Sir, we wish to see Jesus

Even before the birth of Jesus, God sent prophets into the world to call God’s people into repentance and a renewed covenant. The Prophet Jeremiah lived and worked in the late seventh century BC, the last years the Kingdom of Judah existed as an independent nation. When Judah was conquered by Babylon, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, and the people carried off into exile. Jeremiah reminds the people that even though they have broken the original covenant with God, that not only will God not forsake them, but God will create and establish a new Covenant with them.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

God continued to love his people, to give them another opportunity. This time the covenant God makes is given to the nation as a whole and the people individually. God is preparing them to survive as Children of God in a foreign land, and to eventually return to Judah, rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple and to proclaim God’s love and mercy. God continues to put love into our hearts, preparing us to give that love away, because it is in giving that we receive.

A major part of Jesus’ life was to pass on the prophets’ teaching which is recorded in Leviticus and Deuteronomy: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:36-40)

As Jesus carried out the mission for which God sent Him into the world, preaching and living the two great commandments, he became known throughout the Mediterranean area. People had heard of him and his teachings: many wanted to know him, while others wanted to avoid him completely and some wanted to eliminate this “troublemaker.” We pick up the story as Jesus and his disciples are going up to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

“Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.” (John 12:20-21)

Those Greeks who wanted to know Jesus gave him an opportunity to proclaim who he was, not only to them, but to all around him, and through the writer of the Gospel of John to us as well. Jesus also told them and us what we must do to have a life with God’s Covenant written on our hearts.

 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” (John 12:23-26)

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say— ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. . . Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:27-33)

Can we do what Jesus asked us to do? Not alone, not with our strength only. But the Psalmist reminds us how we can do so: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me. Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit. (Psalm 51:11-13)

In Order that the Whole World Might be Saved through Him

Several years ago, I preached a sermon on the following “simple and straightforward” passage. This sermon almost and ultimately led to my “resignation” from the church I was serving. I invite you to read this scripture, which is vital to our faith as Christians, and in my opinion “not as simple and as straight forward as most of us believe or would like.” 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. . .” (John 3:16-21) 

We all know and love John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” I chose to focus on the next portion of this important but complicated piece of scripture: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” 

Before elaborating on these verses, I suggested that this passage, and the Bible itself, was dangerous and should contain the same warning as a pack of cigarettes, “Using this product could be hazardous to your health.” My intent was positive, that “the Bible contains many truths, some of which we do not want to hear or follow.” That was not how it was received, and what people heard, coupled with my emphasis on “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that “the whole world might be saved” turned out to be my undoing. 

True, the passage goes on to proclaim that “those who do not believe in the name of Jesus are condemned already,” but my belief and proclamation was that God was bigger than any human being or any religion and that God sending Jesus into the world so that the whole world might be saved, meant just that, “that the whole world, all people, might be saved.” 

I know that there is an important Christian tradition that only through Jesus can we be saved, and I understand and believe that. I also believe that God sending Jesus into the world that the whole world should be saved, does just that, whether a person believes in or even knows Jesus. God is so much more powerful than our knowledge and beliefs. My whole point of the sermon was that “God’s ways are not our ways and that God can and will do more than we can ever ask or imagine.” As St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:12-13) 

Sadly things did not turn out as I had hoped and prayed: people left after the sermon and before communion in tears; I spent a month meeting with individuals who questioned my faith and suggested that Satan was supplying my sermon material. Ultimately, I was called before the Vestry, the governing body of an Episcopal Church, and within a year my salary was cut by $10,000 per year and I retired on the spot. 

I pray you readers will join me in believing that God is bigger and more merciful than we are and that Jesus truly did “come into the world that the whole world might be saved.” 

I once wanted a simple faith, one which gave me all the answers. What God gave me instead was an exciting faith, a faith with more questions than answers, and a faith filled with joy for the journey. 

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 219)

 

 

 

Return to the Lord your God

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.” (Joel 2:15-16)

When a Hebrew Prophet makes a proclamation such as Joel does here, you know something important, something life changing is happening. The prophet doesn’t call just the adult males, or the wise, or married couples. He wants everybody and he wants them

to gather NOW: the aged and the infirm; the children including babies at the breast; the bride and groom, right in the middle of the ceremony and honeymoon, to stop what they are doing and show up, right this minute!

This is, the opening reading and proclamation of Ash Wednesday Worship in many Christian communities. A proclamation that calls people to prayer and introspection, that calls us to look at our lives: the good, the bad and the ugly; to recognize our mortality and to repent of our sins and commit to a new beginning of our lives in relationship to God and to our fellow human beings.

Joel reminds us, “even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him.” (Joel 2:12-14)

The reading of scripture is followed by the following prayer by the minister:

“Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to you a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 265)

The ashes are then imposed on those who desire with the following words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The most powerful experience of this sacrament for me was when I made an Ash Wednesday visit to a family with a four day old new born and imposed ashes on all of them. What a life changing

experience of the presence of God for all of us when I rubbed ashes on the forehead of this beautiful infant, with all the hopes of his parents for the new life in front of him, and told him that he was mortal and would not only live, but would one day die. We were all reminded that whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord and because of that we belong to each other and we are all vital members of God’s Creation

I leave you with a prayer: “Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins. . .may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 264)

In the Beginning

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5) 

The writer of the Gospel of John begins his story with some of the most powerful words ever written. The words were intended to catch the attention of the hearers. Faithful Jews in what we have come to know as the first century A.D. or the Common Era, would have stopped, looked and listened because they would have immediately heard in their minds the beginning of the first book of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis, and known what they were about to hear would be vitally important, would change their lives forever. 

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (Genesis 1:1-5) 

The similarities are astounding and not accidental: the Presence of God, wind, word, spirit; the contrast between light and darkness and the fact that the light would always win, would always overcome the darkness, no matter what. 

Throughout history, the Prophets of God had proclaimed that light would always conquer darkness, that life would always overcome death and that God’s people would always be the light of the world. 

John was proclaiming to anyone who would listen, that the promise given to the Jews in Genesis six hundred to one thousand years before the birth of Jesus were just as true in their day as they were then. Every year at the Nativity of our Lord when we hear and remember these words, we are reminded that they are also as true for us today as they were when Jesus came into the world as fully human as we are. His life was the light of God, and John tells us, the light of the people as well, the light of human beings like us. That light shines from God through us, and the darkness of the world has not and will not overcome it. 

As I write this on January 1, 2021, we have just come through a year that brought sickness and death, war and destruction, loneliness and isolation, anger and fear and hatred between nations and political parties and within families. I need to hear, I must hear this message again. Many of us have lost friends and family members to Covid-19. Many of us are estranged from friends and family due to disagreements over who should lead our nation and how we should be led. We are frustrated because we still cannot attend worship in person due to fear of being infected or of infecting others. At times like these it is much easier to see the darkness than the light. It is even possible to believe or fear, no matter how strong our faith. that the darkness may, in fact overcome the light. 

And just in time, the annual cycles and patterns of our faith call us to stop, look and listen. We are called by God and our community to slow down, to breath, and to hear, as I learned in Sunday School, “the old, old story of Jesus and his love.” 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5) 

John Continues: 

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.”(John 1:18) 

As I like to begin my Sermons: “God give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts that can be touched.” May God guide us to join Jesus in being the light of the World.

The Child to be born will be Holy

 No, it’s still not Christmas, but as we move closer and closer and John the Baptist and his “brood of vipers,” fade into the background we hear the story a young woman, an angel and the Holy Spirit. It is a time of mystery and wonder and confusion, of hope and perplexity, of expectation, worry and perhaps a little fear. Emotions which are not unlike those that have faced expectant mothers and fathers throughout all time. Let’s listen in. 

“…the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The Angel said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God...For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word…’” (Luke 1:26-38) 

This story has been shared from generation to generation and is full of mystery and poetry. It is a powerful story out of which more than a few questions arise for many of us. Whatever happened, it changed our world. How it happened, which we will never know exactly, is not as important as the questions asked and promises made, both by Mary and the Angel. The Angel assures Mary that she is favored by God and that God is in fact with her. That’s a good start, but Mary still wonders what kind of greeting this can be, and probably, ‘why me?’ After assuring Mary that there is nothing to be afraid of (yeah, right) Gabriel simply explains that she is about to conceive and give birth to the ‘Son of the Most High (God). 

Mary then asks, ‘how can this be since I am a virgin?’ Under the circumstances, this is a reasonable question. Gabriel’s answer is the most powerful proclamation in the Gospel, whether one takes this story literally, metaphorically or is simply confused by it. 

The Angel answers, “THE CHILD TO BE BORN TO YOU WILL BE HOLY; HE WILL BE CALLED SON OF GOD.” 

As we approach the Nativity of our Lord, the Birth of Jesus, what matters most is not how he was conceived, or whether we can or ever will understand the how. What matters is the answer Gabriel gave to Mary, ‘your son will be Holy, He will be called the Son of God!’ 

For when we proclaim on Christmas, “Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her King,” we are shouting out to the whole world the same message the Angel gave to Mary, “He is Holy, He is called the Son of God.” 

And like Mary, may we also proclaim, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

The Voice of one Crying out in the Wilderness

There have always been prophets in the world, and wherever there are prophets, there are rumors and questions. Who are they? Why are they here? And perhaps the most searching and desperate question: Really? Really? Is this person truly a prophet? The man we call John the Baptist was one such person about whom these and other questions were asked. 

Scripture tells us that, “John was a man sent from God. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.” (John 1:6-8) 

Even so “church and state” leaders of Israel sent representatives to find the truth. Who are you they asked? Are you the Messiah, Elijah, the prophet?” To all these questions, John answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you?” 

John answered “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.” The priests and Levites then asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”(John 1:19-28)

 

John the Baptist knew that the prophet we call Second Isaiah was sent to proclaim the

restoration of Israel in the sixth century B.C., to make a spiritual path in the desert for God’s 

people to find their way home from Exile in Babylon and to prepare for the rebuilding of 

Jerusalem and the Temple. John was called to do the same for the Messiah, the one God was to 

send into the world to restore all people and all nations to a right relationship with God and with 

one another. John knew he was not the Messiah, that his message was tilling the soil, preparing the land and hearts to receive the seed of salvation from the one upon whom. . . .

 

“The spirit of the Lord God is, the one who has been anointed by the Lord; who has been sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. . .and to comfort all who mourn.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

 

This is the hope for which we are preparing, the light which will come into the world and overcome the darkness and the darkness will never, ever extinguish it. (John 1:5)

 

Lift up your Voice with Strength

"Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid. . .” (Isaiah 40:1-2)                                                                                                                        

Five hundred and thirty-eight years (give or take a year or two) before John the Baptist “proclaimed the way of the Lord in the wilderness,” the unknown prophet we call “Second Isaiah” proclaimed the restoration of Israel from captivity in Babylon.

 

        The Prophet cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

 

The prophecy continues, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” (Isaiah 40:6-11)

 

The pastoral imagery of God lovingly feeding and gently leading his people must have been a comfort to people returning to the unknown after sixty years as strangers in a foreign land. Truly this prophecy represents the restoration of Israel after her long exile. The people will be allowed to go back home, to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and their Temple. They will rebuild their identity as a people in relationship to one another and to their God.

 

Over five hundred years later Mark records John the Baptist using similar words and actions to proclaim the Advent of Jesus and God’s continuing love and desire to and lead us as a Good Shepherd.

 

“’The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;’ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ John proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” (Mark 1:1-3, 7-8)

 

Both of these events, as well as many in between reveal God’s glory, reveal God’s love and care for God’s people. As we know from the Bible, ‘bad things happen to good people.’ These two powerful events demonstrate God’s love for all people in good times and bad, ‘in season and out of season.”

The Psalmist says it much better than can I. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” (Psalm 23)