The disciples were meeting together on the first day of the week. That's today – Sunday. It was late in the evening, so they had finished their day's work, or not yet started their night's work. They were scared - scared of the Jewish Authorities – the temple guard. They were expecting someone to come and arrest them. More than that they were worried about the strange things that had happened. The missing body that Mary had reported, and the very much alive Jesus that she had told them about a little later. What was happening? Imagine it. There you are having followed this prophet for three years – having given up you livelihood to do so, in some cases. Then your leader, or teacher (rabbi) is been arrested by the temple guard and handed over to the Romans to be crucified. That is a difficult enough situation, but now there are reports that he has come back from the dead. What to do.
Have you watched the BBC series “The passion”. The discussion at this meeting was very enlightening. Some simply didn't believe that Jesus was alive. They wanted to go home, and restart their lives. They were afraid of arrest either there in the room, or on the way, and were planning how they could best get home. Some of them were starting to believe, but were not sure, the suddenly, among them – not walking through a door like some 19th Century ghost – just there in the room was someone who talked in the same way that Jesus did, about the same things. There was something extraordinarily familiar about him. As the discussion goes on some of them start to see that its Jesus.
Thomas, who's not there, famously will not believe until he sees evidence, but none of them are really that certain.
Jesus has come to see them, but being Jesus, He is not there for a coffee and chat, or simple to provide re-assurance. He has a very specific reason for appearing to them all at the same time. His first words tell us what that purpose is.
“Peace be with you! l As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
What Jesus, what are you saying? You want us to take over your ministry?
Music interlude 1
They must have had 100's of questions, not least worries about getting arrested, and sent for crucifixion.
This is what Jesus had been preparing them for. All their experiences over the last three years were leading to this.
Can you think of some of your favourite stories about Jesus and his disciples, and what the disciples might have learnt through them?
Training and testing
Favourite Stories of Jesus and the disciples
Include Feeding 5000, Matthew 14:13-21
Learning to rely on God rather than yourselves, your abilities and your assets
Raising Lazarus, John 11:1-16
A demonstration of God's power, and a taste of things to come
Driving out demons, the ones the disciples can't do. Luke 9:37-45
Practical experience, proving that some things are harder than others – a test failed?
The response of the 72. Luke 10:1-20
The joy of a successful mission “Even the demons obey us”
The betrayal, arrest and crucifixion. Luke 22:1-23:49
The hardest lesson of all – The things of God are more important that life itself.
All these things were training for the disciples. Jesus has used many different techniques to help them learn, he has shown them what he does, told them stories, sent them out to practice, and tested their learning.
It is fashionable today to talk about whole life learning, and it is true that we are always learning, and that many of us are undergoing some form of training, a lot of the time. Those of us who are still at school, or university are in full time training. As part of any training there will be tests of your success in learning whatever it is you have learnt. Sometimes the tests will be formal exams, at other times they will take the place of observed practice.
What tests do we face in our lives, at school, at work, or in the church?
SATS
Exams
Driving test
Professional Qualifications
Other training courses – Management training
Many years ago people from this church started going out to visit couples who wanted to have their children christened. The material was called “Good News down the street” and took the form of six evenings spent with the couple discussing the Christian faith. Perhaps there are some people here now who joined the church as a result of one of these courses. I was on several teams in the early days, and I know that some of you have done many more that I will ever manage. The idea of these teams was that as the teams became more experienced their members would become team leaders, and others would join the teams. Eventually after some experience those new people would also become team leaders, and take on the role of making contact with the couple, agreeing the dates, and who on the team would lead a particular session. We can see that Jesus had been doing similar things with his disciples for the last three years. Some of the stories have tests – as in the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus asked the disciples to feed the crowd. He wanted to see how much they'd learnt – who would they rely on in a crisis – themselves and their worldly abilities, or their heavenly father. When he sent out the seventy two, they had no choice but to rely on their heavenly father, you can't drive out demons with money!
Up to last summer I was in part time training to become a reader. Reader training is all about continuous assessment. Each task results in a piece of written work, or a presentation, or a sermon. There is a mixture of the academic and the practical. To pass the course, I have to be able to demonstrate that I meet a certain standard. So if you don't think my sermon today is up to standard, I suggest that you speak to the Bishop about how the training works, and who they let pass their courses.
At some point the training must come to an end, and the real work must begin. For me that happened last October, when I was licensed as a Reader. There was a special service in Chelmsford Cathedral, and I was presented with a certificate and a bible, and a blue scarf, as a recognition of what I had achieved, and so that others could recognise what I have become.
Now, when I prepare a sermon there is no more worrying about making sure I stick to the script I write for a sermon. If I deviate, all I have to worry about is getting back on track. Now in many ways I was fortunate, because I didn't have to go solo, after having lots of support and review, both Paul, and Warner are very supportive, but have let me do whatever I have come up with. For some of those on my training, though, once the course had finished they had their first experience of preparing a sermon on their own, and delivering it unaided, without any sort of review occurring.
Not all pieces of learning are completed with a special ceremony, mostly though you will get some form of recognition, a certificate, or a licence that allows you to do something, like drive a car, or fly a plane.
Do you remember your first time out in a car – without any passengers? Were you the sort of person who was looking forward to that experience, or were you the sort of person who was dreading it.
His can apply to anything that you do after training.
Ask the question again – get a story or two.
Commissioning
Few of us though will be asked to complete 3 years training, and then be sent on the same mission that resulted in our leader and teacher being arrested and killed. That is what the disciples are being asked to do, although not in those words. It is not lost on them, though I'm sure. In the BBC mini-series “The Passion” Jesus repeatedly says to his disciples “Spread my message”. That is what He is doing here. “As the father sends me so I send you”. They have had the training, they have watched the role model, they tried it in practice, they've had the feedback, and now – its time to get on with the work. Jesus has commissioned them to do the same work that he was sent by his Father to do.
Music 2
So here we have the disciples finishing their course, and being commissioned to go and do the real work. The work they had been training for for the last 3 years. They have no idea at the moment how they are going to spread Jesus' message. They are too scared even to think about it, but seeing Jesus is changing them. His next action is the greatest confirmation of their mission that they could possibly have received.
He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”. This is more than a certificate, or a license, or even a Blue Scarf, this is recognition and acceptance by God. The apostle Paul says in 2Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” We know that the Holy Spirit does not arrive until Acts Chapter 2, some 50 days from the events of today, but we see here Jesus preparing his disciples for this momentous event. They are ready for the mission, at least all but one of them is ready.
Peter's re-instatement is in the next Chapter.
In the Church of England the Confirmation Service is the special service that the church uses to recognise that people are ready to do the work of the church. The bishop will say of each candidates “Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit. “. That is just us doing our best to understand what God is doing in his relationship with that person. Each of us must always answer the question for ourselves. Have we received the Holy Spirit? Are we ready to do the work of spreading Jesus' message? Or perhaps are you ready to continue to do the work of spreading Jesus' message?
OIL
In the early church people were anointed with oil as a symbol recognising their commitment and readiness to join with the disciples in the work they had to do.
Announce the oil, and give the option.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Good Friday Sermon
Introduction
Have you ever been in a position where you had to do something that you were not looking forward to? That may be something that you have to do regularly, but that you don't like, perhaps cleaning the drains or visiting the dentist. Well that's going to be an unpleasant experience, but it has to be done, and in both cases some good will ultimately come of it. No-one wants to suffer from overflowing drains, and no-one wants to suffer from tooth ache. I suspect that like me many of you may try to put these jobs off for as long as you can, before finally getting them done.
Linda's Story
Of course, the thing that you are not looking forward to may be something that life throws at you in the normal course of events. When I was at sixth form I had a friend, I'll call her Linda. Now when Linda was seven she had left the infants school, and was preparing to go to Junior school. That's into year 3 in the current way of measuring school years. Linda was not looking forward to this, in fact she was dreading it. For her it was a different school, with different teachers, and even some different pupils. Linda wasn't ready to make the change, so one morning, probably in early September, she decided that she could not go through with it. As her parents were no help, and were insisting that she must go, there was only one alternative. At the age of seven, Linda decided it was time to leave home. She packed her satchel, yes, the one she had been given for junior school, with some sweets, and some bread, she went up to her room and and changed into some warm cloths, put on her best coat, picked up all of her pocket money and all of her savings, and headed for the front door. All was quiet, so she left. Closing the door behind her she strode purposefully for the front gate, opened it and walked down the road. Fortunately for all of us, Linda's mother heard her leave the house and caught up with her a brought her home. If she hadn't who knows what could have happened. Linda did survive junior school, and senior school, but the point of the story is that she knew there was something going to happen – she had to go to a new school. She could not accept what life had put in her path and decided that the only option was to run away.
My Employment
Some of you may know that I am currently looking for a new job after my job was moved off-shore (to India). I have had to spend sixty days handing over everything I know about my job to other people, while the management sort out a successor on the sub-continent.
To help with the handover I was asked to prepare a Knowledge Transfer document. There would be a bonus paid for the completion of it, so I had some motivation to get on and produce a good result. The handover was not something I wanted to do, at first. I decided that although the process is an unpleasant experience, the best thing to do was to continue to take a professional approach, and to do the best job that I could under the circumstances. The approach of my management, which had until the sixty days been very hands-off, had suddenly become very intense. They wanted to know, and have justified, pretty much everything I was doing. Keeping my head down and getting on with my work – my usual approach was impossible – I had to do my job, hand it over to others, and document it, under the watchful eye of my manager. I am happy to report that I have come through it, and received the maximum available bonus.
How to approach an unpleasant task
It seem that we have three example of how we can approach a difficult and unpleasant task. If the option is there we can put it off, but many things in life do not fit with our timing, but with someone else's. We can run away, or at least we can try to run away, but there is plenty of evidence from life that running away doesn't actually achieve what it is designed to. The problem, task, or job to do will still be there when you get back. Perhaps the best approach then is to embrace the task, and make the best possible job of it.
Before our reading today Jesus had prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, Here's the story from Luke 22:
'Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Following that prayer Jesus had decided to go through with the difficult job that he had been given by his father. Now what Jesus had to do was to die for the sins of the world. That really makes anything that we might have to face seem fairly insignificant by comparison. In our passage today we see Jesus accomplishing the task, and I am going to look at some of the aspects of how successfully that was carried out.
God had been speaking to the Jews through the prophets for many years, almost throughout their entire history. God had told the Jews why he had chosen them, how they were to live together and relate to other peoples who lived around them, and how they were to worship Him. The Jews had struggled with this, what God was asking was not easy. God had also told them many of the things that the Messiah would do, and many of the things that would happen in the Messiah's life. Three times it says “So that scripture would be fulfilled”. Lets take a look at each of them, and see what Jesus did, and the events that occurred around him as he went to do the job that God had placed in front of him.
First Prophecy
The first prophesy involves the Roman soldiers who were there to follow their orders and crucify the prisoners handed to them. They themselves were not involved in the process of justice, like a prison warden today does not appear at the court hearing, he is just responsible for executing the sentence passed by the court. That's what the Roman soldiers were doing - following the instructions of the court, and the Roman legal system. Each prisoner would have four soldiers to accompany him. As part of that system, when someone was handed over for execution the soldiers who performed the act would keep all the worldly goods of the person who they were crucifying. In Jesus' case, as in the case of most Jews of his day there would likely be five pieces of clothing – shoes (or sandals) turban, girdle, tunic, and robe. So the soldiers shared these out amicably enough, 1 piece each, but what to do with the fifth item. The undergarment had been woven in one piece. It was a special piece of clothing. It was customary for Jewish mothers to present such a garment to their son's as a gift when they entered adult hood – like a traditional coming of age birthday present today. When adult hood began at 21 the tradition was to give the key to the door – something small but very significant. For a Jewish mother the traditional gift was a tunic woven as one piece.
So there were the soldiers wondering what to do with this piece of clothing. To cut it into quarters would be to destroy it, so what better to do than to draw lots to see who gets it. At least then someone would get something of value. So the prophecy in Psalm 22:18 has been fulfilled. “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
OK, Pete, lots of interesting things about Roman Soldiers and Jewish clothing, but what part did Jesus take in all this? Surely he's just the victim here?
Well, yes, at this point Jesus has submitted himself to the Roman authorities, but he was also responsible for dressing himself. He chose to wear that tunic – knowing what was about to happen he could easily have swapped for something of little or no value, but he didn't. Perhaps you could say “What a waste letting the Romans have something that good – couldn't it have been used to help the poor?” May be it could have, but it was the only thing of real value that Jesus had, if prophecy were to be fulfilled, it needed to be put in front of the soldiers so that they could agree to draw lots for it.
The robe has another potential significance to. A seamless tunic was worn by the high priest, partly as a symbol of who he was, but also because it would be much less likely to tear than a regular tunic. So here we see some symbolism of Jesus as God's new high priest. That may seem to be stretching a point here, but it would not have been lost on the Jews.
Jesus' Mother
Before we look at the second and third prophecies, it is worth noting that Jesus is still behaving like the Jesus we are so familiar with in the Gospels. He makes arrangements for his mothers long term care – asking his closest disciple John, the author of our reading to take care of her as though she were his own mother. At this point it is possible that John took Mary back to his home, where she would have stayed for the rest of the day. John would have returned to the scene of the crucifixion. That would be one possible explanation for the narrative appearing to skip forward slightly, missing some of the details from the other gospels.
Second Prophecy
The second prophecy is in verses 28 and 29
“Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.”
Even now, after being scourged and beaten and nailed to a cross Jesus is still fully aware of what he is doing, here by asking for a drink, he picks up the prophecy from Psalm 69:21 “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” Gall is also known as wormwood, a bitter tasting herb that dulls pain and the senses with it. Jesus has already refused to drink the vinegar when it contained the drug. He needs to keep his head clear for all that is going on around him. Here though he accepts the vinegar. This is, of course, wine vinegar, not malt vinegar, not the sort you would put on you chips. It is the common drink of Roman soldiers, and does not contain much alcohol at all – just enough to make the water safe to drink. Even today's binge drinkers would stay reasonably sober drinking this – not that they would, it does not have a very pleasant taste.
As you leave today, take with you the smell of the wine vinegar, use the smell to remind you of the actions of Jesus on the cross fulfilling the prophesies from hundreds of years earlier.
Third Prophecy
The third prophecy again involves the Roman soldiers, but this time includes the Jews. As the crucifixion was held on the day before the Sabbath – Friday, the Jews were concerned about the criminals being left on the cross, so the Romans agreed to break their legs. This has the effect of speeding up the death, and would not have been something that the Romans would normally have been prepared to do. So one of the soldiers is asked to go and break the legs of those on the crosses. When he comes to Jesus, he can see no sign of life, so to prove to all those present that death has really occurred his spear is stuck into the side of the body. The blood has separated out and is seen as blood and water confirming to the Roman that he is dead. In verse 30 we hear Jesus say “It is finished” , by which he means that he has done all that is to be done. Everything that God has asked of him has been completed. These things happened so that a number of scriptures would be fulfilled
Ps 34:20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
From Numbers, the rules for passover say of the lamb that was eaten:
Nu 9:12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.
Jesus is the Lamb that God provides for the required sacrifice for this most special passover. The regulations for passover must be followed – if not by God, who else would follow them.
In Zec 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first-born son.”
Had Jesus not died when he did, the scriptures could not have been fulfilled. John says “he gave up his spirit”, in other words he deliberately allowed himself to die at that moment, any later and there would have been a different outcome.
Conclusion
Everything that Jesus did in the passage we read today was either to directly fulfil the scriptures, or to make circumstances where their fulfilment was the most probable outcome. Everything he did was intended to demonstrate who he was, and that he was on the path chosen by God, quite deliberately taking all the steps that would lead to his Death, and so to our restoration with God.
Have you ever been in a position where you had to do something that you were not looking forward to? That may be something that you have to do regularly, but that you don't like, perhaps cleaning the drains or visiting the dentist. Well that's going to be an unpleasant experience, but it has to be done, and in both cases some good will ultimately come of it. No-one wants to suffer from overflowing drains, and no-one wants to suffer from tooth ache. I suspect that like me many of you may try to put these jobs off for as long as you can, before finally getting them done.
Linda's Story
Of course, the thing that you are not looking forward to may be something that life throws at you in the normal course of events. When I was at sixth form I had a friend, I'll call her Linda. Now when Linda was seven she had left the infants school, and was preparing to go to Junior school. That's into year 3 in the current way of measuring school years. Linda was not looking forward to this, in fact she was dreading it. For her it was a different school, with different teachers, and even some different pupils. Linda wasn't ready to make the change, so one morning, probably in early September, she decided that she could not go through with it. As her parents were no help, and were insisting that she must go, there was only one alternative. At the age of seven, Linda decided it was time to leave home. She packed her satchel, yes, the one she had been given for junior school, with some sweets, and some bread, she went up to her room and and changed into some warm cloths, put on her best coat, picked up all of her pocket money and all of her savings, and headed for the front door. All was quiet, so she left. Closing the door behind her she strode purposefully for the front gate, opened it and walked down the road. Fortunately for all of us, Linda's mother heard her leave the house and caught up with her a brought her home. If she hadn't who knows what could have happened. Linda did survive junior school, and senior school, but the point of the story is that she knew there was something going to happen – she had to go to a new school. She could not accept what life had put in her path and decided that the only option was to run away.
My Employment
Some of you may know that I am currently looking for a new job after my job was moved off-shore (to India). I have had to spend sixty days handing over everything I know about my job to other people, while the management sort out a successor on the sub-continent.
To help with the handover I was asked to prepare a Knowledge Transfer document. There would be a bonus paid for the completion of it, so I had some motivation to get on and produce a good result. The handover was not something I wanted to do, at first. I decided that although the process is an unpleasant experience, the best thing to do was to continue to take a professional approach, and to do the best job that I could under the circumstances. The approach of my management, which had until the sixty days been very hands-off, had suddenly become very intense. They wanted to know, and have justified, pretty much everything I was doing. Keeping my head down and getting on with my work – my usual approach was impossible – I had to do my job, hand it over to others, and document it, under the watchful eye of my manager. I am happy to report that I have come through it, and received the maximum available bonus.
How to approach an unpleasant task
It seem that we have three example of how we can approach a difficult and unpleasant task. If the option is there we can put it off, but many things in life do not fit with our timing, but with someone else's. We can run away, or at least we can try to run away, but there is plenty of evidence from life that running away doesn't actually achieve what it is designed to. The problem, task, or job to do will still be there when you get back. Perhaps the best approach then is to embrace the task, and make the best possible job of it.
Before our reading today Jesus had prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, Here's the story from Luke 22:
'Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation. He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Following that prayer Jesus had decided to go through with the difficult job that he had been given by his father. Now what Jesus had to do was to die for the sins of the world. That really makes anything that we might have to face seem fairly insignificant by comparison. In our passage today we see Jesus accomplishing the task, and I am going to look at some of the aspects of how successfully that was carried out.
God had been speaking to the Jews through the prophets for many years, almost throughout their entire history. God had told the Jews why he had chosen them, how they were to live together and relate to other peoples who lived around them, and how they were to worship Him. The Jews had struggled with this, what God was asking was not easy. God had also told them many of the things that the Messiah would do, and many of the things that would happen in the Messiah's life. Three times it says “So that scripture would be fulfilled”. Lets take a look at each of them, and see what Jesus did, and the events that occurred around him as he went to do the job that God had placed in front of him.
First Prophecy
The first prophesy involves the Roman soldiers who were there to follow their orders and crucify the prisoners handed to them. They themselves were not involved in the process of justice, like a prison warden today does not appear at the court hearing, he is just responsible for executing the sentence passed by the court. That's what the Roman soldiers were doing - following the instructions of the court, and the Roman legal system. Each prisoner would have four soldiers to accompany him. As part of that system, when someone was handed over for execution the soldiers who performed the act would keep all the worldly goods of the person who they were crucifying. In Jesus' case, as in the case of most Jews of his day there would likely be five pieces of clothing – shoes (or sandals) turban, girdle, tunic, and robe. So the soldiers shared these out amicably enough, 1 piece each, but what to do with the fifth item. The undergarment had been woven in one piece. It was a special piece of clothing. It was customary for Jewish mothers to present such a garment to their son's as a gift when they entered adult hood – like a traditional coming of age birthday present today. When adult hood began at 21 the tradition was to give the key to the door – something small but very significant. For a Jewish mother the traditional gift was a tunic woven as one piece.
So there were the soldiers wondering what to do with this piece of clothing. To cut it into quarters would be to destroy it, so what better to do than to draw lots to see who gets it. At least then someone would get something of value. So the prophecy in Psalm 22:18 has been fulfilled. “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
OK, Pete, lots of interesting things about Roman Soldiers and Jewish clothing, but what part did Jesus take in all this? Surely he's just the victim here?
Well, yes, at this point Jesus has submitted himself to the Roman authorities, but he was also responsible for dressing himself. He chose to wear that tunic – knowing what was about to happen he could easily have swapped for something of little or no value, but he didn't. Perhaps you could say “What a waste letting the Romans have something that good – couldn't it have been used to help the poor?” May be it could have, but it was the only thing of real value that Jesus had, if prophecy were to be fulfilled, it needed to be put in front of the soldiers so that they could agree to draw lots for it.
The robe has another potential significance to. A seamless tunic was worn by the high priest, partly as a symbol of who he was, but also because it would be much less likely to tear than a regular tunic. So here we see some symbolism of Jesus as God's new high priest. That may seem to be stretching a point here, but it would not have been lost on the Jews.
Jesus' Mother
Before we look at the second and third prophecies, it is worth noting that Jesus is still behaving like the Jesus we are so familiar with in the Gospels. He makes arrangements for his mothers long term care – asking his closest disciple John, the author of our reading to take care of her as though she were his own mother. At this point it is possible that John took Mary back to his home, where she would have stayed for the rest of the day. John would have returned to the scene of the crucifixion. That would be one possible explanation for the narrative appearing to skip forward slightly, missing some of the details from the other gospels.
Second Prophecy
The second prophecy is in verses 28 and 29
“Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.”
Even now, after being scourged and beaten and nailed to a cross Jesus is still fully aware of what he is doing, here by asking for a drink, he picks up the prophecy from Psalm 69:21 “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” Gall is also known as wormwood, a bitter tasting herb that dulls pain and the senses with it. Jesus has already refused to drink the vinegar when it contained the drug. He needs to keep his head clear for all that is going on around him. Here though he accepts the vinegar. This is, of course, wine vinegar, not malt vinegar, not the sort you would put on you chips. It is the common drink of Roman soldiers, and does not contain much alcohol at all – just enough to make the water safe to drink. Even today's binge drinkers would stay reasonably sober drinking this – not that they would, it does not have a very pleasant taste.
As you leave today, take with you the smell of the wine vinegar, use the smell to remind you of the actions of Jesus on the cross fulfilling the prophesies from hundreds of years earlier.
Third Prophecy
The third prophecy again involves the Roman soldiers, but this time includes the Jews. As the crucifixion was held on the day before the Sabbath – Friday, the Jews were concerned about the criminals being left on the cross, so the Romans agreed to break their legs. This has the effect of speeding up the death, and would not have been something that the Romans would normally have been prepared to do. So one of the soldiers is asked to go and break the legs of those on the crosses. When he comes to Jesus, he can see no sign of life, so to prove to all those present that death has really occurred his spear is stuck into the side of the body. The blood has separated out and is seen as blood and water confirming to the Roman that he is dead. In verse 30 we hear Jesus say “It is finished” , by which he means that he has done all that is to be done. Everything that God has asked of him has been completed. These things happened so that a number of scriptures would be fulfilled
Ps 34:20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
From Numbers, the rules for passover say of the lamb that was eaten:
Nu 9:12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.
Jesus is the Lamb that God provides for the required sacrifice for this most special passover. The regulations for passover must be followed – if not by God, who else would follow them.
In Zec 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first-born son.”
Had Jesus not died when he did, the scriptures could not have been fulfilled. John says “he gave up his spirit”, in other words he deliberately allowed himself to die at that moment, any later and there would have been a different outcome.
Conclusion
Everything that Jesus did in the passage we read today was either to directly fulfil the scriptures, or to make circumstances where their fulfilment was the most probable outcome. Everything he did was intended to demonstrate who he was, and that he was on the path chosen by God, quite deliberately taking all the steps that would lead to his Death, and so to our restoration with God.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Alpha Vision Day - Holy Trinity Brompton – 29 Feb 08
My vision for Alpha had been flagging. I had only ever been involved in doing live talks, and have seen the number of Alpha courses we run in the town reduce and reduce. It seems to me that the format is beginning to come to the end of its useful life, and I was starting to wonder what could replace it. So, when I was asked if I was interested in the day, I at first said 'yes' because I was really more interested in seeing the church than I was in hearing about Alpha.
So, on Friday morning we set out, for me with less anticipation than was healthy. We arrived at the church by a less than direct route, and went in the tradesman's entrance. Still, never mind, we were soon registered, given a folder (just like the Christ Church weekend away!) and directed to coffee. Then the feel of the church began to percolate its way into my system. We were sat in regions, so it was just us up in the balcony for a while. I looked around at the screens and the floor that can be changed into terracing. I looked at the part of the church that seems unused – but that may just be today.
The proceedings started with worship, some of the songs were new to me, but not to Liz. After four or five songs we heard many stories of how Alpha is operating in various places. We heard about companies putting all their staff on the Alpha course, a course in a room at a shopping centre, one at Old Trafford (home of Manchester United football club), and a street party that barbecued half a cow, as an Alpha launch event, among other things.
Now it was Nicky Gumbel's turn to speak. His vision for Alpha is that it is time to Accelerate. He spoke about Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” saying it is not what we would expect – and he was right. Worldwide one some 11 million people have been through an Alpha course, of which only about 200,000 are in the UK. There are over 6,790 million people in the world. There were more Alpha courses in 2007 that there have been since 2000. Nicky's vision is to plant 20 churches a year, up from 1 a year, since Alpha began. He would like to use some of the 35 church buildings that are scheduled for closure.
There was also the launch of the new website – AlphaFriends.org. This is for people who are involved in some way in supporting or running an Alpha course. The original site alpha.org, is now exclusively for those who are attending, or thinking about attending an alpha course. The new publicity was previewed. The organisation is gearing up to deliver the vision.
Lunch was provided by HTB. Each person was given a bag with sandwiches, crisps, chocolate wafer, and a bottle of water. More coffee was also available. We collected our lunch, but then it was already too late to attend the next session, so I missed hearing about the provocative church.
After lunch, I attended the 'Alpha Male' discussion, which I am pleased to say was well over subscribed, and I will be praying and thinking more about some of the things that were said.
There followed another talk, from Pete Grieg who spoke about being with the Lord, and being with the lost – each of us must achieve a balance, without that we are not fulfilling our calling. He told us some stories from various revivals, and reminded us that each of them had started in prayer. Sometimes just a few people meeting regularly and faithfully to pray, the results seen many years later, sometimes those people were no longer with us, but the results of their prayers were felt by the later generations. This reminded me that what we do here and now does not only affect the here and now. We cannot know what we are starting, but future generations may look back and thank God for our faithfulness.
Finally there was a question and answer session with Nicky, who spoke again about his passion that churches should not be closed. Then it was time to go home.
So what of my flagging vision for Alpha? Alpha is a tool. Use it when it works, when it's the right tool for the job. Like any tool it requires a certain skill to be used effectively. Also like any tool it needs to be maintained so that it does its job effectively. There is more we could do, there are ways we could use the tool more effectively. Each of the group that went from Christ church will have their own ideas, thoughts, and additions to their prayer lists from the visit to HTB.
Can we lay hold of the Kingdom and advance it forcefully?
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