A Resurrection Reflection - Psalm 22, Acts 2:29-31, 17:30-32, Philippians 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 15:14-22 - Christ has risen! (Christ has risen indeed!)

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army on Resurrection Sunday, 31 March 2013 and 05 April 2015; Corps 614 Regent Park, 27 March 2016; and 614 Warehouse Mission, 01 April 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay.

Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV):

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very {form of} a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Lord, we are here today to bow our knees and confess in words that reflect our faith and action, which are inextricably linked, that You are risen from the dead and You are Lord.

HE IS LORD

Psalm 22, My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me, which Jesus called out upon the cross on Good Friday concludes with the following stanzas of what is happening between the cross and the empty tomb, the resurrection and the ascension, the prolepsis and the return:

²² I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For He [God) has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
He has not hidden His face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help (God did not forsake Jesus!)

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!

It is finished. As Psalm 22:24 records, God did not despise or scorn Jesus; God does not hide His face from Christ. And now today, as we fulfil the great commission (Matthew 28:16-29), as people serve the Lord, families and nations will bow down before him and one day we will all celebrate the victory of Christ at the ultimate resurrection.

VICTORY IN JESUS

For some people in this time as our country seems determined to try to remove itself from the love of Christ, the resurrection has all of a sudden become somewhat difficult to understand.

Acts 17:30-32: "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this.’"

When Christ’s resurrection occurred in the first century, the parallel between some traditional Pagan, Barbarian, and even Gentile beliefs and this resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians. As Justin Martyr argued, “when we say … Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus.” (1 Apology 21).

1 Corinthians 15:20-22: "But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise. Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did. Because of Adam, all people die. So because of Christ, all will be made alive."

1 Corinthians 15:14: "If Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless."

Acts 2:29-31: "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact."

1 Corinthians 15:19-20: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep."

UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE

Christ has Risen! (Christ has Risen indeed!)

Let us go forth from here serving our risen Lord and Saviour in the certainty of the Resurrection of the dead. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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www.sheepspeak.com

John 20:1-9: He’s Alive!

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 31 March 2013,
Presented to Nipawin Corps, 15 February 2009,
Presented to CFOT, 10 April 2006.
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Click here to read the sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/02/john-201-9-hes-alive.html

John 12:8, Mark 14:7, Matthew 26:11: The Poor Will Always Be With You.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 17 March 2013

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today is St. Patrick’s Day so I thought that I would start off our time here with a little St. Patrick’s Day quiz. (ANSWERS AT BOTTOM)

1. Where was St. Patrick born?

1. Ireland
2. Scotland
3. France
4. Saskatchewan

2. What was the nationality of St. Patrick's parents?

1. Irish
2. Scottish
3. Roman
4. Martian

3. What is the traditional colour associated with St. Patrick?

1. Blue
2. White
3. Green
4. Orange

4. What object to St. Patrick famously use to share the gospel?

1. Clover
2. Shamrock
3. Rainbow
4. Snake

5. In Eire what would one call criminal who comes down with a skin disease?

1. a criminal with a skin disease
2. a leper con

We know basically the story of St. Patrick, right? He is the one credited with bringing the Gospel to Ireland. He is famously known for using the shamrock as a metaphor for the trinity in his evangelistic efforts and he is mythically credited with driving the snakes from Ireland.

In the Gospel of John that we are looking at today is the record of the woman who poured out a year’s wages worth of perfume onto Jesus’ feet and the resultant objection that that perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

St. Patrick started out as anything but poor. He was born in Scotland, the wealthy son of Roman parents in the 4^th Century. He did however discover poverty and lived out much of his life that way. He was kidnapped and taken away from his family to Ireland. He escaped and then returned to Ireland bringing with him freedom in Christ to the country in which he was held in captivity.[1]

Our story from the Bible today – that of the lady with the perfume – I find quite shocking. This story or its parallels are found in all four of the Gospels (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50, John 12:1-8). There is quite a scandal that unfolds in our text to which three of the four gospels draw particular attention.[2]

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Picture the scene with me as John presents it, as that is the text that we are primarily dealing with today. Jesus, along with his disciples, goes to the home of some of his closest friends –Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. We know that, as it says in Verse 1 of our text that Jesus’ has just raised Lazarus from the dead and because of that more and more people are following Jesus.  We know as well that his detractors are becoming more and more nervous of a Roman military crackdown with so many people following Jesus that they are even now plotting the death of both Jesus and Lazarus in order to, among other things, save the people from Roman reprisals (John 11:38-53).

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Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are close friends and close allies of Jesus; they are committed to Jesus and the Lord has done so much for them. They are having this dinner for Jesus, in Jesus’ honour. His disciples are there. Lazarus is present at the table. Others are likely in attendance. Martha is faithfully serving her Lord as she waits on him, her brother, and the other invited guests. This would be quite a gathering and remember that everyone would probably be talking about all that had just happened with Jesus’ resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. It would have been in the buzz of all this activity with people talking and eating their meal that Mary enters this account. Verses 3-5 record, “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,  ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’”
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Verse 6 tells us that Judas, “he did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.” Now this may be Judas’ motivation in making this comment but the other gospel writers tell as that there were others who had reason to make this same objection. Matthew mentions that this same question is on the lips of Jesus’ other disciples as well (Matthew 26:8-9).[3] As such this is an important question so let’s spend some time exploring it today.

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Mary has somehow gotten this really expensive perfume. There is no indication that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are extremely wealthy. They have just had all the expense as well of Lazarus’ funeral – before Jesus raised him from the dead. The average annual income in Canada today is $47 200.00 (February 2013). It wasn’t so much back then and they didn’t have credit cards back then and -I don’t know about you but- even if I wanted to run out and pay $47 000.00 on perfume in this day and age to pour on someone’s feet so that it would all run into the ground, I doubt that I could manage that. And back in the first century, in the world of our text today, when the average person in Palestine was just trying to make enough to eke out a living, I don’t imagine that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus had so much money that they could just let the equivalent of $47 000 CDN run out of their savings, over the Lord, and onto the floor. But this is exactly what is happening in our text today.

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We can see, can’t we, how we might even find ourselves in this same situation asking alongside Judas and the other disciples, Verse 5, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” And then how about Jesus’ response: Verse 8, Jesus says, “You will always have the poor among you”

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There is even more to this too when we think about who Jesus was and who Jesus is and when we think about how Jesus interacted with his followers and how Jesus interacted with his disciples and how Jesus interacted with his close friends in the first century. What did Jesus say about our spending money when there are still poor people around? And what does Jesus say about even saving money when there are still poor people around? Jesus says, Matthew 19:21, “…If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Jesus says, Luke 12:33 (and Matthew 6:20), “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail...” Luke 6:20, “Looking at his disciples, he said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.’” Luke 12:13-21 even records a parable of a man who saved for his retirement instead of giving his money to the poor and this parable concludes with Verses 20 and 21: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” And Acts 2:45 records of Jesus’ early followers even after his resurrection that “they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

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So how can someone who has taught all of this about not saving up money and instead taking care of the poor and needy to his disciples, to his friends, and even to the population at large - how can someone who has taught all of this about taking care of the poor and needy then turn around when one of his friends and followers pours the 1^st Century equivalent of $47 000 CDN (2013) onto his feet and then onto the floor - - how can someone who has taught all of this about taking care of the poor and needy then turn around and tell his disciples, “leave her alone”, Verse 7; and Verse 8, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me”? How does what Jesus is doing here match up with everything that he has been teaching all along about taking care of the poor and the marginalized instead of saving money for ourselves. And so much so that his followers, to whom he is addressing, even give up everything they have to follow him. How does this match up with that?

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I think that Jesus gives us a bit of a clue in John here. John 12:7: “Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.’” Funerals were very important in the 1^st Century. Mary and Martha had just had one too, remember, for their brother Lazarus. Funerals were a big deal and family and people would walk for miles and days to attend a funeral. Mary and Martha had just gone through the whole grieving process and were prepared for when one might arise again. Funerals in our day and age can cost upwards of $10 000 with caskets accounting for as much as a quarter of that cost. Today we have many people who plan in advance for their funeral services and it says in Verse 7 of our text that Mary (probably even in concert with Jesus) had likewise planned in advance for Jesus’ funeral. She had already acquired this expensive perfume for Jesus’ funeral and she is presently saving this expensive perfume for Jesus’ funeral when all of a sudden here she is pouring this perfume out on Jesus for the purpose of his funeral and burial.[4]

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We remember too that just a very short time before this event at Lazarus’ funeral; Jesus has this exchange with Mary’s sister, Martha. John 11:25-27:

Jesus said to her [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though [one] dies; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Jesus then raises Lazarus from the dead. So here we have a glimpse of the ultimate resurrection of the dead that is penultimately viewed in that example. Jesus’ death and resurrection and return to his Father is coming in the next few chapters of John. He is with his friends for only a short time now as plans are already being made for his execution. This perfume is a foreshadowing and -even more- it is an integral part of the preparation for his death that is about to come but we know that this death is not the end. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. This expenditure on the perfume is not a meaningless or self-indulgent extravagance. This pouring out of Jesus’ funeral nard is a prophetic and divinely inspired worship of our Lord and Saviour.

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So then, revising and applying the questions to our own lives that we asked earlier: while we are here today eagerly awaiting Jesus’ return, is there ever an occasion when we would better spend a year’s wages on something other than the poor? With Jesus teaching so much about taking care of the poor and the marginalized –as much as he apparently teaches on anything else – and with Jesus saying that indeed how we treat the poor and the marginalized, the least of these brothers and sisters of ours, is an accurate reflection of how we treat him (Matthew 25:31ff); given how much Jesus cares about the poor are there instances in our own time and place when there is something more important to spend our money on that on the poor and the needy?

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I would say that only if we do so for the gospel: only if we do so at the direct revelation and bequest of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus is God and God is the only one who is more important than our neighbour here and as we turn our whole lives over to Him, He promises that we can trust him that everything will be okay. Matthew 6:33: “… seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 25:45: whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you do for Jesus. And, Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” It is said that the whole Bible, like the Decalogue, can be summed up with ‘love God and love your neighbour’; so then let us do just that. Let us turn to Jesus, let us worship God and let us in trust Him who alone holds the keys to eternal live because as Jesus says in John 11:25-26 “…I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though [he] dies; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

 

ANSWERS: 1) b. Scotland, 2) c. Roman, 3) a. Blue, 4) b. Shamrock

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[1] For more information: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

[2] But cf. Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/IV. The Galilean Ministry (4:14-9:50)/C. Ministry to Various Human Needs (7:1-9:17)/4. Anointed by a sinful woman (7:36-50), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), S. 260: The ‘you’ in John’s text is also plural.

[4] Cf. Gail R. O’Day, The Gospel of John, The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 9, ed Leander E. Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995),702.

Luke 15:11-32: Lost Boy

Presented to Swift Current Community Lenten Lunch, 07 March 2013
Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army and CKSW Radio 10 Mar 13 

by Captain Michael Ramsay

A distinguished, prominent big city pastor cruised through a small town. He became a little turned around and when he was lost and driving through the streets of this prairie town his eyes fell upon a child not more than two feet tall at the door of one of the houses. The boy was on tiptoes valiantly attempting to reach the doorbell. Amused at the efforts of this small boy and wanting to help, the pastor parked his car and went over to assist the boy. He reached up and pushed his finger onto the button and the chimes rang inside. Satisfied that he had done his good deed for the day, the pastor turned to the child,

“Okay, what happens next?”

With a smile the child replied, “Now we run!”
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The pastor of our story today was at a loss, I believe, as he was lost in the prairies. Today we are speaking about the lost. We read the parable of the lost son. This is actually the 3^rd parable in a series of 3 or 4 parables. The parable of the lost son and especially the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost sheep are all speaking about how important the lost are to God and just how much He will do to bring them to salvation, to bring them back to Him.[1] The next parable after the parables of the lost then goes on to explain just how important this salvation from the Father is. God really loves us. So, to make a gross understatement, it bothers Him when we are lost.
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Who here likes to lose things? How do you feel when you lose your keys? You know that feeling? You think you put them somewhere but they are not there. You are running late. You need to be somewhere and your keys are missing. This is like the parable of the lost sheep.
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Now imagine that you find your keys and you head to the mall and you go in, buy your groceries, you walk to where your car is (or at least where you thought it is) and it is not there. Your car is lost. You look around. You fumble for your fob to try and make the horn honk or the lights blink but it is icy and you have your hands full and you are sure that this is where you left your car but it is lost and you are franticly scanning the parking lot wondering where it might be. This is a parable of the lost coin.
 

Now imagine that you are still standing there completely disoriented with your hands full in the middle of the parking lot franticly looking for you car and you spot it so you walk over to the car. You are wondering why you can’t get it to unlock and then you realize that it is not your car at all. It is just one that looks like your car. You look around. You can’t find your anywhere and you are really starting to get concerned now because, even though you know you shouldn’t have, you left your two year-old grandchild or daughter or son in the car. This is the parable of the lost son. These are the progressive emotions that Luke is trying to evoke in his original audience here as they read of and hear these parables from Jesus.
 

These three parables are of the lost: the lost coin (vv. 3-7), the lost sheep (vv. 8-10) and the lost son (vv.11-32). They are a progression of intensity and they all address the questions raised by the Pharisees in verses 1-2 that we read earlier: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”
 

Jesus answers the muttering in these parables that not only does he welcome sinners and eat with them but Jesus says: Verse 10, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”; Verse 7, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent”; and Verse 32 “…we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” This is how much it means to God when we His children come to and/or return to His safety and His protection.
 

Now the primary parable of the lost that we are dealing with today is that of the son. I must admit that it wasn’t my favourite pericope to see that I would be speaking on because it seems that almost everything that could ever possibly be said about this parable has been said already. I have read I don’t know how many journal articles and books on the prodigal son; I have seen I don’t know how many pieces of artwork on the prodigal son; I have heard I don’t know how many homilies, devotional thoughts and inspirational talks on the prodigal son. I have heard sermons spoken from the father’s perspective, from the prodigal’s perspective, from the older son’s perspective and maybe even from the pigs’ perspective. I myself have even written a children’s version of this story many years ago and years before that even I remember playing the prodigal son in a musical when I was an elementary school student back in Victoria, with Emmanuel Baptist Church’s Hosanna Singers.
 

There is a story was told and re-told quite a bit about one of our performances. It goes like this. I, as a 10 or 11 year-old boy, was playing the prodigal son. My costume was that of an old potato sack. You know the kind. I was wearing that and I had dirt and or stage make-up on. We performed this play on a number occasions and a number of locations. I remember once, we were playing for a smaller audience. We were performing at the inner city Mustard Seed Street Church in downtown Victoria. Because it was a smaller venue, while I was waiting to make my entrance, to return to the father, I was waiting outside in my potato sack on the streets of downtown Victoria – and I believe the door have may even locked on me. So there I was; this child in a potato sack pounding on the door of the street mission as it is time for me to go on stage and along comes a little old lady who instead of letting me in, kindly places a nickel in my hand and tells me everything will be alright and continues on her way. To this day, I think that nickel made me the highest paid actor ever in the history of the Hosanna Singers.
 

The main thing about the parables of the lost and the parable of the prodigal is that God loves us and He wants us all to be found. He doesn’t want any one of us left outside in the cold on the streets. Verse 10, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Our repenting, turning to God is so important not only to us but even more so to Him who loves us so much.[2]

There is another aspect to this parable that I should address too and that is the role of the older son in this story. He has an interesting reaction when he come home and finds that his family is having this party that no one apparently invited him to or even told him about. Along these lines, I have another tale about the lost that I would like to share here. This one is based on a children’s story that my eldest daughter shared with me. It is a Canadian book. 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 caught 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 a 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 he 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 are doing that they see what is right in front of their eyes and they notice that Harold is actually standing in their midst – the lost has been found.
 

Harold’s reaction to this impromptu party in his honour that he was not aware of is not entirely dissimilar to the older brother’s reaction to the impromptu party thrown in his brother’s honour that he is not aware of. The brother is not happy. In this instance he is not upset as Harold was because everyone is sad. The brother is upset because everyone is happy. Here the brother had always been serving his father. And -as far as we know- he has constantly been doing his best at serving his father and –as the text states- he had never had such an event thrown for him (15:29); but his little brother who had just run off and partied, cavorted with gentiles and eaten with pigs, he all of a sudden shows up again and he’s the centre of all this attention. It’s not fair. He is the good son: the one who has been doing everything right. The sentiment the older son is expressing is, in essence, the same sentiment expressed by the religious leaders off the top of our text, Verses 1-2: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered: Jesus, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Jesus, God, the father in the parable of the lost son, celebrates when the son turns and returns to him.
 

This pericope that we have been looking at today has been referred to as, ‘the Gospel of the outcast’.[3] Here at The Salvation Army, our lot have sometimes been referred to as a rag-tag group; we are sometimes thought of as a congregation of prodigals, particularly in downtowns of large urban centres. We have members of our group who meet here on a regular basis, some of whom may not even have what others might consider ‘appropriate’ church clothes; we have members of our group who meet here on a regular basis, some of whom have been living the life of the woman at the well -who have had so many husbands, common-law and otherwise- that she doesn’t know what to do (John 4); we have members of our group who meet here on a regular basis, who have struggled with addiction and have even at times stolen as a means to support that addiction; we have alcoholics who are in various forms of recovery; we have members of our group who meet here on a regular basis who have served time in jail paying for there sins. We also have those of us who haven’t. I don’t know what it is like in the other congregations in town but I hope and I imagine that it is the same in whatever congregation you are a part of in that we welcome home with open arms those who have been left out on the margins of our society. I assure you that those who have been out there really do need to know that the love of Jesus can exist even here in the church.
 

This is my encouragement today: if we see someone who we do not know sitting next to us here or in your church on this upcoming Sunday; or even more, if we see someone who we do know who has done some things even as bad as the prodigal in our story - squandering his father’s wealth, his inheritance and his promise for the foreseeable future – or worse, do we welcome them with the love of Christ? We need to reach out to even the least and the last of the lost –even those like us - because, Verse 10, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”; Verse 7, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent”; and Verse 32 “…we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” This is how much it means to God when we his children come to and/or return to His safety and His protection. So for those of us that are already living at home with our Father, let us come in, join the party and celebrate with our brothers and sisters who were lost and now are found, who were dead and are now alive; and for those of us who have not yet come home, if you are here today and maybe thinking of coming to or returning to the Lord, I pray that you will come now and join us at the feast prepared in honour in the Name of the Lord.
 

Let us pray.
 

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 3), S. 254

[2] Cf. Barbara E. Reid, 'Beyond Petty Pursuits and Wearisome Widows: Three Lukan Parables'. Interpretation 56 no. 3 (July 2002): 288

[3] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/V. Teaching and Travels Toward Jerusalem (9:51-19:44)/E. Further Teaching on Urgent Issues (14:1-18:30)/4. Parables of joy (15:1-32)/a. The lost sheep (15:1-7), Book Version: 4.0.2: This section begins what Manson (Sayings of Jesus, p. 282) has called the "Gospel of the Outcast." The large body of material in chapters 15-19 is unique to Luke and dramatically shows Jesus' concern for the social outcasts of his day.

Revelation 17:1-18 and 20:9-27: What is and What’s to Come

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 03 Mar 13

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Quiz: Name that beast (answers at bottom).

1. A Swiss inventor created him.
2. The creature killed his maker’s family.
3. His creator pursued the creature to the Artic where the creator died.
4. This beast doesn’t really have a name.
5. He is remembered by the name of his creator.
6. His creator is Dr. Frankenstein.

1. This beast is in need of a shave.
2. Zevon and CCR (maybe) sings about him.
3. Michael J. Fox played one.
4. This beast comes out at night.
5. He should be avoided during the full moon.
6. What the 3 little pigs ask?

1. This beast has many names throughout the world
2. He has been spotted in the U.S., China, and Canada
3. In China, he may be related to Frosty yet
4. In the U.S, he needs to see a specialized cobbler
5. In Canada, apparently he drinks Kokanee beer
6. It is another name for a timepiece made in Regina

Susan just got a book, the other day about worst-case scenarios. It speaks about what do if you are attacked by an octopus, an alligator, a python. I was looking for something in there about a beast from revelation but I didn’t find one. The passage that we are speaking about today speaks about a beast and prostitute. Revelation itself has the answer to the question, what do you do when you face a prostitute with a beast in this worst case scenario and that is what we are going to look at briefly today. Now I will tell you off the (vampire?) bat what is the main theme of this pericope. It is the same as the main theme of this whole letter. That is this: whatever happens in this world, as you turn to and remain in Christ, everything will be okay.

Our message today is entitled, ‘What is and what is to be’. First we are going to look at what is: the political reality of the text in Revelation 17 that we read today.

The passage speaks about a prostitute. There are a lot of things that are left open to interpretation in the book of Revelation. The identity of this prostitute is not one of those.[1] She is ancient Rome; she is not contemporary Rome but she is ancient Rome. That she is Rome of the Roman Empire there is no real question. (Also Babylon; cf. 2 Baruch 11:1; Sib Oracles 5:143, 158; 1 Peter 5:13; Hippolytus Christ and Antichrist 36; TDNT, 1:516). Rome was a great city (v. 18), Rome was set on seven hills (v. 9), and Rome (by the time of Domitian, A.D. 85), was notorious for persecuting and killing the saints (v. 6).[2] Ancient Rome was the centre of trade and capital and war and the Roman peace. The Roman prostitute, she conquered the Mediterranean world and starting with Julius or Augustus Caesar, who are each variously accepted as the first of the ten kings here mentioned, this prostitute’s leaders were worshipped as gods and any who would worship them could live.[3] “But [as one Roman Official wrote] if they are accused and handed over, they are to be punished, but only if they do not deny being Christians and demonstrate it by the appropriate act, i.e., the worship of our gods. Even if one is suspect because of past conduct, he or she is to be acquitted in view of repentance.”[4] So Christians to whom their faith didn’t matter were spared by Rome. But, of course, Christians who did that – renounced God – when God returns, He will accept their resignation and they will be sacrifice eternity for a moment.

Now there are a lot of parallels between Rome of the first century our world today. Babylon of Revelation, Rome of the first century, closely mirror many (if not all) empires who have ruled are world since. I remember before the end of the Cold War depending on whether you erred towards the sin of American democratic-capitalism or the sin of Soviet communism, people would identify the beast as either Mikhail Gorbachev because of the birthmark on his forehead or they would identify the beast as Ronald Wilson Reagan because the number of his name was 666. Reagan was not the beast. Gorbachev is not the beast, neither is Putin for that matter. This passage is quite clear that when it refers to the prostitute it is speaking about ancient Rome but nonetheless there are a lot of the sins of ancient Rome in which our world today likes to indulge.

Our society’s elites “dignity and splendour combined with prosperity, overabundance, and luxury (Jeremiah 51:13; Ezekiel 16:13, 49; Nahum 2:9; cf. Revelation 18:3, 7, 16-17); self-trust or boastfulness (Isaiah 14:12-14; Jeremiah 50:31; Ezekiel 16:15, 50, 56; 27:3; 28:5; cf. Revelation 18:7) power and violence, especially against God’s people (Jeremiah 51:35, 49; Ezekiel 23:37; Nahum 3:1-3; cf. Revelation 18:10, 24); oppression and injustice (Isaiah 14:4; Ezekiel 16:49; 28:18; cf. Revelation 18:5, 20); and idolatry (Jeremiah 51:47; Ezekiel 16:17, 36; 23:7, 30, 49; Nahum 1:14; cf. Revelation 17:4-5; 18:3; 19:2) are all here. Wherever and whenever these characteristics have been manifested historically, there is the appearance of Babylon”[5], Rome, the prostitute, and the beast. Worship of people: movie stars, athletes, Presidents, or most common these days, I think, ourselves. Sexual immorality; persecution of the church; the church itself giving up on its traditional values; a love of money and a love of self: these are all as prevalent now as they have ever been. Verse 18 talks about how devastating the fall of Rome will be on the economies of the earth.[6] If that was true of Rome, how much more true is that as America, the Empire of our day, is teetering on the edge of the abyss? When it falls think of what will happen to our economy. That is now and that is then. That is the problem as described in Revelation 17-18.

That is what is and what was. But there is good news too. There is still what will be. This is the good news. Now the good news is shown in chapter 21 with the advent of a New Jerusalem and this New Jerusalem isn’t to be confused with modern day Jerusalem or even ancient Jerusalem. The author of Revelation says that Jerusalem contemporary to this text is evil. Revelation 11:8 refers to their present day Jerusalem as Sodom and as Egypt (cf. also Ezekiel 16 and 23). It is evil. This New Jerusalem is quite different. Let me read what the Bible says about the New Jerusalem. Let me re-read from Revelation 21 to us now. Beginning at verses 9-11 and then picking up at 21-27.

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal…

 ^21 …The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

So, at the eschaton, at the end of the world, we don’t all disappear into outer space, God comes here. He makes the heavens and the earth anew. He makes a new heavenly Jerusalem, a true city of God that will descend from heaven and God will live down here on a renewed earth with us. Look at this – I love this – 21:22-23: there is no need for a temple even, for God is here himself. God is here Himself on earth and so bright is His glory that the world doesn’t even need a sun and, verse 27, nothing unclean will enter it. This is beautiful and this is something to which we have to look forward.

Earlier today we dedicated young Kaedin to the Lord. As it is true that Canada in the 21^st Century and the American Empire probably resembles the more the beasts of Babylon, Rome, the Jerusalem of chapter 11 and even Frankenstein’s monster than it does the New Jerusalem that will descend to earth as recorded in chapter 21 but the good news is that this New Jerusalem is coming. It will come. Heaven is coming to earth. Jesus is coming back. In light of that, no matter how many beasts, plagues, curses, problems, addictions, struggles, etc. face us; everything ultimately will be fine. Jesus promises that he is coming back. God, Jesus and the New Jerusalem will descend to earth to be with His bride and even until then we can be strong because as He is coming so even if we suffer every plague and every curse and every misadventure of the book of Revelation, God promises that as we are faithful, we will rejoice to see the day of His return and everything will be okay. If there is any of you here today who haven’t pledged allegiance to God, I invite you to do so now. Today, also you have all been charged with an extra incentive to be faithful. Today, we as a congregation promised that we would help raise Kaedin so that he can celebrate with us the conclusion of all things at the eschaton. We owe it to Kaedin. We owe it to all our children. We owe it to all our grandchildren and we owe it to God. May the Lord find us faithful! May we all meet together in the future in the New Jerusalem at the eschaton. Amen.

Let us pray.

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ANSWERS TO QUIZ: 1) Frankenstein's monster, 2) Werewolf, 3) Sasquatch (Canada), Big Foot (USA), Yeti or Abominable Snowman (China).

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[1] Paul N. Anderson, ‘Revelation 17:1–14’, Interpretation 63 no. 1 (January 2009): 60

[2] Alan F. Johnson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Revelation/Exposition of Revelation/III. Vision of the Seven-Sealed Scroll, the Seven Trumpets, the Seven Signs, and the Seven Bowls (4:1-19:10)/D. The Seven Bowls (15:1-19:10)/3. The harlot and the beast (17:1-18), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Cf. Stephen J. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 178.

[4] M. Eugene Boring, ‘Revelation’ (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1989), 15.

[5] Alan F. Johnson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Revelation/Exposition of Revelation/III. Vision of the Seven-Sealed Scroll, the Seven Trumpets, the Seven Signs, and the Seven Bowls (4:1-19:10)/D. The Seven Bowls (15:1-19:10)/3. The harlot and the beast (17:1-18), Book Version: 4.0.2

[6] Cf. Leon Morris, Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1987 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 20), S. 209