Pentecost 20 – 2 October 2016 – Year C

Pentecost 20 – 2 October 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 17^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Like: Verses 5 - 10

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷ “Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down at table’? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

This text can be difficult to understand. The disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith, and He says if you had faith equal to a mustard seed in size you would be able with your words say to his tree, be uprooted and throw yourself in the sea.

Jesus then tells a parable about a servant doing his duty without seeking any praise or favours. As we have experienced, Jesus’ parables are lessons to us on how to live our lives as a Christian; and in five short verses, Jesus challenges us. Do we have a seed of faith? – Are we humbled and grateful for His free gift of salvation?

“Faith” is a “power indicator word” that has been watered down by being constantly used ‘out of context’. Picture yourself in a city and a man is about to walk across a tightrope strung between two skyscrapers. The promotions manager calls to all the spectators “who believes this man can walk across safely to the other side?” – about 90% of the spectators put up their hands. The promoter then says “who volunteers to sit on this man’s shoulders while he does it?” – Not a hand in sight!! ‘Belief’ is one thing, but ‘Faith’ calls on the individual to act out their belief. You see a Christian must not just talk the talk, but must walk the walk. Even then Jesus is telling us that  ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

How faith is applied in service to our fellow human beings, is what Jesus is talking about. A servant’s task is never done, as Jesus explains. The servant comes in from a full day’s work in the field not to eat right away, but to serve the master’s meal. He is doing what is expected of him. It must be understood that the actual context of this reading is not about the master giving compliments, but in doing his duties serving the master the slave is not putting his master in debt to him. In fact in the context that we are the slaves and Jesus is the master, Jesus has paid the ultimate debt for us and given us the real gift of eternal salvation. If the disciples wanted to ask for an increase of anything, it should not have been faith, but the energy to apply the little faith they have in ongoing, never-ending service.

From a human viewpoint we could expect that Jesus would be happy to receive the request for more faith, but His response to the disciples is that they have not yet begun to understand the real nature of faith. The original Greek Biblical text is grammatically complex in that the first part of verse 6 actually implies the disciples do have the faith, and the second part of the verse implies that the disciples have not yet even begun to understand the real nature of faith they have.

The disciples assume that to do the work as Jesus teaches, they will need an ever-increasing amount of faith, but Jesus tells them that they need to understand that faith allows God to work in a person’s life in ways that defy ordinary human experience.  This is not about performing extraordinary miracles, but that with even the smallest amount of faith, God can help them to live by his teachings on discipleship.

In the understanding of faith I will quote the historically famous theologian Dr. Martin Luther:

“Faith is not what some people think it is. Their human dream

is a delusion. Because they observe that faith is not followed by

good works or a better life, they fall into error, even though they

speak and hear much about faith. ``Faith is not enough,'' they

say, ``You must do good works, you must be pious to be saved.''

They think that, when you hear the gospel, you start working,

creating by your own strength a thankful heart which says, ``I

believe.'' That is what they think true faith is. But, because

this is a human idea, a dream, the heart never learns anything

from it, so it does nothing and reform doesn't come from this

`faith,' either.

Instead, faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives

new birth from God. (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us

completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits,

our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with

it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this

faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn't

stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone

asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without

ceasing.

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of

God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.

Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy,

joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The

Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you

freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve

everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who

has shown you such grace. Thus, it is just as impossible to

separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from

fire!”  ^{(An excerpt from "An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans," – Luther 1522)}

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer, but he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept soundly. The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well.

The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man’s words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. So when the wind blew, he was not afraid. He could sleep in peace.

There is no confusion here; ^{Hebrews 11:1} tells us that faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” This is summed up in the promises contained in the Hoy Scriptures. Our Father in Heaven has created us and led the people of the Old Testament lovingly through countless human pitfalls by His Prophets. Our Saviour, Jesus God’s Son one with God in the Triune Godhead redeemed us when He came to earth as a human, lived a perfect life as recorded in the New Testament Scriptures, and willingly died a horrific death on a cross as full payment for our sins. On the third day He overcame death and the Devil that we may have eternal life. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent to forever sanctify us that we may be as one with God into eternity.

This is the plan that the creator of the universe has had for us since before creation. He knows us, each and every one of us and wants only for us to receive the free gift of salvation and eternal life He alone has earned for us. There can be no doubt that where our human weakness fails us, our Triune God is there to guide us and forgive us. Armed with this sure truth; we are able to boldly step out in faith, as small as it is, and let our Lord and Saviour work His miracles in our lives.

^{Romans 1:16-17} “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” 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

Pentecost 19 – 25 September 2016 – Year C

Pentecost 19 – 25 September 2016 – Year C

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

 

The Holy Gospel reading is written in the 16^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 19 – 31

To put this reading in context, Jesus had been travelling with His Disciples and a large crowd was following and he had been healing and doing some intensive teaching; mainly using parables, then he went on to tell them about The Rich Man and Lazarus:

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰ And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹ who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

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

As you probably know, the Bible readings for the church worship services run in a three yearly cycle – Years A (Matthew), Year B (Mark), and Year C (Luke) and John’s Gospel is used from time to time throughout the three years.

This year is Year C and so since Advent 1 in 2015 we have been listening to Luke’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus and all the associated events.

Now Luke was a bit different to the other Gospel writers – He was a Greek and therefore a Gentile (non Jew), and he was also a Physician, a man of science. So what we get from Luke is a scientific factual account that is in no way influenced by Jewish cultural preconceptions. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts, in fact he often travelled with Paul, which was good for Paul because he was fairly forthright in his manner which caused him to be beaten, stoned and nearly drowned; It was good to have a Doctor around in those times! Research has told us that Luke’s written accounts have proved to be historically accurate.

I personally really like reading Luke because he focuses on Jesus’ most effective teaching method, the Parables – did you know that there are 26 parables of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel? The best way to describe a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning”. Jesus used parables to demonstrate how a Christian should live, and how best to deal with the daily challenges of life. Things like humility, love, forgiveness, faith, equality etc. are clearly demonstrated in parables such as the ‘The Prodigal Son’, ‘The Good Samaritan”, ‘The Unjust Manager’ etc. Jesus used them because they were stories that people could relate to; that they could understand.

The problem of course is that we as humans are not very good listeners. We hear these parables and they make perfect sense to us, and we resolve to “take the message on board” in our daily life, but when the time comes, somehow we just don’t want to let go; we want to have faith! ….. but we get angry … or we just want to fix the problem now …. Or we can’t muster up the faith to place it in Jesus hands completely! We pray, we do pray … but sadly we often pray that God will make it happen just the way we want it to happen.

As regular church attenders we hear these messages often; for some of us we have been hearing them for many years. I often think that Jesus must be thinking what I hear parents echo to their children every day “How many times do I have to tell you!!” – or even more threatening “If you don’t do as your told, you are going to be punished!!”

Would Jesus say that to us? Would Jesus put a message like that out into this world He conjointly created and loves unconditionally?

The story that Jesus relates in our Gospel message for today is not a parable! There is no “there was once a man” scenario – nothing hypothetical – No; The Rich man is the Rich man; Lazarus is Lazarus and Abraham is Abraham. Jesus story is simple really – Lazarus went to Heaven and the Rich man went to hell. The hell Jesus tells us about is so bad that something as simple as a drop of cool water is beyond reach. In fact Abraham tells us that the chasm between Heaven and hell is forever impassable. Where we end up in eternity is where we stay.

“Hang on” we say – look at this rich man! He was probably a typical fat cat that is greedy and robs from the poor. I mean after all he lived in luxury and he did not care for anyone or anything – look what he did to poor old Lazarus – I mean I know it’s wrong to say, but sometimes those type of people deserve what is coming to them! Isn’t that right?

There is another side to all this. If we lived in the times of Lazarus and the Rich man in a Jewish society, we would be saying “The rich man is obviously blessed by God, look how He has rewarded him with such wealth” and “Look at that dog Lazarus, he lives in squalor; he or his family have sinned against God and he is getting his just reward”. In fact when Lazarus died they probably threw his body on the local dump, whilst the rich man’s funeral would have been a lavish three-day affair that people talked about for years to come.

The world’s popular opinion at any one time tends to influence the way we think; the Pharisees had their world view as we do today and it’s human nature to make worldly judgements accordingly. Jesus tells this story that we may think about life beyond this world into eternity.

The facts are that the Bible tells us nothing at all about the life and times of the rich man or Lazarus. All we know was that one was rich and the other poor; one lived in a mansion and the other sat and begged at the gate of that mansion. No one really knows why Lazarus went to Heaven and the Rich man went to hell.

What we do know, and very few preachers of the Gospel want to announce for fear of upsetting someone, is that it is well within the power and authority of our Great Triune God to condemn souls to the depths of hell. That is borne out in Jesus’ message to us today and also in numerous passages of Holy Scripture as written in the Bible.

When I was Executive Officer of Finke River Mission in Central Australia, I would volunteer to accompany the Alice Springs Pastor to do Religious Education at a local Primary School. The Primary senior classes did a one-day block twice per year; so it was a great change for me. At one of these sessions, Peter my associate stood in front of approximately 80 grade seven students and held out a 50 cent coin in his hand and said “anyone who wants this can come and get it”. No one moved, there was dead silence – Peter said “last offer – does anyone want it?” – finally one young fella called out “What’s the catch?” – no one took the money. We spent the next two hours talking about God’s offer of free grace, and used the offer of the money as an example of stepping up and making a choice. When we finished that session Peter asked if there were any questions – same little bloke called out “Do that thing with the money again!!”

Have no doubts, it’s true, the existence of Satan and Hell is real, as Christians we should acknowledge that; if it wasn’t then we all believe in vain and ^{1 Corinthians 15:19} “we are of all people most to be pitied.”

I guess you could rightly say that if Hell is real and the rich man was banished to hell into eternity without any real explanation, we may well be treading a fine line between Heaven and Hell as well!

It truly is God’s business alone to determine who goes where into eternity; He knows all the fine print that is far beyond our human understanding, and as a student of the Holy Scriptures I can’t deny that.

Having said that, the real privilege of the pulpit is to fulfill my commitment to preach the good news of the Holy Gospel in all it’s purity and grace; and that is that Jesus Christ is God and he took the form of true man to live on this earth that He, though totally without sin, may take our sin upon Himself and suffer death in our place, that we may be declared eternally forgiven. On the third day after His death He rose from the grave and won for us victory over death and the devil into eternity and from there He ascended into Heaven with the promise; ^{Matthew 28:20} “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Further still, in order to save us from our own sinful natures Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, which we receive through Holy Baptism, to bless us, purify us, and make us one with God daily.

This is the free gift, with no strings attached, that our Great Triune God holds out to us today and every day – this is ours to take and to nurture with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist and with His Word as written in the Holy Bible. Our salvation is a gift from God alone, there is nothing we can do to earn it!

Do we, unworthy as we are, choose to gratefully and humbly accept this gift? Do we choose life, peace, love and fulfillment? It is true, in regard to our future into eternity we do have a choice, but in the light of what Jesus has conveyed to us in the reading today how could we not come before Jesus in repentance and choose life?

Jesus calls to us to him in many ways; I take great comfort in the words written in ^{Matthew 11:28} “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Amen

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