Presented to Swift Current corps of The Salvation Army
By Capt Michael Ramsay,
18 January 2015
Ray’s Brother
Cliff shared this story with us at Ray’s funeral and memorial services this
week about Ray’s very generous donation to the Calgary Zoo:
Ray was working up north somewhere. They were clearing a forest and
they noticed a bear cub in one of the trees. Ray thought that it would be a
good idea to capture the bear cub and bring it home to Ravenscrag,
Saskatchewan. So Ray and a group of others fell the tree and collected the bear
cub up in a big tarp. Ray then emptied his duffle bag put this bear cub in
there for the trip home. They flew into Calgary without incident where Ray then
went to board the bus home with his luggage. It is at some point here – I am
not sure whether Ray and his new friend actually made it onto the bus or not
but they were definitely in the depot and maybe on the bus when the bear
decides it is done with the duffle bag and he escapes to see the world. You can
imagine the commotion as this bear cub gets out and people are running
everywhere – some to get away and some to get the bear - and in the middle of
this all is Ray standing there with his now empty duffle bag. They eventually
capture the bear cub and bring him to the zoo and if he is alive and well than
he is probably still at the Calgary Zoo to this day. This was Ray’s generous,
if somewhat unintentional, donation to the Calgary Zoo. Some of the stories I
have heard over the last week have given me a whole new way to think of our
good friend Ray and his life experiences.
Jesus was
certainly all about encouraging people to look at our world in a whole new way
and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is definitely about seeing the whole
world in a new way. The thesis statement of Jesus’ the Sermon on the Mount, I
believe, is Matthew 5:17-18:“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law
or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly
I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the
least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished” (TSA doc 1).[1]
Everything else in the Sermon on the Mount seems to expound upon this. You will
notice in the lead up to the pericope that we are looking at today, Jesus’
teaching on prayer; he speaks about anger, retaliation, and murder. He speaks
about marriage, oaths, adultery, and divorce and he speaks about a new way to
consider how we interact with all of these in the context of scripture.[2]
We know that God
hates divorce. The Law says you shouldn’t commit adultery. Jesus says that as
we are citizens of His country, of His kingdom, we don’t need to obey laws
prohibiting adultery and divorce because we won’t let things go so far as to
even consider adultery or divorce (Matthew 5:21-32). Jesus says that not only
will we keep our marriage vows until death do we part but He says a Christian,
a citizen of His Kingdom, a follower of Jesus won’t even need to make marriage
or any other vows because everything we say we will do, we will do. Jesus says
as we serve him every promise we make we will keep. You know the old expression
that a person’s word is their bond. In ancient Israel you were not to be
released from any vow you made before God for any reason and over the years
people tried to erode that value by making laws about what oaths and vows you
needed to keep under what circumstances and what ones you didn’t. Jesus is
saying here that if you do everything that you say you are going to do.[3]
This is what you will do as you grow into a solid citizen of His kingdom, Jesus
says then many vices – such as breaking our vows, adultery, divorce and
remarriage - aren’t even on the table.
Murder too: the
Law says not to murder but Jesus says that is the wrong place to draw the line
(Matthew 5:21-26, 38-48). We should allow God to stop our feelings of hatred
and revenge before they even get to the point we are tempted to murder or even
retaliate against someone. If we never hate anyone, if we never hold a grudge
against someone then we don’t need a law to forbid murder; it will never get to
that if we always act in love and forgiveness. Does this make sense?
This– and an
introduction to almsgiving – is the groundwork that Jesus lays in his Sermon on
the Mount before He teaches us about prayer. Jesus shows us that forgiveness is
central to His Kingdom and it is central to prayer. This context is very
important for us to remember as we read the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus continues, as
he leads us in his prototype of how to pray, by encouraging us that it doesn’t
matter if we say long and eloquent prayers like the self-important people. We
don’t need to be the people who can pray fancy prayers in front of a bunch of
people.[4]
In fact, Jesus says that it is beneficial not to do such things if indeed our
goal is to have our prayers answered. Jesus then gives us this example of how
to pray. He says,
Our Father
which art in Heaven – This is acknowledging God,
our Father who lives in Heaven. Hallowed be thy Name – Hallowed means
holy; God is holy. Thy Kingdom Come – God’s Kingdom of Heaven is coming
here.[5]
Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven – As God’s Kingdom of
Heaven comes here, God’s will (as we read in this whole Sermon on the Mount,
chapters 5-7) will be done here.
Give us this
Day our daily bread – As this is happening, please
continue to feed us daily and - Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us - Again the theme of forgiveness appears in
Jesus’ sermon and it is near the culmination of how he teaches us to pray.
Jesus says that as we forgive others God will also forgive us. And then Jesus
says, Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. There are
many temptations, of course. Susan spoke to us last week about the devil’s
attempts to tempt Jesus is the dessert (Chapter 4). I would think that in the
context of this prayer – however- in the context of this Sermon on the Mount,
the primary temptation implied here is the temptation to not forgive. Because
look at the next verse: this is Jesus’ whole conclusion to His teaching on
prayer in this homily. He says, Verse 14, “for if you forgive others their
trespasses, if you forgive others their sins, if you forgive people who do evil
things to you,” Jesus says, “if you forgive them, your Father in Heaven will
forgive you; but…” Verse 15, “But if you do not forgive them, neither will your
Father forgive you.”
This is central to
God’s Kingdom. This is probably the primary way we can identify whether we are
a part of God’s Kingdom. And if we think about it, it really makes sense. God
doesn’t promise here that He will save us from difficult times.
God will save us in difficult times.
Look at Joseph in
the Old Testament (Genesis 37-50). I think he is a great example. The Bible
says that Joseph loved God and Joseph prospered. Joseph spent the first part of his life as the son of a rich
herdsman; Joseph spent a key part of his later life as the right hand man of
Pharaoh and governor of all of Egypt BUT that is NOT when the Bible says Joseph
prospered. The Bible says that Joseph prospered when he was in slavery and when
he was in the dungeon, when he was in prison. This is when Joseph prospered in
his relationship with God.[6]
The Bible doesn’t say that Joseph prospered when he had money and power. Joseph
prospered in his adversity.
King David also:
David, when he was rich and powerful he was committing adultery, murder and
sowing the seeds of his sons’ future rebellions (2 Samuel). David prospered
when he was an innocent young shepherd and when he was a fugitive from the king
and the key to David’s prosperity in his relationship with the LORD was
forgiveness (1 Samuel).[7]
King Saul tried many times to kill David and his friends. David repeatedly
refused to take revenge. David refused to harm Saul. Even when he could have
killed him as he had Saul in his reach, he instead just cut a piece of Saul’s
cloak and held it up for the King to see it as a symbol of peace and
forgiveness (1 Samuel 24; cf. 1 Samuel 26).
I think too that
we know in our own lives that we are most prosperous when we are forgiving and
I think, as we consider our own lives we will notice that indeed we are
forgiven more readily when indeed we forgive.
I know that there
have been times when I have gotten angry. Even not that long ago I know that
there were the actions of one or two people that the enemy tempted my mind to
dwell upon; I was harbouring un-forgiveness and it almost put me over the edge.
In that time of un-forgiveness, I even woke up in the middle of the night
enraged. It was eating me up. Un-forgiveness is a self-inflicted wound and it
is only when we stop inflicting that wound upon ourselves that we can truly
experience the joys of our salvation in the midst of everything that is in our
world today. I promise you that as we do forgive others we will notice God’s
forgiveness in our lives just like David did when he was on the run, and just
like Joseph did even when he was in prison and in slavery. As we forgive
others, in the midst of our enemies, when we most need God’s strength we will
notice that indeed He is there providing us the grace and forgiveness we need
to get through even the shadow of the valley of death (Psalm 23).
I have one more
story for us today from Ray’s brother. Cliff told me of these two neighbours
down in his neck of the woods that were feuding. I think it was something to do
with driving a bus: the routes they would take, when the children would get on,
what would happen on the bus – something like that. It got so bad that I think
they even had to maybe change the bus route so that the one neighbour no longer
went by the other neighbour’s land.
One day, the
daughter of one of these neighbours fell into a bog; no one could see her. She
was under for quite a while. They only way she was found was that one of the
searchers actually stepped on her. Of course, everyone called for everyone to
come and help. The other neighbour appeared. His spouse was a nurse and he told
her to do CPR, do something, save this little girls life! The spouse said,
“she’s dead; she’s not breathing; there’s no pulse; its too late; she’s dead.”
The daughter - she said of their neighbour with whom her husband had been
feuding and not forgiving - was dead. Her husband refused to accept that. He
implored, cajoled, ordered, begged, commanded, directed, pleaded, insisted that
his wife continue to do CPR on the girl while he drives his neighbour’s little
girl to the hospital however many miles away it was. She did and you know what?
The little girl came back to life. She lived. Do you think that these
neighbours ever fought about busses or anything else like that ever again? Do
you think that they ever let un-forgiveness rob them of the freedom to love
their neighbours again?
This is what the
Sermon on the Mount is saying. This is what the Lord’s Prayer in the Sermon on
the Mount is saying. If we truly want to live in the freedom that comes from
serving Christ as part of the Kingdom of Heaven, the only way to do that is to
forgive and God promises that indeed as we forgive others, God will forgive us
and then whatever else befalls us in our life it will be alright. It will be
okay. Let us pray as our Lord has taught us to pray:
Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil for Thine is
the Kingdom the Power, and the Glory forever and ever. Amen
---
[1] Cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville,
Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 46-50.
[2] Cf. R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers
Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), S.
122
[3] Cf. M. Eugene Boring, Matthew, (NIB 8: Nashville, Tennessee:
Abingdon Press, 1995), 193.
[4] Cf. R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers
Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), S.
137
[5] NT Wright, ‘Matthew for Everyone Part 1Chapters 1-15’ (NT for
Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 59.
[6] Captain Michael Ramsay, Genesis 39:2a: The Lord was with Joseph
and he prospered. Presented to Swift Current Corps, July 10, 2011.
Available
[7] Captain Michael Ramsay, 1 Samuel 17:46 – 47: The Battle belongs
to the Lord Presented to Swift Current Corps on May 2, 2010 and Nipawin and
Tisdale on July 6, 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/07/1-samuel-1746-47-battle-belongs-to-lord.html
Posts
