Easter 5 – 24 April 2016 – Year C

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 31 – 35

31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 

33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Relationship experts claim that everyone has two fears. One fear is that we will never be loved. The second is that we will never be able to love someone. Whether we want to admit it or not, whether we are the biggest killjoy or the most hopeless romantic, love is an essential part of our life. It’s what make or breaks relationships. It’s what causes us anxiety or a sense of peace. It’s what makes life miserable or worth living. But for something that is so essential to us, so important in life, we are really confused as to what love actually is. For us, love has so much to do about me: Am I lovable enough? Do I love someone enough? Or alternatively: I don’t care if someone loves me or not. I don’t care if I love this person enough or not. In this text, Jesus lovingly tells us that our ego-centred  ideas of love are clumsy; and that in fact love doesn’t start or end with us.

Jesus’ teaches us that love ultimately originates and lives in Him alone. If we want to really understand true love we have to back up a little and pay attention to Holy Week. I know we’re celebrating Easter, but this is so important. Jesus’ life on earth was about to culminate. He was with his disciples in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover As his disciples were gathered around him he looked at Judas and said, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” So Judas left, quickly and his only concern was how he was going to force Jesus to made a stand. To be the true conquering Saviour of the Jews as was, and still is, the Judaist expectation. That one act of selfishness ironically would begin the chain of events surrounding what Jesus calls his glory.

“When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.” There are a lot of glorious things about God. The creation of the earth, stars, land animals and mankind. The Bible tells us that he is so glorious, so perfect, that he had to shield Moses’ eyes from even looking at him. Even Jesus performed some pretty glorious acts like raising Lazarus from the dead. But here, after one of his own disciples leaves to betray him, Jesus says that he is glorified. Just as the events of Holy Week were about to start he says that he is in his glory.

Jesus knew the disciples didn’t get what he was saying, He tried to clarify himself in the words, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” In other words Jesus was going to the cross. Jesus was going to die. Out of all the things he could have chosen to glorify Himself: his presence at creation, his birth with angels singing, his transfiguration. He chooses his death on a cross.

Doesn’t sound too glorious does it? We do have an advantage over the disciples in that we know the end of the story. We know that after his suffering and death that he will rise. But we can’t gloss over his suffering and death and go straight for his resurrection as his glory because Jesus includes it as a package deal as a part of his glory. Our sin and the punishment for it is central to this passage. The fact is that Jesus death is the whole reason Jesus came to earth. This was his one purpose and forgiveness, salvation and glory is ours as a result. Yes! We are glorified along with Jesus.

In this text, Jesus ties his Passion directly to love. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The love Jesus’ disciples are to have is to be like His love for us. The love that drove him to action. The love that drove him to the cross. True Christian love always starts and ends with Jesus; we are not the initiators, we are the beneficiaries!

Friends, our human nature is such that when we read this section we begin thinking of people who really need to hear this. We create a list of people who could probably be a little more loving. Remember Jesus’ words “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you” Can we do that?

If we are to love as Jesus loves us then we can’t put ourselves first. Love isn’t even about how we feel. It doesn’t give to get. It’s not about the satisfaction we might get from loving someone else. Love doesn’t start or end with us.

Love doesn’t even draw a line in the sand and say, “I’m willing to do this for someone but not that.”

There is no limit to love. There is no ceiling or no cap. If we’re loving we can’t say, “I have been loving enough to this person and I am done.”

Jesus lesson to us is that we can’t love if we don’t actually love. We can’t convince ourselves that we actually love someone if we aren’t moved to action. Love is less of an emotion and it is more doing, and as we look at ourselves by Jesus’ definition can we truly say that we love? If we are truthful, we may find fear and doubt.

Take heart, this is a part of Jesus’ glory because he glories in the weak through the cross. Love doesn’t start and end with us. It start’s with Jesus’ love and the scope of this love is beyond all human understanding. God the creator of the universe, who suspended the stars and carved out the oceans, who was so blameless and pure that he can blind men gave all of that glory up and he became man to live, suffer and die on this earth. This is the love that drove him to a cross and to the depths of hell for us. This is the love that raises him from death to his resurrection and our resurrection and salvation. This is the depth of his love for us.

How can we ever love like that, so selflessly and so freely Friends we can’t because this love has no origin in us. This love is not something we have to muster up. This is not a love we have to find. At the Baptismal Font, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives us the gift of all the love we need, and as it flows through us as God has ordained those around we will see Jesus in us. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Remember how we said that Jesus’ glory is tied to his love? It is tied so tightly that his glory is his love for you. And when you love, people will know that you are one of his, because there is only one kind of love that is true. Love doesn’t start with you and it doesn’t end with you. It has been given to you.

The most amazing thing is that Jesus’ boundless love comes to us in spite of ourselves. Jesus loves us regardless of who we are and what we have done so that we in turn may love others regardless of who they are and what they have done. As we are told in ^{(1 Corinthians 13)} _“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”

Friends, if we feel that we are never thanked and never appreciated, we get nothing in return, Jesus commands us to keep loving as we are loved by him. From Jesus that love to us is an underserved gift of pure grace.

When we realise that love could never possibly start or end with us. When we realise that we are more unlovable than we could ever admit, and yet, in Christ, we are loved more than we would ever dare to hope, only then we understand that we live in the grace of God’s true love. If we fear that we will never be loved, look at the depths of Jesus love has for us. If we fear that we will never be able to love someone else; read the “Passion Account” as written in the Gospels and know the depths of Jesus love for us and remember His words as written in ^{(John 14: 23)} “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”. That is a promise to uphold us all forever. Amen.

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

Easter 4 – 17 April 2016 – Year C

Easter 4 – 17 April 2016 – Year C

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 10^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John; Verses 22 – 30.

²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

Today’s reading from the Gospel comes from the Good Shepherd chapter of the Bible, John 10.  The lectionary system that we use always selects a reading from the Good Shepherd chapter for the Fourth Sunday of Easter.  In the first year, we learn that Jesus is the door to the sheepfold.  He is the only way into eternal safety.  In the second year, we learn that the Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  In today’s reading, we learn that Jesus our Good Shepherd knows His sheep and His sheep follow Him.

What does it mean to know and be known?  There is a big difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone.  We know about the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull.  I think it would be safe to say that no one here actually knows him.  Many of us know about a woman named Gina Reinhardt.  Again, I think it would be safe to say that no one here actually knows her.  It’s like that with famous people.  We may know about them, but we don’t know them.

On the other hand, we know our spouses, our children, our parents, our friends, and the like.  We’ve spent time with them.  We know their personality traits.  Not only do we know them, but they also know us.  Jesus is talking about this kind of knowledge when He says that He is our shepherd and we are His sheep.  He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Jesus went on to tell of the great benefit that this knowledge brings.  He said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  Here is Jesus, the very God of all things, and He is saying that His sheep receive the eternal blessings that only He can give.

Some may be surprised to learn how well and how long Jesus has known us.  In his letter to the church in Ephesus, the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write, ^{[Ephesians 1:3–4]} “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”  Did you hear that?  God knew us before He even began to create the cosmos.  God didn’t just know about us before He began creation.  He knew us and He chose us.

Think about that.  Before God said, ^{[Genesis 1:3]} “Let there be light,” He already had His salvation plan in place.  The historic Roman Catholic Priest Martin Luther centred his basic theology in the fourth stanza of his hymn, “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice.”  He wrote, “But God had seen my wretched state before the world’s foundation, and mindful of His mercies great, He planned my soul’s salvation.”  - That is to say that before God said, ^{[Genesis 1:3]} “Let there be light,” He knew us and He knew how He was going to save us.

We know that God created the universe through the Eternal Word, God the Son.  When the Eternal Word participated in the creation, He already knew us.  He already knew that we would rebel against Him.  He already knew that He would give us a set of perfect instructions for living in His blessing, and that we would ignore them.  He already knew that we would make up our own set of corrupt instructions and follow them instead.  He already knew about the suffering and pain we would inflict upon ourselves and upon the other sheep with whom we live.  He already knew that this would eventually result in our death.

The Eternal Word, God the Son knew all this and still He resolved to be our Good Shepherd.  He resolved to save us with His sacrifice.  As He created the world, He already knew that He would take on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary.  He already knew that He would live a life of poverty and humility under the law.  He already knew that He would have to keep the law perfectly and then suffer the punishment of a criminal under the law.  He already knew that He would suffer and die.  He already knew that this is what it would take to redeem us.  This is what it would take for Him to be our Good Shepherd.

Many people have asked, “If God knew all this before He even began creation, why did He do it?”  The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to give this answer: ^{[Romans 5:8]} “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Before creation, God already knew us and He loved us.  He knew that we would rebel and He loved us.  He knew that we would be helpless and hopeless and He loved us.  Before creation, He already knew us better than we now know ourselves and still He loves us.  He loves us enough to suffer and die for us.  He loves us enough to suffer and die so that He could be our Good Shepherd.  This is what Jesus means when He says that He knows His sheep.

God also wants us to know our Good Shepherd.  That is the reason that He spoke through the prophets and apostles.  He wants us to know how it is that we are His sheep and He is our Good Shepherd.  He wants us to know of His love for us.  He wants us to know the security of His salvation.  He wants us to know that there is no burden that He will not carry for us.  In fact, He wants us to know that He will not just carry our burdens, but He will also carry us.  He does not just want us to know about Him, but He wants us to know Him.  He wants us to know Him forever.  He has given us Himself in the Bible so that we may know Him.

Sadly, today’s reading from the Good Shepherd chapter tells us that there were some who did not want to know their Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd chapter is the tenth chapter of the Gospel according to John.  For nine chapters, John has been telling how Jesus showed that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Now, here in the tenth chapter, the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”  The problem is not that Jesus has been hiding His identity as the Christ.  Instead, the problem is their stubborn refusal to believe … their stubborn refusal to know Christ.  John the Apostle had this to say at the end of his account of the Gospel: ^{[John 21:25]} “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.  Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”  In spite of all this evidence, there will always be some who refuse to know the Christ … who refuse to know their Good Shepherd.  Jesus wants to love them and care for them as a shepherd cares for sheep, but they do not want His gifts.

Jesus does not just know about us.  He knows us personally, and He has known us since before the creation of the world.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows us way better than any mere earthly shepherd knows his sheep.  He sacrificed Himself for us and saved us.

God the Father honoured our Good Shepherd by raising Him from the dead.  That is how we can know that Jesus truly is our Good Shepherd.  That is also how we can know that Jesus is not just our Good Shepherd while we live here on this earth.  He is our Good Shepherd for eternity.  For when we leave this earth, Jesus will call us by name as a shepherd calls his sheep.  He will give us eternal life, and we will never perish, and no one will snatch us out of His hand.  As David the Psalmist said, ^{[Psalm 23:6]} Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.  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 3 – 10 April 2016 – Year C

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 21^st Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 1 – 19:

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. ⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” - “No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. ⁹ When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Last week, we read about Thomas, who after three years of personal witness of the ministry of Jesus Christ, denied His existence and promise to rise from the grave. Thomas’ faith was reliant on his own personal witness and judgement.  Nevertheless we saw Jesus’ friendly nature toward him as He patiently allowed Thomas to examine His holy wounds.  In essence Jesus re-instated Thomas.  This week, we read the account of Jesus re-instating more of the disciples especially Peter.

Many of the things in today’s Gospel are the same as they were when Jesus first called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and told them that they would catch men instead of fish.  Peter has decided to work off his grief and frustration by doing some fishing.  Once again, they caught nothing.  Then Jesus appeared and just as the last time, Peter and his fellow fisherman found them selves with almost more fish than they could handle.

Jesus and Peter had a little over three years of history between them since that last great catch of fish.  Peter had learned a lot about himself.  Some of it was pretty good and some of it was terrible.  Peter learned that he had a bad habit of talking before thinking.

Peter had given one of the best confessions of the nature of Jesus Christ.  He had said, ^{[Matthew 16:16–17]} “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 

But before the day was out, he would mess up big time.  ^{[Matthew 16:21–23]} Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  It took Peter about six verses to go from being blessed to being called Satan.

Then, of course, there is Peter’s great promise of loyalty.  Peter said, ^{[Matthew 26:33–35]} “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”  Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”  Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”

It didn’t take long for Peter to fail.  ^{[Matthew 26:69–75]} A servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.”  But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.”  And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.”  After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.”  Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.  And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Peter’s track record is none too good.  Way back at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Peter had confessed his sin to Jesus, ^{[Luke 5:8]} saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”   Now, after a little more than three years, Peter had no reason to change his assessment of himself.

In spite of this track record, Jesus still wanted Peter to become an Apostle.  Three times, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?”  Three times, Jesus told Peter to care for His sheep.  Peter had denied Jesus three times.  Now he heard Jesus restore him three times.  Jesus not only wanted Peter in His family, He wanted Peter to serve the rest of His flock.

Jesus knew that Peter was carrying the painful guilt of his denial around inside of him.  He knew that Peter had to confess his guilt and get rid of it.  Jesus asked one question for each time that Peter denied Him.  Jesus brought Peter to the grief that He felt that night when Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Jesus didn’t leave Peter in that guilty grief.  He comforted Peter by restoring him.  As He worked with Peter, He called Peter to be the under shepherd of His flock.  This is a great restoration to grace.

Jesus is able to give this grace because of His great and perfect love – His perfect life that fulfilled all the law – His innocent suffering and death on the cross that made the payment we owed for our sins – His resurrection that opens the way to heaven for all believers.  All these things make up Christ’s great work of unconditional love that freely offered grace to Peter.  This grace is so great that Peter, who denied he even knew Jesus, eventually became the leader of the church.

This grace is not for Peter only.  In Acts 9: 1-20, we encountered Saul on the road to Damascus so that he could arrest the Christians that he found there.  Jesus came to him in a great light and a great voice.  Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  And, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”  Saul also had to go through grief over his sins.  Saul had to come to grips with the fact that when he persecuted the church, he was persecuting Jesus the Son of God.  The grace that Jesus earned with His life, suffering, death, and resurrection was for Saul as well.  This time Jesus administered His grace to Saul through His disciple Ananias.  Ananias came to Saul and laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  “And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptised; and taking food, he was strengthened”.  Jesus Christ’s grace is so great that Saul, who persecuted the church, eventually became Paul the evangelist to the gentiles and author of almost half of the books of the New Testament.

Friends in Christ, there is incredible comfort in this, for God does not change.  The grace that Jesus earned for us on the cross is not just for people long ago.  It is for people of all times and places.  The same Holy Spirit who brought Peter to bitter tears also brings us to grief over our sins.  In this way He makes us aware of our need for a saviour.  Then the Holy Spirit works to show that saviour to us.  The grace that Jesus earned with His life, suffering, death, and resurrection comes to us just as it came to Peter and Saul.  Just as the Holy Spirit worked through Ananias to bring grace and forgiveness to Saul, so also the Holy Spirit works through the confession and absolution, both public and private,  to bring grace and forgiveness to us.

The grace of Jesus Christ is beyond bounds.  It will not leave us unchanged.  All people who believe in Jesus Christ have their sins forgiven and their relationship with God restored.  All believers become heirs of eternal life in heaven.  The grace that Jesus Christ earned offers us forgiveness, life, and salvation.

We have all fallen as the apostles fell.  There have been times that we, like Peter, were afraid to confess our faith.  We have wanted to fit in and so denied that we knew Jesus.  We’ve all made promises to God that we haven’t kept.  Like the disciples, we often focus on ourselves instead of God.  We know that our sin has earned the eternal wrath of God.

Regardless of this, Jesus works in us through the Holy Spirit to re-instate us – to bring us back into the family.  In His love, He suffered and died for you and for me.  He took our sin onto Himself and gave us His righteousness instead.  His resurrection tells us that His loving sacrifice was successful.  He has opened heaven for all people.  All those who have the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith will live in the presence of God forever.

Jesus re-instated Peter, a fisherman who couldn’t seem to get his foot out of his mouth.  Jesus went out of His way to meet a man who arrested Christians and brought them back to be punished for their faith in the true God.  In the same way, Jesus is here … now … to patiently announce that He has dealt with our sins forever and to lovingly reinstate us into eternal fellowship with him.  Amen

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