Feast of the Holy Cross - 15th September 2024 (John 3:13-17)
The best way to teach is to tell a story. And, the best way to tell a story is to use pictures. Just like Jesus did when using the Old Testament picture of the brazen serpent on the pole.
Moses "lifted up" the bronze serpent in the wilderness to bring about healing and restoration of life to those bitten by deadly serpents. This plague of death was the result of the people's stubborn refusal to follow God's counsel and direction for their welfare. God, in his mercy, heard Moses's prayer to free his people from this curse. God instructed Moses to "make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8).
Jesus clearly links Moses' act of deliverance in the wilderness with his impending sacrificial death when he will be "lifted up" on the wood of the cross at Calvary. Unlike Moses' deliverance in the wilderness, which only resulted in temporary relief for the people, Jesus' atoning death on the cross brought decisive victory over sin, Satan, and death. Jesus' victory on the cross cancels the debt of our sin, and releases us from guilt and condemnation. His death and victory bring us new, abundant life in his Holy Spirit that lasts forever.
There is no greater proof of God's love for us than sending his Son to become one with us in our humanity and lay down his life for us. God sent his Son to free us from the worst of tyrannies - slavery to sin and the curse of death. Jesus' sacrificial death was an act of total love through self-giving. Jesus gave himself entirely out of love for his Father. And he willingly laid down his life out of selfless love for our sake and for our salvation. His death on the cross was both a total offering to God and the perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sins and the sin of the world.
The best way to teach is to tell a story. And, the best way to tell a story is to use pictures. Just like Jesus did when using the Old Testament picture of the brazen serpent on the pole.
Moses "lifted up" the bronze serpent in the wilderness to bring about healing and restoration of life to those bitten by deadly serpents. This plague of death was the result of the people's stubborn refusal to follow God's counsel and direction for their welfare. God, in his mercy, heard Moses's prayer to free his people from this curse. God instructed Moses to "make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8).
Jesus clearly links Moses' act of deliverance in the wilderness with his impending sacrificial death when he will be "lifted up" on the wood of the cross at Calvary. Unlike Moses' deliverance in the wilderness, which only resulted in temporary relief for the people, Jesus' atoning death on the cross brought decisive victory over sin, Satan, and death. Jesus' victory on the cross cancels the debt of our sin, and releases us from guilt and condemnation. His death and victory bring us new, abundant life in his Holy Spirit that lasts forever.
There is no greater proof of God's love for us than sending his Son to become one with us in our humanity and lay down his life for us. God sent his Son to free us from the worst of tyrannies - slavery to sin and the curse of death. Jesus' sacrificial death was an act of total love through self-giving. Jesus gave himself entirely out of love for his Father. And he willingly laid down his life out of selfless love for our sake and for our salvation. His death on the cross was both a total offering to God and the perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sins and the sin of the world.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 8th September 2024 (Luke 1:46-55)
This text is so deep and rich that it would take weeks to pull it apart and display all that is here. Nearly every word Mary speaks is taken from the Old Testament as she weaves a beautiful tapestry of praise. I've been studying these verses and chasing the various threads that run from them for days and am convinced I have not fully plumbed their depth.
These verses have come to be known as Mary's Magnificat. The word "Magnificat" means to lift up or to make something great. It means to esteem through praise, which is exactly what these verses do. This is Mary's psalm of praise and exaltation of God. This is the outpouring of Mary's soul as she worships the Lord.
Worship must first engage the brain. To worship God begins with an understanding, believing, and trusting who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised to do. Most churches do whatever they can to disengage the brain from their "worship" by dimming the lights, singing repetitive choruses that lack meaning, and just putting the people into a catatonic state.
We cannot worship God if we do not know God. We cannot exalt or magnify Him if we have no idea what He has done or what He has promised to do. We cannot obey Him (the fruit of true worship) if we do not know what He has commanded. True worship begins with the head, turns the heart to God, and flows through the hands in obedience. But it always begins with the head. This psalm of Mary reveals what she knew, believed, and trusted about God's person, works, and promises concerning her son.
14th Sunday after Trinity (17b) - 1st September 2024 (Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23)
In the Gospel reading today, the religious leaders criticise Jesus' disciples for not washing their hands before eating. This is clearly about more than just a concern for their hygiene. For the Pharisees, this is about tradition, faithfulness, respect and honour. The ritual washing was a whole routine about spiritual and ceremonial cleanliness… something that's hard to draw a parallel to today. Maybe think about when you were a kid and were about to go into your grandma's house, and your mom would make you spit out your gum, tighten your collar, straighten your skirt, smooth out your hair. Washing hands was about being presentable before God. The commitment to the ritual came from a deep desire to be faithful to God and respectful of the cultural and religious tradition of honouring the faith and the elders. It came from a good place. There's some value in respecting and appreciating the rituals and traditions of the community elders.
But when it became something used to draw lines between the insider and outsider, and when it became the measuring stick for faithfulness and loyalty to God, Jesus was compelled to call them out on it with some pretty harsh language. And while it's easy for us to read this text and point out the judgmental nature of the Pharisees, Jesus' response cautions us to be aware of our tendencies to this kind of behaviour. It's not the washing or not of washing hands that determines your faithfulness, Jesus says. It's what's in your heart.
It's not that the ritual cleansing was a bad tradition. Jesus wasn't saying the tradition of the elders needed to be thrown out. He's saying that this tradition had become the evaluation of the heart stuff: faithfulness to God and commitment to the community. That tradition was used to point out the deficiencies in other people.
13th Sunday after Trinity (16b) - 25th August 2024 (John 6.56-69)
When was the last time Jesus offended you? When has he said something that caused you to trip and stumble? Which of his teachings has caused you to think or say, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" When have you wanted to turn back from following his way because it was more than you could swallow?
Many of Jesus' disciples grumbled and complained to each other that his teaching was difficult and more than they could accept. "Many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him." They could no longer stomach his Gospel and what it asked of them. The bread of life isn't always sweet.
I don't think we want to be offended. It might reveal things we don't want to see or hear. I think most of us work hard not to be offended by Jesus and his Gospel. But what if we should be offended?
If loving, forgiving, welcoming, and taking up our cross – and a thousand other things Jesus taught and did – do not offend and challenge us, cause us to look at how we are living, make us reconsider our beliefs and actions, then maybe the Gospel just isn't flesh and blood real for us. Perhaps we've disembodied the Gospel and separated the Word from everyday flesh. I want us to live a gospel that is flesh and blood real. I want us to be offended by it.
I hope the Gospel never loses its power to offend. And I hope you and I never lose our capacity to be offended.
Why? Because every time the Gospel offends us, we bump up against a limitation in our lives. When the Gospel is offensive, it shows us something about ourselves. It's revealing the limits of our love, forgiveness, welcome, our justice and compassion, and our life and humanity. And it's pointing the way to new life and more life.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 8th September 2024 (Luke 1:46-55)
This text is so deep and rich that it would take weeks to pull it apart and display all that is here. Nearly every word Mary speaks is taken from the Old Testament as she weaves a beautiful tapestry of praise. I've been studying these verses and chasing the various threads that run from them for days and am convinced I have not fully plumbed their depth.
These verses have come to be known as Mary's Magnificat. The word "Magnificat" means to lift up or to make something great. It means to esteem through praise, which is exactly what these verses do. This is Mary's psalm of praise and exaltation of God. This is the outpouring of Mary's soul as she worships the Lord.
Worship must first engage the brain. To worship God begins with an understanding, believing, and trusting who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised to do. Most churches do whatever they can to disengage the brain from their "worship" by dimming the lights, singing repetitive choruses that lack meaning, and just putting the people into a catatonic state.
We cannot worship God if we do not know God. We cannot exalt or magnify Him if we have no idea what He has done or what He has promised to do. We cannot obey Him (the fruit of true worship) if we do not know what He has commanded. True worship begins with the head, turns the heart to God, and flows through the hands in obedience. But it always begins with the head. This psalm of Mary reveals what she knew, believed, and trusted about God's person, works, and promises concerning her son.
14th Sunday after Trinity (17b) - 1st September 2024 (Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23)
In the Gospel reading today, the religious leaders criticise Jesus' disciples for not washing their hands before eating. This is clearly about more than just a concern for their hygiene. For the Pharisees, this is about tradition, faithfulness, respect and honour. The ritual washing was a whole routine about spiritual and ceremonial cleanliness… something that's hard to draw a parallel to today. Maybe think about when you were a kid and were about to go into your grandma's house, and your mom would make you spit out your gum, tighten your collar, straighten your skirt, smooth out your hair. Washing hands was about being presentable before God. The commitment to the ritual came from a deep desire to be faithful to God and respectful of the cultural and religious tradition of honouring the faith and the elders. It came from a good place. There's some value in respecting and appreciating the rituals and traditions of the community elders.
But when it became something used to draw lines between the insider and outsider, and when it became the measuring stick for faithfulness and loyalty to God, Jesus was compelled to call them out on it with some pretty harsh language. And while it's easy for us to read this text and point out the judgmental nature of the Pharisees, Jesus' response cautions us to be aware of our tendencies to this kind of behaviour. It's not the washing or not of washing hands that determines your faithfulness, Jesus says. It's what's in your heart.
It's not that the ritual cleansing was a bad tradition. Jesus wasn't saying the tradition of the elders needed to be thrown out. He's saying that this tradition had become the evaluation of the heart stuff: faithfulness to God and commitment to the community. That tradition was used to point out the deficiencies in other people.
13th Sunday after Trinity (16b) - 25th August 2024 (John 6.56-69)
When was the last time Jesus offended you? When has he said something that caused you to trip and stumble? Which of his teachings has caused you to think or say, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" When have you wanted to turn back from following his way because it was more than you could swallow?
Many of Jesus' disciples grumbled and complained to each other that his teaching was difficult and more than they could accept. "Many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him." They could no longer stomach his Gospel and what it asked of them. The bread of life isn't always sweet.
I don't think we want to be offended. It might reveal things we don't want to see or hear. I think most of us work hard not to be offended by Jesus and his Gospel. But what if we should be offended?
If loving, forgiving, welcoming, and taking up our cross – and a thousand other things Jesus taught and did – do not offend and challenge us, cause us to look at how we are living, make us reconsider our beliefs and actions, then maybe the Gospel just isn't flesh and blood real for us. Perhaps we've disembodied the Gospel and separated the Word from everyday flesh. I want us to live a gospel that is flesh and blood real. I want us to be offended by it.
I hope the Gospel never loses its power to offend. And I hope you and I never lose our capacity to be offended.
Why? Because every time the Gospel offends us, we bump up against a limitation in our lives. When the Gospel is offensive, it shows us something about ourselves. It's revealing the limits of our love, forgiveness, welcome, our justice and compassion, and our life and humanity. And it's pointing the way to new life and more life.