Difficult Decisions

Preached on 18 December 2022 in Christ Church, Billericay @ 8:00

Readings: Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25

Introduction

This morning we are looking at the prophecy that a virgin will give birth to a child. Both our readings are the subject of some controversies. That’s partly because of the subjects they cover, but also because the language that the Isaiah reading is written in has words that do not easily translate into either Greek, or English.

I am going to look at both passages, to see what they mean individually and when they are taken together. There is a common theme between the two reading that’s only loosely related to the prophecy.

Ahaz’s problem

First, let’s start with the Old Testament. Ahaz has a problem. The two countries to the north of him have got together. That’s Aram and Israel (or Ephraim), in what we would now see as Sameria. They have joined forces, to help protect themselves against Assyria. Assyria is the regional power, and is constantly threatening the borders of its neighbours. Rezin of Aram and Pekin of Ephraim want Ahaz to join forces with them. If he won’t, they plan to take Judah by force, thus expanding their territory. Hopefully that will make them less of a target for Assyria.

In the time of King David, Ephraim and Judah had been one nation, so this alliance seems like the ultimate betrayal. No wonder, Ahaz was shaken.

Now he has an important decision to make. What is he to do?

Isaiah’s message

Isaiah has already been given a message for Ahaz, telling him not to be afraid, because the invasion he is expecting will not happen. Apparently this has not quelled his fear, so at verse 10 the Lord has another go at speaking to Ahaz.

Signs

He is offered a sign – any sign. This is a very unusual offer. When Hezekiah was offered a sign, he was given a choice, should the sun go forward or backward 10 steps. He chose backward because he though that was harder to do, and the Lord did it. Hezekiah had been a faithful king. Signs, when they are provided, are usually just given and no choice involved.

Ahaz refused

Ahaz has not been a faithful king. He is supposed to listen to the prophets and ensure that the people worship correctly, but he has not done that. His response to God’s amazing offer is “No, I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test”.

Do not test God

You will probably remember Jesus saying something similar during His temptation in the wilderness. They are both quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.” The context is very different. Jesus was speaking to Satan. The Israelites had tested God at Massah by getting ready to stone Moses because there was no water. (ex 17:1-7)

Here, though, Ahaz is being offered the sign by God. It seems that he knows just enough of the scriptures to try to deflect Isaiah from what God is saying.

The Prophecy

God will not be deflected from his purpose, neither will Isaiah. God will provide a sign. He will try to convince Ahaz to follow His instruction.

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Immanuel means either “God is with us”, or “God with us”. It’s meant to tell Ahaz that God is with him, protecting him and the rest of Judah from the threat they are so worried about.

To set a time frame to this, the following is given:

He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

How the prophecy worked

We cannot be certain how the prophecy worked in detail. There are debates about every aspect. This prophecy does not require a virgin birth, normal conception is possible for a current virgin. The virgin could be Isaiah’s second wife, or a recently married woman in the king's entourage, the name Immanuel being chosen as a way of expressing disapproval with Ahaz’s leadership. Either way, a son is born.

“Curds and honey” may refer to the good things that the boy will have – from the promised land – ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ or the exact opposite – the only food available when the nation is devastated.

‘Reject the wrong and choose the right’ is undoubtedly the key, as children must be a certain age to do this. Commentators vary from two, twelve, or in the twenties.

It doesn’t matter that much, what we know is that within a few years, before they had time to overrun Judah and Jerusalem, Aram and Ephraim had been overrun themselves by Assyria. So the prophecy is fulfilled, at least for Ahaz.

Joseph’s decision

Now let’s move on to the New Testament reading. Joseph’s difficult decision comes as a surprise to him, rather than an escalating threat. Joseph either hears about the pregnancy, or sees evidence of it for himself, we are not told. It’s possible he went to collect his bride for the wedding, and spotted the problem then.

Now he has an important decision to make. What is he to do?

Righteous Man

Joseph is described as a righteous man, that being the case, to continue with the marriage is out of the question. According to scripture, Mary should be punished for her indiscretion. This could be a stoning, but that was rare in the 1^st century, or a divorce – either publicly or privately. This is Joseph’s preferred option. He is certainly a kind man. He wants to cause Mary as little trouble as possible while still doing the right thing for God and himself. So he decides on a quiet divorce, that way they can both get on with their lives sooner rather than later.

The Dream

Maybe he decided to sleep on it and see how he felt in the morning. While he was asleep, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. The angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. The social stigma of having a new wife already pregnant would be considerable, the assumption would be that the baby was his and that he wasn’t a very self-disciplined person. He would be seen as a sinner, and shunned by those claiming righteousness.

The decision

So, unlike Ahaz, Joseph is swayed by the message the angel delivered, and agrees to take Mary as his Wife. This makes him Jesus’s legal father on earth. So, Jesus is born of the house of David, just as required by various other prophecies. He then had no union with her until after Jesus was born – so maybe the pregnancy was quite advanced at this stage, or Joseph, being a righteous man, had a greater understanding of what was going on than was reported. After Jesus was born, though, they seem to have lived a normal life, the rest of the family being conceived by the usual method.

The problem with Prophecies

Matthew tells us that this took place to fulfil the prophecy that we read about in Isaiah. From a straight forward reading of Isaiah, it is easy to tick this prophecy off as fulfilled and done with. Judah was not defeated by Aram and Ephraim, but they were later defeated by Assyria.

That’s the problem with prophecies, not only are they sometimes difficult to understand, but it is also possible that they refer to things other than those that are being directly addressed when they are given. Matthew clearly sees something more in Isaiah than a straight forward reading provides.

Debate

As I mentioned before, there is huge debate about the prophecy in Isaiah, and about this report of the birth of Jesus. Does the word for virgin, really mean virgin in our sense, does it mean young woman. Most agree that it does not translate easily to either. The Greek word used ‘parthenos’ does directly translate to virgin – I’ve checked. So there is no doubt what Matthew thought.

God and Man

Anyway, it would be difficult to accept that Jesus was the son of God, if God had no involvement in His conception. So Matthew has set us up nicely for the next difficult theological debate – understanding the trinity.

Connection

I mentioned at the beginning that there is another connection between the two passages. It is related to the prophecy, and in particular to God speaking to us directly when we have difficult decisions to make, as was the case in both our readings.

Connection- Ahaz

Ahaz was approached by the prophet and offered a sign – any sign that would convince Ahaz that God knew what He was doing and was in control. Ahaz rejected the offer and moved his kingdom – the house of David, away from God’s rule. Judah was ultimately defeated by controlled by Assyria.

Connection- Joseph

Joseph, on the other hand, when finding his betrothed was expecting a baby, listened to what God had to say and accepted Mary as his wife. Jesus the son of God would be born anyway, that process was unstoppable. Joseph’s acceptance led him to all sorts of difficulties – the flight to Egypt and the return to settle in a strange town, come to mind.

Us

When we have big decisions to make, they often become turning points in our lives. It is important for us to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying at that time. That may be through someone filling the role of a prophet, through a sign, (although I doubt you’ll get a choice!) through a dream, through a scripture reading holding a new meaning to us, through a sudden change in circumstance, or even a dream. It may also come through a discernment process that leads to selection, or not, for some sort of ministry.

The important thing for us is to listen and accept the advice or direction that the Holy Spirit is providing.

Amen.

 

 

References

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-advent/commentary-on-isaiah-710-16-3

https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/old-testament-isaiah-710-16-commentary/

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-advent/commentary-on-isaiah-710-16

https://translate.yandex.com/?source_lang=el&target_lang=en&text=%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B8%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82

 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/vaxxvyLJLzs

 

Mary’s Faith

Preached at St Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead, on 11 December 2022 at 10:30

Prayer

Father, may these spoken words be true to the written word and lead us to the living word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Do something for God?

Have you ever been asked to do something for God? No, that's not quite the right question.  There are plenty of times when someone in the church may ask you to do something. That will be for God, of course, but it may not be asked in His name.  Perhaps better to ask, have you ever been asked to do something BY God? I know that some of you have, I suspect that most, if not all of you have.  I certainly have, or I wouldn't be standing here now.

Me

For me, it was a long-drawn-out process, that started shortly after I was confirmed, and continued until my second attempt at training, then and only then did it really start.  There were no visions, or angels talking to me, just a slow sense that there were things I could, and perhaps should be doing – despite ample evidence to the contrary, the sense did not go away.  So, eventually, I started asking questions, while getting on with the other things that I thought God was asking me to do.  Each step of the way, my faith was limited to believing that the next step was at least possible.

You

I wonder how that worked for you? Was it a similar, slow process, or some sort of revelation.  Did you get started straight away, or was there a wait?  Did you have faith that all would work out, or did you doubt where you were being led and test what you were working on at every opportunity?  Perhaps you even ran away from it at first, like Jonah.

Mary

For Mary, it was just about instantaneous.  In the verse before our reading started, Gabriel says "Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you."  Understandably, Mary was 'greatly troubled' by this, scared out of her mind, maybe? Gabriel tries to calm her with “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.” I’m not sure that would cut it either, but what he says next is about as troubling as it gets!

Birthing the Messiah

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Different World

We have to remember that at the beginning of the first century the world was a very different place. Before the Renaissance, the absolute belief in various religions was common, there was effectively no scientific method as we understand it today. The Jews – all of them, not just the men – would have known their scriptures very well, they were part of life – taught in every family from the youngest age. Seeing angels would be seen as unusual, but maybe not as scary, something to be desired.

Every young Girl’s dream

Now, there are two schools of thought here. One, is more like a current reaction, the other says that it was every young girls dream to be the mother of the Messiah, if that is true, then Mary’s feelings would have been a little different than the feelings we might have at seeing an angel, and hearing this message. Apprehensive, probably, shocked – yes, that’s likely too, but scared out of her mind – probably not. The story is reported very simply, just the ‘he said’, ‘she said’, so it’s impossible for us to really tell.

About Mary

We have to remember that Mary was likely a young teenager, perhaps only thirteen years old. This is the normal age for Marriage in this community, we should not judge this by 20^th century standards. That means she is not what we would see as a young woman, rather she is a girl, in many ways still a child. Which makes what comes next all the more remarkable.

Mary’s response

Her response is simply to ask how it’s going to happen. It’s sounds like she’s expecting a more normal human method to create a son. After all, she is betrothed – and that has legal status in her world. To break a betrothal requires a divorce, just as breaking a marriage does. She would be expecting to produce children very soon anyway.

³⁴“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

This is a question about what will happen, so Mary is already accepting the message.

³⁵“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

he talks a little about her cousin, and ends with:

“For nothing is impossible with God.”

The Implications

Now, that’s something she would have believed, and maybe that sealed the deal for her. I wonder if she knew exactly what it all meant? She would have to go away, hide from the familiar world – becoming pregnant before marriage, even if you are betrothed, could easily lead to being stoned to death. At worst, she would be an outcast. She has no idea what Joseph will say, but the expectation must be divorce.

Things that have been given up

She has given up her future – at least the one she was expecting, she has given up her husband, she will be a single parent family for all she knows – and that was a dreadful life in those days.

Mary’s faith and humility

Mary’s faith and humility are astounding, her last response to the angel shows that:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”

So the deed is done. She has risked everything for God, she has put her faith in the angel’s message and her life on the line as a result. Now she must move fast and get out of her home town before the pregnancy is discovered. She goes to stay with her cousin, Elizabeth.

Two women

When the two women meet, Elizabeth, well past child bearing age is almost at full term, and Mary, only just at child bearing age may now be visibly pregnant. The Holy Spirit speaks to Elizabeth and confirms the angel’s message. Elizabeth says:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so flavoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

Elizabeth confirms the message, and the link between John and Jesus that will become apparent in later chapters. She also says that Mary’s faith is a blessing for her.

What did Mary do now -Magnificat

Now Mary just has to wait for the baby to grow and to be born. There is plenty of time for reflection, and we get the result of that in the song she creates. It’s her thoughts about God, and in many places echoes Hannah’s pray after she had handed over Samuel, her long prayed for son, to Eli for training. It also picks up ideas from various Psalms, Isaiah and Habbakuk amongst others.

Hannah’s Song

I’m going to read Hannah’s song now, so we can get a flavour of the parallels.

^{1Sa 2:1} Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.

^{1Sa 2:2} “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

^{1Sa 2:3} “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

^{1Sa 2:4} “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.

^{1Sa 2:5} Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.

^{1Sa 2:6} “The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.

^{1Sa 2:7} The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

^{1Sa 2:8} He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honour.

“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD'S; upon them he has set the world.

^{1Sa 2:9} He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;

^{1Sa 2:10} those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Which parallels did you pick up on?

Mary’s Song

Mary’s song is a real celebration of God and all that He has done and will do, both through her and for her. It shows just how well she knows her scriptures and just how close to God she has become. It’s not just her she sees in the song, but the whole of Israel and how God keeps His promises to the whole nation.

Hebrews reading

The Hebrews reading tells us many things that happen ‘by faith’. Noah building an ark, us believing that God created the universe out of nothing, Enoch not experiencing death, Abraham following God’s call.

Our additions to the list

We could add to that list:

By faith, Mary submitted to God, and accepted the message of the angel.

By faith, she gave birth to Jesus, the Christ, the son of the most high God.

By faith, we accept that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to her first child.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

So, each of us can add our own personal statements of things that have happened in our lives, because we have faith in God. Think back to the question I asked at the start, “Have you ever been asked to do something by God?” All of those things go on our list of By faith ...

It doesn’t end there, there will be things that are happening or are about to happen that will also come about because of our faith in God to work through us and work for us.

Mary’s experience should inspire us to be more open and more willing to engage with God’s call on our lives.

What’s on your list of things that have happened, are happening, or will happen by faith?

Amen.

Be Ready

Preached 27 November 2022 at Christ Church, Billericay

Introduction

We were hoping to get our live-streaming up and running for Christmas, but as you heard this morning, the temple already has it, and all nations will stream to it.

OK, attempt at humour over for now.

Advent

Well it’s the first Sunday of advent, so It’s almost mandatory for me to ask “Are you ready for Christmas?” In my case, there are still a lot of preparations to be completed. Christmas will be different this year, we do not have guests flying over, so I will miss two of my grandchildren.

Christmas

Getting ready for Christmas is a lot of work, but at least we know what needs to be prepared and when it needs to be ready for – December 25 every year. That’s easy, though, compared to getting ready for the second coming – which is what our New Testament reading is about.

Day and Hour

First of all we have no idea when it will be, may be today, maybe one hundred years or more. It’s not only that we do not know, it’s that we CANNOT know. Only the Father knows that, and he hasn’t even told His Son. There is so much speculation, and so many have claimed to know the date – they were all wrong, indeed the speculation itself is a sin, because if we were supposed to know, it would be there in black and white.

Just as the days of Noah

In Noah’s time the flood came as a surprise to everyone except Noah. He must have spent months or even years building his boat – it was huge. I remember taking Pathfinders into Chestwood Close to pace out the size. Starting at the boundary between the church and the house, we went all the way down the hill and couldn’t get quite far enough because there were more houses in the way. So the few that knew what Noah was doing must have been doubled up with laughter and his huge construction. Everyone else was just getting on with their lives, doing what they always do.

What will happen

They didn’t know that anything would happen. We at least have some clues as to what will happen. Jesus gives us a small clue:

Mt 24:40,41 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

But there is no indication of who will be taken, or how it will happen, because that is not the point that Jesus is trying to make. Look back at verse 31 for those details, if you need to know. The point is that there will be a sudden disruption and lives will be changed.

War

If you want to know what that looks like, think of all the reports of the war in Ukraine. How many times do we hear reports of some who were killed and others who escaped death or even injury, and the two were in the same place. For at least some of what He is saying, Jesus may well have been talking about the coming war with the Romans that led to the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

Thief

Jesus’s next example is less apocalyptic. The thief who comes in the night. Many of us have experienced break-ins. In my case, thankfully while we were out of the house, but even that is bad enough, and it always leaves us asking “What could I have done differently?”

I think I’ve shared with you my idea for vats of boiling oil above each of the doors before. I haven’t done it yet because I’m not sure how I’d test it, or if I could afford to keep the oil boiling all the time.

Seriously though, perhaps uniquely in our time we can have camera’s watching so that we can always keep watch, or at least the machine can keep watch for us.

Be ready, keep watch

Anyway, back to the Bible passage. The message is clear – ‘be ready’, ‘keep watch’ because you don’t know when it will happen.

Scouts

The scout's motto is ‘be prepared’, it’s a similar idea. When Baden-Powell, their founder, was asked what they should be prepared for, he said “anything really”. That applies to us too, because we have no idea what we will meet along the way.

But how?

So what does it mean to be ready? How can we always be watchful?

I can only concentrate on something for about 3 hours, then I need a break for food or drink, at that point I can easily lose track of what I’m doing. 3 hours of watchfulness would be a disaster, so I have to create awareness that will last days, weeks, years.

Habit

It has to become a habit. Maybe you’ve heard it takes 21 days to establish a habit. That’s a myth according to the psychology today website, but the idea can still be helpful. It’s about repetition – which will eventually turn into a habit, and doing just one more for the times when you feel like giving up.

Short Accounts

Tom Wright, in his commentary on this passage, suggests keeping ‘short accounts’ with God, that means regular worship, regular prayer, regular bible reading and regularly asking for forgiveness for all the things we do wrong – like for the times when regular becomes more like occasional.

This is good practice, spending some daily time with God, or at least some time with God most days, will certainly help us to stay close and therefore to stay alert.

Good Doctrine

We must also ensure that our beliefs and behaviours don’t slip. It won’t keep us watchful if we spend 15 minutes in prayer and bible reading, then go out and behave just like everyone else. Tomorrow, we’ll have a lot to say sorry for, and again every day, but our standards will slip, and we won’t be ready.

What we believe

It’s important that we are clear about what we believe. I remember one of Margaret’s sermons from quite a while back now, where she explained the importance of the belief in the virgin birth. So, I’ve asked today, that instead of our usual affirmation of faith, we say something together that is a bit more specific about our core Christian beliefs. So, we’ll be saying the Apostles Creed, later. I’m going to read it through for you now, as I do, we should listen carefully and ask ourselves do we really hold this to be true. Maybe we did once, maybe it was important once, but what about now?

Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Holy Life

When our beliefs are straight, we will have to live a holy life. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:

³ But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.

There’s lots more, so please read the whole chapter later. If we follow Paul’s advice, it will have an impact on not only how we behave, but also who we are involved with in all of our relationships in the world and in the church.

Be watchful – the world has changed

This is what it means to be watchful, to be ready for whatever is coming, whether that is the Son of Man, or war, or poverty, or our own demise. The pandemic and the lockdowns that went with it have affected our patterns of worship, and how we do things, that may be a good or a bad thing, but now is the time to take a look and carefully examine what has happened and how we are affected.

To help us do that I would like to suggest an exercise, a piece of ‘homework’, although I hate it when preachers say that, it is a good description of what I’m suggesting.

Testimony

Many of us have been asked to give our testimony at various times. We’ve done it over the years in various Autumn Courses that we have run, and at times when we have prepared ourselves to talk to non-Christians. We start with life before conversion, and talk about what Jesus has done in our lives. Today, though, I’d like to suggest that we write a testimony for ourselves that starts immediately before the pandemic, and looks at what Jesus has done for us through it and since the lockdowns have ended.

The aim is to help us see how things have changed, in our beliefs, our behaviours, our worship, our prayer life, and our Bible reading.

Have things changed for the better or for the worse? We must remain watchful, ready, in the world, in the church, and especially of ourselves.

Amen.

 

Here's the video of the sermon: https://youtu.be/GFVJTas3p9c

 

References 

https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/isaiah-21-5-king-of-the-mountain-mclarty/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/jesus-coming-changes-everything-edward-frey-sermon-on-messianic-prophecies-41265

https://sermons.faithlife.com/sermons/512981-matthew-24:36-44-are-you-ready

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/05/08/be-prepared-scout-motto-origin/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/taking-it-easy/202001/how-long-does-it-take-form-new-habit

 

 

 

 

The resurrection is everything

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay, 6 November 2022

Intro – The Resurrection is Everything

This morning we have two readings that talk about the resurrection, so I’m going to look at each of them to see what they tell us, and to see that the resurrection is key to our beliefs as Christians.

What Job background

I’ll start with Job, but before we look at the reading today, we’ll have a quick re-cap on Job’s story.

Job had everything – a big family and great wealth. He was also careful to follow all the rules, and present the right sacrifices at the right times, he would even make precautionary sacrifices for his sons – just in case they had sinned, and he didn’t know it.

Satan’s Challenge

One day, God was telling Satan about him, and Satan challenged God to take all the good things from Job to see if he would still worship God in the same way. God allowed Satan to attack Job, but not to kill him. Job knew nothing of this conversation – obviously.

His wealth is taken, his children are killed, and he is afflicted with terrible diseases. Bad things happen to good people.

Job’s friends

Three ‘friends’ arrive to council him, to encourage him to reflect on his life and repent of the evil he has so obviously done. They are an object lesson in how not to help someone in distress. At one point Job’s wife tells him to curse God and die. Just the sort of support you need from your nearest and dearest.

Justice

All Job wants is an opportunity to put his case to God, that he may get justice. By the time we get to chapter 19, Job thinks he will soon die, so he is looking to get justice after his death. In the pagan theology of the time, a personal patron-deity acted as a champion for an individual human, pleading his cause in the council of the gods. In the Book of Job, the angels perform this role.

Personal Justice

That’s not good enough for Job, he wants to put his own words to God.

“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!”

The scroll that Job is talking about would probably be made of copper, so whatever medium is used Job’s words will last a long time.

Then Job sees something else. Where this vision came from we are not told, but we know that Job was faithful, so we can assume he knew his scriptures, and he gets just a glimpse of resurrection.

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job sees a bodily resurrection and his chance to put his case before God and receive justice. It gives him a new hope to go on, something to look forward to through his misery and impending death.

Ending Job’s story

If you don’t know the ending of Job’s story you can read it later, start at chapter 38 and read to the end.

The Sadducees

In our second reading, Jesus is teaching in the temple courts. The Pharisees and Sadducees are asking various questions and hoping to trip Him up. Now it’s the Sadducees turn. The Sadducees focus on the Pentateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy. They do not consider later writings to have the same importance, and they rejected the oral tradition that was taught by the Pharisees.

The ‘gotcha’ question

They do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and like a lot of people with fixed views, they have ready-made examples to prove their point. In this case, that the resurrection is impossible. So they have a scenario involving 7 brothers. According to Jewish law, if a husband dies childless, his brother must marry his widow and try to provide children for his brother. In their scenario, each of the 7 brothers dies, and finally the widow dies – still childless. So whose wife will she be at the resurrection?

Well, there is no way to answer that, so there cannot be resurrection – God wouldn’t give them laws that can’t be obeyed.

The Answer

Jesus has an answer, of course. He splits life into two ages. The current age, where people marry and live out their lives, and the age to come, after the resurrection, where there is no longer marriage, or death, because the people there are like the angels. They are all God’s children. That answers a part of their question.

Jesus then goes on to explain that even Moses, the key scriptural figure for the Sadducees, recognises that there is resurrection. That’s Exodus 3:6

Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

So God is “not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Of course, the listening Pharisees support Jesus in this.

Resurrection – not believable

Jesus makes it plain in many places in the gospels that he will be killed and will rise again. Despite the debates we have looked at between the Sadducees and the Pharisees (and Jesus) the disciples found the resurrection difficult to believe. They were devastated when Jesus was arrested and killed, they may have accepted what the Pharisees said, but they really believed what the Sadducees said.

When the two women went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body and found the stone rolled away, they returned quickly to Peter and John and told them what had happened. They were not believed.

When Jesus appeared to his disciples in the locked room, they couldn’t deny that it was Him, but Thomas who was not with them was not convinced. Until, of course, his turn came to meet the risen Jesus, then he believed. Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

It is perhaps more difficult for us than it was for Thomas. We are not going to get a chance to meet the risen Jesus in the flesh.

My response

I was first introduced to about 30 teenagers at this church in the very early eighties by a colleague. One of the things I had to be sure about was that the claims of the resurrection were reasonable. I wasn’t looking for proof, I was just looking to see if the apparently ridiculous claim that a man rose from the dead was in any way believable – I wasn’t expecting it to be.

I spent many months talking to this friend, the group leaders and another friend not associated with this church before coming to the conclusion that is was not just reasonable but probable. Getting to a level where I could accept it as an article of faith took a bit longer.

Those discussions though were not what finally made me decide to follow Jesus, but without them I wouldn’t have ever got close.

Paul

Belief in the resurrection is critical to all the other beliefs about God and Jesus that we hold. There were people in Corinth who said there was no resurrection – here’s how Paul responded:

1 Cor 15:13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.

Has it changed us

I wonder, though, how much has our belief in the resurrection changed us. I remember (rather vaguely, I ashamed to say) an African bishop talking about our health and safety culture and asking why, if we believe in the resurrection, we are so afraid of death.

It wasn’t always like that.

Early church

The famous Roman physician Galen marvelled at the Early Christians’ courage in the face of death: “Their contempt for death is apparent to us every day.”  Romans wondered at the courage of Christians in the Colosseum, many of whom faced their martyrdom, singing.

Martyrs

There are countless examples through the ages of Christian Martyrs going cheerfully to their deaths, singing praises to God, knowing that they will meet Him at the resurrection.

Sir Thomas More

There are other example too. Sir Thomas More, who was charged with high treason, is said to have joked with his executioners.

He asked for help ascending the scaffold, but assured his executioner that coming down would not be so much trouble. He even moved his beard out of the way, so it should not be cut, lightly remarking that at least it “hath not committed treason.”

He had once considered becoming a monk, and clearly had a strong faith in the resurrection.

Our Lives

I often wonder how strong my faith would be, should I face persecution and death. I know that we can never really know how we would respond if that situation were to occur.

But we can see how we respond to the lesser threats that we face each day. The ridicule, being ignored or shunned, being passed over for promotion, being pushed out of a job, there are any number of small way that the world can reject us and make our lives less tolerable.

Can we respond positively to those threats, knowing that however difficult this life is, there will be a resurrection, and then we can live with our God as we would like?

Both Paul and James have something to say about our present sufferings, here’s Paul:

Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

And James:

The resurrection is a critical belief in defining whether we are Christian or not. Perhaps if we had a better appreciation of the resurrection, like Job, if it was as real to us as it was to the early martyrs, if we saw it as clearly as Jesus did, then we would be less concerned with our difficulties and more prepared to openly talk about the things we believe.

Amen.

Recording on YouTube https://youtu.be/dCgyRcVNvY4

References

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/an-essential-article-of-the-christian-faith-christopher-holdsworth-sermon-on-resurrection-203319

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/no-more-death-john-lowe-sermon-on-death-235536?page=5&wc=800

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/my-redeemer-lives-anthony-zibolski-sermon-on-listening-to-god-238634

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/456351-you-christians-look-after-a-document-containing-enough-dynamite-to

https://www.gaudiummag.com/p/they-went-to-their-deaths-singing

https://www.luminarium.org/renlit/moreexecution.htm

 

 

Moses and the Amalakites

Preached on 23 October 2022 at St Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead

Introduction

I understand that you have been working through a series on Moses, so today I will be looking mainly at Moses in this passage and trying to see what lessons his actions and his relationship to the Lord provide for us.

Background

I don’t know what you’ve looked at so for, so I’ll start with some scene setting, and I apologise if I’m covering old ground.

The attack by the Amalakites came less than three months after the Israelites had miraculously escaped from Egypt. It must have seemed longer as they were already facing hardships. They had travelled to Rephidim, which is probably the large wadi Refayid in south-west Sinai. A wadi is a valley with a stream at the bottom, but the stream will only run during the rainy season, for the rest of the year it will be dry.

They had hoped to find water there, but the wadi had already dried up. So the Lord had provided water from a rock, which Moses had been instructed to strike with his staff.

They are not travelling across flat desert, but through hills and along valleys. This means that there is a long train of people following the pillar of cloud or fire – cloud during the day, fire at night.

Amalakite Attack

As they are strung out they are vulnerable to attack and the Amalakites take advantage of that. This is how Deuteronomy 25 later described the attack:

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt.
¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. ¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who was the twin of Jacob. There’s no love lost between those two. It seems that the Amalakites were intent on the destruction of the Israelites, and that didn’t end well for them. Perhaps nations today that are intent on the destruction of Israel should take note.

Joshua

After the Amalakite attack Joshua is chosen to select an army and to prepare to fight them off. This is the first mention of Joshua in Exodus. He must have been known and already trusted to some degree by Moses, but this would be his biggest test so far. Moses is looking to grow his leaders and may already be thinking of who will succeed him as leader of the Israelites. We used to call that succession planning at work. It was one of the things I had to do as team leader that I really enjoyed.

Hur

We hear of Hur for the first time in this passage, too. He is asked to join Moses on the hill to observe the battle. Later, he will be left with Aaron to look after the Israelites when Moses goes up the mountain to receive the commandments. You may remember that while Moses was away, they made an idol to worship. The people seem to have focussed on Aaron as their leader by then, and Hur doesn’t get much of a mention. Not all potential leaders make it.

Preparation for battle

I imagine that after the initial Amalakite raid, there is some frantic planning to be done by the Israelites. Moses gets his people organised and plans are prepared for the divisive battle the following day. Joshua will organise some troops, and Moses with the staff of God, Aaron and Hur, will oversee the battle from a hill they have chosen.

Staff of God

When morning comes, they ascend to the top of the hill and Moses raises his staff above his head. The staff is just an ordinary shepherds staff – a long, heavy stick.

When God first called Moses to set his people free from the Egyptians, he was very unsure of his call. God had to do a number of miracles to convince Moses that God was really calling him. Here’s that incident from the start of Exodus 4.

¹Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

²Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

After this, Moses’s staff became the “Staff of God”. There is nothing special about it. It does not somehow contain God, or God’s power, it is simply a prop that God uses to give Moses confidence that God is with him, and has called him to his difficult task. It is a symbol for him and for those around him of God’s presence.

Pleading, Prayer, or Worship

So what is Moses doing sitting on the top of the hill with his arms in the air and holding his staff aloft?

Well, the stance is one of pleading, or prayer, or possibly worship. Moses has had quite a lot of grumbling from the people when things haven’t gone their way. Now though, they have a common enemy, so for a while they are united. I believe that Moses is probably doing all three.

He’s pleading, because he knows that this is a battle that has to be won.

He’s praying, because he knows that the battle can only be won, if victory is the will of God.

He’s worshipping, because he sees what’s happening – they are winning – until he relaxes a bit, then they are losing. Then he applies a little extra strength, his arms go up, and they are winning again. So he is their praising and worshipping God for the victories that he’s seeing, praying for his own strength to hold his arms up, and praying and pleading for the battle to be won. Eventually he needed help, he’d been there a long time and he’s an old man.

Psychological effect

There is some suggestion that the Israelites may have been encouraged to fight harder when they could see Moses with his arms raised, praying to God.

This very much depends on a geography that we don’t have. Maybe the Israelites could see Moses from down in the valley where they were fighting, but it’s by no means a given. It is entirely possible that Moses was up on a hill behind the battle, if they were looking back, it’s unlikely that they were winning. So maybe there was a demoralizing effect on the Amalakites.

Real war

Before we get to the lessons that we can learn from all of this, we must remember that this was a nasty hand to hand battle, in which many of the men on both sides would have been killed or seriously wounded. It’s very easy to forget how hard these battles were and to talk about them as if no-one was really hurt. It was not like that. A lot of blood was spilt, sons and husbands did not return. Some of those that did would die later of their wounds, or be crippled by them for life.

Power of God

Now the Israelites see the power of God. They could not have won the battle on their own. They have been arguing and complaining to Moses when little things didn’t go their way. Now they have won an important battle only because the Lord was there, and His servant was following His instruction.

Lessons

What have we learnt about Moses, and what does that teach us today?

Moses

We have seen that Moses is a man of God, but doesn’t seem to have a secure faith in God. He still needs his props to show him, and those around him, that God is present with him. But, whatever his level of faith he, above all the Israelites, is obedient. He does what God asks of him, even when he is unsure.

And when he is in need, he turns to God in prayer and doesn’t stop praying.

He is also a thoughtful leader, watching those he leads, looking for those who may one day take his place and providing them with opportunities to practice their leadership.

As a godly leader, he is a great example for those around him, especially those who might aspire to lead.

Lessons for us

The attack by the Amalakites shows us how the spiritual realm and the physical realm work together. For God to work in our world, there have to be people pleading, praying and worshipping, all within the will of God. That’s Moses.

There have to be people supporting that prayer, and probably praying themselves too. That’s Aaron and Hur.

There have to be people at the sharp end (no pun intended), taking action, and most importantly being willing to make sacrifices to get the job done. That’s Joshua and his carefully selected band of Israelite soldiers.

There really isn’t a split between the spiritual realm and the physical realm, it’s all part of the world we live in. It’s just that some of our actions are focussed more in one area than another.

Let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Augustine of Hippo:

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

Because I believe that’s what was going on with Moses and the Israelites.

Amen.

 

References

https://unionvillebpc.com/sermon-on-exodus-178-16-on-the-undefeated-team/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/spiritual-warfare-pastor-author-terry-sisney-sermon-on-spiritual-warfare-203803https://bibleask.org/why-did-moses-lift-his-hands-during-the-battle-against-the-amelekites/https://craigkeener.com/the-staff-of-moses-becomes-the-staff-of-god-exodus-42-17-20/

 

A first time experience of the Lord

 Preached @ Christ Church, Billericay, 8 October 2022 

Reading: 2 Kings 5v1-3;7-15c; Luke 17v11-19

Introduction

Today, we are going to be looking at one man’s first experience of God, through the story of Naaman.

Backdrop

The backdrop of the story that we heard a part of this morning is an ongoing set of border skirmishes between Aram and Israel. There was supposed to be a treaty. They are not quite at all out war yet, but King Ben-Hahid II of Aram and King Jehoram of Israel are almost there. We can read how that situation escalated in the next chapter of 2 Kings.

For now, though, let’s concentrate on the events read to us this morning.

Servant Girl

In one of these skirmishes, a young girl has been kidnapped. My commentary calls her a maiden, so she was too young to be a wife for someone, and has been forced into slavery, I imagine. She is serving Naaman’s wife. We cannot tell what the atmosphere was like in that household, whether she was well treated or not. But we do know that she had faith in the Lord, and was old enough to know about the prophet Elisha. She was also aware of Naaman’s condition.

Leprosy

Leprosy is now known as Hansen’s disease. It is a bacteriological infection that damages nerves and affects the skin. Today it is easily treated with antibiotics, but according to the American Centre for Disease Control they have to be taken for a year to ensure the disease is cured. Now, Hansen’s disease is not particularly infectious, but in biblical times, Leprosy was thought to be highly infectious. Without our diagnostic abilities, it was a generic description for all sorts of skin diseases.

Courage

It takes courage for a young girl to speak up, especially when she is in captivity in a foreign land. Why should she care? Why should she do something to aid her enemy? Surely she should keep quiet and hope that Naaman gets sicker until he can no longer command the army that is responsible for her situation. That would be the best thing to do, that would be the correct military strategy for her.

Love your enemies

We know that Jesus said, “Love your enemies”, that idea exists in the Old Testament too, in

Proverbs 25:21-22
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the Lord will reward you.

So, that is what she does, and that is exactly what she should do in her situation. She knows, because she has faith in the Lord, that the prophet can and will cure Naaman. If Naaman is not cured, things could get even worse for her.

Missing verses

Then we inexplicably skipped over three verses, where Naaman gets a letter from Ben-Hahid II and takes with him “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.” to pay the prophet for his healing.

The king also gives him a letter for the King of Israel. He will need this because if he is found in Israel without it, the Israelites might assume an invasion is underway. The king’s letter reads:

“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

It is one of the most incompetent letters I’ve ever read (I’m being generous). If this is the calibre of leadership in the area, I’m not surprised there was a state of almost constant war.

Elisha’s response

It should be no surprise to any of us the way Jehoram reacted. Of course, the king can’t cure leprosy. Fortunately, Elisha is there to pick up the pieces. I know how he feels, having had to pick up the pieces after gross communications failures between senior people at various points of my career. Thankfully, I was never asked to cure anyone of leprosy.

Elisha tells the King, “Have the man come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Elisha’s concern is not to heal Naaman, but to give glory to God, to make His name known beyond the borders of Israel. That is the Israelites purpose. Not to establish and secure the borders of the promised land, but to give glory to God amongst the nations. Elisha knows his calling, and everything that follows is intended to fulfil it.

The healing – Naaman expects

When Naaman arrives at Elisha’s place, with his horses and chariots, he is expecting the full works. He’s an important man and he knows it. The prophet (or the wizard, which is probably closer to Naaman’s view of Elisha) should be present, and put on some grand show – lots of arm waving and a few explosions perhaps – something that is notable and memorable – a good show.

The healing – Naaman gets

Instead, what he gets is a messenger with a short, almost curt, message “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.” His expectations have not been met, and he is loosing face with his whole entourage, he feels humiliated. Maybe he even sees something of the ongoing conflict – my river is better than yours. So, in his anger, he turns for home. It’s been a wasted journey.

Servants help

I’d love to know how much time passed between verse 12 and verse 13. How far did he get, how long did he take to calm down?

At some point before he arrives back in Aram, the servants – who are used to being given the brush-off – go to him and make the case for giving the Jordan a try. If the prophet had asked you to do some great difficult thing – you would have done it wouldn’t you, so why not try this simple thing?

Where’s the glory

If the prophet had asked Naaman to complete some great quest, Naaman would have been able to claim that what he did had cured him. He would have treated the whole episode as another successful military campaign – with all the self glorifying stories that they always generate. If that had happened, Elisha’s desire that Naaman should know that there is a prophet in Israel would have failed.

In the Jordan

So he went to the Jordan and dipped himself in the required seven times. When he came out, not only had his skin complaint been cured, but the anti-wrinkle properties had worked as well, and he looked years younger.

Giving Thanks

Now, this foreigner, this outsider, this non-believer, this enemy, returns to Elisha, with his entire entourage, to give thanks and to give the gifts he had bought with him for this exact reason. This time the prophet comes out to meet him and to hear him say, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” And now Naaman offers the gifts, but it is most certainly not about payment, because that again would detract from the Glory that should be given to God for the healing that has been performed. Elisha will not accept the gifts.

Naaman changed

If we read on a little, we will see that Naaman is changed by the whole experience. He asks for and is given Israelite earth to kneel on when he is making offerings to the one true God. When he is chased by Elisha’s servant Gehazi, he gets off his horse. That alone indicates that he has changed, he has recognised the Lord and is now more humble because of it. It’s not just the disease and wrinkles that have gone, but the self-importance as well. Important men do not dismount for servants. Naaman has been fully healed.

Parallel to Luke

Just as in Luke it was the foreigner, the outside, the Samaritan, who properly recognised Jesus and came back to give thanks, so here it is the Aramean who recognises the Lord, in front of whom all his local gods pale into insignificance.

First time before God

There is something about coming before God for the first time. Both Naaman and the Samaritan experienced it. It somehow has a greater effect on us than it does when it occurs for the second or tenth time. Maybe you still remember your first encounter? That’s why Elisha’s strategy was so carefully planned and executed. Even though he said “so that he will know there is a prophet in Israel” to the King, his real intent was to help Naaman meet God. He carefully stepped out of the way and allowed that to happen, he was then insistent on not taking payment, to ensure that nothing was taken away from the experience.

Naaman, the commander of the enemy’s armies, met God and was changed. Hopefully, we can be like Elisha, and strategically help others to have that experience for themselves.

Amen.

 

YouTube: https://youtu.be/QK7NIti2nsE

References

https://www.virtualpreacher.org/sermon-notes/naaman/

https://thefaithspace.com/lessons-from-the-story-of-naaman/

https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/world-leprosy-day/index.html

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-other-nine-bradley-boydston-sermon-on-miracles-of-jesus-74263

The Dishonest Manager

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 10:00 on 18 September 2022

Introduction

Of all the parables, this may be the one that causes the most discussion. It doesn’t seem straight forward – it appears that Jesus is suggesting to his hearers that they should be like the dishonest manager, but is that what he is really saying?

Other parables have explanations for the disciples who are sometimes a little slow, but this one doesn’t, so we look at it and assume what Jesus was saying must have been completely obvious to them.

Activity

The dishonest manager is clever – shrewd, but he is not honest. So to see what we think honesty is all about here is an activity. For each of these questions, I want you to vote to tell me what I should do.

Q1

My mum gave me two cookies to take to my next door neighbour. This is my favourite kind of cookie, and it smells so good! My mum said after I come back from my neighbour's and eat some lunch, then I’d get four cookies, but I’m hungry right now.

Should I eat one cookie on the way – mum would never know, or should I take both cookies to my neighbour and stay hungry?

Vote Now

[Comment]

Q2

What would you do? Grandma gave you £10 to buy her a drink at the fayre. After you do, you notice you have enough money leftover to buy a cool toy you saw. Do you bring the change back to grandma, or do you use the money to buy the toy before you go back to her?

Vote Now

[Comment]

Q3

You’re at the arcade, and you find a wallet with £30 in it, but there’s nothing in it that says the name of the owner. Do you put the £30 in your pocket and leave the wallet where it is, or do you turn the wallet and it’s contents into the lost-and-found?

[Comment]

Vote Now

What did Jesus say

So what did Jesus say?

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?”

[comment]

We’re all good

or

Some of us might want to re-think our votes (and perhaps our actions too).

Charging Interest

Let’s look at the story and see if we can make a bit more sense of it. In Jesus’s world, loaning money for interest was not allowed. So people got around this by loaning goods instead. That explains why the manager is asking people how much they owe, and they are talking about grain and oil. These were the things that were commonly used for loans. He knows how much was originally borrowed, so it is likely that that is the number that the dishonest manager suggests is the new debt. The borrowers are, of course, very happy to have their interest payments forgiven.

Jesus doesn’t approve of either of them

But, you’re all asking, "What about the dishonest manager?" Well, Jesus doesn’t approve of what the dishonest manager has been doing to get himself sacked, but know what he has done is the right thing. There would be little harm to his master, who would only lose the profit that he really shouldn’t have made.

Jesus doesn’t approve of the Master’s actions, although these might be called a ‘grey area’. He was still cheating the system, and charging interest on loans when he shouldn’t have been.

The Master

The master does not represent God in this parable. If that were real, I’m betting the master's approval would be a rather grudging. He might say something like, “Oh, that was clever, well done for being so cunning”, and he’d be thinking “I’m glad I’ve got rid of you when I did”. He can’t make a big show of it and take the manager to the authorities because that would expose his own cheating.

Shrewdness

What Jesus is really saying is that we should be aware of how the world works, that we should be shrewd, we should be clever, but in all that we do we should be honest and focussed on the things of true value – the things that will last eternally, because those are the true riches.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

It’s a similar message to our reading today.

If the disciples are not shrewd, if they don’t understand how the world works they will get conned, or robbed. If they do understand how the world works their message of salvation will more likely be received by those they meet. If they are innocent they will also be trustworthy. If they are trustworthy, they will be taking the true message with them and not corrupting it for their own ends.

Our Riches

If we have riches, we should use it to make friends with the sort of people who can help us get to God, so that it will not corrupt us and lead us away from God. Then, when it is used up, we will still have the favour of those around us. Jesus is not saying that we can buy our way into heaven.

God and Money

Finally, we are reminded that we cannot serve God and Money. If we are shrewd, we will know that the whole financial system is corrupted by people’s greed. How often has someone offered to work for you for cash, so that neither of you pay tax? There are lots of ways of cheating the system. Some are illegal, some are just ‘grey areas’. Either way, if we are focussed on money, we will be part of a corrupt system, and we will not be able to serve God.

Amen.

 

References

https://www.jesusfilm.org/blog/parable-shrewd-manager/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/godly-principles-for-financial-money-management-hylton-davidson-sermon-on-money-174388?page=5&wc=800

https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/luke-161-13-the-dishonest-manager-anders/

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-parable-of-the-unjust-steward-in-luke-16-video-discussion

https://www.askdifference.com/shrewd-vs-wise/

https://sermons4kids.com/dishonest_manager.htm