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The Word this Week:

• Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)  
• Psalm 112:1-9 (10)  
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16) 
• Matthew 5:13-20​

You can watch or read the sermon below.

Well good morning again everyone.  Today we are going to be continuing our focus on Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth.  Today we are focussing on chapter 2.  Before we begin looking too closely at this chapter though I think it is important that we recap what we learnt in our readings from the last few weeks exploration of chapter one. 

To recap Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth in around the year 54AD while he was in Ephesus on his third missionary journey.  Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Achaea.  You will remember that the letter was written to this church because Paul had received reports that the church in Corinth was suffering under factionalism and placing great emphasis on the gifts certain members had over others. Others claimed superior knowledge and wisdom. While others were living immoral lives while still claiming membership of the church.

You will remember that those first 9 verses which we read in our first week involved Paul setting out who the Corinthians were in the eyes of God, and emphasising that though their knowledge and gifts are wonderful things they are all from God.   They enable us to see that we are called into a whole body of believers, that we are set apart – sanctified by God, that the spiritual gifts we have are from God, that our knowledge and abilities in the faith are from God.  Those first 9 verses point us to the great truth that it is God at work in us that is what redeems us – that it is God’s grace – his unmerited, or unearned favour towards us that is what saves us.  Above all it shows us that though we are fickle, that we often get caught in our own desires, or think we are the ones doing great things that it is in fact God and his faithfulness that enables us to do all things.

Having set the scene for his letter to the Corinthian Church by letting them know that it is God who is at work in them, and their salvation, their knowledge and their gifts are all from God, that they are all one body – Paul moved into discussing factionalism and division in the church.

Paul called the church to unity, to be of one mind. Now remember Paul mean when he says that we as the church should all be of one mind wasn’t calling us to blind faith or conformity – rather he was calling the church to focus on the core thing – the Gospel. He was also emphasising that what we do and how we behave matters and effects how we are able to promote the Gospel.
He also gave us that model of evangelism – that being straight forward and honest about the Gospel without embellishment and without compromise.

Last week we focussed heavily on how the cross of Christ is foolishness to the world.  We focussed on that cross where we are reconciled to God.  That it is at the cross where the consequences for our sins are dealt with.  It is at the cross where God incarnate says – even though you may think it is foolish, here I show you my love, here I do what I must to bring us back together.  It is at the cross that the bill we owe is paid.

Today Paul continues talking to the church in Corinth about how the Gospel does not conform to the wisdom of the world.  In the opening five verses of our reading today Paul continues to explain to the them how he didn’t come to them trying to appear wise and distinguished – he didn’t come to them trying to look and sound like someone who would be deemed respectable by the standards of the world – rather he came to them from a place of weakness – with a story that would seem implausible to them. 

He came and told them that they could be set free from their fear, their brokenness and be forgiven for all that they had done wrong through simply putting their trust in what Jesus had done on the cross. He came and told them that Jesus – this guy from Nazareth, who Was crucified as a criminal – this Jesus actually rose from death – this Jesus was actually the promised one of God – This Jesus was the one who would allow them – and us –
as flawed and broken as we are – to be reconciled to God – to be forgiven for our sins – because Jesus took the consequence.

As we talked about last week – this is foolishness – it is nonsensical to the world.  However What Paul does next is important.  He transitions from talking about how this is foolishness – to begin to explain how it is in fact the very wisdom of God.  He begins to explain to the Church in Corinth that while this may seem like foolishness to the wider world – to those of us who have been willing to open our hearts and minds to receive the Holy Spirit of God when he prompted us – it is in fact wisdom beyond anything we could ever hope for. 

You see this wisdom of God, that the rest of the world sees as foolishness actually points us to salvation – it points us to a new creation – it points us to God’s Kingdom

‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
     nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him’

Paul goes on to explain to us that it is through the spirit that we begin to fully understand what God has done for us.  It is through God’s Spirit working through us and guiding us that we begin to comprehend the magnificence of what God has achieved. 

Through opening ourselves up – being willing to hear God’s call, we begin to understand that what seems like foolishness to the powers of this world – is actually the very thing that will overthrow them.  When we are willing to put aside what we deem as important and instead focus on what God’s spirit leads us to – we find ourselves drawn into an understanding of God that is astonishing. 

We find ourselves understanding that God himself became a human being – we find ourselves understanding that God himself went to the cross so that we need not suffer the eternal consequence of sin. We find ourselves understanding that through Jesus God has broken into our world and a new creation has begun to dawn – a new creation that we are called to display in our own lives.    When Jesus went to that cross God himself broke into the world he created – God himself came to break the corrupt powers of this fallen and broken world and draw us to him.

Paul also says something that for some people is troubling – he says that those who are not spiritual don’t receive the gifts of God’s spirit.  That’s a significant statement – because Paul isn’t just speaking here about the gifts of prophecy and tongues and understanding … he is talking about the ultimate gift – he is talking about salvation – forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. 

We don’t like to talk about that much do we – that there are people in the world who will not be saved – who will not be reconciled to God and thus will have to face the consequences of their sin.  Paul here refers to them as those who are unspiritual – we can understand that as those who reject the call of God’s Spirit on their lives. 

You see Paul isn’t saying that God rejects people – he is saying that there are people who despite God’s call – despite the Spirit moving their hearts to seek him out, choose instead to turn away – to reject the movement and prompting of the Spirit. When they make that decision they cut themselves off from God – they cut themselves off from the wisdom and understanding that would lead them to know what God has done for them.

But I want you all to understand something very important – God never stops calling us.  He never gives up.  If you or someone you know has chosen to reject God – it is not to late, He is there waiting for us – all we need do is turn back to him.  All we need to do is open ourselves up to the prompting of the Spirit and be willing to take that initial step of faith – if we are willing to take that step when he calls us, then as Paul says we will be lead into all wisdom, we will find joy and forgiveness  – we will find hope.

Brothers and sisters, we are constantly being told by the world around us that what we believe is foolish – that we are fools for even contemplating putting our faith in Jesus.  We are constantly being drawn away from God – the enemy, is always seeking to pull us away.  However, the Great promise of God is that he is with us always – and if we are just willing to put our trust and hope in him we will never abandon us – he will be our rock, our redeemer  – he will be our guide, our comforter and friend – and he will lead us to a kind of wisdom joy and hope that we can trust in.
Let us each this week take some time to sit down and simply open our hearts up to God. Let us each take the time to reflect on what God has done for us – let us take the time to ask for a fresh movement of His Spirit to stir us, and guide us. 

Let us dedicate ourselves again to seeking after the wisdom of God – given by the spirit – which sets us free through the cross – that foolish, foolish cross.
​
The Lord be with you.

The Word This Week:

• Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Psalm 119:97-104  OR
• Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 121 
• 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5  
• Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:1-14 (Australian Anglican Church Lectionary Reading.
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” ’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’
 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

A Sermon on the Word:

Persistence and humility.  Our Gospel gives us two strong messages for our journey of faith with Jesus.  So lets have a look firstly at this theme of persistence:

In our opening Gospel parable Jesus relates to us a story of an unjust – unfair judge who eventually relents and does what is right, simply because of the persistence of the widow who continues to press her case. Then he says to us – well then don’t you think we ought to trust in God to do what is right – the unrighteous judge even does what is right in the end when the woman is persistent.
so then what do you think the outcome will be if we continue to be persistent with God?   You see God is already Just – God doesn’t need us to wear him down in order to do what is right – in fact his only requirement on us – the only thing he asks of us is that we have faith – that we trust him.  Of course that isn’t always easy to do is it?

It is especially hard for us to trust in God when we are facing moments in life that are hard – when we confront those times of pain, of suffering, those moments of sickness or struggle.  When we are in the midst of these times it is often incredibly difficult to simply trust that God is there, that God is with us – that God ultimately is in control.  It is in those moments that we find ourselves demanding answers rather than trusting, it is in those moments that we find ourselves angry with God. 

We are allowed to be angry.  We are allowed to question the things that happen to us, we are allowed to cry out to God in anguish and frustration.   But we must not despair – we must not give up and turn away.  The message for us here from Jesus is that God is in fact on our side – and if we can look to the unjust world and see that even those who are not in our side will cave in and look after us if we are persistent enough, how much more confidence can we have in God who we know loves us.
The message is to be faithful – to maintain our hope and our trust in God, even when we face thing is this world which are unfair, which are unjust and which try us to the brink of despair.

We know we can be faithful – we know we can hold fast in our faith and we know this because our God is one who is not far off – but one who was willing to come to earth as one of us – to live as one of us – experiencing the same temptations and trials that we face – experiencing the love and the loss that we experience also – do you remember Jesus tears at the tomb of his dearly loved friend Lazarus? Do you remember his frustration and anger in the temple as he drove out the money changers? Ours is a God who knows what it is like to live as we live, to feel as we feel.  Ours is a God who loves us so much that he was willing to go to a cross for us and die to fulfil the righteous judgement that we as offenders – sinners should get – he took it on our behalf, this God we worship could not abide that justice not be served – but so great is his love for us that he himself paid the fine – he paid the cost.
This is why we can have absolute confidence that God is working with us and for us – even when we face things which we cannot understand – even when we face the greatest challenges of our lives – he is with us.  The message of this parable is that we need not despair – we must not lose heart as Luke says – we must keep looking to God – we must keep praying – we must hold fast – because he is faithful and has not, and will not abandon us.

Of course having this confidence in what God has done for us, can also be a bit of a trap for us.  We can become, if we are not careful, like the Pharisee in the second parable we read today.  We can become so confident that we are ‘good people’ that we begin to lose our humility when before God.  That Pharisee, lets be clear was not there to worship God – he was there to make a show of how wonderful he was to everyone else – praying loudly about how grateful he was, not for the incredible grace that God had shown him, not for the many blessings that he had been given in life, but instead he was grateful that he was just ‘better’ than everyone else. 

You see what the Pharisee had done was to move his faith from one of awe, reverence and honour for the God who created him, sustained him and provided even the air he breathed – to a faith in himself – a self righteous faith, which said only the ‘other’ people needed forgiveness of sins, only the others needed to repent…

I can promise you if we are ever feeling that we have nothing at all to confess to God, if we get to that point where we believe we are righteous without the redeeming sacrifice of Christ then we are being just like that Pharisee, and we will walk away from our prayers unjustified, just as he did.

So what do we do then? We continue to trust, to place our hope and our faith in the God who created us, who sustains us and who was willing to die for us.  We come before his throne in prayer every day and give thanks for what he has done for us, humbly acknowledging that all we have comes from him, and confident that he will never forsake us.
 
The Lord be with you.
 
 

The Word This Week:

• 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26  
• Psalm 148  
• Colossians 3:12-17  
• Luke 2:41-52

Thoughts on the Word:

It’s a remarkable story isn’t it – one that we perhaps have trouble understanding – how could Mary and Joseph leave and head off on their journey without Jesus?

I remember when I was growing up, I was able to have pretty much free reign, I just had to be home by dark, otherwise I was allowed to ride off on my bike with friends, head off to the park, walk to and from school unaccompanied… things have changed haven’t they…

Things were different 2000 years ago in Israel too.  Back then it was assumed that your children were safe as part of your wider family and friends.  There was no need to be chasing up and supervising their every move because of the communal nature of society.  Whilst not everyone was related by blood, everyone had a shared family responsibility in the care and raising of children and in caring for and showing love for each other. We are called to the same vocation now as members of God’s family. 
Joseph and Mary when they realized that Jesus is in fact missing, frantically race back to Jerusalem and begin to desperately search for their son – can you imagine the panic and pain in their hearts as they searched for him for three days?  Then they find him – not where they were expecting, clearly and Mary like many of us as parents, turned the blame on Jesus – she didn’t you’ll note, say Jesus we are so sorry that we left you behind!  Mary no doubt feeling both relief and frustration accusingly asks Jesus why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been searching for you!

Jesus though will have none of that, he simply says respectfully Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? Or another way of translating it would be didn’t you know I have to be doing my fathers work.

Like Mary and Joseph, we sometimes take for granted that Jesus is walking with us on the journeys we take in life.  We become so focussed on what our own priorities and our opwn goals are that we forget to check in with him and see if he is still walking with us. 

We may want to reflect on whether we have taken Jesus himself for granted; if Mary and Joseph could do it, there is every reason to suppose that we can too. We mustn’t assume he is accompanying us as we go off on our own business. If we become distracted by the business of this world instead of focusing on the business of God and his Kingdom we may well find that we have left Jesus behind.  But if and when we sense the lack of his presence, we must be prepared to hunt for him, to search for him in prayer, in the scriptures, in the sacraments, and not to give up until we find him again.

We must be ready too, that when we do meet him again he may not say or do what we expect. When we find him if we challenge him and accusingly ask where have you been? He may well challenge us, just as he did Mary and Joseph, after all he is busy with his father’s work, and so too should we be.

During this time of year, when we are often recovering from our time spent with family over Christmas – or for others, still dealing with the pain of not having family with us, it is important that we step back and take time to give thanks for what we do have.  When we grasp that gift of forgiveness that Jesus is holding out to us, we become a part of a bigger family, a family that is made up of people just like you – some are rich, some are poor.  Some were raised in Christian homes – others like me are adult converts, some have never had a run in with the law, and others are reformed thieves, addicts and even murderers.  None of them perfect, some of them like your blood relatives will drive you mad, but the thing that unites us, the thing that makes us brothers and sisters, is not blood.  It is that we have all been remade, through the forgiveness and redemption given to us through accepting Jesus our old selves are buried and we rise remade as members of the body – the family – of Christ.

However when we are adopted into the family of God we also take on the responsibilies associated with being in that family.  We as members of the family of God, as heirs and inheritors of his Kingdom are called to be about our fathers work.  We are called to be living lives which speak of our transformation, lives which draw others to seek out God’s Kingdom, and for them also to be adopted as our brothers and sisters.

Paul in the letter to the Colossians tells us how we as God’s chosen ones, God’s family, are to live out our calling, he tells us how to be about our fathers business.  And so I want to conclude by simply reading those word to you again.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Word This Week:

• Deuteronomy 26:1-11  
• Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16  
• Romans 10:8b-13  
• Luke 4:1-13

A sermon on the Word: 

This week as we come to the first Sunday in our Lenten journey we encounter Jesus, the human being, being tempted by Satan.  We find him in the wilderness, having been fasting for 40 days, his body would be screaming at him to eat something – anything.  How easy it would be to listen to Satan, at this point when He is at his weakest.  We can assume that he is emotionally and mentally drained after enduring 40 days of temptation and torment from Satan and that as a human being just like us he would be becoming desperate to break free of this torment and return home to comfort and shelter – to food! Yet Jesus does something remarkable – something that we all must look to in our own struggles and through our own temptations.  

When he is literally starving Satan whispers in his ear – If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Oh how truly tempting it must have been for the Jesus to say yes to Satan’s temptation.  After 40 days he could simply say to this stone ‘become bread’ and he could have his fill.  Yet our saviour doesn’t say ‘become bread’ … he rather replies “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”  This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3 which says – He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

You see when he is tempted to follow his own desires – to fulfil his own wants and needs instead of God’s he turns to the Word of God – and he refutes the Devil’s temptation by declaring that he lives on the Word of God – and not of earthly things. Satan by now is becoming desperate – after all he has been trying to get this bloke to crack for 40 days, and even now in His state of weakness and desperation he still won’t turn away from God.  So he shows Jesus all the Kingdoms of the World, and offers Him dominion over all of them if only He will bow down and worship Satan.  Now this may have been tempting – after all think of all the good that could be done if Jesus was in complete control of the world, the oppressive Roman empire would be transformed into a Utopian paradise – yet the price for this is to turn from God and worship Satan.  Jesus again turns to his knowledge of the Word of God to reject Satan’s offer “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”  again he draws from the book of Deuteronomy, this time chapter 6 verse 13 which says – The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear. Despite what good could come from accepting the temptation of Satan, Jesus knew that in doing so he would be committing a grievous act – he would be turning His back on the creator and sustainer of all things – No matter how good it seemed, nothing is worth turning your back on God and bowing down to Satan, or any other false God, as the remainder of Deuteronomy 6 makes clear.

Finally, Satan in a final act of desperation tempts Jesus to throw Himself from the temple – this time attempting to use God’s Word to confuse and trick Jesus.  Satan quotes from Psalm 91:11-12, in order to show that Jesus is under the protection of God and can do whatever he pleases.  Jesus’ reply – “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6:16 .

Jesus rejects all of Satan’s offers, no temptation that the evil one can muster up is enough to make Jesus turn away from God.  You see this whole passage is about something that affects all of us, just as much as it affected Jesus.  It is about choice.  Jesus has free will, just as every human who has ever lived has free will.  Jesus could have chosen of his own free will to turn that rock into bread, or to rule the world’s kingdoms, He could have thrown Himself off that temple, confident that He would be caught by the hands of Angels – yet he did not.  Jesus made a different choice… every time He was tempted to sin, Jesus made the conscious decision to be obedient to God.   Obedience to the will of God is what Jesus exemplifies, and it is what He calls us to also.  When we are tempted to go the way of the world, just as Jesus was in this Gospel account, we are being presented with an opportunity to make a choice – do we listen to the voice of Satan whispering in our ear, or do we instead choose obedience to God.  
In a few minutes we are going to baptise little Rex, but before we do his parents and God parents will make some solemn promises about their own faith and trust in God and about their commitment to help Rex grow in the sure knowledge of God’s love for him.  They will promise to reject sin, they will renounce evil and reject selfishness and all that is false and unjust. And the final commitment they will make is to seek to live their whole lives following the will of God.  Of course all of us who have been confirmed, or who were baptised as adults have also made these promises.

Many will say though, ‘but how do I determine what the will of God is? …
I want you to pay close attention as I read to you Jesus’ responses to Satan’s temptations.  

“It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 

“It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 

“It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Did you notice something familiar in each of those responses?  It is written; It is written; it is said… Jesus points us to the Word of God in order to show us the will of God!  There is no better way for you to learn the will of God for your life than to be familiar with His Word.  We must build a relationship with God modelled on Jesus, and His relationship with God. 
You will remember throughout the Gospel accounts we repeatedly see Jesus in prayer, often away from others.  You see Jesus gives us the model, and sets us the example.  The only question is are we ready to follow Him?

I encourage all of you to reflect on this reading, and especially on Jesus willingness to be obedient to God, even in the face of extreme hardship.  I pray that you fortify your own hearts against the temptations of this world through deepening your knowledge of the Word of God, and through regular prayer. 

Finally take heart, because while you may have missed it, the Spirit of God never left Jesus during His temptation and hardships.  Our Gospel account tells us at the outset that Jesus was ‘led by the Spirit in the wilderness…’  It doesn’t say that the spirit took him out there and left Him – but that it led Him during His temptation.  Likewise the Spirit of God is always with us, and will give us strength to endure any temptation or hardship.

The Word This Week

 
• Job 38:1-11 
• Mark 4:35-41

The Word This Week:

• Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) 
• Psalm 138 
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 
• Luke 5:1-11

Sermon on the Word:

Here am I Lord, send me! The words of Isaiah ring out.  It is incredible to read this week of the calling of Isaiah, and also of the calling of the first disciples in our Gospel Reading. It is amazing all the more because we looking on thousands of years later know of the incredible things God achieved through them – because they were willing to answer the call that God had placed on their lives.

Isaiah goes on to become one of the great prophets of God – he sees and foretells of the wonders of Christ, especially in chapter 53.  If you aren’t familiar I encourage you to read it this week.  The first apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John we know become the great apostles and leaders of the Christian Church following Jesus death and resurrection.  They bring thousands of people to faith, who in turn bring others to faith… and so on until we get to the 21st century as we stand in this church in West Wyalong on the other side of the world.

Let’s talk about those apostles in our Gospel account today. When they are called they promptly drop what they are doing and obediently follow the Lord.  

We would love to imagine ourselves to be like the apostles wouldn’t we? We would like to think that we are following without question God’s call for our lives… and some of you may be… I know my story is much more mixed!

The thing is if we read about these first disciples in the Gospel accounts we find that their immediate response didn’t make them perfect – Simon-Peter is the best example for me, he is quick to follow and proclaim his undying love and loyalty to Jesus… but he is also the one to whom Jesus says ‘Get behind me Satan!’ when he is thinking more of earthly matters than of the Kingdom, he is the one who despite following a man who preached nothing but love for enemies and forgiveness, cut the ear off a soldier sent to arrest Jesus. He is the one who despite his promises of loyalty even to death, denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest… Peter and the others weren’t perfect.  Despite their willingness to follow the call God had put on their lives, their human weakness and inclination to sin still overpowered them at times.  

And that is an incredibly important thing for us to acknowledge both about Isaiah and about our Gospel account.  Sin – our offences and failures which offend against God.

Both Isaiah and Peter when confronted with the presence of God declared their sinfulness and their unworthiness.  And of course they were right – they along with each of us were imperfect sinners.  We – each of us fail to live as God would have us live – in absolute love and care for each other.

But that’s the thing – Do you know what was truly remarkable about the ministry of the apostles? It wasn’t that they were perfect at it, it wasn’t that they never made mistakes, it wasn’t that they had it easy – many of them ended up being martyred.  No what was remarkable was that when it was hard, when they didn’t understand why, when they made mistakes and stumbled, they didn’t give up. 

They picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, repented of past errors and set off to continue on the journey God had called them on. The apostles, just like Isaiah, were used by God to achieve incredible things.  It was through their ministry that the church was established, and it is because they answered God’s call, and persevered that the church exists today – 2000 years later, and that more than 2 billion people have at least some link to the Christian faith.   

They could never have imagined what God would do through them – and of course we cannot imagine what he can achieve through us.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been talking about God’s call on our lives – that we are called to bring the message of hope and salvation found in Christ to those around us.  We saw last week that Jesus when faced with a crowd that didn’t want to hear his message in the synagogue at Nazareth, stood firm, confident in God’s call. 

This week we see Peter, Andrew, James and John who witness the work of God incarnate in their midst on that fishing boat and they are willing to give up everything to follow him.  They acknowledged their own weaknesses and flaws, they acknowledged their need for God’s forgiveness and salvation, and then they simply ploughed on confident that they needed to fulfil their calling.
In a few days we begin the season of Lent.  It is a season when we are called to reflect on our own need for God’s forgiveness and salvation.  It is a season when we are called to assess our own journey with God and to recommit to our faith and our own call as disciples of Christ as we anticipate the celebration of Easter.

So often in the church though Lent has been a time of sorrow and sadness – where the focus has been completely on our own wretchedness.  That should not be your focus this Lent.  Your focus like Peter, and like Isaiah in our readings should be on your calling.  Peter and Isaiah admitted their sinfulness – and we are called to do the same – but they then gave up everything to follow God’s call on their lives. 

Lent is a time when we traditionally give something up.  Too often though in our modern world people choose things to give up which are rather trivial – chocolate or coffee etc…

What we should be focussing on are those things that get in the way of our calling as disciples of Jesus, those things that interfere with our ability to bear witness to others of Jesus love and forgiveness.  Those are the things that we are called to discard, those are the things which we need to focus on giving up – not just for Lent, but for good. 
Luke says Peter and the others When they had brought their boats to shore, left everything and followed Jesus.  These were working class men who depended on fishing for their livelihood…. They were willing to walk away and leave it all – because they knew if they stayed they would not be fulfilling God’s call on their lives.  They were willing to give it all as they trusted in God.  And as we know they achieved greatness.

Over these next couple of days let us all examine our lives and our faith, and ask ourselves, what are we being called to give up.  What are those things in our lives which are holding us back in our relationship with God. As we enter Lent on Wednesday let us be willing to acknowledge our sins and if necessary – just as Peter and the other did, leave everything and follow him.
 
The Lord be with you.
 

The Word This Week:

• Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) 
• Psalm 138 
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 
• Luke 5:1-11

A Sermon on the Word:

Here am I Lord, send me! The words of Isaiah ring out.  It is incredible to read this week of the calling of Isaiah, and also of the
calling of the first disciples in our Gospel Reading. It is amazing all the more because we looking on thousands of years later know of the incredible things God achieved through them – because they were willing to answer the call that God had placed on their lives.

Isaiah goes on to become one of the great prophets of God – he sees and foretells of the wonders of Christ, especially in chapter 53.  If you aren’t familiar I encourage you to read it this week.  The first apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John we know become the great apostles and leaders of the Christian Church following Jesus death and resurrection.  They bring thousands of people to faith, who in turn bring others to faith… and so on until we get to the 21st century as we stand in this church in West Wyalong on the other side of the world.

Let’s talk about those apostles in our Gospel account today. When they are called they promptly drop what they are doing and obediently follow the Lord.  

]We would love to imagine ourselves to be like the apostles wouldn’t we? We would like to think that we are following without question God’s call for our lives… and some of you may be… I know my story is much more mixed!

The thing is if we read about these first disciples in the Gospel accounts we find that their immediate response didn’t make them perfect – Simon-Peter is the best example for me, he is quick to follow and proclaim his undying love and loyalty to Jesus… but he is also the one to whom Jesus says ‘Get behind me Satan!’ when he is thinking more of earthly matters than of the Kingdom, he is the one who despite following a man who preached nothing but love for enemies and forgiveness, cut the ear off a soldier sent to arrest Jesus. He is the one who despite his promises of loyalty even to death, denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest… Peter and the others weren’t perfect.  Despite their willingness to follow the call God had put on their lives, their human weakness and inclination to sin still overpowered them at times.  

And that is an incredibly important thing for us to acknowledge both about Isaiah and about our Gospel account.  Sin – our offences and failures which offend against God.
Both Isaiah and Peter when confronted with the presence of God declared their sinfulness and their unworthiness.  And of course they were right – they along with each of us were imperfect sinners.  We – each of us fail to live as God would have us live – in absolute love and care for each other.

But that’s the thing – Do you know what was truly remarkable about the ministry of the apostles? It wasn’t that they were perfect at it, it wasn’t that they never made mistakes, it wasn’t that they had it easy – many of them ended up being martyred.  No what was remarkable was that when it was hard, when they didn’t understand why, when they made mistakes and stumbled, they didn’t give up. 

They picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, repented of past errors and set off to continue on the journey God had called them on. The apostles, just like Isaiah, were used by God to achieve incredible things.  It was through their ministry that the church was established, and it is because they answered God’s call, and persevered that the church exists today – 2000 years later, and that more than 2 billion people have at least some link to the Christian faith.   

They could never have imagined what God would do through them – and of course we cannot imagine what he can achieve through us.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been talking about God’s call on our lives – that we are called to bring the message of hope and salvation found in Christ to those around us.  We saw last week that Jesus when faced with a crowd that didn’t want to hear his message in the synagogue at Nazareth, stood firm, confident in God’s call. 
This week we see Peter, Andrew, James and John who witness the work of God incarnate in their midst on that fishing boat and they are willing to give up everything to follow him.  They acknowledged their own weaknesses and flaws, they acknowledged their need for God’s forgiveness and salvation, and then they simply ploughed on confident that they needed to fulfil their calling.
In a few days we begin the season of Lent.  It is a season when we are called to reflect on our own need for God’s forgiveness and salvation.  It is a season when we are called to assess our own journey with God and to recommit to our faith and our own call as disciples of Christ as we anticipate the celebration of Easter.

So often in the church though Lent has been a time of sorrow and sadness – where the focus has been completely on our own wretchedness.  That should not be your focus this Lent.  Your focus like Peter, and like Isaiah in our readings should be on your calling.  Peter and Isaiah admitted their sinfulness – and we are called to do the same – but they then gave up everything to follow God’s call on their lives. 

Lent is a time when we traditionally give something up.  Too often though in our modern world people choose things to give up which are rather trivial – chocolate or coffee etc…
What we should be focussing on are those things that get in the way of our calling as disciples of Jesus, those things that interfere with our ability to bear witness to others of Jesus love and forgiveness.  Those are the things that we are called to discard, those are the things which we need to focus on giving up – not just for Lent, but for good. 
Luke says Peter and the others When they had brought their boats to shore, left everything and followed Jesus.  These were working class men who depended on fishing for their livelihood…. They were willing to walk away and leave it all – because they knew if they stayed they would not be fulfilling God’s call on their lives.  They were willing to give it all as they trusted in God.  And as we know they achieved greatness.

Over these next couple of days let us all examine our lives and our faith, and ask ourselves, what are we being called to give up.  What are those things in our lives which are holding us back in our relationship with God. As we enter Lent on Wednesday let us be willing to acknowledge our sins and if necessary – just as Peter and the other did, leave everything and follow him.
 
The Lord be with you.
 

The Word this Week:

• Jonah 3:1-10

• Mark 1:14-20

Let us pray, In the name of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.


Good morning/evening again everyone!

You might remember that last week I talked to you about God’s intimate knowledge of each of us, and his call on our lives.  This week we are continuing in that theme of call.  We are going to have a look at the call of Jonah, and the call of the apostles, we will look at what is similar and what is different about these calls, and how they relate to our own call as Christians in our community.

Lets first have a look at Jonah. Our passage begins with a reference to God coming to Jonah a second time to call him to action.  So of course that means there had to be a first time.  If we read the first two chapters of Jonah, we see that God had indeed visited Jonah already to call him to proclaim repentance to the city of Nineveh.  

But what did Jonah do? Did he get up and dutifully follow the Lord’s call as we see the first apostles did in our Gospel account? No! Jonah ran.  He ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction to where God had called him, and he ended up in a very bad place, thrown into the sea he was ready to drown, until he was saved by the big fish.  Jonah, made the mistake of thinking that he could run from God. That he knew better than God, and that he could just ignore God and go his own way.  

Of course none of us here would ever be so foolish…

When God rescued Jonah from the calamity he found himself in, Jonah gave thanks. Eventually the fish spits him out and that’s where our passage today begins.  This time Jonah is much more willing to listen to God’s call on his life, and he follows that caling and does God’s will for his life.  He didn’t do it half heartedly either… so convincing was his preaching that the entire city and even the king repented of evil.  Now of course Jonah still wasn’t at all happy about this, he wanted the city and it inhabitants to suffer the wrath of God, that’s why he fled in the first place – because he knew that God was merciful, and would forgive the Ninevites if they repented.  No he wasn’t convinced this was a good idea, in the next chapter we see he was upset and angry about the outcome, until God sets him straight.  

Jonah’s preaching led to the salvation of more than 120,000 people who turned from evil and asked God’s forgiveness.  Jonah, was reluctant to follow his call, to say the least. But when he did it anyway, when he was willing to do what he knew God was calling him to then God used him in a glorious way.  He will do the same with us!

Have you been ignoring a call from God? Have you been arguing with God about what you need to be doing? You see we all have calls – God wants all of us to be active in his Kingdom – for some people it might be a call to daily prayers of intercession, for others it might be to create clothing for the poor, for others it may be serving as a lay minister, or communion assistant, for others to be a voice of proclamation – whether publicly, or just with family and friends.  We all have a call, it’s best we don’t wait until we are drowning and swallowed by a fish to recognise that God may just have some idea what he is talking about – because like Jonah, through us God can do amazing things – if we let him!

But what about those apostles in our Gospel account today? They seem to be the very opposite of Jonah don’t they? When they are called they promptly drop what they are doing and obediently follow the Lord.  We would love to imagine ourselves to be more like the apostles wouldn’t we? We would like to think that we are following without question God’s call for our lives… and some of you may be… I know my story is much more like Jonah!

The thing is if we read about these first disciples in the Gospel accounts we find that their immediate response didn’t make them perfect – Simon-Peter is the best example for me, he is quick to follow and proclaim his undying love and loyalty to Jesus… but he is also the one to whom Jesus says ‘Get behind me Satan!’ when he is thinking more of earthly matters than of the Kingdom, he is the one who despite following a man who preached nothing but love for enemies and forgiveness, cut the ear off a soldier sent to arrest Jesus. He is the one who despite his promises of loyalty even to death, denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest… Peter and the others weren’t perfect.  Despite their willingness to follow the call God had put on their lives, their human weakness and inclination to sin still overpowered them at times.  

Do you know what was truly remarkable about the ministry of the apostles? It wasn’t that they were perfect at it, it wasn’t that they never made mistakes, it wasn’t that they had it easy – many of them ended up being martyred.  No what was remarkable was that when it was hard, when they didn’t understand why, when they made mistakes and stumbled, they didn’t give up.

They picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, repented of past errors and set off to continue on the journey God had called them on. The apostles, just like Jonah, were used by God to achieve incredible things.  It was through their ministry that the church was established, and it is because they answered God’s call, and persevered that the church exists today – 2000 years later, and that more than 2 billion people have at least some link to the Christian faith.   

They could never have imagined what God would do through them – and we cannot imagine what he can achieve through us.

What is God calling you to do?

Use the player to hear this week’s homily.

The Word This Week:

4th Sunday in Lent

• 1 Samuel 16:1-13 
• Psalm 23 
• Ephesians 5:8-14 
• John 9:1-41

Thoughts on the Word:

John 9 (NRSV)

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’

 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’

 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’

 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.

 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.

Let us pray – In the name of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

This week our Gospel an account provides us with some clear distinctions between those who can see, and those who are blind.  Now of course at the start of the passage we see Jesus bring healing to a man who is physically blind, a wonderful miracle which defies the laws of nature as we understand them, but as we shall see this is not the greatest miracle of this Gospel passage.  We see a great contrast however when we look to what Jesus does not achieve in this passage – He does not cure the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees – they remain unable to see Jesus for who he truly is, they continue to reject him.

OK so let us look a little deeper at our passage.  We begin with the blind man.  The disciples ask Jesus who’s sin caused this man to be born blind – his own sin or that of his parents… They ask this because the prevailing view of the time was that anyone who was suffering any form of disability was suffering under the judgement of God – which of course meant that they were sinners who deserved this – or in the case of a child born with a disability, it could have been because of the sins of the parents… Jesus is clear in his response – this man’s condition was not caused by sin, that is not how God works, while there are consequences to sin, God does not mete out physical punishment in this world – rather the consequence of sin is separation from God, death and eternal separation – what we call hell, but for us who have placed our hope and faith in Christ these consequences no longer apply, for they have been dealt with by Christ’s sacrifice. 

So, no this man was not being punished for sins, he was born to be someone in whom God’s works might be revealed.  It is important to look at that statement – God’s work is to be revealed in this man – the place where the real work of God is going to be effective in this man is not through the external healing of a physical disability, as amazing and profound as such a miracle is. Rather God’s work will be revealed in him. We will come back to that a little later.

Now I want us to look at what happens after that amazing physical miracle – The Pharisees enter the story now, seemingly looking for information about who this Jesus character is.  The trouble is that they start their search for answers about Jesus, by blindfolding themselves.  You see many Pharisees show us that they have already decided that this man couldn’t be from God – they say ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.’. The Pharisees have established in their own mind what God is like and how people who are ‘true believers’ should behave and live.  Anyone who doesn’t conform to the standard that they have set for God, anyone who fails to meet their expectations about observation of laws and regulations is clearly not from God – they are clearly sinners.

Now lets be clear, the Pharisees were not just being good Jews following the Old Law – they had developed their own interpretations and regulations regarding the Law, and overlaid these on top of it.  Their interpretation of the Sabbath law was a clear example of this… they were incapable of seeing the true intent of the Sabbath as established in the Old Covenant , because they had veiled it, covered it up with their own expectations about what was right and just.  Because they had veiled their eyes with their own prejudices and their own expectations, they were incapable of seeing that the point of the Sabbath was to allow us to reflect on God’s glory, to give us rest in the arms of God. When confronted over a separate issue around the Sabbath in Mark 2 Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man – not man for the Sabbath.

The Pharisees had lost sight of this truth,  they couldn’t see that Jesus healing this man of his blindness on the Sabbath, brought glory to God.  All they could see was the failure to meet their own expectations.  I wonder brothers and sisters how often we blind ourselves to the Glory of God because we have set our own expectations, and placed our own veils over our eyes. Just as the Pharisees placed their own expectations and limitations on the Old Covenant, Christians can run the risk of placing our own limitations on God.

An argument I have often heard from people who reject God is : well I just can’t believe in a God who would send people to hell… Some Christians have bought into this and have started teaching that hell doesn’t exist, or that it is temporary… they have overlaid their own expectations and their own view of what is ‘just’ and ‘right’ over what has been revealed to us in scripture.  Others just have decided that they don’t like the writings of St Paul – because Paul is too big on laying down moral expectations  – they proclaim that they will just stick to the words of Jesus – and forget Paul… Others have decided that they just can’t accept that Jesus really rose from the dead – that doesn’t happen after all – it must be just a theological device, to help s to understand Jesus lives on through us… Really?!  Using the Gospel account we read today, some say that this blind man wasn’t really cured – after all miracles like that don’t happen… it must be just a fictional narrative used to tell show us that Jesus is from God …

Brothers and sisters there are many many more examples and they are all examples of how we can blind ourselves to God acting in the world, and prevent Him from acting in us.  Did you note that all of these positions I just outlined start from the position of overlaying our own expectations and placing our own limitations on God?  Pauls instructions about morals don’t need to be obeyed because they don’t fit with my understanding of the world… the resurrection couldn’t have been a real event because in MY experience that sort of thing doesn’t happen – neither does the spontaneous healing of blind people so all the miracles must be false…

Brothers and sisters God is NOT subject to our expectations and limitations! He is the creator of the entire universe! Just like the Pharisees, who couldn’t see God’s glory being exposed right in front of them, being spiritually blinded by their own expectations and rules with which they had veiled the old testament scriptures, we become spiritually blinded when we start to overlay our own conditions, expectations and limitations on God.

Now I am not saying that we shouldn’t read the bible in its correct context, I am not saying that we shouldn’t seek to understand what it meant to original audience, these things are important! What I am saying is that when we do that, when we study scripture and find there are difficult teachings, or things with which we struggle, we can’t just overlay our own rules and expectations onto that, or choose to ignore that bit.  When we do that we place our own limited flawed human understanding above the revealed Word of God – and by doing that we veil our hearts to His message, we erect barriers between us and God – we become spiritually blind just like the Pharisees.

But what of the miracle that was even greater than giving the blind man back his sight? The greatest miracle is that when Jesus sought the man out after he had been chastised by the Pharisees, he handed himself over to Christ.  When given the opportunity to ‘believe in the ‘Son of Man’, this fellow doesn’t start laying down his own rules and expectations – he doesn’t place limitations on his belief – he simply says tell me who he is, so that I might believe! When he hears that it is Jesus, again he doesn’t lay down a contract for belief, he doesn’t try to overlay his own understandings and expectations about what this ‘Son of Man’ should be like to be worthy of him – no he simply said ‘Lord I believe’, and worshipped Him.  The great miracle is that the one born blind in this story was the one who in the end could see clearly, while the Pharisees – those who should have been able to see, were stumbling blindly.  God’s work was revealed in the man born blind as he was transformed and became a member of the Kingdom.

I finish this week with a challenge for you. I want you to examine your faith – I want you to decide if your faith is like that of the man born blind, who despite being laboured with this disability for much of his life was able to see clearly, about the most important thing each of us face, his relationship with God. Or are you stumbling around in the dark, spiritually blind, placing your own expectations and limitations on your relationship with God?

If we find ourselves in the Pharisees camp, we need to lay aside those things which prevent us from full and vivid relationship with God.  We need to make a choice to accept God as He reveals Himself, and when things trouble us, when we don’t understand, we need to look to God for answers through prayer and study – and not simply overlay our own limitations or expectations on the one who is creator and sustainer of the universe.


The Lord be with you.

The Word This Week:

Isaiah 64:1-9  
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19  
1 Corinthians 1:3-9  
Mark 13:24-37

Mark 13: 24-37


With all there is to get ready for Christmas, both in secular and sacred terms, we might think that nobody needs to tell us to “keep awake.” After all this is the busiest season of the year for many – where we focus on planning for family events and buying gifts.  Worrying about decorations – even trying to compete with the neighbour over who has the best light display… For many it strikes me this may instead be the season to pass out the sleeping pills or the chamomile tea, to a revved-up,overcaffeinated culture of busy-ness.

But let us be clear that while the world’s busyness may seem to be pointed toward Christmas, it is seldom pointed toward the coming of Jesus Christ. As Advent progresses, the number of shopping days left before the big day can offer us a countdown that stresses us out and keeps us up late – we get worked up worrying about the worldly expectations of what Christmas is supposed to be like.

Like people who have lived next to an airport or near train tracks for years,we no longer hear the sound of the plane or train. After years in church, we get used to the noise of Advent, to the coming of Christ, so much so that we no longer notice it. Or if we do, it has ceased to jolt us awake and has become instead a low,dull rumble.

We may not be physically asleep; quite the opposite. But in our wakefulness to worldly ways, we fall asleep to the spiritual season, and so we need a wake-up call  – and that is exactly what we get from the Gospel of Mark today.

Firstly lets get a fuller picture of the context of our Gospel reading.  Today’s Gospel passage is from a chapter often referred to as“the little apocalypse.” The material in Mark 13 is a narrative break in the Gospel, it is set between Jesus’ teaching on the temple mount (chapter 12) and the passion narrative (chapters 14–16). In the opening verses of chapter 13, Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple and then, crossing over to the Mount of Olives, he begins to talk with Peter, James, John, and Andrew about the end of the age. Mark 13:5–23 comprises a series of warnings regarding false indicators of the end. But also draws on old testament prophecy to point us to the true picture – in verse 14 Jesus quotes the prophet Daniel when referencing the ‘abomination that causes desolation’.  Jesus admonishes his disciples to watch and wait, for the end will come and they must be alert. Our  Gospel reading for this first Sunday in Advent is the second half of this chapter, it follows directly from these warnings. It easily divides into three sections:24–27; 28–31; and 32–36.

In the first section (24-27), Jesus shifts our attention from false prophets and deceptive omens to the actual signs of the times. With apocalyptic imagery again taken from the Old Testament  – this time from Isaiah (13:10; 34:4); Joel (2:10; 3:4; 4:15);Ezekiel (32:7, 8); and again from Daniel (7:13), Jesus pointing to these prophecies from the Old Testament which use metaphor pointing to disturbances in the cosmic order to herald a significant event is no mistake. We often forget the Old Testament points us to Christ as we focus on the new – but the Old Testament still has much to reveal to us – even about the coming of our saviour.  It is not unusual in apocalyptic writing to call on cosmic imagery to describe the indescribable; in this instance it is the coming of the Son of Man that is spotlighted.

The “Son of Man coming in clouds” (13:26)is a reference from Daniel 7:13, and the “desolating sacrilege” that we talked about earlier (13:14) is referenced in Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 (cf. 1 Macc. 1:54; 2 Macc.6:1–6). Mark instructs us to pay attention to Daniel (“let the reader understand,” v. 14). What we have in Mark 13 is a basic apocalyptic scenario which draws on imagery lifted from Old Testament prophecy and applied to new situations. The basic message of the vision is this: The rebellion against God is strong, as the wicked oppress the righteous. Things will get worse before they get better. But hold fast and keep alert because just when you are sure you cannot take any more, God will intervene – The Son of man will return.

The second section of our passage (28-31) gives us the lesson from the fig tree – Jesus uses this as an encouragement – when we see the signs that He has pointed us to then we should not be afraid but take comfort, for just as the new shoots on the fig tree point to the end of the dark cold winter, so to do these signs point to the end of darkness and the impending return of the Son of Man. The difficult verse in this section for many is that Jesus seems to indicate that all these things will happen before the passing away of the generation in which he was living. However a couple of things need to be said about this verse – The greek is not as clear as many modern translations would have us believe.  Internationally renowned biblical Greek scholar William Mounce translates this as this generation will not pass away until all these things begin to take place… This is a much better rendering of the original Greek.  Also worth noting is that γενεά – or generation – can also be a reference to the nation of Israel – not just to the generation alive at the time…

Our final section of today’s reading is a parable that comes with a warning for us all – it’s that jolt to action that wakes us up that we talked about earlier.  Jesus uses the parable of the master going away on a journey – we as the church are the servants left behind and are called to remain alert as we await the masters return.  We don’t know the time of the masters coming so we need to be in a constant state of readiness – we need to be going about our responsibilities.  That means that in this period of waiting and expectation, when it is so easy to get caught up with what everyone else is doing, to get caught up in the expectations of the world we need to keep our focus on Christ, we need to be vigilant in our preparation, lest the master return and find that we have fallen asleep on the job.  It is a very important message for us as we begin this season of Advent.

It is so easy for us to just get caught up with everything that happens around this time of year, to focus on the worldly temptations.  Advent is about drawing us back to our primary calling.  It is about pausing and taking the time to re-evaluate our priorities. Rather than being a season of panicked shopping, and preparation for Christmas – it is a time when we are reminded that we must be vigilant, we must remain spiritually awake, as we approach the day we remember that God became a human being, and remember that he will come again.  

Brothers and sisters, don’t let this season be just a changing of the altar front to purple.  Remember as our Gospel points us to today that Jesus has come, and he will come again.  Use this time to re-invigorate your  spiritual life.  Traditionally Advent was a time of prayer and fasting in the church, a time when the faithful put aside the concerns of everyday life and instead focussed on the Kingdom of God.  It was a time of spiritual rejuvenation – a time to re-awaken our spirits which had become drowsy living through the everyday.  It was a time when the church renewed its commitment to those who have little – to those for whom this time of year is not stressful because they are planning family events or buying presents, but because they have no family, or can’t afford to buy presents…

I have spoken to you over the past few months in my preaching about our call as Christians in Dubbo to be beacons of light to the community, to be those whose faith is seen as well as heard.  Let us this Advent commit ourselves to this, let us kickstart weary spirits and re-engage in our calling as disciples – followers – of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

The Lord be with you.