Presented to Swift Current Corps on December 27, 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
To view the October 26, 2014 version of this sermon, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/10/luke-221-39-harold-harold-and-jesus.html
Those of you who know Rebecca know that she reads a lot of books. She loves reading. The other day she shared with us a short chapter book that she read in school. I believe it is called ‘Harold and Harold’ but I could find no record of it on-line – it is a Canadian book anyway. I believe that it is set on the east coast. There is a family. The father is a fisherman. They live by an area of the ocean that can be particularly treacherous for boats in a storm near a place called Ledgy Island. One day – as I understand the story having only heard it second hand – a young boy named Harold and his pet parrot, who is also named Harold, get up early. The boy Harold goes to play in the attic and the parrot Harold flies to the dangerous Ledgy Island. As the other members of the family wake up and get going for the day a family member calls out, “where’s Harold?” and the voice from the attic replies, “on Ledgy Island” – the parents start to panic. There is a storm brewing and Ledgy Island is a very dangerous place in the storm so they call out the search parties to look for him on and off the island, they call all their relatives, they call the RCMP, they call the coast guard, they call everyone they can think of to help find Harold the boy whom they fear must be lost in the storm. Now of course, it is Harold the bird who did leave for the island but arrived there without incident: he is fine. The community is searching high and low for Harold the boy however, who never did leave the safety of his own home. At some point during the day, Harold the boy, who is playing in the attic hears all the noise as the searchers are gathering below and decides to come down and check it out – it sounds like a party – he walks into the midst of everyone and no one notices him. He sees people watching TV with his face on the TV, he sees the RCMP running around the living room. He sees people everywhere and He sees neighbours bringing over food and Harold figures this definitely must be a party. He stays in the middle of all this activity as – unbeknownst to him – everyone is looking for him and then Harold notices that everyone looking and sounding sad. Nobody is having fun at this party. Some people are crying; nobody looks happy so he pipes up in the middle of this crowd and says, “Some party this is!” It is only then – when they take a break from what they were doing that they see what is right in front of their eyes and they notice that Harold is actually standing in their midst – He was never really lost.
This is not unlike the world and 1st century Israel with the Advent of Jesus. The Israelites, the priests and the Pharisees were actively looking for their Messiah (Cf. Matthew 11:1-11 and Luke 23); they were actively looking for the Christ who would deliver them from the evils of oppression (Cf. Psalms of Solomon 17-18 and Genesis 49:10; Psalm 22; Isaiah 6:9-10; 7:14; 9:5-7; 40:2-5; 53:1-12; 61:1-3; Micah 5:2; Hosea 11:1; etc.).[1] Israel in Palestine had been militarily occupied by a number of different countries now for much, much, much longer than it was ever an independent united Kingdom. They were constantly looking for the leader who would deliver the people from the consequences of their sins – which is exactly what a number of the prophets said would lead to this occupation (Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, etc.; see also Leviticus 26:14-46).
Israel under the Maccabees had earlier successfully rebelled gaining temporary independence from their previous occupiers (140-37 BCE), the Selucid Greeks, because of the desecration of the Temple (The Second or Herodian Temple; cf. Ezra 6:3-4; 1 Esdras 6:24-25; Ant. 11.4.6; 99; Apion 1.22,198-99; cf. also 1 Maccabees 4.36-51 and Antiquities 12.317-18). And after the death and resurrection of Christ, some Israelites would launch a serious revolt against the Roman occupiers who, being the world’s foremost superpower, put it down in the violent ways that superpowers tend to put down revolts, resulting in the ultimate destruction of the new Temple (70 AD).
Even at the time that Jesus was alive, people were actively looking for someone who would be their deliverer, their Messiah. There were failed revolts. They even asked John the Baptist if he was the Messiah (Mathew 11:1-11).[2] Remember? There were four primary religious classifications of Judaism at this time (Five, if you include the political Herodians; see Matthew 22:5-22; Mark 3:6; 8:15; 12:13-17). There were the Pharisees who were evangelistic and believed in the resurrection (see Philippians 3:4-6, re: Paul and John 3, re: Nicodemus);[3] there were the Sadducees who did not (see Luke 20:27-40; Acts 4:1-2, 5:17-18, 23:6-10); there were the Essenes and there were the Zealots or the fourth philosophy (cf. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.23ff. See also Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:8; Luke 6:15; John 18:14; Acts 1:3). This last group advocated a violent overthrow of Rome.[4] Members of their group (the Sicarii) would walk around crowded marketplaces in the occupied territory looking for their mark much like suicide bombers today. They would then pull out a concealed dagger, kill their target and try to escape into the crowds.[5] Israel was occupied. Israel was looking for its deliverer. The deliver arrived in the midst of all this activity of people looking for him – and like Harold’s searchers - many didn’t even realise he was there (cf. Isaiah 1:3).[6] They were too busy focussing on the problems of their day and chasing their own Harold the parrot to notice and herald the King who has arrived in their midst.
In our own world today this happens a lot as well. There is no excuse for not recognizing our saviour, however. Paul says in Romans 1:20-22:
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
When Paul was speaking (or writing) these words he was speaking to a people who did not necessarily know as much about God and certainly did not know Christ in the way that our culture does today.[7] Paul says that even they are without excuse. How much more are we without excuse when we do not see Christ in the midst of the chaos going on? There are wars. There are rumours of wars. There are more wars than ever before in our world with all the death and destruction that come with them. If I recall correctly, in the decade of the 1990s after the Berlin Wall fell there were more wars than in the entire 20th century before then. The scriptures tell us that there will be wars and there will be rumours of wars (Matthew 24:6, Mark 13:7). In the scriptures, in the Pentateuch, in Genesis it records how even the Canaanites who brought destruction upon themselves through their wickedness were graciously saved for an extra 400 years (during which time they presumably had the opportunity to repent) before they received the due penalty for their wickedness. God had extended them 400 years of patience and grace before destroying them because they had not reached the full extent of their wickedness (Genesis 15:16).[8]
The English speaking empire which is now controlled firmly by Washington really started to come into its own 400 years ago and we don’t have to look too far to see how we seem to be ignoring Christ in our midst and foolishly turning to pride, wealth, and violence instead as ways to seek our own salvation. How much more patience will God have with us? When will we finally have reached the full extent of our wickedness (Cf. Genesis 15:16)? When will He return from the attic to our living room here and tell us to stop it? Societally, when will we stop chasing parrots of Christ and just notice that he is right here in our attic waiting for just the right time to return to the living rooms of our lives? Individually have you and I, have we stopped and looked and noticed that Jesus is standing in our midst - or are we just bemoaning the state of the world like the searchers in the story of ‘Harold and Harold’ weeping at the tragedies on the TV.
This is what the world was like when Simeon and Anna stopped, looked up and noticed that the Messiah had arrived (Luke 2:25-38). This is interesting because Jesus didn’t exactly sneak into the world. There were angels and shepherds (Luke 2:8-20; Matthew 1:18-25) and stars and Magi (Matthew 2:1-13) but even before the Magi we have this scene in our text today, Mary and Joseph bring their son to be presented at the Temple (Luke 2:22).
Now the temple is in Jerusalem and we remember that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7; Matthew 2:5,6) and Jerusalem was roughly 8 km west of Bethlehem. It wasn’t that far. Nazareth – where they lived - on the other hand was up to 140 km and up to a week’s walk away.[9] Mary and Joseph stay in the Bethlehem/Jerusalem area for the forty days until they are purified as per Jewish custom; (Leviticus 12:1-5; cf. re circumcision Genesis 17:12)[10]; they then go down to present Jesus to the temple to dedicate Jesus and pay their fees (see Numbers 18:15, 1 Samuel 1:24-28; see also Exodus 13:2,11-16).[11] It is interesting too that there is a discount rate for those who can’t afford the full purification price (Leviticus 12:6-8)[12] – Mary and Joseph pay the discounted rate.[13] They must have just been one couple of many in the outer courtyard of the temple that day with their child when by the power of the Holy Spirit, Simeon and Anna notice that the Messiah is standing in their midst.[14]
Luke 2:25-33:Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
The child's father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
Simeon, who was righteous and devout, was waiting for the Saviour of his people and the Holy Spirit revealed to him that he had arrived (Luke 2:26). God brought Simeon into the outer courts of temple[15] and revealed to him Jesus who was among all the other people young and old who were there that day (Luke 2:27). And the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon as well that this saviour who is before him would be for the glory of Israel but he would in no way be limited by that (Luke 2:31-32; see Isaiah 42:12, 49:13, 57:18, 60:1-3, 61:2, Zechariah 8:20-23).[16] Indeed he would be a light unto the Gentiles (Luke 2:32; Acts: 13:47; Isaiah 49:6; cf. Matthew 4:16; Luke 17:24; John 1:4-9, 3:19-21, 5:35, 8:12, 9:5, 11:9-10, 12:36, 12:46; Acts 26:23; Romans 2:18; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 4:4-6; Ephesians 4-5; Colossians 1:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:5; 1 Timothy 6:16…). Jesus is saviour of the world (Luke 2:30-32). In the midst of the busyness of the Temple, in the courtyard, in all that is going on Simeon listens to the Holy Spirit and notices the bringer of his salvation who is right in front of him.
Anna too, Luke 1:36-38:There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Anna spent day and night at the Temple worshipping God (Luke 1:37). She sees Simeon with the child and recognizes what the Lord is doing. She sees in her midst the Christ child and immediately she thanks God and she shares the good news of our salvation with everyone she finds there (looking for the redemption of Israel; Luke 1:38).
Today, on this Sunday after Christmas, we are called to be like Simeon and like Anna. The Lord has revealed to us through His Holy Spirit Christ our Lord. All we need to do is look up and see that today in essence Christ is here standing in our midst and then when we see him we must like Anna go forth and proclaim his salvation to all who will hear us. It is my prayer today that we will all look up, like the party around Harold, like Simeon, and like Anna. It is my prayer that today we will all look up and recognize that our Salvation is at hand. Jesus truly is standing in our midst.
Let us pray.
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[1] Cf. Ralph P. Martin, ‘Messiah’ in Holman Bible Dictionary, Editor, Trent C. Butler, (Holman Bible Publishers: Nashville, Tenn., 1991), pp. 592-597.
[2] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Are You The One To Come Or Should We Expect Someone Else? (Matthew 11:1-11)’ presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on December 16, 2007. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/are-you-one-to-come-or-should-we-expect.html and 'Luke 23: Who do you say He is?' Presented to the Community Good Friday Service in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/04/luke-23-who-do-you-say-he-is.html
[3] Paul, Timothy and Nicodemus were all Pharisees. For a good argument about Timothy as a Pharisee see Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: John Knox Press: Louisville, Ken., 1990), 37.
[4] Cf. The Radical Reformation, ‘Four Types of Judaism at the Time of Jesus’. Available on-line at: http://www.theradicalreformation.com/media/audio/worldview%20class/lecture%2010%20--%20five%20types%20of%20judaism%20at%20the%20time%20of%20Jesus.pdf
[5] Cf. Clayton Harrop, ‘Jewish Parties in the New Testament’ in Holman Bible Dictionary, Editor, Trent C. Butler, (Holman Bible Publishers: Nashville, Tenn., 1991), pp. 791-794.
[6] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 63.
[7] Cf. James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), xiv.
[8] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘When God is Bound: a look at Genesis 15:7-21’ in the Journal of Aggressive Christianity’, Issue 52. (December 2007-January 2008), pp. 5-9.
[9] Cf. Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/II. Birth and Childhood Narratives (1:5-2:52)/C. Jesus' Early Years (2:21-52)/1. Presentation of Jesus in the temple (2:21-40), Book Version: 4.0.2
[10] Cf. R.C.H. Lenski, Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel (Augsburg Publishing house: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1946), 141.
[11] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 63: the purification rite did not need to be performed at the temple. Cf. Fred B. Craddock, 38. Luke combines the two separate regulations: the purification of the mother and dedication of the firstborn son. There is no mention here of Mary and Joseph redeeming their son but cf. Nehemiah 10:35-36. This is reminiscent of Samuel (cf. 1 Sam 1:24-28, 2:20-22). Cf. R.C.H. Lenski, pp. 142-143 re: the dedication rite and its roots in the Exodus
[12] Cf. William Hendricksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), 164 and Hendricksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007),301 Footnote 290.
[13] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/II. Birth and Childhood Narratives (1:5-2:52)/C. Jesus' Early Years (2:21-52)/1. Presentation of Jesus in the temple (2:21-40), Book Version: 4.0.2: Luke, conflating the performance of these OT obligations into this single narrative, shows how Jesus was reared in conformity with them. His parents obeyed the Lord (1:31) in naming him. The offering of birds instead of a lamb shows that he was born into a poor family. Perhaps this helped him identify with the poor of the land (cf. 6:20).
[14] Cf. R.C.H. Lenski, 147.
[15] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, 39, where he argues that this scene must have taken place in the outer courts because women were not allowed in the inner courts.
[16] Cf. Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Notes to Luke/Luke 2 Notes/Luke Note 2:25, Book Version: 4.0.2. Note on 25: The "consolation [paravklhsi", paraklesis] of Israel" refers to the time when, according to Isa 40:12, God would end Israel's time of alienation and suffering through the advent of the Messiah
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Luke 1:46-56: Christmas is Coming
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 20 December 2009, 21 Dec 2014
By Captain Michael Ramsay
To read the revised 2014 version click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/12/luke-146-56-christmas-is-coming-2014.html
Advent, as we have said before, is a time of waiting. We are waiting for Christmas to come. Advent is when we remember the first coming of Christ and we are also awaiting the second coming of Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). One of the key elements of our wait (or of any wait for that matter) is faith (see Matthew 17:20 and Hebrews 11:6). Whenever we wait for something we have to have faith that it is worth the wait. I don’t know about you but more than once I have not gone through a drive through, not made a deposit at the bank, or not picked up that one item at the store because I didn’t want to wait in a long line; I did not have faith that the item I was getting was worth the wait in the line-up. With that in mind, as we wait for Christmas, I thought we could start off by looking at some definitions of Faith:
There is the classic definition from Hebrews of course. Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Martin Luther says: “Faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits, our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly.”[1]
The ultimate example of faith that I found in my research was this: Faith is a belief in the seemingly impossible. Faith is a belief in what the natural man only sees to be impossible. Faith is a belief that you will come home and find that your children have cleaned their rooms or done the dishes all on their own.
Actually, they recently conducted a global fictitious survey on faith and found out that some of the people with the most faith in the whole world actually live in Canada. They are a group of people mostly found in the Toronto area – though they do live elsewhere in Canada (I have actually known one or two of these people with unfathomable faith). They are known as the Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Holding onto that thought-defying belief that they will win the cup again before Christ returns. They may have a long wait but Christmas is coming; it is Advent season now and waiting is what Advent is all about.
The Toronto definition of faith actually has something to do with the Biblical definition though: “The Greek word, which is translated as faith, is pistis (noun) and believe, is translated from pistevo (verb). The word believe (Greek verb "pistevo"), according to Strong's Greek Dictionary, means: to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust, (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ.) believe, commit, (to trust), put in trust with.”[2] It is to adhere to, to trust in, to rely on.
Prominent theologians James Dunn and Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, drive home the point in many articles and books that faith isn’t just a vague idea of or belief in something. Faith is an action word. Faith and faithfulness are forever intertwined.[3] One cannot say they love God and not show it by loving their neighbour (Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 10:27, 18:18-29). If you have faith in Him, you will be faithful and even when we are unfaithful, Christ’s faithfulness makes our faith(fullness) possible (Romans 3:3,4, see also Genesis Romans 1:16-17, Romans 2:1-16, Hebrews 11). It is the faithfulness of Christ that led to humanity’s salvation. Faith is an action and the action of faith during Advent is waiting. Christmas is coming.
In our story today something very interesting is happening (Luke 1:46-56). A couple of weeks ago we read about how Zechariah found out that his wife Elisabeth (who was barren up to that point in time) is now – in her old age! – going to have a baby (Luke 1:5-25, 68-79; see also Genesis 11:30, 17:15ff and 1 Samuel 1).[4] And now Mary, a much younger relative of Elisabeth’s, has also found out that she is going to have a baby (Luke 1:26-38). It was amazing that Elisabeth is going to have a baby because Elisabeth is barren and well into her old age (Luke 1:35) but it is even more amazing that Mary is going to have a baby not because Mary is old and barren because she isn’t. She is quite young. She is actually a teenager but young Mary – who is now pregnant – young Mary has never been with a man in that way (see Luke 1:34).
Now, of course, we remember that the angel Gabriel came to visit both sets of soon to be expectant parents to tell them that they were going to each be starting a family soon and it is interesting as well that Gabriel visits Mary specifically before she is ‘overshadowed’ by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Mary believes the angel; she consents to this. She is honoured to be considered righteous (Luke 1:38). Then the angle even gives Mary a sign that all he has told her will actually happen. Gabriel tells Mary about Elisabeth. He tells Mary that Elisabeth too will be having a child. Mary in her excitement rushes to meet her much older relative and share her good news with Elisabeth (Luke 1:39-40). Elisabeth greets her (Luke 1:41-45) and our text that we are looking at today is Mary’s reply to Elisabeth’s greeting when she does arrive.
Actually before we start getting into the heart of this passage, does anyone remember a couple of weeks ago when we looked at Zechariah’s prophecy (Luke 1:68-79)? It is called the ‘Benedictus’. Does anyone remember why it is called the Benedictus? (Because that is the first word of this passage in Latin.)[5] Does anyone know what the passage we are looking at today is called? (Magnificat) Does anyone know why it is called the Magnificat? (Because that is the first word of this passage in Latin.)
Now let’s look at the passage – it is interesting. Mary has just been greeted at the door by her older relative and this is Mary’s greeting to Elisabeth:
46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for He has been mindful
of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
Holy is His name.
She speaks about how good the Lord has been to her. She talks about how greatly she has been blessed by the Lord who is her Saviour. She speaks about how He has been mindful of someone such as her. This is neat. This is important that Mary is here praising God.
Mary, the mother-to-be of Jesus, is a teenager in the occupied territory in Palestine at the time of this story. Mary wasn’t married when she found out she was going to be with child. Mary’s partner in today’s vernacular, her husband-to-be, had never been with her in that way: they have never consummated their relationship.[6] Mary had never been with anyone in that way.[7] Can you imagine what people in that day and age would think of Mary who was pregnant without being married? If you were her husband-to-be or if you were her parents what would you think if your teenage daughter came home and told you she was about to have a baby? In those days she could have received the death penalty for that.[8] Mary also wasn’t a wealthy woman and the children’s play that we watched last week also highlighted a very significant detail in the Christmas story – nine months from now, right when Mary is to have this baby, she and Joseph are supposed to load up a pack animal and walk all the way from Nazareth in Galilee down to Bethlehem in Judea to enroll in a census for the purpose of paying their taxes and they are to walk and/or ride on their pack animal all of this distance when Mary is very, very pregnant (Luke 2:1-7). I don’t know how many women here would like to hike from here down to Regina either by foot or on the back of a donkey when they are nine months pregnant and about to give birth?
Mary was a humble peasant girl who wasn’t yet married but was already with child in a time when she could be stoned to death for being found in this condition prior to marriage and she was anticipating a very long journey by foot or on the back of a donkey right around the time she is supposed to give birth, Luke 1:46-49, “And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— Holy is His name.’” Mary in this state finds herself blessed. Many friends and acquaintances of mine around town – there are quite a few of us - who have real troubles around this time of year as Christmas is coming; how blessed do we feel? The lead up to Christmas is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost overwhelming, do we –like Mary- consider ourselves blessed?
I know that there are people in this city and this congregation who are going through some really difficult times. I have heard stories recently in our city of addiction struggles, of custody battles, of illness, and life and death battles. I have heard of direct demonic attack. There is a family that has just been broken apart that I know in town who because of restraining orders can’t even see each other when they transfer their children from one home to another – they have a tragically but aptly called ‘broken family’ and Christmas is coming. Both parents will not be spending Christmas with their children - one will have to miss out but Christmas is still coming. One of the ladies who works at our Thrift Store the other week lost her home in a fire. As far as I know she, her husband, and their two very young children lost all of their belongings in the fire. They lost everything and Christmas is coming. This is Advent and Advent is a time of waiting for Christmas. This Christmas will be a very different one than the one they were waiting for just a few weeks ago but Christmas is still coming. I wonder how blessed they feel. How about us? The lead up to Christmas is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost overwhelming, do we –like Mary - consider ourselves blessed?
Mary continues her greeting to Elisabeth praising God in her circumstances this way. Luke 1: 50-55, of God she says:
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
Mary in the midst of all that she is in the midst of, Mary speaks about God’s mercy to all who fear Him (Luke 1:50); she remembers that He performs mighty deeds with His arm (Luke 1:51). She praises God for remembering to be faithful to his covenant to Abraham that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him (Luke 1:55, see Genesis 12:3). She praises God for remembering His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. She praises God who faithfully fulfills his covenant to Abraham and Israel even though they – even though we – were faithless over and over again (Romans 3:3,4). Mary’s life is not easy. And Christmas is coming. Her son will be born after a long walk away from home and laid in a manger, an animal’s feeding trough. Her son will grow up and eventually suffer a State execution at the hands of her country’s occupiers and at the urging or her own religious leaders – Christmas is coming.
There is another interesting part of Mary’s song of praise. There is another part of the Magnificat that I think merits attention here and that refers to either just before, just after, or at the very moment when Jesus comes back. We have spoken briefly about Christmas and waiting for the birth of the Messiah, the incarnation of Christ but we are also waiting for Jesus to come back. Mary says that at that time – when he returns the rulers of this age will be brought down (Luke 1:52). There will be no more corrupt politicians. There will be no more ‘in and out’ election fraud scandals; there will be no more bribery scandals or tampering with tapes like with the Grewal and Cadman affairs. There will be no more handing people over to be tortured. There will be no corporate or media or popularity contest control over our nation. We will not have Prime Ministers answering to accusations over things like airbus or sponsorship scandals or Presidents in our world in trouble over imaginary weapons of mass destruction or who pick up peace prizes en route to escalating wars against some of the poorest people on earth. The rulers of our age – it says in verse 52 – the rulers of our age will be brought down from their thrones. Corrupt Presidents and dishonest Prime Ministers will be replaced by the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful (Isaiah 9:6-7).
We will no longer be subservient to brutal economic systems and corporate leadership in which one man get rich as over 25 000 children die every day and where today nearly 1 billion people have not even been taught how to read a book when the Lord has provided more than enough recourses for the whole world to be fed and clothed and otherwise taken care of many, many, many times over.[9] These systems and oppression will end. The rulers of this world will be brought low. We will no longer see a situation where people become millionaires for appearing on a screen or playing baseball while others cannot afford to clothe themselves in our world. In our world today there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the United States, pornography revenue is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2 billion) Child pornography alone generates $3 billion annually.[10] (A small percentage of this will feed and clothe the world.) The rulers of our world who oversee all of this will be brought down.
This will come to an end. The rulers of this age will be brought low and so will the rich who profit from all this, it says. Whether we are wealthy from sports, pornography, or banking, or business, or…it says these rich will be sent away empty (Luke 1:53).
The greatest in this world shall become the least and the least shall become the greatest. Jesus is the great equalizer. When he comes back those in power and luxury (which may be many of us here) will experience His justice and those who are hungry and humbled here will be lifted up and be fed.
This is the second coming. As we do our bit to be like the sheep in Matthew’s parable of the sheep and the goats by giving the hungry something to eat, giving the thirsty something to drink, inviting in the stranger, clothing the naked, looking after the sick and visiting those in prison (Matthew 25:31-40); we look forward to the day when Christ returns and all of the injustice is finally set right. Jesus’ Advent 2000 years ago – that we celebrate at Christmas – was a foretaste of the justice and mercy that lies ahead when he returns and as we show mercy to our neighbours, we show that we belong to his world that is to come rather than to this present evil age – and this is important because as sure as Christmas is coming, Christ is coming back – so as bad as things may seem as we are riding our metaphorical donkeys down to Regina to pay our proverbial taxes, we must remember that just as Jesus was dwelling in Mary’s womb and they were eagerly waiting for him to come so too now we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and we are waiting for Jesus to come back; the world is certainly in its ninth month and Jesus is coming and Jesus is coming soon and then everything will be okay.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] Martin Luther's Definition of Faith: An excerpt from "An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans," Luther's German Bible of 1522 by Martin Luther, 1483-1546 Translated by Rev. Robert E. Smith from DR. MARTIN LUTHER'S VERMISCHTE DEUTSCHE SCHRIFTEN.Johann K. Irmischer, ed. Vol. 63 (Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854), pp.124-125. [EA 63:124-125] August 1994
[2] Irene Alexandrou, 2000 © Hellenic Communication Service, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. (Posting date 14 September 2006). Accessed 13 December 2009. Available on-line at: http://www.helleniccomserve.com/wordstudy.html
[3] Cf. NT Wright and James Dunn. An Evening Conversation on Paul with James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright Available online at: http://www.thepaulpage.com/an-evening-conversation-on-paul-with-james-d-g-dunn-and-n-t-wright/
[4]Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Luke 1:68-79: Next Year in Edmonton: The Waiting Game' Presented to Swift Current Corps, 06 December 2009. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/12/luke-168-79-next-year-in-edmonton.html
[5] Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1990) p. 32.
[6] Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony. They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year. Cf. E. Earle Ellis, 71 and R. Alan Culpepper, 51. See also Captain Michael Ramsay, Luke 1:26-37: Do You Believe? Presented to the Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/luke-126-37-do-you-believe.html
[7] Cf. Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69, Ellis, 75.
[8] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Matthew 1:18-25: Do you believe? Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007 and CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe.html
[9] Global Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. Cited December 15, 2009. Available on-line: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
[10] Christian Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009. Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/
By Captain Michael Ramsay
To read the revised 2014 version click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/12/luke-146-56-christmas-is-coming-2014.html
Advent, as we have said before, is a time of waiting. We are waiting for Christmas to come. Advent is when we remember the first coming of Christ and we are also awaiting the second coming of Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). One of the key elements of our wait (or of any wait for that matter) is faith (see Matthew 17:20 and Hebrews 11:6). Whenever we wait for something we have to have faith that it is worth the wait. I don’t know about you but more than once I have not gone through a drive through, not made a deposit at the bank, or not picked up that one item at the store because I didn’t want to wait in a long line; I did not have faith that the item I was getting was worth the wait in the line-up. With that in mind, as we wait for Christmas, I thought we could start off by looking at some definitions of Faith:
There is the classic definition from Hebrews of course. Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Martin Luther says: “Faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits, our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly.”[1]
The ultimate example of faith that I found in my research was this: Faith is a belief in the seemingly impossible. Faith is a belief in what the natural man only sees to be impossible. Faith is a belief that you will come home and find that your children have cleaned their rooms or done the dishes all on their own.
Actually, they recently conducted a global fictitious survey on faith and found out that some of the people with the most faith in the whole world actually live in Canada. They are a group of people mostly found in the Toronto area – though they do live elsewhere in Canada (I have actually known one or two of these people with unfathomable faith). They are known as the Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Holding onto that thought-defying belief that they will win the cup again before Christ returns. They may have a long wait but Christmas is coming; it is Advent season now and waiting is what Advent is all about.
The Toronto definition of faith actually has something to do with the Biblical definition though: “The Greek word, which is translated as faith, is pistis (noun) and believe, is translated from pistevo (verb). The word believe (Greek verb "pistevo"), according to Strong's Greek Dictionary, means: to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust, (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ.) believe, commit, (to trust), put in trust with.”[2] It is to adhere to, to trust in, to rely on.
Prominent theologians James Dunn and Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, drive home the point in many articles and books that faith isn’t just a vague idea of or belief in something. Faith is an action word. Faith and faithfulness are forever intertwined.[3] One cannot say they love God and not show it by loving their neighbour (Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 10:27, 18:18-29). If you have faith in Him, you will be faithful and even when we are unfaithful, Christ’s faithfulness makes our faith(fullness) possible (Romans 3:3,4, see also Genesis Romans 1:16-17, Romans 2:1-16, Hebrews 11). It is the faithfulness of Christ that led to humanity’s salvation. Faith is an action and the action of faith during Advent is waiting. Christmas is coming.
In our story today something very interesting is happening (Luke 1:46-56). A couple of weeks ago we read about how Zechariah found out that his wife Elisabeth (who was barren up to that point in time) is now – in her old age! – going to have a baby (Luke 1:5-25, 68-79; see also Genesis 11:30, 17:15ff and 1 Samuel 1).[4] And now Mary, a much younger relative of Elisabeth’s, has also found out that she is going to have a baby (Luke 1:26-38). It was amazing that Elisabeth is going to have a baby because Elisabeth is barren and well into her old age (Luke 1:35) but it is even more amazing that Mary is going to have a baby not because Mary is old and barren because she isn’t. She is quite young. She is actually a teenager but young Mary – who is now pregnant – young Mary has never been with a man in that way (see Luke 1:34).
Now, of course, we remember that the angel Gabriel came to visit both sets of soon to be expectant parents to tell them that they were going to each be starting a family soon and it is interesting as well that Gabriel visits Mary specifically before she is ‘overshadowed’ by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Mary believes the angel; she consents to this. She is honoured to be considered righteous (Luke 1:38). Then the angle even gives Mary a sign that all he has told her will actually happen. Gabriel tells Mary about Elisabeth. He tells Mary that Elisabeth too will be having a child. Mary in her excitement rushes to meet her much older relative and share her good news with Elisabeth (Luke 1:39-40). Elisabeth greets her (Luke 1:41-45) and our text that we are looking at today is Mary’s reply to Elisabeth’s greeting when she does arrive.
Actually before we start getting into the heart of this passage, does anyone remember a couple of weeks ago when we looked at Zechariah’s prophecy (Luke 1:68-79)? It is called the ‘Benedictus’. Does anyone remember why it is called the Benedictus? (Because that is the first word of this passage in Latin.)[5] Does anyone know what the passage we are looking at today is called? (Magnificat) Does anyone know why it is called the Magnificat? (Because that is the first word of this passage in Latin.)
Now let’s look at the passage – it is interesting. Mary has just been greeted at the door by her older relative and this is Mary’s greeting to Elisabeth:
46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for He has been mindful
of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
Holy is His name.
She speaks about how good the Lord has been to her. She talks about how greatly she has been blessed by the Lord who is her Saviour. She speaks about how He has been mindful of someone such as her. This is neat. This is important that Mary is here praising God.
Mary, the mother-to-be of Jesus, is a teenager in the occupied territory in Palestine at the time of this story. Mary wasn’t married when she found out she was going to be with child. Mary’s partner in today’s vernacular, her husband-to-be, had never been with her in that way: they have never consummated their relationship.[6] Mary had never been with anyone in that way.[7] Can you imagine what people in that day and age would think of Mary who was pregnant without being married? If you were her husband-to-be or if you were her parents what would you think if your teenage daughter came home and told you she was about to have a baby? In those days she could have received the death penalty for that.[8] Mary also wasn’t a wealthy woman and the children’s play that we watched last week also highlighted a very significant detail in the Christmas story – nine months from now, right when Mary is to have this baby, she and Joseph are supposed to load up a pack animal and walk all the way from Nazareth in Galilee down to Bethlehem in Judea to enroll in a census for the purpose of paying their taxes and they are to walk and/or ride on their pack animal all of this distance when Mary is very, very pregnant (Luke 2:1-7). I don’t know how many women here would like to hike from here down to Regina either by foot or on the back of a donkey when they are nine months pregnant and about to give birth?
Mary was a humble peasant girl who wasn’t yet married but was already with child in a time when she could be stoned to death for being found in this condition prior to marriage and she was anticipating a very long journey by foot or on the back of a donkey right around the time she is supposed to give birth, Luke 1:46-49, “And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— Holy is His name.’” Mary in this state finds herself blessed. Many friends and acquaintances of mine around town – there are quite a few of us - who have real troubles around this time of year as Christmas is coming; how blessed do we feel? The lead up to Christmas is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost overwhelming, do we –like Mary- consider ourselves blessed?
I know that there are people in this city and this congregation who are going through some really difficult times. I have heard stories recently in our city of addiction struggles, of custody battles, of illness, and life and death battles. I have heard of direct demonic attack. There is a family that has just been broken apart that I know in town who because of restraining orders can’t even see each other when they transfer their children from one home to another – they have a tragically but aptly called ‘broken family’ and Christmas is coming. Both parents will not be spending Christmas with their children - one will have to miss out but Christmas is still coming. One of the ladies who works at our Thrift Store the other week lost her home in a fire. As far as I know she, her husband, and their two very young children lost all of their belongings in the fire. They lost everything and Christmas is coming. This is Advent and Advent is a time of waiting for Christmas. This Christmas will be a very different one than the one they were waiting for just a few weeks ago but Christmas is still coming. I wonder how blessed they feel. How about us? The lead up to Christmas is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost overwhelming, do we –like Mary - consider ourselves blessed?
Mary continues her greeting to Elisabeth praising God in her circumstances this way. Luke 1: 50-55, of God she says:
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
Mary in the midst of all that she is in the midst of, Mary speaks about God’s mercy to all who fear Him (Luke 1:50); she remembers that He performs mighty deeds with His arm (Luke 1:51). She praises God for remembering to be faithful to his covenant to Abraham that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him (Luke 1:55, see Genesis 12:3). She praises God for remembering His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. She praises God who faithfully fulfills his covenant to Abraham and Israel even though they – even though we – were faithless over and over again (Romans 3:3,4). Mary’s life is not easy. And Christmas is coming. Her son will be born after a long walk away from home and laid in a manger, an animal’s feeding trough. Her son will grow up and eventually suffer a State execution at the hands of her country’s occupiers and at the urging or her own religious leaders – Christmas is coming.
There is another interesting part of Mary’s song of praise. There is another part of the Magnificat that I think merits attention here and that refers to either just before, just after, or at the very moment when Jesus comes back. We have spoken briefly about Christmas and waiting for the birth of the Messiah, the incarnation of Christ but we are also waiting for Jesus to come back. Mary says that at that time – when he returns the rulers of this age will be brought down (Luke 1:52). There will be no more corrupt politicians. There will be no more ‘in and out’ election fraud scandals; there will be no more bribery scandals or tampering with tapes like with the Grewal and Cadman affairs. There will be no more handing people over to be tortured. There will be no corporate or media or popularity contest control over our nation. We will not have Prime Ministers answering to accusations over things like airbus or sponsorship scandals or Presidents in our world in trouble over imaginary weapons of mass destruction or who pick up peace prizes en route to escalating wars against some of the poorest people on earth. The rulers of our age – it says in verse 52 – the rulers of our age will be brought down from their thrones. Corrupt Presidents and dishonest Prime Ministers will be replaced by the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful (Isaiah 9:6-7).
We will no longer be subservient to brutal economic systems and corporate leadership in which one man get rich as over 25 000 children die every day and where today nearly 1 billion people have not even been taught how to read a book when the Lord has provided more than enough recourses for the whole world to be fed and clothed and otherwise taken care of many, many, many times over.[9] These systems and oppression will end. The rulers of this world will be brought low. We will no longer see a situation where people become millionaires for appearing on a screen or playing baseball while others cannot afford to clothe themselves in our world. In our world today there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the United States, pornography revenue is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2 billion) Child pornography alone generates $3 billion annually.[10] (A small percentage of this will feed and clothe the world.) The rulers of our world who oversee all of this will be brought down.
This will come to an end. The rulers of this age will be brought low and so will the rich who profit from all this, it says. Whether we are wealthy from sports, pornography, or banking, or business, or…it says these rich will be sent away empty (Luke 1:53).
The greatest in this world shall become the least and the least shall become the greatest. Jesus is the great equalizer. When he comes back those in power and luxury (which may be many of us here) will experience His justice and those who are hungry and humbled here will be lifted up and be fed.
This is the second coming. As we do our bit to be like the sheep in Matthew’s parable of the sheep and the goats by giving the hungry something to eat, giving the thirsty something to drink, inviting in the stranger, clothing the naked, looking after the sick and visiting those in prison (Matthew 25:31-40); we look forward to the day when Christ returns and all of the injustice is finally set right. Jesus’ Advent 2000 years ago – that we celebrate at Christmas – was a foretaste of the justice and mercy that lies ahead when he returns and as we show mercy to our neighbours, we show that we belong to his world that is to come rather than to this present evil age – and this is important because as sure as Christmas is coming, Christ is coming back – so as bad as things may seem as we are riding our metaphorical donkeys down to Regina to pay our proverbial taxes, we must remember that just as Jesus was dwelling in Mary’s womb and they were eagerly waiting for him to come so too now we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and we are waiting for Jesus to come back; the world is certainly in its ninth month and Jesus is coming and Jesus is coming soon and then everything will be okay.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] Martin Luther's Definition of Faith: An excerpt from "An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans," Luther's German Bible of 1522 by Martin Luther, 1483-1546 Translated by Rev. Robert E. Smith from DR. MARTIN LUTHER'S VERMISCHTE DEUTSCHE SCHRIFTEN.Johann K. Irmischer, ed. Vol. 63 (Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854), pp.124-125. [EA 63:124-125] August 1994
[2] Irene Alexandrou, 2000 © Hellenic Communication Service, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. (Posting date 14 September 2006). Accessed 13 December 2009. Available on-line at: http://www.helleniccomserve.com/wordstudy.html
[3] Cf. NT Wright and James Dunn. An Evening Conversation on Paul with James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright Available online at: http://www.thepaulpage.com/an-evening-conversation-on-paul-with-james-d-g-dunn-and-n-t-wright/
[4]Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Luke 1:68-79: Next Year in Edmonton: The Waiting Game' Presented to Swift Current Corps, 06 December 2009. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/12/luke-168-79-next-year-in-edmonton.html
[5] Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1990) p. 32.
[6] Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony. They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year. Cf. E. Earle Ellis, 71 and R. Alan Culpepper, 51. See also Captain Michael Ramsay, Luke 1:26-37: Do You Believe? Presented to the Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/luke-126-37-do-you-believe.html
[7] Cf. Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69, Ellis, 75.
[8] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Matthew 1:18-25: Do you believe? Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007 and CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe.html
[9] Global Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. Cited December 15, 2009. Available on-line: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
[10] Christian Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009. Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/
Friday, December 4, 2009
Luke 1:68-79: Next Year in Edmonton: The Waiting Game
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 06 December 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
See also Luke 1:68-79: Next Year in Jerusalem. http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/luke-168-79-next-year-in-jerusalem.html
Advent. Last week was the first week of Advent. Does anyone know what Advent is? Advent is waiting. Who here likes to wait? Our Saskatchewan Roughriders have to wait until next year to play for the Grey Cup in Edmonton. Hopefully they will be playing in the game and hopefully they will be redeemed – next year in Edmonton.
The Israelites during the exile began using an expression in their Passover meal - ‘next year in Jerusalem’ – to express their hope that next year they will no longer be exiled, next year they will be restored to their homeland. “Next year in Jerusalem” was the rally cry of the exiled Hebrews just like “Next year in Edmonton” is becoming the rallying call for avid Roughriders fans. Advent – in the Christian calendar – is a time of waiting for that victory, that restoration. Advent recognizes 2 times of waiting actually: 1) A remembrance of waiting for the arrival of Christ, who was born around 2000 years ago – advent is a waiting for Christmas. 2) It is also a waiting for Jesus to return in all of his glory.
I was at the Advent lunch this week (they’re Thursdays at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church) and Pastor Greg Kiel, one of the Lutheran pastors, was speaking there. He told this joke about waiting:
A fellow was speaking to God and he said, “Lord, I have two questions for you, I was wondering if you could help me. 1) A Millennium, a thousand years, is a long time to us – how long is that time for an eternal God?”
“It is just a second”
2) “God, there is a lottery draw coming up next Saturday and I was wondering if I could help me win the lottery?”
“Just a second.”
Advent is a time of waiting. We are waiting for the new Jerusalem to descend from the heavens to earth as in Revelation 21 (Revelation 21:1-8; see also Matthew 24:29-31, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, Revelation 1:7). We are awaiting Jesus’ return and the resurrection of the dead. We are waiting – maybe next year the earth and the heavens will be made anew (Revelation 21:1-8). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we spend next year in the new heaven and the new earth with our new bodies in new Jerusalem with our Lord and Saviour? Next year in the NEW Jerusalem? That would be even more wonderful than spending next year in Edmonton watching the Riders hoist the cup, spending next year with Christ at the final victory…but waiting is never easy. And waiting is what Advent is all about.
Today we are looking at a part of scripture referred to as the Benedictus – it is called this because that is the first word of this section in Latin.[1] This section of Luke is quite interesting. The person who is speaking here is Zechariah. Zechariah is John the Baptist’s dad. He is a Levite and he is a priest and - I don’t know if you remember the story (Luke 1:5-25) but he was struck mute and possibly even deaf as well[2] (cf. Luke 1:62; Luke 1:19, 22; Daniel 10:15-16) after he was told that he would have a son and who his son would be. Zechariah remained a deaf mute from the time he found out his wife was pregnant until 8 days after his son was born (Luke 1:59; see Genesis 17:9-14). This Benedictus, this speech, is comprised of Zechariah’s first words not only after the birth of his son but also his first words after he has been cured of not being able to speak and possibly not even able to hear for over half a year. Can you imagine if you or your husband or wife couldn’t speak for almost nine months? What would be their first words? What would be yours? These were Zechariahs’ (He did this by the power of the Holy Spirit, Luke 1:67), Luke 1:68-79:
68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
69He has raised up a horn[a] of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."
This really addresses who, what, why and how of Salvation. But first we should probably look at salvation in general. What does salvation mean? Salvation means to be saved. Verses 71 and 74 refer to Israel being saved from its enemies. This is what was expected of the Christ: that he would save the people from their enemies.
The people of Israel – who were waiting for the Messiah, of course – have had many enemies through the years. We spoke about the first Diaspora; we spoke of the exile earlier when people were longing to return home. They were longing to have their right to return recognized. They were longing for their conquerors to leave the occupied territories. They were longing to spend next year in Jerusalem. Israel fell to invaders in 720 BCE; Judah fell in 586 BCE. The land of Palestine was conquered by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, then by the Persians and in many of these conquests the people were deported. Many people returned as the Hebrews fared well under Persian rule but the Persians were eventually defeated by the Greeks and the Greeks (Ptolemys then Seleucids from 198 BCE) saw the Jews revolt (the Hasmoneans / Maccabees). They weren’t too happy with them and the Greeks (under Antiochus IV) even intentionally defiled the Temple in Jerusalem (The Second or Herodian Temple; cf. Ezra 6:3-4; 1 Esdras 6:24-25; Ant. 11.4.6; 99; Apion 1.22,198-99; cf. also 1 Maccabees 4.36-51 and Ant. 12.317-18). In a violent struggle that followed, the people of Palestine eventually obtained independence for a short time (140-37 BCE) – only to be conquered again this time by General Pompeii (63 BCE) and the Romans and as we all well know from the Christmas story, in the time of our scripture reading today, Palestine is under the authority of Caesar Augustus (AKA Octavius, Julius Caesar’s adopted son) as it is still occupied by the Roman forces (Luke 2:1). Palestine by this time – except for a very few years – has been militarily occupied for four to five hundred years – this is much longer than its whole previous existence as a united kingdom – that only lasted about 100 years (1050 or 1010 to 931).[3]
Israel has been waiting for a leader, known as the Messiah or Christ - to save them from their enemies. It is in the midst of the long, successive occupations that Luke speaks about salvation by not a warrior but a Prince of Peace (Luke 1:79; see Isaiah 9:6).[4] Luke is telling us in his story that this Messiah is Jesus and he has not come to merely free Israel from earthly enemies – as indeed this occupation carried on for millennia after Christ – Jesus came to save Israel and indeed the whole world from sin and death (Genesis 12:1-3, 13:2; Romans 1, 2). That is our real enemy. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers (Ephesians 6). This is a glimpse of the history of the expectation of salvation.
God, here in our text before us today, through Luke and Zechariah tells us even more. He tells us what this salvation looks like.[5] With the first coming of Christ, Jesus’ incarnation (birth), death, and resurrection it is the beginning of the Kingdom of God; it is the first blossoms of the spring of salvation (Luke 21:25-26). We are in the Kingdom of God when we are in the presence of Christ and when we experience this salvation, this is what it will look like: God tells us through Luke who tells us through Zechariah that when we are saved we will show mercy to our fathers (Are you listening girls? You should be nice to your dad it says…). When the Kingdom is fully realized we will be freed from our enemies (Luke 1:71,74) SO THAT we can show mercy to our spiritual and covenantal fathers (Luke 1:72; cf. Malachi 3:3); we will be freed from our enemies SO THAT we can serve God without fear (Luke 1:74); we will be freed from our enemies SO THAT we can serve Him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives (Luke 1:75). This is what salvation is (in part) and this is what we are waiting for in Advent – be it next year in Edmonton for a foretaste of what victory feels like or next year in the new Jerusalem for the fullness of Christ’s victory. This is what we are waiting for in this Advent season.
When Christ arrived the first time, to a Galilean working class family paying tax in Bethlehem, we saw the first glimpse of this salvation that was definitively won between the cross and the empty tomb and when Jesus returns we will see its final culmination and this is what Zechariah is proclaiming with the birth of his son (Luke 1:68-75). This is what Zechariah has to say after not being able to say or hear anything for months. He tells us of the glory of salvation! This is exciting! And all of this that God has planned since before the creation of the world, Zechariah’s son – that little 8 day old baby who is no doubt crying as he is being circumcised today (Luke 1:59) – that little 8 day old baby is given the privilege to tell the world about Jesus. Little Johnny here, Baby John is to be the Herald of the Good News that goes before the Christ. He is to be the voice from the wilderness proclaiming the word of the Lord (Luke 3:4; see Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1, 4:5; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; John 1:23). Zechariah knows – at least in part – that his baby boy will go in the spirit of Elijah pointing everyone to our Messiah, Jesus, who is the Christ (Luke 1:17; see Matthew 11:14, 17:10-12; Mark 9:11-13). Zechariah is obviously both a proud and humbled papa today as he proclaims the Good News of Salvation to all who will hear him.
He tells us all for the record here what he knows of this baby that is being circumcised today: he says he will be a prophet of the Most High (Luke 1:76). John will let people know of the salvation that they will receive through the forgiveness of our sins (Luke 1:77). John will tell the people of God’s tender mercy through which God sent his own Son to shine as a light in the darkness and even the very shadow of death (see Luke 1:78-79; Isaiah 60:13). Zechariah is honoured here to announce that his son John will declare the arrival of the Lord for whom everyone is waiting. This little baby, John, will announce the impending arrival of the King of Kings, who is indeed the Prince of Peace.
This is not unlike our calling. As we await Christmas this Advent season and celebrate the arrival of Jesus as a baby in a manger, we must not forget our great commission to tell the whole world the glorious news that Jesus lived, died and rose again so that we can all have eternal life if we follow him. Just like John, we are to proclaim the good news of the arrival of our Lord and Saviour and we are to let everyone know the rest of the good news of advent and that is that Jesus is coming back and Jesus is coming back soon (Matthew 28:16-20). Let us this Advent season succeed in that task. While we are waiting, may we be as bold as John (and his father Zechariah) to tell anyone who will listen that indeed Jesus is coming back and he is coming soon.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1990) p. 32.
[2] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/II. Birth and Childhood Narratives (1:5-2:52)/B. Birth Narratives (1:57-2:20)/1. The birth of John the Baptist (1:57-66), Book Version: 4.0.2: The Greek word for unable to hear (kophos) can also mean "deaf". Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, The Gospel of Luke (NIB IX: Nashville, Tenn., Abingdon, 1995), p. 58 and Wayne Grudem and Thomas R. Schreiner, ESV Study Bible notes (Crossway Bibles: Wheaton, Ill., 2008) p. 1946.
[3] ESV Study Bible on-line. Old Testament Timeline: United Monarchy. Available on-line: http://www.esvstudybible.org/articles/chart-ot-timeline
[4] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, 60.
[5] Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Luke, trans. David E, Green (Atlanta: John Knos, 1984) 43: “The ultimate purpose of God’s salvation presupposes deliverance from the enemy but is in fact undisturbed worship.”
By Captain Michael Ramsay
See also Luke 1:68-79: Next Year in Jerusalem. http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/luke-168-79-next-year-in-jerusalem.html
Advent. Last week was the first week of Advent. Does anyone know what Advent is? Advent is waiting. Who here likes to wait? Our Saskatchewan Roughriders have to wait until next year to play for the Grey Cup in Edmonton. Hopefully they will be playing in the game and hopefully they will be redeemed – next year in Edmonton.
The Israelites during the exile began using an expression in their Passover meal - ‘next year in Jerusalem’ – to express their hope that next year they will no longer be exiled, next year they will be restored to their homeland. “Next year in Jerusalem” was the rally cry of the exiled Hebrews just like “Next year in Edmonton” is becoming the rallying call for avid Roughriders fans. Advent – in the Christian calendar – is a time of waiting for that victory, that restoration. Advent recognizes 2 times of waiting actually: 1) A remembrance of waiting for the arrival of Christ, who was born around 2000 years ago – advent is a waiting for Christmas. 2) It is also a waiting for Jesus to return in all of his glory.
I was at the Advent lunch this week (they’re Thursdays at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church) and Pastor Greg Kiel, one of the Lutheran pastors, was speaking there. He told this joke about waiting:
A fellow was speaking to God and he said, “Lord, I have two questions for you, I was wondering if you could help me. 1) A Millennium, a thousand years, is a long time to us – how long is that time for an eternal God?”
“It is just a second”
2) “God, there is a lottery draw coming up next Saturday and I was wondering if I could help me win the lottery?”
“Just a second.”
Advent is a time of waiting. We are waiting for the new Jerusalem to descend from the heavens to earth as in Revelation 21 (Revelation 21:1-8; see also Matthew 24:29-31, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, Revelation 1:7). We are awaiting Jesus’ return and the resurrection of the dead. We are waiting – maybe next year the earth and the heavens will be made anew (Revelation 21:1-8). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we spend next year in the new heaven and the new earth with our new bodies in new Jerusalem with our Lord and Saviour? Next year in the NEW Jerusalem? That would be even more wonderful than spending next year in Edmonton watching the Riders hoist the cup, spending next year with Christ at the final victory…but waiting is never easy. And waiting is what Advent is all about.
Today we are looking at a part of scripture referred to as the Benedictus – it is called this because that is the first word of this section in Latin.[1] This section of Luke is quite interesting. The person who is speaking here is Zechariah. Zechariah is John the Baptist’s dad. He is a Levite and he is a priest and - I don’t know if you remember the story (Luke 1:5-25) but he was struck mute and possibly even deaf as well[2] (cf. Luke 1:62; Luke 1:19, 22; Daniel 10:15-16) after he was told that he would have a son and who his son would be. Zechariah remained a deaf mute from the time he found out his wife was pregnant until 8 days after his son was born (Luke 1:59; see Genesis 17:9-14). This Benedictus, this speech, is comprised of Zechariah’s first words not only after the birth of his son but also his first words after he has been cured of not being able to speak and possibly not even able to hear for over half a year. Can you imagine if you or your husband or wife couldn’t speak for almost nine months? What would be their first words? What would be yours? These were Zechariahs’ (He did this by the power of the Holy Spirit, Luke 1:67), Luke 1:68-79:
68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
69He has raised up a horn[a] of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."
This really addresses who, what, why and how of Salvation. But first we should probably look at salvation in general. What does salvation mean? Salvation means to be saved. Verses 71 and 74 refer to Israel being saved from its enemies. This is what was expected of the Christ: that he would save the people from their enemies.
The people of Israel – who were waiting for the Messiah, of course – have had many enemies through the years. We spoke about the first Diaspora; we spoke of the exile earlier when people were longing to return home. They were longing to have their right to return recognized. They were longing for their conquerors to leave the occupied territories. They were longing to spend next year in Jerusalem. Israel fell to invaders in 720 BCE; Judah fell in 586 BCE. The land of Palestine was conquered by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, then by the Persians and in many of these conquests the people were deported. Many people returned as the Hebrews fared well under Persian rule but the Persians were eventually defeated by the Greeks and the Greeks (Ptolemys then Seleucids from 198 BCE) saw the Jews revolt (the Hasmoneans / Maccabees). They weren’t too happy with them and the Greeks (under Antiochus IV) even intentionally defiled the Temple in Jerusalem (The Second or Herodian Temple; cf. Ezra 6:3-4; 1 Esdras 6:24-25; Ant. 11.4.6; 99; Apion 1.22,198-99; cf. also 1 Maccabees 4.36-51 and Ant. 12.317-18). In a violent struggle that followed, the people of Palestine eventually obtained independence for a short time (140-37 BCE) – only to be conquered again this time by General Pompeii (63 BCE) and the Romans and as we all well know from the Christmas story, in the time of our scripture reading today, Palestine is under the authority of Caesar Augustus (AKA Octavius, Julius Caesar’s adopted son) as it is still occupied by the Roman forces (Luke 2:1). Palestine by this time – except for a very few years – has been militarily occupied for four to five hundred years – this is much longer than its whole previous existence as a united kingdom – that only lasted about 100 years (1050 or 1010 to 931).[3]
Israel has been waiting for a leader, known as the Messiah or Christ - to save them from their enemies. It is in the midst of the long, successive occupations that Luke speaks about salvation by not a warrior but a Prince of Peace (Luke 1:79; see Isaiah 9:6).[4] Luke is telling us in his story that this Messiah is Jesus and he has not come to merely free Israel from earthly enemies – as indeed this occupation carried on for millennia after Christ – Jesus came to save Israel and indeed the whole world from sin and death (Genesis 12:1-3, 13:2; Romans 1, 2). That is our real enemy. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers (Ephesians 6). This is a glimpse of the history of the expectation of salvation.
God, here in our text before us today, through Luke and Zechariah tells us even more. He tells us what this salvation looks like.[5] With the first coming of Christ, Jesus’ incarnation (birth), death, and resurrection it is the beginning of the Kingdom of God; it is the first blossoms of the spring of salvation (Luke 21:25-26). We are in the Kingdom of God when we are in the presence of Christ and when we experience this salvation, this is what it will look like: God tells us through Luke who tells us through Zechariah that when we are saved we will show mercy to our fathers (Are you listening girls? You should be nice to your dad it says…). When the Kingdom is fully realized we will be freed from our enemies (Luke 1:71,74) SO THAT we can show mercy to our spiritual and covenantal fathers (Luke 1:72; cf. Malachi 3:3); we will be freed from our enemies SO THAT we can serve God without fear (Luke 1:74); we will be freed from our enemies SO THAT we can serve Him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives (Luke 1:75). This is what salvation is (in part) and this is what we are waiting for in Advent – be it next year in Edmonton for a foretaste of what victory feels like or next year in the new Jerusalem for the fullness of Christ’s victory. This is what we are waiting for in this Advent season.
When Christ arrived the first time, to a Galilean working class family paying tax in Bethlehem, we saw the first glimpse of this salvation that was definitively won between the cross and the empty tomb and when Jesus returns we will see its final culmination and this is what Zechariah is proclaiming with the birth of his son (Luke 1:68-75). This is what Zechariah has to say after not being able to say or hear anything for months. He tells us of the glory of salvation! This is exciting! And all of this that God has planned since before the creation of the world, Zechariah’s son – that little 8 day old baby who is no doubt crying as he is being circumcised today (Luke 1:59) – that little 8 day old baby is given the privilege to tell the world about Jesus. Little Johnny here, Baby John is to be the Herald of the Good News that goes before the Christ. He is to be the voice from the wilderness proclaiming the word of the Lord (Luke 3:4; see Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1, 4:5; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; John 1:23). Zechariah knows – at least in part – that his baby boy will go in the spirit of Elijah pointing everyone to our Messiah, Jesus, who is the Christ (Luke 1:17; see Matthew 11:14, 17:10-12; Mark 9:11-13). Zechariah is obviously both a proud and humbled papa today as he proclaims the Good News of Salvation to all who will hear him.
He tells us all for the record here what he knows of this baby that is being circumcised today: he says he will be a prophet of the Most High (Luke 1:76). John will let people know of the salvation that they will receive through the forgiveness of our sins (Luke 1:77). John will tell the people of God’s tender mercy through which God sent his own Son to shine as a light in the darkness and even the very shadow of death (see Luke 1:78-79; Isaiah 60:13). Zechariah is honoured here to announce that his son John will declare the arrival of the Lord for whom everyone is waiting. This little baby, John, will announce the impending arrival of the King of Kings, who is indeed the Prince of Peace.
This is not unlike our calling. As we await Christmas this Advent season and celebrate the arrival of Jesus as a baby in a manger, we must not forget our great commission to tell the whole world the glorious news that Jesus lived, died and rose again so that we can all have eternal life if we follow him. Just like John, we are to proclaim the good news of the arrival of our Lord and Saviour and we are to let everyone know the rest of the good news of advent and that is that Jesus is coming back and Jesus is coming back soon (Matthew 28:16-20). Let us this Advent season succeed in that task. While we are waiting, may we be as bold as John (and his father Zechariah) to tell anyone who will listen that indeed Jesus is coming back and he is coming soon.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1990) p. 32.
[2] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/II. Birth and Childhood Narratives (1:5-2:52)/B. Birth Narratives (1:57-2:20)/1. The birth of John the Baptist (1:57-66), Book Version: 4.0.2: The Greek word for unable to hear (kophos) can also mean "deaf". Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, The Gospel of Luke (NIB IX: Nashville, Tenn., Abingdon, 1995), p. 58 and Wayne Grudem and Thomas R. Schreiner, ESV Study Bible notes (Crossway Bibles: Wheaton, Ill., 2008) p. 1946.
[3] ESV Study Bible on-line. Old Testament Timeline: United Monarchy. Available on-line: http://www.esvstudybible.org/articles/chart-ot-timeline
[4] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, 60.
[5] Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Luke, trans. David E, Green (Atlanta: John Knos, 1984) 43: “The ultimate purpose of God’s salvation presupposes deliverance from the enemy but is in fact undisturbed worship.”
Friday, November 27, 2009
Luke 21:29-31: the First Sprigs of Spring.
Presented to St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church
Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 29 November 2009
and Swift Current TSA Corps 02 December 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay
See also http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/11/mark-132829-first-sprig-of-spring.html
Luke 21: 29-31: “He told them this parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
Now I grew up in Victoria, BC. There we would always have a green Christmas – which it looks like we might actually get here this year. Growing up there, we had snow maybe once every four years or so and when we did, it was gone in about a week. Every February, when much of our great country is still covered in snow, Victoria has its annual flower count. I recently found the statistics for 2002. In that year Victoria counted 8,521,514,876 flowers on that day in February.[1]
When I first moved to the Prairies some years ago now – we lived in Winnipeg – I noticed that Februaries in Winnipeg are a little bit different than in Victoria. Instead of + 8 billion flowers, in Winnipeg we had what felt like - 8 billion degree temperatures.
It is great here on the Prairies though. My girls really love sledding. They love skating and curling and whenever the snow is suitable you can see them building snow people. Our girls were 3 and 4 when we moved to Winnipeg and we lived a short walk from a really good sledding hill so we would go quite often and when we did it was a lot of fun. Inevitably, too, on our walk home there was a ‘Subway’ sandwich shop that we would pass so we would always stop for a hot chocolate and a cookie after sledding. The girls and I came to really look forward to that. Winter is great… but you know what? We were most recently living in northern Saskatchewan and when the end of May – or the beginning of June (!) – rolls around and there is still snow on the ground – I am ready for it to be over.
By the time the snow starts to melt, by the time the trees start to sprout and we can see for ourselves that summer is near, I am quite happy. As fun as sledding to Subway is with the kids in the winter for a cookie, it is also good to ride our bikes to Dairy Queen on a hot summer day for an ice-cream cone! And by the end of May I am more looking forward an ice-cream cone in the heat than a cookie in the cold.
Luke 21: 29-31: “He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
This is the same sort of idea that our text today is talking about.[2] We all know that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3; See also Romans 5:14) -instead of watching squirrels and counting blossoms- they decided to listen to snakes and eat a forbidden fruit. This probably wouldn’t have been quite so bad except for the problem that their Father in Heaven had just finished telling them not to do this. So when God caught his children disobeying Him and then deliberately trying to deceive Him about it, He was disappointed and He gave them a time-out from paradise, the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24, Hosea 6:7, Romans 5:12-14). This is the ‘fall’; we were separated from God because of this original sin – eating the fruit, disobeying God and then deliberately trying to deceive Him about it.
And this was just the beginning. We the people were not necessarily the best children of God that we should be. Genesis tells us that the people were so bad God felt that He needed to destroy the earth by flood (Genesis 6-9; see also 2 Peter 2:5). Exodus saw the Hebrews dragged kicking and screaming into the Promised Land. The generation that left Egypt was so bad that God didn’t let any of them - save Joshua and Caleb – even enter the land promised them (Numbers 14:21-24; Deuteronomy 1:31-40; see Hebrews 4:1-13). More than once they voted not to follow God, but – Praise the Lord - God’s Kingdom isn’t a democracy so He saved their children in spite of them. Judges tells us that instead of following God the people at that time just did whatever was popular. They did what was right in their own eyes: they did evil in the sight of the Lord and they suffered the natural consequences of it (see Judges 21). Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, even made the serious mistake of turning his back on God and as a result half of his Kingdom was torn from his own children and grandchildren (1 Kings 11).
Throughout the times of the kings and the prophets, often Baal worship was more popular than worshipping the Lord (See Joshua 2:11-13; Judges 3:7, 6:25ff., 8:3, 10:10; 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10, 1 Kings 16- 22; 2 Kings 1-10, 17:16, 21:3; 2 Chronicles 28:2, 33:3; Jeremiah 2, 7, 9, 11, 19, 23, 32; Hosea 2; 9:10, 11:12). If there was something like the TV Show ‘Canadian Idol’ back then (Israelite Idol) the people many times over would have voted for Baal over the Lord. Though there were some exceptions to this: Remember when the prophets of Baal and Elijah, atop Mt. Carmel, when they had a ‘So you think you can dance’ dance-off of sorts (1 Kings 18:16-45)? The prophets of Baal anyway had quite a long and elaborate routine but God blessed Elijah by raining down fire and He won the completion (1 Kings 18:38). This was more the exception though than the rule and this is all part of the long cold winter of our consequences of the original and subsequent sins. But we know – like Jesus tells us in our scriptures today that spring is coming (see also Romans 13:11-12).
Through the Biblical record though this sin, like winter, continued of course. Leviticus tells us that we the people failed to look after the land (Leviticus 25:1-23) and Jeremiah tells us that it was taken away from the Israelites because of this (Jeremiah 15:11, 19:10; 2 Chronicles 36:20-21).[3] Isaiah, Amos and the other prophets tell us that the people cared more about wealth than about caring for the poor, the widow and the immigrant (Cf. Isaiah 3:14, 15, 10:2, 11:4, 26:6, 32:7, 41:17, 58:7, 61:1; Amos 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6). In Israel of the Old Testament some became rich and some became poor and even though, as Jesus would later tell us, that the whole Law and the prophets were summed up in the command to love God and love your neighbour (Matthew 22:34-40); we the people didn’t do this. We continued to put ourselves first. We continued to do what was right in our own eyes. We continued freezing outside in the winter of our sins when the blossoms of God’s love just wanted to envelope us instead. And now when Jesus is speaking, as recorded in our text today, he tells us to “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21: 29-31).
In our world today we still see a lot of problems. Crime in Canada is higher than it ever used to be. According to the CCVF, it is so bad now that many people are losing faith in the authorities abilities to stop it that in many cases charges aren’t even being filed anymore.[4] Even economic crime is on the rise in Canada with Reuters reporting that 56 percent of companies surveyed recently (more than half of them) reported falling prey to white-collar crime.[5] And – of course – in our winter of sin there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the United States, pornography revenue is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2 billion) Child pornography alone generates $3 billion annually.[6]
We are still in the winter of our sin but summer is coming (See Romans 13:11-12); Jesus is coming back. The metaphorical snow of sin is still on the ground but as Jesus assures us, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near” (Luke 21: 29-31).
There is good news if we look around. Jesus himself was the first blossom.[7] He is the branch of Jesse (Zechariah 6:11-13; Isaiah 11:1)[8] and he is the first blossom as well. He shows us and teaches us in parables about the Kingdom of God. He tells us again and again as recorded in this the Gospel of Luke that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here. It is in His presence. When we are in Jesus’ presence we see the buds coming through on the trees (see also John 14). It is like Matthew 25:31-40 says,
“‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”
And when we share the Good News of God’s love we too are a part of those blossoms of the spring of Christ’s love. In The Salvation Army alone – and we are only one of many Christians denominations in this country - we are one of the world’s largest social services providers; we also have the blessing of being on the frontlines against the fight against sex slavery; we run food banks, shelters, serve over 2.5 million meals a year and help more than 10 000 people out of their addictions and we are only one part of the Christian Church in Canada and as you and I, as we all share the love of Christ with are neighbours - through our actions and our words both corporate and individual – when we share the love of Christ with our neighbours as bad as the world may seem today in the winter of our sin, we can all be part of those first blossoms that have been sprouting through Jesus, the Branch of Jesse, ever since His first advent 2000 years ago. This is the first Sunday of our Advent season. As the first bud of spring sprouted with Jesus coming to live among us all those years ago and we know too that Jesus is coming back and he’s coming soon. When he does that will be when all the trees are in full bloom covered in the blossoms of salvation and when he comes what a day of rejoicing that will be. This is something for us all to look forward to in the advent season ahead.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
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[1] One of many sources for this: Human Flower Project: http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/whos_counting_we_and_victoria/
[2] Cf. Gerard S. Sloyan, John (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988), 5 and Joel B Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT 3: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 25.
[3] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Leviticus 25 1-23 in the Context of the Holiness Code: The Land Shall Observe a Sabbath. Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Fall 2006). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Leviticus 25 1-23
[4] LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, Canadian Crime Victim Foundation (Toronto: Oct 25, 2009), cited November 22, 2009. Available on-line: http://www.ccvf.net/articles.cfm?pageID=articles&subpageID=news&viewID=75 : Every five years, Statistics Canada conducts the General Social Survey. It asks a representative sample of Canadians, among other things, whether they have been crime victims. From the last survey in 2004 (the next one is being conducted now, with the findings to be released next year) Statistics Canada reached the following conclusions. First, progressively fewer Canadians who are crime victims are reporting the crime to police -- only 34% in 2004, compared to 37% in 1999. Second, based on the GSS, an estimated 92% of sexual assaults were never reported to police, 46% of break-ins, 51% of motor vehicle/parts thefts, 61% of physical assaults and 54% of robberies.
[5] Economic crime rate rises in Canada, report says (Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:14pm EST) cited November 21, 2009. Available on-line: http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE5AI52E20091119 : "Some 56 percent of companies surveyed reported falling prey to white-collar crime during the period, the 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers' Economic Crime Survey showed. That's a 10 percentage point increase over 2003 and a 4 point increase from two years ago."
[6] Christian Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009. Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/
[7] Cf. E. Earle Ellis. The Gospel of Luke (The New Century Bible: Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1981), p. 242.
[8] Cf. Mary L. Coloe, “Temple Imagery in the Gospel of John.” Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 63, no. 4 (October 2009): 368-381.
Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 29 November 2009
and Swift Current TSA Corps 02 December 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay
See also http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/11/mark-132829-first-sprig-of-spring.html
Luke 21: 29-31: “He told them this parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
Now I grew up in Victoria, BC. There we would always have a green Christmas – which it looks like we might actually get here this year. Growing up there, we had snow maybe once every four years or so and when we did, it was gone in about a week. Every February, when much of our great country is still covered in snow, Victoria has its annual flower count. I recently found the statistics for 2002. In that year Victoria counted 8,521,514,876 flowers on that day in February.[1]
When I first moved to the Prairies some years ago now – we lived in Winnipeg – I noticed that Februaries in Winnipeg are a little bit different than in Victoria. Instead of + 8 billion flowers, in Winnipeg we had what felt like - 8 billion degree temperatures.
It is great here on the Prairies though. My girls really love sledding. They love skating and curling and whenever the snow is suitable you can see them building snow people. Our girls were 3 and 4 when we moved to Winnipeg and we lived a short walk from a really good sledding hill so we would go quite often and when we did it was a lot of fun. Inevitably, too, on our walk home there was a ‘Subway’ sandwich shop that we would pass so we would always stop for a hot chocolate and a cookie after sledding. The girls and I came to really look forward to that. Winter is great… but you know what? We were most recently living in northern Saskatchewan and when the end of May – or the beginning of June (!) – rolls around and there is still snow on the ground – I am ready for it to be over.
By the time the snow starts to melt, by the time the trees start to sprout and we can see for ourselves that summer is near, I am quite happy. As fun as sledding to Subway is with the kids in the winter for a cookie, it is also good to ride our bikes to Dairy Queen on a hot summer day for an ice-cream cone! And by the end of May I am more looking forward an ice-cream cone in the heat than a cookie in the cold.
Luke 21: 29-31: “He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
This is the same sort of idea that our text today is talking about.[2] We all know that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3; See also Romans 5:14) -instead of watching squirrels and counting blossoms- they decided to listen to snakes and eat a forbidden fruit. This probably wouldn’t have been quite so bad except for the problem that their Father in Heaven had just finished telling them not to do this. So when God caught his children disobeying Him and then deliberately trying to deceive Him about it, He was disappointed and He gave them a time-out from paradise, the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24, Hosea 6:7, Romans 5:12-14). This is the ‘fall’; we were separated from God because of this original sin – eating the fruit, disobeying God and then deliberately trying to deceive Him about it.
And this was just the beginning. We the people were not necessarily the best children of God that we should be. Genesis tells us that the people were so bad God felt that He needed to destroy the earth by flood (Genesis 6-9; see also 2 Peter 2:5). Exodus saw the Hebrews dragged kicking and screaming into the Promised Land. The generation that left Egypt was so bad that God didn’t let any of them - save Joshua and Caleb – even enter the land promised them (Numbers 14:21-24; Deuteronomy 1:31-40; see Hebrews 4:1-13). More than once they voted not to follow God, but – Praise the Lord - God’s Kingdom isn’t a democracy so He saved their children in spite of them. Judges tells us that instead of following God the people at that time just did whatever was popular. They did what was right in their own eyes: they did evil in the sight of the Lord and they suffered the natural consequences of it (see Judges 21). Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, even made the serious mistake of turning his back on God and as a result half of his Kingdom was torn from his own children and grandchildren (1 Kings 11).
Throughout the times of the kings and the prophets, often Baal worship was more popular than worshipping the Lord (See Joshua 2:11-13; Judges 3:7, 6:25ff., 8:3, 10:10; 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10, 1 Kings 16- 22; 2 Kings 1-10, 17:16, 21:3; 2 Chronicles 28:2, 33:3; Jeremiah 2, 7, 9, 11, 19, 23, 32; Hosea 2; 9:10, 11:12). If there was something like the TV Show ‘Canadian Idol’ back then (Israelite Idol) the people many times over would have voted for Baal over the Lord. Though there were some exceptions to this: Remember when the prophets of Baal and Elijah, atop Mt. Carmel, when they had a ‘So you think you can dance’ dance-off of sorts (1 Kings 18:16-45)? The prophets of Baal anyway had quite a long and elaborate routine but God blessed Elijah by raining down fire and He won the completion (1 Kings 18:38). This was more the exception though than the rule and this is all part of the long cold winter of our consequences of the original and subsequent sins. But we know – like Jesus tells us in our scriptures today that spring is coming (see also Romans 13:11-12).
Through the Biblical record though this sin, like winter, continued of course. Leviticus tells us that we the people failed to look after the land (Leviticus 25:1-23) and Jeremiah tells us that it was taken away from the Israelites because of this (Jeremiah 15:11, 19:10; 2 Chronicles 36:20-21).[3] Isaiah, Amos and the other prophets tell us that the people cared more about wealth than about caring for the poor, the widow and the immigrant (Cf. Isaiah 3:14, 15, 10:2, 11:4, 26:6, 32:7, 41:17, 58:7, 61:1; Amos 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6). In Israel of the Old Testament some became rich and some became poor and even though, as Jesus would later tell us, that the whole Law and the prophets were summed up in the command to love God and love your neighbour (Matthew 22:34-40); we the people didn’t do this. We continued to put ourselves first. We continued to do what was right in our own eyes. We continued freezing outside in the winter of our sins when the blossoms of God’s love just wanted to envelope us instead. And now when Jesus is speaking, as recorded in our text today, he tells us to “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21: 29-31).
In our world today we still see a lot of problems. Crime in Canada is higher than it ever used to be. According to the CCVF, it is so bad now that many people are losing faith in the authorities abilities to stop it that in many cases charges aren’t even being filed anymore.[4] Even economic crime is on the rise in Canada with Reuters reporting that 56 percent of companies surveyed recently (more than half of them) reported falling prey to white-collar crime.[5] And – of course – in our winter of sin there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the United States, pornography revenue is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2 billion) Child pornography alone generates $3 billion annually.[6]
We are still in the winter of our sin but summer is coming (See Romans 13:11-12); Jesus is coming back. The metaphorical snow of sin is still on the ground but as Jesus assures us, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near” (Luke 21: 29-31).
There is good news if we look around. Jesus himself was the first blossom.[7] He is the branch of Jesse (Zechariah 6:11-13; Isaiah 11:1)[8] and he is the first blossom as well. He shows us and teaches us in parables about the Kingdom of God. He tells us again and again as recorded in this the Gospel of Luke that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here. It is in His presence. When we are in Jesus’ presence we see the buds coming through on the trees (see also John 14). It is like Matthew 25:31-40 says,
“‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”
And when we share the Good News of God’s love we too are a part of those blossoms of the spring of Christ’s love. In The Salvation Army alone – and we are only one of many Christians denominations in this country - we are one of the world’s largest social services providers; we also have the blessing of being on the frontlines against the fight against sex slavery; we run food banks, shelters, serve over 2.5 million meals a year and help more than 10 000 people out of their addictions and we are only one part of the Christian Church in Canada and as you and I, as we all share the love of Christ with are neighbours - through our actions and our words both corporate and individual – when we share the love of Christ with our neighbours as bad as the world may seem today in the winter of our sin, we can all be part of those first blossoms that have been sprouting through Jesus, the Branch of Jesse, ever since His first advent 2000 years ago. This is the first Sunday of our Advent season. As the first bud of spring sprouted with Jesus coming to live among us all those years ago and we know too that Jesus is coming back and he’s coming soon. When he does that will be when all the trees are in full bloom covered in the blossoms of salvation and when he comes what a day of rejoicing that will be. This is something for us all to look forward to in the advent season ahead.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] One of many sources for this: Human Flower Project: http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/whos_counting_we_and_victoria/
[2] Cf. Gerard S. Sloyan, John (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988), 5 and Joel B Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT 3: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 25.
[3] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Leviticus 25 1-23 in the Context of the Holiness Code: The Land Shall Observe a Sabbath. Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Fall 2006). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Leviticus 25 1-23
[4] LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, Canadian Crime Victim Foundation (Toronto: Oct 25, 2009), cited November 22, 2009. Available on-line: http://www.ccvf.net/articles.cfm?pageID=articles&subpageID=news&viewID=75 : Every five years, Statistics Canada conducts the General Social Survey. It asks a representative sample of Canadians, among other things, whether they have been crime victims. From the last survey in 2004 (the next one is being conducted now, with the findings to be released next year) Statistics Canada reached the following conclusions. First, progressively fewer Canadians who are crime victims are reporting the crime to police -- only 34% in 2004, compared to 37% in 1999. Second, based on the GSS, an estimated 92% of sexual assaults were never reported to police, 46% of break-ins, 51% of motor vehicle/parts thefts, 61% of physical assaults and 54% of robberies.
[5] Economic crime rate rises in Canada, report says (Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:14pm EST) cited November 21, 2009. Available on-line: http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE5AI52E20091119 : "Some 56 percent of companies surveyed reported falling prey to white-collar crime during the period, the 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers' Economic Crime Survey showed. That's a 10 percentage point increase over 2003 and a 4 point increase from two years ago."
[6] Christian Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009. Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/
[7] Cf. E. Earle Ellis. The Gospel of Luke (The New Century Bible: Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1981), p. 242.
[8] Cf. Mary L. Coloe, “Temple Imagery in the Gospel of John.” Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 63, no. 4 (October 2009): 368-381.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Hebrews 11:1,2: Good Grace Charlie Brown!
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 22 November 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Do you remember the old ‘Peanuts’ comics by George Shultz with Snoopy, Linus, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Woodstock and the gang? I don’t know if they are still in the comic strips or not but I found an old comic here that I would like to share with you.
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Do you remember the old ‘Peanuts’ comics by George Shultz with Snoopy, Linus, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Woodstock and the gang? I don’t know if they are still in the comic strips or not but I found an old comic here that I would like to share with you.
Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” They have this running theme in ‘Peanuts’ where Lucy holds the football and Charlie Brown -after much convincing- decides to put his faith in the idea that he may actually get to kick the football. This happens many, many times in the comic strip until one day Charlie Brown actually gets Lucy to promise that she will let him kick the ball.
Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Charlie Brown had faith enough in Lucy’s promise – against all the evidence – but to no avail. There is another time where Lucy actually gets a legal document citing that Charlie Brown would be permitted to kick the football. Charlie Brown’s faith is buoyed….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTUy_mlpgy4
Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Charlie Brown put his faith in Lucy. He put his faith in legal documents. He put his faith in promises and each time he fell flat on his back. But he still had faith that someday he would kick that football.
Chapter 11 tells us of some people in the Bible who had faith in God – let’s see how they fair.[1]
Remembering that faith here is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1).[2]
Abel had faith. He offered up a better sacrifice than Cain and he, instead of winding up on his back like Charlie Brown, Verse 4 says he actually wound up, well, dead (Genesis 4; but see Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51).
Okay, well, there is also Enoch, Verse 5. Remember Enoch, he had so much faith that – well he died too, and after he died no one ever found his body (Genesis 5:18-24).[3]
Abraham, what about Abraham? Verses 8-12 and 17: He had faith that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land (see Genesis 15). He had faith that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore (Hebrews 11:12; Genesis 22:17) and stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5, 22:17, 26:4); He had faith that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3) but before any of this happens of course – before Abraham sees any of this happen – he dies. He is even told in advance that – when the promise is made – that he will be dead for about 400 years before any of this happens (Genesis 15). Can you imagine? It is like you win the lottery this week somehow (someone buys you a ticket)[4] but you are not allowed to collect the prize until the year 2409, 400 years after today’s date… it is the same thing. And Abraham, shortly after Abraham was promised this, what did he do? He prepared to kill his son, Isaac, his son of the promise (Genesis 21-22; 25:5).
Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” And of all the people we’ve mentioned so far from Hebrews Chapter 11, the preacher of the sermon to the Hebrews says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance” (Hebrews 11:13).
There is more though: Moses is in the list of the heroes of the faith here (Hebrews 11:23-29). God asks Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and this is interesting (Exodus 3): where and when God asks Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, Moses is not in the heart of Egypt. God meets Moses on top of Mt. Sinai, which is in the desert outside of the direct control of Pharoah's Egypt and He asks Moses to go all the way back to Egypt, get His people and then come all the way back again to Mt. Sinai. Moses asks God for a sign before he is going to go to all this effort and God says that the sign He will give him is this: He says that AFTER he is done what he is told to do, then he will get the sign. After you lead the people out of Egypt, God says, then you will worship me here on this mountain (Exodus 3:11-12). God doesn’t grace him with a sign in advance. He says you’ll get your proof after it is done. That would be like Charlie Brown asking Lucy for proof that he could kick the football and her responding that the proof will be that after you kick it, you will do a victory dance – that would seem to be no proof. But Moses has faith and he does it and then you know what happens just before the people enter this Promised Land, Moses dies.
Hebrews 11: 1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
What about some of the other people in the list? Isaac was the intended sacrifice that his dad tied up to kill and he even continued along his dad’s trajectory (Hebrews 11:17-18). His son Jacob was a liar (Hebrews 11:21-22). Rahab was a prostitute who is visited by 2 foreigners who intend to have her city destroyed– they visit this prostitute and this prostitute entertains them (Hebrews 11:31; see Joshua 2:1-21, 6:17-23). Samson, in this list, was also known to visit prostitutes and killed people in anger (Hebrews 11:32; See Judges 13-16). There is more. There is David who – among other things - sleeps around and then when the woman he commits adultery with gets pregnant he tries to hide it by killing her husband (Hebrews 11:32; see 2 Samuel 11&12 and 1 Kings 15:5). Jephthah was a mercenary who offers to sacrifice his only daughter, which may or may not involve her execution (Hebrews 11:32; see Judges 10-12).[5] Gideon kept asking for a sign to alleviate his apparent doubt (Hebrews 11:32). These are some of the heroes of the faith? These are some of the heroes of the faith.
Faith is not only what we do. Faith is more than that.[6] Faith and faithfulness are definitely intertwined[7] and Hebrews 11: 1&2: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”
This is important because God is faithful (Romans 3:3,4; see Psalm 51:4). Even when some of these heroes of the faith stumbled God picked them up. God carried them through the bonds of their covenants. Indeed what if they were unfaithful, would that nullify the faithfulness of Christ. Paul says in Romans 3:3,4, emphatically, No! And even when we do slip up and act in ways inconsistent with faith, we can repent. God can forgive us, rectify things, and set us straight and we also can be heroes of faith.
It was only through the Grace of God that these normal people sought God in faith and we even now experience the blessings of that. It was through the faithfulness of God and the faith and faithfulness of every one of these people in this list that God blesses us here today. Walking the path blazed by those who went before us, we experience the blessings we were promised through them just like our children will experience the blessing of a nation dedicated to God provided that we are faithful and reclaim our nation as a nation dedicated to Christ.
It was through God’s faithfulness and Abraham’s faith and faithfulness that the world was ultimately blessed through Jesus Christ (Genesis 12:1-3). It was through Moses that God gave the people of Israel that rest, that Hebrews 4 addresses, in the Promised Land (See also Deuteronomy 1 and Numbers 14). It was through David’s faith and faithfulness that God built His house (2 Samuel 7; see also 2 Sam. 23:5 and Psalms 89:3, 28-29; 110:4), His dynasty which culminates through Jesus – who is the Christ, the wonderful counselor, mighty God, the Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful (Isaiah 9:6). God’s government is a peaceful government.
Abel and Enoch were taken to be with the Lord and remembered forever as examples of faith (see Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51). Enoch himself never had to experience death (Genesis 5:24). Like Elijah later (2 Kings 2:11), he was avoided the pain of that transition between here and there.
Faith is not just what we do; it is that and more. Hebrews 11: 1&2: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”
My kids and I try to read the Bible every night: not too long ago we were studying Daniel and in the book of Daniel you see prophecies that are recorded hundreds of years into the future and almost - if not all – are fulfilled already by the advent of Christ. This is the same with Jeremiah. This is the same with Isaiah. That which these people of faith in Chapter 11 could not see in their lifetime actually came to pass. After these people died, the promises to them were fulfilled; they were vindicated. Now we know for sure what they believed to be true. We have seen what they had faith would come to pass. That they didn’t experience the complete blessing of their promises in their lifetime didn’t dissuade them of the reality.[8] They weren’t as blind as atheists who when faced with a darkened room put on sunglasses of disbelief to obscure the view even further (see Romans 14:23). We, like the crowd of witnesses recorded in Hebrews chapter 11, put on the glasses of faith that are sitting on the table in front of all of us. They are more than glasses, they are like night vision goggles and the heroes of the faith pick up these glasses of faith and see through those glasses what is right in front of our eyes (see 1 Corinthians 13:12).[9]
And as the book of Daniel says that with the resurrection of the dead we will all see the result of their faith and we will all see the result of our faith (Daniel 12:13).[10] Paul in his letter to the Romans says that at that time every knee will bow and every tongue confess whether we want to or not, we will all see what is in front of us then (Romans 14:11). At the resurrection of the dead we all will see the results of our faith. At the resurrection we will see the ultimate results of the faithfulness of Christ, the faithfulness of God. But it is only those of us who persevere who will celebrate it (see Hebrews 3:12; 6:4-8,10:25-27).
Hebrews Chapter 10 records Habakkuk’s prophecy and the warning that not all will persevere (Habakkuk 2:3,4; see further Matthew 24:9-12; Luke 8:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 1:15, 4:10; Hebrews 2:1-14, 3:12; 6:4-8,10:25-27, 31-39; 1 John 2:18-19; 2 Peter 2:17, 3:17). Some who suffer the persecution that we spoke about last week will even dawn the dark sunglasses of disbelief and join the apostate; they will not join us as victors at the resurrection of the just.[11] A different fate awaits them.
“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 10:39- 11:2). This is our hope too.
Charlie Brown, in his seemingly misplaced faith, persevered and I found this clip on-line where somehow Charlie Brown finds himself invisible and…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6J1MhmQRV8
…Even Charlie Brown persevered and even Charlie Brown had his reward and so much more can you and so can I, and so can everyone who puts his/her faith not in things of this world but in Jesus Christ. God can make a way where their seems like there is no way.[12] Hebrews 10:35-37, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay…(see Habakkuk 2:3,4).”
Christ is faithful therefore we can persevere. We too can celebrate the victory with Christ as we just have faith. But we do have a choice and Chapters 10 and 11 plainly set that choice before us.[13] Our choice is like when Moses was on the precipice of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). He said to the people, today you can either choose death or you can choose life. A generation of people then followed Joshua into the promised life. Today, as the preacher of the sermon to the Hebrews said, that promise is still open to us (Hebrews 4). Let us not forsake our Faith and die but let us rather choose life and celebrate forever at the resurrection when alongside Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and the others through of Christ’s faithfulness, we shall all be made perfect (Hebrews 11:40; see also Hebrews 7:19, 9:9, 10:1,10:14, 12:23).
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
---
[1] Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/VIII. Faith (11:1-40), Book Version: 4.0.2 The preacher of Hebrews "sees faith as that trust in God that enables the believer to press on steadfastly whatever the future holds for him. He knows that God is to be relied on implicitly. So the writer's method is to select some of the great ones in the history of the people of God and to show briefly how faith motivated all of them and led them forward, no matter how difficult the circumstances. The result is a great passage that not only encouraged his readers but also has encouraged hosts of Christians through the ages."
[2] Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998), p. 131: “One can argue that v.1 does not ‘define’ faith; after all, the word ‘pistis’, ‘faith’ will sometimes indicate trust or belief and sometimes refer to the quality of loyalty or faithfulness. Rather than offering a definition, the author focuses and gives thematic unity to discussion.”
[3] Cf. Thomas G. Long, Hebrews (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1997), pp. 115-116.
[4] The Salvation Army’s Soldiers’ Covenant states that a soldier “…will abstain from alcoholic drink, tobacco, the non-medical use of addictive drugs, gambling, pornography, the occult and all else that could enslave the body or spirit.”
[5]See Denis T. Olsen, ‘Judges’ in NIB II: Deuteronomy-2 Samuel, p.834 for a good discussion of this. See also Clarke's Commentary, vol. 2, p. 151) cited from Al Maxey, available on-line at: http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx224.htm
[6] John Wesley, The Sermons of John Wesley 1872 Edition (Thomas Jackson, editor) SERMON ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO On Faith
"Now faith is the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11:1. Available on-line at http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/sermons/122.htm "Many times have I thought, many times have I spoke, many times have I wrote upon these words; and yet there appears to be a depth in them which I am in no wise able to fathom. Faith is, in one sense of the word, a divine conviction of God and of the things of God; in another, (nearly related to, yet not altogether the same,) it is a divine conviction of the invisible and eternal world."
[7] Cf. B.F. Westcott, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950), p. 350 and Simon J. Kistemaker, Hebrews (NTC: Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Hebrews: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), p.311.
[8] Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/VIII. Faith (11:1-40)/A. The Meaning of Faith (11:1-3), Book Version: 4.0.2: "Christians are not helpless. They have faith and by this they test all things. "What we do not see" excludes the entire range of visible phenomena, which here stand for all things earthly. Faith extends beyond what we learn from our senses, and the author is saying that it has its reasons. Its tests are not those of the senses, which yield uncertainty."
[9] cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12: for we all only see through a glass darkly now of the future but at the resurrection we shall see so much more clearly.
[10] Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998), p. 131: “Faith here is eschatological and cannot be separated from hope.”
[11] Michael Ramsay, ‘Hebrews 10:39: We will not shrink back!” Presented to Swift Current Corps, November 15, 2007. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/11/hebrews-1039-we-will-not-shrink-back.html
[12] Cf. Don Moen, “God will make a Way.” Integrity Music, 1990.
[13] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998), p. 145 and Simon J. Kistemaker, Hebrews (NTC: Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Hebrews: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), p.359.
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