Pentecost 23 – 28 October 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 10^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 46 – 52:

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” ⁵⁰ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” ⁵² Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. 

There are times in our lives when a particular need is so pressing that nothing else seems important by comparison. You are about to board the Queen Mary 2 for that long awaited cruise of a lifetime; when you get notified that your child has been in an accident and is in a critical condition in hospital. 

How often have we seen the most famous and successful people humbled and change their priorities when they are diagnosed with a totally debilitating or potentially fatal illness.

One of the key figures in our story today had just such a need. His name was Bartimaeus – literally in Aramaic “Son of Timaeus”; and he was blind. Living in a time where the sightless had to depend on the charity of others. If they were fortunate, their families cared for them. If they were not fortunate, they begged on the street.

Bartimaeus was not fortunate. He spent his days on the side of the busy highway from Jericho to Jerusalem; perhaps hoping that the faithful headed to the Holy City would seek to gain God’s favour by throwing him a coin or two. More than likely, he caught as many curses and insults as he did coins, and, just like today, a blind pauper made a tempting target for the punches of bullies and the nimble fingers of thieves.

It is a gross understatement to say that Bartimaeus did not lead a happy life. All that he needed, though, was one thing to turn his life around. One simple change would have allowed him to leave the side of the road and actually walk upon it. All that he needed was his sight, and for that he needed a miracle.

Somehow, despite a miserable life that seems like barely a life at all, Bartimaeus managed to keep hoping for that miracle. In fact, our text for today takes us to the side of the road just as Bartimaeus’ miraculous opportunity is – quite literally – passing him by. Jesus and his followers are going through on their way to Jerusalem, a trip that will end in Jesus’ death and resurrection. On their way out of town, their group moves past the spot where Bartimaeus is begging for coins.

Bartimaeus hears more commotion than usual. Perhaps James and John are still arguing about who will sit at Jesus’ right and left hands in the coming Kingdom. Perhaps there is a crowd, still following Jesus for the spectacle or for the free food or to hear more of his teachings. Whatever catches Bartimaeus’ attention, he quickly figures out that – at the centre of the noise – is Jesus of Nazareth.

If we could freeze Bartimaeus at that very moment, it would be the perfect symbol of where almost everyone finds themselves at some time or another. It’s also a great snapshot of where much of the world is right now. Bartimaeus knows that his life is in shambles and broken; and he knows that he cannot provide what he needs to be whole and healthy and at peace. He sits in darkness, and he knows that only Jesus can offer him healing and hope; but he has no way to find Jesus. He cannot see, and with all of the shouting voices in the crowd, Bartimaeus does not know which one to follow.

Here he is struggling in the darkness, wanting to find Jesus, but not knowing how to get to him. Sound familiar? At some time all of us face the new day feeling exactly the same way. Bartimaeus in pure faith, shouts at the top of his lungs, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When he calls out, a lifetime of desperation and loneliness gives strength to his voice. Even over the noise of the crowd, some people there hear him. 

Unfortunately, they have their own priorities. They’ve come to Jesus for their own reasons. Some of them, like Bartimaeus, want a miracle; and the last thing they want is someone else butting in. Some of them are there for the teaching. They want to hear Jesus’ theological thoughts; It is their belief that this man is blind because of his sins or the sins of his father, so Bartimaeus has no right to speak.

To use an analogy: If Bartimaeus represents our own needs and the needs of the world, the crowd is, sadly, a potential image of the Church. Often we of the Church surround Jesus, each of us crowding Him with our own expectations of what He can do for us. It seems, at times, our personal agendas become a wall that boxes Jesus in, and keeps those with real needs out.

In saying this, I am not acting as Judge over the Church, but one only has to look back in history to see the trail of persecution, division, wars and bitter resentment brought about by mankind putting labels on God’s Holy assembly, the Church on earth, to suit their own needs and agendas. We reflect with shame on the atrocities that have been committed in God’s name; and on those who have been cast out from worship because they did not measure up to mankind’s rules imposed on God’s gracious gift to us in the name of Jesus Christ His only Son. 

When reflecting on the crowd rejecting Bartimaeus in this Gospel reading, we must ask ourselves “are we jealously guarding our Church against those whom we consider unacceptable, or are we complying with the command of Jesus in Matthew 28 to seek out, evangelise and Baptise, those lost souls in our community?” – Jesus commands us to listen for the cry of those who are in need and are seeking him.

Well, Bartimaeus refuses to be silenced. He shouts again, even louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” The significance of his call is that the title of honour he gave Jesus declared his faith in Him. Calling Him “Lord” expressed the knowledge of Jesus’ deity, dominion, and power, and calling Jesus “Son of David,” expressed his faith that He was the promised Messiah. In the face of the danger and threats Bartimaeus’s sure faith gave him the courage to keep seeking Jesus.

You know it’s so easy for a Christian to forget that lesson in worship, and in life. After all, Jesus is right here with us. But the truth is – it doesn’t always feel that way. We drink Christ’s blood and eat His body to be again joined with Christ’s in forgiveness and eternal salvation in the merciful presence of God; but sometimes that just doesn’t sink in.

Bartimaeus says – keep trying! Whatever that means for each of us, keep doing it. Keep praying, keep reading, keep studying, keep singing, keep preaching. Keep seeking. In these times God will come to us; but also in our human frailties there will be roadblocks moments on our faith journeys that we can only get through if we keep calling on Jesus.

It works, just as it did for Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus calls into the darkness a second time. When he does, Jesus hears him and stops walking. Jesus tells the crowd, “Call him here,” and when He says it, the nature of the crowd changes. They stop being an impediment to the work of God, and become its instrument. Suddenly to them this man is acceptable in Jesus’ sight.

Hearing Jesus’ command, the crowd calls to the man, “Take heart; get up, He is calling you.” On hearing this, Bartimaeus gets up and – leaving his cloak, perhaps his only possession, behind – runs to Jesus. He gives up all he has and answers the call. Bartimaeus hears Jesus’ question and immediately knows the answer. “What do you want me to do for you?”

For each of us this is also an important question. Bartimaeus has been shouting at the top of his lungs, begging – no longer for coin – but for the chance to meet Jesus. As worshipping Christians this is not a bad question to ask ourselves as well. What do we want from Jesus? Why are we seeking Him? Do we want wealth? Power? Prestige? Healing? Companionship? What are we here for? Some of us will get what we seek, others will not; we have no choice but to trust the wisdom of God.

As people of faith, or even as people seeking faith, that does not stop us from trying. Bartimaeus answers Jesus, “Teacher, let me see again.”

Jesus responds, “Go, your faith has made you well,”and immediately Bartimaeus can see. 

Think about that! Jesus doesn’t say “I have healed you.” He isn’t theatrical, Jesus simply tells Bartimaeus that his faith has already healed him. It wasn’t finally meeting Jesus that gave Bartimaeus his sight. It was having the faith to seek Jesus in the first place. Interestingly, the Biblical translation for “made well” is the same word for salvation. It means completeness and restoration.

It was Bartimaeus faith that kept him persistent in seeking Jesus and it was ultimately his faith that healed him. Not faith in himself but faith in Jesus, the Son of God.

Whatever darkness clouds our vision, whatever forces stand between us and salvation; we cannot let anything distract us from the only answer that can restore us and make us whole: the merciful love of God, the physical presence of Jesus, the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Bartimaeus, like Job is restored to health and freedom of opportunity. We don’t really know just what he did with his life after that, but our reading does tell us that he followed in the path of Jesus,

The miracle of Bartimaeus’, the experiences of Job serve to remind us that regardless of our opinions, our wealth our standing in life, we live entirely by and through the Grace of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We live in the love He lavished on us on the cross, but in the Holy Scriptures we are constantly reminded that our life can only be complete if we become conduits of God’s love; the vessel through which it flows on to those fellow beings in need. If we can do that, if we can cling to our faith we can be assured that regardless of what life throws at us, in Christ, we will prevail. 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 22 – 21 October 2018 - Year B

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

The text for our meditation is written in the 10^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 32 – 45

³² And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

³⁵ And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, ^f“What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ⁱ“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ⁴² And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,^4 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Today’s Gospel reading provides us with another narrative of confusion on the part of the disciples.  For once, it is not Peter who is sticking his foot in his mouth.  Instead it is Peter’s two fishing partners, James and John, the Sons of Zebedee.  These two brothers ask Jesus for the two seats of honour when Jesus comes into His glory.  “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”  In the culture of that day, sitting didn’t just mean a physical posture, but it could also be used as a term of ruling.  So sitting near someone didn’t just mean that they were to be physically close to Jesus, but that they were to have a large share of the honour and authority that Jesus had.  We have brought a little bit of that culture into our own language when we refer to someone as a “right hand man.”  Basically James and John were asking to be number one and two in Jesus’ kingdom.

We can already see the error of this request in the way that James and John began the conversation: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  Jesus is the teacher – the master – the Lord – He is the Christ.  James and John should be ready to receive the service Jesus wants to give.  How can they ask Him to serve them according to their desires?  Shouldn’t they be ready to receive the gifts that He knows are best for them?

Our sinful human nature is very much at home in the politics of power.  The boss rules.  The leader commands.  As Jesus said in today’s Gospel, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.”  Jesus totally understands how pagans rule.  There is no right and wrong.  There is only the accumulation and exercise of power.  This is our natural attitude when we come into this world.

Jesus had a totally different worldview.  He said, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The Son of God did not take on the flesh of man in order to become the big boss.  The Son of God took on human flesh in order to serve us humans.  That is the reason we call what we do in church a Divine Service.  We call it the Divine Service because it is the time and the place where God gives His divine service to us.  It is the place where we meet Him and He gives His gifts to us – the gifts earned by the service of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Friends in Christ.  God’s knowledge has no end.  It is infinite.  His wisdom is perfect in every way.  He knows what is best for us better than we do.  His way of serving us is holy and perfect.  There is much in His service to us that is beyond our understanding.

Never the less, in spite of the fact that God loves us more than we love ourselves – in spite of the fact that God knows what is best for us better than we do – in spite of God’s perfect wisdom, we join James and John.  We have the incredible arrogance to approach God and tell Him, “God, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  God already loves us and wants to serve us in the best possible way.  Who are we to tell God to do things our way instead of His way?

When Jesus heard the disciples’ request, He said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.”  The fact is that most people don’t know what these brothers were requesting.

The problem is with the word glory.  When we use the word glory in its earthly context, we generally mean the power and authority that Jesus meant when He spoke of the gentiles - “Those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.”  James and John were probably thinking of this kind of glory.  They were operating on the principle that the Christ would rule over a renewed Israeli empire.  They wanted to be the top men in His government.

There is much more to Jesus’ glory than power and authority.  When John’s faith and understanding matured under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, He would write, ^{[John 12:16]} “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.”  What does the word glorified mean in that verse?  What does the word glorified mean when ^{[John 12:23]} Jesus answered them; “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”?  Jesus had a conversation with Peter after the resurrection in which He told Peter about his death and John explained it in this way: ^{[John 21:19]} “This he said to show by what kind of death [Peter] was to glorify God.  What does the word glorify mean there?

Jesus’ glory does not just refer to His power and authority.  It also refers to His victory on the cross.  When we look at the shame of the cross, we see the glory of our saviour as He wins salvation for us.  As Jesus was walking the road to Jerusalem with His disciples, He began to tell them what was to happen to him.  He was telling them how He would bring glory to God by earning salvation for us with His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Jesus had just been explaining the glory of the cross when James and John came to Him.  They said to Jesus, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”  Since Jesus had just been talking about the glory of the cross, James and John were unwittingly asking to be crucified, one on Jesus’ right and the other on Jesus’ left.  No wonder Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.”  They demonstrated that they did not understand.

We are like James and John.  We think glory is all about power, authority, and control.  We want that kind of glory.  We want to be important.  We want honour.  We want to be number one.  We want to be the centre of attention.  We are greedy and self-centred.  Jesus tells us that the truly great are those who serve, but we are not interested in serving.  Jesus tells us that the leader should take up the vocation of slave, but we are not interested in being slaves.  We aren’t interested in doing things Jesus’ way.  We want our way.  We want what we want when we want it.  We want and we demand.  Jesus must tell us what He told James and John, “You do not know what you are asking.”

The disciples became indignant with James and John.  Their desire to have things their own way led to fighting among the disciples.  One of the quickest ways to divide a congregation is for the people in that congregation to tell God how they want Him to serve them – for them to say, “God, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”   As the Holy Spirit inspired James to write, ^{[James 4:1–3]} “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? ² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions”.  We expect God to supply our desires, our perceived wants. Friends Jesus knows our real needs that our lives may be enriched, may be blessed, may be complete in Him. Jesus has the virtue of His infinite knowledge and His perfect wisdom; Jesus has predestined our salvation and eternal life.

Fortunately for James and John, and you and me, Jesus does not have a problem with His role as servant and slave.  Even as Jesus set the standard for us He also kept that standard.  He continued to teach His disciples in spite of their stubbornness and He said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Even though we don’t serve as we should – even though we don’t adopt the role of slave as Jesus commands, Jesus still became the perfect servant for us. ^{[Philippians 2:8]} “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”.

In Jesus Christ we see the glory of victory in the agony of the cross. ^{[Hebrews 2:9]} “We see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone”.  

Jesus Christ confirmed that victory when He rose from the dead just as He had said.  In His resurrection, He certified His perfect service – His role as perfect slave in order to offer us perfect salvation.  He now offers us forgiveness when we do not offer ourselves as servants and slaves.  He offers us forgiveness for seeking our own glory, power, and pride.  He offers us the salvation that He earned with His glorious victory on the cross.

We, like James and John, want glory for ourselves.  We want popularity, fame, power, security, and all the other things that serve our own self-interest.  This is one more symptom of the sin that is around us and in us while we live in this world.

Jesus came for a different kind of glory.  He came to rescue us from this world of sin by submitting to death on a cross.  He has a special honour and glory because of the suffering of that death and He revealed that honour and glory with His resurrection from that death.  Now He offers salvation to us through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith for He has given His life as a ransom for many.  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

Pentecost 21 – 14 October 2018 – Year B

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 10^thChapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 17 - 31
¹⁷And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’ ” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²² Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 

²³ And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again,“Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Today’s Gospel tells us about a man who came to Jesus for advice.  He wanted something very good – eternal life.  He thought he knew how to get eternal life, but he wanted some assurance, some sign that he was on the right track.  From all outward appearances, this man seemed to be an example of righteous living, but something was still nagging at him. Something about eternal life still left him uneasy.  He wanted Jesus to tell him what was missing.

The problem already shows itself in the first verse of today’s Gospel.  This man came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  At first glance, this may seem like a valid question, but deeper study turns up a problem.  

This man’s obstacle lay in the words “I do”and the word “inherit.”  You do not inherit anything because of what you do. You inherit something because of what someone else did.  You inherit something because someone else included you in their will.  The heir of a will might be a child or a grandchild, a niece or nephew, or even animals.  The point is that the heirs really have no say in the inheritance.  The person who makes the will determines who inherits what.

The problem this man had was that he thought that if he followed to the letter God’s Law, He would be obliged to love him enough to put him in the heavenly will. This man felt he had done everything he was supposed to do, but he still felt uncertain.  He wanted Jesus to assure him either that he had already done enough ortell him what sort of task or behaviour he still needed to do to guarantee eternal life.  Like many people, this man thought that he just needed some special knowledge or that he needed to do some special task.  If he could just learn the secret, he could guarantee his place in eternity.

This is the seduction of all false religions.  False religions teach that good works will eventually lead a person to salvation.  They all try to answer the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Many of these religious systems espouse lives of great moral behaviour to answer this question, but they all fail to answer the next question.  What should I do when I fail to lead a righteous life?  What does a Jew do when he fails to keep the laws of Moses? What does a Moslem do when he fails to observe the Five Pillars of Islam?  What does the member of the secret society do when he can’t maintain that purity of life and conduct so essentially necessary for gaining admission into the celestial lodge above?  These religions that are so eager to give us control over our own destiny all fail to mention what happens when we failto produce the good works of salvation.

Since the man’s question was based on the law, Jesus gave an answer that was also based on the law.  Jesus began by saying, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” With these words, Jesus wants us to really think about what the word “good”really means.  In the true sense, “good”only applies to God.  God is the only source of our salvation.

After Jesus jolted this man into thinking about the true meaning of the word “good,” He went on to tell this man to examine his life in terms of the Commandments: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’”  These are the ethics the Holy Spirit brings.  It deals with loving your neighbour as you love yourself.

When we properly understand the full meaning of these commands, the proper response is to realise that we have broken them all.  When we understand that the Bible considers hatred to be a form of murder, we must admit that we are all murderers.  When we realise that even the smallest lustful thought about someone who is not our spouse amounts to adultery, we must admit that we are all adulterers.  The least bit of laziness makes us into thieves.  Even if all we do is listen to gossip, we are liars.  The number of ways that we can break these commands is limited only by our creativity.  As God Himself said, ^{[Genesis 8:21]}“The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”  

The man in today’s Gospel did not understand that.  For when he heard Jesus’ response,he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  The context of this passage leads us to believe that this man truly believed these words.  Jesus had piled up a collection of commands that should have had this man begging for mercy.  Instead, this man actually thought he had kept these commands.

It is at this point in the conversation that Jesus pointed out the man’s true failure. [Jesus] said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” With these words, Jesus revealed the man’s heart.  He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  Instead, his fear, love, and trust were all based on his money and possessions.  In spite of all his good works, this young man had gold for a god.

Who or what do we fear, love, or trust above all things?  There are many false gods that want to rule in the heart.  Some of them are security, comfort, reputation, family, friends, popularity, greed, power, pleasure, lust, and pride.  These and many other concerns can take our eyes from Jesus Christ.  At one time or another, we all suffer from the rule of these false gods in our hearts. We – like the young ruler – do not always fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  We too are guilty of idolatry.

Our Gospel tells us that Jesus loved this man with Agape’ (selfless, unconditional) love.  Jesus told this man what he neededto hear, not what he wantedto hear.  This man needed to learn the hopelessness of his situation.  He needed to understand that he needed a saviour outside of himself. That is how Jesus showed His love to this man – even if it meant that the man would walk away sorrowful.

Jesus loves us the same way.  He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin.  The Holy Spirit comes to us through the Word of God and shines the searing light of the law into our hearts.  He shows our true nature to us.  He takes us to the depths of pure terror as He shows us the future we have earned for ourselves.  He shows us the true hopelessness of our good works. Do we ever spend a day without some feeling of a guilty conscience?

It is at the lowest point that the Holy Spirit brings the soothing message of the Gospel into our lives.  When we realise that there is no hope for us in ourselves, the Holy Spirit shows us the hope that is in God.  He shows us how God entered history in the person of the man Christ Jesus.  He reveals Christ to us as the one who kept the law perfectly in our place.  Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit takes us to the cross to show us how Jesus suffered and died to take our place as the targetof God’s wrath against sin.  The Holy Spirit informs us that Jesus did not remain buried in the tomb of death, but rose victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil.  Finally, the Holy Spirit gives us the faith that trusts Jesus for salvation.

Through that faith we constantly receive the forgiveness of our sins, God declares us holy in his eyes, and we inherit eternal life.  We stop asking the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Instead, the Holy Spirit uses us to point to Jesus and declare “Look what God has done to give me eternal life.”

We will not know what happened to the man in today’s Gospel until we arrive in Heaven. The Bible does not tell us if he came back later or if he rejected the work of the Holy Spirit completely.

What we do know is that we – like him – have an empty place inside of us.  We hunger for the assurance that we have eternal life. If we try to find that assurance on our own, we will fail.  Only the Holy Spirit can fill that empty space inside of us.  Only the Holy Spirit can give us the faith that receives the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation that Jesus earned for us on the cross.  He does this by convicting us of our sin with the Law and then comforting us with the good news of the Gospel.  In this way, the Holy Spirit makes us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

When the time comes for us to leave this life, we will inherit eternal life as members of the Church Triumphant in heaven.  There, in heaven, we shall leave our sins behind and live under Jesus in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.  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 20 – 7 October 2018 – Year B

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 10^thChapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 2–1:

² And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” ⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹ What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

¹⁰ And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹ And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, ¹² and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Probably over the past ten years, this reading and those passages in the Bible linked to it, have caused extensive disharmony in our Christian and ‘free thinking’ democratic societies of the world. Here we have God’s Word fundamentally challenging the perceived freedom of individuals to make choices about their personal short or long term relationships. I guess the most obvious point is that the nature of marriage debate is not something new, today’s Gospel demonstrates that there was controversy about marriage back as far as the first century.  In this case, the Pharisees came to Jesus with a question about divorce.  Jesus responded with an answer that not only speaks to divorce, but also gives a definition of marriage that speaks to the debates concerning marriage in ‘free world’ countries today.

Now by this time in His ministry, the elite members of society have kept an eye on Jesus for a while, and they have decided that they really don’t like Him.  They have made it their business to embarrass Him in every way possible.  In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees come forward with a test that they hope will challenge Jesus and make Him look bad.  This is one of many tests that they present to Jesus and all of them fail to harm Jesus’ standing in the community.  As we just heard, Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisees and it is they who come away in embarrassment.

So thePharisees came up and in order to test him asked, ^{(Mark 10:2–3)}“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³[Jesus] answered them, “What did Moses command you?”Jesus basically told them to check God’s word.  This is good advice.  We should always check God’s Word in order to see what God says on any topic.  If God put the information in His Word, it would be wise to listen to what He said.

The Pharisees then referenced a section of Deuteronomy.  They said, ^{(Mark 10:4)}“Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”While the Pharisees have quoted Moses correctly in so far as they went, they left out a lot of the context that Moses included in the text.  The actual guideline for divorce begins with the words, ^{(Deuteronomy 24:1)}“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house.”Even this limited context shows that the man must find some indecency in the woman.  By quoting the passage out of context, the Pharisees give the impression that they can throw their wife out onto the street by simply publishing a certificate of divorce.  The context of the passage shows that the husband must show that his wife is guilty of some indecency before he can throw her out.  In other words, she must be guilty of a crime against the marriage.

Jesus elaborated further on the cause for this guideline about divorce.  Then He referred to the creation of marriage that we ourselves heard from today’s Old Testament reading.  Jesus said to them, ^{(Mark 10:5–9)}“Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, ⁸and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Jesus was saying that because of the sinful nature that we have from birth, husbands and wives will sin against each other.  It is because of this sin that divorce happens.  So divorce is already evil.  The guidelines for divorce that Moses gave did not excuse people from the sin of divorce.  They were guidelines so that the evil of a divorce did not become something even worse.

Then Jesus turned to the beginning where God created marriage even before the fall into sin. Notice that Jesus quoted and affirmed the account of the creation of marriage as Moses recorded it in Genesis. In Genesis 1, we read: ^{(Genesis 1:27)“}So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”.Then in the more detailed review of creation in ^{(Genesis 2:24)}we read: ^“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”.Note that this account in Genesis says male and female.  The reference is to man in the singular, and wife, also in the singular.  There is one male, one female, one man, one wife. According to the Genesis account, marriage is the one flesh union of this one, male man and this one, female wife. It is this Genesis account of the creation of marriage that Jesus affirmed and upheld in the reading from today’s Gospel.

From this Genesis account, Jesus then taught the conclusion:^{(Mark 10:8–9)}“So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”Note that Jesus says that it is two who become one flesh, not three or more, but two. Note also that Jesus says that it is God who has made this union and therefore only God can separate it.  That means that if Adam and Eve had not sinned and died, they would still be married today.

From this reading and the parallel readings in the other Gospel accounts, it is very clear that Jesus teaches that marriage is the one flesh union of one and only one male and one and only one female.  Regardless of our personal opinions or beliefs, God’s Word is clear and concise in its demands. In God’s Word to us, His children, there can be no other God sanctioned co-habitation arrangement involving two or more people.  In addition we are left in no doubt that this is a union that only God can terminate and therefore remains in effect until death breaks the union.  In reality, the many claims that Jesus has nothing to say in the marriage debate demonstrates our culture’s breath-taking Biblical ignorance.

Jesus’ teaching concerning marriage presents us with some real challenges in our day and age. Most of us know people who have endured the pain of divorce.  Most of us know people who have had multiple sexual partners.  Most of know people who are dealing with same-sex attraction.  And when we remember that Jesus taught and said,^{(Matthew 5:28}) “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart,”we must realise that no one can live up to this marriage standard that Jesus established in today’s Gospel.  Once again, we must agree that ^{(Romans 3:23)}“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

So where can we go or what can we do for relief from the condemnation of this impossible standard? The fact of the matter is that there is nothing that we can do.  There is nowhere that we can go.  Once again, we see that we stand condemned before God.

However, although there is nothing we can do, there is something that God has already done.  The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write ^{(Ephesians 1:4)}that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him”. We see the symbolism of this in the very way that God created Eve. ^{(Genesis 2:21–22)}“The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²²And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man”.God created a bride for Adam from a wound in his side.  Here, although Adam and Eve had not yet sinned, God was already providing an image that pointed forward to the manner in which He would provide a bride for His only begotten Son.  ^{(John 19:30 & 34)}After Jesus “bowed his head and gave up his spirit,one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water”.The Son of God took on human flesh and ^{(Philippians 2:8)}“humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”.In this way, he earned forgiveness for all our sins including the sins we have committed against the estate of marriage.

Among the many errors that have slipped into the marriage debate is that the Bible somehow has a greater condemnation for sins against marriage.  So often, the people who struggle with sins related to marriage have come to believe that the Bible, or at least the church, considers these sins to have a greater damning power than all the other sins condemned by the Bible … that the sin against marriage might be the unforgiveable sin.  The response to that is good news!! The forgiveness that Jesus earned with His suffering and death on the cross is there for all sins.  The church is for people who struggle with their sins and repent of them and look to Jesus on the cross for forgiveness.  The church is not for people who are without sin for the Bible is clear^{.  (1 John 1:8–9)}“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Christ has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven in order to prepare a place for His bride, the church.  On the Last Day, He will return and raise all the dead in both body and soul.  Those who believe in Him will join Him in the place He has prepared.  Among the people who will be there will be people who sinned against marriage and received the forgiveness that Jesus earned for them on the cross … people like King David who had an affair with the wife of the most loyal soldier in his army … people like Samson who had an affair with Delilah … people like King Solomon and the patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob, who had multiple wives … people like St. Augustine who lived on the wild side until the Holy Spirit brought him into the family of God.  The history of the church is full of people who sinned against marriage and received the forgiveness that Jesus earned for them.  Jesus said,^{(Mark 2:17)}“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”He calls on us to faithfully believe that His abundant grace will lead us to eternal salvation.  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