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.

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[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

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Romans 7&8: Holiness Odyssey.

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 19 May 2019 by Captain Michael Ramsay

Originally presented to Warehouse Mission 614 afternoon service, 04 February 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay Click here to read the earlier version: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/02/romans-7-holiness-odyssey.html

This last week I have been at Jackson’s Point near Toronto with Salvation Army Officers from around this country. It was great to see some old friends, get some great teaching and chat with the Commissioner of The Salvation Army in Canada, Bible teachers Bill and Di Ury and more. I was there for a ‘Holiness Institute’.

My sermon today is entitled ‘Holiness Odyssey for the Holy Christian life is certainly an interesting one. Some of us who have been Christians for a while have noticed a few patterns as people come to know the Lord. Some new Christians can become very rigid at first: they don't seem to do anything wrong: they don’t smoke, don't drink, don't swear, don’t do this, don’t do that… but then sometimes this can lead to criticising others who they don't think are living the way they think Christians should live; they may even force their opinions on others about, for example, abortions or gay marriage or divorce and remarriage, or smoking and drinking or, when I was a kid, heavy metal and even rock 'n roll music. They can develop quite rigid opinions with which they don't hesitate to bless others, with fervour and without compassion. Eventually as these Christians usually run into trouble with this. They then leave a congregation or two, or distribute metaphorical torches to run their clergy screaming from the pulpit… and then sometimes these Christians will even go to Bible College or Seminary themselves.

And this can be quite troublesome for someone who has been trapped by legalism. When a young legalistic mind that has internalized self- or other-imposed rules on oneself and everyone else, runs up against someone they respect in authority over them with a very different opinion, it can cause a few challenges. I have actually heard of more than one person who has walked away from the faith of their youth when they went to Bible school. The child grows up in the church and holds onto all the rules and traditions of their denomination or their parents as if they were gospel and then when they find out that they are not, the child is disillusioned and confused and if the professors aren’t discerning of what is happening, their students walk out of their classroom and possibly even out of their own salvation.

I have seen the tragedy of people leaving the unlawful confinement of a strict rule-based religion and instead of experiencing the freedom of Christ, they choose to ignore the Spirit’s signs pointing to salvation and go their own hedonistic way only to be immediately run over and killed by self-indulgent sin.

This passage is sort of addressing this problem of what about the rules and our relationship to them. Paul spoke about hedonist that gets run over by sin in Romans 1:18-32 and the rigid Law bound person in Chapter 2.  Paul is now talking about how each of us reacts when we do know that there are things we should or should not do but we feel this strange compulsion to do them anyway. Paul knows that sometimes even when we do understand that there are some things that are not beneficial for us we still do them. Has anyone ever been there? Paul says, Romans 7:15-24:

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

       21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

Romans 7:18b-19: “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” Any of us ever been there?

This is an old problem. People smarter than us and people older than others have wrestled with this one for a long time. Horace said, ‘I pursue the things that have done me harm; I shun the things that will do me good’ (Epistles 1.8.11). Plato said, ‘one may acknowledge evil things to be evil, and nevertheless do them’ (Protagoras). Ovid said ‘I see and approve the better course, but I follow the worse one’ (Metamorphoses 7.20ff). The Apostle Paul said, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

 I don't know if anyone has ever read Homer - he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad is about the Greek and Trojan War and the Odyssey is about the warrior Odysseus' journey home. During his journey home, the main character Odysseus is warned about the Sirens. In Greek mythology, Sirens are creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. (Sometimes they are portrayed as mermaids.) They live on islands and with their irresistible song lure mariners to their destruction as they crash on the rocks near their island. The mariners know they shouldn't steer their ships to their death but once they hear the Siren's songs they seemingly can't help themselves.

This reminds me of the dilemma before us today - and particularly of struggles with addiction. In our time with The Salvation Army, relating to addiction, we have had many friends, some as young as elementary school age who have been tempted by this Siren song to a slow (or quick) slide into destruction due to getting hooked on various substances and many of my friends from my time at Stoney Mountain Penitentiary wound up there, in part, because they succumbed to addictions’ Siren song; for them addictions' Siren song ended in the song of sirens coming to take them away.

The Siren's song is not only calling us to addiction, it can call us to any sin - in the full range from licentiousness to legalism - to which we are susceptible. Romans 7:18b-19, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” So what can we do? What can we do when we are trapped by licentiousness, legalism, struggles, temptation… sin?

Paul talks about the Law being good ropes to tie us up as Odysseus to the mast of his ship but not so good that we no longer have that struggle, that compulsion within us, so that we may even in our tied up state find some way steer our life out of the ocean of holiness and salvation and crashing our lives on the rocks on sin. So what can we do? What can we do?

What can we do when desire to the destruction of sin is pulling harder and harder upon us, like a giant magnet moving ever so slowly towards us? Sometimes we grab hold of rules or laws tightly and even make more for ourselves. Sometimes we try really hard, so hard to avoid an addiction or a sin that that all we think about is that sin. Whether we are trying to stop lying, lusting, or smoking crack cocaine; the more we think about ways to avoid it, the more we wind up pondering ways to imbibe it. Soon our every thought is consumed with that sin that we are trying to flee. It is everywhere! It is even in our very flesh…and then it has us.

Horace said, ‘I pursue the things that have done me harm; I shun the things that will do me good’ (Epistles 1.8.11). Plato said, ‘one may acknowledge evil things to be evil, and nevertheless do them’ (Protagoras). Ovid said ‘I see and approve the better course, but I follow the worse one’ (Metamorphoses 7.20ff). The Apostle Paul said, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

This brings us to the Christians' secret weapon for holiness and seeing sin defeated even as it is in our flesh. Now I am not saying that if you are a Christian you will never have given into sin. God knows I have sinned. I know many Good Christians who have fallen prey to sin but here is the path to freedom, should we choose to take it. Paul says, Romans 7:24-8:5

7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, [He] delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!…8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death...5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The one who can deliver us from all of this is Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God Himself will transform us. Instead of wrestling with our sins, we can know that Jesus has defeated sin and death between the cross and the empty tomb. We can seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and then God will add to us everything else we need.

We've all heard the analogy about how one spots a counterfeit bill. It is not by studying fake money, it is by studying the real thing. Likewise we do not avoid sin by focussing on sin, rather we avoid sin by focussing on God. They say that as a husband and wife are a long time in a good marriage they become more like each other and maybe even finish each others sentences. Likewise as we spend more time with God, we find that we know what He is saying and He can finish our sentences.

I truly believe with everything in me that there in nothing that you or I or anyone else can do to defeat sin, only Jesus has done that. But we can experience a life holy, free of sin. God is Holy. As we spend more and more time with Jesus, we will naturally sin less and less for we will become be more and more like Him. As we pray and read our Bible, as we sing our songs, as we come to Church, as we serve God by serving others in Jesus' Name, as we tell others about the Gospel of Salvation we will be transformed into the very likeness of God Himself! Focus on God and His Holiness and that will be reflected in our life! And this, I think, is a good encouragement for everyone of us today! What can we do to defeat sin? Nothing, Jesus has already done that! What can we do to experience our life free from indulgence in sin and instead living out the joy of Salvation with our Lord and Saviour? Spend time with the Lord. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and holiness and everything else will be added unto us!

Let us pray. This prayer for us from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (us) through and through. May your (our) whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.’

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] F.F. Bruce, The Letter of Paul to the Romans. Tyndale NTC (Leicester, UK: IV Press, 1985),146.

[2] Cf. NT Wright, Romans for Everyone Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (Louisville, US: WKJ, 2004),122-123. He uses a great analogy relating to a neighbour installing a good alarm system in one's house to explain how the Law is indeed good.

[3] F.F. Bruce, The Letter of Paul to the Romans. Tyndale NTC (Leicester, UK: IV Press, 1985),146.

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Luke 4:14-30: Today!

Presented to the Alberni Valley Ministries of The Salvation Army, 14 April 2019, by Captain Michael Ramsay

We have another men’s breakfast coming up this month. The previous one we had was at Smitty’s which was good but I was told in no uncertain terms that 7am is too early for men’s breakfast; so we’ll have a later one in May.  I remember one men’s breakfast we had in inner city Toronto where we were posted just before here. We had the breakfast at the corps. There were about 50 men there. It was a great breakfast. The speaker did a good job and didn’t speak too long. There was bacon. It was a great time. At one point someone from DHQ who joined us asked me very politely who the woman was who had come to the men’s breakfast. There was one lady who showed up – a friend of ours here – one of the men was good to send her away, with some bacon. I thought that is who I was being asked about. ‘No, who was the lady who stayed and had breakfast with us for the whole meal? At the next table there?’

‘Oh. That wasn’t a woman’, I said. Our friend from DHQ was a little embarrassed – there wasn’t really any need to be our friend dressed in stereotypical women’s clothing and may have even wore some padding but he certainly identified as a man, at least as far as getting a free breakfast, and someone from headquarters who didn’t know the social structure of the inner city wouldn’t know all of this anyway - but you know what it is like when you think things are one way but they turn out to be another way. Our scripture today is a little bit like that.

Luke 4:14-30: This is really an interesting text. At least for me it is. It is one of those where you have read it maybe less than one million times but you have read it enough that you think you know what it says and then one day you slow down and read what it actually says and are somewhat surprised.

One day, a couple of years ago now, a sat down to meditate on this pericope when had we just came back from Cuba and it was also around MLK day in the US. It was at that time and in that context that I read the passage Jesus’ quotes from Isaiah here. We in The Salvation Army recognize this passage don’t we? One of our Toronto corps and the Vancouver Corps that sent Susan, the older girls, and I into the work were based on Isaiah 61:4 and Jesus here quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 and more and it is a powerful quote. Jesus says, NIV,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

This is exciting stuff and this reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr. in the US; Che, the Argentinean, Fidel Castro from Cuba– and William Booth from our Salvation Army for that matter. I don’t know if you have ever read the writings of any of these revolutionaries and I would probably add voices of Leon Trotsky, Nelson Mandela, or Leo Tolstoy to the list. These people - Booth, Castro, MLK jr. – these people can be absolutely inspiring.[1] Whether you ascribe to liberation theology or not, I don’t think you can read the words of any of these people without being impressed upon.

Our Scripture fits right in line with any of the aforementioned, Jesus quotes Isaiah and more in saying:

·        today good news is to be announced to the poor;

·        today he has sent me… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners;

·        today, he has sent me.. to preach recovery of sight to the blind;

·        today, he has sent me… to set the oppressed free;

·        TODAY, he has sent me… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. Not tomorrow, not in some far off place, not in some far off time, but

·        Today this very scripture has been filled in your presence. Do I hear an ‘amen’?!

This reminds me so much of some of MLK’s speeches – especially his ‘I have a dream’ speech and his address to the UN on receiving the Noble Peace prize that I can’t help but hear these verses echo as MLK’s voice in my mind: Today, the oppressed shall be set free![2] Today, we proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour! Amen!

As I was preparing for this time today I was going to chat about how this passage is a fulfillment of scripture. The Christ and thus all Christians will proclaim these things alongside those revolutionaries we have mentioned today. I was going to mention how those in the synagogue rejected Jesus because he was taking on the mantel of messiah calling for these revolutionary ideas of justice. I was then going to quote some of the aforementioned and highlight how they and we have received that message - reflecting especially upon how North America has fallen short of MLK’s dream and how we killed him as we killed Christ and others… but then I read the text a little more closely.

These things – proclaiming good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, the year of the Lord’s favour – this isn’t what got the people in Jesus’ hometown upset at all. They weren’t upset about this or any possible messianic claims imbedded therein. In fact it was quite the opposite. Take a look at our Scripture. Jesus begins his homily on this pericope by saying that today this scripture has been fulfilled, vs. 21, he then presumably elaborates upon that premise and look at how Luke says the people respond.[3] Luke records, vs. 22, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.” It says that they are amazed. They are impressed that Joseph’s son, whom they all undoubtedly know personally as this is his home synagogue in his home town, which he has visited and read scripture in many times before; they are impressed that he spoke in such a way.[4] I can imagine from Verses 21 and 22 that if this were a contemporary church, people would be shouting ‘amen!’ at full volume as Jesus winds up his message. They are amazed, it says, but then their amazement changes. It doesn’t change because he may have implied that he is the Messiah and it doesn’t change because he claims that the time of scriptural fulfillment is now; it doesn’t! The gospel notes that they were quite happy with that:[5] they were quite happy as Jesus proclaimed good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, the year of the Lord’s favour. What made them mad was Jesus implied very obviously that that favour - and all of the other related blessings - that this salvation is not for them.[6] Jesus says, vv. 24-28:

“24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.”

Can you imagine? A newly or about to become famous preacher or politician or both, whom you have grown up with (either him or his mom and dad) comes to his and your home church and speaks to us all about these wonderful things that are going to happen. We all say, ‘good job!’ ‘Well done!’ ‘You tell them Jesus!’ ‘Go get ‘em!’ Right? We are proud when people we know from the neighbourhood make good on their life. We are proud of everyone who makes it from our community here. In Saskatchewan, where we were posted for about a decade, every small town on the Canadian prairie has these big bill boards on the highway outside their community saying home of ‘Travis Moen’, ‘Zack Smith’, ‘Patrick Marleau’, 'Brian Trottier', whomever – celebrating and commemorating famous hockey players, football players, politicians or others who have come from the community. It would be the same in Jesus’ home synagogue in Nazareth. ‘That’s Jesus’, they might say, ‘I knew him when he was just a little kid. His dad and I grew up together. He was a good kid. Everything this boy is saying makes sense. He’s one of us. He’s a chip off the old block and more. Jesus is one of us and we are going to take the world by storm.’ And then, right in the middle of our voiced or imagined praise of him, it would be like he says – right when we are all puffed up about how great he is and how proud we are of our neighbourhood – Jesus says… “Oh you thought I was saying all these good things about you…?’ ‘This is not for you – no, no - this good stuff is all for someone else. Not you Nazareth, where I grew up; not for you Israel, where I live; not for you Judah.[7] This good stuff is not for you who are here thinking that you are the only children of God. This good stuff is for someone else and not just for someone else; it is for your enemies: the Sidonites and the Syrians, just like it was in the days of Elisha and Elijah before, and implied always.[8] You thought I was talking about you…no, no, no, this good stuff is for other people and not just other people; it is for other people with whom you to go to war when you get the chance. Jesus says, just like in the OT and as always, it is the Sidionites, the Syrians, and others that will experience this salvation from the Lord that you just ‘amen-ed’; I am not talking about you.” Can you imagine?

 You can see why they might get a little upset. The previous few years we lived in Toronto. It would be like if someone led a pep rally at the ACC, where the Maple Leafs play now, under all the old banners hung from the rafters, extolling the virtues of the ‘greatest hockey franchise ever’ and as everyone in Toronto is cheering about how indeed they will win another Stanley cup and maybe even someday soon –even this season - assuming the speaker is talking about the Leafs and the crowd is all worked up and then he yells out ‘and God bless Canada’s greatest hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens! Or the Vancouver Canucks or whomever else’ This would be the feelings aroused in our text. 

We lived in Saskatchewan for many years. It would be like all of Rider Nation was crammed into Mosaic Stadium dressed in green and white and singing their anthem and then in front of the thousands upon thousands of people assembles he yelled, ‘God bless the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’. 

And even more, it would be like Jesus is extolling the virtues of the greatest country on earth, working us all up into a frenzy believing he is talking about Canada on July 1^st and then says ‘God bless America’ or ‘God bless Saudi Arabia’ or 'God Bless Russia' or China … ‘Oh you, thought I was talking about Canada?’

This is what has gotten the people all riled up.[9] They came here wanting words of encouragement and wisdom and Jesus read and spoke about the Scriptures and he gave them some words alright. They thought he was blessing them and he was telling them quite plainly that just like God could have saved Israelites in the times of Elisha and Elijah but he chose rather to save their enemies; so too today. This is why they are upset.

Jesus is – as always - concerned about people on the fringes: the poor, the disabled, and the marginalized; our enemies, our rivals, and others who are on the outside. Those who think they are healthy do not seek a doctor (Luke 5:31; Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17). Those who think they are saved are not looking for salvation. Jesus here foretells Israel’s rejection of her and our messiah and how, nonetheless, Israel’s saviour is going to save her enemies and anybody else.

 Now this is offensive but honestly the people hearing this should know this. The Israelites in general should be (and the Pharisees in particular would be) very familiar with the fact that Israel was not chosen to be saved in place of other people, quite the contrary Israel was chosen to bring salvation to the entire world (John 3:16-17).[10]

God says to Abraham, in the Bible, before Israel even exists, that ALL the nations of the earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3). Israel was chosen by God not to be saved from the world but to bring salvation to the world and though they had not been faithful in that task, still God uses the Israelite, Jesus, to save the world even as many in Israel will reject that Salvation and choose to perish outside of the promised kingdom to come. God loves everyone and He wants everyone to be saved and even in this (cf. Galatians 3:28, 1 Corinthians 12:13), as John Wesley says, He has a preferential message for the poor;[11] and we need to bring and be brought that message – our message- of Isaiah 61 to ourselves, our community and to our world today.

These promises – Gospel for the poor, freedom for the prisoners, sight for the blind, freedom to the oppressed, the Lord’s favour – these promises, Jesus offers to our community and these promises tJesus offers to our world. Do we believe that? Do we claim that? And do we live that? The truth is that as John 3:16-17 proclaims, Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world but instead he came so that whosoever, anyone and everyone, might be saved. And this is wonderful news: it is not just for the privileged few of a certain class or a certain clique. It is for all of us and especially those of us when we are in real need. As Jesus says,

- today good news is to be announced to the poor;

- today he has sent me… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners;

- today, he has sent me.. to preach recovery of sight to the blind;

- today, he has sent me… to set the oppressed free;

- today, he has sent me… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This my friends is what Lent is leading up to; this is what Good Friday announces; this is what Easter ushers in and this is what we are eagerly awaiting its culmination at the eschaton because today, we are here to announce the day of the Lord’s favour so we can all be rebuilt, restored, and renewed; do we believe that?

Let us pray

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 [1] Cf. Paul John Isaak, 'Luke', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1239.

[2] Cf. William Hendricksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), 255, re. 'today'

[3] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 105

[4] N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004),

[5] Cf. Paul John Isaak, 'Luke', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1239.

[6] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 108

[7] Cf. Amy-Jill Levine, ‘Luke and the Jewish Religion’ in Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 2014, Vol. 68 (4) 389-402.

[8] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/IV. The Galilean Ministry (4:14-9:50)/A. Initial Phase (4:14-6:16)/1. First approach and rejection at Nazareth (4:14-30), Book Version: 4.0.2

[9] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/IV. The Galilean Ministry (4:14-9:50)/A. Initial Phase (4:14-6:16)/1. First approach and rejection at Nazareth (4:14-30), Book Version: 4.0.2

[10] Cf. N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004), 48.

[11] Cf. Donald W. Dayton, 'PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: THE WESLEYAN OPTION FOR THE POOR' in Wesleyan Theological Journal 26, 1991, 7-22. On-line: http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/wesleyjournal/1991-wtj-26.pdf

[12] Based on the sermon, ‘Luke 4:14-30: Liberation!’ Presented to Corps 614 Regent Park of The Salvation Army, 31 January 2016. Available on-line: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2016/01/luke-414-30-liberation.html

Joshua 2: Redeemed!

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 13 January 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay

Over the next few weeks we are looking at Joshua. Last week Tim gave us a brief overview of the book and gave us an introduction to Joshua himself I believe. Today, we are going to look a little bit at the conquest of Jericho and specifically Rahab (Joshua 2&6, Hebrews 11:31, James 2:25).

First, what do we know about Jericho? Jericho was this great fortified city. It was near the Jordan River. There was wonderful farmland all around. Its population was giants! It must have had some special significance for Joshua too. This isn’t the first time that Joshua had been over the Jordan River. Do we remember Joshua’s first encounter with the Promised Land? Remember that Joshua was one of the 12 spies Moses sent to check out Jericho 40 years before and at first how all of them except Caleb came back afraid to claim their inheritance. Joshua then quickly took Caleb’s perspective but the rest of that generation were afraid to enter the Promised Land before it was too late and so God in essence said ‘fine’ and the Hebrews wandered around the desert until everyone in that generation – except Caleb and Joshua - died.

Now in our text today the Hebrews have returned to Jericho and the Promised Land and Joshua is sending out the spies. He picks 2 young men and he sends them out just like Moses had sent him out 40 years before. These two young guys are on their first assignment in all probability and their first time away from their family Israel and their first time in the big city. So these two teenage boys or young twenty-somethings, where do they go when they get to the city? They go see the local prostitute! (Now we don’t know if they went there to give her some business or if they just thought that this would be a good place to blend in while they were spying on the town. We don’t know whether it was their idea or Joshua’s idea that they wind up at the home/business of Rahab the prostitute but here they are at Rahab’s house.

What do we know about Rahab? Every September the Salvation Army highlights those who are trafficked. Many of the people trafficked today in Canada are prostituted. While there is no evidence that Rahab was trafficked: her family was close to her; they lived in the same town as her (Jericho) and she went out of her way to save their lives when the opportunity arose (Joshua 2:12-13, 18; 6:23);[2] she was a prostitute [3] and though Shrine/religious prostitution was not uncommon in that area, we know, because of the specific language used to describe her work, Rahab was not a shrine prostitute. She was a secular prostitute not unlike those in our own time in this country.[4] And prostitutes then, like prostituted peoples today, were often outcasts from society.

It is significant that she is often referred to by her profession but another significant thing about Rahab of course was that she repented of her allegiances - when these young spies showed up at her door she, a probably young, marginalized prostitute was smart enough to see what was happening and she changed to support God (Joshua 2,6) and she was redeemed - James recognizes her for both her faith and her works (James 2:24-26). Rahab was saved and the author of Hebrews even records her as one of the heroes (heroines) of the faith. Hebrews 11:31: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” Rahab, the prostitute, was saved.

Now today when we hear the name Rahab, we often think of this lady whom the LORD used to save the spies and deliver Jericho into the Hebrews’ hands. Does anyone know what the name ‘Rahab’ literally means? It - translated from Hebrew- means ‘fat’, ‘broad’, or ‘large’ and in common usage it refers to ‘fierceness’, ‘insolence’, and ‘pride’.[5] In the Bible, the country of Egypt is sometimes derogatorily referred to as a Rahab. Rahab is an insult word used of one of the Hebrews’ off again / on again enemies, the Egyptians.[6] Egypt - according to Isaiah and according to the Psalms – Egypt is a fat, insolent, Rahab (Psalm 89:10, Isaiah 51:9; cf. Psalm 87:4, Isaiah 30:7). Rahab in our story today was a prostitute. But Rahab is saved and Rahab is redeemed.

Many of you know some of our own personal history. Susan, the girls and I were soldiers with 614 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside prior to being commissioned as Officers in The Salvation Army. And since then we have served the LORD and the Army in Saskatchewan, in Winnipeg downtown and at Stoney Mountain Penitentiary. And of course we spent the previous few years in downtown Toronto. We made more than a few friends in these environments who –like Rahab- were relegated to the margins of society by circumstances, their choices, and/or someone else’s actions. We had friends in our Bible studies, church services, and/or staying in our very home (we ran a transition residence in Vancouver) who were prostituted peoples, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and suffering everything else common to those environments.

We have had more than one friend, for whom our hearts still break, overdose, convicted of murder, and other such things – some even since knowing the Lord. Sometimes we fall back but even still I have seen God transform many lives: sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes thrice, or even more as need be. There are many more people still relegated to the margins of our society even here in our community - they (we) are not unredeemable; they (we) are as ready for redemption as anyone. During the many years we lived and worked in Saskatchewan between Nipawin, Tisdale, Carrot River, Maple Creek and Swift Current, I spent many hours sitting with my friends in the courts, speaking with our friends in the courts, speaking on behalf of friends in the courts, praying with friends in the courts. There are many people we knew there and in Toronto and Vancouver and that we are getting to know even here who wind up on the margins of our society by either circumstances, their choices, and/or someone else’s actions. They can be redeemed. We can be redeemed.

There are many of us in The Salvation Army who at one time or another have found ourselves outcast like Rahab. Rahab in our story today, Rahab was a prostitute. Rahab was a Canaanite. Rahab was marginalized. Rahab was an outcast. And Rahab is saved! And Rahab is redeemed! We can be saved! We can be redeemed!

I have been involved with AA at various times in my life and ministry and at AA we speak about a how a higher power, God, can deliver us. And God can redeem us and God can save us. And God offers salvation not only from alcohol; not only from addiction; not only from a horrible, storied past of abuse and other things; but from all else as well. There is one name by which we all can be saved not only for the here and the now but forever (Acts 4:12). That Name, that One is Jesus. Jesus has died and he rose again from the grave so that we don’t need to be trapped in our addictions; we don’t need to be trapped by our prejudices; we don’t need to be trapped in our sins; we don’t need to be trapped in our struggles. Jesus rose from the grave conquering sin and death so that even those of us most caught by sin and by circumstance can be saved. Rahab was prostituted in a doomed pagan city. Rahab is saved and Rahab is redeemed. We, no matter who we are and what we have had done to us what we have done, we can be saved. We can be redeemed (TSA docs. 6&10).

After Rahab’s faith and deeds were used by God to save the Hebrew spies and deliver Jericho over to the LORD, do you know how the Lord transformed her life? According to Jewish tradition, she became the ancestor of eight priests (Tal Megillah 14b). She is listed as one of four women of surpassing beauty (Tal Megillah 15a; the others were Sarah, Abigail, and Esther).[7] Rahab may mean ‘broad’ but this Rahab is a beauty. The Bible tells us Rahab married Salmon, one of the princes of Judah (Ruth 4:21, 1 Chronicles 2:11, Matthew 1:5). We remember too the wealthy landowner, Boaz, who married the Moabite Ruth of the book of Ruth; this rich, prominent Boaz was Rahab the Canaanite’s son. Ruth was Rahab’s daughter-in-law. Ruth and Boaz had a child, Obed, Rahab’s grandson. His son, Rahab’s great grandson was Jesse and his son, Rahab’s great great grandson... do we know who that was? Who was Jesse’s most famous son? He was King David from whose line is God’s promised Salvation; A Dominion to be established for ever! (Matthew 1:5-6; cf. 2 Samuel 7). This Dominion is of course accomplished through another descendant of Rahab the redeemed prostituted Canaanite – that is Jesus, the Redeemer himself, the Messiah! (cf. Matthew 1:16).

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” – and God chose to send His only begotten son through the ancestral line of the redeemed life of Rahab.

Scholar Richard Hess tells us that, “the story of Rahab confirms God’s welcome to all people, whatever their condition. Christ died for all the world and the opportunity is available for all to come to him through faith, even the chief of sinners [like you and like me] (1 Timothy 1:15)...Rahab exhibits faith and understanding of the God who saves her. She becomes part of the family line that leads to the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:5) and [she is] a model of faith for all Christians” (Hebrews 11:31).[8]

Rahab, who was once a prostituted Canaanite on the margins of society now stands redeemed, saved, holy, cleansed, and as one of the heroes of the faith. You and I here today, no matter what we done, no matter who we have been, no matter what has happened to us, we too can be saved from it all. Jesus died on the cross so that we could die to our sins and He rose from the grave so that we can live out a holy, redeemed life (cf. Romans 10:9-13). It is my prayer that today each of us would - like righteous Rahab - take God up on His offer of His Salvation and of His Redemption.

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Genesis 50:15-21: Regarding Forgiveness: Do not be afraid, for are we in the place of God? Presented to the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 07 August 2011. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/08/genesis-5015-21-regarding-forgiveness.html And Captain Michael Ramsay, Genesis 39:2a: The Lord was with Joseph and He Prospered. Presented to the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 July 2011. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/07/genesis-392a-lord-was-with-joseph-and.html
[2] Cf. Robert B. Coote, The Book of Joshua, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 592.
[3] Cf. RCMP Criminal Intelligence. Project SECLUSION: Human Trafficking in Canada (Ottawa: 2010).
[4] Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/VIII. Faith (11:1-40)/F. The Faith of the Exodus Generation (11:29-31), Book Version: 4.0.2
[5] ‘Rahab’ in Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary. Cited from Biblegateway.com. Available on-line: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionaries/dict_meaning.php?source=1&wid=T0003054
[6] ‘Rahab’ in Smith’s Bible Names Dictionary. Cited from Biblegateway.com. Available on-line: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionaries/dict_meaning.php?source=3&wid=S10094
[7] Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/VIII. Faith (11:1-40)/F. The Faith of the Exodus Generation (11:29-31), Book Version: 4.0.2
[8] Richard S. Hess, Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1996 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 6), S. 89

Based on the Sermon 'Rahab the Redeemed' presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 25 September 2011, the Weekend of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking and 20 October 2013 ( http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/09/rahab-redeemed-joshua-2-hebrews-1131.html ). Presented on the same same occasion 25 September 2016 at Warehouse Mission in Toronto. Presented also on the 15th Anniversary of Corps 614 Regent Park in Toronto, 01 October 2016 ( http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2016/09/rahab-redeemed-2016-jos-2-heb-1131-jas.html ).

Luke 3:7-14: In the Advent of Revolution

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries on 16 December 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay

John, ‘the Baptist’ as he is called, is a celebrity preacher in 1st Century Palestine. He is on a speaking tour through all the country around the Jordan (Luke 3:3). People are making an effort to see him. In order to see John in those days you can’t just drive, catch a bus, hail a cab or get a ride from someone. You have to walk, by and large, and you have to walk and long way; you probably have to take at least one day off work to get where you are going.

Picture this scenario with me. Pick some famous person you want to see; they are coming to Nanaimo and you have been given free tickets. (Who might that be?) You take time off work or cancel your plans for the day to go see them. Now imagine that they are a celebrity preacher. Major Danielle Strickland of The Salvation Army a few years ago was named one of the most influential Christian speakers. Imagine she comes to town. Big crowds come to see her and not just Salvationists but all kinds of us. Let’s say we all walk there or better yet in this day and age we get a bus full of people and we all take the day off kettles to go hear her. We are among hundreds or thousands of others who take the time and make the effort to come to see her. Now imagine that when we get there she says (cf. vv.7-9), “All of you who have come to see me… you are a bunch of snakes! Why are you here!?" "Who told you, you could be saved!? You need to start acting like Christians! And don’t tell me you’ve been a Christian since you were six or you had this life changing moment when you were eleven or your great grandmother was saved through William Booth himself on the streets of London 100 plus years ago. Don’t tell me you don’t need saving because you are already a child of God. I tell you the truth God can raise up children from these rocks here if he wants to; if you say you are His children you need to start acting like it!”[1] Can you imagine? How would you feel? What would you think?

This is what it would be like for people in our text today who have taken the whole day or two off of their lives, walked for maybe up to 100km and made this effort to go hear John in the desert; he addresses the crowds in much the same way, telling them that if they think they are children of Abraham, they’re really not unless they start acting like children of Abraham. In today’s colloquial vernacular, many who went to the desert may have ‘thought they were saved’ but John says, ‘are you so sure about that?’ This is quite a greeting!

It is effective though.[2] Luke records voices seeking salvation in the disparate crowd calling out to him, “what should we do then?!” (v.10). John tells them, in essence, if you think you are saved, and if you really are a part of the ‘Kingdom to Come’, then, Verse 11, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

How many people here have two shirts – or more? How many people in our world have none? How many people here will eat today? How many people in our world won’t? Now I know most of us here are good at sharing with our friends who need food, clothing, and other items – individually and through The Salvation Army. I know there are many people here who would give the shirt right off their own back to someone in need. John, the Baptist, says that that is because you are a part of the Kingdom of God. I love it when we study the Gospel of Luke in Advent because Luke, like the Army's spiritual grandfather John Wesley, is crystal clear in presenting the Gospel as a social justice gospel: Christians will not acquire and hoard wealth while others are in need.[3] The Baptist says, quite the opposite, “produce acts in keeping with repentance” (v.7).

But there is more to the story than just this. After John answers these cries from the crowd about what should anyone do who wants to be saved from the coming wrath (v.7), tax collectors who are part of this crowd say in essence, “yes, we all know that: everybody who is saved, who is part of God’s Kingdom, will give food and clothes to those in need. But what specifically should WE, saved tax collectors, do when we make this public confession through this baptism that we have come here to make today?”[4]

Verse 13, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” John tells them. Now this sounds easy but let’s take a little look at the way things ran back then. It was not all that different from the way things run today. These tax collectors were probably Jewish toll booth operators working for the Romans. Their job was to collect tolls and they made their money from surcharges applied to the tolls. The Romans used an early franchise system of sorts to collect these taxes.[5] They pseudo-privatized their toll booths. Much like well-known fast food restaurants, big chain stores, and other corporations today; they used a franchise-style system. Judean business people would buy a toll booth franchise or a number of toll booth franchises (such as in the case of Zacchaeus; Luke 19); they would collect the money to cover the fees from their clients and everything else they made after they paid their overhead was profit. This is similar to the way many or most chain stores, franchises, fundraising catalogues, contemporary manufacturers and most big businesses in general are run today. They collect what they are required to for head office or whomever and/or to cover the cost of inventory already paid for and then the rest, after expenses, goes to profit.  But John says to them, ‘don’t collect any more than you are required to [by the head office].” Don’t make a profit the laissez-faire capitalist way, charging what the market can bear in order to make a profit… Well, who would want to be a tax collector then?! Can you imagine if the Baptist told the franchise owners or others today that they are not to make a profit off their customers, can you imagine if he told the big name companies that they are only allowed to charge what they are legally or otherwise required to charge, what would they do? ... Well, just maybe John, Luke, and even Jesus IS saying just that…just take what you need.  I love looking at Luke in the Advent season. Luke is a revolutionary text. Luke's is a gospel to the poor. Luke is the social justice gospel.

Luke’s not so subtle condemnation of this 1^st century expression of a market economy that made the rich richer and the poor poorer is as radical then as it would be now if we applied the gospel to our own society.[6] We just moved from Toronto this year and previously we have lived in Victoria and Vancouver. Anyone who drives regularly in these city knows that the parking meters all collect different amounts of money for an hour or an half hour: a dollar fifty here, $3 there; $8 for a parkade here, twenty dollars for a parkade there. And grocery stores owned by the same person, the same corporation, the same company – you buy the same product at a different outlet and it is a totally different price simply because they know they can get more money from you at that location. This is Adam Smith and Ayn Rand's version of capitalism; this is the free market.[7] But what John is saying to the owners of the Roman tax franchises in the first century is seemingly quite the opposite; he says, “don’t collect any more than you are required to.” And this I think is what Luke is telling us today: poor people in the Kingdom of God should have the same access to life as wealthy people, so do your part, “don’t collect any more than you are required to;” don’t make a profit at the expense of others. I love looking at Luke in Advent. Luke’s is a revolutionary text. Luke’s is a social justice gospel. Luke's Gospel, as Miranda and John Wesley remind us, is good news, gospel for the poor.[8]

Now after these tax collectors/toll booth franchise owners get their answer, the soldiers who have also come here to be baptised are eager to know what is required of them. Like the tax collectors, the soldiers know they need to give food and clothes to the poor - but they don’t own toll booths; they don’t own franchises. They aren’t rich. Quite the opposite: while the tax collectors were apt to get rich from this 1^st Century inflationless microcosm of market-driven free enterprise, the Judean soldiers were likely to get poor from it; so, what should they do when they are saved from the impending wrath? What should they do as citizens of the Kingdom of God? Verse 14, John says, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

This sounds easy enough doesn’t it: don’t extort money from people, don’t falsely accuse people, and be content with your pay. Easy? Maybe. These soldiers weren't Romans; they were Judeans just like the tax collectors and just like most of the rest of the crowd. These soldiers worked for the Romans just like the tax collectors but these soldiers were very poorly paid. They didn’t have the freedom of the toll booth operators to set their own wages so they resorted to other ways to make money - basically stealing. But that was okay, they convinced themselves, because ‘everyone was doing it’. But that is not okay. I love looking at Luke in Advent season. Luke is the social justice gospel. It is a revolutionary text.

I remember when we were living in Vancouver, there were many stores in our neighbourhood which would charge you less if you paid in cash because then they wouldn’t have to declare the money as income. I have met many people who are paid 'under the table', who deliberately do not claim income on their taxes – after all they don’t make very much and the government doesn't need their money. When I worked at a military base pre-9/11, one co-worker allegedly regularly used to take discarded copper home to sell for extra money, after all he only made minimum wage; the government didn't need more money. I remember as a janitor when I was a teenager, colleagues who would take food or office supplies from the buildings where they were working: they're only going to throw it out anyway. Why would they miss this food from their coffee room? They have lots of money to buy more. Luke says, “Be content with your pay.”

I remember too, we used to be able to make more money by working more hours so we would volunteer to take on extra hours cleaning extra buildings. I –like my fellow janitors – loved that. This is where you could get overtime pay without ever working one hour overtime. It was late at night and we often worked alone so some of us could do 16 hours worth of cleaning in just six hours without anyone noticing. The buildings were clean, thus no one complained so we would write 16 hours on our timesheet even though we only worked six; no one cared, everyone was doing it and that way we would not only get paid for 10 hours of work we didn’t do but we would even get time-and-a-half or double-time for some of those hours. It was an easy way to make an extra buck or two. Get paid for hours you don’t work, take food and supplies no one will miss which ‘everyone else is taking anyway’.  

I remember one security guard at a building where I worked as a janitor for a while. I would chat with him about God, among other things; one day he asked me, “If you are a Christian, why are you leaving early?”

“My work is done.”

“Are you getting paid?”

“Yes.”

“So, do more work.”

“Everyone just leaves when they are done, we’re expected to”

“Isn’t that stealing?”

The baptiser, John, says to those of his day who weren’t paid necessarily a ‘liveable wage’, “be content with your pay.” Luke says to we today who may be tempted to pad our hours, not declare our income, or manipulate our wages, “be content with your pay.” It is always interesting looking at Luke during Advent. Luke is the social justice gospel. It is a revolutionary text. Luke tells us what the impending Kingdom of God looks like. It is a place where the poor will have equal access to life and liberty as (or more than) the rich and everyone who is a part of God’s Kingdom will deal openly and honestly with each other.

And honestly, in Advent this revolution is noticeably important. We, as Christians, are called to be holy. We, as Christians, are called to be the advance guard of a just society where the poor do have the same access to life and to forgiveness as the rich. The middle class and the elite - like the tax collectors - are not to make a profit at the expense of the poor and those just barely eking out a living; we are to do it honestly. And all of us, rich or poor, are to be content with our wages for God will provide for us as He provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field (Luke 12:27, Mt 6:28).[9] Everyone, as we are a part of God's proleptic Kingdom, we are to love our neighbour and as they are in need we are to provide for their need just as our Heavenly Father provides for our needs.

Last Sunday we lit the Candle of Love and as we love our neighbours as ourselves in this way we will experience the joy of the Lord - I promise. This week, we lit the Candle of Joy and as we love our neighbours as ourselves in this way we will experience the joy of the Lord - I promise. This week, as we await the celebration of the penultimate arrival of our Lord as a baby laid in a manger and as we await the ultimate arrival of our Lord at the echaton, let us all seek the Lord and be a part of the joyful, peaceful revolution by honestly loving our Lord with all our heart, mind and soul and loving our neighbour as ourselves for as we do I promise God will change our world as He changes us even here –who seek him- from the inside out.

Let us pray.

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Based on Luke 3:7-14: In the Advent of Revolution. Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto, Ontario on 20 December 2015

[1] Cf. N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004), 34

[2] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1990), 48.

[3] Captain Michael Ramsay, Analysis of 'The Use of Money': Sermon 50 by John Wesley (Presented to William and Catherine Booth College, Summer 2008) http://sheepspeak.com/reviews_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Use

[4] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/III. Preparation for Jesus' Ministry (3:1-4:13)/A. The Ministry of John the Baptist (3:1-20), Book Version: 4.0.2

[5] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 84

[6] N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004), 36

[7] William Hendricksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), 208

[8] Cf. Jose Miranda.  Marx and the Bible: a Critique of the Philosophy of Oppression. Trans., John Eagleson. (New York: Orbis Books, 1979), 250 

[9] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 85.