Holy Trinity Sunday – 30 May 2021 – 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 3^rd Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 3:1 – 17:

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

 

 

Today is the festival of the Holy Trinity.  In some ways, this festival is sort of odd.  If we look at the other major festivals of the Church Year, they tend to be the commemoration of an event … Christmas: the birth of Jesus; Good Friday: the crucifixion of Jesus; Easter: the resurrection of Jesus; Ascension Day: The Ascension of Jesus; Pentecost: the special revelation of the Holy Spirit that we celebrated last week.  All these days commemorate events.  The festival of the Holy Trinity does not commemorate an event.  It commemorates a characteristic of God as He reveals Himself in His word.

Furthermore, the Holy Trinity is odd as well.  It is a divine mystery.  It is not like the mystery in a crime drama.  At the end of a crime drama, the detective explains everything, and the mystery is solved.  In the mystery of the Holy Trinity, you can study everything the Bible says … you can read all the great theologians of the church … you can memorise very last scrap of information on the topic … in the end, you will still say, “I don’t get it.” It is a mystery that is above and beyond the capacity of our mortal minds.

We just said the Athanasian Creed.  This creed, albeit a bit antiquated in language, does an excellent job of expressing the mystery of the Triune God.  When you are dealing with God the Father, you are dealing with all of God, not just part of God.  The same is true of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  In order for this to make sense to our finite minds, this requires three gods, but there are not three gods.  There is only one God.

It should not surprise us that there are things about God that are mysteries.  We human beings live under the rules of God’s creation.  The creation that God made for us places limits on us.  God, on the other hand, reigns over His creation.  He has no limits.  The fact that God has mysteries that we cannot understand should be a source of comfort.  A god that is totally understandable is not much of a god.

We encounter the Trinity immediately in Genesis chapter one.  In verse one, we hear about God the Creator.  In verse two, we hear about God the Spirit.  In verse three, we hear about God the Word, through Whom God created all things.  At the beginning of John’s account of the Gospel, we learn more about these three persons.  ^{(John 1:14)} “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  Here, John identifies the Word, through Whom God created all things as the only-begotten Son of God the Father.

The account of Jesus’ baptism records an appearance of the Trinity: ^{(Matthew 3:16–17)} “When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” As the Spirit of God rested on Jesus, God the Father identified Jesus as God the Son.

When Jesus instituted Holy Baptism, He used the name of the Trinity: ^{(Matthew 28:19–20)} “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, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” It is in the name God gives us at our baptism that we receive His service and live our lives.

In today’s Gospel, we heard a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.  There is much to learn in this conversation.  On this festival of the Holy Trinity, we can learn how the Triune God works to give us salvation.

As Jesus taught Nicodemus about the work of the Holy Spirit, He said, ^{(John 3:5–8)} “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” With these words, Jesus teaches Nicodemus and us that it is the Holy Spirit who brings us into God’s Kingdom.  We cannot enter under our own power.  The combination of the Word, the water and Spirit points to Holy Baptism as the way the Holy Spirit calls people to the faith.  The comparison between the wind and the Holy Spirit teaches that the Holy Spirit has His own time table for when and where He brings people into the Kingdom of God.  We do not enter the Kingdom of God at a time of our own choosing, but when and where it pleases the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus taught Nicodemus about His own work, He said, ^{(John 3:13–15)} “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” With these words, Jesus teaches that although He calls Himself the Son of Man, He is from heaven.  As the one from heaven who took on human flesh, a crucifixion squad will lift Him up on the cross just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness.  By this sacrifice, all who believe in Him will have eternal life.

At the end of today’s reading, Jesus taught Nicodemus about the work of God the Father and said, ^{(John 3:16–17)} “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” With these words, Jesus teaches that, salvation has its source in God the Father.  It is God’s love that sent His beloved Son to save the world.

Jesus taught Nicodemus that all human beings are born of the flesh.  This means that we are all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own.  We would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation.  But the Father of all mercy and grace has sent His Son Jesus Christ, who atoned for the sin of the whole world that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Nicodemus struggled with this teaching.  The natural person, (that’s us), the one born of the flesh, (that’s us), looks to the impossible task of fulfilling God’s law for salvation.  Just like the Arians I spoke of and the Jehovah Witnesses, and a few other denominations that call themselves Christian, they search for salvation in their own works.  We live in a culture with a ‘work ethic’ (well mostly anyway), if you want to get anywhere in life, you have to knuckle down and work for it.

But, Jesus spoke for the prophets and for Himself and said, ^{(John 3:11)} “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.”

 You see we are constantly exposed to ‘two kingdoms’ right here on earth. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Earth. The fact is that as Christians, we live in both, our faith is constantly questioned; we are subject to secular laws that are often contrary to our Christian beliefs. The challenge for us is to cling to the Kingdom of Heaven and in trust to abide in God’s abundant love, so that our passage exposed to secularism may be safely guided by the Holy Spirit. 

The testimony of Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets is the same.  God does all the work of saving us.  We resist Jesus until the Holy Spirit blows into our lives and works faith in us.  It is then that we receive the eternal life promised to us by the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We can give praise to Almighty God that Nicodemus eventually did receive the testimony of God’s Holy Scriptures.  We know that he eventually became a Christian for the account of him in today’s Gospel is not the last time we read of him in Holy Scripture.  We hear of him one last time shortly after Jesus died on the cross. ^{(John 19:38–39)} “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. ³⁹Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight”. ***It is so interesting that it is a couple of Pharisees who supervise the burial of Jesus in the tomb.

The account of Jesus and Nicodemus can teach us a great deal on this Trinity Sunday.  Jesus taught that God shows His love for us by sending His only begotten Son into the world in order to save the world.  He taught that, like the serpent in the wilderness, the Son would be raised up on a cross in order to save the world from sin.  He taught that the Holy Spirit gives the gifts of salvation to us by giving us a new birth into the family of God.  The struggle of Nicodemus shows us that if we reject the work of any one of the members of the Trinity, we reject them all.  On the other hand, when the Holy Spirit brings us into the family of God by the new birth, we receive all the blessings that our gracious Triune God has for us … including forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.  We have indeed been blessed by

God the Father’s grace for
God the Son’s sake through
God the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. Amen

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

 

Pentecost – 23 May 21 – 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 2^ndChapter of the Book of Acts: Verses 1 – 21:

 

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. ⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; ¹⁸ even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹ And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; ²⁰ the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. ²¹ And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

 

 

No matter how often we read the Bible … no matter how familiar we are with its message, it always has something new to teach us.  Over the years the account of that special Pentecost in Acts 2 has often had new things to teach me.

One of the things that many people do not know is that, although this Pentecost was very special, it was not the first Pentecost.  The Lord instituted Pentecost about the same time He instituted Passover.  Pentecost was originally called the ‘Feast of Weeks’.  Since the Feast of Weeks comes fifty days after the ‘Feast of First-fruits’, people began calling it Pentecost based on the Greek word for fifty.  Pentecost and the Feast of weeks are the same festival, and the Jews have celebrated Pentecost ever since the days of Moses.

 

Pentecost is also one of the three feast days that required the presentation of the males of Israel.  The Law of Moses said, ^{(Deuteronomy 16:16)}“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths”.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one week long and begins the day after the Passover.  The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost comes fifty days after the Feast of First-fruits which happens to be the first Sunday in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Feast of Booths is about six months after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

 

Now, if we overlay these Festivals over the life of Christ, we learn that Jesus died on Passover, and He rose from the dead on the Feast of First-fruits.  Then, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in a special way fifty days later, at Pentecost.  The faithful Israelites who followed the instructions God gave to Moses would be in Jerusalem on those special days.  This means that the faithful who presented themselves in Jerusalem according to the instructions given in the Law were witnesses in Jerusalem for the crucifixion and resurrection as well as for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the following Pentecost.  In this way, the Holy Spirit gathered His Old Testament Church together to hear about ^{(Acts 2:11)}“the mighty works of God”. God, the master strategist, had this all worked out thousands of years before it happened.

 

One could be forgiven for visualising this as a time when the Holy Spirit was poured down on all present, including the Apostles. If we go back into the Gospel according to St John, we see that the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles prior to this special day. It happened on the day that Jesus rose from the dead.  ^{(John 20:19–23) “}On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

 

Jesus had already given them the Holy Spirit on the day of the Resurrection.  He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In light of this it could be assumed that the Apostles were on a heavenly mission to provide reassurance and guidance to those who were overwhelmed, doubted or confused at the Pentecost event.

 

As humans reading of events outside our earthly realm and understanding, we can become so distracted by the wow factor of the sound like a mighty rushing wind, the divided tongues as of fire, and the apostles speaking in other tongues, that we don’t notice the major miracle of Pentecost.  This miracle showed up in the response of those who gathered on that day.  They came together.  They heard the mighty works of God.  Then they responded. ^{(Acts 2:37–41)}“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls”. There is the great miracle of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit added three thousand souls to His church on that day.  Pentecost is not about the Holy Spirit poured out on the Apostles.  It is about the Holy Spirit poured out on those three thousand souls.

 

Much is written about the work of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, but it is best summed up by the eminent 16^thcentury theologian Dr Martin Luther in his explanation to the third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, “the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith”. The Holy Spirit’s manifestation on Pentecost is an example of that.  1500 years earlier, the Holy Spirit worked through His servant Moses to establish feasts that would gather these witnesses from the Old Testament Church to Jerusalem so that Luke the Evangelist could write,^{(Acts 2:5)}“Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.” It was not an accident that these men were in Jerusalem on this day. The Holy Spirit had called together the Old Testament Church to tell them that the long-awaited Messiah had come in the person of Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit was getting ready to convert the faithful of the Old Testament Church into the faithful of the New Testament Church.

 

That is the reason for the supernatural signs described in today’s reading.  The Holy Spirit was gathering His church together so that they could hear the call of the Gospel.  As the people of the Old Testament church drew near to the house, they encountered people who told them who Jesus was and what He had done for their salvation. These people did not speak in the lofty language of the Hebrew of the temple, nor did they speak in the street language of Aramaic, or the commercial language of Greek, or even the legal language of Latin, but each one heard the story of salvation in his own native language … the language he learned from his mother and father in the home of his childhood.  Each one heard in his own language ^{(Acts 2:11)}“the mighty works of God”. 

 

All these amazing things were the Holy Spirit’s means to accomplish the goal of gathering together His Old Testament Church and telling her that her waiting was over … that the New Testament had begun. The Pentecost Pilgrims and other righteous people who gathered together on that day had been looking forward to the Messiah.  They had been keeping the ceremonial law of the circumcisions and the sacrifices and all the other customs as a reminder that one day Messiah would come and fulfil all the law and offer Himself up as the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Their faith looked into the future to the Messiah who was to come.  Now the Holy Spirit gathered the church together to tell her that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one.  On this one particular Pentecost the Holy Spirit called together the Old Testament church and transformed her into the New Testament church.

 

Amid all the amazing things that happened on that Pentecost, it is easy to confuse God’s goal with the means that He used to accomplish that goal.  After all, this is exciting stuff … a sound like a mighty wind … the appearance of what looks like flames of fire … the sudden ability to speak and understand a foreign language.  It is easy to get distracted by all these things and forget the main goal … the goal of creating faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  That was the goal of the Holy Spirit on that Pentecost long ago, and it is still His goal today.

 

Amid the signs and wonders of that special Pentecost, there were still those who resisted.  There were men in the crowd who mocked and said, ^{(Acts 2:13)}“They are filled with new wine.” In any crowd there will always be those who resist the call of the Gospel.

 

This can be a great comfort to us as we confess our faith to the people we meet in our lives.  Sometimes, they will be interested and want to know more.  Other times they will reject our confession. When that rejection comes, we can take comfort in knowing that even when there was the sound like a mighty rushing wind, the divided tongues as of fire, and the apostles speaking in other tongues ,that there were some people who resisted their message.  We should expect that and continue to confess our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. 

 

On the day after that special Pentecost, there was no sound of a mighty wind.  The tongues of fire had gone away.  People spoke simply in their own language.  Never the less, the Holy Spirit was still at work.  The story goes on after today’s text in ^{(Acts 2:47)}“The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. God’s Church still had His Word and the Holy Spirit continued to work through that Word. 

 

The Holy Spirit still works through the Word of God to this day.  It has always been that way and it will always be that way.  The true sign of the Holy Spirit at work is the proclamation of God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit points to Jesus who is the God-Man who saved us from our sin with His suffering and death on the cross and promises us life everlasting with His resurrection.  The Holy Spirit works through God’s Word when we hear it with our ears … when we read it with our eyes … when we experience that Word in the water of Holy Baptism … and when we receive it with the true body and blood of Jesus in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Supper.  The Holy Spirit is at work when we confess our faith before each other and when we confess our faith before those who do not know Jesus.

 

            On that special Pentecost, the Holy Spirit used light and sound to call the Church to hear the proclamation that the Messiah they had been waiting for had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Holy Spirit transformed the Old Testament church into the New Testament church and the Holy Spirit continues building the New Testament Church to this very day.  The Holy Spirit still calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, sanctifies, and keeps us in the true faith.  As He gives each of us new birth into the Holy Christian Church, so He also calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies that whole Christian Church on earth and keeps her in the one, true faith.  In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all our sins and the sins of all believers.  On the Last Day, He will raise all the dead and give eternal life to all believers in Christ.  This is our sure legacy of true peace.  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

 

Easter 7 – 16 May 2021 – 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 17^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 6-19:

“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸ for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵ I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

 

The words that you just heard would all be in the colour of red if you have one of those particular kinds of Bibles, because every word you just heard was spoken by Jesus. The entire gospel reading is Jesus speaking to his disciples. In fact, it is Thursday night, the night before his crucifixion, and he knows he will soon be leaving his disciples to fulfill his mission and wants them to be prepared. And so Jesus has been teaching his disciples throughout chapters 14 - 16 about his nature, mission, destiny, and about their role and future in all of this. Now, here in chapter 17, he prays for them. This entire gospel reading is a prayer. So now as we gather together to worship in this time between the Ascension and Pentecost, Jesus prays for his disciples using words that have come to be known as the “High Priestly Prayer”. 

Jesus prays for his disciples. How powerful that must have been for them to hear their teacher and Lord praying for them. We cannot be sure exactly what they thought of Jesus’ prayer for them, but we can know something about what we think of it. My question to you is ‘what do you think of this prayer?’ Now I ask this because most people would find this ‘prayer passage’ hard to understand.....confusing even. Some would say that it doesn’t flow.....some lament that it is so hard to figure out, wishing that something so important was more accessible. My study Bible, like many others, has explanations in the margins to help the readers understand what is written there. But, beside this entire reading the margins are blank....not one word is written there. Yes, this prayer by Jesus may be a tad confusing to our modern day ears, but there are definitely some things we can learn from it. 

For example, what does he pray for? He prays to his Father that the disciples will have support, knowing that it will not be easy for them. He knows it won't. This world is captive to a spirit that is alien to God's Spirit. It is filled with a sense of inadequacy instead of abundance, fear instead of courage, and selfishness and lust for power instead of sacrificial love. You might argue that the fruits of God’s Spirit can be seen! Yes they can, but they all too often come up against the spirit of the world, ruled by the prince of darkness. Jesus, the one who came to bring abundant life, does not run away in the face of danger, and lays down his life for the sheep, offers an alternative spirit and reality. This is the reason why much of the world hates Jesus and will hate those who follow him. So Jesus doesn't pray that it will be easy, but rather that God will support the disciples in their challenges and that they will be one in fellowship with each other and with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit. 

To be more specific, this prayer of Jesus focuses on the tension between the Christian community and the world. It forces us to think about how followers of Christ are supposed to see themselves in relationship to the broader society in which we live. This is not an easy question to answer. Jesus says, “they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world”, and then he says, “as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” So, this begs the question, if we don’t belong to this world, what are we supposed to do if we are sent into it? 

In a book that I read a few years ago, written by Richard Niebuhr called Christ and Culture, the author talks about this very subject. In the book, he mentions “Christ against culture”, in which Christianity rejects all loyalty to that which culture stands for. He also talks about “Christ of culture”, in which Christians try their best to bring Christianity and culture together. Niebuhr finally settles in the middle ground somewhere between these two extremes. Our own Anglican theology agrees with this middle ground way of thinking where we realise that our loyalties don’t belong to this world, but we are called right into the midst of it.....to help God’s kingdom to break into this world. 

And so we take our Christian stands on some issues. Different people take their stands on areas that they are passionate about. Some people speak out.....and in some cases, act out concerning abortion, same-sex marriage, military service, capitalism and the relentless consumerism it promotes, social justice issues and many more. We take our stands because we must fulfill our calls as disciples to not be of the world, but to be in it. All of our attempts to live “in the world but not of the world”, honouring the truth of Jesus’ statement in this reading, where he notes that he is sending his disciples into the world, recognising at the same time that they “do not belong to the world”, and that they should expect that the world will “hate them” in the same way it hated Jesus. 

What a challenge.....this sounds incredibly hard. This sounds like a very difficult thing to accomplish. If we are not of this world.....if our ways.....Christ’s ways, are not of this world and yet we are called into it, won’t we be mocked?.....won’t we be going against the grain?.....won’t we run into opposition?.....won’t we feel torn all the time? We know the answer! Yes we will.....all of these things and much more. This sounds hard and yet, this is the uneasy balance to which we are called. And Jesus doesn’t leave us with a blueprint or a “how to” guide. He says that it will be hard. To try to interact with a world that will at times, “hate us” is very hard indeed. You see, that is precisely why Jesus prays for his disciples. 

Then again, Jesus doesn't only pray for his disciples back then. If we look just a little further beyond our gospel lesson we read, "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” Jesus prays for his disciples and also for those who will come to believe in Jesus because of the disciples’ work after his ascension. So, who are "all those” who believe in Jesus through the work of the disciples? Yes, that’s right.....we are. Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, on the night before his death, prays for us. We often think of prayer as something that happens in the other direction.....Christians praying to God. But here, our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God himself, prays for us. He prays for you, and he prays for me.

In Jesus prayers he asks for us the same things that he asks for his disciples.....that we may find God's support and encouragement and that we may be one in fellowship with each other and God. In all of our differences he prays that all of us may be drawn together into one. And, of course, these two things go together.....as we gather together to hear God's Word and to remind each other of God's promises, we are not only drawn together in deeper fellowship but also find the strength and courage to face the challenges that come from living in the world and bearing witness to the gospel of grace, abundance, courage, and love that is ours in and through Jesus. 

When we think of the Lord's Prayer, we of course think of the prayer he taught his disciples and the one we will say together in a few moments. But there's a way in which this scene gives us another Lord's prayer, the prayer our Lord prayed.....and is still praying, for us..... that we might find the strength we need and be one. That, to me, is unbelievably amazing and totally fantastic. Each time we read this reading, in fact, we are reminded of Jesus' constant care and concern and compassion for us and of God's love for the entire world. Each time we join our different voices, our different personalities and our different passions together to recite the Lord’s Prayer we are one. Our baptisms make all of us as varied people with all of our varied interests and quirks.....one. 

So, as people of God who do not belong to this world, but who are called into it.....as disciples of Christ, who live right in the midst of this tension, what do you want Jesus to be praying for you right now? What burden are you carrying today? What do you need in order to be strengthened? Is it patience to be a better parent, grandparent or friend? Is it encouragement in the midst of a difficult chapter in your life? Is it courage to stand up to a bully in the classroom or befriend a friendless kid at school? Is it comfort in the face of the loss of a loved one or the end of a relationship? Is it hope when we feel like we've got no options left? Is it companionship at a time of loneliness? Is it healing of body, mind, or spirit? Is it forgiveness.....or the ability to forgive another? What? What do you want Jesus to know about and pray for? 

When we come forward in to the Alter rail to receive the body and blood of the one who prays for us, we bring our burdens.....we bring our prayer requests to Christ our Lord and he will pray for us.....he will comfort us and he will strengthen us. And as we leave here today and walk out into the world that we are in, but not of.....to carry out the task that has been entrusted to us, which indeed can be frightening, we go with the blessing of our Great Triune God, which is a guarantee that he will be with us in all of our life. 

As daunting as our Christian mission is, fear does not have the final word for those who live in Christ. It is Easter and the gift of a resurrection life that has the final word. So each of us can go out of that door with a smile on our heart knowing that we are not alone.....we are all one in him.....we have support, because not only can we encourage each other, but we also know that the son of God himself is praying for each one of us. 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

   

Easter 6 – 9 May 2021 – 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 15^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 9 – 17:

 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Today’s Gospel continues where last Sunday’s Gospel left off.  Last Sunday, Jesus compared our relationship to Him with the relationship between a branch and a vine.  Just as a branch cannot produce anything without the vine, so we cannot do anything without Jesus.  So, as we hear today’s Gospel, we should have that mental image of the special relationship that a branch has with the vine.

 

The Holy Spirit has grafted us into Jesus just as a gardener would graft a branch into a vine.  If the branch does absolutely nothing, the main vine will incorporate the branch into itself and the branch will thrive.  If the branch tries to contribute anything to the process, it will mess up the process.  The vine will go into rejection mode and the branch will die.

 

As we hear more of Jesus’ teaching today.  We learn that the main nutrient that Jesus, the vine, feeds to us, the branches, is the nutrient of love.  [Jesus said,] “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Abide in my love”.  As you might expect, this is not just any love, but it is that ([ἀγάπη] “agapi”) or ‘agape’ style of love. 

 

As you may know the source language of the New Testament is NT Greek and this is a wonderfully descriptive language that articulates the meaning of words used. For example; Storge – empathetic bonding love as experienced between brothers and sisters. Philia – is the love between close friends, a bonding love. Eros – is the romantic love, normally reserved for married couples. 

 

There are more but today we are speaking about the special kind of love that the Greeks meant by that word ‘agape’.  

 

One of the difficulties of the English language is that, depending on context, the English word love can have about fifty different meanings. On an everyday level we ‘love’ our boyfriend or girlfriend, ice cream, the latest movie, our dog, and especially that cool movie star. What makes it even worse is that our culture is constantly trying to pollute the word love with twisted meanings of its own. 

 

 Perhaps, on this Mother’s Day, we might imagine an example of a mother demonstrating a human form of that ‘agape’ style of love.

 

Let’s imagine a woman who is the mother of a daughter who is a very bright, active, and popular student at the local high school.  The school year is almost over.  It is Summer and everyone feels a little excited about holidays, Christmas and fun.  

 

A classmate invites the daughter to a party.  It sounds innocent enough until the mother learns that the parents of this classmate will be out of town during the party.  The party is really the idea of this classmate’s older brother who has just arrived back from university.  The mother begins to wonder if the party that this brother and his friends would throw might get a bit wild.  She remembers that the house has a very nicely finished games room with a well-stocked bar.

 

  This mother considers the situation for a while and decides that the party has a high potential for disaster.  She tells her daughter that she can’t go to the party.

Well, the daughter really wanted to go, and she thinks her mother has totally lost touch with reality.  The frustrations well up and words begin exploding out of her mouth.  “You hate me!”  “You never let me have any fun!”  “I hate you!”  “You are the worst mum ever!”  The tirade continues for a while.  Then the daughter storms off to her room, slams the door, texts her friend that her mum is a total idiot, and then cries herself to sleep. 

 During the next few days, the tension in the air is thick enough to cut with a knife, the silence was hardly ‘golden’.

 

The news about the party starts to filter in during the day after the party.  Apparently, the neighbours had to call the police in order to keep the revelry in line.  The police arrested the older brother and some of his friends for possession of a controlled substance.  Several in attendance were arrested for drink driving as they tried to drive home.

  One of the intoxicated drivers whilst evading the police, failed to notice a red light, which resulted in a collision with another vehicle.  After a few weeks, one of the daughter’s friends learns that she is pregnant. She was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and she has no idea who the father might be. 

Even though the mother’s decision created all kinds of tension between her and her daughter, the mum is thankful for her feelings of love and commitment that strengthened her in her resolve to say no.

 

The mother in this imaginary story exhibited the best human form of ‘agape’ love.  She did what was best for her daughter even though it meant discord and tension.  ‘Agape’ love means you will do what is best for the people in your life even if it means they will hate you for it.  It means you do what is best for the people in your life no matter what.

 

I know I am guilty of ‘generalising’ here, but it seems that our ‘Western’ culture has a whole different idea of love.  Our culture as a whole is like the daughter in our little imaginary story.  If any one dares to suggest that a person’s behaviour might be self-destructive, our culture immediately replies with labels.  You are arrogant, judgmental, narrow-minded, hateful, and divisive.  Never mind the very real possibility that a person might harm themself or others. 

 The fact that you disagree with her automatically means that you push your agenda on to her.  Our culture seems to define love as allowing everyone to do what is right in their own eyes, even if the facts indicate that this will cause real harm.

 

Our culture is one more fulfillment of the words that Paul wrote to Timothy ^{[2 Timothy 3:1–5]} But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power”. Our culture not only encourages people to have these vices, but it also teaches that such vices are actually virtuous.  In reality, our culture’s idea of love is really a disguised form of greed.

 

How different God’s love is for us.  ^{[Romans 5:8]} “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.  These words that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome teach us that God did what was best for us in spite of the fact that we hated Him.

  In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the love He has for us is the same love that He, as God the Son, shares with God the Father.

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus takes ‘agape’ all the way when He says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus did more than talk about laying down His life for His friends.  Even while Jesus was teaching His disciples with the words of today’s Gospel, Judas was on his way to the authorities.  He would soon lead soldiers to Jesus in Gethsemane.  There Judas would betray Jesus.  The very next day, Jesus would fulfill His very description of love with His own suffering and death on the cross.  He would endure not only death, but also the anger of God caused by all of our sins.  This is the love that saves us.

 

Jesus said, “Abide in my love.”  This is the love of the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (that’s us).  This is the great love that lays down life for a friend (that’s us).  This is the love of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (that’s our sin).  This is the love of the God-man who stood between God and us and took the full force of the wrath of God for us.  This is the love that bled on the cross and said, ^{[Luke 23:34]} “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  This is the love that rose from the dead and promises us eternal life.

 

Jesus said, “Abide in my love.”  Abide means remain; stop trying in your own power.  The Holy Spirit has placed us in Christ Jesus through the gift of faith.  Any work we do on our own only serves to reject that faith and expel us from Christ’s love. I know that’s hard to accept, but we are not capable of contributing to our salvation, we are born in sin, we are at the mercy of God’s abundant grace.

Yes, we do good works, but only in response to God’s gift of faith, we are beggars who thrive only by God’s abundant grace.

 

  Abiding in God’s love means that He will work in us to strengthen our faith toward Him and He will work through us to show fervent love toward each other.

 

God loves us unconditionally.  He is the only source of pure, unconditional, ‘agape’ love.  It is in this love that God created us and still sustains us.  It is this love that compelled the Son of God to assume a human nature and sacrifice Himself on the cross to save us from sin.

It is in this love that we abide by faith. 

 

 Just as God’s love raised Christ from the dead, it promises that He will be with us here on this earth and that we shall be with Him forever in heaven.  By faith this love works in us and through us to free us so that we can obey God’s command and love our neighbour even as God has loved us.  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