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Example of our Sermons:
Luke 23: 33-34
An Unkingly King
Christ the King Sunday
No one likes to be reminded of his or her worst moments —
times when we say something or do something that is humiliating
and embarrassing.
The passion narrative that we have before us this morning is filled
with such painful memories. It confronts us with the underside of
human sinfulness and its awful consequences.
The lament over tragic violence and suffering is an important element
of Luke's passion narrative.
Jesus had called for repentance and wept for Jerusalem. When his
pleas were not heeded, he joined himself to the plight of those
who suffer the ravages of violence, dying with thieves on a cross.
What should we do with an unkingly king?
who refused to take authority over armies
who would not grant cabinet posts to cronies
who would not, even for one day, live in a palace
who refused to hate enemies or plot their downfall
who mixed in common crowds without any sense of loss
who wouldn’t have a bodyguard or wear a safety vest
who refused to play political games to increase his power
who would not dress in gilded robes, or wear a crown
What should we do with such an unkingly king?
Well, you would get rid of him! Dispose of him before he ruins the
fabric of society! If necessary, kill him. Publicly humiliate him
and execute him.
We are grateful for the Gospel reading this morning. It redefines
kingship. CHRIST’S KINGLINESS is defined by that lonely, suffering
figure dying on a cross, “for the sin of the world, naked
and forsaken, mocked by his enemies yet even in his last hours forgiving
his murderers and bringing comfort to a thief who was dying at his
side.
At Golgotha, the worldly-wise way of pride and violence confronts
humility and love, and it is the latter that seems to lose the contest.
Love is crucified, dead and buried. <<<AND YET.... <<YET.....
IS IT?
For the first few centuries of Christianity, a non-violent Christ
was worshipped and followed by believers. Jesus was king, but a
king other than the kind of authority exhibited by the Roman Emperors,
or regional kings and governors.
During this springtime of Christianity, the most popular artistic
representations of Christ were the crucified One, the Good Shepherd,
and Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration, glowing with the radiance
of God.
It was a period when Christians were given a hard time under successive
waves of persecution. But they did not resist arrest or form guerilla
brigades to fight back. Generally they tried to obey Roman laws
except those laws that were in conflicted with their first allegiance
to their king, Jesus.
Listen to a document called “The Apostolic Tradition”
written around the period of 200 AD., for those asking for baptism.
If a man drives a chariot, or one who is a wrestler, or attends
wrestling matches, let him either give it up or be sent away.
If he is a gladiator or teaches gladiators to fight, or is a beast
fighter, or he is an official who organizes such games, let him
give it up or be send away.
If he is a soldier in position of authority he is not allowed to
impose death sentences; if he is ordered to do so, let him not carry
out the order or be sent away.
A man who is a civil magistrate with the power of the sword, one
who wears the purple, must either give up his position or be sent
away. Believers or candidates who wish to enlist as soldiers are
to be sent away, because they show contempt for God.
Those early Christians worshipped; the Son of God who would not
use physical force against another but chose the way of humility
and mercy and love.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Matt.11:28-30.
To be a citizen of Christ’s new kingdom meant to be a person
who would use violence in the midst of an extremely violent society.
It was a courageous stand, witness.
You do know that the words witness and martyr are the same word
in N.T. Greek?
But things were to change. In a bloody contest for the throne of
the Roman Empire, Constantine emerged as the likely winner in the
year AD 313 and the sole Emperor in AD 323. During his military
campaigns he embraced a more aggressive form of Christianity and
his soldiers were treated as if they were warriors of God.
Christianity was by Imperial decree made the state religion. Earthly
power was linked with Christ’s power.
Soon the clergy of the church were given legal authority. Priests
became magistrates wearing the Roman robe and trappings of office.
Bishops became high court judges with the robe, head gear, golden
ring and throne which went with the office.
In art, the form of Jesus as the crucified, or as the good shepherd,
was replaced by Jesus as an Emperor, surrounded by the high officials
of state.
Jesus is now the Supreme Commander of the legions of heaven.
The kingship of Jesus had been high-jacked, and perverted by worldly
wise concepts.
Much of that which started in the time of Constantine, has carried
down the centuries. In some cases, even the facial characteristics
of certain monarchs were transferred by fearful court artists on
to the features of Christ the King.
Jesus became an unapproachable Potentate.
Tragically, Jesus, who used no violence, and was merciful and trusted
God, was largely forgotten. He survived in parts of the church.
But by and large, the Christ-King of Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox
and Protestants, was nothing like the man who died on a cross.
Christ the King Sunday raises important questions about how we understand
Christ; where and how we place our allegiance; and how we structure
our public life as followers of Christ. In other words “WHO
IS YOUR JESUS?”
It is said that we grow like the thing we worship. To whom do we
worship?
The Gospel for today takes us back to the centrality of the cross,
to that person of supreme love who even forgave those who killed
him.
Above the cross was "a signboard" which was meant to
be ironic humor: JESUS; KING OF THE JEWS . For us it is surely the
very heart of the truth. On Palm Sunday we don’t mind Jesus
on the donkey, a symbol of peace – but we soon want Him in
an Imperial Chariot.
The real power, which rules this universe, is long-suffering heart
of love. LOVE RULES. Ultimately (for love is a slow process compared
with armies) love will be the only power than remains in heaven
and earth. Jesus is the only King to which we must all one day give
account.
“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.” does NOT have
a new clause added: “However, if you don’t get yourself
saved before time runs out, then you are going to get zapped!”
Our King remains the one with scars and in his hands and feet and
side. He is the One who welcomes sinners and eats with them.
JESUS GOT IT RIGHT. WE GOT IT WRONG – FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.
Jesus is the only hope for this crazy and violent world.
He is the world’s future. The final authority which OUTLASTS,
OUTLIVES AND OUTCELEBRATES EVERYTHING ELSE, IS THE ALTOGETHER LOVELY
JESUS!
The dying thief encountered this Jesus. Believers through the centuries
have experienced this one-on-one eye contact with Jesus. “Have
you ever had an eye to eye encounter with Jesus? You know up close
and personal. Face to face. Heart to Heart?
AMBROSE back in the 4th century tells us that “the superscription
is fittingly above the cross, because although the Lord Jesus was
on the cross, he shines above the cross WITH THE MAJESTY OF A KING.
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
However, we do see how those treated him. We hear the threefold
scene of mockery carried out by the leaders, the soldiers, and one
of the thieves. “Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself!"
With bitter irony, the Lukan Jesus is one who brings good news to
the poor, but at his death the people watch, the soldiers mock,
and one of the thieves beside him blasphemes.
The thief addresses Jesus. His request that Jesus remember him
echoes the cries of those in need and those dying in centuries past.
From the cross, Jesus forgave the soldiers, and he forgave and
remembered one thief.
We need to forgive each other. Paul says in Eph. 4:32, “Be
kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just
as in Christ God forgave you.”
There are a lot of houses perfectly constructed, beautiful hallways
and bedrooms with torn relationships because someone has cut the
words “forgiveness” from the script. Such happens in
small ways to all of us when forgiveness is missing from the text
of our lives. It keeps us prisoners of the past, unable to change.
In the book Knot of Vipers, an old man spends his last decades
sleeping down the hall from his wife. A rift had opened thirty years
before over whether the husband showed enough concern when their
five-year-old daughter became ill. Now, neither husband nor wife
is willing to take the first step. Every night he waits for her
to approach him, but she never appears. And every night she lies
awake just waiting for him to approach her, but he never does.
How tragic!!! Paul says, “Stop acting like little children.”
Not that we don’t have our reasons for withholding forgiveness.
Jesus certainly would have had his reasons for being tight-lipped
about the subject—especially as he hung on the cross.
Something about two pieces of rough steel slammed through one of
the most tender parts of the body that can reduce forgiveness to
a footnote.
Blatant injustice can replace our verse 34’s with silence
too. And to his silence we could add our own silence when it comes
time to forgive: “It’s his fault.” “She’ll
never change if I keep forgiving her.” “I’m the
one that got wronged; I’m the victim here.” “Why
should I forgive? They aren’t even sorry.”
So we can understand why Jesus maybe just decided up there on the
cross with nails in his hands not to say a mumblin’ word.
“Forgiveness? No thanks,” Jesus might well have said,
“I think I’ll do what most kings do; just withhold the
pardons; just die in defiant silence.” But no – no,
<<< that wasn’t the way of Jesus, <<< was
it?
In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, Jean Valjean has served
nineteen long years for the crime of stealing bread.
In prison he becomes a hardened convict. No one can beat him up,
no one can break his will. Finally out of jail, he has to carry
a convict card and so no innkeeper will lodge him. He finally gains
shelter from a kindly old bishop.
That night ex-con, gets up and ransacks the family silver closet
and creeps off into the darkness. Next morning, three policeman
knock at the door with this ex-con and the stolen silver. No doubt
about it, this time he will do life.
“So here you are!” the Bishop says to Valjean. “I’m
delighted you’ve returned! You forgot that I gave you the
candlesticks too! They’re worth 200 francs. Did you forget
them?” The ex-con is scandalized by forgiveness.
“Oh no, officers. This man’s no criminal,” the
Bishop laughs, “he’s my guest.” But no sooner
have the police left than the old bishop leans up and whispers in
the ex-con’s ear, “PROMISE ME THAT YOU’LL USE
THE MONEY TO MAKE YOURSELF INTO AN HONEST MAN.” FORGIVENESS
FREES VALJEAN TO BECOME A NEW MAN.
Forgiveness is the quality of divine kingship that defies every
human instinct for revenge and frees us to begin again. Do you need
to forgive someone? begin again? … start over? One act of
forgiveness pays forward through our lives – one forgiving
act after another. One encounter with forgiveness—forgiving
or being forgiven —can melt the hardness heart and open door.
Philip Yancy tells of a conversation that he once had with an immigrant
rabbi. “Before coming to America,” the rabbi said, “I
had to forgive Adolf Hitler. “Why?” Yancy asked. “I
did not want to bring Hitler inside me to my new country.”
THE RABBI GOT IT RIGHT.
Sometime during the seventh century, St. Angus came to a beautiful
valley surrounded by forested hills in the Scottish highlands.
Moved by its beauty, he said it was "a thin place"—a
place where the separation between heaven and earth was very thin—so
he built a church there that is still there to this day.
THE DEATH OF JESUS IS "A THIN PLACE."
So thin is the separation that Jesus talks to God from the cross,
and those who hear his prayers are moved to confession and contrition.
The holy one dies a common criminal's death and speaks of Paradise
to the criminal beside him.
Through the centuries, human beings have looked for "thin
places" in many ways. Some have climbed mountaintops; others
have gone on pilgrimages; some have searched religious lores; and
others have looked within through prayer and meditation.
Who would have thought that "The Skull," Mt. Calvary
would be the "thin place"? At such a place we can only
confess our wretched unworthiness of such love as this.
In Luke’s narrative the mockers, religious leaders and soldiers
make their response. Yet the title lingers on to haunt and call
forth confessions of allegiance and faithful service for every generation.
“THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Is Christ your King?
Do you see through the illustration of the two thieves that you
have choices to make?
As you gaze up at Christ from the foot of the cross, what path will
you take?
In spite of His pain; He forgives. In spite of His suffering; He
promises paradise. In the midst of darkness and hopelessness; He
provides hope for all our tomorrows.
Will you continue to struggle with life's circumstances; pointing
fingers of accusation and slinging words of hate and malice? Or,
will you accept Christ as your king, receive His grace and forgiveness,
and live with Him forever in the gardens of paradise?
And we can cry out in faith: “Jesus, I will bring thee the
cream of all my heart. Jesus, Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise thee. And even eternity will be too short to praise
thee. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jeremiah 1:4-10
“From the Womb”
Proper 15c
T he Rabbis called him “the Weeping Prophet.” They
said he began wailing the moment he was born.
When Michelangelo painted him on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,
he presented him in a posture of despair. He looked like a man who
had wept so long he had no tears left to shed.
His face was turned to one side. His shoulders were hunched forward
weighed down by the sins of Judah. His eyes are cast down, as if
he can no longer bear to see God’s people suffer. His hand
covered his mouth. Perhaps he had nothing left to say.
His name was Jeremiah. He was a “p.k.” preacher’s
kid, for his father Hilkiah was a priest. He was born in the village
outside of Jerusalem. He labored as God’s prophet for forty
years. Four decades is a long time to be a weeping prophet.
Jeremiah’s sufferings began with a divine call. Jeremiah
1:4, 5 says, The word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set
you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
We see God active in the life of Jeremiah before he was even born.
God knew him. God formed him. He set him apart and appointed him
as a prophet to the nations.
Eugene Peterson offers these practical conclusions about God’s
choice of Jeremiah:
My identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There
is something previous to what I think about myself, and it is what
God thinks of me. That means that everything I think and feel is
by nature a response, and the one to whom I respond is God. I never
speak the first word. I never make the first move. Jeremiah’s
life didn’t start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s salvation
didn’t start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s truth didn’t
start with Jeremiah. He entered the world in which the essential
parts of his existence were already ancient history. And so do we.
As F. B. Meyer puts it, “From the foot of the cross, where
we are cradled in our second birth, to the brink of the river, where
we lay down our armor, there is a path which God has prepared for
us to walk in.”
Perhaps you are still trying to figure out what God’s plan
is for you. Many Christians long to know what God is calling them
to do. Is God knocking at your door? Is God tapping on your shoulder?
Is God trying to tell you something?
Are you being called by God? Have you been chosen and set aside
for a special task? When we read about Jeremiah, are these verses
do they speak to the circumstances you face today? Is this calling
for all of us? Do you see that each of us has been set aside with
a special task for God? Are you being called? Are you listening?
Jeremiah knew what God wanted him to do. Yet even after he received
his divine call, he was still a dubious candidate: “Ah, Sovereign
Lord,” he said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only
a child” (Jeremiah 1:6).
Jeremiah had two main objections to becoming a prophet: his lack
of eloquence and his lack of experience. To paraphrase: “Ahhh,
wait a second, Lord, about this whole prophet-to-the-nations thing
. . . It doesn’t sound like that great an idea.
Prophecy is not one of my spiritual gifts. As you know, I am getting
a C in public speaking at the synagogue Besides, I am just a teenager.”
Jeremiah’s doubts find an echo in J. R. R. Tolkien’s
novel The Fellowship of the Ring.
A hobbit named Frodo has been chosen to make a long and dangerous
quest to destroy the one ring of power, a quest he himself would
not wish to choose. “I am not made for perilous quests,”
cried Frodo. “I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it
come to me? Why was I chosen?” The answer Frodo is given is
similar to the one God’s prophets often receive: “Such
questions cannot be answered. . . . You may be sure that it was
not for any merit that others do not possess; not for power or wisdom,
at any rate. But you have been chosen and you must therefore use
such strength and heart and wits as you have.”
God said to Jeremiah. To put it plainly, he said, “Don’t
give me that stuff!” “Do not say, ‘I am only a
child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever
I command you’” (Jeremiah 1:7). “Then the Lord
reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now,
I have put my words in your mouth’” (Jeremiah 1:9).
Once God had issued his divine call, he gave him a dangerous commission:
“You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I
command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will
rescue you” (Jeremiah 1:7-8).
Frankly, that sounds a little menacing! Doesn’t it? God does
not spell things out, but it is easy to tell that Jeremiah’s
job will be dangerous.
Telling someone “Do not be afraid” is the kind of advice
that tends to have the opposite effect than the one intended. The
more people tell you not to be afraid, the more you start to wonder
what you ought to be afraid of! It is like when someone says, “don’t
take this personally – WATCH OUT.”
It is like the king who sent one of his knights off to rescue his
fair princess. Just as the knight rode away from the castle, and
just as the drawbridge was closing behind him, the king yelled down
from the ramparts, >>>> “Don’t be afraid
of the dragon!” “Dragon? >>>>What dragon?
You didn’t say anything about dragons!”
The reason Jeremiah did not need to be afraid was that he had the
promise of God’s presence.
Are you afraid this morning? What is there to be afraid of? (a
new school new, a job, a relationship, a responsibility?) Are you
afraid that you won’t measure up and you will fail? Are you
afraid of ridicule and scorn? Are you afraid of success? Are you
afraid that God will desert you and leave you out in the storm,
unprotected and alone with your failures?
Is this how God operates? I think not. Or can you take comfort
in His promise to always be with you? God used an R.C. Priest, Oscar
Romero to bring renewal to the Colombian church during the 1980s
and 1990s.
Since he was an enemy of the drug cartels, his life was in constant
danger, until he was finally gunned down by assassins. Yet shortly
before he died, he said,
“I know that I am absolutely immortal until I have finished
the work that God intends for me to do.” God’s servants
are indeed immortal until they have completed their service.
Jeremiah had learned to listen to the Word of GOD. Look at verses
…… So when GOD called. Jeremiah heard him. The story
is told of a Native American and his friend who were in downtown
New York City. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets
were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns; taxicabs
were squealing around corners; sirens and all the sounds of the
city. Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.”
His friend said, “What?” You must be crazy. You couldn’t
possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!” “No,
I’m sure of it,” the Native American said. “I
heard a cricket.” “That’s crazy,” said the
friend. The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and
then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some
shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches,
and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly
amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend.
“You must have super-human ears!” “No,”
said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours.
It all depends on what you’re listening for.”
“But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I
could never hear a cricket in this noise.” “Yes, it’s
true,” came the reply. “It depends on what is really
important to you. Here, let me show you.” He reached into
his pocket, pulled out a several coins, and dropped them on the
sidewalk.
And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in
their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and
look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.
“See what I mean?” asked the Native American.
“It all depends on what’s important to you.”
If we make God’s Word a priority in our lives, then we will
be trained to hear when God calls our name. Also we need to be trained
for commitment. Jeremiah was trained not
only to listen, but to be committed to follow God’s call even
when times got rough. A young man wrote his sweetheart a love letter:
“Dear Jennifer, I love you so much I’d climb the highest
mountain just to see your smile. I’d swim the deepest river,
infested with piranhas, just for one of your kisses. I’d cross
the widest sea for one of your hugs. I’d cross the burning
desert just to look upon your face. With never-ending love, Frank.
P.S. I’ll be over to see you next Wednesday, if it doesn’t
rain.”
Jeremiah was not just a Sabbath morning servant of God. Jeremiah
was committed to his relationship with God on a daily basis.
"When some say they want to serve God, do they mean in an
advisory capacity." Telling God what to do?
While serving God as a prophet, Jeremiah was thrown into a pit
because the people were tired of hearing his warnings about God’s
anger. He was left to die there. Yes, Jeremiah got pretty discouraged
then. In fact, he lashed out at God for allowing him to be treated
so harshly. But after he was rescued from the pit, Jeremiah continued
preaching the Word of God, even at great risk to his life.
It was not always easy for Jeremiah to speak God’s words.
We have already been given a clue that the book of Jeremiah does
not have a happy ending.
It ends with the people of Jerusalem being sent into exile.
Thus the book of Jeremiah is a tragedy rather than a comedy. It
is about the unraveling of a nation, a nation coming apart. It is
the sad story of the decline of God’s people from faith to
idolatry to exile. Is your life coming apart? It’s a bad feeling.
It’s like when the wind is knocked out of you.
It is this decline that makes Jeremiah a prophet for post-Christian
times. He lived in a time very much like our own, when people no
longer think God matters for daily life. The teachings of the Bible
was offensive – not politically correct. Public life was increasingly
dominated by pagan ideas and ceremonies. Some people still met their
religious obligations, but they do so out of duty rather than devotion.
Listen… “Don't be naive. There are difficult times
ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed,
money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of
parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively
wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags,
addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion,
but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.”
2 Tim. 3:1-13 Message?
The spiritual problems we face at the dawn of the twenty-first
century were the same problems that Jeremiah found depressing 2,500
years ago.
The discouragement of his ministry is evident from the verbs God
uses to describe it: “See, today I appoint you over nations
and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow,
to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10).
The prophet’s job description includes six tasks, and four
of them are negative. Two to one, his words to the nations will
be words of judgment.
“To uproot” is to dig up nations by the roots and turn
them under. It is a word that Jeremiah uses more than all the other
biblical writers combined, often to describe the uprooting of idols
(e.g. Jeremiah 12:14-17).
To “tear down” is to tear down a standing structure,
like knocking down a city wall or toppling a tower. “To destroy”
is another word for knocking things down.
To “overthrow” is to demolish, to bring to complete
ruin.
Once the Lord uproots, tears down, destroys, and overthrows a nation,
there is not much left.
There is a great deal of that kind of judgment in the rest of Jeremiah’s
book. This is not only Jeremiah’s job description, it is also
a helpful plot-summary of his book. He lives in such evil days that
judgment will outnumber grace two to one.
But grace will have the last word. When the cities of evil have
been torn down and plowed under, God will start afresh. He will
begin a new work. He will “build” and he will “plant.”
He will bring new life out of chaos and darkness.
This is God’s plan for the kingdoms of this world (cf. Jeremiah
18:7-10). He is the one who is in charge of the beginnings and endings
of history. He is the one who uproots some nations and plants others.
He is the one who tears down some kingdoms and rebuilds others.
This is also God’s plan for salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus
said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three
days” (John 2:19). The temple of Jesus’ body was uprooted
and torn down from the cross. It was destroyed and overthrown to
the grave. But God built and planted resurrection life into the
body of Jesus Christ.
Now God builds and plants that same resurrection power into the
life of every believer. The Holy Spirit uproots and tears down sin
in your heart, and then he plants faith and builds obedience into
your life.
Are you building God’s kingdom? Are you ready to tear down
in order to build up? What needs to be torn down? Are there walls
of narrow-mindedness and limited-thinking in your faith? In your
life is there sin, prejudice, and hate that needs to be uprooted
and destroyed in order that God can grow you into the disciple He
is calling you to be?
Like Jeremiah, perhaps you might have been an unsure person at the
beginning. Yet God has known you from all eternity, and he has set
you apart for new life in Christ. Look at the clues, look at the
footprints…
If God has done all that for you, will you listen to Him and go
wherever He tells you, and say whatever He wants you to say, even
if it turns out to be a mission impossible task? Jeremiah, questioned
his calling, in the beginning. He said, “I didn’t know
I could do what I was called to do. Evidently, God helping him,
he could—and he did.”
Jeremiah 2: 4-13
Filed For Divorce
Proper 17c
Did you see what I see? Walking by the church on Main Street, we
were shocked; our mouths fell open, by the sermon title: “GOD
FILES FOR DIVORCE?” Could that be true? Would the God of the
eternal covenant end his marriage to his own people?
“‘Therefore I bring charges against you again,’
declares the LORD. ‘and I will bring charges against your
children’s children’” God is taking his people
to divorce court. Jeremiah 2 is his legal testimony. (Read the whole
chapter, if you dare)
“The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘Go and proclaim
in the hearing of Jerusalem: “I remember the devotion of your
youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me.”
<<< Once Israel loved God like a newlywed. Actually, the
word “devotion” is not strong enough!
God remembered the covenant faithfulness of Israel. This was a word
for >>>> unbroken promises, unshakable loyalty, unceasing
devotion, and unfailing loving-kindness.
It is the perfect word to describe marriage because marriage is
a covenant relationship. It is more than a legal contract; it is
a steadfast love; a commitment of fidelity and adoration.
Redemption is a romance. The children of Israel gave their hearts
to God when they first got married. They reveled in the romance
of redemption. Like a newly married bride, Israel loved her divine
husband. She loved him the way Julian of Norwich did when she said,
“I saw him and sought him! I had him and I wanted him.”
“Through the desert, through a land not sown,” Israel
submitted to the guidance of God. Israel was young and in love,
and all she wanted was to be close to her husband.
Barren wilderness was not much of a bridal suite, (sweet) but that
didn’t matter! Israel followed God out of Egypt, through the
wilderness, and into the Promised Land.
God had passion for his bride. “Israel was holy to the LORD,
the first fruits of his harvest” He took her to love and cherish.
He treated her with honor and respect, setting her apart as “holy.”
Israel was the first fruits of God’s harvest among the nations
of the world. She was the apple of his eye.
And so God protected his bride. “All who devoured her were
held guilty, and disaster overtook them.” If anyone threatened
Israel or encroached on her territory, God treated it as an attack
on his own person. Remember what happened to the Egyptians? Or the
Philistines?
And God provided for his bride: “I brought you into a fertile
land to eat its fruit and rich produce” God gave Israel a
beautiful home. There was plenty of food — mostly milk and
honey.
That was then, but this is now. <<< Pause Time to wake
up and smell the burnt toast. <<< The honeymoon was over.
How could this be happening? If you were there for the wedding,
you never believed it?
The wedding was so beautiful! >>> The honeymoon was so
wonderful! >>> The bride was so devoted! The husband was
so faithful! Where did it all go wrong?
God is on the witness stand in divorce court asking the same question.
Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the
house of Israel.
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers
find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless
idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, ‘Where
is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the
barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of
drought and darkness,
a land where no one travels and no one lives?’”
God did not leave his people — they left him, they dumped
him.
As the saying goes, “If God does not seem as close as he used
to, who moved?” Why would anyone ever move away from God?
It makes no sense!
Have you turned away from God? Have you turned back to a pathway
far from His guidance? Have you accepted Christ but continue to
walk in directions of your own choosing? Why do we leave God to
go after worthless things? Worthless is the same word used in Ecclesiastes
for “vanity.” It means “mist” or “vapor.”
Idolaters grasp at thin air. Actually, they worship nothing at all.
Don't we know better? Have we simply forgotten what God has done
for you?
The marriage between God and his people was dying of neglect. God’s
people no longer seek after God. They no longer said, “Where
is the LORD?”
They no longer recited the mighty acts of salvation. They forgot
the love that saved them. They suffered from self-induced spiritual
amnesia.
This is a reminder for Christians to thank God daily for salvation
in Jesus Christ. And to recount and recite the saving acts of God
in history.
Remember what God has done in your life. The road to spiritual
adultery begins when you stop remembering and being grateful.
Few Christians plan to fall into grievous sin. It is only after
falling that they realize they have drifted away from the God of
love.
Jeremiah places the blame for Jerusalem’s marital difficulties
squarely on the shoulders of her spiritual leaders: “The priests
did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled
against me.
The prophets, priests, and kings were not part of the solution
— they were part of the problem.
“As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of
Israel is disgraced — their kings and their officials, their
priests and their prophets” (Jeremiah 2:26).
The leaders got caught with their hands in the COOKIE JAR. They
were committing secret sins. Like everyone else, they were sleeping
around with idols.
Saying you have a holy calling does not make you a holy man. The
priests of Jeremiah’s day were studying the law but they did
not know God himself (cf. John 5:39-40). Their ministry was a dead
ritual rather than a living relationship.
God has legitimate grounds for terminating the marriage.
The rest of the chapter gives evidence of the infidelity of God’s
people. It is like a judicial power point presentation.
As part of his prosecution, God introduces into evidence image after
image of spiritual adultery. He lays out his case with the logic
of a lawyer and the longing of a lover, proving beyond a shadow
of a doubt that his people have forsaken their first love.
What was it like when God’s people left him? IT WAS UNHEARD
OF! Exhibit A: It is like a nation changing its gods.
“Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus, in the West and look,
send to Kedar a tribe in the far East and observe closely; see if
there has ever been anything like this: Has a nation ever changed
its gods?”
Of course not! Travel the world from east to west, no nation has
ever changed its gods. Shoes, maybe, or hairstyles, but not gods.
Even the pagans are faithful to their gods. They cart them around
wherever they go. Did the Canaanites ever abandon Baal? Never! Did
the Babylonians ever forsake Bel? Ridiculous! “Has a nation
ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people
have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.” (Jeremiah
2:11)
It is hard to believe, but God’s people exchanged the glorious
presence of God for idols made of wood or stone. “For you
have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.”
The people of Judah were so confused that they were “cross-worshiping.”
“They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to
stone, ‘You gave me birth.’”
By partner-swapping, Israel bartered away the living God. This
was a religious crime without precedent in the ancient world. The
pagans never abandoned their dead gods, but God’s people abandoned
the living God. The members of the jury, namely, the “heavens,”
ought to be so appalled at what they hear that they “shudder
with great horror”
What is it like when God’s people leave Him, their husband?
Exhibit B: It is like leaving a spring of living water:
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken
cisterns that cannot hold water.” J 2:13.
Imagine living in the desert. It is always dry. The thing you always
need and can never find is water. Then imagine finding a desert
spring that continuously bubbles up fresh from the ground.
Would you leave a never-ending supply of water behind? Never! Only
a raging madman or madwoman would abandon a desert spring.
Now imagine leaving the spring behind and digging a cistern to catch
rainwater. If you went to such trouble, would you then leave cracks
in the limestone seal?
Yet God testifies, “My people . . . have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water” If leaving a spring
is dumb, building a cracked cistern is dumber. It is dumb and dumber.
Amen!
Why should we cling to the broken promises of unstable “cisterns”
of money, of political power, of religious systems, or of whatever
transitory thing we are putting in place of God, when God promises
to constantly refresh us with himself, the living water? We can’t
hold water ourselves. We can’t save ourselves. We can’t
keep ourselves. We can’t handle the truth until we come back
to God and realize our sin.
John 4:10 Jesus said, "If you knew the gift of God and who
it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water."
No water can compare with the living water God pours out in Jesus
Christ. “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without
cost from the spring of the water of life.” Rev. 21:6
When the Scottish theologian Thomas Boston preached on this text,
he said, “God in Christ is the fountain, all-sufficient in
himself. All the creatures are but cisterns; if there is no water
brought into them from heaven, or from the spring, they are dry.”
Sin is not simply a cosmetic problem. Even after the detergent,
the exotic cleansers, the turpentine, and the tomato juice, the
stain of sin remains. What soap can wash away sin from the soul?
There is no home remedy to take away guilt. Only the blood of Jesus
Christ can purify us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Are you seeking His presence in every aspect of your life? Do you
turn to Him for guidance and support? Do you whisper His name with
your every breath? If not, what fills your life instead?
What are the broken cisterns that you have created? Where in life
have you placed your faith only to find it doesn't hold water?
Will you once again turn to the living waters that provide eternal
hope and life ever-lasting?
John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him."
Jesus’ words, “Come to Me and drink,” allude to
the theme of many Bible passages that talk about the Christ’s
life-giving blessings – life-giving fountain.
All the evidence has been heard. What is the verdict? Is there
enough evidence for a conviction?
Enough evidence! God can make this accusation stick like boardwalk
taffy on a two-year-old! He has every right to sue for divorce.
Jerusalem has no defense. She has turned away from God to foreign
idols and foreign alliances.
The important question to ask is this: What verdict would God render
about the contemporary church? The dominant sin of Jerusalem —
forgetting God — has become a predominant sin in the American
church.
The marriage seemed to be beyond recovery. But it wasn’t.
Just half a chapter later Jeremiah writes,
“‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the LORD,
‘for I am your husband’” IT IS A BREATHTAKING
COMMAND. It is God’s grace for the ungracious, his faithfulness
to the unfaithful. Even when God’s love goes unreturned, he
does not cease to love. Although his marriage is violated, he does
not break the covenant.
If you have never entered into a love relationship with God, he
is courting you at this moment. He invites you to enter into a love
that will never let you go. He calls you to leave behind the sins
that carry you here, there, and everywhere in the spiritual desert.
He invites you to embrace and commit to Jesus Christ.
If you have already entered the romance of redemption, consider
whether you love God the way you did when you first “got together.”
If not, do not try to dance around this betrayal. If you are not
passionately in love with God, then you have been behaving like
a floozy, spiritually speaking. But God still wants you back. More
amazing still, he can restore the passion and purity of your love
for him.
There is a hint of such restoration later in Jeremiah’s book.
The LORD appears to us saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you
with loving-kindness.”
It is amazing enough that God still considers Israel his bride.
But there is more. His cleansing is so complete that He restores
to her passion and purity.
How can he do that? What detergent can wash away the stain of sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. “Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing
with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a
radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but
holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27).
How sweet it is? How sweet it can be? When we go around the second
time -- when we love God as our first love.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“By Faith”
Proper 14
Two New York entrepreneurs thought they could make some money by
introducing bungee-jumping in Mexico.
So they pooled their money together to launch the business venture.
When it finally came time for the trial run, the two entrepreneurs
climb all 103 feet up onto the platform and look down on the gathering
crowd.
Truth be known, neither of these guys wanted to jump so they flipped
a coin. The loser putting on the harness, dived off.
When he came up the first time, his partner noticed that his nose
was bloody. When he came up the second time, it was obvious that
one eye was turning black. When he came up a third time, part of
his ear was missing.
The entrepreneur on the platform yelled to his partner, "Are
you okay?" On his way down a fourth time, his partner yelled
back, "What's a piñata?" (Pause)
What is faith? That's what some early Christians were asking on
their way down for the fourth time. What's faith? They must have
felt like they were piñatas, getting bloodied, bullied, and
beaten.
The 11th chapter of the “Letter to the Hebrews” is
a roll call of many of the great Old Testament people of faith.
But then comes an unexpected phrase.
“All these persons died in faith.” What a way to end,
ruin a good story! In spite of their mighty faith they perished
like the rest of us. Death, that great equalizer, got all of them
in the end. The grim reaper cut down the saints and the heroes just
as surely as the criminals and cowards.
Where did faith get these mighty people of faith if in the end
death swallows up them along with all their rich experience and
wisdom? Was it worth the effort? (Pause)
But wait. In the N. T. we are dealing with a different way of seeing
life and death; a different view of time and eternity.
From the Christian perspective faith is not shattered by death.
In truth, death is shattered by hope and faith.
According to the letter to the Hebrews, faith is closely allied
to hope.
“Faith gives substance to our hopes, and makes us sure of
those realities that we cannot see.”
Christian hope is not a longing for the improbable or the impossible.
Hope is not building imaginary castles in the air.
Hope is seeing what yet can truly come to completion.
It is sharing God’s vision and plan. Hope is affirming the
glorious future which God has for His people. Hope is turning to
the promises of God and saying “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Hope for that childless couple, Abraham and Sarah.
They were daring to envision the Divine promise
that through their descendants “all the families of the earth
would be blessed.”
For the Christian, hope takes on a special shape.
It dares to look at a new way shaped in the likeness of Jesus of
Nazareth. He is the first born of the dead.
Unless we dare to hope, we are most likely to become mesmerised
by the greed and violence and chaos of our world, slowly surrendering
our ideals, sliding into gloom, and joining the “rat race.”
And what about faith? The faith that the writer to Hebrews extols?
Faith is a commitment to the God of hope.
Faith is actively trusting God’s future and doing something
about it. It is saying “Yes!” by our actions, seeking
to fulfil the vision God gives us.
It is a willingness to live each day to its potential, utilizing
bits and pieces that fit the contours of the future. It is like
reaching one’s hand into the future, plucking a bit of it,
and planting it here and now.
Such faith is active, not passive. Faith is (in spite of critics)
not a drug to calm us down but to stir us up. Remember we are to
be stirred; we are not shaken.
Faith places us in a position of holy tension; puts us at odds
with the folly and sin around us. Faith is not an escape but a new,
profound, re-creative involvement.
Faith is actively implementing as much of the hope as possible in
our time and circumstance. It is giving substance to our hope. It
is an active way of life.
Our status is that of pilgrims.
We should also notice that living by faith in the God of hope, makes
us people who don’t totally belong here. The faith heroes
lived in many places, among many nations, settled amid many cultures,
but they did not belong. They were not at home.
Abraham is called a “sojourner.”
This word means a non-citizen; a resident alien. That Abraham and
other faith heroes are called strangers, one that does not belong,
meaning temporary residents or passing travellers.
There is not our home here.
Home was the vision they had of the better future. Home was the
promise from God. Here we are only sojourners.
Let's see if we can discover what this verses mean by watching some
of the "for instances" that the writer uses.
Abraham, for instance, is an example of faith-in-action. What is
it about Abraham that makes him a person of faith?
After all, he starts out just like us, doing the 2nd shift down
at the idol- making plant; pretty routine.
One night it gets real quiet and God says to this employee, "Leave
your country, your relatives, and your father's house and go to
the land that I will show you."
That's pretty unsettling. Frightening. But Abraham up and leaves
after the next payday. Packs up his duffle bag and he’s gone.
Doesn't add up, does it?
To just shift like that. To up and change course mid-stream. But
he does -it's all based on a passionate conviction that God is preparing
something remarkable for him, a posterity, a permanent land, and
identity.
So based on that deep conviction that God is working in his future,
he takes a risk, he obeys God's words and throws his belongings
into the Jeep Cherokee and heads for . . . well, he's not really
clear on directions. He just has an immediate conviction that God
has told him to move now. He has this sense that God will be with
him in his going, in his future.
Faith gives believers confidence to see more clearly. Faith is
like putting on fisherman’s sunglasses that remove much of
the glare so that you can see the fish better. Faith enables you
to perceive realities most people cannot because they can’t
see beneath the surface; they are blinded by the glare of sinful
attractions.
Faith is like night-vision lenses that penetrate the darkness surrounding
you, enabling you to identify enemies or see danger ahead. Faith
enables you to follow God’s clear leading, even though Satan
attempts to deceive you and places pitfalls in your path.
Faith is like corrective lenses that compensate for weaknesses
in your eyes. Faith corrects your perception so that God’s
teaching makes sense to you, and you can see his leading in your
daily activities.
Want to see better this Fall, for the rest of your life? God is
the great eye doctor. Utilize his lenses of faith. The lenses he
crafts are just right for you.
And what about old Sarah and by now, very old Abraham? What caused
them to believe that they would see the day when they would have
to attend the parent-teacher conferences or the day when their car
insurance would jump 100% because they now had a teenager with a
heavy foot?
The writer says that they had such a passionate conviction that
God was working in their future, that they received power to have
a child well past the child-bearing age.
Faith is the passionate conviction to dream dreams and see visions
that are outside the box. Some of the greatest minds have been very
close to this biblical definition of faith-the ability to see clearly
outside the box, to imagine a better future and to prepare for it
in the present.
It cannot be otherwise for people who have been given the gift
of hope. For those who have seen the vision of “a new heaven
and a new earth” they cannot settle down anywhere else.
Look at this myopic, selfish and often desperate world.
Look at our self indulgent and anxious society. Look at the Narcissistic
vainglory of our entertainment world. Look at the injustices and
grave abuses. Are any of us content to call this our real home?
Our soul place?
Listen to the sounds of distress and pain;
the noise of warfare, the cries of the wounded, the boasts of the
victorious. Listen to the whimpering of the hungry children, the
sobbing of the refugees, the terrible shrieks of the tortured. Listen
to the plaintive voices of all the dispossessed people of the world.
This is not the world as it should be!
This is not the world which God promises. Friends, this is not our
true home!
No wonder that we who believe in God, and live by faith hope and
love, find ourselves like aliens. Those who follow Christ Jesus
cannot ever be anything else but aliens and strangers and sojourners
– we are just passing through.
We live and die in the faith with our God-given hopes not fully
realised.
But it is far, far better to die with the restlessness of faith
still upon us, than to die well adjusted to this world as it is
now.
For this task, we have the Spirit of God with us, aiding and abetting
every step we take towards the promised land, every act of love
we show our neighbour, every tilt we make against injustice, every
prayer we offer with thankful and compassionate hearts.
By our active faith we give solid content to our hopes.
The unseen world of the God who is around us, takes firm outlines
in our midst.
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want
is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is
waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. LB
Yes, faith is for the long haul.
That was like the story I read the other day:
A Christian man was invited to work for another company to which
he would earn twice as much as he was already receiving. Being a
devout person, he spent many hours in prayer seeking to discern
the will of God. Should he go to the new job or is he more needed
were he presently worked?
One day a friend met with the man's daughter in the street and said,
"Well, what is your father going to do?"
"Well," said the little girl, "Father's praying,
but Mother's packing."
The father was saying to God, "What do you want me to do?"
and the mother, with equally good intentions, was saying to God,
"Since this opportunity has come our way, I believe it is your
will. This is what we're going to do.
How are we to know what is the will of God and what is our own
will acting out? Even the faithful heroes in the Bible had trouble
sorting that out.
Abraham made mistakes. Even Abraham tried to take matters into
his own hands when things were not working out as quickly as he
would like.
When we look at Abraham and Sarah, as well as the other faithful
listed in Hebrews 11, we look at their faith. At times their faith
faltered. They questioned. They argued it out with God. And don’t
we do that – at times, too?
But their overall faith was headed toward the direction of God's
will. Their vision was set forward, even when they could not see
what was ahead of them. Their vision was set forward even when they
were sure that their vision would not be fulfilled in their life
times.
Hebrews 11:13 reads, "All these died in faith without having
received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted
them."
Did you catch that? The faithful greet their unfulfilled promises
from a distance. Wouldn’t we prefer greeting with a handshake
or an embrace, rather than a wave from across the way.
Continuing to walk the way of the Lord without seeing
how it's all going to turn out is faith -- faith over the long haul,
without necessarily seeing the fruits of your labor.
Sunday School teachers work faithfully not really knowing for sure
how the children will grow up?
Volunteers work faithfully to feed the hungry and take care of
needs without knowing what kind of impact they are making on people's
lives or if the dire situations will ever change.
Members and friends of our congregation have a vision for the future,
not knowing for definite if and when that vision will be fulfilled.
Yet we continue on in faith, faithful to God, that everything is
in His hands and will work out.
Like Abraham and Sarah, our walk of faith will have its ups and
down, but our faith will endure the long haul if we put our trust
in the Lord. The choice is ours. Just don’t go bungee-jumping
in Mexico.
John
12:1-8
Do You Get It?
Honestly now, how many of us would have sided with
Judas in this argument?
It was extravagant! It was excessive! But was it wasteful?
You know what Mary did.
She wanted to do something special for Jesus;
she wanted to express her love and gratitude,
and how much she appreciated him.
She knelt
at his feet and with the most expensive of perfumed oils, she anointed
his feet, then wiped his feet with her long dark hair. It was extravagant love!
One summer morning at a beach house,
a young man by the name of Al woke up to
the smell of baking bread, coming up from the kitchen.
He quickly dressed and went downstairs. Al met his
sister-in-law. She was just taking a loaf of freshly baked
bread out of the oven.
“Wow!” he said. “Is this for breakfast?” “No, not this loaf,”
replied the sister-in-law. “This one is for the birds.” “What?”
he asked, not at all understanding. “This
one is for the birds. The next one is for us,” she said, pointing
to a lump of dough. “You mean you are going to give a new loaf of
bread to the birds?!” “Yes, that’s right,” she said.
He couldn’t believe it, thinking “What a waste of homemade
bread on those noisy seagulls.”
His sister-in-law smiled and walked past him, heading down
to the beach. He ran to the deck, convinced she was kidding. She
wasn’t. She got to the sand, and began tearing off hunks of the
loaf and throwing them up in the air to the birds, who swooped and
ate it happily.
Al got some fresh bread that morning from the second loaf.
But for a long while, he couldn’t get over that loaf thrown
to
the birds. Birds get the leftover, dried-up crusts and
end-pieces of store-bought bread, not the first loaf out
of
the oven! He didn’t
get it.
Judas didn’t get it,
either.
Judas smelled the lovely fragrance of that pistachio-nut oil being
carried on the breeze through the house, but it did not move him
to gladness.
No, Judas was disgusted to find that Mary had taken one of
the most expensive bottles of perfume and poured the whole thing
on Jesus’ feet.
It's amazing that such a simple thing like a gift of
fragrant perfume could cause such a stink. It's also amazing how
quickly Judas poured cold water on Mary's simple act of love and
faith. There was stunned silence. Silence until Judas, embarrassed
about it all, blurted out with his critical comment.
Jesus would have none of that. He knew
that his death was coming soon. The awareness of his impending suffering
was constantly with him. In a sense his final passion was already
upon him.
“Leave her alone! Let her keep this for the day of my
burial.”
Judas had revealed his true nature and just how
far from the Kingdom he had drifted even though he has been with
the Jesus every day. What a waste! That bottle cost a whole year’s
worth of wages! And for what purpose?
Judas couldn’t believe the extravagant of the perfume.
"This perfume is worth 300 denarii. Why not sell it and
give it to the poor?" Better to have used the money for
a
good cause like a contribution to the poor, or saving it for
the Disciple’s Emergency Fund.
He
could have been a reporter on the local television's "The
Fleecing of Israel" report if TV had been around back then.
He
reminds me of a Shel Silverstein poem
entitled, "Sharing"
"I'll
share your toys, I'll share your money,
I'll share your toast, I'll share your honey,
I'll share your milk and your cookies too--
The hard part's sharing mine with you."
One
afternoon three children, two boys and a girl,
entered a flower shop. One of the boys said: "Sir,
we'd like something in yellow flowers, please."
The
man immediately realized that this was a very special occasion.
He showed them some inexpensive yellow spring flowers. One of the
boys shook his head. "I think we would like something better
than that."
The
man asked, "Do they have to be yellow?" The boy
answered, "Yes, sir. You see, Mickey would like 'em
better if they were yellow. He had a yellow sweater. I guess he'd
like yellow better than any other color."
The
man asked, "Are they for his funeral?"
The
little girl was struggling to keep back the tears. "She's
his sister," the boy said. "He was a swell kid.
A
truck hit him while he was playing in the street."
"Us kids in his block took up a collection. We got eighteen
cents. Would roses cost an awful lot, sir -- yellow roses, I mean?"
The
man smiled. "It just happens that I have some nice yellow
roses here that I'm offering special today for eighteen cents a
dozen." The man pointed to the flower case.
"Gee,
those would be swell! Yeah, Mickey'd sure
like those."
Mary's gift was like that.
Oh
sure, there's some truth in Judas' concerns, it might have been
very extravagant by worldly standards but not when compared to the
extravagant gift of God's love and grace or the gift of forgiveness
we are given through Christ.
If
anything, Judas' protest raised the importance of Mary's gift and
pointed to the depth of Mary's faith and her love for Jesus. That
love helped Jesus get ready.
Oh
for a Thousand Bottles of Perfume!
Do you wonder if Mary thought this as she pondered how she would
express her gratitude and love to Jesus?
How does one thank God for restoring the
very life of a loved one? How does one thank God for one's own life?
For Mary, no expense was too great and nothing
that she owned was too precious for the task. What a loving picture
of Christian stewardship. She poured the best of her substance at
Jesus feet — simply because she loved him!
No, Judas didn’t get
it.
But Mary was on to something.
Like the sister-in-law feeding the birds of the air,
Mary grasped the importance of the moment.
She knew that the presence of Jesus was a bowing-down occasion,
one that called for the best in the house.
Jesus was the one who had raised her brother, Lazarus, from
the dead and led him out of the grave. Mary knew in her heart that
he deserved all honor and glory.
So
she was moved to anoint him, to mark him as king. She claims the
moment: She takes the jar of costly oil and pours every last drop
on his feet, then bows down to wipe it with her own hair. Mary
gets it!
Mary
lived out all that Jesus had been teaching about God’s love and
grace.
It
was a gift which would take the place of proper burial for Jesus
in the midst of the turmoil and confusion surrounding Jesus' death.
What a wonderful gift?
And the question this morning is do we get it?
It's important for us to look at the gifts which we bring
to God and God's church to express our love for God.
Mary's
gift should be our example.
Permit Mary to be your tutor.
God's
extravagant gift of Christ should extract extravagance
in our giving It should bring out extravagance in praise and
worship.
There
is an old saying that we should give until it hurts. No, that is
the way of Judas.
Instead we should give until it feels
good.
That’s the way of Mary.
Here, take a good look. Mary and Judas stand side by side.
One loved him, the other would betray him
Mary had no pretense.
Judas pretended all the way, pretended to care for
the poor, pretended to be righteous,
Giving is part of worship. Giving says, “Lord, you are worthy.
I love you. Here is an expression
of my love. Lord, You are Worthy.”
And Jesus says He’s
worth it. Jesus knew his hour was coming. He was not going to be with
them for much longer.
God is the extravagant One. Look at the universe! Look at world! He’s the one who has
been gracious to us. Jesus didn’t pour fine perfume, He poured His
precious blood.
“Jesus
paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He
washed it white as snow.”
God is generous beyond words.
And he offers us that gift of eternal life, the gift of His
Son.
When
we give with that spirit then our gift is like Mary's.
It
was her genuine expression of love for and her faith in Jesus.
What
is it that you bring as a genuine expression of you love and faith?
Our
PRESENCE,
PRAYERS, PARTICIPATION
and our PLEDGE, all of these are important to our life as Christians and to
the life of our Church.
Are we still on the deck of the beach house, stuttering in
bewilderment about the waste of a loaf of bread on a bunch
of birds?
Jesus affirmed Mary’s
anointing.
In fact, he interpreted her action beyond what even she had understood;
that is, that it was the preparation of his body for burial. And
you shall be remembered around the world.
His anointing as king would lead him not to an earthly kingdom,
but to suffering and death.
Yes, Jesus got it, and he went willingly from that
place
to the cross.
And the fragrance lingers down thru the centuries,
waking us up and meet the One who gives life to the dead
and goes to the cross for our salvation.
Like
a spray of perfume upon a card ... or note...
a dash of cologne that reaches not only one's skin ...
but gets absorbed into the collar fabric
...
incense that permeates the air and anything that is near ... there
was not only a lesson to learn about his death ... but one to be
known about that which was to come beyond that Friday we named Good.
It
filled the house ... it consumed the air ... it was carried on the
breeze ... it was journeyed on the wind ... the Other
Comforter ... the Advocate ... the Spirit of God.
And,
on that first Easter Day ... Jesus came among them ... the Risen
One ... and said, "Receive
the Holy Spirit!"
On them he breathed ... the Spirit breath that filled them even
as the house had been filled on that Sabbath
What
a lovely fragrance it was ... and is ... the perfume
with which Mary anointed his feet ... the coming breath of life breathed into them on Easter
... the Spirit of God filling the world beyond
overflowing. You know, I cannot help but think of Paul's words in
Eph. 5.3: "be imitators of God, as beloved children ... and
live in love, as Christ loved us ... and gave himself up for us ... a fragrant offering and sacrifice
to God."
Again
it is a new day ... a fresh time ... an age of God's
new thing. As Lord says in Isaiah, "Forget what happened
before,
and
do not think about the past.
Look at the new thing I am going to do.
It is already happening. Don't you see it?
I will make a road in the
desert
and rivers in the dry land. It is a day of new beginnings.
The
teaching of Jesus on that day was not one of
disregarding or ignoring the poor and their plight.
Rather,
it was a message of first being … empowered ... and filled with
the Spirit ... then we can really do something of good consequence.
And
it was the lesson which Jesus brought forth that day in the home
of Martha ... and Mary ... and Lazarus ... was one that is like
his words: "I am sending upon you what my Father promised;
so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power
of the Holy Spirit from on high?"
As
Jesus gave himself ... a gift of love for all the world
God calls us to be imitators ... we are be like Him … people who
give of ourselves ... in what God has given to us ... to those who
are in need.
As
God continues to anoint the Body of Christ ...
the Church ... the people ... the ministry that is shared ... with
the Spirit,
there
is the kind of love within us ... working through us ... that can
bring us together to work for justice and to make for peace. We
can help others in the name of Christ.
In
such a world are ours ... where there is enough for all... even
though it is dispersed only to some ...only love can make a difference
... God's love is know in sharing.
In such a sharing we all can know and say, "Mmmm!
That fragrance smells good! It sure does!"
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Kerry, Break out the perfume!
Linda, Throw the first loaf to the birds!
Ushers, Open the Doors of the Church!
Jack, Turn up the Lights!
Prepare the Banquet!
for -- Worthy is the Lamb!
Luke
13:1-9
“Digging
Around”
Sometimes life stinks.
There is no other way to express it.
What a way to start a sermon?
Sometimes we cause
the stink. Sometimes the stink gets
on us through no fault of our own.
Sometimes, life stinks.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
The Titanic sinks. Hundreds of people die.
A chosen few are spared. Why? A boat taxi turns over in the
Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Why?
A twister rips through a community uprooting everything in
its path. One person is ripped out
of her kitchen and hurled into eternity.
Another in the living room is left untouched. Why?
One December night in Westland, Michigan, a man and his wife were driving home. Suddenly a fourteen-pound
bowling ball crashed through the windshield, killing the man. Why?
Jesus faced the same kind of issues in his time. Apparently
Pilate had some people from Galilee killed as they were worshiping. Just as they were offering
a sacrifice, their own blood was spilt on the altar. The questions
came, "Why?"
And then Jesus tells a story that brings it closer to home,
a local story.
In a construction job at the pool at Siloam there is a terrible
disaster. Eighteen of the construction workers are killed when a
wall collapses on them.
The story created a sensation.
People were outraged.
How could God permit it to happen?
Did they die because they were sinful?
After all, these were people just like them, upstanding citizens
of Galilee. If it happened to Joe down the street could it happen to
me? He sat there with me in church just last week. Could God simply
zap me from the sky and bring an end to my existence?
The Gospel addresses one of the most frightening questions
involved in our relationship with God:
the injustice done to people by other people and by natural disasters.
There is a tendency when terrible things happen to lay blame.
We either blame the victim, or we blame God.
We even say it was “an act of God.”
Such reasoning doesn't lessen the
pain of a wife, a mother, a father or family in grief.
There are real injustices. The undeserving gain. The deserving
lose. The innocent suffer. The guilty often never account for their
actions, at least so as we see it happen.
No, the world is not fair. In this present existence,
people do not always get what they deserve.
It is one thing to say that suffering is not a sign of the
sinfulness of the victim. It is a very different thing to say sinfulness
never leads to the suffering of the sinners or those whose lives
are affected by those sins.
According to Jesus, sin has tragic consequences. While Jesus
denied that the people Pilate had killed and those who were crushed
by the tower of Siloam were being punished for their evil, the Lord went on to say,
"Unless you repent, you will perish as they did."
Without question, the world is a messy place.
The things that happen don't give way to easy answers. We may imagine
God as a mere observer, passively watching the world, "from
a distance."
But that's not the way Jesus saw it.
God is a real player in the push and pull of life.
In this world that God has made, there are consequences to
our actions built into the very fabric of this world.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "You reap what you sow."
Jesus said, "If you live by the sword, you will die by the
sword." | 
