Two Prisoners were freed

Preached at Christ church, Billericay on 1 June 2025 at 08:00 and 10:0

recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxSah2wePag, from 25:50 to 42:10

Title: Two Prisoners were freed

Reading Acts 16:16-34

Prayer

Introduction

I’m going to talk about the Acts reading today – the story of Paul and Silas being jailed. These are the people that Jesus prayed for in our Gospel reading. We will see how two prisoners are set free by the actions of a loving God. They might not be who you’re thinking of now.

Background

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke are staying in Philippi with Lydia, who has just been baptised. Philippi was a Roman city in Northern Greece. There were very few Jews living there, so there wasn’t a synagogue. So, instead, they met at the Place of Prayer – probably a garden that gave some privacy, where they could worship God and spend time in prayer.

Slave woman with a spirit

On the way, they were met by a female slave who was possessed by a spirit that allowed her to accurately tell the future.

Fortune-telling played a major role in ancient Roman society, it affected decisions in politics, warfare, and daily life. Romans believed that the gods communicated through omens and divination, and interpreting these signs was important for keeping order and securing divine favour.

That meant her owners could get rich from her.

Most High God

She describes them as “servants of the most high god”. To the Jews, this would have meant Yahweh. To the Greeks, it would be Zeus. If you were a Greek (or Roman), being saved, would be to be freed from the powers governing the fate of man and the material world.

Spirits identify Jesus

The problem with these spirits is that they seem unable to keep quiet about Jesus. Jesus himself came across one of them. In Mark 1:24 it tells us the spirit said

"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"

And Jesus’s reply was, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

It’s not really clear why the spirits react like this, trying to create some sort of mischief, maybe. They seem unable to ignore the God they are trying to replace.

The female slave followed Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke, shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” At first this was useful. After all, she had a reputation for making correct predictions, so there is every reason to believe her now. It served their purpose, because they wanted people to come and talk with them, and that is exactly what they want to talk about.

As this goes on day after day, it becomes more and more about her show and less and less about Paul and his companions and what they are trying to do. It diverts people from the apostle’s message.

So, Paul drives out the demon. Now her owners have no chance of making money from her, their easy life is over.

Release number 1

That’s our first prisoner freed.

[break a chain]

She had been held captive by a demon, now she can live a normal life. We are not told what happened to her. I like to think that she was bought by Lydia and lived a much better life.

Revenge

Her owners dragged Paul and Silas into the market place, and left Timothy and Luke behind. That’s probably because Paul and Silas look like Jews, and the other two don’t. There was an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in many Roman towns. Notice their complaint:

“These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹ by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

Paul and Silas are accused of causing trouble – disturbing the peace might be our version of the charge.

The magistrates sentence them to be flogged and thrown into jail. They are kept in the most secure part of the jail and have their feet in stock. Imagine being forced to sit on the ground with your feet raised a few inches and kept maybe 18 inches apart. It’s a very uncomfortable way to sit, especially if you have just been beaten, and you are chained down as well, so movement is further restricted.

The slave owners have their revenge, and now the only audience that Paul and Silas have are other prisoners and their jailers. Surely this is NOT what God wants – how can this have happened?

Sing-song

We are told that during WWII, when people were sleeping in tube stations, that there was often a sing-song, or other entertainment to make the nights pass more pleasantly. Singing can lift our spirits when times are difficult. So, Paul and Silas sing hymns and pray.

Worshipping God

Worshipping God in any form will lift their spirits far quicker and further than just any old songs. In this case it seems to get the rest of the prisoners involved a little too as they are listening to Paul and Silas.

In some strange way, it may have allowed God to act. In 2 Chronicles 20, God acted while the Israelites sang praises to God, and the invading army defeated itself!

Perhaps something like that was happening here as Paul and Silas showed their faith in God.

Earthquake

Because around midnight there is a violent earthquake. Perhaps the strangest earthquake I’ve ever heard of. Instead of flattening the building, it just unlocks the doors and loosens the chains.

What happens next is even more surprising. Nobody leaves!

Jailers

Jailers in the Roman world were often ex-army, people who could be relied upon to take orders and deal with difficult prisoners. The penalty for loss of a prisoner, was that the jailer had to serve the sentence in their place. So, it is no surprise that the jailer in this prison, where he thought everyone had gone, chose suicide.

I wonder how much the jailer had heard from Paul and Silas? Did he just know them by the reputation they had built up in the town? Had he heard of the demon leaving the slave girl? He must have been aware of the singing, if not the prayers. He must have realised that they had somehow become leaders among the prisoners.

To be saved

When Paul calls out “We are all here”, the Jailer gets lights and checks, when he sees that it is true, he immediately asks Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. He addresses them as “Lords”, which shows that he already sees something in them, but as we have already seen, it is unclear who he was expecting to be saved by.

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved

He is told, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”. This is the consistent message of the book of Acts. It is all that is ever asked of potential converts. The jailer, of course, knew nothing about Jesus, so they have to explain who He is in more detail.

Joy (of freedom)

He goes from almost attempting suicide to the Joy of the Lord, in a just few hours. So here is our second release from prison. The jailer has been captive to his culture and the beliefs that he was taught from infancy. Now he has been freed.

[break a chain]

Paul and Silas

So, what of Paul and Silas, well, they were never really in prison at all. They were simply captured, beaten and bound so that they had the opportunity to show the jailer the glory of God, and the salvation offered to all those who believe in His resurrected son. In the next part of Acts, they are let out of prison, and use that as a witness to Christ as well.

All in prison - to be freed

Some of you will, no doubt, have the words of a hymn going around in your head now. Here's the 4th verse of "and Can It Be"...

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

This is the freedom that Charles Wesley found, and it is the freedom we have all been given.  Just like Paul and Silas, our mission is to offer that freedom to others.

Amen.

 

References

https://pastors.ai/bible/acts16.16-34

https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2025-05-26/acts-1616-34-4/

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

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

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/paul-and-silas-2/commentary-on-acts-1616-34

https://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-cruel-and-unusual-punishment-87939

https://biblehub.com/topical/b/beaten_with_rods.htm

https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/the-most-reluctant-convert/

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/23739125.wycombes-jason-mccarthy-finding-christian-faith/

https://www.bibleversestudy.com/acts/acts16-spirit-of-divination.htm

https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/article/fortune-telling-in-ancient-rome/

https://www.history.co.uk/articles/ancient-roman-methods-for-predicting-the-future

https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/the-role-of-fortune-telling-in-ancient-societies-divining-destiny-across-cultures

https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/how-concerts-dances-dart-leagues-19047366

Jesus Appears

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay @ 10:00 on 4 May 2025

Recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9vQM2saNrw from 28:20 to 43:25

 

	Introduction There’s a common thread running through the two readings that we had this morning. In each of them, Jesus appears. In John 21, He appears in His resurrection body, and in Acts, He appears as a vision. These are not the only times that Jesus appears, it happens many times in the New Testament and afterward. Whenever Jesus appears, something happens, not just in the instant, but in the future, because the people He meets are changed by meeting Him. Let’s start by looking at what happened in Acts.
	Acts 9 In Acts chapter 9 Saul has already stood by approvingly as Stephen was stoned to death. After this there was a great persecution of the believers, and they fled in all directions. Only the apostle stayed in Jerusalem. Pure Religion Saul is zealous for God, and believes that the Sect of the Nazarene is heretical and should be eradicated. He is a Pharisee, highly educated, and very devout. He will go to any lengths to keep his religion pure. Letters So, he goes to the high priests and gets letters for the synagogues in Damascus. These will allow him to arrest believers, restrain them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial – it’s a foregone conclusion in Saul’s mind. The letters would also assure any curious Romans that he was working for the Jerusalem authorities. They had what we might describe as an extradition treaty with the Romans, so that they could apply their own religious laws, without needing constant reference to Roman authority. It should be a straight forward job. He’d got the documents, he’d got the heavies, and most of all he’d got the attitude. Jerusalem to Damascus Walking from Jerusalem to Damascus today would take 66 hours according to Google Maps. If he can walk for 11 hours a day, that’s 6 days. The journey may have been a little longer in the first century. There’s plenty of time for thought, prayer, and reflection on such a journey. Scholars have suggested that Saul may have been meditating on the vision at the start of the book of Ezekiel. It was a common exercise amongst devout Jews at the time.
	Jesus Appears in Acts 9 As they near Damascus, suddenly there is a bright light from heaven. He and his companions are stopped in their tracks. A conversation occurs and Saul realises that he is persecuting Jesus. That’s how close the Lord is to us all, when something is done to us, it is done to Him, just as much. So, in persecuting the followers of “The Way”, as Christians called themselves at the time, he is persecuting Jesus. Bright Light The bright light has blinded him, and he is led to Damascus by his companions. After 3 days, something like scales fall from his eyes, and his whole theology has been re-written. Paul refers to this vision frequently – twice more in Acts – it is the defining moment of his life. He’s changed from hating the followers of “The Way”, to being their greatest evangelist. When Jesus appears, people are transformed, turned around, and reset.
	John 21 In John 21, seven of the disciples are together. They have all seen Jesus, they have believed in the resurrection, but they don’t know what to do, they seem lost and defeated. At Peter's suggestion, they decide to go fishing. In effect, they are returning to their old lives before they met Jesus, and spent 3 years with Him. Fishing is a nighttime activity, the fish are nearer the surface at night. So, they work all night, throwing the nets and retrieving them. It’s hard work, as dawn approaches they are tired, wet, and cold. Probably very fed up too. Friends / Children There’s someone on the shore, but they can’t tell who it is. He speaks to them. The NIV has: “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” The RSV has: “Children, you have no fish, have you?” The Greek word is children, according to my Interlinear. It’s interesting that Jesus would address them as children, it seems appropriate because they have no idea how to move forward. As a term of endearment, it will be comforting for them and perhaps makes the suggestion that they try again more acceptable. It may also be the first clue as to who the stranger is. Either way, it’s the catch that makes John sure. They’ve seen miraculous catches of fish before, they know who performs those sorts of miracles. Peter takes Action Peter, impetuous as ever, jumps over the side and swims ashore, leaving the others to manage an almost impossibly large catch.
	Jesus is ready for them Jesus already has a fire, with fish cooking and bread, ready for the hungry fishermen.  He doesn’t need what they have – but He does want it, and asks Peter to go and get some of the fish. Once the catch is ashore, they are invited to breakfast. God doesn’t need anything from us, but He does want all sorts of things. Acts 17:25 says “… He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” They know it’s Jesus, yet somehow they still feel the need to ask. Jesus in His resurrection body is definitely Jesus, but somehow, different. The breakfast leads into Peter's re-instatement as head of the disciples and the newly founded movement that will become Christianity. Peter has been changed back into what he was before he denied Jesus, but is now stronger for the experience. But that’s another sermon.
Pic 6	St. Francis of Assisi Jesus appears many more times through history, each appearance is unique to the circumstances, but all result in the person being forever changed. I have two examples, the first is St Francis of Assisi. St. Francis was born into a rich family, but although living the high life when he was young, he always showed signs of dissatisfaction with that style of living. There were many times when he could have changed his ways, and it did begin to happen slowly. Then, in a run-down church he had a vision where an icon of Christ crucified spoke to him and said, “Francis, Francis, go and repair My church which, as you can see, is falling into ruins.” And he did repair that building and many others. This seems to have been the tipping point, but there was a long way to go and many trials to overcome before he founded the Franciscan Order.
	Sundar Singh My second example is Sundar Singh. He believed that his religious pursuits and the questioning of Christian priests left him without ultimate meaning. So, he decided to take his own life by throwing himself off a bridge. The night before, he asked that the true god would appear before him. That night, he had a vision of Jesus. Now a committed follower, he was rejected by his family, and they tried to kill him. He was rescued by a British Christian, and was soon publicly baptised – he was just sixteen. He travelled India – the Punjab and Kashmir - dressed as a sadhu, an ascetic devoted to spiritual practice. When Jesus appears life takes on a completely different meaning, or perhaps it has real meaning at last, and so becomes worth living.
	In WWII As we are remembering the 80th anniversary of VE day, I looked for some evidence of Jesus appearing during the war. There is a little, from newspaper cuttings that someone has collected. Small numbers of people had seen a vision of Christ crucified, followed by Angels in the sky. This happened in Sussex, Ipswich, and something similar in Peckham at different times. The purpose seems to have been mainly to bring some comfort to those who saw the visions.
	Conclusion We have seen how Jesus’s appearances to his disciples, to the apostle Paul, and to His followers throughout history have mad transformational changes to their lives. We can expect that Jesus will continue to appear to inspire and transform his followers. Personal There have been many times when I have had pictures, or words that may have come from God. I’m pretty sure about 2 or 3 of them. They were always for the church or others in the church. I wonder if any of you have had such a life-changing experience? My calling came through prayer and reflection. As I was told one of my recent sermons was depressing, I’ll leave you with this hope. Jesus could appear to any of us at any time, may be today, or tomorrow. If He does, our lives will be different from that point onwards. Amen.

References

https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2019-04-29/acts-91-6-7-20/

https://shortpowerfulsermons.com/john-211-19-the-breakfast-club-disciple-edition/

https://mypastoralponderings.com/2022/04/30/jesus-showed-himself-again-my-sermon-on-john-211-19/

https://thevcs.org/road-damascus#visionary-awakening

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-153-fish-the-three-loves-and-the-one-call-to-follow-in-john-21/

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/do-the-153-fish-in-john-21-count-for-anything/

https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2018/04/153-fish-in-gospel-of-john.html

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

https://ministry-to-children.com/pauls-conversion-sequenced-coloring-page/

Acts for everyone, Tom Wright part 1:      ISBN 978-0-281-05308-7

John for everyone part 2, Tom Wright,      ISBN 0-281-05520-3 

Expositors Bible Commentary Volume 9     ISBN 0-340-41080-9

The Apostle Peter’s Puzzle

Prayer

Unbelievable Truth

The “Unbelievable Truth” is a radio quiz show where each contestant must talk for a few minutes on a subject, but only speak 5 truths. It’s a fascinating for me to see if I can identify the truths before the contestants. I’m not very good at it. Here’s an example: During a talk on the Middle Ages, Marcus Brigstock said that squirrels feasted on Pineapples. Would you have spotted that truth?

I didn’t, but it’s quite often the most outlandish things that are true on this quiz show.

The reason it is true, is that in Middle Ages Britain the fruit was unknown, a pineapple was what we now call a pine cone.

I don’t suppose that that revelation is going to change your life!

Truth

In today’s world, we might think that finding the truth is more difficult than it has ever been. Now we have lots more information and miss-information to sort through than we used to. Sometimes the truth needs to be worked out from the little information that we do have.

Sermon aims

As we look at these passages, I’m going to look at Peter, as he is portrayed in Luke’s gospel and Acts, to see the puzzle that he had to solve and the conclusions that he came to. On the way, I’ll look a bit at Luke’s writing too.

Luke

Luke’s history of the establishment of the Christian Church – which is in two volumes, the gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, is masterfully written. It takes us from Jesus’s birth to the establishment of the early church.

Luke knows that the core of his message is going to be unbelievable to many people, so he has presented the evidence he has very carefully, so that his document will be able to withstand the scrutiny it will undoubtedly get.

Burial

The last two verses of chapter 23 tell us:

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

The story tells us clearly that the women knew where the tomb was, and exactly how Jesus’s body was laid in it. So, some that would later try to say that the women went to the wrong tomb would struggle to make their argument convincing.

Daybreak

The women have waited a full day, as is required by the Sabbath laws. Now, as soon as there is enough light to see, they collect the spices they had prepared and make their way to the tomb. They know exactly where they’re going and what they have to do when they get there. The first challenge will be moving the stone.

Angels

When they arrive, the stone, placed in front of the tomb, has already been moved. Worse, the body is gone. What are they to do? While they’re thinking about that, two men appear. The description of them is enough for us to judge them to be Angels. As with every appearance of Angels, the women are frightened. The Angels ask them why they are looking for the living among the dead. That must have been puzzling, what do they mean?

Then they are told that He has risen. The two men remind them of what Jesus said:

⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.’ ⁸ Then they remembered his words.

Unbelievable women

Back with the eleven, they tell what they have seen and heard. I’d love to know whether they were excited, or fearful, or anything about their demeanour, but nothing is reported. In first century Palestine, women are not considered to be valid witnesses and could not give evidence in a trial. So, it’s easy to see why these young men don’t believe a word they said. Their truth is unbelievable, it seems like nonsense. For those who believed in the resurrection, it would be something that happened in the far future, at the end of time. Dead men tell no tales was as true in their minds as it is in ours.

Peter’s Response

Peter is normally impulsive, here, his attitude maybe that he will sort it out, he will go and find the tomb and the body and explain what has happened. How the others responded, beyond thinking that the women were talking nonsense, is not recorded, perhaps they just left it at that. That’s at least one of the reasons that Peter was chosen as the leader.

So, he runs off to the tomb. When he gets there, the stone is indeed rolled aside. He takes a look inside, he sees the grave cloths, the strips of linen that the body had been wrapped in. So, body snatchers are not responsible, no one has stolen the body. A wrapped body is easier to manoeuvre.

What has happened

But. What has happened? There are no easy answers, no jumping to obvious conclusions. This has made Peter think.

Peter in a quandary is further evidence that this is a real eyewitness account. It is clear that Peter and the others are not expecting a resurrection, despite what they have been told by Jesus many times. That was just another unbelievable truth that passed them by.

If the story was made up, you might expect a sudden realisation at this point, or at least very soon. In reality, there is much more evidence required before Peter will accept the resurrection.

Evidence

We (us human beings) are not easily swayed by evidence for things that we don’t believe. For me, Global warming being caused by human activity seemed ridiculous when I first hear of it in the 1980s. After all, the sun has cycles, the earth’s rotation around it has other cycles, and I was taught at school that we were due an ice age. How could we have stopped all that? Little by little I began to understand that the rate of change is unprecedented, and the scale of human activity is so much greater than I could have imagined. That even the Romans, who lived without mechanisation, affected the climate. Now, I understand and accept that humans are the primary cause. Then I gradually started to live slightly differently.

Acceptance

Peter’s change of belief was quicker, but still required that additional evidence and some time to put the puzzle together.

Our chapter ends with Jesus making an appearance, and holding a conversation with the apostles. Jesus also eats with them – proving he is not a ghost, or a vision. Now, they believe. They have found the truth. But that doesn’t change them very much, all they manage to do is hide in their rooms, pray and select a replacement for Judas.

Worked it out

By the time we get to the Acts reading, a lot more has happened to Peter, but he has one last thing to learn, one last piece of the puzzle before the picture is complete. It is there at the start of his sermon in Cornelius's house. He says:

³⁴ … I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism ³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

And, at the end

⁴³ All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Peter Stopped

Peter has given a beautifully concise summary of the Christian faith, getting to forgiveness. We see how much of the puzzle Peter has solved, and he has just put the final piece in place, when the Holy Spirit interrupts him and proves what he has said is from God.

Changed

Peter was not greatly changed by his belief in the resurrection of Jesus. He, like the other disciples, was changed when the Holy Spirit arrived at Pentecost. Without the understanding that Jesus had died on the cross for their sins, and been raised from the dead as proof of His willing sacrifice, Peter would have nothing to preach about.

That truth, and the truth that Jesus’ death was for everyone, not just the Jews, is crucial to our faith. Without it, as Paul reminds us, we are still in our sins, still irrevocably separated from God and life, as Paul tells us.

1 Corinthians 15¹³ 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. But he did not raise him, if in fact the dead are not raised.

Knowing and accepting that apparently unbelievable truth means that we are put right with God, our sins are forgiven, and we have eternal life with him.

It also means that we are open to the Holy Spirit, who can change our lives as dramatically as He changed the lives of the apostles and the lives of Cornelius and his household.

Conclusion

Sometimes, the world can seem like an episode of the unbelievable truth, everything we are told seems to be lies and none of it is funny. It can take a long time to see the hidden truths.

Jesus’ death and especially His resurrection, are truths that the world would like to hide, but we have found them. So we can say:

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Jesus's last days

Preached at St Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead, 13 April 2025 at 10:30 (Palm Sunday)

 

Reading Luke 22:14-23:56

Prayer

Father, We pray that through these words this morning we make know Jesus better and be able to follow him more closely.

Introduction

Normally, on Palm Sunday, we would hear about Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There would be palm branches, or something similar, and, if you were at Christ Church, there would be a procession around the church.

There are other ways of approaching Palm Sunday. Today, we have the alternate readings from the lectionary. Our very long reading takes us from the passover meal, through the betrayal, Peter’s denial, to the crucifixion and burial. As we go through these verses, I will try to concentrate mainly on the words and actions of Jesus.

Jesus’s Final Teachings

It’s an opportunity for us to take a wider look at Jesus’s final teachings.

Jesus’s Mission

An important part of the background to what Jesus is saying, is His 3 years training the disciples. If we read through a whole gospel, we will quickly see that Jesus is on a mission. He knows, very early on, that He will face opposition from Satan and the religious authorities. He knows that He has come to die. So, He must leave the rest of the work in establishing God’s kingdom on earth to the disciples.

Luke 22:14-23 The Last Supper

He starts by celebrating the passover with them. The passover feast reminds them that they were rescued from slavery in Egypt, and freed from the evil that occurred there by a very powerful God. In the Exodus, the Israelites escape punishment by marking their doors with the blood of a sacrifice. Then the angel of death passes over them. Jesus is going to repeat that rescue, make it for everyone, and He will do it by being the sacrifice himself. So that God’s judgement will pass over each of us. He changes the passover celebration to bring in the full meaning of what He is doing. Now, when we celebrate Holy Communion, we are remembering Jesus’s sacrifice for us, so that we should not suffer the punishment that we are due.

Luke 22:24-38 Prediction of Peter’s Denial

The discussion of who the betrayer would be quickly turns into a fight about who is greatest. For Jesus, it must be like dealing with young children. They just haven’t got the significance of what’s happening. Or, perhaps they have, but it’s too big a change for them to be able to take in now. Jesus carefully explains how God’s kingdom works – to be the greatest, you must be one who serves. He reminds them that He has been their example of that.

More difficult times are coming, especially for Simon, who is Satan’s main target in the lead up to Jesus’s death. If Simon can be destroyed, there will be no church, no Christianity. But, Jesus has already prayed about this, and God will answer His prayer. Jesus says to him at the end of verse 32:

And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

Notice that after that, Jesus calls Him Peter – because the prayer is answered. It is Peter who will deny Jesus.

Luke 22:39-53 Jesus is Arrested

Jesus takes them to the Mount of Olives, a place they were used to meeting. He asks them to pray for themselves, and goes to pray alone. Jesus needs to know that He really has to go through with this – that it is really His Father’s will. The cup he is asking His Father to take, is God’s wrath, that He knows He will have to face soon. Now, fully certain that he is doing the Father’s will, He returns to the disciples and finds them asleep.

Then Judas arrives and the arrest begins. A disciple gets trigger-happy and attacks one of the soldiers. That’s too much for Jesus – the soldier is healed. He is not leading a rebellion, He doesn’t want or need a fight. Instead, He tells them, “this is your hour —when darkness reigns.”.

Luke 22:54-62 Peter Denies Jesus

Jesus is led away, Peter follows, but keeps his distance. In the courtyard, he is accused of being with Jesus three times. Each time he makes a clear denial. It’s all too much for Peter. Right now he can’t live up to his boasts of friendship, but he is at least there. Watching, and perhaps praying. It’s not enough, but it is better than the others are doing.

Catching Jesus’s gaze, he remembers Jesus’s words. He is broken and weeps bitterly. That’s the first step back, but there’s a long way to go for Peter.

Luke 22:63-23:12 Jesus before Pilate & Herod

Jesus is roughed up a bit by the soldiers, they’re just ignorant bullies, but it all counts to the humiliation that Satan is casting on Jesus.

The chief priests and teachers of the Law aren’t violent, but they use any means they can find to work out a charge that will result in Jesus’s death. Jesus, himself, is very non-committal, not exactly refusing to answer, but saying as little as possible. It really doesn’t matter what He says at this point, they will twist it until they have enough. When they do, they go to Pilot, and he goes to Herod.

Luke 23:13-26 Pilate Pressured by the Crowds

The two Romans are not convinced, so it is the crowd that has the final say. The Roman Governor only has so much power, his role is to keep the province under control. He doesn’t care about one man.

In these passages in particular, Luke is showing us that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Everyone in this part of the story have gone against God in some way. The priests and teachers of the law have ignored every thing about truth they every knew. The soldiers are simply acting like thugs, the governors have given in to political expediency, because the crowd are shouting for crucifixion and in support of a murderer. His disciples have fled, or denied being his friend. Jesus alone stands before God, ready to take the punishment for all this, and so much more.

Luke 23:27-43 The Crucifixion

Women

As Jesus is led to the crucifixion site, a large crowd follow Him. Some are women are weeping for Him. Jesus is more concerned for what is coming in the future for them, than He is for Himself. Maybe He is alluding to the coming destruction of Jerusalem that He has already spoken about. Now, they are killing an innocent man, he says, but in the coming days the barbarity of the destruction will be on an altogether more horrific scale.

His murderers

As he is being crucified, Jesus says “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”, Maybe it’s that they don’t understand that they are killing the son of God, or they don’t care that they’re killing an innocent man. Even in this extreme situation, Jesus is focused on the people around Him, and is praying that they will not suffer the consequences of their actions.

The Criminal

One of the two being crucified with him at least realises that he is guilty and is getting the punishment that he deserves. He knows he is going to face judgement, and asks Jesus to remember him. That’s quite an insight for a criminal – to see a resurrected Jesus ruling the kingdom of God. Jesus’s reply, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” is one of the most discussed sentences in the entire bible. Paradise, in Jewish though, is not heaven, it originally meant a walled garden, but in Jesus’s time had come to mean a place where souls go immediately after death.

Luke 23:44-56 Death & Burial

Now Jesus is dead. There has never been a death like it. The way Jesus has behaved during the crucifixion has had an effect on many people, we have heard of the criminal who responded to Him, now we hear of the Roman Centurion. “Surely this was a righteous man”. This is a pagan, Roman judgement on the son of God, and Luke has included it so that his gospel can speak to everyone, not just the Jews.

Luke goes on to carefully tell us exactly where Jesus body was put, because he knows that Sunday is coming, and those events will rightly get an incredible level of scrutiny.

Luke 23⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.

The women cannot be mistaken – they have been to the tomb already.

Conclusion

As you’ve listened to my comments on the passion in the Gospel of Luke, I hope you have seen one or two things that you haven’t seen before. Mostly, though, I hope you have gained a greater appreciation for Jesus and His mastery of the incredibly difficult situation He found Himself in. Let’s close with a prayer.

Prayer

Father, when we find ourselves in difficult times, help us to remember how Jesus dealt with His death, give us the same courage and strength.

Amen

Do you not percieve it?

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay @ 08:00 6 April 2025

Purpose: A look at what God is doing

Reading Isaiah 43:16-21, John 12:1-8

Prayer

Father God, we pray that we will be allowed a glimpse of what you are doing in our world, as we seek to follow you more closely each day.

Introduction

When I read through this morning’s passages about 10 days ago, there was one phrase that stood out to me – the question that God asks of the Israelites, in verse 19, when He says “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”.

My first response was, “No, Lord, I don’t.”. I felt rather guilty about that, and then wondered if perhaps it was supposed to be a rhetorical question. There was one sermon I read, where the author also said that he doesn’t perceive it, after that I felt a little happier. I also remembered a former vicar of Christ Church saying that you can only see what God has done in hindsight.

Lent 5 – Backwards & Forwards

The fifth Sunday of Lent is supposed to be a time when we look backwards at what God has done and forwards to see what He is doing and will eventually do. We see what God has done for us in the past, and maybe, we can see a little of what God will be doing for us, or better, with us, in the future. Both our readings have that element in them. In the Old Testament, God is telling the Israelites that He is going to rescue them from exile. In the New Testament, the dinner is to celebrate Lazarus’s rising from the dead, but it also looks forwards to Jesus’s crucifixion.

I wonder, in each of those passages, what do you think the people they are speaking about thought that God might be doing.

History (of the Exile)

Let's start with the Isaiah passage.

597bc Nebuchadnezzar

In 597bc Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon defeated Jehoiakim, king of Judah and the leaders of Judah were taken into exile in Babylon. For Babylon, the exiling of the elite was a way of managing those they had conquered, and preventing rebellions. For the Israelites, it was an experience that left them questioning everything they thought they knew about God. Even if, looking back, the prophecies seem quite clear. If they do not follow God and live the way He asks them to, they will suffer the consequences – and now they have.

539bc Cyrus

In 539bc Cyrus, king of Persia, conquers the Babylonian Empire, and, the policies for managing conquered people change, so eventually the exiles are allowed to return. They will have been away from their home for about 70 years.

The Israelites, God is speaking to

The passage in Isaiah, is speaking to the exiles at a time when the initial shock of what’s happened has worn off, and they have started to make a life for themselves in their new situation. The vast majority of those who were exiled would die in exile, only their descendants would return. Sometimes God has to wait for a whole generation to pass, before He can do the next thing.

A new thing

Now, perhaps when they’ve really settled in to a life in a foreign country, when they’ve begun again to know who their God is, or think they know, He’s telling them to get ready for the next thing.

God says:

Forget the former things. The rescue from slavery in Egypt, when I got you across the sea – an impenetrable barrier that stopped you in your tracks, and then utterly annihilated your pursuers. Their chariots and horses, and all the Egyptian troops are still there, buried in the mud, never to rise again.

God doesn’t really want them to completely forget, or he wouldn’t have just reminded them! He wants them to look forward rather than backwards, because now He is doing a new thing. He is preparing a way across another impenetrable barrier, this time a desert. It must have seemed like an impossible dream that they could return home. That they could once again live in the promised land, the place they all look to as home, even if many of them have never been.

God can, and will, deliver on the dream, He’s making it a promise, because when God says something, it WILL happen. And if you still doubt that, well He’s done similar things before.

I wonder what they really thought when they heard those words? After all they only have to walk 500 miles across an inhospitable desert.

John Reading

The New Testament reading that we heard is more nuanced. There is no clear prophecy. Mary’s extravagant and outrageous act of worship could be just that – an instant expression of her love for Jesus, but Jesus give it a greater meaning. According to Judas, she wasted a years wages in that act, and all who witnessed it would see her actions as those of a prostitute, because no self-respecting Jewish woman at that time would let her hair down like that.

Jesus’s response to the accusation is:

⁷ “Leave her alone, it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

I wonder, do you think that Mary, Martha, Lazarus and the other guests realised that Jesus’s death was only days away? Do you think they had any idea what that meant for the wider world? If you read the gospels now, it is clear to us, with hindsight, that Jesus knew exactly where he was going, why he was going there and what would happen when He arrived – and afterwards. He knew that his crucifixion, and then His resurrection, would save use from a situation that we couldn’t escape from.

Saving Ourselves

It is not a river, or a desert that stops us saving ourselves. It is each of us that stops us saving ourselves. We are the insurmountable barrier to our salvation. There is a chasm to cross, a pit to fall in, and the cross of Christ is the bridge. God makes a way for us to places where we cannot go on our own.

God is always active.

Even when the way is made, we cannot follow it, if we cannot see it. God is always there ready to show us the next steps.

I wondered what we can see God doing, and how much we can understand what He is pointing us towards.

Looking back – the world

As we look backward on the history of our world, we see that those who followed Jesus spread across the entire world. Some of that was caused by people fleeing persecution, and sharing their faith with their new neighbours. Some was very carefully planned, people were trained as missionaries and sent to places where it was known that the word of God had not been heard. All of those things were prompted by the Holy Spirit. Almost none of it was easy for the people involved.

Looking forward – the world

As we see the world order changing and hear of deportations from America, can we see God at work. What is He doing? Do you perceive it? It is estimated that over 1 million Christians will be deported from the USA as ‘illegal migrants’, most will go back to South American countries, principally Venezuela. What is God doing there?

Father Dan, was saying at Forging Men that the young people of today are looking to practice a different type of faith – they will worship God, follow Jesus, but not in the way that we do. What is God preparing for that generation? Is He perhaps just waiting for us to pass before he does something amazing?

Looking back – the church

We can also look back at our church, I’m talking about Christ Church and the things we were involved in, rather than the Church of England. We can remember times when God was blessing us in different ways. Maybe you remember the time when we had about 100 people in our main service, and all the gifts they offered to our church. Or you look back to events like Mission ‘89, or perhaps to our weekends away. All of those things seem unlikely to ever happen again.

Looking forward – the church

How will God build us up in the future, what blessings will he bestow? What will we have to do to be a part of that. We have a new Rector, so things will undoubtedly change. Can you see what is coming, do you perceive it? Or, do we just see the impossible barriers that God can so easily break down. It’s not the sea, or the sand, now it’s the age gap.

We will just have to continue to follow Jesus as closely as possible, and see where the Holy Spirit is leading us, step by step. In a few years maybe we will look back and see what God did in this time, until then, there is some hard work to get on with building the kingdom of God. Meanwhile, we continue to look for God’s leading in all sorts of new directions.

He says: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

Amen.

The Price is Right

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

Reading: Luke 14:27-33

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

Prayer

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

Amen.

Introduction

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

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

Value

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

Everything has a cost

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

Outrageous – Hate (25&26)

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

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

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

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

Carrying the cross

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

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

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

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

Costs

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

Building

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

War

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

Cost of being a disciple

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

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

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

The price is right

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are also things we must do

— we must as Jesus says Love our neighbour as ourselves

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

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

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

Amen

 

References

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Divorce ( & Marriage)

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

Title: Divorce (and Marriage)

Purpose: To look at Jesus’ teaching on divorce

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

Prayer

Introduction

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

Male Oriented

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

As the old joke goes:

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

Then God made the world round.

Marriage

Purpose of marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marriage is the expected way to live

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

Bachelor

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

Divorce

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

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

Protect the woman

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

Divorce - controversy

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

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

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

Pharisees Trap

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

One reason only

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

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

Disciples Reaction

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

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

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

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

Divorce Today

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

Amen.