Sunday 30 March 2025 - Lent 4

 Theme              When we are far from God        

Sentence           They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them, for the One who loves them will lead them beside the springs of water (Isaiah 49:10) [NZPB, p. 577]

Collect    [B. Peters, Book of Prayers in Common 2025 February Edition]             

Forgive, O God, the offences of your people,

that through your goodness we may be freed from the bonds of the sins

which in our frailty

we have committed;

through our Saviour Jesus Christ,

who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God now and for ever.

Amen.             

Readings                                             

Joshua 5:9-12

Psalm 32

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

                        Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

We all know the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11b-32. Or do we? What is the best title for this story? 

It is also known as the Parable of the Waiting Father - for obvious reasons. Yet, the whole narration of the parable ends with the story of the elder brother. Should it be called the Parable of the Two (very Different) Brothers? 

Then there is the thought that the parable reflects traces of a very old story of Israel, a story involving a father and two brothers, inheritance, wastefulness, rivalry, and reconciliation: the story of Jacob and Esau. 

Does Jesus' telling of the parable also reflect traces of the later history of Israel (Jacob's other name) in which Israel went into exile (1 and 2 Kings) and returned to some hostility from those who never left (Nehemiah)? But if either or both of these influences are in the parable, how does that influence the meaning of the parable for us today?

Let's come back to that question having explored the other passages.

Joshua 5:9-12 is an example of the lectionary doing its best to capture something important - the return of Israel to its promised land, after slavery in Egypt - but with a certain abruptness as the reading begins. The 'disgrace of Egypt' is the great throng of children born during the years of wandering in the wilderness who had not been circumcised. The story of the circumcision is told in 5:1-8. Nevertheless, these few verses in Joshua underline the inheritance of Israel under God. They were promised a land. They had begun to live in it. They were displaced through famine. Now they have returned. The land is doubly precious.

Psalm 32 is a prayer of confession. A sinner's psalm! We can imagine that if David wrote this he might be thinking of his guilt over his adultery with Bathsheba (though Psalm 51 is normally given that 'honour'). Whatever sin David has in mind, it has troubled him greatly. Most of us who say we feel a little bit guilty about this or that are not talking about our body wasting away, groaning all the day long, feeling the hand of God heavy on us and our strength drying up. David has been in the pits of oppressive guilt. He has not felt a little bit guilty, he has felt guilty distressingly. Then he experiences release. What is the key to this release? He confessed his sin to God. Has that been our experience, that we have been tormented by guilt, locked up in it and weighed down with it till we feel nothing but guilt, and then we have confessed (possibly through verbal confession to a confessor)? If, indeed, today we are oppressed with guilt then we must confess. It is the only way to be free.

The rest of the psalm is the psalm of the person without great cares: God is there for us, we should follow in his ways and trust in him; then, quite opposite to when we are weighed down with guilt, we are confident and grateful that we are surrounded by God's steadfast love.

Such confidence permeates Paul's gospel acclamation in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, the centre of which is this,

'in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them' (2 Corinthians 6:19).

Whether we are Israel in disgrace, David in guilty despair, or the prodigal son lost from his family in dissoluteness, the ultimate good message from God is this: the last word on sin belongs with God and not with us. Our sin may overwhelm us (Psalm 32) but it never overwhelms God who is both willing and has acted on a plan to reconcile the world (each of us, in every generation) to himself.

Nevertheless, the last word from God on sin is not a set of words (such as we might say when someone apologises to us, "Oh, that's okay. Not much harm done. Let's be friends again."). The last word from God is the deepest and darkest deed possible in dealing with sin,

'For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin,so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.' (6:21)

We will never be able to fathom the depths of this transaction. We can, perhaps, come up with an image or two to help us get the drift. One that springs to mind is a body full of poison which another person is able to draw the poison out of by absorbing it into their body.

One response to Paul's insight into God's reconciling work through Christ's saving death for us on the cross is praise.

Another, expressed in this passage, is that we might be 'ambassadors for Christ'. God has reconciled the world to himself, but the world is not reconciled to God until it responds to the ambassadors appeal, 'be reconciled to God' (6:20).

The epistle reading is most apt to be linked to the gospel reading, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32. The son has declared his father as good as dead in claiming his share of the inheritance. In his pursuit of a way of life foreign to his father's and his own Jewish heritage (highlighted by the fact that his life hits rock bottom in a(n unclean) pig farm), the son is driven as far from home and culture and religious identity as possible. He is effectively dead as well as lost (see Luke 15:24). The gap appears too great for reconciliation between father and son but by the story's end, reconciliation has been achieved (but with a twist). The waiting father never gave up on wishing to be reconciled to his prodigal son. In at least this sense, the father is analogous to the God who in Christ reconciles the world (i.e. we sinners are the prodigal son) to himself.

The twist to the tale lies in the exposure at the end of the story. The stay-at-home elder brother is as unreconciled to the father as his brother was when in his dissolute lifestyle. He does not understand the heart of his father. In geographical location he never leaves the father, but in emotional location (he has no empathy with what his father feels) he lives in another world. It is not only the obvious sinners of the world who need reconciling to God, it is also the outwardly right living folk who do not understand the grace of God and thus want no part of his reconciling work.

From this perspective we can see how the traces of older Israelite stories influence the meaning of the parable. 

Esau (the older brother of Jacob) is cast aside from God's purposes because he has no understanding of God's true heart. 

Israel, like the younger brother in the parable, driven into Babylonian exile through disobedience to God's commands nevertheless does not lose all understanding of God's great plan for the world. A remnant keeps faith, and expresses through the prophets the possibility of Israel yet returning to God and taking up its role as a blessing to all nations (see Genesis 12:1-3, Isaiah 42:1-6). They are the younger brother of the parable coming to their senses while in exile (= herding pigs).  Following such lines of reflection, with respect to Jesus himself (as representative of the repenting Israel-in-exile coming back to God ever more fully is, in this sense, the younger brother), the older brother is the Israel of the Pharisees and Sadducees, of the scribes and the lawyers who, again and again in the gospels, do not understand the grace of God in welcoming back errant sinners into his household and resent the popularity of Jesus as he feasts with sinners (e.g. Luke 7:36-50). 

(Acknowledgement: the great exponent of this parable as a parable of Israel returning from exile is the British scholar, N.T. Wright.)

What then of us today?

Do we need reconciling to God? To return to God?

As ambassadors of God, to whom are we making our appeal, 'be reconciled to God?' 

Are there traces of the "older brother" in us that need working on so that we, in character, are aligned with the waiting father? 

Sunday 23 March 2025 - Lent 3

Possible Theme                  Are we bearing fruit?    

Sentence             We have rebelled against the Lord our God who still shows mercy and forgiveness. (Daniel 9:9) [NZPB, 576]

Collect    [B. Peters, Book of Prayers in Common 2025 February Edition]             

God,

the source of all our strength;

watch over us within and without,

that in body we may be protected from all adversity,

and in mind cleansed from all destructive thoughts;

through our Saviour Jesus Christ,

who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God now and for ever.

Amen.       

Readings                                             

Isaiah 55:1-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts

Psalm 63:1-8 Your steadfast love is better than life

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Watch out that you do not fall

                         Luke 13:1-9 Unless you repent

Our gospel reading, Luke 13:1-9, is a tough one (just like last week!) at least in the sense that two or more different messages present themselves (vv. 1-5, Jesus responds to the suffering of the innocent; vv. 6-9, the importance of being fruitful disciples). 

A possible single message through the reading concerns repentance: the prospect of death and God's judgement on us (perhaps understood as one event) urges us to repent, lest we be found wanting by God. To this message the story of the fig tree offers a small variation: there may be a little delay which gives us opportunity to get our lives in order and begin to bear fruit. If Lent as a season means anything at all, it is a season of getting our lives in order with the purpose not just of generally being a "better" person, but of being a person through whom God is able to work fruitfully.

From another perspective, these nine verses are about Israel (symbolised by the fig tree), the people to whom Jesus has come as God's "gardener". Israel is guilty of sin, everyone, not just people who have recently and tragically died. God wants to deal with them immediately but in his mercy he allows his Son, the gardener, to work over Israel a little, giving her one more opportunity to bear the fruit of repentance (see 3:8). Tragically, for Israel, it will prove to be true that despite the work of the "gardener", she will be destroyed by Rome in 70 AD, never again to be reconstituted as a nation until the 20th century.

From this sobering perspective we read 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 and hear Paul's careful warning to watch out that we do not fall to the wiles of the devil, as, indeed, past generations of God's people have done.

But why bother with God, the cynic might say. It is all very well repenting of sin, but doesn't that lead to a joyless, fun-sapped life? Reading Isaiah 55 and Psalm 63 together, the counterpoint is made. Life with God is a rich feast. God offers much. But will we invest in God, will we 'come, buy, eat' from God (Isaiah 55: 1) or will we 'spend our money on that which is not bread' (55:2)?

The prospects are enticing, but they are obtained by seeking the Lord while he may be found (55:6), that is, seeking one who is utterly different to us, whose ways are not our ways and thoughts are not our thoughts (55:8-9). Will we seek this God who is no idol made in our image and after our likeness? The psalmist of Psalm 63, clearly, has done this seeking and found the secret to life with God. His poetic verses spell out his yearning for the deeper life with God, for a richer experience of the divine presence, a yearning which is fulfilled:

'Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you ... My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast ... (vv. 3, 5).

Surely such fulfilment is worth repenting for and watching lest we do not receive it!

Postscript: As tragedies continue to unfold in our world (e.g. Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan) and are remembered (15 March was the sixth anniversary of the Mosques shootings in Christchurch in 2019), I urge care being taken if there is any temptation to ascribe a current disaster/tragedy to the hand of God. No one on earth today has the authority to make such a declaration.

Sunday 16 March 2025 - Lent 2

NOTE: According to the Roman Catholic lectionary, and other lectionaries, the second Sunday in Lent is Transfiguration. In the ACANZP The Lectionary Te Maramataka, Luke 9:28-36 (the Transfiguration) is provided for as an alternative reading to the first reading listed, Luke 13:31-35. Here I am focused on Luke 13:31-35.

Theme(s):                  When the world does not understand Christ / Facing low moments in our life journey      

Sentence:             Rend your hearts and not your garments; turn back to the Lord your God who is gracious and compassionate, long-suffering and abounding in love. (Joel 2:13) [NZPB, p. 575]

Collect:  from B. Peters, Book of Prayers in Common February 2025 Edition               

Everliving God,

you desire to gather into one all who are dispersed,

and to keep together all whom you have gathered;

look with compassion on all who are baptised,

and unite us all in faith and love;

through the same Jesus Christ

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Readings:                                             

   Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18     

   Psalm 27

   Philippians 3:17-4:1

                           Luke 13:31-35

Comments:

Anyone reading this week's gospel reading aloud in the service, Luke 13:31-35, should be quite dramatic when reading Jesus' words "Go and tell that fox for me ..." with special emphasis on the word "fox". If it makes Jesus sound angry, all the better. I think he was angry about Herod. Probably also about Jerusalem. Here is Jesus at his most raw state: as any human being would be when their life is threatened and the city they love most is rejecting their help.

In other words, as we walk with Jesus through Lent, under Luke's guidance, on the way to the cross in Jerusalem, we have to face the fact that this was no walk in the park. Jesus was a fugitive from injustice yet he kept up with his intentions: to present himself in Jerusalem as the only fit place for a prophet to be killed. Jerusalem was not a safe place for Jesus, yet he loved Jerusalem and longed like a hen gathering her brood under her wings to gather her children together. But Jerusalem was "not willing" (13:34). This great city rejected God coming to Jerusalem with motherly love through Jesus Christ.

What are we to make of this passage with its dark shadows and raw emotions?

Let's come to that question by looking at the other passages. In Philippians 3:17-4:1, Paul urges his readers onwards in imitating himself, his own life lived in imitation of Christ. That Christ he eagerly looks forward to, as he will transform the earthly circumstances of our lives - the ones that cause so much trouble - so that our bodies may be conformed to "the body of his glory" (3:21). To this end they are to stand firm (4:1). The alternative is (sadly) apparent in some lives, those who live "as enemies of the cross of Christ" exemplified, among other things, by their minds being set on "earthly things" (4:18, 19). Paul has an understanding of Christ's suffering, of what the walk to Jerusalem cost Christ. He cannot bear to now be against Christ (as he once was) because the suffering Christ experienced on the cross means that life can be different for Paul, and for all of us. So Paul is a friend of the cross of Christ because the crucified Christ has befriended him.

Psalm 27 speaks to you, me, Paul and Jesus when we face opposition:

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" 

Whom indeed shall we fear when we live in the strength and confidence the psalmist, likely David, shows in this lovely psalm - lovely in its yearning to see God's face. What is the purpose of Jerusalem as the city of God? To be the place where we meet God. Why is Jesus so distressed over Jerusalem? Because it has become the opposite of what God intended it to be Why must Jesus die there? To open the way for people to meet God face to face!

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 takes us back to the beginning of Israel: a childless Abram is promised that his childlessness is no impediment to becoming the father of a great nation. What does Abram do?

"And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness."

The psalmist does not give in to fear. Abram does not give in to reasonable doubts. Paul looks ahead to a new day and so stands firm in the present day.

Our gospel takes us to Jesus at a low moment on a difficult journey. The surrounding readings take us to great heroes of the faith, to Abram, David and Paul, and show us ways in which we can face low moments in our walk with Christ.

Sunday 9 March 2025 - Lent 1

Theme:                 When we are tempted

Sentence: 

Lord be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning; our salvation in time of distress. (Isaiah 33:2) [NZPB, p. 574]         

Collect: [From Bosco Peters' Book of Prayers in Common, 2025 February Edition]

God of the desert,

Jesus was led by the Spirit

to fast forty days in the wilderness

and was tempted as we are, yet without sin;

give us grace to observe the disciplines of Lent;

and, as you know our weakness,

so may we know your power to save;

through Jesus Christ our Redeemer,

who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God now and for ever. Amen.      

Readings                 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Offering of first fruits

      Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 God's protection

      Romans 10:8b-13 Who will be saved

                                Luke 4:1-13 Temptation of Jesus

Jesus is tempted, Luke 4:1-13, at the beginning of his ministry. A kind of initiation trial tests his resolve and intention as God's Messiah. After this, Jesus' resolve to obey God's will is not further tested until the last night of his life (the 'opportune time' in 4:13 is found in Luke 22:3, 28, 53 and 22:39-46). 

Observe that the trial is a combination of deprivation (he does not eat for forty days) and temptations (actually, likely more than the three we are told about since it was 'for forty days he was tempted by the devil', v. 2)

Of what character are the temptations? What is offered is the slightest of deviations from the will of God for Jesus' Messiahship. 

The first and third temptations (if succumbed to) would involve miracles with strong similarity to what actually occurs in Jesus' ministry (he feeds people bread, he is protected from harm until his trial and crucifixion). 

The second temptation offers Jesus a vast kingdom in the world over which he will rule, that is, a kingdom to all intents and purposes like the kingdom of God, but it would be the kingdom of the devil, not of God. As disciples of Jesus the strongest temptations we will experience are those that give the impression that what the devil wants is the same as what God wants. 

The way Jesus responds to the temptations is a model for how disciples should respond when tempted: to the devil's perverse, twisted 'theology', Jesus responds with a Scripture-based theology: one does not live by bread alone, only God is to be worshipped, and God is not to be tested. 

To the third temptation with its subtle development that the devil himself quotes from Scripture (from our Psalm reading), Jesus replies as previously by citing from Scripture. How does one Scripture trump another Scripture? The implication on this occasion is that a general promise of God that he will protect his servants applies to the servants living their lives in the usual way. They are not instructed to deliberately provoke God to fulfil this promise. Rather they are to live their lives trusting that God sees their need and will respond in God's time.

Interestingly, when Jesus' citations of Scripture all come from Deuteronomy, our Old Testament reading is yet another passage from Deuteronomy, 26:1-11, a passage which speaks of the offering of first fruits of the harvest to God as a sign of thanksgiving for God's gracious care of Israel. Nevertheless there is a connection between that passage and our gospel passage: Israel can offer the first fruits because it has come into its inheritance of the promised land only after experiencing the trials and tribulations of life in Egypt. The kingdom of God which Jesus proclaims, and which disciples enter, is only going to be experienced in its fullness once Jesus' experience of death and resurrection has been completed and once disciples also have walked with Jesus and shared also in his sufferings (see Luke 22:28).

In the context of these readings, Romans 10:8b-13 is a mirror to Psalm 91. Through the psalmist God promises salvation to those who make their shelter in the Almighty; through the apostle Paul declares that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. The difference lies in the scope of salvation envisaged. The psalmist has Israel (i.e. the Jews) in mind; Paul explicitly preaches that salvation is for 'Jew and Greek'. In this way, the victory of Jesus over the devil's temptations has been important: the true rule of God over every part of the earth, that is, over all nations has come by strict obedience to God's plan for salvation and not by succumbing to the devil's lookalike plan.

Finally, we should observe the role of the Holy Spirit in the temptation of Jesus. The Spirit leads Jesus to the wilderness, that is, what is going to happen there is part of God's plan. While not said explicitly, the implication of Jesus being 'full of the Holy Spirit' is that this power within him was vital to the battle which followed. The Holy Spirit both strengthens Jesus and brings to his mind the truth of God as expressed in the Scriptures he cites. Dare we engage in Lenten disciplines without the filling of the Holy Spirit? 

Sunday 2 March 2025 - Ordinary 8 [last Sunday before Lent]

Theme(s): Take care when judging others/Guard your hearts/Build your life on Jesus the Rock

Sentence: So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty. (Isaiah 55:11)

Collect: [From Bosco Peters' Book of Prayers in Common, 2025 February Edition]

Grant, O God,

that the course of this world may be directed by your powerful governance,

and that your church may be joyful as,

in confidence and serenity,

we serve your purpose;

through Jesus Christ, our Saviour

who is alive with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings:

Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Luke 6:39-49

Comment:

Isaiah 55:10-13

Through these Ordinary Sundays the Old Testament reading connects to the Gospel reading. (Later this will only happen if we follow the "related" readings.)

In this passage Isaiah is focused on the tracking of God's "word" as it goes "out of [the Lord's] mouth" (11a) and what then happens to it. Through Isaiah the Lord says, "it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it" (11b).

That is, the Lord is intent on his word - what is being spoken through the prophet Isaiah - transforming the situation of Israel. That transformation is spoken of in lyrical terms in verses 12-13 - terms which relate to Israel's jubilant return from exile in Babylon (see also 40:3-5 and 48:20-22).

Jesus is also intent that his words - his teaching in the Sermon on the Plain - will not be in vain and urges his hearers to not only listen but also to act, for then the kingdom of God will expand on earth and the world will be changed from a place of lasting enmity and revenge into a place of peace and joy.

Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15

In the Revised Common Lectionary readings for each Sunday there is normally a connection between Psalm and Gospel. Here, after a lovely opening to the psalm - fit for any Sunday - we skip verses to go to the end of the psalm, verses 12-15 and find connections with the last part of the gospel reading.

In the last part of the gospel reading Jesus commends those who hear his words and act on them: they are like a man building a house on a strong foundation.

Here in verses 12-15 we read of "The righteous" who "flourish" like trees such as the palm and the cedar, "planted in the house of the Lord." No tree grows well unless it puts down strong and deep roots. The tree imagery here is equivalent to the building/foundation imagery in Luke 6:46-49.

Further, "the Lord is ... my rock" (verse 15).

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

So, Paul, having dealt with various Corinthian questions, concludes his chapter on the resurrection.
Change is coming. Expecting this will happen while some readers are still alive, he says that when the great end of time arrives - signalled by "the last trumpet" (52a; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16) - "we will not all die, but we will all be changed" (51). Those who have died will be "raised imperishable" (52b). This, of course, has been Paul's great theme in responding to Corinthian questions: what will happen we do not know but it will be wonderful and, here he says, it will be permanent.

In particular, the resurrection at the end of time will be the final victory - Jesus has won that victory (57) - over death. Isaiah 25:7-8 and Hosea 13:14 are combed and pieces from them combined to provide the declaration over the end of death in verses 54b-55. 

Verses 56-57 are then a summary commentary: in classic Pauline terms: death is linked to sin (sin is the sting which kills us), the power of sin is "the law" (see Romans 1-8) - paradoxically, the law of God given through Moses tells us what sin is and enhances the power of sin over us, a power which is victorious through death, except that - thanks be to God - victory (over sin and death) is given through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, verse 58, what are we then to do? Stand firm! Aiming for and achieving excellence in our work for the Lord "because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain" (because resurrection means all we do for God is rewarded by God).

Luke 6:39-49

Thus we come to the conclusion of the Sermon on the Plain. And the conclusion to the conclusion, the parable of warning, to build our lives on the words/teaching of Jesus, reminds us that this is Luke's version of Jesus' greatest (most memorable, most discussed, most handed on from one disciple to another disciple) sermon because Matthew has the same ending to his version of that greatest sermon.

In some ways comment is not needed on the conclusion to the sermon but it may guide us through the conclusion if we think of these verses as provoking Jesus' hearers to take utterly seriously what he says, to act on his words and not to walk away from them (as we so often do, after hearing a sermon), making noises about how "interesting" or "lovely" the message was. Jesus demands action - response, repentance, obedience, change. He was not then and does not now look for pleasant compliments for his sermonic efforts.

Verses 39-40: The second half of these two verses clarifies that Jesus is speaking to disciples (actual and "would bes"): a disciple of Jesus is a learner; unless the disciple learns the truth (i.e. what Jesus teaches) there is spiritual danger (he or she may lead another (less knowledgeable disciple) to fall, with them, into the pit); but a disciple - always in the humility that remembers the teacher is above not below the disciple - may become "fully qualified" and when this is so, will "be like the teacher." In this instance, this likeness is not "as great as Jesus" but "ready and able to disciple disciples and thus to fulfil the Great Commission, to "make disciple of all nations" (Matthew 28:19)".

Verses 41-42: we can spot a connection between the "blind" imagery in verse 39 and the speck/log diminishment of sight in these verses. (Such connections, many scholars think, aided the memory of disciples as they collected and then transmitted the teaching of Jesus by oral means, in the decades before the gospels were written. It was easier to remember longer chunks of material if they were connected by similar if not common imagery.) Here Jesus is addressing disciples - we tend to use the speck/log imagery to address people who generally find fault with others while not understanding their own failures. A feature of modern inclusive language aids the second and not the first understanding because in the NRSV "brother's eye" has become "neighbour's eye." What, then, is Jesus addressing? Likely he is guarding disciples against thinking that because they understand a little bit of Jesus' teaching they can start critiquing other disciples. If they do so, they run the risk of failing to recognise their own major faults, which they will have a better understanding of when they have more knowledge of the kingdom of God.

Verses 43-45: Jesus here speaks about a general human phenomenon, using readily understood imagery from nature: a good person has a good heart and a bad person has a bad heart. The sting in the tale for disciples is in the last part of verse 45: 

"for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks." 

Disciples need to have hearts filled with "good treasure" (first part of the verse) - the teaching of Jesus - if they are to overflow with goodness (and not, as in the previous verses, with hypocrisy).

Verses 46-49: Thus, as we come to this last passage in the sermon, we are prepared for yet one further way in which Jesus talks about discipleship and the importance of his teaching for disciples. The success, Jesus says, of a disciple's living well (succeeding, if we can so speak, at discipleship) depends not only on hearing what Jesus teaches but also on doing what Jesus teaches disciples to do. Discipleship is not "learning" but it is "putting learning into action." If listening does not lead to doing, then the (supposed) disciple is very foolish - like a man who builds his house on "ground without a foundation" (49).

What then do we need to do which Jesus has asked us to do but which we have not yet done?

Sunday 23 February 2025 Ordinary 7

Theme(s): Love your enemies. Trust God to deal with your opponents. Be merciful. Resurrection life.

Sentence: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:36).

Collect: [From Bosco Peters' Book of Prayers in Common, 2025 February Edition]

Grant O God,

that with our hearts contemplating all that is good and true

we may please you by word and deed in the way we live;

through Jesus Christ

who is alive with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings:

Genesis 45:3-11,15
Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Luke 6:27-38

Comments:

Genesis 45:3-11,15

Who in the Bible lived out Jesus' command to love our enemies?

Answer: (among others) Joseph.

Joseph had no reason to love his dastardly brothers who had become jealous of him, lured him to destruction, only just been persuaded not to murder him and instead had "merely" sold him into slavery.

In our passage, towards the end of the story of re-acquaintance of Joseph and his brothers (itself a long story within the overall story of Joseph), Joseph demonstrates his love for his brothers.

Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40

The sentiments in these verses undergird (and lie in the background to) what Jesus says in our gospel passage.

Why might I love my enemies? Won't that mean they get away with their hatred of me and their ill-treatment of me?

No, says this psalm.

The Lord is in control: the Lord will look after you and the Lord will take out your enemies ("for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb" (2)).

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Paul continues his engagement with questions concerning the resurrection (of Christ, in particular; of the dead (all humanity), in general).

Here the central question being addressed is posed in verses 35: "... what kind of body ..." do the raised-from-the-dead have?

Effectively the remainder of the passage is a long, detailed, solidly argued case for a simple answer to the question: when we are raised from the dead, we will have a new body quite unlike the body we have been used to in this life, here on earth.

Luke 6:27-38

Moving on from the blessings and woes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus both questions what his audience already knows while also stretching their horizons in the service of God: 

"But I say to you that listen" (27).

What then follows is familiar to us and that means we may not read this passage in a way which feels the extreme force of what Jesus is saying. There is nothing straightforward or easy about doing what Jesus says:

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." (27-28)

Similarly, this is also the case when Jesus goes on in verse 29 - 30 to offer practical examples (particularly relevant within the culture of his day) of what this might mean.

Our natural tendency and the voice of contemporary culture makes us more likely to (say) avoid our enemies; call the police; ring a radio station and complain about how we are being treated; etc.

Special note: 
(i) Jesus is not talking about putting up with an abusive bully, whether in the family household or workplace or school yard. If any reader (or hearer of your sermon) is in that situation, help should be sought, not only to protect someone being abused now but also to prevent further abuse of others. Jesus is talking about how his followers should respond to 

(a) persecution and opposition for being a Christian; 

(b) everyday life in which we meet those who dislike us or compete against us or oppose what we do as we go about our daily business.

(ii) Some caution is required with an instruction such as "Give to everyone who begs from you" (30). There a genuine beggars and there are people who are out to defraud us (with examples being reported all too often in the papers). We need wisdom and discernment with a critical overriding instruction being: 

"Do to others as you would have them do to you" (31).

Verses 32-36 then expand on the point Jesus is making in verses 27-31. It is not hard to love those who love us. I give you a birthday gift as part of a circular friendship in which you will give me a gift on my birthday. Everyone loves to be loved and thus we all love those who love us in return. Followers of Jesus are being challenged to go beyond the norms of human social life. Love without expectation of anything in return. Love "enemies" - love those who are unloveable, love those who will not love you back. In doing so we will be rewarded (but, let's think of that reward in terms of an ever deepening experience of God's love for us) and we will truly belong to the God who is love (35).

In sum, for verses 27-36: be like God; God is merciful (loves God's enemies), so be merciful.

The final two verses continue in a similar vein, reworking what it means to be merciful: do not judge, do not condemn, forgive, give, give generously.

Again, some wisdom and discernment is needed: 

these verses do not mean that a Christian makes no judgement calls (e.g. that it would be better to marry X rather than Y; to go into business with A rather than B; to imprison a murderer rather than let the murderer be free to kill again). 

Rather we live in a way that others receive from us what we would like to receive ourselves (31). 

Sunday 9 February AND Sunday 16 February 2025 - Ordinary 5 and Ordinary 6

SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY ORDINARY 5

Theme                  If God says so, will we let down the nets? / Change is possible when Jesus speaks       

Sentence            The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14; NZPB, p. 568).

Collect                  Lord Jesus Christ,
                             before whose judgment seat we shall appear;
                             enable us to see ourselves as you see us,
                              to repent and to change,
                              and to be found worthy to bear your name.

Readings                                             

Isaiah 6:1-8 The call and commissioning of Isaiah

Psalm 138 David praises God

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 The resurrection

                          Luke 5:1-11 The call of the fishermen

Note: Ian Paul has another excellent blog on Luke 5:1-11, here. 

My thoughts:

If we begin with our gospel reading, Luke 5:1-11, then we have a story of call, commissioning and change, each of which theme is illuminated by the other readings.

Luke, noticeably offering a variant to the calling of the (fishermen) disciples in Matthew's and Mark's gospels, tells us that when Simon Peter, James and John were called to be disciples of Jesus, they had an unusual encounter with Jesus. Plying their trade as fishermen, they found Jesus in one of their boats. After teaching the crowds, he suggested to the fishermen that they catch some fish. The fishermen, to say the least, were not impressed. They had just finished a forlorn night catching nothing. Nevertheless they honoured (or even humoured) Jesus by following his suggestion. We can only imagine their surprise at the haul they brought up, and their consternation that it threatened to capsize their boats. 

The shock of this unexpected and surprising outcome (a miraculous event) drives Peter to his knees to express his confession: Jesus should leave him, for he was a sinful man. 

We do not now what sin Peter had in mind, or the extent of his awareness of his sinfulness, but at the least we can imagine Peter confessing his failure to honour Jesus by implicitly trusting him instead of querulously saying that they had fished all night without success.

The catch of fish leads neatly into Jesus' commissioning the disciples: their call is to follow him, their commission is to from now on catch people. This call and commission is decisive for their lives and livelihoods: 'they left everything and followed him' (v. 11).

Psalm 138 illuminates the occasion: the God of Jesus Christ is a God who has regard for the lowly (in this world's eyes).

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, about change from death to life, underlines the dramatic change in the fishing story. In that story, a night without fish becomes a day with a super-abundant catch. Put another way, in the gospel reading we meet humanity in despair: great effort has met with no success. Surely all is lost and only despair is possible. But Jesus comes and turns the situation upside down: many fish are caught and hope for a flourishing life is restored. 

Resurrection, the change from death to life, is a parallel change from despair to hope. Wherever Jesus, the One Raised By God, is, there is hope. What situations are we encountering in which all seems lost and continuing seems pointless? Is Jesus telling us to let down our nets one further time?

Finally, one of the most famous call and commissioning stories in the Old Testament, that of Isaiah's, is recounted in Isaiah 6. In its own way it is as dramatic as our gospel story. Essentially the commission of Isaiah and of the disciples is the same: to speak out God's word is to catch people. People are 'caught' into God's kingdom through responding to the proclamation of the Word of God.

Note also that both Isaiah and Peter are troubled by their sinfulness in comparison to the Lord's holiness. 

SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY ORDINARY 6

Themes: Poverty/Riches; blessings/curses; discipleship.

Sentence: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

Collect:

God of transformation,
you heal our troubled spirit;
turn our hearts to follow your way of humility
that we may find the blessing of new life;
through Jesus our Messiah,
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.

Readings:

Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26

Comments:

Jeremiah 17:5-10

There is much in this passage which is in common with Psalm 1 but there is also a strong connection to the opening beatitudes of the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6 (see below).

Psalm 1

We should read this psalm bearing in mind it is number 1 by design and not by accident. As an introduction to the Psalms, what does it tell us?

That there are two ways to live (1), that one of those ways is "delight ... in the law of the Lord" (2) that the other way is "not so" (4), and that there is a coming judgement which will be fatal for the "wicked" (5-6).

Many psalms through the next 149 psalms will be similarly concerned, whether pointing out that there are two ways to live, or appealing to the Lord for help lest the wicked over power them (see, e.g., Psalm 3), or giving thanks to the Lord for such deliverance (e.g. Psalm 9).

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Last Sunday we heard Paul's "list" of evidence - a list of witnesses who had (but now are dead) or could (because still alive) give testimony that they had seen the risen Lord. The first eleven verses of this chapter have become a critical corporate testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. Our passage today gives us a sense of why Paul is devoting this part of 1 Corinthians to the "resurrection of the dead" (12) and to the resurrection of Jesus: some Corinthians have been denying the resurrection of any dead person (12).

Paul's argument goes like this:
- some of you are denying the resurrection of the dead
- but Jesus rose from the dead (as I have just demonstrated)
- so either you are right (and, in fact, Jesus didn't rise from the dead)
- or I am right and you are wrong (because if one man has risen from the dead then potentially more can be raised from the dead, and in that way Christ is 

"the first fruits of those who have died" (20).)

Along the way Paul makes a point, a non-negotiable presupposition to the gospel:

"and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain" (14); and

"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (17).

That is: if God did not raise Jesus from the dead then the death he died was of no eternal importance in  respect of reconciling us to God. Jesus was just an exciting rabbi who inspired a number of people but now he is a dead rabbi and that is the end of the matter.

Sometimes Christians today talk as though the resurrection of Jesus was an "optional extra" - nice of God to have done that for Jesus but not that important because what was important was that Jesus died for us. Paul says, "That ain't so." The work of God in Christ reconciling the world to himself was a work which involved both the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The passage ends with Paul's conviction, not only that 

"in fact Christ has been raised from the dead" 

but also that his being raised from the dead is 

"the first fruits of those who have died" (20).

Luke 6:17-26

We have moved from Luke's story of the disciples being called by Jesus to Jesus teaching 

"his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon."

The content of this teaching is close to but not exactly the same as Matthew's "Sermon on the Mount". Luke specifies the location as "a level place" and thus distinguishes his version, often called the "Sermon on the Plain," from Matthew's. But for both evangelists, this block of teaching is the first major teaching Jesus gives following his baptism. We may assume that both evangelists are tapping into foundational teaching of Jesus, which has been carefully handed on from one disciple to another, and from one generation to another. (Likely Matthew and Luke composed their gospels at least one generation on from the generation which heard Jesus directly.)

Nevertheless, as the teaching was handed on (and translated from the Aramaic of Jesus into the Greek of the first Christians), some changes occurred. Most of Matthew's Gospel's (longer) sermon is found in Luke's Gospel but much of the material is relocated in different places in the unfolding story of Jesus (so Luke's version is shorter than Matthew's). And Luke may have collated some teaching of Jesus, unknown to Matthew, into material which is common to Matthew's Gospel (e.g. the "woes" in Luke 6:24-26, which are unknown to Matthew, or Mark or John).

As the disciples and the crowd gather, Luke tells us they 

"had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases" (18). 

Luke tells us the former took place (18b-19) before telling us what they heard (20-26 and beyond).

Note, in verse 20, that although the disciples and the great crowd are listening, Jesus addresses his sermon to "his disciples." This is kingdom teaching, setting out the style of life for followers of Jesus - a style of life that on some matters is more demanding than the teaching (or Law) of Moses and on some matters is less demanding (eventually Jesus' followers will realise they no longer need to make sacrifices of animals and plant-based foods).

(An alternative possibility is that the teaching in the sermon is for the crowd as well as the disciples but the disciples are addressed because they will have responsibility for handing on this kingdom teaching.)

Thereafter we have four blessings and four woes (20b-26), with the latter a counterpoint to the former. Luke has a stronger material emphasis than Matthew (so the first blessing, on "you who are poor" corresponds to Matthew's "you who are spiritually poor", Matthew 5:3).

The combination of blessings and woes amounts to a theology of reversal: the poor will become rich and the rich will become poor, a theology we have already seen in the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55, noting verse 53 especially).

What might this mean for us as disciples of Jesus?

No one wants a sermon on the material prosperity of Western Christians. But perhaps we should want such a sermon!

Is there a significant danger to watch out for, which is named in verse 26? There is a strong tendency in our churches, as well as among ourselves as individuals, for approval: we hope the local community likes what we are doing; will the newspaper give us a good write up; does out application look good enough for some community funding?

Of course we can be spoken well of when we are faithful to Christ and his word. But it is always worth checking out whether we are being spoken well of as Christians or simply as likeable people.