Easter 4 - 2022

Based on John 10.22-30: Whose voice am I following?

Jesus does not appear on earth at random.  His appearance is foretold throughout the Old Testament.

Jesus arrives on the scene as the climax of a series of prophecies as well as in a mesh of foretold circumstances and a golden thread of God’s ineffable plan for the salvation of the souls of humankind.

Jesus is not wandering aimlessly around the portico of Solomon. He is deliberately and intentionally walking in territory that he is about to take control over.

Jesus comes to overcome the forces of darkness and the realm of evil to reclaim God’s people. He also finds that he is up against the self-interest of the religious institutions that are supposed to shepherd God’s people but are in fact discover many who are exploiting and oppressing them.

It is Winter in Jerusalem.  It is the Festival of Dedication which occurs around 25 Kislev or December according to the Hebrew calendar.

It is also the Roman Festival of Saturnalia which occurs from 17 to 23 December according to the Roman calendar.  This Festival celebrates the god Saturn. The poet Catullus described the Festival as the “best of days”.  It was a carnival; when people enjoyed a time of liberty and celebration including a public banquet where the masters served the slaves, gift giving, and a level of behaviour not normally allowed in Roman society.

The Festival is looking forward to a Golden Age when Saturn will return to rule the world - Saturn, Lucifer, Prince of Light.[1]

Please stay with me, there is an important point to be made.

The Jews are celebrating the Festival of Dedication instituted by Judas Maccabeus after it was cleaned up having been desecrated by the Seleucids under their King Antiochus Epiphanes (168 BC). [2]

The point is that this Festival is Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. The Jews light series of 8 candles in their places of worship and in their homes.  Eight: the number of new beginnings, the day after the day of rest after creation.

Now you will hear some naysayers of Christianity saying that Christmas is simply a copy of a pagan Festival echoing the Festival of Saturnalia, That maybe true but it is not the point – it is the wrong way round.

The point is that Jesus appears in the middle of the Festival of Saturnalia and the Festival of Hanukkah, and he declares who he is.  He is the true Messiah; he is the Light of the World. He declares victory over one and fulfilment over the other.

Jesus makes other declarations throughout the gospel of John at other pagan or Jewish feasts and festivals: I am the Way the Truth and the Life, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Word, the Bread, the Living Water.

25(Then) Jesus said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.[3]

O, if only Jesus to explain everything to us. If he could make it clear from the horse’s mouth, we would believe him. But we do know, we have the Scriptures, we do not read them, and we listen to poor teaching.

Over the last 2000 years we have wasted time, ink and energy intellectualising, disproving, allegorising the gospel message. In our cleverness and sophistication we obfuscate the message and deny people the good news of God’s salvation. Listen to one of the harshest prophets:

Ezekiel 34.17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?[4]

The 64 thousand dollar question is: whose flock do I belong to and how would people know?

Let me ask myself a question. When I walk through the world does it make any difference?  Do the ways of the world seep into me so that I live as the world lives? Or do I seep into the world as a child of the kingdom of God. Do I mould myself on what is acceptable in our modern or post-modern world, or do I push back against it?

Do people say: Jane is a good person to have around, she is one of the girls (or boys)!

Or do they say: do you know what, Jane is ok, but she makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, always going on about Jesus and God and the kingdom, never mind the Devil – why doesn’t she chill out a bit and relax.

Jesus walked through the world deliberately and intentionally coming up against the works of evil. He was angry about demonic activity, disease, destructive sin, and he cast out, healed, raised from the dead.  He did not leave the world as he found it, but his presence and power transformed it.

Why? Because human life is precious, and God loves every human soul.

9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. [5]

And for a while, the apostles carried on Jesus’ work walking in his power. We are asked to do the same and Jesus promises that whatever danger, persecution, difficulty we face as his flock, he will protect and ultimately save us.

You and I are here on this planet, in this church as God’s imagers, as the body of Christ Jesus. In a few moments we will be meeting as that body in the Annual meeting.  This is not just a formality, a tedious and boring business meeting. This is the members of this church focusing on what we are here for – what we stand for.

How are you and I going to do the will of God in this parish? How are we going to be the hands, heart, and voice of Christ Jesus? How are we going to cure the souls of those lost in delusion, darkness and disappointment and ultimately spiritual death?

Do we want to be liked and relevant or transforming and challenging?

Whose voice are we listening to?

[1] Wikipedia: Saturnalia.  The idea that Saturn is the Prince of Light or Lucifer is a developing idea in Dispensational writing.

[2] In the book of Maccabees – Apocrypha.

[3] Luke 24.25-27 NRSV

[4] Ezekiel 34.17-19 NRSV

[5] John 10.9-10 NRSV

Easter 2 2022

Thomas receives Jesus’ Grace: based on John 20.19-end

I wonder how Jesus feels as he prepares to leave his disciples.

This group of people with whom he loved and lived and ate and argued. The people he had sent out to practice what they will now have to do without him to come back to and celebrate what had happened in his name – even the demons submitted to us, Jesus, can you believe it! [1] They will not hear his encouraging voice, feel the slap on the back, not hear again his corrective teaching, cherish his loving kiss.

Jesus now must leave the disciples – the apostles – the “sent out ones” to do his work.

And to be honest some of them a bit flaky and a bit dodgy on the important bits of his teaching.

We are told in Acts that after his resurrection Jesus spends 40 days with them to ensure they know he is alive and to refresh what he has taught them.[2] Does he feel a bit like the teacher setting revision for the Easter break? Are they listening? Are they prepared to do the work?  Will they give their lives to the gospel, their backs to the whip, their freedom for prison in his name? Are they ready? They have already demonstrated a lack of understanding of servant leadership, they have betrayed him under pressure, deserted him on the cross, fought amongst themselves.

Jesus has done the work and he cannot do it again.  He died fully human to take away their sin and infidelity, he rose again in his Christ/Messiah self, fully human, fully divine to show the forces of darkness, the principalities, and powers, that they are defeated.  But his apostles must take that message to the world and make more disciples. They must make it clear!

Matthew 28 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

With you but not on earth in my human flesh as you knew me but in the form of the Holy Spirit your Advocate and Guide, who will lead you into all truth.

Poor Thomas.

That morning Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Lord and told them all about it. He was not there, none of the others were there either.  Now on the evening of the same day Jesus appears to all of them – except him because he is not there.

I am not really interested in why he was not there.  The important part of the narrative is his reaction and what Jesus does.

Thomas cries out in his disappointment and loss.  His Saviour is gone, he is heartbroken and afraid.  They are all afraid. His is the despair of abandonment – Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to us – he has come and gone, and I have not received – I will never be able to do this work – he has rejected me.

Jesus waits one week before appearing again. Thomas falls before him in love, relief, and gratitude.

But the teaching is not just for Thomas, it is for all the apostles, and it is for us.

John 20.29 Jesus said to (Thomas) him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

The people you will be taking this message to will not see me as you have seen me, they have not fellowshipped with me and heard the teaching around the fire as you have done.  You must find a way to make this real for them.

And I believe there is one other aspect of critical importance; the time gap before Jesus comes to Thomas.

Part of the message that the apostles have received from Jesus is that he is coming back.  This is just one passage:

John 14.3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

The cry of the early church was not just Hosanna, it was Maranatha, come Lord Jesus![3]

The clear hope of the early church was that Jesus was coming back.  This week’s delay for Thomas was an indicator of that time.  But before that the apostles need to get out and preach the Gospel.[4

Without the physical presence of Jesus, how are they and we to make him real? Blessed are those who believe, Thomas, who have not had this experience.

How are the apostles and disciples to make Christ Jesus visible?

Let’s start with these three, and these are not just a reminder for apostles, priests, and ministers, they are for all disciples:

The first is in the text: John 20.31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

My brothers and sisters, if we are to make Jesus real, we must be as Jesus was on the Road to Emmaus:

Luke 24.27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.[5]  We must be able to do that!

Secondly, going back to the Maundy Thursday teaching we need to make Jesus real in our lives: it is by demonstrating our love for each other that we show what new life in Christ is all about!

John 13.34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

And finally, we need to be prepared to stand up to the world when it challenges our faith:

Acts 5. 29But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority. 

As Teresa of Avila puts it:

Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”[6]

You and I have a job to do in this world and we pray that we do not let Him down.

[1] Luke 10.17-20 17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

[2] Acts 1.3-5

[3] 1 Corinthians 16.22; Rev.22.20

[4] Read Psalm 68 for one example of the disciples’ expectation of the return of Messiah in glory.

[5] Luke 24.13-35

[6] https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/74226.Teresa_de_Jes_s

Why is Bliss a difficult word?

Bliss is an interesting word.  It is more than enjoyment; it is more like ecstasy.

Why is it that we are a little embarrassed by the word? Possibly because it has been highjacked by the dark side?  By that I mean it has been cheapened and tainted by unhelpful media and careless usage. Ecstasy – isn’t that a drug?  Bliss isn’t that what you get from an ice cream? Orgasm – isn’t that what I get when I watch porn on my ‘phone?

The joy of living, shout out loud amazement, singing in the shower, dancing in the rain.  The sheer love of life becomes distorted and inhibited. We forget what it is like to explode with excitement!  Watch a small child having a new experience – don’t we all want to feel like that again?

In a world where we are bombarded with casual and impossible sex and gratuitous violence we lose a sense of the beauty and complexity of our bodies. We forget that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We begin to doubt our worth and attractiveness.

Certainly, in the West, when the landscape of our bodies becomes more mature and characteristics change – this is not a cause of celebration! We mourn the loss of our youthful landscape and try to cover up, fill up, lift up, and sometimes just give up in despair.

The question is not why?  That road leads to navel gazing theory and inertia.

The question is how can this be reversed in my life.  The rest of the world is too big for us to worry about now.  How do I create a mind-set that expects blissful experiences every day?  I believe that in the same way that St Francis built his church one brick at a time, we can build happiness one blissful experience at a time. “ I don’t know what she had in her tea this morning but I want some!”

Take a look at this extract from ‘Vortex’ by Esther and Jerry Hicks:

We are here as co-creators. And it is my expectation as we move forward (in this marriage) that both of us will find ourselves satisfied in every way that is possible.  It is my desire to discover who I am and who you are.  But most important to me is that I be happy so that I may inspire happiness in you.  I do not take your life as my responsibility. I take my life as my responsibility.

I use this extract in marriage preparation as a discussion point, but it is equally valid in considering ourselves in community.

Christian teaching has spent a disproportionate amount of time teaching the virtues of suffering, submission and obedience.  This is all worthy doctrine but let’s not forget praise, joy, dancing, pleasure, sex, delight and love! (Check out the Song of Songs!)

Sisters, we need to recalibrate our lives.  Bliss is our right, and our duty to the world.

Baby steps:

Posture that says I have a right to be here – created to be seen and encountered – shoulders back, stomach in, get fitted for a bra that lifts and separates not that rides up your back and leaves your boobs sinking to the waist.

A face that that says I am great and so are you – have a blissful experience today my friend because I sure am going to.

A heart that fills with gratitude – counting blessings – even in the darkest moments there is a light if only we see it.

And day by day we will get stronger, more courageous, more present, more willing to take an adventure,  and when people begin to see us – some (sadly not all) will be touched in their deepest place, hope will begin to germinate in the darkness and they may never know where the gift came from.

RevJaneK