The Price is Right

Preached at 10:30 on 16 March 2025 at Christ Church, Billericay

It can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfbyUoEzEmk from 26:00 to 44:00.

Prayer

Father, Through these words this morning, help us to understand the cost of being a disciple.

Amen.

Introduction

Jesus has told his disciples that there is a cost to choosing to become a disciple. In the 1980s through to the 2000s, there was a TV show, where contestants had to guess the price of certain items to win those items. To remind us of that we’re going to play the game in a church way – because I can’t afford prizes worth £1000s.

[Slides 2 – 7 Play the game, 3 rounds with 3 people guessing the price of a pack of sweets or a chocolate bar.  Have consolation prizes, in case the children don't win.]

Value

So, I don’t know if you thought that those prices represent the real value of the products or not? They are, of course, the price I had to pay for them.

Everything has a cost

Everything we do has a cost, whether that’s buying sweets, or major life decisions. If you decide to live one way, the cost may be that you cannot do certain things, that you may otherwise have been able to. With some lifestyles, there will be a cost to your health, or even your longevity. Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples, and the huge crowd that is following Him, the true cost of becoming a disciple.

Outrageous – Hate (25&26)

To do that, He is being outrageous, or at least that’s how it appears to us. We have to go back two verses to get the full power of what Jesus is saying:

²⁵ Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

Now, I for one, would not expect Jesus to advocate hating anyone, especially not the family that God has placed us in. So, what’s going on? Well, it’s mainly a translation issue. The word that gets translated ‘hate’ really implies something of low priority, something that we don’t care about very much. Matthew 10:37, puts it in a way that is easier for us to understand:

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸ and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

Carrying the cross

Which brings us nicely back to carrying your cross. I wonder what comes to mind when you hear someone say “We all have our cross to bear”? It almost certainly doesn’t mean what it meant to Jesus’s many hearers in the first century. To carry a cross, in Jesus time, meant that you were in the queue for execution.

Here’s Monty Python’s take on it from the ‘Life of Brian’.

What I love about this clip is the extreme politeness, contrasting with the incredibly awful thing that is happening to the men in the queue.

Our understanding, today, takes much of the horror away from what Jesus is saying. “If you want to be my disciple, be ready to lose your life”. It’s said to get an effect, but it’s also true. That is the cost of being a disciple.

Costs

Jesus goes on to give two other examples – one about building a tower and the other about a king going to war.

Building

If you’ve ever watched Grand Designs, or tried to do your own building, you will know how difficult it is to get the cost of any type of building right. That’s why you have to get the help of experts and be very cautious in what you agree to. Otherwise, you’re likely to suffer a horrible overspend, or not get the job completed. Jesus may have been alluding to Herod’s temple, which was apparently unfinished at the time, work had been going on for years.

War

I don’t suppose any of us have ever planned out the cost of going to war, but just like the people in Jesus’s time, we are very familiar with the wars and the costs involved with them. We get that from our media. You will hear that leaders are not able to calculate the costs of a war. Putin thought that Ukraine would be overrun in a few days. In Jesus time, stories would be heard – some true, some just rumours. Remember, their country was occupied by the Romans.

Cost of being a disciple

There are many other ways of understanding the cost of being a disciple. It can be thought of as a journey, with a fork in the road. If you take one fork, it leads you to a life of hard work, where your main concern is providing for your family and trying to get rich, or at least comfortable. You may have to make compromises on that road, and do things you find distasteful, or you may not care what your actions do to others, and exploit everyone you can, just to get ahead.

The other fork in the road leads to a life given to God, where all that you do puts Jesus and his teachings first, and your own needs and that of your family take second place. It can lead to difficult times or even premature death. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book called “The Cost of Discipleship”, where he looks at what that means in the modern world (well, the 1930s actually) but it’s still an interesting and challenging read.

Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis for his beliefs, just before the end of WWII. The cost to him was literally his life.

The price is right

I will finish by trying to describe to you my decision process. That is going to leave us with a difficult question – one that I suspect you won’t be able to answer – I certainly can’t.

In my early 20s, I was invited to church by a friend, after some long discussions about the reliability of the Bible, and who Christ really was. I joined the youth group, and it was the young people there, and they way they lived their lives, that finally convinced me to make the decision to follow Jesus.

So far as I remember, no-one talked to me about the cost of becoming a disciple. The idea that there was a cost, and my understanding of the price to be paid, came along much later.

So, my question is: “Should we make the cost clear to anyone thinking seriously about making a commitment?”

Initially, I just thought that Jesus had paid the price for our sin on the cross, and that allowed us to have eternal life. That’s true, of course, but the reality is that we have to pay a price too. It is impossible to follow Jesus, without our lives changing. The decision to follow him takes us down a particular path. In order to get eternal life, we have to give up our sinful lives, and that means there are things we can no longer do:

— we can no longer exploit others, or belittle them, or insult them

— we can no longer lie and cheat our way through life

If you want a more detailed list, read the 10 commandments.

There are also things we must do

— we must as Jesus says Love our neighbour as ourselves

— above that, though, we must love God and be dedicated to His Son.

In other words, the price we pay for our salvation, is to give up our old, failing lives, and accept our new, and everlasting life.

The Price is right for us, because we have nothing else to give but ourselves.

Amen

 

References

https://sermonsfrommyheart.com/2019/09/07/luke-1425-33-the-cost-of-following-jesus/

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-cost-of-being-a-disciple-carl-willis-sermon-on-endurance-35382

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/what-could-i-possibly-give-to-god-lynn-floyd-sermon-on-giving-general-36606

https://sermons4kids.com/sermons/counting-the-cost

https://ministry-to-children.com/d-is-for-disciple-coloring-page/

https://ministry-to-children.com/count-the-cost-sermon/

 

Divorce ( & Marriage)

Preached at St Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead @ 10:30 on 16 February 2025

Title: Divorce (and Marriage)

Purpose: To look at Jesus’ teaching on divorce

Reading Matthew 19:1-12; Genesis 2:18-24

Prayer

Introduction

The main reading set for today is from the Gospel of Matthew and is about divorce. Some of the disciples who were with him found what He was saying hard to accept. Some of us may also find what is said hard to accept or difficult to hear – they are not the same thing. Before we can understand what Jesus was saying about divorce, we must first look at what the scriptures say about marriage.

Male Oriented

This whole discussion is very male oriented. That is because women had very few rights in Jesus’s time. A wife was very close to being a husband's possession. It was the man’s responsibility to find a good woman and make a family.

As the old joke goes:

God said a good woman would be found in each of the four corners of the Earth

Then God made the world round.

Marriage

Purpose of marriage

God, did not, of course, say anything remotely like that at all. We heard, in our Old Testament reading what God did actually say. The woman was created as a companion for the man because it was not good that he was alone.

From that and other passages in the Bible, we can see that marriage is more than a social construct; it is a divine institution ordained by God. It serves several purposes in God's grand design:

Companionship: Marriage provides companionship and emotional support, reflecting God's desire for us to experience meaningful relationships.

Partnership: Husband and wife are called to be partners in life, working together to fulfil God's purpose and steward His creation.

Procreation: Marriage is the context for raising and nurturing children, ensuring the continuation of God's creation.

Sanctification: Through the challenges and joys of marriage, individuals grow in character, learning to love selflessly and sacrificially.

Marriage is the expected way to live

In Jesus’s time marriage is still the normal way to live. A young man’s parents would be expected to find him a suitable bride and have him married and let him established in his own household before he became properly mature – say 30 years old.

Bachelor

It is interesting to note that the word bachelor is not found in the Bible. There are however a few references to staying single – and we will look at that later.

Divorce

The basic laws of divorce are found in Deuteronomy chapter 24. These are the words that the Pharisees are referring to:

¹If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, ²and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, ³and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, ⁴then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Protect the woman

The certificate of divorce was designed to protect the woman, who would otherwise have been left in a kind of limbo, rejected by her husband and unable to take another husband because she would still seem to be married. She would then have had to rely on charity to survive.

Divorce - controversy

Divorce is a hot topic in 1^st century Jerusalem. What exactly is meant by “displeasing” and “indecent”? There were two schools of thought, each championed by a particular Rabbi.

The school of Shammai, argued that divorce was permissible only in cases of adultery. Now, you will say to me, that the penalty for adultery is death by stoning, and that is true. However, by this time the death penalty was rarely, if ever, used in these cases.

The school of Hillel, held a much broader view—allowing for divorce on almost any grounds, even trivial matters – and some of the grounds that he accepted were genuinely trivial – a burnt meal, or perhaps he just didn’t like the look of her any more and wanted to trade her in for a better looking model.

Pharisees Trap

When the Pharisees approached Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” They were really hoping that Jesus would align himself with one of these schools of thinking. That way they can cause controversy among His followers, and hopefully a split. Jesus is, of course, too clever for them and goes back to the purpose of marriage, which we have already discussed. He reminds them that Moses permitted divorce, not commanded it, and that any divorce is not what God intended in the beginning.

One reason only

So, Jesus tells them that there is only one ground for divorce:

⁹ “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Disciples Reaction

The disciple's reaction is interesting. They are mostly young, not-yet-married men. That puts them in their late teens to early twenties. Their reaction speaks volumes about their attitudes.

“If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

Which means they are thinking, ‘If I can’t divorce the woman because I want to, I would be better off not marrying at all.’ It seems that they are not prepared to give up their control over any marriage they may eventually have. To contemplate living without a partner is unusual in our world, but in theirs it is unthinkable. If they were to try it, they would come under a lot of pressure from their families.

Jesus answers them by talking about eunuchs. Here eunuchs refers to men that cannot, or will not be able to father children. So, some are made eunuchs by others – like those who look after the king's harem. Some are born eunuchs and are unable to procreate, and some choose that lifestyle. Although they could father children, they choose not to. This may be because they are, for example, dedicating their lives to building the church of God.

Divorce Today

Let’s get back to divorce, as that’s the main topic of this sermon. Divorce today is very different from divorce in Jesus’s day. Here the sexes are on an equal footing. Either a woman, or a man, can petition for divorce. While we should not presume to go beyond scripture, some other grounds for divorce in a Christian marriage are often suggested: spousal abuse (emotional or physical), child abuse, addiction to pornography, drug / alcohol use, crime / imprisonment, and mismanagement of finances (such as through a gambling addiction).

There were 80,057 divorces granted in England and Wales in 2022, down almost 30% from the previous year. The most common reason for the divorce is ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

Conclusion

So, as I finish, I’d like to remind you all that the perfect marriage does not exist. Difficulties will always arise. Life throws curveballs, and sometimes couples face immense challenges. But the ideal, the goal, is a lifelong commitment, a reflection of Christ's unwavering love for the church. The practical application for us today lies in understanding the gravity of marriage vows and striving for reconciliation and forgiveness within the marriage. Before considering divorce, we must exhaust all avenues of seeking God's guidance and support, including prayer, counselling, and seeking wisdom from trusted mentors within the church. Divorce should be a last resort, not a quick fix for marital difficulties.

Let us remember that God's grace is sufficient, even in the midst of brokenness. He offers healing, restoration, and hope, even when our circumstances seem insurmountable. Let us approach marriage with reverence, commitment, and a willingness to work through challenges with God's help. Let us pray for strength, wisdom, and understanding for ourselves and especially for those facing marital struggles.

Amen.

The Nazareth Manifesto

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay on 26 Jan 2025 at 10:00

Recorded here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHtGFPbsS8 from 18:25 to 34:25

Introduction

Well, that’s a very odd place to stop.  It’s as if there was a second part of the drama coming tomorrow.  Here’s what happened next:
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.  23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his home town. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30, But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Reaction: Good, then bad

As you have heard, the initial reaction was good – everyone was amazed at his gracious words.  Then Jesus notices a change in their mood, they start to question who He is – “He’s Joseph’s son isn’t he?”.  Jesus’s response is to tell them that a prophet is never accepted in his home town.  Then, to make it worse, He uses two examples where prophets were sent to foreigners.  Both Elijah and Elisha, two of the greatest prophets, were sent to people who were in the pagan nations around them.  That, I suspect, was too much for the crowd.  They are very happy to receive God’s blessings from the prophet speaking in front of them, but they cannot accept that the gentiles would also receive God’s blessings.  Those people, after all, are supposed to receive God’s wrath.

The Nazareth Manifesto

These few verses, where Jesus reads selectively from Isaiah, are often called “The Nazareth Manifesto”.  That’s because they sum up very nicely what Jesus will do in the rest of His ministry.  In a moment we will look at each of them individually, but first it's worth going to the passage that Jesus selected and to read what’s there for ourselves.

 What’s Out - vengeance

The reading is from Chapter 61 verses 1 & 2.
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
… and it goes further, but Jesus has already stopped quoting this part of the scripture.  It is interesting to note that Jesus didn’t talk about vengeance at all, that he stopped, part of the way through verse 2, before that phrase.  He’s preparing them, very subtly, for a change in the way that God will deal with them.  He knows, that He will, after some time, give up His life for them and take the vengeance that they are due, on Himself.  So, here, He doesn’t have to bring it up.

The manifesto is for us too

The manifesto is not just for Jesus’s ministry, it is for ours too.  As His followers, we have to find ways to put the manifesto into practice in the world we live in today.  As we look at these 5 points, try to think of other or better ways that we can make this manifesto work.
Here are the 5 main points:
    1. good news to the poor
    2. freedom for the prisoners
    3. recovery of sight for the blind
    4. set the oppressed free
    5. the year of the Lord’s favour

5 Manifesto points

1. good news to the poor

Good news to the Poor.
The poor are those who don’t have enough, they are the helpless, who have to rely on the rich and powerful, or the government, for their existence.  The poor can also be the poor in spirit, as Matthew 5:3, tells us.  These are those who have to rely on God for their spiritual well-being – which I might suggest is all of us [Get Agreement?].  The good news is God’s message of redemption and forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The root word in the Greek for good news is where we get our word evangelism.  Jesus though went further than simple proclaiming the good news, he fed the poor, - for example in the feeding of the 5000.  
As His followers, we are called to help the both the physically poor and the spiritually poor.  Can you think of ways that we do that, or could do that better than we do now?

2. freedom for the prisoners

Freedom for the prisoners.
This seems to go against justice, and I can’t think of any prisoners released by Jesus.  Except Barabas, but that wasn’t strictly by Jesus, more because of the crowd and the Romans.  We wouldn't want someone like him on the streets, would we.
There are two possibilities.  Firstly, it was common practice to throw people into prison if they could not pay their debts.  We don’t do that any more, but we do have charities like CAP that will help people in debt to pay a reasonable amount of what they owe in a structured way.
The other possibility is that Jesus is being metaphorical.  If that is the case, the prisoners would be those enslaved to sin in various ways – through substance abuse, addiction, bad habits, selfishness – the list goes on and on.  We know that the Holy Spirit can release people from addictions – read “Chasing the Dragon” for a good example of that.  We know that God can release people, and that He uses us to help with those changes.
Can you think of ways that we do that, or could do that better than we do now?

3. recovery of sight for the blind

Recovery of sight to the blind.
We know that Jesus cured blind people, there’s an example in John 9:6-7.  So this part of the manifesto can be taken literally.  There is also a spiritual component.  Many in our world today cannot see the gospel for what it is.  It is becoming harder for them as we hear of more and more cases of abuse perpetrated by church leaders who should be able to be trusted.  Jesus frequently said that He is the light of the world.
Can you think of ways that we help people to see, both physically and spiritually? Can you think of ways that we could do that better than we do now?

4. Set the oppressed free

Set the oppressed free.
Jesus’s hearers would, no doubt, immediately have thought about their Roman occupiers, and being freed to rule themselves.  Oppression is defined as being “governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom”.  We know that there are many people in the world today that live in those circumstances.  Many Christians around the world, work for Human Rights, freedoms and human flourishing.
People are also oppressed by sin, and Jesus can provide freedom from that, just as He will provide freedom from unfair government.
Can you think of ways that we bring freedom to the oppressed? Can you think of ways that we could do that better than we do now?

5. the year of the Lord’s favour

The year of the Lord’s favour.
Every fiftieth year was a jubilee year.  The rules for jubilee are set out in Leviticus 25:8-55.  In summary any land that is sold is recovered, and anyone sold into slavery is freed.  It’s an economic reset because everything they have – the land and all that is on it and all the people belong to the Lord.  
Jubilee is clearly impossible while the Romans are in charge.
The jubilee teaches us that the constant acquisition of wealth and the establishment of a super-wealthy class is not a biblical concept.  Instead, we must try some form of re-distribution.  In the past, this was achieved to some extent by the super-wealth building hospitals and libraries.  That doesn’t seem to happen today.
This is perhaps the hardest of the 5 ideas for us to enact.  Can you think of ways that we can bring jubilee?

Conclusion

Jesus announced his manifesto in his home town.  The announcement was well received until he stated that God’s love and healing power is available to the gentiles as much as it is to the Jews.  The manifesto is revolutionary in its own right, and it is our manifesto too.  As we have declared ourselves His followers, we have no choice but to follow where He went.  So let me leave you with some summary questions.
Can you think of ways that we are implementing the Nazareth manifesto?  Can you think of ways that we could do that better than we do it now?
Amen.

References

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/grace-and-judgement-in-the-nazareth-manifesto-in-luke-4/

https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/luke-414-21-the-mission-statement-of-jesus-hoffacker/

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2022/01/23/today-is-the-day-a-sermon-on-luke-414-21/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh

https://www.stmarysalehurst.com/uploads/8/9/0/8/89085122/sermon_on_luke_4__14_to_21_jan_23rd.pdf

https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/new-testament-luke-414-21/

https://www.faithinbusiness.org/Articles/589862/The_Nazareth_Manifesto.aspx

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nazareth-Manifesto-Samuel-Wells/dp/0470673265?asin=0470673265&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-414-21-3

https://www.gotquestions.org/proclaim-good-news-to-the-poor.html

https://www.bibleref.com/Luke/6/Luke-6-20.html

https://goodfaithmedia.org/why-would-jesus-want-to-release-the-prisoners-cms-22627/

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/oppressed

https://www.inspiritencourage.com/mini/why-christ-came-to-set-oppressed-free

Joy at Christmas

Preached on 25 December 2024 @ 10.00 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading John 1v1-14; Luke 2v8-20

Prayer

Christmas Cracker

As it’s Christmas, I’m going to start by pulling some Christmas Crackers.  They are very old, so, if you pull a cracker, you might like to shout ‘bang’.  I’ve primed each cracker with a topical joke – a typical cracker one, on a theme from our readings.  From these, perhaps you can work out what I’m going to talk about.

[Volunteers to pull the crackers and read the jokes]

My mate works as a shepherd, but he keeps getting in trouble for showing up late.
Doesn't seem like he's lost any sheep over it, though.

How many sheep does it take to knit an entire sweater?
None — sheep can't knit.

How do you put a lamb in orbit?
On a space sheep.

Detective’s Answers

[Get answers to theme of jokes]

Christmas Cards

We also have four Christmas cards, that I will use as prompts to talk about the passages, So let's see what the First Christmas card has on it.

Shepherds

Card 1 - Shepherds

The picture of the shepherds visiting the baby Jesus makes a lovely scene, but in reality the Shepherds of the time had a difficult job.  They were out on the hills day and night for nine months of the year.  For November, to February, the sheep would be in pasture that was better protected because it was too cold for them on the hills.  That’s too cold for the sheep, not the shepherds. 

Not 25^th December

This is what give us the clue that perhaps Jesus wasn’t born on 25^th December.  It doesn’t matter, because He is king, and this is his official birthday. 

Bears & Wolves

Up on the hills, the shepherds would have to protect the flock from bears and wolves, so they would have to be ready day and night.  They would also have to deal with the occasional dead animal, and search for lost sheep.

The result was that they were ritually unclean and were not allowed to join in the religious services of the town’s folk.  They were also rarely in the village, so were seen as outsiders.  This gave them a poor reputation – they were thought to be thieves and liars.  Therefore, they were not allowed to be witnesses in a criminal trial because they were not trusted to tell the truth.

Angels

Card 2 – Angels

So, there are the shepherds, minding their own business, or perhaps I should say minding their own sheep, when an Angel appears.  If that wasn’t scary enough, the glory of the Lord shone around them.  The picture does a reasonably good job of showing how they are in the spotlight.  Angels are primarily God’s messengers, and given that their appearance is frightening, it’s not surprising that the first part of the message is “do not be afraid”.  The angel makes an incredible announcement:  Christ the Lord is Born TODAY.

Every faithful Israelite has been hoping for this for centuries.  Here it is, happening today, just down the hill.  That would be unbelievable, if it wasn’t for the detail that the angels include in their message.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds now find they have the best seats in the house, as a great company of the heavenly host praises God. 

Their song says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

We will see why that message is important later.

The test of the Angel’s message comes when the shepherds leave their sheep and head into town.  Bethlehem isn’t that big, but there will be a lot of strangers around, who have come back for the census.  Maybe they heard the baby crying, or just caught a glimpse through the doorway, of people in the downstairs part of the house that is usually reserved for animals.  Putting a baby in a feeding trough would be VERY unusual at any time, so they can be sure that the message was true if they find one. – and they did.

Spread the Word

Once they had seen the baby, they knew that it was all true.  They then went out and told all who would listen about their amazing night.  They were praising God for the miracle of the saviours birth.

Dead Robin

Card 3 — Dead Robin

Well, that’s a strange picture, a dead robin – a bit distasteful for Christmas.  In Victorian times, a dead robin was a sign of good luck, that why it appeared on their Christmas Cards. 

For us, it reminds us that Jesus was born into a hostile world.

We are celebrating the birth of the Saviour, but in many ways His birth is less important than what He did.  This baby is described by John as the Word.  He says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  He also says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”.  John also tells us that not everybody recognises Him for whom He really is.

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  He came to the Israelites, God’s chosen people, but they did not recognise Him.  It shows how far they had moved away from God.  In the end, they arranged for Him to be put to death. 

What Jesus did

Card 4 – Mother and Baby

Some people though, like the Shepherds, did receive him, and it gave them great joy.  These are the ones on whom God’s favour rests, and for those John says:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” 

To be a child of God, is a privilege and a joy. It’s only possible because of the death and resurrection of the son of God, Mary’s child, that we see in the picture.

Mary, too, had great joy at the birth of her baby, but also at the things that happened around that birth.

Our joy comes from accepting the man that the child became. 

I wish you all the joy that Jesus brings this Christmas, and in the year ahead

Amen.

Sermon recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXAF16JNEE, starts at 19:30 to 35:30

References

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2015/12/24/what-is-your-christmas-story-a-christmas-sermon-on-luke-21-20/

John for Everyone, part 1

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-shepherd-39-s-perspective-on-christmas-rich-o-toole-sermon-on-christmas-277310

https://www.paulbeasleymurray.com/2017/12/21/the-shepherds-a-christmas-day-sermon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtgyT6z25U

https://upjoke.com/shepherd-jokes

https://www.childfun.com/articles/general/hilarious-sheep-jokes-for-kids/

https://kidadl.com/humor/pets-animals-nature/best-sheep-jokes-that-ewe-will-love

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-war-on-christmas-cards/

What should we do?

Preached at Christ church, Billericay, 15 Dec 2024 @ 08:00

Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20 & Luke 3:7-18

Why the crowds were coming to John

A voice in the night

I was in a deep deep sleep, suddenly there was a loud voice. I woke slowly, it was pitch black. I couldn’t make sense of the voice or work out where it was coming from. I thought it was trying to tell me to do something. My brain was awake, now, but my body was lagging behind. I forced myself out of bed, and made my way to the lounge. The voice had stopped. I got to the lounge and woke the dog, but no-one else was about. After a short while, I said “good-night” to the dog and went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep, feeling I had missed something important. In the morning, I was told that the voice came from a radio, it’s left on all the time, it has batteries to keep it on in a power cut. It’s tuned to one station and the volume is turned all the way up – so everyone will definitely hear it. It is the hurricane warning system, and was telling us we MUST stay inside. It was so loud, the sound was distorted.

John’s Urgent Message

Anyway, it gave me a sense of urgency, that I must do something, and that is what John the Baptist is trying to do. And it’s working. Lots of people are coming out to him. They sense the danger.

The state of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is corrupt; it’s struggling to keep control of the Jewish state at the edge of the empire. The puppet kings are ineffective, and part of the territory is effectively under direct rule.

Out sourced tax collection

The collection of taxes has been outsourced. The rights to collect tax are sold to the highest bidder, who must then deliver the tax to the Emperor, and also collect enough extra tax to become rich.

How Jewish Soldiers make a living

The Jews have their own army, but it behaves more like the occupiers. Instead of protecting the people, the soldiers bully them, to supplement their own income.

The need for a new ‘Exodus’

It seems like things are coming to a head. That something important is about to happen. Something that will be on a par with God rescuing His people from the Egyptians in the Exodus. We have a vision of what they were hoping for in the Zephaniah reading. The oppressors removed, the festivals returned, and the world put to rights. They just had no idea how God would get them there.

Then this weird, but highly charismatic prophet – John the Baptist – appears and offers people baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Many people come and repent of their sins from all walks of life.

Vipers (Snakes) and their symbolism

John is not one to hold back. Calling those who have come to him a “Brood of Vipers” seems like quite an insult. Matthew tells us that this comment was addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, not the crowd in general.

Genesis – the serpent

Brood here refers to them as offspring. So it takes the idea right back to Genesis, where the serpent tempted Adam & Eve and was cursed by God. He’s saying they are children of evil.

Wrath of God and how to avoid it.

The wrath of God will sort out all the problems. The Israelites have seen this before. God’s wrath is coming soon, and John uses two images to explain this. The axe is already at the root of the tree – a tree that doesn’t produce fruit is cut down. That’s the danger they face.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how that might apply to the Jews who have come to be baptised. If they don’t get that one, the winnowing fork should explain it nicely – the chaff is about to be blown away, only the good grain will be left.

Being subjects to God’s wrath is a painful experience, but the end result is worth it. Anyway, they have just been told that they can flee God’s wrath.

Baptism is for converts

The way for them to avoid God’s wrath is to repent and be baptised. Baptism was the ceremony that those converting to Judaism went through. So, in a sense, they are admitting that they do not really have Abraham as their father. Even though they have repented, they don’t seem to clear what they have repented of. Three people in the crowd ask John what they must do. Clearly, they are expecting to live a different way.

A different way of Living

Cartoon

A cartoon shows a sceptic shouting up to the heavens, “God! If you're up there, tell us what we should do!” Back comes a voice: “Feed the hungry, house the homeless, establish justice.” The sceptic looks alarmed. “Just testing”, he says “Me too’”, replies the voice.

Living Differently

They will have to live differently. They will have to look after one another – sharing the resources they have. They will have to deal with each other fairly, not using the power they have over others to take advantage.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to them – but it seems to be. Sometimes the obvious just needs pointing out. It’s there in the prophets:

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

USSR

John’s call is for us too. Back in the USSR, where being a Christian was illegal, times were very hard for the believers. But some employers protected them as much as they could, because Christians were the only ones who could be trusted not to steal from their employers and not to use what they knew against them.

Living differently has an effect, not just in difficult situations, like living under persecution, but here and now in our world.

Perhaps we can feed the hungry, house the homeless and establish justice, because the sceptics aren’t going to. It is after all what the Lord requires of us, it is what we are here for.

Amen.

Two Kingdoms

Preached on 24 November 2024 at 10:00, at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading Daniel 7v9-10, 13-14; John 18v33-37

Lectionary: Christ the King

Today, the lectionary subject is Christ the King. It still feels rather strange to me, but at least it comes at the right time in our year – right at the end. At a time when Christ's mission has been fully completed, His kingdom established, and he has taken his place at the right hand of God in Heaven.

This subject did not appear in the Lectionary until 1921 when the Pope was trying to raise his profile against the newly appointed Italian king. For us, it entered the lectionary in 1990, so perhaps I’m taking too long to adapt. However, the two readings give us some great insights into God and his son Jesus, so let’s start with Daniel.

Daniel

Daniel is seeing a vision of that in our Old Testament reading this morning. In the first pair of verses he sees the Ancient of Days – that is God. The phrase literally means ‘before there were days’. That vision of God should certainly help us to understand His awesome power.

In the second he sees the Son of Man, which here refers to the Christ, being led to the throne and given dominion over all the nations and peoples, and all of them worshipping Him.

About kings and subjects

Both those images speak of unlimited power. Today, we don’t see the absolute power of Kings. Our king heads a constitutional monarchy. The King’s power is severely limited, now to the point where the role of King is almost exclusively ceremonial. Even when Henry VIII ruled and the theory of the divine right of kings was applied to the monarchy, he did not have absolute power. Remember what happened when king John pushed his barons too far.

As far as his subjects were concerned, though, it would seem as though he did. Had we been alive in those days, and been part of the peasantry, the King's power would have seemed absolute. He certainly had the power of life and death for us. Just as did his Lords and their representatives in each town or village. It was not so different in the Roman Empire in Jesus’s day. Keep that in mind as we look at the conversation between Pilate and Jesus from our Gospel reading.

Favourite verses

The report that John gives of the conversation is one of my favourite passages in the whole Bible. So, as we look through those verses now, I’ll try to explain why I find them so important.

Talk through verses

Background

Jesus has been arrested by “a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees” (v3) led by Judas. There are many more men here than could possibly be required to arrest one man, so this was a show of force – just in case some of the disciples were thinking of trying to prevent the arrest. Peter had a go, but it came to nothing because Jesus told him to stop.

Jesus is then questioned by the High Priests.

By the time this had finished, it was early morning, and they had to wake the governor of the province – Pilate. They will not go into his building because that would make them unclean, so Pilate must come out to them.

They only need Pilate because they want the death penalty. Pilate calls Jesus away from them and takes him inside.

Now, at this point, you might wonder how we know what was said. Well, while the questioning goes on, there are plenty of staff in the house. Some may even have been sympathisers, and I’d bet most of them were nosey, after all knowledge is power. So, the conversation could easily have been reported to the disciples after the resurrection, by one or more of

[v33]

In v33, Pilate’s first question is “Are You the King of the Jews?”. If we think about what Jesus must have looked like at that stage – dressed in peasants cloths, probably roughed-up a bit by the arresting troops, and now on his own, because his followers had left. Thinking of him looking like that as a king would be laughable. But, Pilate must ask. His primary concern is to ensure there is no threat to the empire. He is, after all, the Emperor in this place.

[v34]

Verse 34. If you ask Jesus a question, you will rarely get a direct answer. His response here is a case in point. In terms of how the dialogue goes, this is probably the most important verse. Jesus knows that Pilate has the power of life and death over him. He knows that what he says here will in some way affect what happens next. While under arrest and the threat of death, He holds to his own agenda. He even takes control of the dialogue. “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

It’s Jesus’s control, His composure and His ability to guide the conversation under such extreme pressure that really impresses me.

[v35]

The NRSV translates Pilate’s response as “I am not a Jew, am I?”, which makes it clearer that the question does not require an answer. Trying to get back on track, he continues with, “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

[v36]

Again, the NRSV has a better translation than the NIV, when it uses ‘from’ rather than ‘of’ in the first part of Jesus’s answer. Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’

Not from here

If we use ‘of’ rather than ‘from’, it can suggest that Jesus’s Kingdom is unworldly and has no effect on the world as we and Pilate know it. If we use ‘from’, then Jesus kingdom comes from somewhere else, and will not be a threat to Pilate and his Roman Empire – he clearly doesn’t have an army with Him - but it is not just a spiritual kingdom. It also makes Jesus’s first sentence consistent with the rest of what he says.

[v37]

Pilate is still not sure, and he has no idea why Jesus has been handed over to him, except that the Chief Priest wants Jesus put to death.

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Jesus now tries to divert the conversation again. He wants to talk about truth. The truth that each of the men see is very different.

Different type of kingdom – sacrifice not power

The two kingdoms we have been hearing about are very different.

Pilate knows the truth, that Rome’s armies are powerful. The political system runs on this power and the political manoeuvrings that go with it. If you control the power, you can make your own the truth.

Jesus knows a greater truth. His kingdom runs on sacrifice and love. What He is doing now – accepting His sentence and being prepared to be executed (along with all the pain and suffering that must happen along the way), will demonstrate how sacrifice and love work in His Kingdom.

Now we have a choice

We are faced with a choice. Which Kingdom do we want to live in. Which of them best serves our needs from now and into eternity. Because of what Jesus has done, all the things which keep us locked into Pilates Kingdom have been overcome. But, we cannot serve two masters, and we cannot switch sides as it suits us, because neither side will put up with that. Once our choice is made, we must serve the King we have chosen, in the way that he demands.

My Hope

My hope is that each of us has made our choice, and that we have decided to follow Jesus as our King. If not, and you would like to talk about it, please do talk to one of us at the end.

For those that have, I’ll finish with the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy, because I believe they apply to all of us. From 1 Timothy 6 starting at verse 12:

¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

References

https://www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/here-is-what-it-really-means-john-c-holbert-11-16-2015

https://sermonsfrommyheart.com/2018/03/29/john-1833-37-long-live-the-king/

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/preaching-on-christ-the-king/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/long-live-the-king-craig-condon-sermon-on-jesus-as-king-194920

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_X_of_Denmark

https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary-old/john-1833-37/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/king-of-kings-and-lord-of-lords-a-sermon-for-christ-the-king-sunday-mark-a-barber-sermon-on-christ-the-king-285667

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/king

https://bibleportal.com/topic/regicide

https://www.bibliaplus.org/en/commentaries/50/joseph-bensons-commentary-on-the-old-and-new-testaments/1-timothy/6/13-16

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-is-god-called-the-ancient-of-days.html