Pentecost 5 – 24 June 2018. – Year B

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 4^thChapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 35 – 41:

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

The incident recorded for us in the Gospel we just heard is not just an adventurous story about the Miracle Worker Jesus saving His followers from a watery grave.  It is also full of teachings concerning the nature of Jesus as the Christ and the nature of the sinners in the boat with Him.

The context leading up to the events in today’s Gospel include a very full day of teaching for Jesus. We heard two of the parables He taught in last week’s Gospel.  It’s been a long day.  Jesus is tired.  As is often the case after a busy time of ministry, Jesus decided to get away with His disciples for some much-needed rest and relaxation.  In this case, He elected to take a cruise to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee is about thirteen kilometres across from west to east at its widest point and it’s unique in that it is 207 meters below sea level and is surrounded by mountains. It is also only approximately 40 meters deep. It can be dead calm and a sudden wind howling down from the mountains can whip up the shallow waters into a treacherous whirlpool in minutes.  Ordinarily, the crossing should only take a few hours, but on this crossing, a storm came up.  Several of the disciples were experienced fishermen, they knew how treacherous this lake could be and they were terrified.  This indicates that the storm was fairly powerful.

Where was Jesus during this storm?  He was asleep in the stern of the boat.  He was exhausted from His long day and fell into a sleep so sound that even the storm did not wake Him. Reading this makes me a little envious; how great it would be to lie your head down to rest with a mind totally free of the sleep robbing pains and anxieties that our everyday lives in the world brings us.

Also, the fact that Jesus was asleep is an important demonstration of the nature of the Christ. Other than His actual death on the cross, there is no better demonstration of the humanity of Jesus than the sleep of exhaustion.  Every human being on the planet knows what it is to grow tired and fall asleep.  Here Jesus demonstrates His unity with all people. He needs sleeps like any other human being.

In their panic the disciples wake Him and tell Him of the danger they were in, they are astonished that He also was not in fear for His own life.  We should not assume that the disciples were expecting much from Jesus. After all, he was brought up as a carpenter, not as a sailor.  It is more likely that they were thinking in terms of another set of hands to help bail the water out of the boat or some other similar activity.  It may even be that they just wanted Him to move away from the stern so that they had better access to the rudder.  In any case, they woke Him, but they were not prepared for what happened next.

Jesus woke up and forcefully reprimanded the raging elements.  The word “rebuke” in the text means that Jesus scolded the wind and the water rather harshly.  After that, the wind and the water became calm.

Now, you and I could scold the weather until we were blue in the face and nothing would change. In fact, if we continued in that sort of activity, people might wonder if they should call the authorities to take us somewhere to get a mental checkup.  Jesus, on the other hand, scolded the weather and the weather paid attention.  It paid attention because Jesus is not just your ordinary, sleepy human being.  He is also the God of all creation.  Jesus’ ability to control the wind and the waves with just a word clearly shows that He is God.  So, it is that this one event very clearly demonstrates that Jesus the man is also Jesus the God of creation in one person.

As for the disciples, they were terrified when confronted by the storm, but now they were beside themselves with fear over what they just witnessed.  The original Greek says that ‘they feared a great fear’.  They were in a boat with someone who could talk to the wind and the waves and the wind and the waves would pay attention to what He said.  “Did you see that? Did you see what Jesus just did? Who is this man Jesus? Who is our Master and Teacher?’ They were gobsmacked, blown away, totally overawed – The fact is that they got a brief insight into the realm of power and presence of God that to this day is beyond all human understanding. It’s no wonder that they began to question who their master and teacher really was.

This is one of the themes in Jesus’ life.  People often ask who Jesus is.  Today, we heard that the wind and the waves know who Jesus is.  In other parts of the Gospel account, we learn that diseases, birth defects, and injuries know who Jesus is.  Even the demons know who Jesus is.  But, when it comes to the human beings, Jesus is a great mystery.  They regularly ask, “Who is this?  Where does He get this authority?”  This reminds me of the words that the Holy Spirit spoke through His prophet Isaiah^{. (Isaiah 1:3)}“The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

The terror of God traces its way clear back to Eden.  God called, and Adam replied, ^{(Genesis 3:10)}“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid.” Adam had sinned, and the presence of the holy and almighty God terrified him.  It is the same for all people who see their sin clearly in the holy presence of Almighty God. ^{(Hebrews 10:31)}“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

That is the reason it so important to God’s eternal plan that Jesus be both man and God.  If Jesus were only God, He could not take our place under the law and live a holy life for us.  He also could not suffer the penalty we have earned for our sin. If Jesus were a man, and nothing more, then His perfect life and sacrificial death would earn the salvation of oneand only oneperson.  The rest of the world would be lost.  It is essential for our salvation that Jesus be both God and man.

We need the salvation that Jesus provides because the storm on the Sea of Galilee is just one instance of the many disasters that the sin of humanity has brought into this world. The destruction that storms bring is an expression of the curse that came when sin entered the world.  Our sin not only brings sickness and death to us, but even the world is cursed.  The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the Romans: ^{(Romans 8:22})“Weknow that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now”.Floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, lightening, earthquakes, and all the other natural disasters are the result of the curse that our sin brought into the world.

These natural disasters are not the only storms that our sin has brought into the world. There are other storms in our lives as well.  There are the medical storms of infections, heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer, and so forth.  There are the relational storms of broken families and friendships.  There are the financial storms of business closings and layoffs.  Ultimately, there is the storm of death that comes to all of us sooner or later.  We may try to deny the existence of sin in our lives, but these storms, both private and public, say otherwise.

It is in the incarnation of Jesus Christ – the fact that the Son of God assumed human nature – that we see God’s loving plan to deal with sin.  In Jesus Christ, God assumed human nature to save humans from their nature – their sinful nature.  For our own sin doomed us to perish – not just from this earth, but also from the blessings of God’s presence with us.  ^{(1 John 1:7)}“But the blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin”.Christ’s human nature allowed Him to be the target of God’s wrath as He hung on the cross.  Christ’s Divine nature allowed Him to endure that wrath for all people in all times and places.  So, it is that God took on human flesh and saved us from our sins.

The Disciples and Jesus arrived safely on the far shore of the Sea of Galilee that fear filled night, the incomprehensible power of God put them safely on dry land.  In the same way, we too can have complete confidence that our passage through life on earth will be safely guided as long as we travel with Jesus. With Christ all the storms of our lives will be calmed; all our sins will be forgiven, and His promise of eternal salvation will be realised. Our eternal salvation is guaranteed because in a way that is totally beyond all human understanding, Jesus took all our sins to the grave when He died on the cross and in three days he defeated death for all time for all people when he rose from the grave.  After He conquered death, He rose from death never to die again.  After He rose, He showed Himself to His disciples.  He encouraged them to examine the marks of the cross in His body.  He talked with them and ate with them.  He interacted with them in very human ways. At the same time, locked doors and windows were no barrier to Him as He appeared and disappeared at will.  In His resurrection, He demonstrated that He lives forever as both God and man in one person. We will never have any earthly understanding of this; but by the power of the Holy Spirit infused into our hearts and souls during Holy baptism, we are empowered to live by faith and accept the loving grace our Saviour lavishes upon us.

Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man.  With that combination, we find our full salvation from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  In His humanity, He was able to suffer on the cross in our place and for our good.  In His deity, He was able to defeat our foes and rise from the dead to give us eternal life.  It is in the person of Jesus Christ who both slept and stilled the storm that we have our faith and the promise of eternal life.  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 4 – Year B – 17 Jun 2018

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

Our text for this meditation is written in the 4^th Chapter of the Gospel according to Mark: Verses 26-34 and (Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 and Corinthians 5:1-10)

26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

    You know, if it were up to me, all who visit our church would come back every week and become members. If it were up to me, all the people who join our church would never move away and leave us. If it were up to me, our church would have outgrown the building years ago and be in a bigger one.

But maybe that’s asking too much. Perhaps my goals are too ambitious. So let’s make them a little smaller. 

    If it were up to me, all of us would have a faith so strong it could never be shaken. If it were up to me, all the folks who have fallen away from our church would come back, and all who are experiencing trials and troubles would be made whole and healthy once again. If it were up to me, I would always have the answers to your questions, and always know just the right thing to say when you come to me for comfort or counsel. If it were up to me, you and our church wouldn’t have any problems – no doubts, no fears, no crises, no difficulties, no knock-the-wind-out-of- you surprises. Only joy and peace and all things pleasant and nice. If it were up to me. 

If it were up to me, wouldn’t our church be great? 

    Well actually, no! Because even though I may think such a church would be great, and youmay think such a church would be great, and the world may think such a church would be great – the truth is, we don’t know what makes a church great. The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. Or in other words, it’s not up to me . . . or you. It is God’s Church, and only He can grow it. Only He knows how. 

    And the good news we heard today is that He is. Through the seed of His Word He is working in the world, He is working in the Church, He is working in your friends and family, and He is working in you. Even if you can’t see it, if the growth is all underground. Even if you don’t know how. Even if it seems as if the very opposite of growth is happening. It is God’s kingdom, God’s Church, and He is growing it. 

Which means that God knows when we need peace, and He also knows when we need struggle in order to grow. He grants growth and He prunes. He knows when to make the sun shine, when to make the rain fall, and yes, even when to apply the manure! He makes the seed of His Word grow in His time, not our time. We may want it to grow sooner, and faster, and stronger, and bigger. But we cannot do it. We know not how. But He whose seed it is, knows. And He can grant growth. And His promise to you today is that He will. For as the Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel: “I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” 

    And do we need that promise! For as Christians, and as the Church, how easy it is to lose our confidence in the Lord and in His Word. How easy to think that we know better, that we can do it, or worse, think that we have to do it. Through programs and methods and social sciences. Or, at our Church Synods, by just getting the right people elected or the right resolutions passed. Those things aren’t necessarily bad, but to rely on them . . . that’s when doubt and worry and fear take over; that’s when we become burdened and weary. And not only in the church, but in our lives as Christians. Because we’ve forgotten or lost confidence in His promise: “I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” 

    But did you notice how good that sounded? God is growing His church. And that’s not just now, but think back through the history of God’s people, all the way back to the beginning. We keep messing it up, but did God not do it? Did He not keep and preserve and grow His kingdom? From Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph: did God not do it? From Israel in slavery in Egypt, to the time of the Judges: did God not do it? From David to Solomon to the people of God hauled off as prisoners of war: did God not do it? From a small band of 12 apostles, through persecutions and martyrs, to a little monk in Wittenberg: did God not do it? From communist countries that tried to stamp out the church but couldn’t, to Muslim countries that now try to behead the church, but can’t: is God not doing it? And still today: is God not doing it?   For what credit can you take for being here, at this time, in this place? What credit can we take for this church? Did I give my children faith? Did God not do it? Is He not working? And will He not continue? 

    Now to say that is not an excuse for inaction or laziness on our part. To think that if 

God’s doing it, then we can just sit back and not do anything at all. No! Rather, it is an invitation to live our lives and our vocations in faith. To keep reaching out and doing all we can for each other, but to do what we do in faith. To not get discouraged if we don’t see the results, but to scatter the seed of God’s Word, and know that He will grant the growth. It’s His Church, and He’ll grow it. 

    I guess you could say that the reason we don’t always believe that is that sin has made us spiritually colour blind. When we look around, we don’t always see a kingdom of God that looks lush and green, but sometimes looks downright brown and dead. In us, in others, and in the Church. When we’re going through struggles, when we see what’s happening to others, when we see all the nonsense going on in the Church around the world today! . . . But you know, that’s how it is with God; that’s what we’re going to see sometimes and the way it’s going to seem sometimes, because growth for God starts with death. He kills in order to make alive. That’s what we heard from the prophet Ezekiel in conjunction with God’s promise: “I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish.” And the foremost example of that is the cross, where the Son of God was put to death and then planted in the ground. I dare say that things never looked so dry and dead to the Apostles and for the Kingdom of God than that Saturday between Good Friday and Easter morning. 

    But from that tree of death, from that seed planted in the ground, came life. Life from the dead. And though it may have looked like only a tiny mustard seed in the course of world history at the time, in that dry Good Friday tree made green on Easter Sunday was packed the death of all and the life of the whole world, the entire forgiveness of every sin, the resurrection of all the dead, and the reconciliation of the world to God!             You might not have been able to see it at the time, all may have looked dead and dry, but God was planting Paradise again. A new tree of life for the life of the world. 

And so it is still today, in you and me and all wherein is planted the seed of God’s Word. For where God plants His Word, He plants His cross, His death and resurrection. He brings you low in order to raise you up. He dries you up in order to make you green. He kills in order to give life. That whatever in us is working against Him - our sin, our pride, our desire for self-sufficiency; our reliance on our numbers, our income, or our members; our desire to be the master of all that we have - be brought low, be dried up, and die, that we may be raised up to life in Him. And no ordinary life, but eternal life. That is why, as St. Paul says, “we walk by faith, not by sight.” For our sight is colour blind! Our sight may judge the work of God wrongly, and think things dry and dead and lost. But faith trusts the promise of God. That things are not as they look or seem, but are as God says they are. 

    Friends, God is working, and growing His Church. His ways may seem as small as a mustard seed to us, but do not be deceived. The Word of God you speak to others, the water of Holy Baptism, the word of Holy Absolution, and the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion are giving life and granting growth. For in all these things is not our power, but the power of the Gospel, the power of God. The power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, forgiving sins, raising the dead, and giving faith. Faith to know it’s not up to me. Faith to believe that what I see today may not be the way things are tomorrow. Faith to rely confidently on Him and His ways to build His Church, and to save me. For only He can do it. 

    Martin Luther is known as the Father of the Reformation! But to me his greatness came in hisprofound sense of his own non - necessity. He once remarked, “While I drink my little glass of Wittenberg beer, the gospel runs its course.” That’s faith. He could preach the Word and then cheerfully step down from the pulpit, take off his robes, and have a glass of Wittenberg beer confident that the Word is at work, doing its killing and making alive thing. No frenzy. No worry. He was active, but he knew who he was, a sinner. And he knew who God was, the Saviour. And so he lived in forgiveness, trusting not himself, but the Word to do its work. And even have his little glass of Wittenberg beer in peace. 

    Herein lies a lesson! There is much to do and much to worry about in this world, but in the end, we cannot even save ourselves, let alone others. But there is One who can, and who has! We have His forgiveness and life. He has planted His Word in our heart and made it grow. And He is keeping us. We have His promise. And though we may feel as small as a mustard seed in this world, and think that all that we can do is just as small – remember that that mustard seed that we have and that we scatter is one powerful seed! 

    For that seed is the Word and power of God to forgive sin and raise the dead; the Word and power of the cross, the Word and power of His love. So scatter that seed recklessly, sow it with joy, and at the end of the day, sit down and have your little glass of Wittenberg beer. Relax. Trust. Rest in the branches of the cross. Our Saviour is working. In us. In others. In the world. Doing all that is necessary, all that we need.      This is the promise of God’s Word, of our Baptism, of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Amen 

The peace and love of our Great TriuneGod which is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost 3 – 10 June 2018 – Year B

Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and 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 Mark: Verses 20 – 35:

²⁰ Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹ And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebub,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

²⁸ “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹ And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers³ are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

You've probably never given much thought, to how often we make reference in our everyday conversations to being "bound up."  For instance, if we're unable to help someone out because of red tape and bureaucracy, we say that our hands are tied.  If something is really easy, we'll say that we can do it with one hand tied behind our back.  If our schedules are jam-packed and hectic, we say that we're tied up and can't get away. Most of us probably don't realise how often we use this binding imagery throughout the day.

 In just these few short verses of the Gospel reading there are a number of references to binding; probably more than you realise.  In verse 21, we hear that Jesus' own family members—His own mother and brothers—were outside the house He was staying at, trying to seize Him, claiming that He was out of His mind.  The Greek word used here—kratehō—carries with it the meaning of restraining.  Basically, they were looking to lay hands on Jesus and bindHim up and haul Him away because they figured He was crazy. Even Mary, knowing who Jesus was, thought that he had become overwhelmed by His large following and lost touch with reality. To make it worse He was humiliating them in front of their neighbours in their own home town!!

Then we read that the Spiritual Leaders of the day, the Scribes and the Pharisees were making the accusation against Jesus that he was “possessed by Beelzebub,” and that “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons”. In doing so they were trying to ‘bind’ Jesus from the very mission that the Son of God was born into this world to accomplish.

Then we have the statement of Jesus that“no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man”. May I say that most preachers of the Word avoid this Gospel reading. Ifyou will excuse the pun; it is easy to get into a bind trying to convey its’ message.

So Jesus’ family thought Jesus was crazy, out of His mind and the Scribes thought him Satanic!! …some things just don’t change.  Who here hasn't had some sort of accusation made against them when someone disagrees with them?  I hear it said about me, and I confess that I have questioned the sanity of others too.  Believe me over the 18 years I was an ordained minister, on many occasion, I was called into a world full of sin, dysfunction and craziness.  But the real point of this Gospel is that for a Christian to be true to their Faith involves specifically confronting sin and the devil with the Truth and Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ.  Faithfully proclaiming and serving Christ necessarily puts us at odds with the rest of the world.  

In his parallel version of today’s Gospel, St Matthew records Jesus as stating, ^{(Matt 12:30)}"Whoever is not with me is against me." Think about that for a moment.  There is no grey area or neutral zone when it comes to faithfulness, forgiveness, and salvation. Either you are with Christ or you are working against Him.  Unfortunately, being aware of that undermines our human nature and frequently leads us to judge others who don’t agree with our thoughts or standards. We think of them as sinful or crazy and in so doing bind Christ from working through us as he desires.

The confronting fact is that we're all guilty of attempting to bind and restrain Christ in no way different than His own family or the Scribes did.  For instance, how many of us have allowed ourselves to be bound up in silence when we could have spoken out when we've encountered sin?  "Confront it?  Rebuke it?  No I’m not that crazy!  That wouldn't be polite.  Everyone has a right to their opinion."  Understand: I'm not talking about dark, heinous sins here.  I'm talking about binding, ministry-robbing sins like gossip; sins like desiring to exercise authority and control that hasn't been entrusted to us…just like Adam and Eve, who desired to be like God. 

How often are we bound in inactivity when it comes to helping those in need?  It seems that whole "fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things" only applies to certain aspects of life; the comfortable, easy ones that we like and agree with.  To think that it would apply to all of life is crazy!  "I can't help out because that time interferes with my favourite TV show, my Facebook time, my Golf time, my "me" time”.  I mean; we really are there and we do want to help; but … well even Jesus’ family thought he was a little crazy and had gone overboard when he gave all of himself!!

You see that's just it.  All this binding that we do is sin, and this sort of binding and restraining and hindering of Christ and His Word and His Will has been around since our first parents were bound up in that first church—the Garden of Eden.  "If you're not with me, you're against me."  Sin—all sin—stands against holiness.  There is no grey area.  Either it's sin or it's God-pleasing righteousness.  Either it's on the side of Satan or it's on the side of Christ.  This Gospel message is a reality check that may make us feel uneasy.  The message coming to us direct from God’s Word is that by very nature we are sinful daily in our thoughts, words and deeds.  

In our own Parish, Cluster or community, Satan is overjoyed with the weakness of our human impulses and uses our sin to undermine authority and interfere and split and bind up ministry.  We must not be deceived!  These negative desires and cares and concerns are not serving God and His people, but are rather vain, sinful attempts at serving ourselves, to impose our own will. Jesus calls for us to turn from our binding ways!  Turn back and be unbound in Christ.

There are no exemptions here on earth, in faith every member of the Christian community is called daily to question themselves, “Am I pleasing God in this service that He has entrusted to me, or am I trying to please myself or others?”  Life is easier sometimes when you just give in to the haemorrhoids in your life.  But God’s message here today is a reality check for all of us; as St Paul tells us ^{Romans 3: 23}"for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

About now you must be feeling a bit like the Israelites must have felt when Moses came down from the mountain and threw the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments at them. It is true, our sin does condemn us; but what of verse 27; ^“But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house”. The message of salvation here is thathe “strong man” represents Satan, who is strong and armed for battle. “His house” represents his kingdom, a realm of evil, misery and death. In his house he has “possessions,” probably representing people under his control. Like the men in the Gospels who were “demon-possessed,” they are Satan’s possessions. The “stronger” man who attacks and overpowers the strong man, tying him and robbing his possessions, represents Jesus. I this case, as described in Matthew, He has just freed a man from Satan’s possession.

The good and liberating news is that we and all are also redeemed in the blood of Christ Jesus.  All are forgiven, or as the Greek says, all are “aphethāsetai'd”; that is, released and unbound.  That's what this ministry is all about.  That's the mission of this Ministry Unit and Cluster — to proclaim this Good News of Christ Jesus.  This is why Almighty God Himself has allowed the Holy catholic (i.e. universal)church to exist and prosper for the past two thousand years.  We, here in this Parish, in this Cluster and in Christian Churches world-wide as God's people, have been set free and unbound in the Gospel truth of Christ crucified and resurrected for all mankind. 

Do you realise what a tremendous, life-giving, liberating treasure God Himself has implanted in our hearts?  This is what the truly sanctified life is all about.  As those who believe and trust in the total and complete forgiveness that is ours by God's grace alone because of the all-redeeming work and person of Jesus Christ alone, we have been set free; unbound to serve and proclaim Christ with reckless abandon.  We are not called to be caught up and bound up in the ways and worries of this fallen and sinful world.  Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to Christ.  Heaven is our home.  We have been baptised into Christ's death and resurrection. 

Look around you.  Here are your mothers and brothers and sisters in the faith.  Here are those who serve and love and forgive because of the joy of knowing that God first loved them and forgave them unconditionally.  Are we perfect?  Do we do always agree in the way we want to see things done?  No! But that doesn't mean that we're sinful: That is the very essence of a human family.  In our weakness, the Holy Spirit binds us together in love, using our God given gifts and talents to faithfully endeavour to serve God and do His will. This is God’s own Spirit which He graciously infused us with at the Baptismal Font.  The Spirit that leads us to repent of our sins and to forgive those who have offended us; faithfully seeking the unbinding and loosing that is found only here in the cross of Jesus Christ. 

We can leave this place today reassured in the Good News of the saving Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that we are justified in Christ alone by God's grace and that His love alone will unbind us and set us free to serve, honour, love, and obey our Lord in all that we say, think, and do, now, through these long days of Pentecost, and into all of eternity. 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