Pentecost 4 – 28 July 2020 – Year A

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 22 Chapter of the Book of Genesis: Verses 1 – 14:

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”  And he said, “Here I am.”  And He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.  On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.  And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you.”  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.  And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”  And he said, “Here I am, my son.”  And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  So the two of them walked on together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.  And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”  And he said, “Here I am.”  And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.  And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

            

This is a situation that is so hard to envisage! Abraham has waited his entire life – over 100 years – for this one son to be born.  He left home and family to follow the promise of God over twenty five years before.   Then Isaac was born.  When Isaac was thirteen or fourteen, he was undoubtedly passed through the ritual of the coming of age, the predecessor to what the Jews call “Bar-Mitzvah” today.  So, it was some time after that in which the events detailed in our text take place.  Sarah was still alive, so we know that Isaac was under thirty-five, or so, and that is all we can tell.  There is no doubt that Isaac was the much treasured, much loved God given son and heir of Abraham.

Abraham is probably about one hundred and twenty-five years old.  Now God tells him to take his son out into the wilderness and offer him up as a burnt offering to God.  It is impossible to imagine what must have been going on in the mind of Abraham.  The Bible only tells us of his faithfulness.  The most revealing thing our text tells us is Abraham’s response when Isaac asks about the lamb for the sacrifice, “God will provide.” 

Imagine, when Abraham spoke the words “God will provide”, he surely must have felt crushed and frightened.  Nevertheless, he followed the command of God.  We could make all sorts of judgments about why – Abraham’s wealth, God’s previous faithfulness, you know, all of the worldly reasons to understand Abraham’s willingness to be faithful in this extreme command.  None of them are certain, however, and none of them are likely to be true.  In such an extreme situation surely Abraham was faithful because Abraham honoured God.

This is demonstrated in his answer to Isaac – God will provide for Himself the lamb.  Isaac was the miracle child, and Abraham did not question God’s ability to do more miracles.  Abraham thought God would raise Isaac from the dead.  That is what the book of Hebrews says.  By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; ^{Hebrews 11:19} “He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back”.

 Abraham trusted God to provide, and so he was willing to sacrifice his son …  and God provided.  He provided for Abraham in a way I suspect Abraham had never envisaged.  He stopped Abraham at the very last moment, and provided the lamb for sacrifice, caught by its horns in the bush nearby.  Abraham passed the test and worshiped God: Imagine the joy and relief in the hearts of Abraham and Isaac as they left that place and headed home.

Hebrews tells us that Abraham received Isaac back from the edge of destruction as a type of the resurrection from the dead.  This type goes deeper, however.  Abraham was the father who was sacrificing his only son, just as God did for us.  God was under no command from another.  It was His plan and His will to sacrifice His Son for us and for our salvation.  In acting out this human struggle, Abraham provides an example of what this takes, and a human picture of the father giving his son.

Mankind marvel, when they stop to consider it, that Isaac went along with the whole thing.  We usually have this picture of the young boy, twelve or thirteen, and that could be possible, but I suspect that he was older, and well able to flee or to fight this hundred and some year old man, if necessary.  But Isaac carries the wood for his father – and that would be no small pile of sticks, for the kind of sacrifice that they intended.  He must have allowed his father to tie him up and lay him on the pile of wood in the altar area for the sacrifice.  No matter what may have been going through his mind, he humbly did what his father asked him to.  In this, Isaac is a type of Christ.

Christ humbly followed the plan and will of His Father.   He knew throughout His life who He was and where He was going to end up.  He walked that road and was faithful.  He faced the wrenching sorrow of the garden of Gethsemane, the awful dread.  He went to the cross, and the torture that led up to it, humbly, willingly – in so far as it was His will to be obedient to His Father.  He allowed Himself to be tied, and placed on the altar of the cross for sacrifice.  The only real difference of consequence is that no voice from heaven stopped the hand of the executioner for Jesus.

Abraham looked up, when God commanded him to stop, and saw the ram caught by its horns.  God told Abraham that he had demonstrated his faith and absolute trust in God, being willing to give up that which was most precious to him for the sake of his God.  Similarly, God demonstrated His great love for us, and His desire to rescue us from sin and death and hell by offering up that which was most precious to Him – His only-begotten Son.  Because Jesus suffered the torments of hell and died in our place, we are forgiven, and we will never die.  Our body will rest, as did the body of Jesus, in the grave for a time, but like Jesus, we will commend our soul into God’s presence and keeping, and we will live — both between the day of our body’s death and the day of resurrection, and, following that day of the resurrection of all flesh, we will live in joy and glory with the Lord eternally.

God provided the sacrifice for Abraham in the ram caught in the bushes, and He provided it for us in Jesus Christ. This is the reality that reveals to us the meaning of the symbolic events which underlies the Biblical declaration; “In the mount of the Lord, it will be provided.”  Back then it was a specific unnamed hill in the land of Moriah.  In 30 A.D. it was a hill named “Golgotha,” just outside the city walls of Jerusalem.  Jesus wasn’t trapped, however, but willing – out of love for us, and for His heavenly Father.  Because of Jesus, “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved.”

Abraham received Isaac back from the dead, as it were.  That is how Hebrews put it.  Isaac hadn’t really died, but he was marked for death, and as good as dead at his father’s hand, if God had not intervened. His release from death was a type of resurrection – it demonstrates to some degree the resurrection of Jesus.  It is for us a type of Jesus’ return from the dead - Jesus is the first-fruits of our resurrection – that is to say that we shall also rise from the dead as Jesus did, as part of His resurrection, because we are His body, and we have joined Him in His death and resurrection through baptism.  Just as Isaac pointed forward as a type to the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus points forward to our own.

The Lord will provide; and He has; but this text is not just about history.  It actually demonstrates to us that the Lord will provide.  When God wants us to serve, to do some specific thing, or just to be faithful, the Lord will provide.  We will never face any situation where God cannot meet our needs.  We will never face any circumstance where God will not provide what we need in order to be faithful to Him.  Abraham demonstrated his trust in God, and similarly God tested Abraham to assure us of that we also can similarly place our trust in Him.  This is the heart and soul of God’s message to us in this Scripture passage.

God calls us to trust Him and be faithful.  We cannot need more than God can provide, and if we are faithful, and are doing what is faithful, the Lord will provide.  We are “the mount of the Lord” today.  He does not identify with any geographic location any longer.  It is not Mount Sinai.  That was once the place, but when the children of Israel left the holy mountain, God went with them.  He provided Manna and water and guided them to the holy land, promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Then they built the temple, and God claimed it as His place – the place of His presence on earth among men.  Then He came in the person of Jesus.  He was Immanuel, “God with us.”  When Jesus left this earth, He made His holy people the place of His presence.  That place is not ancient Israel, or their modern descendants, according to the flesh.  That place is us — His Christian Church on earth!

“In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”  We, the Church, are that “mount” and when we are faithful, God will provide.  Through His abundant grace, He provides for us all of the time, even when are not faithful: But certainly we may enjoy the greatest comfort and confidence in His provision and blessings when we are faithful, as Abraham was faithful, and as Jesus was faithful!  So we should never be discouraged or tempted to find a better way than simply being faithful.

Continually the modern Christian trends offer up various innovative programmes and “new measures” to grow the church and ensure success and survival.  It is an interesting historical fact that the term, “new measures”, has been in use for some 150 years. Whilst innovation can be useful, we must never forget that  God, however, has called us, through Jesus Christ to His Word, and the Sacraments; and to trust in Him.  If we walk together in God’s Word, and encourage one another in faithfulness and trust in God, and do those things that the Lord lays before us to do, the Lord will provide. 

He may not do everything we would like Him to do, nor bless us in the ways that we dream about.  God’s will is that the Gospel be preached, and His people demonstrate it by their lives of faithfulness, grounded in His Word, and trusting in His promises.  His will is that we live the faithfulness so thoroughly that others see it and ask us about it, and we witness to them the hope that is in us.  His will is that we receive His Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism, to gather to hear His Word, to eat His holy Supper, and to encourage one another and love one another in the fellowship of His holy ones in the body of Christ.  

God’s will is that we trust Him.  Trust Him, not ourselves.  Trust Him, not our own wit and wisdom.  Trust Him, not the opinions of those around us who think they know better.  Abraham did the unthinkable because God told Him to do it, and God said.  “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  God did the impossible in Jesus Christ, to save us, to show us His love, and to teach us to trust in Him.  Now it is our turn.  Now it is time for us to be faithful.  ^{Proverbs 3:5-6}says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”

Trust in the Lord, and walk faithfully.  Then we will know with absolute certainty that the Lord will provide. Amen

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

Pentecost 3 – 21 June 2020 – Year A

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 Matthew: Verses 34 – 39:

“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; ²⁵ it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

²⁶ “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷ What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸ Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹ So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

³² “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; ³³ but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
³⁶ and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸ and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

In this morning’s Gospel, we heard Jesus say, ^{(Matthew 10:34)} “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” These words sound intensely uncharacteristic for Jesus.  After all, isn’t this the Jesus who said, ^{(John 14:27)} “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” … So, yet again are we challenged by the Word – What are we to understand?

Well, to truly understand what Jesus is teaching, we need to understand it in its context.  It is often very misleading to read a single verse of the Bible in isolation.  In some cases, a verse in isolation can seem to mean almost the opposite of what it truly means when taken in context.

Today’s Gospel is a short section taken from Jesus’ instructions to His disciples as He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the lost sheep of Israel.  He has given them the authority to drive out demons, heal the sick, and even raise the dead.  He has told them how God will care for them as they travel so that they do not need to take extra provisions with them on the trip.  He has told them how to bring the peace of God on the places where they stay.

Now, in their going around healing the sick, driving out demons, and raising people from the dead, we would expect people to be lined up for miles waiting to see the disciples as they brought the good news of the Kingdom to the people.  The fact is though, the words of Jesus that we heard today are a reality check for our human expectations.  Jesus is saying that even though you may think that people would be grateful for all these things, don’t count on it.  Jesus is basically telling His followers that they should expect conflict when they faithfully proclaim the Gospel.  It is not that Jesus wants the sword instead of peace.  Instead, Jesus wants the Gospel proclaimed to the world, but the world does not want to hear the Gospel.  When Jesus states that His Gospel will bring the sword, He is telling the simple truth that the world will use the sword against those who proclaim the Gospel.  He is simply telling those who faithfully proclaim the Gospel that they should expect violence against them.

Jesus told the disciples that the violence will even come from family and friends.  Jesus said, ^{(Matthew 10:35–36)} “I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”. Again, it is not that Jesus wants it to be this way, but He knows that sin, death, and the devil will do everything within their power to strike at the proclamation of the Gospel.  They will even use the ones we love the most to attack us.

What this means is that, at times, we must take a stand against family in order to remain faithful.  That is the point Jesus made when He said, ^{(Matthew 10:37–39)} “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

You see, we who confess our faith to the world have the most wonderful, soul-saving, message of peace to share with everyone.  God Himself has come down from His throne to live among us as one of us.  He has taken all our sin into His innocence and taken on Himself the punishment that we deserved for that sin.  He has absorbed the total judgment of God against all our sins to the point of dying on the cross.  He has proclaimed that His sacrifice on the cross was sufficient by rising from the dead.  Now He reigns in heaven and prepares a place for us to live with Him in paradise forever.  And to top it all off, all this is free!  It was very expensive for Jesus, but it is free to us.  Even the faith that receives it all is a free gift from the Holy Spirit.  It’s all ours for the taking!

Now, you would think, after hearing such a message, that every man, woman, and child would want to take hold of it with both heart and hands.  But Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel tell us to think otherwise.  Jesus told His disciples and He tells us that, as wonderful as the Gospel Message is, many will reject it.  Even though our message is the most wonderful message of all, it will make some people angry instead of thankful.  Even people that we love will become angry with us because we are faithful to God.

Here is where it gets really tough.  It is as if Jesus said, “Who is more important to you … your parents or me?  Who is more important to you … your children or me?  Who is more important … you or me?”  Pretty much since the time of colonisation until approximately 30 years ago, we in Australia have been a little spoiled in that our family, friends, and neighbours were either Christian or at least they respected Christians. Statistics now tell us that since then we are becoming the minority; but still, we are not yet defending ourselves in the streets.   As the writer to the Hebrews said, ^{(Hebrews 12:4)} “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

When I was in Alice Springs, I met two visiting Christian Pastors from North Africa who told me of first hand stories of people who were forced to watch as a mob tortured their children to death because they refused to confess that Allah is god and Mohammed is his prophet.  Are we ready to follow their example?

When I begin to understand what we just heard Jesus say in the Gospel, I must admit I am not worthy of Jesus.  I can’t live up to the standard that Jesus sets in today’s Gospel.  I am guilty.  No one can live up to this standard.

Well, …. that’s not quite right.  In all the history of the universe, there has been one man who lived up to this standard.  That man is Jesus Christ Himself.

There was a time when even Jesus’ family did not believe in Him.  ^{(Matthew 12:46–50)} While [Jesus] was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. ⁴⁸But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus left His family behind for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

As far as taking up the cross, His cross was not just a figure of speech.  ^{(John 19:16–17)} “So they took Jesus, ¹⁷and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha”. He literally carried His cross as well as our sin.  He suffered shame, torture, and ultimately surrendered His life for us.  He kept the standard that we could not keep.  He secured the salvation that we could not reach.

Jesus Himself suffered the sword that He speaks of in today’s Gospel.  Judas was one of His chosen disciples … a close friend.  Never the less, Judas betrayed Jesus.  Peter was also a chosen friend.  He denied Jesus.  The most prestigious members of society backed Pilate into a corner in order to put Jesus to death.  The people who should have known and loved Jesus the most were those who rebelled against Him the worst.  But even then, Jesus earned salvation even for them. 

Jesus now offers that salvation to the entire world and we receive the benefits of that salvation through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith.  Along with that faith comes the comfort that carries us when the world responds to the peace of Christ with a sword – especially when those carrying the sword are people we love.

God desires peace.  That is the reason He sent His Son into the world to suffer and die.  Jesus purchased God’s peace with His cruel, bloody death and we receive the peace that Jesus purchased through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. It is true that in our Christian journey we will still be confronted with the challenges of the world, but, the same Holy Spirit who gives us the faith that receives God’s peace, will also give us the endurance to carry the cross of the world’s opposition and rejection. Regardless of temporal rejection, we rejoice in the victory that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the all- powerful source of forgiveness and salvation, that is our free gift of grace into 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

Pentecost 2 - 14 June 2020 - Year A

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

  

The Holy Gospel is written in the Gospel according to St Matthew Chapter 9: Verses 35 – 38 and Chapter 10: Verses 1 – 33:

³⁵ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. ⁹ Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. ¹¹ Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹² As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³ If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

¹⁶ “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸ and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹ Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ²² and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴ “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; ²⁵ it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

²⁶ “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷ What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸ Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹ So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

³² “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; ³³ but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

Jesus has divided the twelve into teams of two each and sent them out, ^{[Matthew 10:5–6]}instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”.  Jesus wants the disciples to get some experience proclaiming the Gospel.  He has given them signs so that people will know that they are from God.  He has given them a specific message to proclaim.  They are almost ready.  Jesus has just one more thing to teach them before they leave.  He wants them to know about the response they will receive after they proclaim the message.

The response Jesus tells the disciples to expect SEEMS totally wrong.  It doesn’t seem to make sense.  Jesus warned the disciples with words like, “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.  This doesn’t seem right.

To understand why this seems so wrong, let’s take a few moments to imagine other scenarios of extreme need.  Imagine a cyclone with a path of destruction that is miles wide.  A team shows up with trucks carrying food, shelter, water, clothing, and other necessities.  The victims of the storm would have nothing but thanks for these kind people.  News media would broadcast from the site of the destruction and praise the work of these rescuers.  That is what we would expect.

Here is a real historical example.  Up until the middle of the twentieth century many of the diseases that we now take in stride meant death or loss of limb.  Ear infections would leave people deaf.  Pneumonia was fatal.  Surgeons would often operate successfully only to have patients die of infection.  Then Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.  Two other men, Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey read about Fleming’s work and developed ways to mass produce penicillin and make it available to the world at a relatively low price.  In 1945, these three men shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  Once again, we see that the world honoured them for their achievement.

I am sure that most of you know other examples of serious problems that were solved by dedicated teams of people.  You can also relate how people responded in gratitude to these solutions.  You expect people to be grateful when they have a problem and someone solves it.

Now consider the human problem: ^{(Rom 5: 12)} “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned” and the consequences ^{(Rom 6: 23)} “the wages of sin is death” – As clearly written in the Holy scriptures, we humans are all born in sin and left to our own devices, we are destined to die.

Did you hear the problem in those words?  Lost forever means an eternity of suffering in hell.  This is the most serious problem of humanity. That is a depressing thought in itself that would be almost impossible for us to bear if it were not for the second half of ^{(Rom 6:23)} “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus is the solution to the problem of eternal punishment.  He is the Saviour of all mankind.  He is the Son of God who took humanity into Himself so that He could take our place and earn salvation for us.  He lived a perfect life and then suffered the eternal punishment we deserved as He hung on a cross for us.  In this way, He paid the dreadful price of sin so that we could have salvation for free … not just cheap, but free.  Then He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  Now He offers His salvation to all people by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

When we hear this, we realise that Jesus makes us aware of our greatest problem and He provides the greatest solution for free.  You would think that the entire world would honour Him above all others.  That is what one would think, but the reality is just the opposite.

This hatred does not make sense to us Christians.  After all, we are telling people that Christ has already purchased their salvation with His death on the cross.  We are telling them that He gives this salvation to them for free … that’s F – R – E – E … free!  We are telling them that the Christ has purchased a gift that is worth more than the wealth of all nations and He is giving it away for free.  Never the less, the proclamation of this gift makes people angry.  This just doesn’t make sense.

If Jesus had not given us the words of today’s Gospel, sharing the Good News of salvation would be a very confusing activity.  It would be easy to think that we were doing something wrong when people did not eagerly desire to receive this gift when we told them about it.  It would be easy to think that we were doing something wrong when people actually fought against us and tried to destroy us when all we want to do is tell them about a gift that is more valuable than all the riches contained in the world.  You would think that people would fill Church buildings and line up around the block and down the street in order to get this gift, but they don’t.  They persecute it instead.  Why is that!

Well, there is something fundamentally different about the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ.  There is a spiritual war going on all around us.  While we are proclaiming the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, sin, death, and the devil are fighting a war of lies against that proclamation.  They are doing everything within their power to make truth look like a lie and to make lies look like the truth.  Although sin, death, and the devil want to enslave us, they present themselves as a way to freedom.  Although true freedom is in Christ Jesus, the forces of evil proclaim Christ as restrictive and domineering.  The forces of sin, death, and the devil are the ultimate con artists.  They pose as friends, but are really deadly enemies.

Today’s Gospel is a great comfort for persecuted Christians around the world.  It tells us that the opposition of the world is no surprise to God.  God is not up in heaven going, “O My!  The world is persecuting My people.  Whatever will I do?”  No! God knows all about our situation.  He understands that the world makes it hard to be a Christian.  He understands that His faithful confessors will undergo hard times.  As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: ^{[1 Corinthians 1:23]} “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”  Today’s Gospel is one of many places that tell us to expect opposition from the world.  Today’s Gospel tells us that we are not doing something wrong when the world or even our own family hates us for making a faithful confession of Jesus Christ.

Even with the knowledge that God understands, though, it is still hard to stand firm in the face of criticism.  The temptation is always there for us to compromise God’s teachings in order to get along with the world.  If the world gets offended because the Bible says that all are sinners, we might be tempted to water down the message of sin – perhaps even skip it altogether.  If the world is offended by the gruesome nature of the cross, we may want to push the cruel torture and the pain of the cross into the background.  It is easy to talk about God’s love and forget about His justice.  It is easy to talk about Jesus as our friend and forget about the day when He will come as the judge.   We often want to water down the message of God’s Word just a little bit so that the world around us would not give us such a hard time.

Jesus warns that this attitude is very dangerous.  He said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  The worst thing that this world can do to us is end our physical life;  but this world is not all that there is.  There is a judge who has the authority and power to send both soul and body to the eternal punishment of hell.  It is His teachings that we are watering down when we compromise our confession in order to fare better in this world.  It is His name we are blaspheming when we give way, even a little bit, to the doctrines of this world.

So, can we stand firm in the faith even in the face of the world’s persecution?  We all find this challenging.  I must confess that in spite of my desire to remain faithful to the teachings of God’s Word, my human nature tempts me to compromise my profession of faith.  Once again God’s Law (e.g. The Ten Commandments etc.) convicts with a standard of perfection that is so high that no mere human could ever keep it.  Once again, the Law shows our sin to us and shows us our need for a saviour.

That is the reason that the Gospel is so sweet to those who believe.  The Gospel proclaims that Jesus is the only one who never compromised God’s Word.  He is the only one who remained faithful to His calling.  He remained faithful to His calling even when His calling led to the cross.  He is the one who paid for our sins – even our sins of watered down doctrine – with his death on the cross.  He faced not only the persecution of this world, but He also faced the combined guilt of all the sin of this world.  Even then He remained faithful.  With the victory He won with His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave, He has purchased the forgiveness of sins for all people.

Jesus warned the disciples to remain faithful.  Even so, the disciples all abandoned Jesus.  At one point Peter even denied that He knew Jesus.  In spite of their weak confession, Jesus took them all back. 

The history of the early church tells us of the faithful Apostles.  Of the eleven apostles who remained faithful to Jesus, only John the Evangelist died of natural causes.  The other ten Apostles died as martyrs to their faith in Jesus Christ.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, they persevered to the end.

In spite of our many shortcomings – in spite of our fear – in spite of our desire to get along with the world at the expense of Christ’s teachings, the Holy Spirit will continue to keep us in the faith.  Just as the Apostles endured to the end by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will one day bring us to a blessed end here on this earth – only to take us to a blessed eternity there in heaven.  There we shall wait with all the other believers in Christ until the Last Day when Jesus will return and raise all the dead, and all who believe in Him will live forever with Jesus on a new earth where there is no sin, no sorrow, and no persecution.  For we shall live in that place forever with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  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

Trinity Sunday – 7 June 2020 – Year A

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 28^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 16 – 20:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It’s Trinity Sunday today. The day we remember our Lord is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And although the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit the Father, all three are one God. Sadly, as humans, we can’t help ourselves; we try to rationalise this Godhead by comparing it with things like water – ‘water – steam – ice’ (three forms of one element), or our body ‘body and soul’ (two facets of one body). The Holy Trinity is not a science experiment; it is the unfathomable power of good that extends from before creation into eternity.

But why does that matter so much that the Church has historically made the remembrance of the Trinity one of the highest feast days of the year? After all, in our everyday worship and studies, we don’t generally talk much about the Trinitarian nature of God; in fact the word ‘Trinity’ does not even appear in the Holy Scriptures. It really only comes into focus on Trinity Sunday. 

Maybe that’s an unfair assessment of a committed Christian, maybe mostly we live with an attitude of silent reassurance. You see, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is totally foundational to our faith. This Holy Trinity is the very life blood, the intrepid beating heart, of the Christian Church and its’ mission on earth.  I suppose that silent acceptance is a ‘human thing’. After all we build houses to live in and all sorts of buildings to work in, but we don’t think much about the foundations they are built on; and yet without those foundations the buildings would collapse.

The early Church fought to keep that foundation. That’s why we have the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. Those battles have been fought and won through God’s Word proclaimed. Proclaimed as in our texts today. The Apostles Creed was, in its’ rough origin, the combined works of the Apostles in 2 AD. It became the ‘Roman Creed’ and eventually accepted again as the Apostles Creed into church doctrine. The first ‘Council of Nicaea’ was convened by the Roman emperor Constantine in 325 AD. This was the first ecumenical conference of bishops of the Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine; the most important of which was the first version of the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed as we know it today was developed and ratified at the ‘First Council of Constantinople’ in 381 AD. The Athanasian Creed, which is an extremely comprehensive statement of the Trinitarian faith was originally the incomplete work of  St. Athanasius in 373 AD, which was eventually completed by St Augustine in 415 AD.

But our historic Creeds don’t stand on their own They point us to the God revealed in Scripture. They point us to texts like today’s as written in Matthew 28; and these texts are the foundation of the Church, both Old Testament, and New. In Genesis, there is the Spirit over the face of the deep, pointing us to our baptism. There is the Son, the Word of God proclaimed, creating the very thing He says. There is the Father, sending that very Word into the world. All three working together to show the oneness of God. And yet, we also hear the Lord say, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” to remind us that God is also not just one.

In Acts, Peter points to Christ as the promised Messiah, and quotes Psalm 110. “The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”” Showing us that God is both one and more than one at the same time. And in Matthew 28, where we are used to hearing about the Great Commission, we also hear that we are to be baptised not into the names of, but the name singular. The one name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Even though we translate that name as LORD throughout Scripture, the divine name that is written down for our God is “Yahweh”, Hebrew for “He Is.” Or, as when God says it Himself, “I Am.” The Father has the name “I Am.” The Son has the name “I Am.” The Holy Spirit has the name “I Am.” And yet there are not three names, but one name. And when Jesus uses that name, it means something. In Greek, it is (Eimi). When Jesus stands in the crowd and says, “Before Abraham was, (Eimi), I Am,” they pick up stones to put Him to death for blasphemy. When they come to arrest Him, He asks^{,(John 18:6)} “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “(Eimi) I Am.” And they fall down in fear at Him using the name of God in the first person.

This is Jesus’ name: And He proved that by rising from the dead, just as He said He would. And yet when the eleven remaining disciples came to Galilee, to the mountain that Jesus had directed them to, and worshipped Him, they still had doubts. Now, I know our English translation says that some doubted, which we often take to mean that some were sure, and others weren’t. But it might be better translated that there was some doubt. Because none of them were quite sure that worshipping a human being who looked just like them was quite the right thing to do. But the truth is, even though we worship today, we have doubts as well.

Those doubts come up when things aren’t going as well as they used to. They come up when we ask for the thorns in our sides to be removed, and yet there they remain. They come up when we’re hurting, and the pain isn’t stopping. We worship, but we wonder if God even hears us, or cares even if He does. This is where God being a trinity matters. This is where the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit having one name matters.

Because the great comfort of today’s text is the promise Jesus gives us. “I am with you always.” I Am with you. There is the name of Yahweh. There is the Word of God. The (Eimi), with you. And that promise is so important, that in Greek, Jesus places them in the middle of His own name. (egō meth’ hymōn eimi) I–with you–am. To let you know just how far Jesus will go to keep His promise.

Everything we endure, Jesus endures. Our troubles. Our thorns. Our pains. Our fears. Our doubts. Our sin. He is there with us through it all. Right by our side. bearing it on His shoulders. Wearing it on His head. Feeling in His hands, feet, and side.  Because where we are, He is also. Our crosses are His cross. And He dies on it for us. Not taking us around all those things, but straight through them. For Jesus has overcome the cross and the grave, which is where our every problem leads.

But not only is Christ where we are, we are where Jesus is. We are a part of His body. A part of His Church. We are where His Word is proclaimed. We are where His sacraments are administered. Because where Jesus’ name is, there He is also. And His divine name has been placed on us. We are baptised into the Father, and the Son,  and the Holy Spirit. We receive Jesus body and Jesus’ blood. Which He has, because He took on our humanity, and made it part of the great divinity of Yahweh, (Eimi), I Am.

So you see, the Trinity is not the sermon subject matter for just one day per year. The Trinity is the foundation upon which our very salvation rests. The Trinity is why our sins are forgiven through Christ and His cross. The Trinity is why we have the hope of the resurrection Jesus gives. That is why today is special. Why when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a great feast in honour of who our God is. Because with this revelation of God’s own nature, we have the assurance that our Lord will never abandon us, but will be with us no matter what. I with you Am, unto the ages, forever. Thanks be to God. 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