Deuteronomy 6:1-12: Songs of Salvation.

Presented to 614 Warehouse Mission, 30 April 2017, and Alberni Valley Ministries, 23 October 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

  

This is the 2022 Alberni Valley version. To view the original 2017 Toronto version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/04/deuteronomy-61-12-childrens-songs.html

  

I understand that Terri, Rena and Tim’s daughter, just got back from seeing Elton John; friends of mine saw Gordon Lightfoot this weekend. My older daughters and I this summer went to see a number of bands from the 70s and 80s playing in Seattle (which we had been waiting to see since before Covid-19). It is a lot of fun.

            The best part of going to see bands from yester-year play is the memories attached to the old songs and the opportunity to share those and new memories with my kids. We have seen a lot of shows together: Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Def Leppard, GNR, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and more. Alice Cooper by the way is an outspoken Christian and the son of a preacher. I actually saw Alice Cooper in concert when I was 17 years-old and then 30 years later, when we lived in Toronto, I was able to see him with my then 16 and 15 year-old daughters. This sort of thing is what our text today is about: sharing our memories with our kids so they can experience all the joy we did and so we can add even more to those memories together. This may even be exactly what is happening in our text today, Moses is probably bringing the Deuteronomy generation to hear the same Ten Commandments play at Mt Sinai that the Exodus generation had heard with him, decades previous.[1]

            In our Scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people he received the 10 Commandments with. It is important that children are reminded of, remember and participate in their parents’ experiences. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when we fail to remember what defines us as a people then we cease to be a nation;[3] and when we fail to remember our salvation with our children, then future generations may not experience that salvation anymore (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).[4] This may be what is happening in Canada today. This is what Moses is driving home with this next generation of Israelites. This is important. Don't just hope that our children and children’s children will learn something from a teacher, preacher, or priest. Don't just hope they'll learn life's lessons by accident. Sharing our faith history is our responsibility. Our very survival depends on what we remember from the past and how we carry that into the future.[5]

            In our world today, songs are a great way to bring memories and knowledge and experiences forward to a new generation. I am going to list some songs and see if you can tell me who sang them for one generation or the next [Answers in footnote below]:[6] (1) Cats in the Cradle (2) Signs (3) You're so Vain (4) California Girls (5) Knocking on Heaven’s Door (6) Live and Let Die (7) Landslide (8) Johnny B Goode

            I remember turning on the radio a few years ago and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of old folk songs. She really likes some of those old-fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on the local radio station, and - I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a near-contemporary heavy metal band - I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking: When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children.  This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our own children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.

           When we were in Toronto, our WT leader, Krys Val (Warehouse Mission Band) would write new lyrics to popular tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s - all of us would then hear the gospel expressed in music that resonates in our hearts and souls and memories and hopefully every time we hear that familiar, sometimes timeless tune we can remember what the Lord has done for us, with us, through us and in us.

            This is what our Scripture today sees Moses doing with the Deuteronomy generation.[7] God, through Moses, says of the lyrics of the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 6:7-9):

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 

            Moses wants the people to remember even more than just the words to these 10 Commands, of course. The Bible says God remembered Israel when they were in slavery. Now, will they remember Him when they are free? God remembers us when we are struggling. Do we remember Him when we are free? We may turn to God when things are bad; do we turn away from Him when we feel free to live our life for ourselves?[8] Do we remember what God has done for us as we are delivered from our problems? Do we remember how God saved those alongside us? Do we remember how God saved our family members before us? Do we remember how God saved our fore-parents in this country?  

Do we remember the things that God did for the Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt? How did God reveal himself to Pharaoh? Remember the Passover? Remember the plagues (Exodus 7-12)? When Sarah-Grace was 12 years-old, we hit the road with an excellent sermon she preached about the plagues.[9] Do we remember the plagues God used to save the children of Israel? What were they? Snakes, blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cows (dead livestock), boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born. God wants Israel to remember their salvation from, in and through these plagues. God wants them to remember how they were saved as death passed them over. And God wants us to remember also how generations and a testament later, Jesus won the ultimate victory over death so that we all might live. This is what Easter and Good Friday are all about.

            We are just about to come into the Advent season. We have many traditions around Advent: scripture readings, songs (Carols), candle lighting, and more

            When we invite our children and grandchildren to participate in Advent services; when we bring friends and family to Christmas pageants, when we invite people to a church service anytime of the year with us, we are carrying on that salvation tradition and experience.

            When we bring our children and grandchildren to church we remember and experience corporate worship and salvation together as a family. When we read our Bibles with our children and grandchildren and friends, we pass along the stories of salvation from one generation to the next - we show them what is important by what we do with each other; and as we read the Bible together, as we each experience our glorious personal salvation we can see how that fits in with salvation history and how we are included in the salvation of the whole world.

 

            When we say grace with future generations before dinner - whether at home or in public - we are teaching others the importance of prayer. When we say grace, when we pray in public, we may even be unknowingly encouraging even strangers to be faithful. They might see us and then remember that indeed they prayed with their parents as a kid and then head home and pass on that marker and catalyst for that same salvation relationship with their own children; and then they may experience that same access to all the power, mercy, grace and glory of God.

So, as Hebrews 10:25 extols us, let us not stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us not stop singing our songs of salvation with new generations. Let us always read the stories of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ with our children, our children's children, our friends, and our family. This week, let us resolve to take the Good News of Salvation and share it with everyone we meet so that they and we may experience the fullness of God's love today and forever more.                          

Let us pray.

---

[1] Cf. Thompson, J. A., Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1974 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 5), S. 128

[2]Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Deuteronomy 8: The Next Generation Thanks The Lord' (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, 09 October 2011). Available on-line:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/10/deuteronomy-8-next-generation-thanks.html

[3]Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary,  PradisCD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2; cf. also Willy Schottroff, “To Perceive, To Know,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3 eds. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997),516.

[4]Deuteronomy 8:19-20: “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”

[5] Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[6] Cats in the Cradle (Harry Chapin, Ugly Kid Joe), Signs (Five Man Electrical Band), You're so Vain (Carlie Simon, Faster Pussy Cat), California Girls (Beach Boys, David Lee Roth), Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, GNR), Live and Let Die (Paul McCarthy, GNR), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins), Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Judas Priest, AC DC, Motorhead, etc).

[7]Cf. Ronald E. Clements, The Book of Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 355.

[8] Cf. Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[9] Sarah-Grace Ramsay, Plague Pops – Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12). Presented to Maple Creek Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current, 17 August 2014, available online: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/08/plague-pops-salvation-only-comes-from.html

Labels:

Deuteronomy 6:1-12: Children's Songs

Presented to 614 Warehouse Mission, 30 April 2017, Alberni Valley Ministries, 23 October 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the original 2017 Toronto version. To view the 2022 Alberni Valley version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/04/deuteronomy-61-12-childrens-songs.html  


The other week my teenagers and I went to the Bon Jovi concert. It was a great show. Jon Bon Jovi performed in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey the night right after they made the play-offs. It was a lot of fun. Probably the best parts of the concert were the songs that I knew - the old ones. I didn't always care so much for the newer songs; some of these 'newer songs' were over 30 years old, mind you. The encore was especially good because that is when they played most of these old songs I knew. You could tell the band was made up of experienced showmen too because of the way they ran the performance. You could also tell because the original band members all had grey hair. And it was funny: by the time he had finished the encore at about 11pm or so it looked like Jon Bon Jovi just wanted to go to bed.


It was a good show and the best part of the experience, like I said, was the memories attached to the songs and the opportunity to share those memories with my kids. It meant a lot. Later this year we have tickets to GNR, Deep Purple, and Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper by the way is an outspoken Christian and the son of a preacher. I actually saw Alice Cooper in concert when I was 17 years-old and now I am going with my 16 and 15 year-old daughters. This sort of thing is what our text today is about: sharing our memories with our kids so they can experience all the joy we did and so we can add even more to those memories together. This may even be exactly what is happening in our text today, Moses might be bringing the Deuteronomy generation to hear the same Ten Commandments play at Mt Sinai that the Exodus generation had heard before them.[1]

The part of the Scriptures we are reading from today takes place when Moses is probably reminding the children of the children of Israel who left Egypt about the 10 Commandments.[2] He is reminding them about the time he came down the mountain to their parents and originally shared these commandments. We remember that scene don't we? I think some of the women's group even watched the move, '10 Commandments' with Charleston Heston this past Tuesday. The only problem is... I think that movie is 20 hours long - okay maybe 4 hours, but still it is a very long show. That is as long as some people’s work shifts.


In our Scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people he received the 10 Commandments with. It is important that children are reminded of, remember and participate in their parents’ experiences. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when we fail to remember what defines us as a people then we cease to be a nation;[3] and when we fail to remember our salvation with our children, then we will find that future generations are not experiencing that salvation anymore (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).[4] This is what is happening in Canada today. This is what Moses is driving home with this next generation of Israelites. This is important. Don't just hope that our children will learn something from a teacher, preacher, or priest. Don't just hope they'll learn life's lessons by accident. Sharing our faith history is our responsibility. Our very survival depends on what we remember from the past and how we carry that into the future.[5]


In our world today, songs are a great way to bring memories and knowledge and experiences forward to a new generation. I am going to list some songs and see if you can tell me who sang them for one generation or the next [Answers in footnote below]:[6] (1) Cats in the Cradle (2) Signs (3) You're so Vain (4) California Girls (5) Knocking on Heaven’s Door (6) Live and Let Die (7) Landslide (8) Johnny B Goode


I remember turning on the radio a few years ago now and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of these old folk songs. She really likes some of those old fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on one of the local radio stations in the town where we were living at the time and – I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a contemporary heavy metal band – I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I was struck by it as I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking. When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children. This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our own children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.


Similarly when Krys (Warehouse Mission Band) here writes new lyrics to old tunes, all of us can hear the gospel expressed in music that resonates in our hearts and souls and hopefully every time we hear that familiar, sometimes timeless tune we can remember what the Lord has done for us, with us, through us and in us.


This is what our Scripture today sees Moses doing with the Deuteronomy generation.[7] God, through Moses, says of the lyrics of the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 6:7-9):


Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Moses wants the people to remember even more than just the words to these 10 Commands, of course. The Bible says God remembered Israel when they were in slavery. Now, will they remember Him when they are free? God remembers us when we are struggling. Do we remember Him when we are free? We may turn to God when things are bad; do we turn away from Him when we feel free to live our life for ourselves?[8] Do we remember what God has done for us as we are delivered from our problems? Do we remember how God saved those alongside us? Do we remember how God saved our family members before us? Do we remember how God saved the founders of our country? Do we remember how God saved the Israelites?

Do we remember the things that God did for the Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt? How did God reveal himself to Pharaoh? Remember the Passover? Remember the plagues (Exodus 7-12)? When Sarah-Grace was 12 or so we hit the road with an excellent sermon she preached about the plagues.[9] I still have it. Maybe one day she can share it with us here. Do we remember the plagues God used to save the children of Israel? What were they? Snakes, blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cows (dead livestock), boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born. God wants Israel to remember their salvation from, in and through these plagues. God wants them to remember how they were saved as death passed them over. And God wants us to remember also how generations and a testament later, Jesus won the ultimate victory over death so that we all might live. This is what Easter and Good Friday are all about.


We have just come out of the Lenten season. Lent is when we are invited to give up something for the Lord. When I was a kid, Catholics would give up meat - except for fish - every Friday, not just during Lent. Fish Friday: I worked in a fish and chip shop for a very short time as a teenager and I still remember Fish Fridays.


When we invite our children and grandchildren to participate in Lenten services in preparation for Easter and Advent services in advance of Christmas; when we bring friends and family to Christmas and Easter pageants, when we invite people to a church service here with us, we are carrying on that salvation tradition and experience.


When we bring our children and grandchildren to church we remember and experience corporate worship and salvation together as a family. When we read our Bibles with our children and grandchildren and friends, we pass along the stories of salvation from one generation to the next - we show them what is important by what we do with each other; and as we read the Bible together, as we each experience our glorious personal salvation we can see how that fits in with salvation history and how we are included in the salvation of the whole world.


When we say grace with future generations before dinner - whether at home or in public - we are teaching others the importance of prayer. When we say grace, when we pray in public, we may even be unknowingly encouraging even strangers to be faithful. They might see us and then remember that indeed they prayed with their parents as a kid and then head home and pass on that marker and catalyst for that same salvation relationship with their own children; and then they may experience that same access to all the power, mercy, grace and glory of God.


So, as Hebrews 10:25 extols us, let us not stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us not stop singing our songs of salvation to new tunes for new generations, let us not stop adding those timeless words of salvation to songs that resonate in our hearts and souls as we do here every week. Let us always read the stories of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ with our children, our children's children, our friends, and our family. This week, let us resolve to take the Good News of Salvation and share it with everyone we meet so that they and we may experience the fullness of God's love today and forever more.


Let us pray.


www.sheepspeak.com

--- 

---

[1] Cf. Thompson, J. A., Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1974 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 5), S. 128

[2]Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Deuteronomy 8: The Next Generation Thanks The Lord' (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, 09 October 2011). Available on-line:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/10/deuteronomy-8-next-generation-thanks.html

[3]Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary,  PradisCD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2; cf. also Willy Schottroff, “To Perceive, To Know,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3 eds. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997),516.

[4]Deuteronomy 8:19-20: “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”

[5] Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[6] Cats in the Cradle (Harry Chapin, Ugly Kid Joe), Signs (Five Man Electrical Band), You're so Vain (Carlie Simon, Faster Pussy Cat), California Girls (Beach Boys, David Lee Roth), Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, GNR), Live and Let Die (Paul McCarthy, GNR), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins), Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Judas Priest, AC DC, Motorhead, etc).

[7]Cf. Ronald E. Clements, The Book of Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 355.

[8] Cf. Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[9] Sarah-Grace Ramsay, Plague Pops – Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12). Presented to Maple Creek Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current, 17 August 2014, available online: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/08/plague-pops-salvation-only-comes-from.html

Devotion 2.47/99: Deuteronomy 6:2 Children’s songs

Presented to River Street Cafe, 21 April 2017

Read Deuteronomy 6:1-3

In our scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people who received the 10 Commandments. It is important that children are reminded of and remember these experiences of and with their parents. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when people fail to remember what makes them a people, they find that they are not a people anymore; and when a people fail to remember their salvation, then we will find that we are not experiencing it anymore. This is what Moses is driving home with the next generation of Israelites.

           

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Bon Jovi concert with my teenager daughters. Songs are a great way to bring things forward from one generation to the next in our world today. I remember turning on the radio a year or two ago now and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of these old folk songs. She really likes some of them and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on the radio and – I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a contemporary heavy metal band – I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I was struck by it as I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking. When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children. 

This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.

           

Today, that is what I would encourage each of us to do. Let us share the stories of salvation that we know – be it those old Sunday school stories of Moses and the Red Sea or Noah and the Flood or Adam and Eve. Or the NT stories of Jesus and all that he has done for us – or even better our own personal testimonies of all that Jesus has done and is doing for each of us. As we share our stories, who knows, maybe our family and friends with avail themselves of that glorious salvation that is available to each of us in the midst of our very real struggles today.

www.sheepspeak.com

Devotion 2.46/98: John 15:10 Fruitful

Presented to River Street Cafe, 19 April 2017

Read John 15:1-14

‘I am the vine you are the branches’, Jesus says, ‘remain in me and bear fruit’; how are the disciples able to do this? By keeping his commands. And what are his commands? Verse 9 that they abide in his love; Verse 10, that they remain in his love; and Verse 12, that they love one another. Love God and love your neighbour (Luke 10:27) and what is the greatest way to show that you love someone else? It is, Verse 13, to lay down your life for your friends. And that is what his disciples did for him. And that is what Christ first does for them.

Jesus asked his disciples to remain in him and as they did they produced the fruit of love. He produced love in his friends while they were being imprisoned, tortured and killed. During their most difficult times, when many people instead choose to hurt themselves by hating others, Jesus’ love grows in his followers.

We too can have that fruit of love in our lives. As we turn to Jesus, as we remain in him, we will obey his commandments, we will love one another and he will produce his fruit of love in us.

There is one more thing though: In Verse 2 is recorded that Jesus says those who remain in Him, he will prune. What is pruning? It is cutting. Jesus says he will cut those who leave him and prune those who love him. So what’s the difference if you get cut either way?

This is something I have often wondered about. It is a play on words in Greek between the branch that is cut and removed and the branch that is pruned. The key difference is that the pruned branch, though it is cut, it is not completely cut off, it remains. The pruned branch, it blossoms and it bears fruit.

We all must go through tough times in life when life brings the shears to us. Sad things happen; bad things happen; mad things happen. The key is to not give into hate and fear. If we give into hate and fear, we will inevitably cut ourselves off from the love of God: hate and love cannot occupy the same space. However, Jesus promises that if we obey his command to love each other then no matter how sharp are the problems of our life, Jesus promises that he will use even those challenges to make us sprout the fruit of forgiveness which is everlasting life. As we obey his command to love one another, no matter how bad life seems, everything will be alright.

www.sheepspeak.com 

Devotion 2.11/63: John 12:13: Save us!

Presented to the River Street Cafe, 06 April 2016

Read John 12:12-19[1]

Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’, ‘Save us!’ Jesus is triumphantly entering the historic capital of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and people are saying, ‘Jesus! You are our rightful king! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the Romans, not the chief priests, not the rich, not the powerful elite – Jesus, you are our King; save us from Rome; save us from our leaders!’ Hosanna. Save us!

While shouting ‘Save us’ they are waving palm branches. The crowds didn’t just pick up palm branches because they happen to be near-by; they pick up palm branches because palm branches are a nationalist symbol (cf. 1 Mac 13:51, 2 Mac 10:7; cf. also Lv 23:40, Ps 92:12, Mt 21:8; Mk 11:8). It would be like if Canada was seeking independence and we were waving maple leaves or flags with the maple leaf on it – everyone recognises that as a symbol of Canada.

The people are yelling ‘save us’, waving nationalist symbols, and Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey: a donkey is not a war horse, it is an ambassador’s mount. It is an animal of peace (cf. Gn 49:10-11, Is 40:9, 44:2)! The Romans claimed that their wars brought the ‘Pax Romana’, the Roman Peace, but John here is pointing out that Jesus – not Caesar – is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is King of the Jews and more than that Jesus is King of the World!

These are exciting times. Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at this time and place in history is his ‘crossing the Rubicon’. There is no turning back. And this is what Palm Sunday is: Palm Sunday is the point of no turning back. Jesus is marching into the capital to great fanfare and we can celebrate this moment even here today. We can cast ourselves alongside the men, women and children watching the parade and cheering as our King rides into town. This is a bigger deal than anything that has ever happened to that point in time. This moment in our text is a moment when the world recognizes the arrival of the one whom, as Isaiah 9:6-7 declares, “The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever! The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this!”

Praise the Lord. In out text today it is Palm Sunday and Palm Sunday is a day of celebration because Jesus is King (President/ Prime Minister)! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?

www.sheepspeak.com

---

[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, John 12:12-19: St. John’s Palm Reading. Presented to Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, Palm Sunday, 20 March 2016 

Week 48: Acts 19:11: Miracle

Devotional presented to River Street Cafe, Friday 11 September 2015 and 07 April 2017

Read Acts 19:8-12

Do miracles still happen?

There was a fellow who decided to go parachuting with his friend. As neither of them had ever been parachuting before they needed to be trained. They spent the day at the airport studying wind trajectories, physics, the speed of acceleration of a free falling object, as well as what to do if your parachute fails to open. The one friend did not understand it at all and even when they practiced with a mock parachute, he didn’t get it.

They went to the plane. Flipping a coin to see who would go first, the friend lost and was supposed to jump first. Discovering, however, at about 850 ft in the air that he was afraid of heights, he convinced his companion to jump first.

They were jumping from 3000 ft. As this was their first jump, cords were tied to their parachutes so that they would open automatically upon exiting the plane. The companion climbed out on the wing (as he was supposed to) jumped, counted to five (as they practiced), looked up saw that the parachute had opened beautifully and enjoyed one of the most peaceful experiences of his life noticing the miracles of God’s creation while drifting to the ground on this perfectly windless day.

The friend, emboldened, does the same: climbs onto the wing, jumps, counts and looks to see the parachute; he reaches to grab the steering toggles on his parachute…they aren’t there. His parachute isn’t there (most of it anyway). It isn’t working. He has to take it off his back and pull the emergency chute all the while following faster and faster towards the ground. As he pulls the cord, he prays: “Lord, please save me.” He pulls the cord, looks, and the emergency chute didn’t open properly either. It isn’t catching any wind. It isn’t slowing him down. He falls beneath the trees towards the power lines and highway below.

It is at this time that the Lord’s hand reaches out and actually lifts the parachutist up in the air, opens his parachute and gently sets him on the ground without a scratch. This is a true story; I am that parachutist.

Miracles do happen.

In another sense, we are each that parachutist, our lives are that journey from the plane and, as we call on the name of the Lord, we can all be saved. This too is a miracle.

When have you experienced a miraculous encounter with our Lord?

www.sheepspeak.com 

[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, Do Miracles Still Happen? Nipawin Journal (September 2008) On-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#miracles

x

Matthew 27:55-28:20: Mary and Mary From Galilee.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army Resurrection Easter Sunday, 20 April 2014 and 614 Warehouse, 16 April 2017

 Mary and Mary from Galilee: Matthew 27:55-28:20 that we just read: this is Matthew’s account of the resurrection.[1] This is really quite something. First, we know who Matthew is, right? Matthew is Levi – a former customs officer / tollbooth operator / tax collector. Matthew is one of the disciples. He is one of the Eleven who are gathered at the end of this story. This is quite interesting.

What we have just read then would be Matthew’s answer to people who meet him as he heads out from receiving the Great Commission of our Lord. We read how Jesus has just told him and the other disciples to, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

You can then picture people asking Matthew, ‘Why are you baptizing people in Jesus’ Name; isn’t he dead?’ ‘How do you know this is all true?’ ‘What exactly happened?’ And then Matthew tells them the whole story that we have here in the Gospel of Matthew, of which the last chapters of his story are the most important to us on Easter, Resurrection Sunday. He tells the whole story of how Matthew learned of the resurrection first and then how he first came to believe and how he had this whole experience verified by an encounter with the Christ himself – after Jesus was raised from the dead.

First, before we go into the conclusion of Matthew’s story that we read today and entitled the our illustrations, Mary and Mary from Galilee; before we look at Mary and Mary and their encounter with the resurrected Christ, do we know who this Mary and Mary from Galilee are?

We know who is Mary Magdalene? Luke tells us that she was a financial supporter of Jesus’ – and probably one of means - as well as one of his key followers right from the earliest days of His formal ministry. Luke also tells that at some point prior seven demons were actually cast out of her (Luke 8:2).[2] And some people even think that she is the same Mary who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus and who anointed Christ’s feat with perfume and cleansed them with her tears.[3] Whether she is the sister of Martha or not, Mary Magdalene was certainly an early disciple of Jesus who supported him with both her purse and her deeds. She was a lady who –like the contemporary proverb says – ‘put her money where her mouth was’ as she shared the gospel unashamedly.

We know who is this other Mary? The mother of James and Joseph; we know who are James and Joseph, right? We - Protestants and Evangelicals anyway - acknowledge that James and Joseph are the names of two of the biological half-brothers of Jesus; therefore Mary in our text today might even be the one whom the Roman Catholics refer to as the ‘Mother of God’.[4] This might be the same Mary who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit; this might be the same Mary whose son remained at the Temple as a 12 year-old; and this might be the same Mary whose child is between the cross and the empty tomb in our text today.

We notice that these women are everywhere in our story: they are at the cross. They see Jesus die with their own eyes and they feel it in their own heart. Mothers, if this Mary is Mary the mother of Jesus, then Mary witnessed the very public death of her own son and she could do nothing about it.

Mary and Mary are then the first ones to whom God chooses to reveal that He has raised Jesus from the dead.  After they watch Jesus die, Mary and Mary from Galilee go out to the tomb together to perform the requisite funeral preparation practices of their day when an Angel tells them, ‘Jesus is raised from the dead; go to Galilee and you will see Jesus.’ And then as they are leaving to do just that, Jesus himself appears to Mary and Mary Magdalene. And this is neat…

Here we have the first two ministers of the Gospel of the Resurrected Christ; here we have the first two Christian preachers in all of history; the first two people that God ordains and commissions to go and share the Gospel are Mary and Mary Magdalene – the latter, who, though not one of the Twelve, was one of his earliest disciples. These first preachers of the Gospel of the Resurrected Christ are these two women, preaching to Matthew, John, and the others all about the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour.

The whole Good News of Easter and the Resurrection and the Salvation of the whole world that comes to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is brought to us all through history and even to us here today, first through the testimony and proclamation, the preaching of these two women from Galilee.

So today I do have this encouragement for us. This account that Matthew shares with us about Mary and Mary preaching the Gospel is attested to by many throughout history and – of course – even in the account we read today Jesus later appears to the surviving 11 disciples; and he then appears to more than 500 other disciples many of whom were still alive at the time these things were recorded for history (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). Jesus appears to all these people. This is historically verified and we have many eyewitness accounts but the first two to whom the resurrected Christ chose to present himself are very simply May and Mary from Galilee and then Jesus ordains and commissions them to go and tell others and they do and others even move beyond their initial doubt and believe. 

Today is Easter. Today is Resurrection Sunday. Today we all – no matter who we are - have the opportunity to be like Mary and Mary from Galilee. We too have the opportunity to tell all those we meet about the Glory of the Resurrected Christ. We too have the opportunity to point others to the Salvation that Jesus provided for the whole world; for God so love the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com 

---

---

[1] Mary and Mary from Galilee: Matthew 27:55-28:20. Illustrated by Captain Michael Ramsay (Sheepspeak.com, Swift Current, SK: 2014). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/Mary%20and%20Mary%20from%20Galilee1.pdf

[2] Cf. William Hendriksen, Matthew, (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007), 977-978.

[3] Cf. Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, Is Mary, the sister of Martha, the same as Mary Magdalene?, (Biblical Research Institute: Silver Spring, MD), available on-line: https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/bible-interpretation-hermeneutics/mary-magdalene-sister-martha

[4] Cf. DA Caron, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/VII. The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus (26:6-28:20)/A. The Passion (26:6-27:66)/15. Immediate impact of the death (27:51-56), Book Version: 4.0.2 for a good discussion of this.

John 11:17-27: Giving Hope Today

Presented to the Nipawin Corps, 25 January 2009
614 Warehouse Mission Corps, 02 April 2017
By Captain Michael Ramsay

The passage of Scripture that we are looking at today takes place around a memorial service, a funeral. Funerals are a part of life. They are an important part of life. I say life because they are really for the living rather than the dead. Funerals are for those of us who are left behind rather than for those of us who go on ahead, of course. They are where we comfort those who mourn and celebrate the hope of the future resurrection (Matt 5:4; Acts 23:6; 24:15, 25; 1 Cor 15, Phil 3:11,12; 1 Pet 1:3, 3:21;Rev 20:4-6).

Funerals have been a big part of my life these last couple of years. It seems that every time I leave town Basil, of Heritage Funeral Homes, is calling my cell phone about another service. I’m sure he thinks that I’m always off at retreat or somewhere – rather than here.

Andrew from our corps not too long ago went to Ontario to celebrate (correct term) Major Neil Voice’s 'Promotion to Glory'. In my family you know that my dad’s mother just passed away and it was only a few months ago that my cousin was promoted leaving her husband young daughters behind.

Funerals are the way we mark people’s passing. They are a way for us to grieve our own loss even as we recognise that the ones we love who love the Lord will be bound for a better place. We can share the hope that they have for the future resurrection of the dead where the dead in Christ will rise first (Acts 23:6; 24:15, 25; 1 Cor 15, Phil 3:11,12; 1 Pet 1:3, 3:21;Rev 20:4-6).

What is happening in our text today is not unlike our funerals but it takes place in first century Palestine. The family and friends have all gathered. It has some things similar to contemporary memorial services. It takes friends and family a while to arrive at the home of the bereaved. In our day people usually have a lot farther to travel but in those days instead of catching the first flight out of Nazareth, they had to walk so it took a while for some people to get there. Because of the travel time and other factors they would gather for a period of days.

Like we sometimes hire pianists or funeral directors these days, people in the first century sometimes hired professional mourners and so there may have been professional mourners hired for the occasion. If there are, they are already at the house. The home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, is undoubtedly full of friends and family and others and they are just waiting for the teacher. They are just waiting for their friend – their very close friend. They are just waiting for Jesus and his entourage (companions) to arrive.

Now Jesus wasn’t very far away (10:40-42) – about 20 miles[1] - when he heard the news that his friend was ill but he didn’t rush to see him (11:1-6). He had his reasons for this (11:15) and his disciples are certainly concerned that if Jesus does go back to Bethany now, where Mary and Marth live and where Lazarus is buried, he might be killed (11:8) but to his credit anyway, the disciple Thomas is willing and eager to lay down his life with Jesus since Jesus (in his own time) is determined to go to see Mary, Martha (his friends) and their family (11:16). It is in this context that our story opens up today, John 11:17-20:

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

We can picture this; we can identify with this, can’t we? The crowds are all at the house. Mary and Martha are there with them. There are inevitably people preparing food, people talking, people eating. (It actually reminds me very much of the First Nation wakes that I been privileged to be a part of.) There are all sorts of people going in and coming out, offering their support and comfort. Most people are probably at Mary and Martha’s already but the family and friends are still gathering.

In our world today it would be as if, with all this going on, they hear that Jesus and his companions have just arrived at the bus depot or the airport and Martha goes out to meet them while Mary stays home to keep an eye on all the friends and family and everything else that is happening at the home front. But look how Martha greets Jesus. Jesus has just arrived to see his friends and the friends and family of his recently deceased friend and how does Lazarus’ sister, how does Jesus' friend Martha, greet him?[2]

Verses 21 and 22: “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask of Him.” At first she reproaches Jesus[3] – she says, Vs. 21, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

This is interesting. It really expresses two things. 1) She had the hope, she has the faith that Jesus could have saved her brother from dying – you know that she and her sister have probably been praying for that. And 2) she is angry, upset, or not happy anyway that Jesus did not come right away even though they sent for him.

He did not answer her request right away. His friend and her brother was dying. Martha, Mary and Lazarus all have a strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Mary and Martha don’t want Lazarus their brother to die but Jesus doesn’t come when they want him to come. Jesus doesn’t come to heal Lazarus, their brother (11:6), who loves him (11:5). Jesus, who could have saved him, let her brother die (11:14,15,21).

Today this is not an uncommon charge against our Lord is it? Particularly when young people are affected; I certainly heard of people who ask this very question: ‘How can a loving God let this sort of thing happen when it is certainly within his power to stop it?’ These are the kind of things that Martha here is demanding of Jesus. She asks him, ‘How could you – who say that you love me – how could you let my brother die?’ She reproaches him. She is grieving.

This past week – there was a significant story about grieving in the news. I don't know if you saw it on the TV, in the papers. I read of the tragic story of Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish[4] on CBC.ca.[5] The following is a paraphrase of that account.

Dr. Abu al-Aish,a peace activist and a Palestinian doctor in Gaza, openly spoke to Israeli television as his community was being invaded by the Israeli forces. He reported the suffering there in nightly interviews with Israel's Channel 10.

Friday night, he was speaking with an Israeli news correspondent when Israeli soldiers launched two shells directly into his own home. Everyone listening could hear him wail. "My daughters!" he screams. "Oh, God, my daughters!" he cries as the Israeli forces kill his niece and his three daughters live on TV.

Before his community was invaded, Dr Abu al-Aish had already been planning to move his family for start fresh in Canada, but not soon enough as no one in Gaza is immune to the brutality of the invasion which left in excess of six thousand Palestinian causalities – more than 1800 of those them children.[6]

The horror and the terror of this event does not end here for the good doctor. Eighteen members of his extended family were in the house at the time it was attacked.

An Israeli television correspondent choked up as the doctor's cries were broadcast across the nation. The cameras followed the reporter as he appealed to the soldiers to get an ambulance to the scene, at least to help the others who were wounded. They don’t usually help Palestinians in this way but Dr. Abu al-Aish was able to transfer two of his injured daughters to an Israeli hospital. Probably because of the media presence, the Israeli army for the first time allowed a Palestinian ambulance to go straight to the Erez border crossing, where they were then transferred to be taken by to a hospital in Tel Aviv.

Now much of Abu al-Aish's world has been shattered. His wife had died six months ago but then there was hope for the future of the rest of the family, and he said that at the very time of the attack, he was sitting there with them, his daughters, planning, because he got an offer in Canada, from the University of Toronto.

Now they are dead and even while he was in the hospital grieving for his daughters and speaking - even on TV calling for peace instead of war - even while all this is happening an Israeli man visiting the hospital begins to verbally attack at him – blaming Dr. Abu al-Aish and his countrymen for the loss of his own daughters. Even as this man was forgiving the killers of his children, a bigot was blaming him for his troubles.

Where is God in all this? Why did God not come and save this man's family?

Why did Jesus not come and save Lazarus? This is what Martha is asking Jesus in her distraught state after having just lost her only brother. But this isn't where she leaves her questioning.

This is important. Even in her grief, even in her distress she doesn’t end her approach with this reproach. Instead after she says, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” she says, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask of Him.”

This is important. Even now, in the midst of her grief, even now in the midst of her suffering – like Job (whom those of us reading through the Bible together have just read about) – even now, Martha believes; even now Martha has hope; even now Martha has faith in God and she even now believes that God will give Jesus whatever he asks of Him.

Now Lazarus has been dead for four days. Respected Johnine scholar Gail O’ Day tells us that, “according to popular Jewish belief at the time of Jesus, the soul hovered around the body in the grave for three days after death, hoping to re-enter the body. But after the third day, when the soul ‘sees that the colour of its face has changed;’ the soul leaves the body for Good.”[7] It is now that fourth day. All those present know that Lazarus is indeed dead.

Verse 23: Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha does believe in Jesus but she knows that Lazarus is dead and she is sad so it is no wonder that she interprets Jesus’ words as comfort and a hope in the final resurrection (as opposed to an immanent resurrection) – and she is not yet fully realising (how could she?) what is about to happen. Verse 24, Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

The people of first century Palestine – with the exception of the Sadducees – knew that there would be this resurrection “on the last day.” Martha knows that on the last day the dead will rise, like we know that on the last day the dead will rise and the dead in Christ will be the first to be raised. Martha here, you will notice then, even in her grief, even in her distress, Martha shows her belief, her faith, her hope in God. She doesn’t just believe in a nebulous idea that Lazarus is in some unknown ‘better place’ or that he has gotten wings or a harp or something like that. Martha hopes that – like all of us – She knows that Lazarus will rise on the last day. Martha has this hope in the resurrection of the dead.

Now, of course, we know that this truth isn’t all that Jesus is speaking about here. Jesus is speaking about something different and even more immediate as well - but Martha, who couldn’t possibly be expected to know that, is showing that she believes in Christ in the midst of her suffering.

Verses 25 and 26: ‘Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"’

To this she responds with the clearest declaration of faith to this point in John’s account of the gospel. Verse 27: "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

Martha believes in Jesus and we know that Jesus will do even more here. We know that he will even raise Lazarus before the final day. Jesus reveals to us the truth that indeed he is the resurrection. He is the one who gives us hope and he is the one in whom we should place our hope.

Do we believe? Do we have the faith of Martha (and of Mary)? Do we have the same hope in the resurrection of the dead? Do we believe that even now, in the midst of our own sufferings, that Jesus can pull us through? Do we have this hope today? Do we believe? Do we believe in Jesus?

For those who have just read Job, we saw how everything that Job could have ever of hoped for was realised end the end as he had possessions, status, and family restored unto him - even more than before - and a renewed spirit, a renewed hope and faith in God.

Mary and Martha: Jesus, as we will read in the rest of this chapter, raised Lazarus even from the dead fulfilling more than they could possibly hope for.

And Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, he leaves us with these thoughts even as he was being verbally assaulted on live TV: He says, "From our pain we can learn," he said. "We may disagree, but we should learn from that… It's beneficial to us all."

During the whole invasion to that point, the invaders had remained largely unmoved by the death and destruction in Gaza, but as Dr. Abu al-Aish's story was followed closely by every Israeli news agency, it struck a chord: A man who has lost almost everything still has hope that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace.

"Maybe the blood of my daughters was the price," he said, "and if it was, I am happy about it. The cost of ceasefire to save lives to be my daughters' and my niece's blood — honestly, I am proud of it. I am fully proud of it."

Just like the death of the good doctor's daughters served to stop the invasion and bring peace (albeit temporarily) so that no more innocent people would need to die; the death (and resurrection) of great physician, the Prince of Peace, Jesus, God's own Son came about so that none of us needs to perish; we can have that same hope today - if only we just believe.

So my question for us today is, do we believe? Do we believe as much as Dr Abu al-Aish believes in peace? He has forgiven his attackers. Do we believe as much as Mary and Martha in the resurrection? Do we believe and do we have that same hope today? De we believe in Jesus?


http://www.sheepspeak.com/

---
[1] Merrill C. Tenney. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:John/Exposition of John/ The conversation with Martha and Mary (11:17-37), Book Version: 4.0.2: the death of Lazarus must have occurred not long after Jesus was first informed of his illness. The trip each way would have taken not much less than a day's travel since Bethany was more than twenty miles distant from Jesus' refuge in Perea.
[2]Cf. , Gail O’Day, “John” in NIB IX, Ed. Leander E Keck (Abingdon Press Nashville, 1995), 688.
[3]Cf. Gail O’Day, 688, and Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:John/Exposition of John/ The conversation with Martha and Mary (11:17-37), Book Version: 4.0.2.
[4] Live video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=655_1232202860
[5]Before ceasefire, Gaza doctor's grief was heard on live Israeli TV 'Oh, God, my daughters!' he cried after Israeli shells hit house Last Updated: Sun, Jan 18/09 10:29 PM ET With files from AP: www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/18/gaza-doctor.ht
[6] UN: …the death toll stood at 1,003, with 4,482 people wounded. Mr. Ging has previously called Palestinian casualties figures credible, with 42 per cent of the dead and nearly 50 per cent of the injured listed as women and children – mostly children. (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29543&Cr=gaza&Cr1=&Kw1=palestinian&Kw2=deaths&Kw3=)
[7]Gail O’Day, “John” in NIB IX, Ed. Leander E Keck (Abingdon Press Nashville, 1995), 687.