Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
What's your paradigm?
A little quiz for Holy Week...
1. Why did the Messiah come? (a) to pay the penalty so we can be justly forgiven
or (b) to liberate us from the hold of sin and restore us into the kingdom.
2. Why was the Messiah sinless? (a) to present a perfect offering
or (b) to model the values of the kingdom.
3. Why did the Messiah have to suffer? (a) to appease authority
or (b) to liberate from false authority.
4. Where is the culmination of the messianic work? (a) focused on the cross where the penalty was paid or (b) focused on the resurrection where sin and death were overcome.
The questions are from a brilliant paper by Derek Flood which you can find here Derek argues that answers (a) reflect a Paradigm of Penance and answers (b) a Paradigm of Liberation. But which is the more biblical view and what difference does it make?
1. Why did the Messiah come? (a) to pay the penalty so we can be justly forgiven
or (b) to liberate us from the hold of sin and restore us into the kingdom.
2. Why was the Messiah sinless? (a) to present a perfect offering
or (b) to model the values of the kingdom.
3. Why did the Messiah have to suffer? (a) to appease authority
or (b) to liberate from false authority.
4. Where is the culmination of the messianic work? (a) focused on the cross where the penalty was paid or (b) focused on the resurrection where sin and death were overcome.
The questions are from a brilliant paper by Derek Flood which you can find here Derek argues that answers (a) reflect a Paradigm of Penance and answers (b) a Paradigm of Liberation. But which is the more biblical view and what difference does it make?
Palm Sunday Sermon - Luke 19.28-40
Luke 19.28-40
Palm Sunday 28th March 2010
• Jesus finally arrives in Jerusalem
• Enters on a donkey in a joyful, spontaneous procession
• Or was it spontaneous?
Spontaneous?
• The Timing – The beginning of Passover week. What did Passover commemorate? The Exodus when Israel set free from slavery under the Egyptians. We need to know how terrible conditions were under Roman occupation, how the people longed for a New Exodus, a new Moses/David to lead and save them. Jesus timed his arrival carefully.
• The other procession – The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that the Romans were also aware of the significance of Passover and the danger of big crowds with expectations, and so they would bring a company of soldiers into Jerusalem at the start of the week and post them on and around the Temple walls. As Jesus came in from the East, the Romans would be coming in from the West, carrying their weapons and their Standards, featuring effigies of Caesar and other idolatrous images.
• The Prophecy – Zechariah 9.9 “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Jesus was careful to fulfill the details of the prophecy. Actions speak louder than words and his actions were saying “I am the king”.
• Far from being spontaneous, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was a deliberate mirror of the procession on the other side of the city and a provocative challenge to the authority of the Romans and the Jewish leaders who collaborated with them.
A Different kind of King
• Jesus was not just claiming to be an alternative king but a completely different kind of king.
• Zechariah had prophesied this too, after the bit about the donkey: I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. (Zech 9.10-11)
• Zechariah is prophesying a radical change in the way power is exercised in the world. God’s reign will be a reign of peace including all nations, all races, all the lands of the world. The one who brings this new kingdom will not do so by using superior force and destroying his enemies but by shedding his own blood, yielding his own life to redeem the captives from their captivity.
• Ironically, the Emperor Augustus (who reigned until about 14AD) had claimed to be the Saviour of the world who had established peace for the nations. He demanded tribute and even worship from all people in the known world. But he had achieved and maintained power through violence and terror and his claims were false in contrast to the humble king, Jesus.
An important contrast
• The contrast between the way of the world and the way of Christ is such a strong emphasis in scripture that we should be suspicious of some popular versions of the Christian story which tell us that there will be a Second Coming of Christ in which we will see a very different side of Jesus, characterized by violence, killing, domination and everlasting torture. Very similar to the Empire of Caesar and many other human Empires.
• If this understanding were true, what on earth would be the point of the first coming of Jesus; the nonviolent Jesus who confronted those who abused their power, who freed people from disease and evil spirits, who loved his enemies and taught us to do the same? Was he just faking it to draw people into a false sense of security? I don’t think so!
• We need to get back to the Jesus of the gospels, to his message of the kingdom of God, if we want to escape the cycles of violence in our world. Martin Luther King saw this clearly and he wrote: The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. (Strength to Love, 1963)
• We need saving from ourselves, from our sinful instincts. We need to cry out ‘HOSANNA’, which doesn’t mean ‘Hurray’ it means ‘SAVE US NOW!’ As Jesus entered Jerusalem the crowd also cried ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord’ (quoting Psalm 118), and they were right. Although he came humbly, Jesus was and is the true king and saviour of the world.
Conclusion
• Some put their faith in Jesus but many rejected him. We are faced with the same choice today, the choice of which procession to join.
• Will we march with the worldly kingdom with all its financial and military power? Or will we risk joining the carnival on the other side of town and commit ourselves to following the humble king, helping to bring his kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven?
Palm Sunday 28th March 2010
• Jesus finally arrives in Jerusalem
• Enters on a donkey in a joyful, spontaneous procession
• Or was it spontaneous?
Spontaneous?
• The Timing – The beginning of Passover week. What did Passover commemorate? The Exodus when Israel set free from slavery under the Egyptians. We need to know how terrible conditions were under Roman occupation, how the people longed for a New Exodus, a new Moses/David to lead and save them. Jesus timed his arrival carefully.
• The other procession – The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that the Romans were also aware of the significance of Passover and the danger of big crowds with expectations, and so they would bring a company of soldiers into Jerusalem at the start of the week and post them on and around the Temple walls. As Jesus came in from the East, the Romans would be coming in from the West, carrying their weapons and their Standards, featuring effigies of Caesar and other idolatrous images.
• The Prophecy – Zechariah 9.9 “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Jesus was careful to fulfill the details of the prophecy. Actions speak louder than words and his actions were saying “I am the king”.
• Far from being spontaneous, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was a deliberate mirror of the procession on the other side of the city and a provocative challenge to the authority of the Romans and the Jewish leaders who collaborated with them.
A Different kind of King
• Jesus was not just claiming to be an alternative king but a completely different kind of king.
• Zechariah had prophesied this too, after the bit about the donkey: I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. (Zech 9.10-11)
• Zechariah is prophesying a radical change in the way power is exercised in the world. God’s reign will be a reign of peace including all nations, all races, all the lands of the world. The one who brings this new kingdom will not do so by using superior force and destroying his enemies but by shedding his own blood, yielding his own life to redeem the captives from their captivity.
• Ironically, the Emperor Augustus (who reigned until about 14AD) had claimed to be the Saviour of the world who had established peace for the nations. He demanded tribute and even worship from all people in the known world. But he had achieved and maintained power through violence and terror and his claims were false in contrast to the humble king, Jesus.
An important contrast
• The contrast between the way of the world and the way of Christ is such a strong emphasis in scripture that we should be suspicious of some popular versions of the Christian story which tell us that there will be a Second Coming of Christ in which we will see a very different side of Jesus, characterized by violence, killing, domination and everlasting torture. Very similar to the Empire of Caesar and many other human Empires.
• If this understanding were true, what on earth would be the point of the first coming of Jesus; the nonviolent Jesus who confronted those who abused their power, who freed people from disease and evil spirits, who loved his enemies and taught us to do the same? Was he just faking it to draw people into a false sense of security? I don’t think so!
• We need to get back to the Jesus of the gospels, to his message of the kingdom of God, if we want to escape the cycles of violence in our world. Martin Luther King saw this clearly and he wrote: The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. (Strength to Love, 1963)
• We need saving from ourselves, from our sinful instincts. We need to cry out ‘HOSANNA’, which doesn’t mean ‘Hurray’ it means ‘SAVE US NOW!’ As Jesus entered Jerusalem the crowd also cried ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord’ (quoting Psalm 118), and they were right. Although he came humbly, Jesus was and is the true king and saviour of the world.
Conclusion
• Some put their faith in Jesus but many rejected him. We are faced with the same choice today, the choice of which procession to join.
• Will we march with the worldly kingdom with all its financial and military power? Or will we risk joining the carnival on the other side of town and commit ourselves to following the humble king, helping to bring his kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Bible Study - John 12.1-8
Bible Study – John 12.1-8
The events of this chapter follow the dramatic and divisive action of Jesus in raising Lazarus from death and come just before his Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem. The religious leaders were plotting to have Jesus killed, other people were seeing him as a potential saviour. Everyone was waiting to see if he would come to Jerusalem for the Passover.
Q1 What did the Passover festival commemorate? What memories, hopes and expectations might people have in the week before Passover?
Q2 Who do think was present with Jesus at the meal in Bethany?
Q3 What motivated Mary to pour perfume on the feet of Jesus? What was unusual or shocking about her behaviour?
Q4 Why do you think the writer tells us that the fragrance filled the whole house?
Q5 How reasonable does Judas’s objection sound to you? Do you thinking he was alone in thinking this way?
Q6 How should we understand Jesus’s reply? Does it contradict our understanding of him as someone who cared for the poor?
Q7 How do you think Judas felt about this reply? How might this relate to his subsequent betrayal of Jesus?
Q8 In what ways does this passage prompt us to have faith and make changes in our lives?
Q9 What can we learn from the example of Mary and that of Judas?
Q10 How does the raising of Lazarus relate to the story of Good Friday and Easter?
The events of this chapter follow the dramatic and divisive action of Jesus in raising Lazarus from death and come just before his Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem. The religious leaders were plotting to have Jesus killed, other people were seeing him as a potential saviour. Everyone was waiting to see if he would come to Jerusalem for the Passover.
Q1 What did the Passover festival commemorate? What memories, hopes and expectations might people have in the week before Passover?
Q2 Who do think was present with Jesus at the meal in Bethany?
Q3 What motivated Mary to pour perfume on the feet of Jesus? What was unusual or shocking about her behaviour?
Q4 Why do you think the writer tells us that the fragrance filled the whole house?
Q5 How reasonable does Judas’s objection sound to you? Do you thinking he was alone in thinking this way?
Q6 How should we understand Jesus’s reply? Does it contradict our understanding of him as someone who cared for the poor?
Q7 How do you think Judas felt about this reply? How might this relate to his subsequent betrayal of Jesus?
Q8 In what ways does this passage prompt us to have faith and make changes in our lives?
Q9 What can we learn from the example of Mary and that of Judas?
Q10 How does the raising of Lazarus relate to the story of Good Friday and Easter?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sermon - John 12.1-8
John 12.1-11
Introduction
• As Jesus approaches the end of his journey to Jerusalem we switch from LUKE to JOHN. Today’s short, strange episode highlights the very different ways people reacted to Jesus as his ‘hour’ drew near.
• When we looked at Lk13 I said that Jesus’s whole life (not just the cross) was about defeating evil and setting people free from its power – free to live a new life, reconciled to God. Perhaps no instance highlights this more than the raising to life of Lazarus (John 11).
Context
• The raising of Lazarus brings the war between good and evil right out into the open and has a very DIVISIVE effect.
• Many of the Jews put their faith in Jesus (11.45)
• Some others report him to the authorities (11.46)
• The Sanhedrin (Temple Court) is confused but its leader, High Priest Caiaphas speaks more truth than he realizes when he says it is better for one man to die for the people than for everyone to be destroyed (11.49-52).
• From then on the priests and Pharisees are plotting to kill Jesus and he has to go into hiding.
• 11.55-57 tells how everyone in Jerusalem is waiting and looking for Jesus. PASSOVER is about to begin, the great annual celebration of the Exodus, the liberation of ancient Israel from slavery in Egypt.
• A new and greater Exodus is about to take place, as Isaiah had prophesied. This came out really clearly in today’s OT reading:-
This is what the LORD says – he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43.16-19)
• Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus but not everyone can accept the ‘new thing’ that God is doing, as we see in today’s gospel incident, which follows on from the raising of Lazarus.
John 12.1-8
A dinner is given in honour of Jesus by Lazarus and his family. Martha is serving, Lazarus is at the table, living proof of the power and authority of Jesus. Notice how Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, marks the occasion.
Mary
She takes about 0.5 litre of expensive perfume, probably her most valuable possession, pours it on the feet of Jesus, wipes his feet with her hair and the whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume. How should we interpret this?
• Mary did not always understand Jesus and recently felt badly let down by him when he failed to arrive in time to stop her brother dying (11.32).
• She had wept with Jesus, then followed him to her brother’s tomb and witnessed his power over death and put her faith in him.
• Mary sees the compassion, the authority and the goodness of Jesus and SHE SEES GOD. She sees God in Christ defeating evil and bringing freedom and new life. She responds in the only way she can, worshipping him and honouring him with all she has.
• Mary’s display of worship is shocking and embarrassing in its intimacy, its lack of restraint, its recklessness. We are told that the whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume, but the fragrance is not pleasing to everyone present.
Judas
It is very easy to see Judas Iscariot as the villain of the New Testament and to project all the blame onto him. It is true that both Luke and John see him as being prompted or even possessed by the devil during or just before the Last Supper (Luke 22.3, John 13.2, 13.27)…
• But at THIS meal, Judas is expressing what others were no doubt thinking. People who thought they knew what Jesus was about are confused and disappointed at this point.
• Couldn’t this perfume, worth a whole year’s wages, have been sold and the money given to the poor?
• Well of course it could have been! But although Jesus was certainly concerned to help the poor, the gospels do not record him telling everyone to sell all their valuables and give the money away.
• Jesus is in fact doing something far greater for people trapped by the evil of poverty and not just the evil of poverty but all other forms of evil. Remember again his manifesto in Luke 4:-
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Lk 4.18-19, quoting Is 61.1-2)
• Jesus’s whole life was a war against evil (1 John 3.8). Most people, even Judas, could see and agree with that.
• But the death of Jesus on the cross and the amazing reversal of the resurrection were the dramatic and decisive victory of that war:-
So that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2.14-15)
• And this was too hard for Judas and others to swallow because it didn’t fit the pattern of what they expected Jesus to do.
• The beauty and truth of Mary’s action touched Jesus and received his approval because it pointed towards his death and the saving significance of that death.
• But Judas and others among the disciples seem to have been expecting Jesus to defeat evil by force and to restore a military and political Israel.
• They were mistaken and people today who expect the second coming of Jesus to be a blood bath in which he puts all God’s enemies to the sword are equally mistaken. Especially if they think they can help him by bombing or shooting some of those enemies now!
• Violence is not defeated by violence. Evil is not defeated by evil. Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, not a war horse.
• The victory of Jesus over evil is the victory of love, pure, boundless, unselfish love.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43.18-19)
• Judas didn’t perceive it; at least not until it was too late (Mat 27.3-4). He looked at Jesus and felt let down, disillusioned and betrayed. His heart was hardened against the love of God and vulnerable to be taken over by evil.
• Mary did perceive it, intuitively, without fully understanding. When she looked at Jesus she saw pure compassion, she saw the defeat of sin and death, she saw God and she worshipped him.
Conclusion
What about us? Do we have a dusty old bottle of perfume locked away somewhere? Are we holding back from joining in fully with the new thing God is doing in the world?
My prayer for all who hear or read this is:-
• that we would not be locked into our preconceived ideas of what God ought to be doing in the world,
• that we would look afresh at Jesus and especially at his victory of self-emptying love.
• that we would pour out our lives in gratitude, in worship, in service, in powerful but peaceful opposition to evil, following the example of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Introduction
• As Jesus approaches the end of his journey to Jerusalem we switch from LUKE to JOHN. Today’s short, strange episode highlights the very different ways people reacted to Jesus as his ‘hour’ drew near.
• When we looked at Lk13 I said that Jesus’s whole life (not just the cross) was about defeating evil and setting people free from its power – free to live a new life, reconciled to God. Perhaps no instance highlights this more than the raising to life of Lazarus (John 11).
Context
• The raising of Lazarus brings the war between good and evil right out into the open and has a very DIVISIVE effect.
• Many of the Jews put their faith in Jesus (11.45)
• Some others report him to the authorities (11.46)
• The Sanhedrin (Temple Court) is confused but its leader, High Priest Caiaphas speaks more truth than he realizes when he says it is better for one man to die for the people than for everyone to be destroyed (11.49-52).
• From then on the priests and Pharisees are plotting to kill Jesus and he has to go into hiding.
• 11.55-57 tells how everyone in Jerusalem is waiting and looking for Jesus. PASSOVER is about to begin, the great annual celebration of the Exodus, the liberation of ancient Israel from slavery in Egypt.
• A new and greater Exodus is about to take place, as Isaiah had prophesied. This came out really clearly in today’s OT reading:-
This is what the LORD says – he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43.16-19)
• Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus but not everyone can accept the ‘new thing’ that God is doing, as we see in today’s gospel incident, which follows on from the raising of Lazarus.
John 12.1-8
A dinner is given in honour of Jesus by Lazarus and his family. Martha is serving, Lazarus is at the table, living proof of the power and authority of Jesus. Notice how Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, marks the occasion.
Mary
She takes about 0.5 litre of expensive perfume, probably her most valuable possession, pours it on the feet of Jesus, wipes his feet with her hair and the whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume. How should we interpret this?
• Mary did not always understand Jesus and recently felt badly let down by him when he failed to arrive in time to stop her brother dying (11.32).
• She had wept with Jesus, then followed him to her brother’s tomb and witnessed his power over death and put her faith in him.
• Mary sees the compassion, the authority and the goodness of Jesus and SHE SEES GOD. She sees God in Christ defeating evil and bringing freedom and new life. She responds in the only way she can, worshipping him and honouring him with all she has.
• Mary’s display of worship is shocking and embarrassing in its intimacy, its lack of restraint, its recklessness. We are told that the whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume, but the fragrance is not pleasing to everyone present.
Judas
It is very easy to see Judas Iscariot as the villain of the New Testament and to project all the blame onto him. It is true that both Luke and John see him as being prompted or even possessed by the devil during or just before the Last Supper (Luke 22.3, John 13.2, 13.27)…
• But at THIS meal, Judas is expressing what others were no doubt thinking. People who thought they knew what Jesus was about are confused and disappointed at this point.
• Couldn’t this perfume, worth a whole year’s wages, have been sold and the money given to the poor?
• Well of course it could have been! But although Jesus was certainly concerned to help the poor, the gospels do not record him telling everyone to sell all their valuables and give the money away.
• Jesus is in fact doing something far greater for people trapped by the evil of poverty and not just the evil of poverty but all other forms of evil. Remember again his manifesto in Luke 4:-
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Lk 4.18-19, quoting Is 61.1-2)
• Jesus’s whole life was a war against evil (1 John 3.8). Most people, even Judas, could see and agree with that.
• But the death of Jesus on the cross and the amazing reversal of the resurrection were the dramatic and decisive victory of that war:-
So that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2.14-15)
• And this was too hard for Judas and others to swallow because it didn’t fit the pattern of what they expected Jesus to do.
• The beauty and truth of Mary’s action touched Jesus and received his approval because it pointed towards his death and the saving significance of that death.
• But Judas and others among the disciples seem to have been expecting Jesus to defeat evil by force and to restore a military and political Israel.
• They were mistaken and people today who expect the second coming of Jesus to be a blood bath in which he puts all God’s enemies to the sword are equally mistaken. Especially if they think they can help him by bombing or shooting some of those enemies now!
• Violence is not defeated by violence. Evil is not defeated by evil. Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, not a war horse.
• The victory of Jesus over evil is the victory of love, pure, boundless, unselfish love.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43.18-19)
• Judas didn’t perceive it; at least not until it was too late (Mat 27.3-4). He looked at Jesus and felt let down, disillusioned and betrayed. His heart was hardened against the love of God and vulnerable to be taken over by evil.
• Mary did perceive it, intuitively, without fully understanding. When she looked at Jesus she saw pure compassion, she saw the defeat of sin and death, she saw God and she worshipped him.
Conclusion
What about us? Do we have a dusty old bottle of perfume locked away somewhere? Are we holding back from joining in fully with the new thing God is doing in the world?
My prayer for all who hear or read this is:-
• that we would not be locked into our preconceived ideas of what God ought to be doing in the world,
• that we would look afresh at Jesus and especially at his victory of self-emptying love.
• that we would pour out our lives in gratitude, in worship, in service, in powerful but peaceful opposition to evil, following the example of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sermon - Exodus 2.1-10 (Andorra 14th March)
Exodus 2.1-10 Mothering Sunday
Andorra 14th March 2010
Introduction
In Friday’s Bible study we were thinking about the events leading up to today’s amazing story from Exodus. These were dark and terrifying days under a paranoid and brutal new pharaoh. With regard to Egypt’s Israelite immigrant community, pharaoh led his people in a rapid decline from ignorance of history, through exaggeration of threat, through prejudice to oppression and finally to genocide – the ‘final solution’ as it were. By the time Moses was born, it was the duty of every loyal Egyptian to drown every Hebrew boy in the river Nile. This was after the Hebrew midwives had followed a brave path of non co-operation with pharaoh and now we find further examples of female leadership emerging.
One of the things I think we learn from the Bible is that ‘male’ leadership has limitations and sometimes ‘female’ leadership offers the only way forward (CARE: Of course these gender roles and qualities are not mutually exclusive)
This surprises us more than it should, since God has motherly as well as fatherly characteristics and we are made in God’s image. Anyway, first let’s look at the story in 3 parts, then we’ll think about how it relates to the Christian gospel and to our own lives.
Verses 1-4
• Moses is born into a genocide with a death sentence over his head.
• His parents are Levites, people of faith but we hear nothing of his father, only his mother. My opinion is that the Hebrew men were effectively emasculated, humiliated by their slavery. Traditional male solutions to difference – confrontation, fighting – were not an available option. It would be up to the baby boy’s mother to find a solution.
• First, we read that she hid him for three months – no mean feat!
• Then, realizing she can’t keep this up, she comes up with an extraordinary, risky plan – getting a papyrus basket for him, coating it with tar and pitch to make it waterproof and then putting the baby into the basket and the basket into the reeds by the river bank.
• What was she feeling as she abandoned her child in this way? What would you feel?
• What was she thinking? Did she plan to go back regularly and feed him? Did she think he’d be better off dying of thirst or being eaten by wild animals, rather than being killed by an Egyptian sword?
• Or did her intuition lead her to believe that there just might be a surprising way that he could survive?
• In verse 4 we read that his sister stood and watched at a distance, to see what would happen to the baby (showing her maternal instinct, or acting on mum’s instructions?)
Verses 5-9
• Now a new character comes onto the scene - Pharaoh’s daughter. Hold on a minute! That’s the daughter of the tyrant who had enslaved the Hebrews in forced labour and then ordered the killing of all their baby boys.
• Fortunately, Ph’s daughter doesn’t share his prejudice and has the courage to defy his orders. Seeing the basket while bathing in the river, she sends her female slave to fetch it and finds the baby boy crying inside.
• She recognizes that he is a Hebrew baby (ethnic difference) – one who ought by her Father’s law to be thrown into the river to drown. But she shows no inclination to do so and is open to the suggestion of Moses’ sister, who intervenes, offering ‘shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’
• Pharaoh’s daughter agrees and Moses’ sister goes to fetch her own and his mother.
• Pharaoh’s daughter then offers to pay the mother for nursing and caring for the boy for her until he is weaned and ready to enter the royal household. That would be at 3 to 5 years old.
• Her child will survive, but even so there is a dilemma. One point of view might be – I’d rather have him die as a Hebrew baby than be brought up as an Egyptian. Perhaps this could be characterized as a ‘male’ response! But Moses’ mother accepts the deal in faith and compassion.
Verse 10
• Finally in verse 10 the mother keeps her side of the bargain, takes the child to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts him and names him Moses. Moses has a new mother who is able to give him the most secure upbringing and the best education possible.
• Pharoah’s plan has been undermined by two women and a girl. The boy who will become his nemesis is growing up in his own household, acquiring the skills and knowledge which will equip him to set the Israelites free.
• Of course we are supposed to see the hidden hand of God at work behind the scenes, but this is also a story of the best kind of female leadership and problem solving. Intuition, empathy, compassion and collaboration are victorious over the male effort to confront, force and dominate.
Links to the gospel
• Clear parallels with infancy of Jesus, the insecurity he was born into, eg Herod’s slaughter of the innocents.
• The gospel Jesus preached in his sermons and parables is all about the Kingdom of God being near to us and in fact growing secretly among us, bringing hope, healing and life. The rich and powerful are blind to what is going on. Those who have nothing are raised up and empowered.
• Evil is defeated by Jesus not by force and power but by servanthood and submission. This does not mean rolling over and giving in; it means a courageous refusal to co-operate with the oppressor. It means denying self and loving one’s enemies. It means taking up our cross daily and following Jesus.
Lessons for us
• For those who are mothers – be confident in God, whatever the circumstances you face. Know that God understands the joys, pains and dilemmas of Motherhood – even though we usually call God ‘Father’.
• For women generally (and men) - Learn from the example of positive female qualities in this Bible story – empathy, intuition, compassion, creative opposition without confrontation, having the faith to let go and trust… these are more important than the superficial, skin-deep femininity our society sells us.
• For those who fought against church allowing women to be priests or are now fighting against them becoming bishops… be aware of limitations of exclusively male leadership. Don’t find yourself fighting against God.
• Society, church and family need strong and godly men. Moses grew up to become one of the best. But strong and godly women are needed as well, not just soft, fluffy and pretty ones. To give just one recent example – Northern Ireland. It was mainly the men who grabbed the headlines in the process of achieving peace, but perhaps more than any other factor it was the cross-community empathy of mothers; grieving, hoping, forgiving mothers, which broke the walls down and paved the way to peace.
• Perhaps mothers, supported by enlightened men, will play an equally significant role in resolving more of the world’s biggest problems and fears.
• Everett Fox quote “The female principle of life-giving triumphs over the male prerogative of threatening and death-dealing.”
Andorra 14th March 2010
Introduction
In Friday’s Bible study we were thinking about the events leading up to today’s amazing story from Exodus. These were dark and terrifying days under a paranoid and brutal new pharaoh. With regard to Egypt’s Israelite immigrant community, pharaoh led his people in a rapid decline from ignorance of history, through exaggeration of threat, through prejudice to oppression and finally to genocide – the ‘final solution’ as it were. By the time Moses was born, it was the duty of every loyal Egyptian to drown every Hebrew boy in the river Nile. This was after the Hebrew midwives had followed a brave path of non co-operation with pharaoh and now we find further examples of female leadership emerging.
One of the things I think we learn from the Bible is that ‘male’ leadership has limitations and sometimes ‘female’ leadership offers the only way forward (CARE: Of course these gender roles and qualities are not mutually exclusive)
This surprises us more than it should, since God has motherly as well as fatherly characteristics and we are made in God’s image. Anyway, first let’s look at the story in 3 parts, then we’ll think about how it relates to the Christian gospel and to our own lives.
Verses 1-4
• Moses is born into a genocide with a death sentence over his head.
• His parents are Levites, people of faith but we hear nothing of his father, only his mother. My opinion is that the Hebrew men were effectively emasculated, humiliated by their slavery. Traditional male solutions to difference – confrontation, fighting – were not an available option. It would be up to the baby boy’s mother to find a solution.
• First, we read that she hid him for three months – no mean feat!
• Then, realizing she can’t keep this up, she comes up with an extraordinary, risky plan – getting a papyrus basket for him, coating it with tar and pitch to make it waterproof and then putting the baby into the basket and the basket into the reeds by the river bank.
• What was she feeling as she abandoned her child in this way? What would you feel?
• What was she thinking? Did she plan to go back regularly and feed him? Did she think he’d be better off dying of thirst or being eaten by wild animals, rather than being killed by an Egyptian sword?
• Or did her intuition lead her to believe that there just might be a surprising way that he could survive?
• In verse 4 we read that his sister stood and watched at a distance, to see what would happen to the baby (showing her maternal instinct, or acting on mum’s instructions?)
Verses 5-9
• Now a new character comes onto the scene - Pharaoh’s daughter. Hold on a minute! That’s the daughter of the tyrant who had enslaved the Hebrews in forced labour and then ordered the killing of all their baby boys.
• Fortunately, Ph’s daughter doesn’t share his prejudice and has the courage to defy his orders. Seeing the basket while bathing in the river, she sends her female slave to fetch it and finds the baby boy crying inside.
• She recognizes that he is a Hebrew baby (ethnic difference) – one who ought by her Father’s law to be thrown into the river to drown. But she shows no inclination to do so and is open to the suggestion of Moses’ sister, who intervenes, offering ‘shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’
• Pharaoh’s daughter agrees and Moses’ sister goes to fetch her own and his mother.
• Pharaoh’s daughter then offers to pay the mother for nursing and caring for the boy for her until he is weaned and ready to enter the royal household. That would be at 3 to 5 years old.
• Her child will survive, but even so there is a dilemma. One point of view might be – I’d rather have him die as a Hebrew baby than be brought up as an Egyptian. Perhaps this could be characterized as a ‘male’ response! But Moses’ mother accepts the deal in faith and compassion.
Verse 10
• Finally in verse 10 the mother keeps her side of the bargain, takes the child to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts him and names him Moses. Moses has a new mother who is able to give him the most secure upbringing and the best education possible.
• Pharoah’s plan has been undermined by two women and a girl. The boy who will become his nemesis is growing up in his own household, acquiring the skills and knowledge which will equip him to set the Israelites free.
• Of course we are supposed to see the hidden hand of God at work behind the scenes, but this is also a story of the best kind of female leadership and problem solving. Intuition, empathy, compassion and collaboration are victorious over the male effort to confront, force and dominate.
Links to the gospel
• Clear parallels with infancy of Jesus, the insecurity he was born into, eg Herod’s slaughter of the innocents.
• The gospel Jesus preached in his sermons and parables is all about the Kingdom of God being near to us and in fact growing secretly among us, bringing hope, healing and life. The rich and powerful are blind to what is going on. Those who have nothing are raised up and empowered.
• Evil is defeated by Jesus not by force and power but by servanthood and submission. This does not mean rolling over and giving in; it means a courageous refusal to co-operate with the oppressor. It means denying self and loving one’s enemies. It means taking up our cross daily and following Jesus.
Lessons for us
• For those who are mothers – be confident in God, whatever the circumstances you face. Know that God understands the joys, pains and dilemmas of Motherhood – even though we usually call God ‘Father’.
• For women generally (and men) - Learn from the example of positive female qualities in this Bible story – empathy, intuition, compassion, creative opposition without confrontation, having the faith to let go and trust… these are more important than the superficial, skin-deep femininity our society sells us.
• For those who fought against church allowing women to be priests or are now fighting against them becoming bishops… be aware of limitations of exclusively male leadership. Don’t find yourself fighting against God.
• Society, church and family need strong and godly men. Moses grew up to become one of the best. But strong and godly women are needed as well, not just soft, fluffy and pretty ones. To give just one recent example – Northern Ireland. It was mainly the men who grabbed the headlines in the process of achieving peace, but perhaps more than any other factor it was the cross-community empathy of mothers; grieving, hoping, forgiving mothers, which broke the walls down and paved the way to peace.
• Perhaps mothers, supported by enlightened men, will play an equally significant role in resolving more of the world’s biggest problems and fears.
• Everett Fox quote “The female principle of life-giving triumphs over the male prerogative of threatening and death-dealing.”
Bible Study - Exodus 1.8-22
Bible Study – Exodus 1.8-22
• An ancient story giving the background to the emergence of Moses
• Frighteningly modern in its expose of human failings
• A progression of attitudes which is all too familiar in recent history
Introduction
A progression of attitudes – discuss each step – significance then and in later history and today.
V8 IGNORANCE – the new king/pharaoh knew nothing about Joseph
V9 EXAGGERATION OF THREAT – “the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we”
V10 PREJUDICE – “Come, let US deal shrewdly with THEM, or they will… and… and…”
V11 OPPRESSION – Forced labour (ironically, to build storage cities – see Genesis 41.46-49)
V12 temporarily alleviates the developing gloom. The oppression causes the Israelites to multiply and spread. But this only causes WIDESPREAD DREAD OF THE FOREIGNERS (no longer just PHARAOH’S fear).
V13-14 The trend continues. Force has not worked, what shall we do? Increase the force – RUTHLESS PERSECUTION (shock and awe?)
V15-16 The FINAL SOLUTION. Hitler wasn’t the first or the last to make this step… At first the attempt at genocide is secret, a private deal between pharaoh and the Hebrew midwives.
V17-21 The midwives’ courageous, godfearing refusal to co-operate paves the way for one further step…
V22 It is the DUTY of EVERY LOYAL EGYPTIAN to KILL every Hebrew boy.
Reflection
Let’s just pause for 5 minutes to reflect in silence on this evil progression. Where does it come from and where is it going? How does it relate to our own nation’s or church’s or family’s history? Do we all have the potential for this in our hearts?
Can we take anything positive from the story?
• GROWTH under PERSECUTION. Compare the experience of the early church in the first 8 chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Apart from the Bible, what other examples of growth under persecution can you think of?
• The ROLE OF WOMEN is very striking. Pharaoh’s concentrates his attack on male babies, leaving the source of life unchecked. In a clash between two patriarchal societies, the women play a key role in preparing for liberation. More of this on Sunday when we look at chapter 2.
• GOD IS AT WORK BEHIND THE SCENES. Even though his people are in extreme danger and distress, God is clearly on the side of the poor and oppressed and is protecting, sustaining and watching over them.
Food for thought
How does this passage point to the world’s need for a Redeemer, a Saviour? Who can fill that role – Moses? Jesus? Someone or something else?
• An ancient story giving the background to the emergence of Moses
• Frighteningly modern in its expose of human failings
• A progression of attitudes which is all too familiar in recent history
Introduction
A progression of attitudes – discuss each step – significance then and in later history and today.
V8 IGNORANCE – the new king/pharaoh knew nothing about Joseph
V9 EXAGGERATION OF THREAT – “the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we”
V10 PREJUDICE – “Come, let US deal shrewdly with THEM, or they will… and… and…”
V11 OPPRESSION – Forced labour (ironically, to build storage cities – see Genesis 41.46-49)
V12 temporarily alleviates the developing gloom. The oppression causes the Israelites to multiply and spread. But this only causes WIDESPREAD DREAD OF THE FOREIGNERS (no longer just PHARAOH’S fear).
V13-14 The trend continues. Force has not worked, what shall we do? Increase the force – RUTHLESS PERSECUTION (shock and awe?)
V15-16 The FINAL SOLUTION. Hitler wasn’t the first or the last to make this step… At first the attempt at genocide is secret, a private deal between pharaoh and the Hebrew midwives.
V17-21 The midwives’ courageous, godfearing refusal to co-operate paves the way for one further step…
V22 It is the DUTY of EVERY LOYAL EGYPTIAN to KILL every Hebrew boy.
Reflection
Let’s just pause for 5 minutes to reflect in silence on this evil progression. Where does it come from and where is it going? How does it relate to our own nation’s or church’s or family’s history? Do we all have the potential for this in our hearts?
Can we take anything positive from the story?
• GROWTH under PERSECUTION. Compare the experience of the early church in the first 8 chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Apart from the Bible, what other examples of growth under persecution can you think of?
• The ROLE OF WOMEN is very striking. Pharaoh’s concentrates his attack on male babies, leaving the source of life unchecked. In a clash between two patriarchal societies, the women play a key role in preparing for liberation. More of this on Sunday when we look at chapter 2.
• GOD IS AT WORK BEHIND THE SCENES. Even though his people are in extreme danger and distress, God is clearly on the side of the poor and oppressed and is protecting, sustaining and watching over them.
Food for thought
How does this passage point to the world’s need for a Redeemer, a Saviour? Who can fill that role – Moses? Jesus? Someone or something else?
Book review - A Heart Broken Open, Ray Gaston
I've always shied away from interfaith dialogue, thinking it can only result in lowest common denominator fudge. This book has completely changed my mind. Beginning with a slightly naive show of anti-war solidarity with muslim neighbours in Leeds, the author then wins the muslim community's confidence by his brave and honest engagement with their scriptures and faith practices over a period of several years. It is neither an easy nor a comfortable journey for him but he perseveres. To my surprise, he emerges with a deeper understanding of and stronger commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and provides a glimmer of real hope for peace between Christians, Muslims and Jews. Don't read this book unless you are prepared for your reading of the Bible and of history to be challenged and for your own heart to be broken open too.
The book is published by Wild Goose (Iona Community) and available from their website www.ionabooks.com, or from Amazon.
The book is published by Wild Goose (Iona Community) and available from their website www.ionabooks.com, or from Amazon.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sermon - Isaiah 55.1-9
Isaiah 55.1-9
• Thank God for hunger and thirst (and the pleasurable sensations of eating and drinking). Without the MESSAGES of hunger and thirst we would die – neglecting to give our bodies enough fuel for vital functions, including the growth of new cells to replace those which die every day.
• When we hunger and thirst, we recognize our need for food/drink and we actively seek food/drink.
• In Isaiah 55 God calls on the hungry and thirsty to come to Him and be fed and satisfied. God is certainly concerned with people’s physical needs but here of course he is primarily talking about spiritual hunger and thirst. We know from Deut 8.3 that people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. The Jews in exile in Babylon recognized their spiritual hunger/thirst and received Isaiah’s (God’s) message gladly.
• The scope of God’s offer may have surprised them, also the lack of conditions attached to it (v1, 4-7). The promise is open to all nations and peoples and even to God’s enemies (the wicked). This may not have been noticed at the time Isaiah wrote, but came strongly to the fore when Jesus came to fulfil God’s promise.
• This is the context of vv8-9 (often used wrongly). God is far more generous, forgiving and merciful than we are.
• Problem with spiritual hunger/thirst. Not easily recognized. People (including Christians) often try to satisfy it with the wrong kind of food.
• Connected with this, it is hard to notice our spiritual thirst/hunger when our lives are full of other stuff. Evil powers play a part in maintaining this illusion (warning of v2 and v7). We need to live simpler, less cluttered lives & learn to thirst for God like the psalmist (Ps 42.1-2).
• Jesus often expressed his gospel message in the language of Is 55, especially in John (4.13-14, 6.26-35 and 7.37-38). The link is clearest in 6.27, 6.35, 7.37-38.
• Jesus IS the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. 55.6 says Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. God has come near in Jesus. God has made himself available to us in Jesus, God has opened his heart and his arms to us in Jesus. We need to hunger for God in Jesus and feed on him in word and sacrament.
• The quote from John 7 fits with the wider vision of Isa 55 because our spiritual nourishment is not just for us but is to flow from within us to others and to transform society, freeing it from the grip of evil, if we are truly Jesus’s followers. We are what we eat and drink and we give to others from the spring inside us – a spring of selfishness and evil or the spring of the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ.
• SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
• I regret sometimes meeting my children’s or friends’ spiritual hunger/thirst with something which did not feed the need e.g. giving child a computer game or a chocolate biscuit when they needed a hug or a walk in the countryside with their dad… what’s the answer?
• We all sometimes eat carelessly or hurriedly, rushing our good food or eating junk. We do the same spiritually and so we are not spiritually healthy or nourished… what’s the answer?
Close by reading Isaiah 55.10-11 and the following poem by Jane Upchurch.
As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my WORD that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Jesus, the bread of life
Because I believe,
you are my bread.
You are my food,
my diet of heaven.
You are the manna in my mornings,
the fleeting flakes
that feed me with your life,
with the honey-sweet taste of your love
that will never lose me.
You see me as gift to you
as you are gift to me
and God is the giver.
You are my life,
you are my way in this world
and my path beyond;
eternity is the meadow
in which we can run.
I need never hunger or thirst
for you are my portion,
your flesh is my bread
and I am filled
with you.
• Thank God for hunger and thirst (and the pleasurable sensations of eating and drinking). Without the MESSAGES of hunger and thirst we would die – neglecting to give our bodies enough fuel for vital functions, including the growth of new cells to replace those which die every day.
• When we hunger and thirst, we recognize our need for food/drink and we actively seek food/drink.
• In Isaiah 55 God calls on the hungry and thirsty to come to Him and be fed and satisfied. God is certainly concerned with people’s physical needs but here of course he is primarily talking about spiritual hunger and thirst. We know from Deut 8.3 that people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. The Jews in exile in Babylon recognized their spiritual hunger/thirst and received Isaiah’s (God’s) message gladly.
• The scope of God’s offer may have surprised them, also the lack of conditions attached to it (v1, 4-7). The promise is open to all nations and peoples and even to God’s enemies (the wicked). This may not have been noticed at the time Isaiah wrote, but came strongly to the fore when Jesus came to fulfil God’s promise.
• This is the context of vv8-9 (often used wrongly). God is far more generous, forgiving and merciful than we are.
• Problem with spiritual hunger/thirst. Not easily recognized. People (including Christians) often try to satisfy it with the wrong kind of food.
• Connected with this, it is hard to notice our spiritual thirst/hunger when our lives are full of other stuff. Evil powers play a part in maintaining this illusion (warning of v2 and v7). We need to live simpler, less cluttered lives & learn to thirst for God like the psalmist (Ps 42.1-2).
• Jesus often expressed his gospel message in the language of Is 55, especially in John (4.13-14, 6.26-35 and 7.37-38). The link is clearest in 6.27, 6.35, 7.37-38.
• Jesus IS the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. 55.6 says Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. God has come near in Jesus. God has made himself available to us in Jesus, God has opened his heart and his arms to us in Jesus. We need to hunger for God in Jesus and feed on him in word and sacrament.
• The quote from John 7 fits with the wider vision of Isa 55 because our spiritual nourishment is not just for us but is to flow from within us to others and to transform society, freeing it from the grip of evil, if we are truly Jesus’s followers. We are what we eat and drink and we give to others from the spring inside us – a spring of selfishness and evil or the spring of the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ.
• SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
• I regret sometimes meeting my children’s or friends’ spiritual hunger/thirst with something which did not feed the need e.g. giving child a computer game or a chocolate biscuit when they needed a hug or a walk in the countryside with their dad… what’s the answer?
• We all sometimes eat carelessly or hurriedly, rushing our good food or eating junk. We do the same spiritually and so we are not spiritually healthy or nourished… what’s the answer?
Close by reading Isaiah 55.10-11 and the following poem by Jane Upchurch.
As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my WORD that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Jesus, the bread of life
Because I believe,
you are my bread.
You are my food,
my diet of heaven.
You are the manna in my mornings,
the fleeting flakes
that feed me with your life,
with the honey-sweet taste of your love
that will never lose me.
You see me as gift to you
as you are gift to me
and God is the giver.
You are my life,
you are my way in this world
and my path beyond;
eternity is the meadow
in which we can run.
I need never hunger or thirst
for you are my portion,
your flesh is my bread
and I am filled
with you.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Bible Study - Luke 13.31-35
Bible Study – Luke 13.31-35
First read today’s passage and then quickly scan through the whole of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9.51 to 19.44). Take note of the themes and conflicts which recur again and again in these chapters and which are evident in today’s short passage.
Q1 Verse 31 hints at an ‘unholy alliance’ against Jesus involving religious and political leaders. This theme is also explicit throughout Luke’s gospel. Why did the political and religious leaders see Jesus as a threat?
Q2 How is it that people with a sincere commitment to God often seem to act in a way that works against God (e.g. Lk 13.14-17)?
The next few questions concentrate on verses 32 and 33.
Q3 Why is Jerusalem so significant? How do we account for the determination of Jesus to get to Jerusalem, even though he knew how he would be treated there?
Q4 How does Jesus plan to use the limited time available to him, and why?
Q5 We also each have a limited time available to us. How might our lives look if we shared the priorities of Jesus?
Q6 Is the war that Jesus fought also OUR war? Or was it uniquely HIS war (See also Luke 4.18-21)?
Now let’s turn to verses 34 and 35.
Q7 According to Luke, Jesus had not yet been to Jerusalem as an adult. How can we make sense of what he says in verse 34? What difference does it make if we understand these words as the words of God in Christ (see also 2 Cor 5.19)?
Q8 Verse 34 could be said to sum up the whole of the Old Testament. How far do you agree with this?
Q9 In what sense is the house of Jerusalem left desolate (v35)? Does this verse carry a message of despair or of hope?
Q10 How can we best encourage our non-christian neighbours to say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”?
First read today’s passage and then quickly scan through the whole of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9.51 to 19.44). Take note of the themes and conflicts which recur again and again in these chapters and which are evident in today’s short passage.
Q1 Verse 31 hints at an ‘unholy alliance’ against Jesus involving religious and political leaders. This theme is also explicit throughout Luke’s gospel. Why did the political and religious leaders see Jesus as a threat?
Q2 How is it that people with a sincere commitment to God often seem to act in a way that works against God (e.g. Lk 13.14-17)?
The next few questions concentrate on verses 32 and 33.
Q3 Why is Jerusalem so significant? How do we account for the determination of Jesus to get to Jerusalem, even though he knew how he would be treated there?
Q4 How does Jesus plan to use the limited time available to him, and why?
Q5 We also each have a limited time available to us. How might our lives look if we shared the priorities of Jesus?
Q6 Is the war that Jesus fought also OUR war? Or was it uniquely HIS war (See also Luke 4.18-21)?
Now let’s turn to verses 34 and 35.
Q7 According to Luke, Jesus had not yet been to Jerusalem as an adult. How can we make sense of what he says in verse 34? What difference does it make if we understand these words as the words of God in Christ (see also 2 Cor 5.19)?
Q8 Verse 34 could be said to sum up the whole of the Old Testament. How far do you agree with this?
Q9 In what sense is the house of Jerusalem left desolate (v35)? Does this verse carry a message of despair or of hope?
Q10 How can we best encourage our non-christian neighbours to say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”?
Sermon - Luke 13.31-35
Luke 13.31-35
Introduction
• Women’s Fellowship (Men should dress up & sneak in!)
• Amazing Grace. God inspired Christians (incl Wilberforce) to lifetime’s work for abolition of Slave Trade and Slavery.
• Esclavitud XXI (& Stop the Trafik) presentation.
• More slaves now than ever. Spain very bad.
• Was Wilb & co’s work wasted?
• Where is God? Where is Church? Does the Gospel have anything to say?
The Unholy Alliance (against Jesus) (v31)
• J’s journey to Jerusalem & the cross began at 9.51 but rooted way back in the promises and warnings to Mary and in the desert struggle against evil with which he was tested before beginning his ministry.
• Luke records J’s journey to Jerusalem in ch 10-19 and today’s verses sum it all up in just a few words.
• First, in verse 31, we have the Pharisees’ warning. Throughout J’s journey to the cross there’s kind of an unholy alliance of religious and political leaders to knock him off course and prevent him getting there. To distract & destroy him.
• Jewish religious leaders, especially Pharisees, hated Herod but they were allied with him in seeing Jesus as a threat who needed to be eliminated.
• He was a threat to their power, their position, their status. Their love of these things hardened and blinded them, resulting in them actually selling out to evil (which Jesus had refused to do during desert test), so they ended up fighting against God. This is clear throughout gospels, especially passages like Luke 11.37-54. Not surprising in Herod’s case but shocking and tragic in case of Pharisees/Scribes/Sadducees.
The Holy War (against evil) (v32-33)
• Jesus would not be distracted from his journey and replied dismissively. But his reply also shows that his interest is not just in reaching the destination:-
• Go and tell that fox, “I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal. In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day – for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13.32-33)
• Some versions of the Christian gospel focus so much on the death of Jesus that the rest of his life seems almost irrelevant. But the gospels show his WHOLE LIFE was about defeating evil (including sin, death, disease etc) and setting people free from its grip.
• For example the controversial healing of the crippled woman on the Sabbath earlier in our chapter, which offended the synagogue leader, ended with Jesus saying:- You hypocrites! … should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? (Luke 13.15-16)
• Jesus did not, as you may have been told, live a life of perfect obedience to the Jewish Law. In fact he made a point of breaking the Law whenever it hindered his struggle to liberate people from evil!
• The cross, or more accurately the resurrection, was the decisive moment but it should be seen as the culmination of a lifelong war against evil. A war which continues today through the work of the Holy Spirit in believers, in the Church, in organizations like Esclavitud XXI / Stop the Traffik.
• I want to come back to this point but first, having seen Jesus’s resolve and determination in vv32-33, we now get a glimpse of his heart.
The Grace of God (to all, including his enemies) (v34-35)
• Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13.34-35)
• How can these words make sense? How can Jesus, on his first adult journey to Jerusalem, have “often longed to gather” the people of Jerusalem together but they had not been willing? How can he say that they will not see him again until they say “Blessed is he…”?
• There is only one way that this can make sense. That is when we realize that it is GOD speaking IN CHRIST. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
• The words of Luke 13.34-35 are the words of God. The tears of verse 34-35 are the tears of God. Verse 34 sums up most of the Old Testament, the tragic history of the Israelites.
• Verse 35 diagnoses the condition of God’s people and offers hope of a way out:- Look, your house (the Temple, where God is supposed to reside in the midst of His people) is left to you desolate (it has become an empty shell with no life, no heart). I tell you, you will not see me (that is, God) again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” God’s people will not see him again until they recognize God in Jesus and worship him. Notice that word until…
Grace in us
• God’s words through Jesus are a lament, but also a message of hope, even to his enemies, to those who stoned the prophets.
• Those who do recognize Jesus and worship him WILL see God and will experience his love, his forgiveness, his freedom.
• This new life, new freedom also brings responsibilities. God’s intention is that the followers of Jesus will be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8.29)
• Believers are called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus, filled with the same Spirit, living with the same values and priorities, continuing the same war against evil. Living out the consequences of his victory in the places where we live.
• Remember what Jesus said in his first sermon:- “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
• If this is his mission, how offensive is the continuation of the slave trade in our day, 200 years after Wilberforce? What are we doing about it?
• What CAN we do, when, just as in Wilberforce’s day the evil trade is protected by powerful people, government ministers who pass planning applications for brothels, mafia bosses who use drugs, threats and brutality to control their victims.
• Evil also keeps its grip because of the thousands of ordinary men who use prostitutes or the millions who smile at degrading images of women as if it were harmless fun? And because of the religious people who collaborate by doing nothing…
• As Christians we don’t use the weapons of the world but we do have the weapons Wilberforce and co had – prayer and influence. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer or the influence that we can have by living differently amongst our neighbours, demonstrating Christian love and ethical standards in the way we treat others and conduct ourselves.
• We can also support organizations like Esclavitud XXI and Stop the Traffik in their efforts to raise awareness and influence governments to change the laws which allow evil to flourish.
• Let’s end by reminding ourselves of Jesus’s answer to those who tried to stop his work:- I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal… Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Introduction
• Women’s Fellowship (Men should dress up & sneak in!)
• Amazing Grace. God inspired Christians (incl Wilberforce) to lifetime’s work for abolition of Slave Trade and Slavery.
• Esclavitud XXI (& Stop the Trafik) presentation.
• More slaves now than ever. Spain very bad.
• Was Wilb & co’s work wasted?
• Where is God? Where is Church? Does the Gospel have anything to say?
The Unholy Alliance (against Jesus) (v31)
• J’s journey to Jerusalem & the cross began at 9.51 but rooted way back in the promises and warnings to Mary and in the desert struggle against evil with which he was tested before beginning his ministry.
• Luke records J’s journey to Jerusalem in ch 10-19 and today’s verses sum it all up in just a few words.
• First, in verse 31, we have the Pharisees’ warning. Throughout J’s journey to the cross there’s kind of an unholy alliance of religious and political leaders to knock him off course and prevent him getting there. To distract & destroy him.
• Jewish religious leaders, especially Pharisees, hated Herod but they were allied with him in seeing Jesus as a threat who needed to be eliminated.
• He was a threat to their power, their position, their status. Their love of these things hardened and blinded them, resulting in them actually selling out to evil (which Jesus had refused to do during desert test), so they ended up fighting against God. This is clear throughout gospels, especially passages like Luke 11.37-54. Not surprising in Herod’s case but shocking and tragic in case of Pharisees/Scribes/Sadducees.
The Holy War (against evil) (v32-33)
• Jesus would not be distracted from his journey and replied dismissively. But his reply also shows that his interest is not just in reaching the destination:-
• Go and tell that fox, “I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal. In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day – for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13.32-33)
• Some versions of the Christian gospel focus so much on the death of Jesus that the rest of his life seems almost irrelevant. But the gospels show his WHOLE LIFE was about defeating evil (including sin, death, disease etc) and setting people free from its grip.
• For example the controversial healing of the crippled woman on the Sabbath earlier in our chapter, which offended the synagogue leader, ended with Jesus saying:- You hypocrites! … should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? (Luke 13.15-16)
• Jesus did not, as you may have been told, live a life of perfect obedience to the Jewish Law. In fact he made a point of breaking the Law whenever it hindered his struggle to liberate people from evil!
• The cross, or more accurately the resurrection, was the decisive moment but it should be seen as the culmination of a lifelong war against evil. A war which continues today through the work of the Holy Spirit in believers, in the Church, in organizations like Esclavitud XXI / Stop the Traffik.
• I want to come back to this point but first, having seen Jesus’s resolve and determination in vv32-33, we now get a glimpse of his heart.
The Grace of God (to all, including his enemies) (v34-35)
• Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13.34-35)
• How can these words make sense? How can Jesus, on his first adult journey to Jerusalem, have “often longed to gather” the people of Jerusalem together but they had not been willing? How can he say that they will not see him again until they say “Blessed is he…”?
• There is only one way that this can make sense. That is when we realize that it is GOD speaking IN CHRIST. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
• The words of Luke 13.34-35 are the words of God. The tears of verse 34-35 are the tears of God. Verse 34 sums up most of the Old Testament, the tragic history of the Israelites.
• Verse 35 diagnoses the condition of God’s people and offers hope of a way out:- Look, your house (the Temple, where God is supposed to reside in the midst of His people) is left to you desolate (it has become an empty shell with no life, no heart). I tell you, you will not see me (that is, God) again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” God’s people will not see him again until they recognize God in Jesus and worship him. Notice that word until…
Grace in us
• God’s words through Jesus are a lament, but also a message of hope, even to his enemies, to those who stoned the prophets.
• Those who do recognize Jesus and worship him WILL see God and will experience his love, his forgiveness, his freedom.
• This new life, new freedom also brings responsibilities. God’s intention is that the followers of Jesus will be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8.29)
• Believers are called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus, filled with the same Spirit, living with the same values and priorities, continuing the same war against evil. Living out the consequences of his victory in the places where we live.
• Remember what Jesus said in his first sermon:- “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
• If this is his mission, how offensive is the continuation of the slave trade in our day, 200 years after Wilberforce? What are we doing about it?
• What CAN we do, when, just as in Wilberforce’s day the evil trade is protected by powerful people, government ministers who pass planning applications for brothels, mafia bosses who use drugs, threats and brutality to control their victims.
• Evil also keeps its grip because of the thousands of ordinary men who use prostitutes or the millions who smile at degrading images of women as if it were harmless fun? And because of the religious people who collaborate by doing nothing…
• As Christians we don’t use the weapons of the world but we do have the weapons Wilberforce and co had – prayer and influence. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer or the influence that we can have by living differently amongst our neighbours, demonstrating Christian love and ethical standards in the way we treat others and conduct ourselves.
• We can also support organizations like Esclavitud XXI and Stop the Traffik in their efforts to raise awareness and influence governments to change the laws which allow evil to flourish.
• Let’s end by reminding ourselves of Jesus’s answer to those who tried to stop his work:- I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal… Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
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