’s anyone here who has not experienced that call, or has doubts about it, please feel free to speak to me after the service and ask any questions you have.

So that’s the foundation for today’s message. As we turn to the scriptures, we are at the beginning of the season of Epiphany; and the word ‘epiphany’ means ‘showing forth’. In other words, God has shown forth in our world the salvation God planned since the beginning of creation. God has shown us Jesus, and continues to show us Jesus… and as God does so, things change… people change… and history changes.

The Old Testament shows that God’s call is not unique to Christians. Long before Christians came along, God called the Jewish nation: Jewish kings and Jewish prophets. The Jewish faith is the foundation of our own Christian faith – without Judaism there is no Christianity.

In fact, in the Old Testament, there are times when God makes Godself known to people of other nations – the Egyptians or the Babylonians for example, using Israel as the means to reach them. God chose Israel to show God’s truth and God’s glory to the world; and God’s desire is for all people everywhere to know and trust the perfect truth and perfect love that is God.

Jewish teaching and tradition says that ALL people everywhere are called to tikun olam – to use what God gives us to repair our own little part of the world, to bring health and healing to whatever part of the world we may have influence over.

The apostle Paul builds on this belief when he says “the gifts and calling of the Lord are irrevocable”. God makes no mistakes when God calls people. And if we don’t understand God’s call right away, or if we miss it at first, that’s ok – we’re human, and we’re imperfect, and God knows that.

Our first scripture reading for today, from I Samuel, gives an example of what God does when someone doesn’t understand the call right away.

Samuel’s story takes place at a time in Israel’s history when, much like our own time, “the word of the Lord was rare”. (And by ‘the word of the Lord’ I mean true prophecy… there are lots of people in our world today claiming they speak for God… that’s not the same thing.) But in Israel of that time, saying ‘the word of the Lord was rare’ was a sad commentary, because the Tabernacle was up and running, and regular worship was happening, and there was a functioning priesthood.

But Eli, the head priest, was old – the Bible says “his eyesight had grown dim”. And Eli’s sons were taking advantage of the people who came to worship – stealing animal sacrifices for their own dinner tables, or making advances to the women worshipers. The effect of this back then (just like today) is it left God’s people feeling wronged and disillusioned, and uncertain of what to believe in or who to trust.

God will not leave things this way. The author of Samuel says, “the lamp of God had not yet gone out” – and I believe the same is true today. The author of Samuel says God saw what was going on and got involved. We should pray for this to happen in our time as well. As we pray for the world, and as we pray for our nation, ask God to shine the lamp of godly truth into the lives of the people, as he did at the time of Samuel.

Back to Samuel’s story: at the time of this writing, Samuel was a young boy, apprenticed to the prophet Eli – he was Eli’s assistant in the tabernacle. Samuel had been the answer to his mother’s prayer: his mother Hannah, who – when she discovered she was pregnant – sang a song a lot like the one Jesus’ mother Mary sang. Hannah sang:

“the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.”

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full… hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.”

That’s just part of the song that Hannah sings. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Samuel was an answer to her prayers, and he was dedicated to God by his mother to be God’s servant for his entire life. In our scripture reading for today, God is now calling Samuel directly, but because God’s voice was not known in those days, Samuel thought it was Eli calling. It took a little while – with repeated calls from God – before Eli and Samuel figured who the voice belonged to.

This gives me hope! If I’ve ever missed God’s call – or if any of us has ever missed God’s call – God will keep calling until we ‘get it’!  It’s true God won’t keep calling forever; but if we really don’t understand, if we’re confused or uncertain, God will keep reaching out until we do understand.

And the words Eli gives Samuel to say to God are words we can use ourselves: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” How much easier life would be if we said this every morning! Or at the beginning of every church service or every church meeting!  “Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening.”

Samuel said this to God, and God set Samuel on the path to becoming one of the most trusted prophets in Israel’s history – someone the people depended on to give them God’s word straight up. Samuel ended up anointing both King Saul and King David and being an advisor to both kings as they ruled. All because Samuel said “speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

Turning then to today’s psalm, Psalm 139, we see King David himself moved to sing as a result of God’s call. He sings: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away… it was you who formed my inward parts… I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Even though David’s life was far from perfect, God still called him to be God’s person, and God forgave him, and David trusted God. I find this encouraging, that even someone who made big mistakes is still remembered as a great king, and the ancestor of Jesus, who is called the “Son of David”.

And we also are fearfully and wonderfully made! Every one of us: made by God; known by God; every detail… fearfully and wonderfully made.

Then, in John’s Gospel, we are witnesses as Jesus calls Nathanael to follow.  In the verses just before our reading, Jesus called Andrew and his brother Simon to be disciples, and he had given Simon the new name of Peter, and Jesus had also called Philip. Philip goes and tells Nathanael about Jesus, but Nathanael has his doubts. Some scholars think Nathanael had some religious training, and knew the prophecies of the Messiah, and knew that the prophecies said nothing about a connection between the Messiah and Nazareth where Jesus was from (or so people thought. It seems Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, while it wasn’t a secret, was not widely known thirty years later).

At any rate Philip’s response to Nathanael’s skepticism is a good one, one we can use ourselves if the opportunity arises: he says, “Come and see”. The power of first-hand experience supersedes arguments.[1]  And Jesus himself often encouraged people to ‘come and see’. As did Mother Teresa, whenever people asked her about her ministry in Calcutta: she wouldn’t talk about it, she would just say ‘come and see’.  When God is on the move, seeing really is believing. So what are some of the things we might invite people to ‘come and see’? A Living Stones dinner, perhaps? Or Vacation Bible School? Places like that where God’s word comes alive.

In Nathanael’s case, Jesus knows Nathanael’s character even though they’ve never met – which moves Nathanael to say, “You are the Son of God and the King of Israel!”

Jesus replies by saying that Nathanael will “see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”  This saying is kind of a head-scratcher. What is Jesus talking about here?

Again, Jewish scholars may give us some insight. According to the Jewish faith, not all angels live in heaven. Angels often begin their missions on earth and then return to heaven. Our own tradition of having a ‘guardian angel’ is actually rooted in Judaism.  The Jewish belief is that the spiritual realm is very close to the physical realm – almost like a parallel universe – and that angels are very present here on earth. As it says in the book of Hebrews [13:2]:

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Jesus’ comment about ‘ascending and descending angels’ also refers to the Old Testament, to a vision that Jacob had, of angels on a ladder ascending and descending from heaven. Jesus is saying that he himself is now the ladder; he himself is now the way between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. And when Jesus says “you will see” the word “you” is plural – which means all of us. Everyone will see.

To pull it all together: all of us are called by God. God’s calling is sometimes in the sense of a vocation, but on a more basic level, God’s call is first and foremost to faith: to believe in Jesus and follow Jesus. Sometimes that call may lead us to ‘get our bearings’ – or to recalibrate – especially in confusing times like the ones we live in now.

The question then becomes: how can we be sure it’s God we’re hearing?

One way, as it was with Samuel, is by repetition: God’s call comes again and again until we respond. Another way is to do what Eli suggests: be quiet and pray, “speak, Lord; your servant is listening” and then see what happens. For some of us, our call is to be present and helpful while other people are being called, to help direct them to God, the God who loves them. At places like the Living Stones dinners, for example, where un-churched people often come, we may have the opportunity to answer a few questions about faith or about God, or to say to someone – as Philip said – “Come and See”.

The last verse of the Iona song says:

Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call [our] name.
Let [us] turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company [we’ll] go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus [we’ll] move and live and grow
In you and you in me.

AMEN

[1] SALT

Thoughts for Epiphany

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,  ² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.  ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.  ⁴ And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. – Genesis 1:1-5  

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Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.  ² Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendor.  ³ The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters.  ⁴ The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.  ⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  ⁶ He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.  ⁷ The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.  ⁸ The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  ⁹ The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”  ¹⁰ The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.  ¹¹ May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace! Psalm 29:1-11  A Psalm of David

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⁴ John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  ⁵ And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  ⁶ Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  ⁷ He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  ⁸ I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  ¹⁰ And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” – Mark 1:4-11

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Today is the final installment in our Advent/Christmas series called “How Does a Weary World Rejoice?” One of the things we’ve discovered – or rediscovered – over the past month, is that in this weary world it’s good to slow down and savor Christmas: touch it, smell it, taste it, and not rush through it.  I don’t know about you but our Christmas lights are still on and our tree is still up. We are still celebrating the fact that the Son of God would visit our planet, and arrive as a baby!

Ironically, our scripture readings for today jump us right into the Jordan River, 30 years later, where Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist. We are reading this lesson literally 14 days after Jesus’ birth! And to make matters worse, Lent starts on Valentine’s Day this year – just five weeks away! All the Easter eggs and Valentines chocolates are in the stores already!

…and we are being rushed into things again – and this is exactly why this world makes us so weary.  There is something in the human heart, the human psyche, that needs to linger over the great events in life. We can’t rush them – and if we try to, it’s to our own harm. It’s not good for us.

BUT! in our Weary World series, the theme for today is “We Trust Our Belovedness”. This is a good way to hold back the weariness. The writers of our series recommend that we acknowledge that we are weary; and acknowledge God’s love for us; and learning to trust in God’s love takes time.

I think they’re right. We do need to slow down, and we do need to acknowledge our weariness, and it does take time for God’s love to sink into us deeply.  So today I’m not going to rush things. We will get to Jesus’ baptism (eventually), because today is also our yearly baptismal renewal. But I’d like to begin where we left off the last time I was here with you: on Christmas Eve, looking at the newborn baby in the manger: the Son of God, the son of Mary, come to set us free from sin and darkness and all the evils of this world.

This is the child about whom the prophet Isaiah said: “Arise, shine, for your light has come…”. This light was with God in the very beginning, when God said in Genesis chapter one, “let there be light…” – Jesus was there.

This child brings to us the light that was created at the beginning of time; and we, as God’s people, are invited to shine in and reflect that light. We do not have the light in ourselves, but Jesus does, and we shine, reflecting Him. The light and the glory belong to God. This is why we join the angels in singing, “gloria in excelsis Deo” – glory to God in the highest – because Jesus has come to us right where we are – right in the middle of our weary world.

As we look at Jesus in the manger, we don’t know a whole lot about Jesus’ early life or his first few years. We do know that after Jesus was born, on his eighth day he was taken to the temple to be circumcised. While he was there, two great elders of the faith – Simeon and Anna – saw Jesus, and recognized him as the Messiah, and they spoke prophecies over him: about who he would be and what he would do. And they praised God that they were given the gift of meeting this child.

Then, not too long after Jesus’ birth – a year, maybe two – some Wise Men came from the east, following a star. The Wise Men did not come at the same time as the shepherds – that’s a modern-day conflation, one more way of rushing the season.

The Wise Men came looking for the newborn king of the Jews, whose birth they had learned about because of a special star in the sky. These wise men were important people in their day: they were scholars – very well-educated men – and they were also religious men. It’s believed they were from Persia – modern-day Iran. These Wise Men had many beliefs in common with the Jewish faith: they believed in one God, not many; they believed in the difference between good and evil, and that good would eventually win out; they believed that God is good; they believed in heaven, hell, angels, free will, and judgement after death.[1]  They were, in many ways, very ready to hear about the coming of the Jewish Messiah.

This is important because it shows us that from the very beginning of Jesus’ life, the Messiah was not just for the Jewish people but for all people everywhere.  Jesus does fulfill the messianic prophecies of the Jewish prophets. Jesus is the promised “son of David” whose reign will never end.  But Jesus is also for the Gentiles – from the very beginning. We as Gentiles thank God for that.

So from the very beginning, the wise men knew this baby would be the son of a king. They assumed he would be the son of the current king of Jerusalem, who was King Herod. They discovered, to their surprise, when they arrived at Herod’s royal palace, there was no baby king in the palace!  In fact King Herod was deeply disturbed by their question – because if it was true, his throne was in trouble (or so he thought).

At the same time, Herod knows the Wise Men are really talking about the Messiah. We know he knows it because he tells his priests and scholars to go, look at the records, and find out where the Messiah is supposed to appear.

Why would the Messiah’s arrival trouble King Herod? For starters, back in those days there was no ‘separation of church and state’ as we know it today, so any Messiah might be a challenge to his throne.

But more important, many scholars believe Herod had been trying to convince people he was the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.  “Herod (claimed to have) Jewish origins; he rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, he announced the arrival of a period of peace and prosperity that heralded the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth, and he [connected] himself to the birthplace of David by [building]… a royal, dynastic monument and victory memorial [to himself] – overlooking Bethlehem.”[2]

On top of this, Herod was an amazingly evil and cruel man. He shared his power with no one. He even killed three of his own sons when he thought they were a threat to his throne. One of Herod’s contemporaries remarked, “It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son”[3] – which is quite an insult for a Jewish person!

This same Herod says to the Wise Men, “go search for the child and when you find him let me know where he is so I can come and worship him also” – which of course was a total lie. The minute the wise men were gone, Herod gathered together some assassins to go kill the child. When the Wise Men didn’t do what they were told, Herod ordered the assassins to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem aged two years old and under.

It’s an interesting side-note that Herod was depending on the Wise Men to help him find the child. Apparently no-one in Herod’s palace was able to do what the Wise Men were doing, that is, recognize the star and follow it. Why this is, we don’t know. It might have been that the star was actually a convergence of planets, or maybe a comet of some kind. But bottom line, the Wise Men could see it and Herod could not.

As the Wise Men were traveling, an angel told them that Herod was not on the up and up, so after visiting Jesus and worshiping him and presenting him with gifts, the Wise Men went home another way. And Mary and Joseph and Jesus were warned by the same angel to flee to Egypt in order to save Jesus’ life.

And so it is that on December 28^th every year we remember the “Holy Innocents” – those innocent babies of Bethlehem who were murdered by King Herod in his paranoid attempt to hold on to the throne.

The postscript to Herod’s story is that a year or two later King Herod died a most horrible and painful death – scholars believe he succumbed to a combination of chronic kidney disease and Fournier gangrene.

Meanwhile Joseph and Mary have taken Jesus and fled to Egypt, as the angel told them to do. Jesus spent the first few years of his young life as a refugee and a foreigner – and this should help us to reflect on how Jesus would have us relate to refugees and foreigners.

After the Holy Family has been in Egypt for a while, the angel comes to Joseph again and tells him it’s safe to go home; that Herod is dead. But as the family comes near Israel, they hear that one of Herod’s relatives is on the throne, so they don’t go back to Bethlehem; they go back to Nazareth (where they had been before the census was ordered) – and Nazareth is where Jesus grows up.

The only other event in Jesus’ childhood that the Bible tells us about was his visit to the temple for the Passover at the age of twelve. He creates a bit of a stir among his family by staying behind and asking a lot of questions of the religious teachers (Luke says: “Everyone [in the temple] who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”)

Beyond this we don’t know very much about Jesus’ childhood, except that he worked in Joseph’s carpentry shop, and he was a good son to Mary and Joseph, and that he “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people.” – Luke 2:52

Only after all these things have taken place, and Jesus is about thirty years old, do we see him coming to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin John the Baptist.

~~~

John, meanwhile, has been “preparing the way of the Lord” (as prophesied by his father). John has been preaching to crowds and baptizing people in the Jordan River. So what exactly was John’s message?

First, he was preaching repentance – a change of direction, a change of mind, a change of heart. The word ‘repent’ sadly, in our time, has taken on sort of an angry edge. It’s been used too often in fire-and-brimstone sermons that play on peoples’ fears.

I don’t believe the Greek word for repentance – metanoia – implies anything angry. Rather metanoia has to do with a re-orientation. Like when you’re following Google Maps and you make a wrong turn and the phone says ‘recalibrating…’ – that’s metanoia. When we repent, we recalibrate our lives to come in sync with God’s truth and God’s love.

So John was teaching the people to recalibrate; to repent. And he told them to do this by walking into the Jordan river, confessing the things they’d done wrong, and being baptized to wash away all sin. John’s baptism was by immersion – total dunking – John would lean people backwards into the water and bring them back up again, a picture of dying to sin and rising to new life. And for this reason, even to this day, we cannot baptize ourselves – someone else has to baptize us.

Baptism by immersion (“dunking”) was also something Jewish priests did when Gentiles converted to the Jewish faith. So the baptism John was offering was actually good for both Jews and Gentiles. Both were being prepared for the arrival of the Messiah.

John also preached to the people a very strongly-worded but hope-filled message – a message of justice, of a return to doing things God’s way. He said things like: if you have extra (extra tunic, extra food), share with someone who has nothing. Tax collectors – don’t collect more than you’re owed. Soldiers – don’t take advantage of the people.

While John was teaching all these things, Jesus came to be baptized. Now here’s a mystery: why would Jesus need to be baptized? Baptism was for repentance, and to wash away sin, but Jesus had never sinned, or done anything he needed to repent of. John himself raised that objection. He said “you don’t need to be baptized!” But Jesus said “do it anyway – to fulfill all righteousness”.

Jesus was baptized in solidarity with us.

As a result we see all three members of the Holy Trinity present at Jesus’ baptism: we hear God the Father speaking, we see God the Son being baptized, and we see God the Spirit coming and lighting on Jesus like a dove.

God the Father, seeing John and Jesus in that river, was well pleased – and God said so. God said: “This is my son, my beloved; listen to him.”

The miracle of both Christmas and Jesus’ baptism, is that God somehow enters into God’s own creation. God, who is big enough and powerful enough to create everything that is, our planet and everything on it, our universe and everything in it, has taken human form and stepped into our world. This goes beyond empathy – feeling what we feel. God steps into our actual skin and looks at the world through eyes like our own… and God touches us with hands like our own. God not only can do these things, God wants to do these things, because God loves us, because we are God’s children.

King David says in Psalm 29, “Ascribe to the LORD… glory and strength.  ² Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendor.” Why? Because we can trust that we are truly loved by God.

Today, as we come to the end of another Christmas season, and as we remember our own baptisms – and touch again the waters of baptism – we remember all that God has done for us, in coming to our world to be one of us; and how very much God loves us, and how very much God loves the people we come in contact with every day.

This is the good news that God gives us to share: God is with us, and God loves us. AMEN.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

[2] https://www.fromthedesk.org/king-herod-the-great-messiah-jodi-magness/

[3] Wikipedia, Herod the Great