Epiphany 4 - 31 January 2016 - Year C

Epiphany 4 - 31 January 2016 - Year C

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the13th Chapter of St Pauls First Letter to the Corinthians: Verses 1-13

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.

But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Our text is a very popular passage of Scripture. It speaks about love, and does so beautifully. No matter that what it describes is something that is scarcely, if ever, seen among mankind, it is a wonderful ideal! It is often used as a wedding Scripture by people who do not understand it, and who have no intention of following what it teaches. It just sounds good. I would like to lead you through just what it says - and what it says is what St. Paul calls "A still more excellent way". It is the way of Agape love. ( Agape (Ancient Greek: ἀγάπη, agápē) is "love: the highest form of love, especially brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God.")    The meditation theme is "The Best Way."

The first thing our text says, in the first three verses is, "without Love, I am nothing!" None of the things I can do have any power or importance without love. Hearing this, there is something within each of us that cries out, "Surely, we say, something I do counts, somehow." But Paul says that without love, the sort of love that God has and shows toward us, none of it matters - it is useless and possibly even counter-productive. Even the best we have and do and intend is nothing without a genuine, God-like love.

Paul starts with speaking in tongues - both those languages that can be understood by men and those languages that only angels understand. Tongues alone mean nothing. Without love, all the words we can say in any language in which we may say them are no more than an irritating gong or discordant cymbals.

"Surely," you say, "if I have the learned all of the doctrines, then I am at least part way there." Paul says, "No." He says that I am nothing even if I know everything, and even if God Himself speaks through me, if I do not have love. You need Prophecy and Knowledge but they are not enough by themselves. They are not even significant without love.

Faith!, you say. If I have faith I am safe because we are saved by grace through faith. But Paul says that even this is not enough! Even if I have enough faith to move mountains by telling them to get up and move, I am nothing. Faith is not genuine, saving faith without love.

So, what I say and what I know and what I believe is not enough. Surely, if I add my actions, and they were consistent with faith and all, then I am secure!

Once again, the Apostle Paul writes that it profits me nothing. Even if I give all of my possessions to help the poor, or suffer horribly for the faith - he says - deliver my body to be burned - It does no good. I can still miss the mark. I can still fail to be a genuine Christian. Note that even with the evident and abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit, without love I have nothing and I am nothing. I must have love.

Then, Paul takes over four verses to picture this love for us. He does it positively and negatively - what love is like, and what love is not like. This is a picture of how love looks in real life.

Let me take the negative first. These are words used to describe what love is not like. If you see these things in yourself or others, then what you are seeing is not love, nor is the one doing them acting on love.

Love is not jealous. We don̓t envy one another from love.

Love does not brag. And, following that thought, love is not arrogant.

Love does not acting unbecomingly. What a broad and comprehensive term: "unbecomingly." It means to say that love is attractive, not ugly, not repulsive.

Love does not seek its own. That means that love is not self-centered. Putting number one first, often thought to be 'only reasonable', is not part of love. The one who does it is not acting in love when he or she does it.

Love is not provoked. Following in the same sort of thought, love does not take into account a wrong suffered. That means that love is forgiving.

And finally, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. We take no pleasure in sin or wrong of any kind. It seems to me that this means that gossip cannot be part of love, or flow out of one who is acting in love. It also seems that we could not find pleasure or entertainment in unrighteousness, if we are living in and from love. That suggests that this kind of love limits our entertainment options a bit.

On the other hand, Paul tells us what love does look like. In many ways, it is the mirror image of the negative. For example, love is patient. If love is not centered in self but it is focused on others, patience makes perfect sense. It is willing to wait for the beloved to produce what it seeks, and to forgive its failures, when needed.

Love is kind. This needs no comment.

Love rejoices in the truth. It rejoices in any and every truth, because the Beloved is the way, the Truth, and the life.

Love bears all things. This requires patience and forgiveness - and stamina.

Love believes all things. This does not mean that love is gullible, it means that love is trusting. We tend to take people at their word, unless we have good reason to doubt it in each specific case.

Love hopes all things. That means that love works through faith. We always look for the best, if we are acting on love. Parents who love their children always look for the best, even when they have a long history of getting much less. They look for what they hope for.

Love endures all things. Love is not easy to destroy. Affection and physical attraction are fragile things, but love is enduring and durable. That is because affection and physical attraction focus on the one loving, and true agape love focuses on the one loved.

Finally, Paul sums all of these qualities up, sort of, and says, Love never fails. Love never fails? But who could be like this? Who could love like this?

The answer is that Paul is not writing about us, first and foremost. He is writing about God's love! He is writing about real love not the sin corrupted, pathetic and pale copy of love that we prattle about in our love songs and write about in our love stories and get all warm and sentimental about in the movies. God is telling us about His love for us, and the love that He would have us live out for one another in Jesus Christ. We each have it in us, because God gives it to us - pours His own on us, and installs it within us along with His Holy Spirit when He makes us His own! This is the still more excellent way of which Paul writes.

Paul then seems to break away from this love talk to speak about other things, like how we perceive reality. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. It is only an appearance that the topic has changed. He is still talking about love and us and the best way. He is challenging the readers - and you and I  - to think like grown-ups, to see clearly, and to face the truth. Well may we ask "What is the truth about this agape love?"

The first truth is that agape love is an act of will, not primarily emotion. Your emotions will be involved, but they are incidental. This is a love of the intellect and will. It is a love which sees the beloved in all their glory and all their shame, honestly. Such agape love then sees the need of the one who is loved and intelligently plans to meet that need, or those needs if they are multiple. Then, the one who loves with this agape love puts that plan into action without regard for circumstances - or personal risk or cost, for the sake of the other, the beloved!

The love Paul was writing about is not simply "just like God̓s love for us," it is the love which God has for us and which He has poured out on us! The only way we can have this love for others is if God pours His love into us until it runs over and flows out of us. He loved us. He saw our need in sin, and planned to do the impossible, because that is what we needed.

He planned to punish sin, and thereby remain just and holy, and still rescue us from the guilt and punishment of our sins. He sent His Son to be One of us, God in human flesh and fully human while still fully God. They said it couldn't be done. They said nobody could do it. It is a logical impossibility. But God tells us in Isaiah 55, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.'" God found a way to do what many, even many of those who call themselves Christians, said was impossible - still say is impossible.

God sent His Son to be born of a woman, and to keep the Law of God perfectly, and then Jesus died for us, taking the wrath of God against our sins on Himself, and dying the death we have earned, so that He could forgive us and give to all who believe eternal life with Him. That is the love about which Paul writes. Without this love we are nothing but death even as we live. Without this love flowing through us, we are nothing no matter what we do.

Agape is essential and it is eternal. We need it from God, and God has given us His love. If we are God̓s, this love must be part of us for God is love. We cannot be anything or do anything that is significant or lasting or valuable without this love. A true Christian is filled with this love and lives out this love - not as an emotion, but as a Spirit given, and Spirit worked act of both the intellect and of the will. Being a Christian is therefore a deliberate, not a natural, "doing what comes naturally" kind of thing.

Word and Sacrament play into our living out of this love very powerfully because -- God is the Source and the Power behind this love for us, and behind this love in us, and behind this love from us. He works in us through the Word and Sacraments, and only through the Word and Sacraments, so if we want this love for us or in us, we must come faithfully to the Word and Sacraments - the visible signs of the love of God.

Friends in Christ, having received from the riches of God's love, we calls s to be like Him. To act like Him, with patience, forgiveness, and endurance. To interact with others, our neighbours, in mind, with them as the objects of our love. That is clear when Jesus commands His disciples to love one another. This is not a  "we must love" command as though it is a law, a rule to be followed. Paul is telling us that this love within us is so powerful and pervasive that it will transform those in whose hearts and souls it rests.

The message of this lovely and popular passage of Scripture is the best way - of love, Real, Christian love. Anything else is a deception. Jesus said all of this more simply, and just as beautifully in John 13:35, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Amen

The love and grace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Epiphany 3 - 24 January 2016 - Year C

Epiphany 3 - 24 January 2016 - Year C

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 4th Verse of the Gospel according to St Luke; Verses 14 - 30

"14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “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 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[b] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28  All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way."

There are still a few weeks remaining in the Epiphany season.  As we come to this part of the season, we notice a sad change in the tone of the Gospel for the day.  Epiphany begins as the magi rejoice in the star as it leads them to the new born king.  The Gospel for First Sunday after Epiphany gives an account of the witness of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ Baptism: “This is my beloved Son.”  Last week, we have the joyful epiphany of Jesus to the disciples and the servants as Jesus rescues a wedding from social embarrassment by converting more than a hundred gallons of water into wine.  So far everything is great.  Jesus is a smash hit.

Something changed when Jesus returned to Nazareth.  Today’s Gospel informs us that many people became angry when Jesus revealed Himself.  The people in Nazareth were so angry that they were ready to toss Jesus over a cliff.  Normally, tossing someone over a cliff was a prelude to stoning.  The stones did more damage to the victim when they were thrown down from a height.  That, and the wild scavengers could come and feast on the body without endangering the town after the victim was dead.  What did Jesus do that made the gentle-folk of Nazareth want to kill Him?

The context of today’s Gospel tells us that the events in today’s Gospel happened a short time after Jesus was baptised in the Jordan and then tempted in the wilderness.  Although He has a following, He has not yet officially called anyone to be an Apostle.  On the other hand, He has been authorised to read and teach in the synagogues.  So Jesus returned to Nazareth as the young rabbi who was causing quite a stir in the rest of Galilee.  It was very natural for the synagogue ruler to invite this young rabbi to teach on the Sabbath.

According to the lectionary, the reading for the day was from Isaiah 61. [Isaiah 61:1,2a] The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour.  If you examine the context of these words in Isaiah, you will notice that even though Isaiah ministered over 700 years before Jesus was even born, He still followed Jesus’ instructions to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  Isaiah has just finished an account of the many sins of Israel.  He has called them to repent.  Then, in chapter 60, Isaiah begins a proclamation of forgiveness.  The captives and the prisoners in this prophecy are not just the captives and prisoners of the political enemies of Israel, but they are also the captives and prisoners of sin.  So the words that Jesus read that day were from the middle of that great proclamation of the forgiveness of sin that Isaiah proclaimed to all of Israel.  So, the people gathered in that synagogue were waiting for Jesus to explain this prophecy that the Holy Spirit gave to Isaiah over 700 years ago.

[Jesus] rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  Basically, Jesus pointed to Himself as the fulfilment of this prophecy of forgiveness.  Jesus is the bearer of good news.  Jesus is the binder of the broken heart.  Jesus is the liberator of the captive.  Jesus is the opener of the prison.  Jesus is the bringer of the Year of Jubilee.  Jesus identified Himself as the forgiveness that Isaiah, by the power of the Holy Spirit, spoke of in his message to Israel.  Jesus identified Himself as the Kingdom of God come down to earth to save people from sin.

It is not surprising that the people in the synagogue were blown away by Jesus’ words.  You can’t just walk into the synagogue and claim to be the fulfilment of prophecy.  If you make a false claim be the fulfilment of prophecy, you have just committed blasphemy.  Blasphemy is a stoning offence.  It is not surprising that the people in the synagogue were astonished at what Jesus said.

As bewildered as the people are, Jesus has not finished His sermon.  His teaching about prophecy was not complete.  Prophecy is not only fulfilled, but it is also rejected.  All the prophets of the Bible had two characteristics: 1). they spoke the truth that God gave to them; 2). their audience rejected the truth that God gave to them.  In fact, most of the prophets died because they spoke the truth of God’s Word to the people.

Jesus gave two examples: Elijah and Elisha.  Elijah stayed with a Gentile widow during a great famine.  Elisha healed a general of the Gentile Syrians who were the sworn enemies of Israel..  In both cases Israel rejected the prophets of God, and in both cases God sent His prophets to bless Gentiles.

After Jesus taught about rejection, the people of Nazareth demonstrated His teaching.  Instead of recognising their own hardness of heart and repenting, they acted to kill Jesus.  That is when they tried to throw Him from the cliff.

Let’s just stop for a moment and think about this.  Jesus preached a two part sermon.  In the first part of the sermon, He claimed to be the Kingdom of God come down to earth.  In the second part of the sermon, He spoke of the historical rejection of the prophets.  Which part made the people angry enough to kill?

Anyone who lied about fulfilling prophecy deserved to die by stoning.  The people who heard Jesus’ sermon should have investigated Him based on His claim to be the fulfilment of the prophecy.  If Jesus can provide evidence that He really is the fulfilment of the prophecy, then the people should fall on their faces and worship Him.  If Jesus can’t do that, then stoning is the correct response.  Never the less, at Jesus’ claim to fulfil the prophets, the people only got bewildered.

On the other hand, when Jesus reminded them of the well documented sins of their ancestors, they were ready to kill Him.  The very scrolls in that synagogue held the record that what Jesus said was the truth.  The facts of this rejection were regularly taught in all the synagogues.

The failure of the people of Nazareth was that they didn’t care that Jesus might have committed blasphemy.  Instead, they were angry that Jesus had told them the truth about their own sin.

This problem is not restricted to Nazareth.  It is part of our sinful nature to be quite tolerant of people who make some really outrageous claims for their spirituality.  On the other hand, we are ready to go nuclear when someone points out the obvious truth of our own sin, especially if that sin is one of our favourite things.  Our sinful nature wants to reject the very Word of God when we hear the clear proclamation of our deepest, darkest, most favourite sin.

It is a very sad thing to reject God’s message of sin in our lives.  Rejecting God’s message of sin means that we also reject God’s message of salvation.  As the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write to Timothy, [1 Timothy 1:15] “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  If we say that we are not sinners, then we are saying that Jesus is not for us.  The true heart of the Gospel message is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and you qualify.

Jesus was telling the truth when He claimed to be the fulfilment of the prophets.  All we need do is think back to His baptism.  There the Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove as an exact fulfilment of the words of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.”  God the Father also witnessed to Jesus as the fulfilment of the prophets as He said to Jesus, [Luke 3:22] “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

Jesus wants to give us the gifts that He purchased for us with His holy life, His suffering, and His death.  He wants to give the gifts that He authenticated with His resurrection from the dead.  He wants to tell us how His death on the cross has freed us from our captivity, opened our eyes to His salvation, and liberated us from sin’s oppression.

He comes to us as He came to the people of Nazareth in their synagogue.  He has given us His teachings in the words of the Bible.  He has promised that when we hear His words, the Holy Spirit will work in us to establish and strengthen our belief in Him.  He has promised to put the very name of God on us in Holy Baptism.  He has promised to come to us in His very body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.  The gifts that Jesus offered to the people in Nazareth will be ours.

Jesus truly is the fulfilment of God’s promises.  He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah.  He has preached the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  He has shown us the light of His salvation.  With His life, suffering, and death on the cross, He has freed those oppressed by sin.  With His resurrection, He offers the Lord’s favour to us.  He gives these things to us through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith.  God has promised all these things to us and today they are fulfilled in our hearing.  Amen

The love and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Epiphany 2 –17 January 2016 – Year C

Epiphany 2 –17 January 2016 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for this meditation is written in the 2^nd Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 1 – 11.

¹On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." ⁴"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." ⁵His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."  ⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. ⁸Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, ⁹and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." ¹¹This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”

Let us pray: Father, may your Word of truth lead us to recognise the signs of Jesus visual presence in our lives. We pray this in His name. Amen.

The account of Jesus at the wedding feast at Cana is often used as an example of the high place Jesus gives to the sanctity of marriage or how he often gives much more than we sinners either desire or deserve. Now, whilst it is true that Jesus does honour marriage – after all, He is the one who instituted and sanctified marriage – and while it is also true that Jesus gives to all his creation, both the evil and the good, much more than they deserve (like life and salvation when what we really deserve is death and condemnation) – John does not tell this story of Jesus at the wedding feast for those reasons. John relates what happened that day for one purpose and one purpose alone; as written in John 20:31: "But these are written so that you may believe that, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name". That, is to say, the wedding in Cana is one of those moments when Jesus gives us signs that reveal him as our salvation.

John tells us in verse 11; "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him" But John does not speak of signs as we think of them. Often, we think of signs as symbols, or something that symbolically stands in the place of something else. For John, this is not the case. For John, the Word sign really means something that points to, or is somehow linked with, something else; quite literally, the Greek word that we translate as "sign" here means "mystery." In the same way, ''mystery'' in Latin is translated as "sacrament" A sacrament is a mystery and a mystery is a sign that points to something or reveals something hidden from ordinary sight.

So these signs in Holy Scripture reveal something that we wouldn’t otherwise know or recognise unless someone or something revealed them to us. A sign is something like a gift waiting to be opened. Because we are weak in our faith, God gives signs as something visible for our faith to hold on to. So it is that the Lord's holy gifts of Baptism and his Supper, manifested in lowly water, simple bread, and wine, are signs, mysteries, Sacraments. They point to Jesus because they are inseparably linked to Jesus. They are signs of Christ Jesus' real bodily presence among us as Creator and Redeemer. In these signs we experience the death Jesus died to give us life.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that every time Jesus performs a miracle we have a new sacrament. What I am saving is that Jesus' miracles are sacramental in nature. They are sacramental signs that point to him and reveal him as the Son of God. These signs point to spiritual truth of the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One who took on our flesh, lived among us, and experienced everything that we experience. They reveal Jesus, who, while fully human and like us in every way, except without sin, is also fully God. These miracles are signs, visible sacramental displays that reveal Jesus for who he really is, namely, the Word made flesh, who created all things and who upholds all things in himself. They reveal the glory of the one and only Son of God, Jesus Christ.

This is how Jesus has chosen to reveal himself to us and to come to us, in signs in which his Word resides; but there is a problem. The problem is not in the signs. The problem is that, these are not the signs that we would choose. We are by human nature an evil and faithless generation; we seek after all kinds of signs, just not the signs that Jesus has given to us. Therefore, we would seek Jesus in heartfelt emotions, which would lift us to heaven so that we can feel his presence; and yet, we often despise and overlook his very presence among us in the water, Word, bread, and wine. We pray for signs from God instead of relying on the signs he has already provided. We are afraid that Jesus will not do what he has promised unless we see or experience some sort of miraculous sign.

Because of that fear, because we can't find comfort in what Jesus has already given, we often seek Jesus, by trying to earn our way into Heaven (the legalistic method – referred to a the Law). Friends, the Law is empty, and regardless of how hard we try to be perfect in God’s sight, we fail – Our efforts can not save us; they can only accuse and destroy. We, like the wedding guests at Cana, have drunk this inferior wine to the dregs, and still we are not satisfied. The jars are empty, and all we find is pain, despair, sickness, and death.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came to fulfil the Law, to pay the price for us. Just as there were six jars to be filled, so Jesus on the sixth day of the week fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets. Just as mankind was created on the sixth day, so the Creator re‑creates his creation on the sixth day with his holy body and blood. On the sixth day, Jesus died on his cross and was placed in his grave. It is finished. His hour had come. Our Saviour became the sacrificial lamb as a substitute for us.

The very good news is that this is not the end of the story. The One who has died is no longer dead; he lives! The new and greater Jonah, after spending three days in the belly of the earth, gives us his greatest sign. The grave is empty. He is not there. Jesus lives! He has filled the Law to the brim, He paid our price for our Sin; and now our cup runs over with eternal forgiveness and life with Him. He replaces the Law and the old covenant with a new and better wine, the wine of Grace! We are not purified by the Law, but by his blood. The risen body of Christ is the beginning of the new order of things. In him and through him, creation is renewed and revitalised. Although this renewal is perceived now only by faith, we see signs of it in the miracles and the Sacraments Jesus has given to us.

Jesus continues to provide, as he does this day, signs that point to him. He has provided to us mysteries in the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. There, Jesus is hidden in lowly water and simple bread and wine. In these miracles, he is revealed to us; He brings us His means of Grace! In the Sacraments, Jesus, who revealed at Cana that he is Lord of the elements, continues to reveal himself as Lord over all creation.

In the waters of Baptism, Jesus makes us his own. It is not that the waters of Baptism are more noble than plain water; in fact, they are plain water, except that Jesus has added his Word and commandment to it. As he turned the water into wine, with his Word and by his command, he also gave water the power to redeem us into eternity. As it is written in 1 Pet 3:21, "Baptism ... now saves you" and in Titus 3:5 Baptism is a "washing of regeneration" – Baptism is a re‑creation of that which was dead in sin. Baptism re‑creates us in newness of life in Christ Jesus.

In the same way, the Lord's Supper is a sign of our redemption in Jesus Christ. As written in 1 John 1:7, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. The miracle of Jesus' true body and true blood under the elements of bread and wine reveals the mystery of our salvation in a blessed and holy sacramental union with Jesus. It is as though Jesus takes us as his bride and the two become one flesh.

On that day at the wedding celebration in Cana, our Lord revealed who he is, to us and to the world. In "this, the first of his signs" (v 11), Jesus points us to the restoration of creation that he would accomplish on the great third day, Easter morning. Through his first miracle, indeed, through all his miracles, Jesus manifested his glory and revealed to us a foretaste of what was to come: the restoration of our life in our God as it is meant to be.

Friends, Jesus has given to us a sign. At Cana, at Calvary, in the font, and on the altar, Jesus gives to us a sign of his glory; and his glory revealed is also a sign: a sign of his love for us. At Cana, in the font, and on the altar, our Lord has given us signs of the renewed creation won for us on the cross at Calvary. These signs are renewed here every time we gather in worship. During every Holy Baptism; Every time we come to the communion rail, there is a sign, a mystery, a Sacrament revealing the glory of Jesus Christ. Here Jesus reveals that his life and death are ours. Every time we come to the Lord’s table Jesus reveals that his body was given for us and his blood was shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus reveals to us his glory, the glory of his death for our righteousness. This Divine Service is his wedding party given for us. He is the groom, the wine steward, and the wine. We are the bride and the honoured guest.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, put aside your doubts, be uplifted in faith at the very presence of Jesus, let us heed the advice of Mary, "Do whatever he tells you"  - Jesus says, "Take eat, take drink, for in this humble bread and wine I have hidden myself to give you life." Do this and hear Jesus say, "I forgive you all your sins."  Amen

The grace and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Baptism of our Lord – 10 January 2016 – Year C

Baptism of our Lord – 10 January 2016 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 3^rd Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 15 – 22.

¹⁵ As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹ But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰ added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

When the disciples were going about the process of replacing Judas the betrayer, they wanted a man who had witnessed Jesus’ work.  One of the things this does for us is define the beginning and end of Jesus public, earthly ministry.  Peter said, ^{[Acts 1:21-22] 21} So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”  So we see that as far as the early church was concerned, Jesus’ public ministry began when John baptised Him and it ended when Jesus ascended into heaven.  Today’s gospel tells us about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as He was baptised.

The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us something about John baptising Jesus and although John the Evangelist does not specifically tell of the baptism itself, he does tell how John the Baptiser testified about the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on Jesus.  So, directly or indirectly all four Gospels and the book of Acts tell us about John baptising Jesus.

During this season of Epiphany, we consider the things that God showed to His people.  It is not too hard to figure out what God wants us to see in today’s Gospel: … the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  That should get your attention.  It is not every day that God opens up the sky and proclaims something to us.  It is not every day that the Holy Spirit takes on the form of a dove and flies down to rest on someone.  In fact, I think it would be safe to say that this is the only time that all these things happened together in the entire history of the world.

Think about it.  Today’s Gospel tells us that the crowds wonder if John is the Christ.  They are ready.  All the prophecies have come true.  All that’s left is for the Christ to actually show up.  John is out there by the Jordan saying, “I’m not Him, but He is coming.  Prepare the way for the Lord.”  Then one day the Lord Himself steps down into the Jordan and tells John, “Baptise me.”  After the Baptism, the sky opens up, the Holy Spirit comes down, and there is this voice.  Now that really is an Epiphany !!

The wonderful thing about this epiphany is that we get to see our Lord and Saviour beginning His public ministry as He battles to take back what is rightfully His. 

God created all things and therefore all things belong to Him.  When He created humanity, He said, ^{[Genesis 1:28]} “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  With these words God established humanity as His stewards over all of creation.  He established Adam and Eve as the lord and lady of all they surveyed.  Everything was perfect.

Then the devil spoke with the voice of the serpent and asked, “Did God really say …” God had given everything except the fruit of the one tree to Adam and Eve and yet Satan convinced Eve that God had held something back – that God did not have their best interest at heart.  Satan leveraged that seed of doubt until both Adam and Eve lost confidence in God and ate the fruit. 

On that day, the universe changed forever.  The relationship between God and Man was closed.  The relationship between Man and woman was closed.  A wave of sin swept through the entire universe just as a large tidal wave sweeps over an island.  Mankind had turned the keys of the worldly kingdom over to the devil.  From that time forward our enemy and his allies have had their way with us.  As we say in the order of baptism: The Word of God … teaches that we are all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own.  We would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation.

At Christmas we celebrated God’s action to infiltrate this world and take it back.  He entered this world as a baby – as one of us.  He stepped onto the battlefield as a baby in a manger and then grew up to be a man.  Now, here, at his baptism, God the Father proclaimed His intention to all who were there with John the Baptiser at the Jordan.

We should  get all excited about this epiphany.  Jesus is on the move.  The people who were there witnessed the inauguration of Christ’s public ministry.  The One for whom they have waited, has arrived.  This is a time of celebration; heralding bugles and drums, maybe even some fireworks!!

There are however, other eyes that see this epiphany.  There are those who have dreaded this day.  God made a promise way back in Genesis, ^{[Genesis 3:15]}  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  The servants of the enemy also see this epiphany.  They are the servants of the one who is in danger of getting his head crushed.  For these servants, it is time to go on red alert.  The Christ is about to start His offensive.

Although we do not read the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness until Lent, it actually takes place right after Jesus’ baptism.  The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to do battle with the enemy and the devil wasted no time in hitting Jesus with every devious resource at his disposal.  The Holy Spirit inspired the writer to the Hebrews to say that Jesus is the ^{[Hebrews 4:15]} one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  This teaches us that Jesus endured every temptation that the devil and all his allies have ever used against any person in any place and at any time.  The devil pulled out all the stops because he knew that if he can get Jesus to sin just once, the plan of salvation would lie in ruins.

Yet this sentence from Hebrews tells us that although Jesus was tempted as we are, He was different than us in that He did not sin.  This meant that Jesus’ baptism was the opposite of our baptisms.  We enter the waters of baptism covered in sin and leave those waters covered in God’s Righteousness.  Jesus entered the water covered in righteousness and left the water covered in sin – our sin.  Jesus began to carry the burden of our sin at His baptism.  As we pray in the order of baptism: Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.  As Jesus went down into the water, He was the only holy man on the earth.  As he came up from the water, He was the greatest sinner on the earth – not with His own sin, but with the sin of every man, woman, and child who has lived or ever will live.  He carried it all.

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit acknowledged the sacrifice Jesus made as he took our sin onto Himself and clothed us in His righteousness.  When Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Christ’s mission to open heaven is the will and work of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit puts in a rare appearance in physical form – like a dove.  The Father declares His pleasure with the Son.  While Jesus is the member of the Trinity who became flesh and died on the cross, we see in this reading that all three members of the Trinity are actively involved in opening the way to heaven.

Jesus was a marked man after His baptism.  He was marked as the target of Satan’s temptation.  He was also marked as the target of God’s wrath.  He was marked as the one who would open heaven for all believers.

Jesus endured the full fire of Satan’s temptation.  He endured not only the temptation in the wilderness, but Satan never really stopped tempting Jesus.  He even tempted him through His friends and followers.  Jesus endured these temptations, as we never will.  Jesus’ perfect perseverance under Satan’s fiery temptation was part of the mission to open heaven for us.

In spite of the fact that Jesus never sinned, He was the target of God’s wrath – a wrath that was so severe that Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”  Jesus suffered the original baptism of fire in our place.  He fulfilled John’s prophecy of baptism by fire in order to open heaven for us.

Jesus blazed a trail through death that leads to life.  He conquered death and rose from the dead.  Through His triumph, the way to heaven is open.

Here at His baptism, Jesus took our place under the burden of our sin.  As our substitute, He carried out God’s plan perfectly.  The mission that Jesus began at His baptism was successful.  He opened a way to heaven.  He offers to join us to Himself through baptism.  The Holy Spirit gives us the faith that receives that offer.  God the Father adopts us into His family by that faith.  When the time comes for us to leave this world, the heavens will open, the angels will carry us home and we will hear the Father say, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Amen

The love and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen