Summer Series 2022 - 3: Wisdom & Wonder

Preached 7 August 2022 at Christ Church, Billericay

Title: Wisdom and Wonder (Summer Series: Jesus our Jubilee)

Reading: 1 Kings 3v5-14; James 3v13,17; James 1v5

All a dream

“So it was all a dream”. Don’t you just hate it when a story that you’re enjoying uses this device to get out of a hole it had dug for itself! Perhaps the most famous of these, if you’re a certain age, is [play theme] Dallas. Bobby Ewing was never run over, the whole of that series was a dream.

This type of plot twist is a terrible way to tell a story. But the twist we have today, is that the dream comes before the story, and to a considerable extent tells us what is going to happen. That sort of twist can only come in real life – because we know the truth is stranger than fiction.

Dreams

Solomon's dream is not an unusual event in the Bible, there are plenty of occasions where God speaks to people through dreams. Perhaps the most well known ones, are in Matthew chapters one and two. Here God speaks to Joseph about Mary, and urges him to take Mary, who is now expecting the baby Jesus, as his wife. Then in chapter two, the Magi are warned not to return to Herod in a dream. So God has protected his Messiah, and ensured that He can grow up to become the man that we read about in the NT using dreams.

Dream?

I wonder if anyone here has ever heard from God in a dream? I don’t remember ever having such a dream, but it may still be possible because Joel promises that ‘old men will dream dreams’.

Young Solomon

Solomon is not an old man at this point. In verse 7 he says that he is only a little child. This seems to be a figurative description of his ability to rule, rather than referring to his physical age.

Cleverer people than me have done the arithmetic. They have worked out when he could have been born. He was one of David and Bathsheba’s children, but not the first, because we know that he died. So calculating from the time David stole Bathsheba, and murdered Uriah the Hittite, until David’s death, gives us a possible oldest age of 24, with the most likely age being about 20.

Beginnings of Wisdom

Solomon, has been brought up in the ways of the Lord. He knows he has many things to do – there is a temple to build, and the people have to be stopped from worshipping other Gods. (1 Kings 3:2) says “The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places”, so before the dream, the things that he knew he needed to do may have been weighing on his mind. But his upbringing meant that he knew where to turn. So when God comes to him in the dream, he is perhaps more receptive than he would otherwise have been. Solomon already has the beginnings of wisdom. Although he, too, was guilty of making offerings in the high places.

The Dream

At Gibeon, the king celebrates his succession to the throne with an enormous celebration. It starts with a thousand burnt offerings. Gibeon is, at that time, the most important religious city. It is therefore an appropriate place for God to speak to Solomon.

What would you ask for?

God starts with, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

We know from our reading how Solomon responded, and we will look at that in more detail in a minute, but first, let's ask ourselves how we would respond.

What would you ask God for?

What is your greatest desire for yourself, or for others?

That is our activity later, so we can start thinking about it now.

The response

Notice that Solomon does not simply blurt out his wants, he starts by showing God his understanding, because what he will ask for comes out of the understanding that he has already gained. Lets look at verses 6-8:

Verse 6

You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

Firstly, he acknowledges his roots. He is where he is because of God’s great kindness (we might call it grace now) to his father, because of who his father was. David was described as “a man after my own heart”, by God (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22) because he was the person who would do God's will. God’s kindness continues because David’s son has succeeded him on the throne.

Verse 7

“Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.

Next, he recognises his limited abilities – he does not know how to rule, he has hardly had any practice.

Verse 8

Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.

Finally, he acknowledges God’s chosen people, and the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham that they would be a great people who would be too numerous to count. (Gen 15:5)

The request

All of these form the basis for the request that is to follow – a discerning heart and wisdom to rule. He wants to know, to be able to distinguish right from wrong.

God’s response

God is pleased with Solomon’s request, had he asked for the death of his enemies, for wealth and a long life, they would no doubt have been granted. But, Solomon asked for something better, and his request was granted. He was also given wealth and honour. Conditionally, he was promised a long life – all he has to do is “walk in God’s ways and obey His statutes and commands” for the rest of his life. (Easier said than done, of course.)

The Golden age

Solomon built the temple, he was fabulously rich and Israel with him. His reign marked a golden age (both literally and figuratively). You can read of his wisdom in the next chapter.

Wisdom for us

None of us will ever have to rule a kingdom, and even the Queen does not have the power that Solomon had. She, too, was aware of the need for wisdom. I like her quote that Catherine gave us last week.

At the start of her reign, “She was in her salad days – green and hard” or something like that.

Her wisdom has served us well, but for her, like us, the verses in James that we read are probably more useful.

James 1v5

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Like Solomon, when we lack wisdom, we should ask God. We don’t have to wait for God to approach us in a dream. You realise what that means, we have easier access to God than even Solomon.

James 3 verses 13, 17

Just like Solomon, though, the wisdom we get is the wisdom to do the will of God.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

So when we ask for heaven's wisdom, as I’m sure we do from time to time, James has provided us with a checklist, to ensure that we have been listening to the heavenly wisdom correctly.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

If what we hear doesn’t meet these criteria, it’s not from God.

 

On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldWF4cwCsDI 

Thomas: Doubts and Evidence

 Preached 3 July 2022 @ Christ Church 10am

Introduction

There are only a couple of stories in the Gospel of John that mention Thomas. He’s included in the lists of disciples in each of the gospels and Acts, but only John gives him a voice.

So I thought it would be helpful to look at these stories and try to get some idea of what sort of person Thomas was. That might help us to understand why he doubted the resurrection. Then we will take a look at this morning's bible verses and see what they meant for Thomas and what they might mean for us.

Tradition

According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of India, the Apostle Thomas landed in Muziris near Kochi on the Kerala coast (south-western India) in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore, near Madras (now Chennai) in AD 72. A journey north-easterly across Tamil Nadu covering something like 700 km (435 miles). He founded the ancient Indian Christian Churches on the way. A missionary journey to rival the apostle Paul.

John 11

His first specific mention is in John 11. Jesus tells his disciples he wants to go back to Judea. The disciples are not at all in favour of this and respond:

Jn 11:8 “But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”

Jesus tells them, in a round about way, that Lazarus is dead, they don’t get it, so he tells them directly. They would have all known that Lazarus was one of Jesus’ closest friends, and it is Thomas who responds:

John 11:16. “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Now, as Catherine was saying last week, it's difficult to know what he really meant without the tone of the voice and the body language, but I can’t help but feel that this a rather downbeat response.

Despite that, it also shows that Thomas has a certain commitment to Jesus that perhaps the others didn’t at this point. Later, Peter will profess openly that he will follow Jesus and never leave him. Then at the last minute Peter, in fear for his life, fails to live up to his promise. Like, Peter and the other disciples, Thomas will also abandon Jesus. But for now, Thomas, perhaps grudgingly, or perhaps with a degree of resignation, will actually follow Him.

Knowingly following someone, however much you love and respect them, into a dangerous situation, shows a certain strength of character.

John 14

We next hear of Thomas in Chapter 14. Jesus is comforting His disciples, having just predicted Peter’s denial.

Jn 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

One thing I like about Thomas, is that he is not afraid to ask the obvious question. I’ll bet that all the other disciples were thinking the same thing. And they were all waiting for someone to ask the question. That someone was Thomas. We should all be very glad that he did, because Jesus’s response is one of the most well known of His sayings.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Without Thomas being willing to speak up, we would not have this quote, which means so much to so many.

John 20 + 21

Then comes our reading this morning, and shortly afterwards Thomas is mentioned at the start of chapter 21 where the disciples decide to go back to their fishing boats and resume their old careers.

Where was Thomas?

Our reading started with “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.”

Which prompts two questions:

“Why not?” and “Where was he?”.

We cannot answer the latter question, but we can speculate a little about why. The disciples have watched as the man they thought was their Messiah, who would save them and restore Israel, was arrested, given a very unfair trial and put to death.

They were in fear for their lives, believing the authorities would come after them too, and they would suffer the same fate. They have been in hiding and being very careful. They think it is all over, and in a few verses time we will read that they are going back to their old jobs.

It’s entirely reasonable to believe that Thomas was hit harder by these events than the other disciples, and had excluded himself from their company for large amounts of time. He maybe contemplating leaving the group.

We have seen the Lord + response

So when he meets up with them again, and they tell him “We have seen the Lord”, he begins to think that they are either delusional, or suffering for a severe case of wishful thinking.

His answer “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” is just a very long handed way of saying “I want proof”. Which sounds entirely reasonable to me. Dead men don’t walk and talk.

Jesus appears

So, a week later when Jesus appears while they are in a locked room, Thomas is given his chance. Jesus says “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

It sounds to me a little harsh – is Thomas really supposed to believe the others, while they are deep in their grief, after all the mind plays strange tricks on people in those situations. I can remember a few instances of thinking I’d seen dad, in the weeks immediately after he died. I even started to get frustrated that so many people apparently looked like him!

Lazarus

But it is different for Thomas, however down he was feeling. Firstly, he has had years of teaching about how Jesus’s life was to end – had he heard nothing? Did none of it go in?

Secondly, he had been there, as we have already seen, when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb.

There is enough teaching and enough evidence for Thomas not to be doubting what the others are telling him.

Belief in the Resurrection

Just a short aside for a minute. Belief in the resurrection is critical if we are to be called Christians. A few weeks ago, when I was discussing the Trinity with you, I said that the Trinity was the distinctive belief for Christianity – and it is.

There are lots of mythological religions that include the belief that their god has been resurrected. One such god is mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 8, where Ezekiel is shown the detestable things that the Israelites are up to. Women are mourning for the god Tammuz. The exact beliefs about Tammuz vary with time and place, by now it appears that he spent half his time in our world (the summer) and half his time in the netherworld (winter). So he was mourned each year and resurrected 6 months later.

So far as I can find, no-one ever believed that Tammuz was a real man. While resurrection is not a distinctive idea, having a real man resurrected seems to be.

It is God’s proof that Jesus didn’t die a failure, without it, as St Paul says, we are still in our sins.

There is plenty of evidence in the gospels, and some in Paul’s letters. All the arguments for how a mistake might have occurred are covered. The best evidence today, though, is the very obvious change in the disciples once they truly believed that Jesus had risen.

Thomas

So, getting back on topic, it is critical to the mission that Jesus has given His disciples that they are clear that the resurrection is real.

So Thomas is given the chance. Jesus effectively says “Go on, examine the evidence, everything you need to believe is here”

Faith – from the presence

But evidence is not what Thomas needs, he clearly already has enough of that in the teaching he has received, in the things he has already seen and in the trust he has in the other disciples.

What Thomas needs is to SEE Jesus. We have a phrase “seeing is believing”, maybe it comes from this passage, but if it doesn’t it so easily could. Now he has seen the risen Lord, there is only one response possible, “My Lord and my God”. Thomas’s doubting is over. He is restored and ready for his mission, just as Peter was.

Grand Masters

There are a lot of art works of this scene, it fascinated the grand masters. Most of them, using their artistic licence I suppose, got it wrong. The recognition is instant, Thomas makes no attempt to examine Jesus’s wounds.

Important quote

It is Thomas’s interaction with Jesus that again give us an important quote: “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”.

Is this perhaps a prophecy for Thomas’s ministry, for all the people in India who would become convinced of the truth that Jesus died for our sins and rose again.

It applies as much to us as is does to them, of course.

Evidence?

How many of you, I wonder, looked at the evidence for the resurrection when you were considering the Christian faith. I know I did.

We have seen, though, that evidence alone is not what it takes to make people believe. Just think of the vaccination debate, the evidence for the use of vaccines is strong, and the risks are low, but people often make up their minds based on the opinions of their friends (qualified or not).

I wonder how many of you were swayed by the evidence alone, and gave your life to Christ solely on that basis. I’m sure there are a few in the world, but I expect there are many more who watch the example of their already Christian friends, and try to see Jesus in them. I know I did. And those friends, like Thomas, were keen to tell me about Jesus, the basis of their faith and their life.

As Romans 10:14 says, “14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

That’s a sermon for another day, but a lifetime for Thomas, once he had put his doubts behind him.

Amen.

 

Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HN5vyz9Vg5A

Growing up & something about the Trinity for Trinity Sunday

Preached 12 June 2022 at Christ Church, Billericay

Readings: John 16:12-16

How bad can it be?

When Jesus says to the disciples “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” my immediate thought is ‘How bad can it be?’

Farewell discourse

Our Gospel reading this morning is a very small part of Jesus’ Farewell discourse that covers John chapters 13-17. Chapter 16 is, at least partly, and expansion on chapter 14. So Jesus is repeating himself and expanding his message. He repeats himself because the disciples are a bit slow and don’t get it first time. It’s also very difficult for them to accept, that He is going to die, let alone be resurrected.

What Jesus has said

Let’s look at what Jesus has already said to them. I’m not going to look at the whole discourse, that would take too long, let’s just go back to verse 2 of the chapter:

Jn 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

You might have thought that that was as bad as it could get, but clearly there is more.

The Disciple’s training

Over about the last three years, the disciples have been in training. Unlike Catherine and Sue, who knew exactly what they were training for, the disciples do not really understand what is coming. They are simply following Jesus because they have recognised him as the long awaited Messiah.

Going Away

Now He is going away. They have received teaching about His death and resurrection for most of the three years they have been with Him, and now is nearly the time. So Jesus is moving them on to the next steps.

Jn 16:7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
⁹ in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
¹⁰ in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
¹¹ and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

… and then we get to today’s reading.

Which starts with verse 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”

Linked verses

That verse is linked in my Bible to these two verses:

Mk 4:33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.

and

1Co 3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

These two verses tell us that Jesus has taught them as much as they can understand now, and that they are still very young in their faith. They are not yet ready for the difficulties to come, but they will be very soon.

Revolution

They are about to start a revolution, they just don’t know it yet. Once a revolution starts, there is no way of knowing where it will go and how it will end – unless you are God, of course. If they are to be “The people who turned the world upside down” (Acts 17 AV) they will have to stop relying on the physical Jesus stood in front of them, and start relying more directly on the Father who sent him, the God He personifies.

The Holy Spirit

That’s why Jesus now goes on to talk again about the Holy Spirit. He assures them that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, will only tell them what He hears from the Father and the Son. That He will bring Glory to the Son by the things of God that He reveals. Everything that He reveals already belongs to the Son, Jesus.

Trinity: Intro

Now we will take a brief look at the Trinity, the doctrine that this Sunday is named after. I’ll return to these verses later.

Trinity – a question

Ian Paul, the writer of the Psephizo blog and a professor, among other things was asked the question right at the start of his ordination training: “What is the central distinguishing feature of Christian faith?” I wonder what your answer would be?

He was surprised by the answer, which was supplied by the theologian Karl Barth said

“The doctrine of the Trinity is what basically distinguishes the Christian doctrine of God as Christian…in contrast to all other possible doctrines of God (cited in Holmes p 4).¹

Today is Trinity Sunday, and I frankly, would have expected different readings. The New Testament reading gets us to a good, if short, description of the interaction between the three persons of the trinity, but the psalm is not helpful.

Where did it come from?

The word trinity is not mentioned in the Bible. So where did it come from? If we look at the history of the Christian church for a while, we will see that it was something that was arrived at quite slowly. Many scholars looking into the scriptures and trying to understand them for hundreds of years got us to the council of Nicea in AD 325. This was convened by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, to get arguments about the, now established, faith sorted out across the Empire. The initial agreement sorted out the Arian controversy and only agreed that God the Father and God the son are of the same essence, the same substance. Arius believed that God, the son, did not always exist.

2^nd Council of Nicea

It took another council, again at Nicea in 381 add to add the Holy Spirit to the God Head, and the definition of the Trinity as we know it was established. It is still the only thing that holds the Protestants, Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches together with a common belief.

Creed

This is a part of what was agreed. For Jesus

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;

and for the Holy Spirit

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

Councils

There were, of course, many other councils for other theological disagreements.

If you think that these great councils were civilised affairs, that forgave the losers, you could not be more wrong. At least one ended in a mass brawl. After the first council of Nicea, Arius was banished from the Empire. They make the discussions at General Synod look very civilised indeed.

Trinity

I’m getting side tracked, what we should be looking at is the case for the trinity and where the ideas came from.

Old Testament

In Genesis chapter one, we find the first clue:

Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image,

Did you spot the change from plural to singular?

Let us make man in our image

So God created man in his own image

Is this the first clue, or is God just using the royal ‘we’? Maybe that’s only an English concept.

New Testament

There are, of course, better clues in the New Testament. There are frequent passages where Jesus equates himself with God, “I and the Father are one” in John 10, it was enough for the Jewish authorities to understand that He was claiming to be God. They were about to stone him. When he asked them why, their answer is “We are stoning you for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (John 10:33)

Then there are passages like our reading today, which tells us that the Holy Spirit gets everything from God the Father.

Other Examples

At the end of 2 Corinthians, Paul blesses his community by invoking “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13:13), and at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18).

So the idea of the trinity goes back to the gospel writers and Paul, it is not a later invention.

Doctrine for what

The doctrine was developed to provide a common language among all Christians across the empire. To ensure that all are being taught the same thing. It provides us with a way of discussing the nature of God, and to some extent understanding that nature.

De-construction

There have been many attempts to explain it. All of them lead ultimately to some form of heresy.

Cloud

Have you ever looked up in the sky and seen a cloud that reminds you of something. I have a new camera, and have been taking pictures of all sorts of things, including clouds, but even the picture doesn’t remind me of the thing that the cloud reminded me of. And a cloud is definitely not the real thing, if you were up there with it, you would just be in fog.

It’s all a matter of perspective. We only see God from one point of view.

So before I take us all into the fog, here are two of the attempts to explain the Trinity.

Explanations

The three leaf clover is 1 piece of clover, but has three distinct leaves. Each leaf performs the same function, and already we are getting into trouble.

There are the 3 states of water, ice, liquid and steam, but it is the same substance. It’s all water, but each state has a very different effect on us, and already we are getting into trouble.

These explanations are best avoided, but they can provide some basic insights.

I’ll give the last word on the trinity for now to Augustine, who described it as “the Lover, the Beloved, and the love that flows between.”

Message from Today’s Reading

While the New Testament reading helps us with the Trinity, it’s real message is about the disciples faith maturing, and them growing up and leaving their dependence on the physical Jesus behind. Once they have the connection to God, through the Holy Spirit living in them, they will be able to bear all the hard things that Jesus is not as yet able to say to them.

Scripture is incomplete?

Incidentally, the fact that Jesus has more to say, does not mean that scripture is somehow incomplete. Jesus has plenty to say to the disciples, much of it is recorded in the book of Acts, but Jesus also speaks through the epistles and through the revelation.

To us

The spirit of truth came at Pentecost. We heard about that last week. He is still here. He is still guiding us into all truth. He is still only speaking what He hears. He is still bringing glory to Jesus through what He says. He is still telling us of things to come. We have never had the physical Jesus to have a conversation with, but we have Him as our example of how to live in an evil world, and we have the Holy Spirit as an intimate connection to Jesus and to God our Father. So we can experience a little of the love that flows between them and overflows upon and out of each of us.

Amen

1https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-trinity-and-john-16/

Redemption Sunday

Preached 1 May 2022 at Christ church, Billericay

Readings: Acts 9v1-20,John 21v1-19

Redemption Sunday

I was talking to my daughter, Liz and explaining the passages I was preparing to preach on this morning, and she said ‘Redemption Sunday’. It is from the point of view of the main protagonists in our readings this morning. Both Peter and Paul needed God’s forgiveness for the things they had done before they could move into the ministry they were being called into.

Foundation Sunday

You could also call it Foundation Sunday. Without the events reported in today’s readings, the birth of the church at Pentecost could not have taken place, and there would be no-one to take the message out from the Jews to the Roman world.

Peter then Paul

I’m going to look at each of these stories, to see what we can learn from them, I’ll start with Peter and then move on to Paul.

Peter – Background

You will remember, I hope, that on Good Friday, we heard the story of the arrest and trial of Jesus. Peter has quite a part in that, and shows us that he really hasn’t absorbed much of what Jesus has been trying to teach him over the preceding three years. First of all he cut off the High priest’s servant’s ear. That was bad enough. Then he broke a promise to Jesus.

Matthew 26 (v31) Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

“ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”

It’s a promise that we all implicitly make when we give our lives to Jesus and accept him as Lord and saviour.

Peter Tested

For Peter, the test of his promise came all too soon. After the arrest he was frightened, and when asked if he was with Jesus, he denied it. He was asked three times during that evening, and each time his own safety came first, so he denied knowing Jesus.

Our Test

We, too, will face that test at some point. There will be a situation where we will be asked in some way, “Are you with Jesus?” If we give the truthful answer, there will be negative consequences, perhaps not as severe as being arrested and put to death. Maybe just some awkward embarrassment, or perhaps they will make fun of you. You might lose a job or a job opportunity, or you might lose friends. We have to decide very quickly at that point which way we are going to respond.

Too much for Peter

The waiting around had got too much for Peter. He is a man of action, and quite impetuous. So he decides to go fishing – back to his old job. Fishing is a nighttime activity. Peter is joined by the other disciples. They spend a night working hard in the boat, but catch nothing.

It’s the Lord

Morning comes, then someone on the shore asks about their catch. They’re not sure who it is. He says, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They do, one last try won’t hurt, then they can get some rest. But, it works, and they get a very good catch. Maybe John remembers that something like this has happened before, whatever it was, something triggers the recognition of Jesus on the shore, and as soon as John says “It’s the Lord”, Peter is on his way over the side of the boat, swimming to the shore.

Jesus provides breakfast

Jesus already has a fire going, and asks them to bring some of the 153 fish. He invites them to breakfast. Then in v12 it says, ‘None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.’ Jesus, now with a resurrection body, must have looked subtly different in some way – just enough for them to be uncertain.

Jesus Reinstates Peter

Even Peter must have known that he couldn’t just get away with denying Jesus. He must have known that at some point there would be a reckoning. He must have known that he can’t live up to Jesus’ promise to him having denied Jesus. Remember what Jesus had said:

“you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;” (Matt. 16:18).

Here comes the reckoning. I like to imagine that Jesus took Peter a little way away from the group before this conversation started.

Jesus asks “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

It’s an ambiguous question, does He mean the boats and the fishing life or the people?

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

It’s an incomplete answer too, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

“Feed my lambs”, Jesus says.

One denial down, and a partial re-instatement has happened.

Jesus repeats the question and Peter repeats his answer, but this time Jesus’s response takes Peter a step further. “Take care of my sheep.”

Now Jesus has made Peter the shepherd of the flock that he was always intended to be.

Third Question

The third question seems like a downgrade “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

In the first two the word translated ‘truly love’ means Gods love for His people, in the third the word translated ‘love’ is a more personal love – affection and high regard.

This third one touches a nerve with Peter, no doubt as it was intended. His response shows it “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

“Feed my sheep” Jesus says, and the restoration and redemption of Peter’s denial is complete. He is back in the role that was intended for him.

Reminder

It is immediately followed by a reminder that Peter will still have to face his fear that led to the denial in the first place. He will still have to die for his beliefs. It may be a long way off, but it is definitely there. Then there’s the final command “Follow me”, which applies to us as much as to Peter.

God’s Plan B?

God’s plan is back on track. We talk a lot about God’s plan for our lives. Sometimes when we fail we fear we have lost the path that we were following. We talk, dejectedly, about following God’s plan B. I believe from looking at this story that there is no plan B. Everything that Peter has done, and the way the Jesus redeemed his failure is all part of plan A. Peter will be stronger for overcoming his failure, than if he had never failed. If nothing else he will have learnt something about the real nature of forgiveness.

For us, when we fail, sometimes it is not possible to restart the same work, that doesn’t imply that we are on plan B, simply that we never understood plan A. The experience will, if we listen to the Holy Spirit guide us in the path we should be taking.

Paul and his mission

Let’s now take a look at Paul’s story or Saul as he was then. Saul is a very different person to Peter. He is highly intelligent, highly trained, perhaps the greatest thinker of his generation. He is very enthusiastic, very dedicated, even driven. He doesn’t know when to stop. He didn’t need to get papers from the chief priests to track down and arrest the followers of the Way in another country. ‘The Way’ was what the disciples of Jesus called themselves. He was determined to wipe out this new ‘sect of the Nazarene’ as he would have called it. These believers in Jesus are a dangerous heresy and must be eliminated. He’s researched their beliefs, he knows exactly where they are wrong and how to bring them to trial and get them executed. That was Saul’s plan. So he gets a few supporters together and heads to Damascus, where he knows there is a large Jewish community.

Near Damascus

Four or five days later they are nearly there, the journey has been boring, no doubt, but the prize awaits! Suddenly he is surrounded by bright light from heaven and hears a voice “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul has no idea, but recognises the power and authority of the voice, so responds “Who are you, Lord?”

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

That can’t be, Jesus is dead. Saul knows that the people he is after claim that Jesus is alive, but dead men don’t talk, do they?

Saul is led into Damascus by his colleagues, because he has been blinded by the light. Once there he has plenty of time – three days – to reflect on the experience and pray about it. He is not distracted by food, drink, or the ability to see, he is in his own dark world, with just his thoughts and the nudging of the Holy Spirit.

Ananias

We must give Ananias a mention even though we know nothing about him other than what’s recorded here. He was clearly a devout Christian, and spent a lot of time listening to the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t it be lovely to hear from God as clearly as Ananias was able to, I bet that has taken years of practice.

He’s brave too. He walks into a situation, which, if he had misunderstood God’s message could easily have led to his death. Without his bravery and obedience, Paul would still be Saul, and the whole of Christian history would be different.

Saul recovers

After three days with no food or water Saul is weak. When Ananias lays hands on him, Saul is filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul’s priority then is to be baptized, which presumably was done by Ananias, as it does not appear there were any other believers present. A few days later, we read in verse 22 that Saul was getting “more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.”

Saul Redeemed

His murderous threats – his sin – has been redeemed by the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and he is on a new mission to bring the word of God to the Gentiles. Like so many that followed, Saul had set out to destroy Christianity, only to become one of it’s greatest proponents. Here are three others who tried the same thing (without the murderous threats)

Gilbert West (1703-1756)

Known as a poet, he set out to debunk the resurrection, instead he published ‘Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ’ (1747). On the fly-leaf he had the following printed: “Blame not before thou hast examined the truth.”

George Lyttelton (1709-1773)

Educated at Eton and Oxford, he set out to prove that Paul was not converted as the Bible states. Instead, he wrote ‘Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul (1747)’. In the introduction, he writes that the conversion of Saul is “a demonstration sufficient to prove Christianity to be a divine Revelation”

Albert Henry Ross (Frank Morison) (1881-1950)

Albert was a lawyer, journalist, novelist and sceptic. He is the author of “Who moved the stone”, which most of us have heard of, I’m sure.

Lessons of Saul

None of us, I hope, will go through an experience similar to Saul’s. His story, and those of the other three people I have just mentioned tells us that if we can get to just explain our faith, we can have an effect on people that we may never realise.

How many people had spoken to Saul, Gilbert, George, or Albert about their faith, before they started their investigations? They had to get the information from someone, before they decided to try to destroy Christendom.

I firmly believe that any inquiry into the faith, whatever the motive, can be enough for the inquirer to let Jesus into their lives. Then they too can have their ‘Redemption Sunday’ - their sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life.

Amen.

Field of Blue 2022

Towards the end of April, it is time to visit the bluebells once again.  Since my last visit in 2019, a lot has happened in the woods.  There has been a lot of thinning out and in some areas it doesn't look much like a wood, more like a wasteland.

I tried to generate a wide picture from three that I'd taken, but the scaling is all wrong, that's what you get for using an automatic camera, I guess. 

However, there are some good bluebells in other parts of the wood.  Here are two patches where the blue field can be easily seen.

This year, the wood anemones are still in bloom, so there are places where the white is more visible than the blue.

It's the first year in quite a while that we haven't had a dog to distract us on our walk, and it's the first year I've come without Jo, who is currently recovering from a calf strain.  That means I can combine the visit with my morning walk.

Unusually, it is morning and the light is different, so the bluebells look paler this year, or perhaps there's another explanation.

I tried a few close-ups, these are the best: 

Forget-me-nots also provide a field of blue, there are small clumps around the building, but none elsewhere.

I zoomed in to this little clump from quite a distance.

These were not drooped over, like most of the clumps, so it's a chance to get a close up and see how 'macro' mode is working.

I've been visiting Norsey Wood at this time of year almost every year since 2008, here's the original post https://3cephas-notes.blogspot.com/2008/05/field-of-blue.html.

Violence in the Crucifixion

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay, 15 April 2022 (Good Friday)

Reading John 18:1-19:42 (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is, perhaps, one of the most horrible ways that mankind has invented to kill someone. It is designed to be painful – very painful and slow. To cause as much suffering as humanly possible. This is the final act of violence that Jesus suffers on Good Friday, but there are many others also the way.

Where we are going

So, I’m going to look at the various acts of violence and calls for violence in the gospel reading and reflect a little on each of them. Human beings, it seems, have not changed. We hear of awful acts of violence every day. But maybe we should have, and we’ll look at that at the end.

Betrayal (18:3)

The betrayal is the first potentially violent act. Judas brings a detachment of soldiers. They are, of course, armed. It would be interesting to know what the chief priests and Pharisees were expecting. But here we get one of the main causes of violence – the soldiers are afraid of Jesus. They draw back, and become submissive. They have heard things about Jesus, but probably not the truth.

Let them go (18:8)

Jesus’s concern is that His disciples should not be arrested at the same time. This is to fulfil what He said in 6:39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me” and of course, if they are arrested they will not be there to build the church.

Ear (18:10)

In 18:10, Peter is the first perpetrator. He attacks one of the soldiers, Malchus, and cuts off his ear. Peter is his usual impulsive self and at this point has not really learnt much from Jesus. Only Luke, tells us that Jesus healed the wound. This one rash act could easily have led to an escalation, but the Roman soldiers are a disciplined force.

Arrest

Without further actual violence, the arrest is completed in 18:12. But use of force is there, it could so easily have gone another way.

Interrogation

Now we skip over Peter’s story and look at the so-called interrogation. In 18:22, we see the reaction of a brutal regime, to a simple, straight forward answer that does not fit their own narrative.

When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

This is not the Romans, this is one of the officials of the high priests.

Right of execution

The interrogation proves exactly what they had already decided it should prove. They have already judged Jesus and that justifies, in their own minds, that His death is necessary. They have a problem - the occupying force reserves the right to commit executions, presumably under penalty of death. So they have to plead and manipulate the system. They will end up denying their own beliefs to get their way.

Servants would fight

This leads to a further interrogation, where we learn from Jesus in 18:36, that His servants would fight, he says:

“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

Pilate is getting out of his depth, but at least he knows that this particular fight has been avoided.

Flogged / Crown of thorns

He has Jesus flogged in 19:1-3. That’s a default punishment, and he’s hoping it will be enough to get rid of the Jews. The soldiers have flogged many people, they know how far to go to cause serious pain and enough injury so that there is not too much permanent damage. While they’re at it, they might as well have a bit of fun – so there’s a crown of thorns and a royal robe. He is struck on the face again. After all it’s probably the first time they’ve flogged someone whose claims to be king were taken even slightly seriously.

Crucify!

In 19:6, Pilate brings Jesus to the chief priests to show what he has done, but it is not enough, and they shout for his death. “He’s broken our laws, He must die” they say.

Pilate is a politician, he has bigger things than one death to think about, the constant chants of “Crucify!” finally win the day.

Carrying the Cross

When we say “We all have our cross to bear”, I doubt we are thinking of such an extreme situation. Having been flogged, which would mainly damage the flesh on your back, and then being asked to carry two large pieces of wood, that you could barely lift when normally healthy, just adds to the sadistic approach of the death that Jesus endured. We know from the other gospels that this was too much for Jesus, and one of the crowd was forced to help out.

The Crucifixion and Death

The final act of violence is the crucifixion itself. John spares us the gory details, and concentrates on other things. Being nailed to the cross, having the cross dropped in the hole and then just hanging there, each breath causing pain, but your body compels you to take them.

With what Jesus had been through it is no surprise that he was already dead when the soldiers came to break His legs, so they didn’t bother, but to be sure they pierced his corpse. That leaves us with some important testimony, to prove his death.

Necessary

Experiencing all this suffering and violence was somehow necessary for Jesus to complete His mission. It is the only way that He can pay for our sins, and set us free from them. He went through it for us, that decision was made in Gethsemane the night before.

What has changed?

So, we have been put right with God and have access to him, you’d think that might make a difference to us. It’s there at the end of the reading from Isaiah:

he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD'S will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

But what has really changed for us?

It seems that the very early church, the generations immediately after these events, took non-violence seriously, and preferred to imitate Jesus’s sacrificial life. This must have led to many deaths. It was only after Constantine that the church developed concepts like “Holy War” and “just war”.

Today

Where do we stand today? After all we have heard, and the horrors brought to us in the daily news, what should our approach be

Have we overcome the fear?

Have we overcome the impulsiveness?

Have we overcome our sense of judgement?

Do we prioritise peace and life over getting our own way?

Tweet

I’d like to leave you with this tweet from the Rev. Benjamin Cremer

We want the war horse. Jesus rides a donkey.

We want the eagle. The Holy Spirit descends as a dove.

We want to take up swords. Jesus takes up a cross.

We want the roaring lion. God comes as a slaughtered lamb.

We keep trying to arm God. God keeps trying to disarm us.

Amen

Devotion

 Preached 3 April 2022 at Christ Church, Billericay

Video sermon here: https://youtu.be/q9xq9XPIVFI

Purpose: Are we as devoted as Mary? As the pilgrims?

Reading: Psalm 126; John 12:1-8

Introduction

I’m going to look at both passages, starting with the Psalm, and then look at a common theme that they both, at least, allude to.

Psalm 126 (ascents)

Psalms 120 to 134 are each labelled as ‘A song of ascents’. Some of them, including 126 that we are looking at today, are thought to be written by the returning exiles, but this is by no means guaranteed.

These songs, it is believed, were used on the long journey up the hills to Jerusalem that the people made three times a year, in accordance with the law in Deuteronomy 16.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: ¹⁷ Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.

Ascent

Jerusalem in on a hill, and it's a long way up. It is 803 metres / 2634 feet above sea level, but many of the pilgrims on the route would have come from Jericho and that’s below sea level −258 m (−846 ft). There was a Roman road that covered part of the journey, which would have made the climb easier, but remember they still have all their food and water, tents and gifts to carry.

Singing these Psalms would not only have helped them stay together, but also to stay focussed, and begin to get into the right spiritual mindset for the celebrations ahead.

Even today, on some Christian coach tours, these psalms are recited as the coach makes its way up the hills into the city. A poor imitation of the dedication of the Israelites, I’m sure, but better than nothing.

Psalm 126

Our Psalm this morning remembers the return from exile. It happened, relatively speaking, quite suddenly, as though it were happening in a dream, it didn’t feel quite real to them. One minute they are prisoners living in exile, the next they are going home.

Berlin Wall

The nearest modern equivalent is the fall of the Berlin Wall, when after 28 years, the city of West Berlin was once again part of the city of Berlin and families could cross freely to meet with each other. It all happened so suddenly, something that had no doubt been seen as a permanent fixture was not there any more. For us, I’m sure the TV pictures showing people dismantling it, helped us believe it, even then it didn’t seem quite real. What an amazing thing the Lord had done.

Return

Return from exile cannot have been easy, but seeing God at work rescuing them and bringing them back to His holy city meant that the difficulties were put out of their minds. The only thing that mattered was the celebration. The second stanza of 4 lines (in Hebrew) continues the theme of celebration, reminding the singers that the Lord has turned their tears of sorrow into joy.

John 12 – Intro to family

In our New Testament reading, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the passover. He arrives at Bethany, just a couple of miles outside Jerusalem, to stay with His friends – Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.

Jesus has stayed with them before, we have the story of the conflict between the sisters in Luke 10. Mary is only interested in listening to what Jesus has to say, while Martha is busy preparing the meal for Jesus and frustrated with her sister for her lack of involvement in the duty to her guests.

Lazarus resurrected

On another occasion, Jesus was sent for because Lazarus was sick, but by the time He arrived, Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. There were a lot of mourners there, and some of the crowd, knowing who Jesus was, were critical of Him for allowing His friend to die.

Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, he had been placed in – and out he walked! A lot of people saw what happened and put their faith in Jesus as a result. A side effect of this was that Lazarus became a bit of a celebrity.

Dinner (mood)

Now the family are hosting a dinner for Jesus. It is six days before the passover. His disciples know that He is going to Jerusalem. They also know that the Chief priests are looking for a way to kill Him. In John 11:16 Thomas has said “Let us go and die with him”, so the mood at the meal was not exactly light-hearted.

As usual, Martha serves the meal, and Lazarus, Jesus, and at least some of the disciples are reclining at the table. They are arranged in such a way that their feet are furthest from the table. What happens next is shocking.

Mary’s behaviour

Mary takes an expensive bottle of perfume – nard, breaks it and pours it over Jesus’s feet. Nard is a fragrant oil of light-reddish colour, derived from the spikenard plant. It is not grown in Israel, but imported, probably from east India. Because of the cost, it is often mixed with other cheaper oils, but John tells us that this was pure.

Pouring the oil over Jesus’s feet was one thing, but letting her hair down and wiping His feet with her hair was disgusting and border-line immoral behaviour. If I’d been there, I would have been thinking about having a chat with the safeguarding team. It’s just not an acceptable way to behave.

I would imagine that more than one of the disciples, reclining there, were feeling rather embarrassed and trying to work out what to say. Their nice dinner party in honour of Jesus has been ruined, they’d arrived with heavy hearts, and now this. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Judas objects – the value, the investment.

It’s Judas who breaks the silence. As treasurer of the group, he has a different take on what has just happened. He has already assessed the value of the gift that has been given. It’s worth about a year’s wages for a labourer - that’s equivalent to someone working full-time on minimum wage. That’s about £20,000. It may have been Mary’s life savings. It was common in those days to invest in something like good quality perfume, so it may never have been intended to be used, at all, when it was originally purchased.

Thief

John takes this opportunity to tell us that Judas was a thief, and that his motivation was not to provide for the poor, but to line his own pockets. But this is written after the event, after the death and resurrection of Jesus and the after coming of the Holy Spirit. They did not suspect Judas at the time. They simply considered him as someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Jesus

Jesus is unfazed by all of this, His focus is on what is to come, and the act that has just been performed.

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

Perhaps he sees this as a prophetic act, a hurried anointing now because there will not be time to do a proper job on his corpse when He dies. He certainly isn’t prepared to allow any criticism of her.

The poor

Neither should we ignore the plight of the poor, but we should recognise that just occasionally there are more important things happening than immediately addressing their need.

Our interpretation

It’s interesting and instructive to put ourselves in the room with Jesus, to ask ourselves how we would react. I’ve already expressed my initial shock at the events that occurred, I wonder what your thoughts were?

Devotion

On further reflection, though, I see Mary’s act as one of pure devotion and worship. We have seen her respond to Jesus like this before, when she upset her sister by simply sitting at Jesus’ feet and ignoring her duty. Now she has gone a step (or two) further and used her life savings (or her ‘pension pot’) to anoint Jesus as he comes to the most critical part of His ministry.

These acts are supposed to make us uncomfortable, they are supposed to make us reflect of the true value of things in the world. They are supposed to make us question our priorities, are we genuinely putting God first.

Pilgrimage

The Israelites leave their homes, their businesses, their old and infirmed loved ones three times a year to go to Jerusalem to worship God. They do it because they are devoted to Him. It may seem strange to us, but we have our own ways of showing our devotion, don’t we?

Or do we?

Think for a minute. Let’s ask ourselves, “How do I show my devotion to Jesus?”

Or do we just take God for granted too much? Are we too like Judas, knowing the price, but not the value?

Amen

 

 

References

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/devotion-to-the-lord-in-the-house-aubrey-vaughan-sermon-on-christian-love-134595

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/personally-anointing-christ-as-king-terry-laughlin-sermon-on-easter-palm-sunday-105226

https://thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney1/1-the-world-of-the-new-testament-journeys-b/major-jewish-religious-festivals/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Songs-of-Ascent.html

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

https://www.israelanswers.com/blog/going-jerusalem

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

https://www.israelanswers.com/blog/going-jerusalem

https://www.wherewebe.com/index_2013_05-31a_jerusalem_ascent.html

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/bible-glossary/nard/

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/lazarus-raised-from-the-dead-bible-story.html

https://biblehub.com/topical/n/nard.htm