'Contentious Jesus' - transcript of Sermon St Anne's Brown Edge 14/08/16

Jeremiah 23.23-29, Hebrews 11.29, 12.2   12.2, Luke 12.49-56

I imagine a goodly number people tasked with preaching today when they turned to look at the Lectionary readings felt their hearts sink and thought to themselves, as I did, what on earth do you make out of this passage from Luke’s Gospel.

These words of Jesus might be near the top of the list of ‘things we wish Jesus hadn’t said.’ With talk of divisions among close family members, casting fire down upon the earth and calling people hypocrites.

Therefore, I did as I inevitably do when faced with some difficult Biblical questions. I seek out two of my favourite Biblical scholars to see if they can help shed some light upon the matter.

They are Paula Gooder and Tom Wright. I highly commend their books to you. 

In particular, I would really recommend reading Tom Wright's ‘Everyone’ series on the New Testament.

Tom Wright, like Paula Gooder, has an expansive knowledge of the Bible and both are literate in Greek and Hebrew.

Therefore, what is going on here in this passage - and don’t worry I am not a Biblical scholar and this is not going to be a lecture or anything like that.

However, I hope to offer some insights that may begin to help us understand at least a little bit more of what this passage might be about.

Firstly, we need to understand a few important things.

One of those is that it was not until the 13^th century that the Bible was divided up into chapters and then further divided into verses in the 16^th century.

Whilst chapters and verses are a useful addition for referencing, it can mean when we read the Bible we see it only in bits and pieces.

The short passage we read from Luke must been seen in the context of a wider story.

Luke tells his Gospel story in two halves with sub-divisions.

The first half is set in Galilee and his early ministry and the calling of the disciples. 

The second half tells about Jesus’s journey down into Judea as he heads towards Jerusalem, enters into his final week, then the crucifixion and resurrection and for Luke ending with the Ascension. 

(Picking up the story of the Ascension is how he will begin his second volume work, The Acts of the Apostles)

The critical hinge verse is Luke 9.51…

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

It is also worth remembering that journeys are an important feature in Luke’s Gospel. (Emmaus Road)

As Jesus makes his way down to Jerusalem, you can feel the tension mounting and see the dark clouds looming on the horizon.

It is not exactly clear whom Jesus is addressing in this passage under our consideration. In chapter 12. Verse 41 we read, ‘Peter said, Lord, are you telling us this parable for us or for all?”

Then in verse 54, ‘He (Jesus) also said to the multitudes….’

Another important thing to bear in mind, which is obvious, but sometimes so obvious we do not see it…

That is the use of metaphors and allusions. For example, we might say that someone or something has made our blood boil. Which incidentally is about 100c and if your blood ever did boil, it would kill you. We know it is a metaphor and our blood is not actually boiling.

Yet another important factor is that many of the allusions and metaphors used in the New Testament would have been well known and recognized by Jews at the time of Jesus.

Take for example the divisions among families that Jesus talks about here in Luke’s account. In the book of the prophet Micah 7.6 we read…

For a son dishonours his father,
a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

We always, always, always need to bear in mind that Jesus was a first century Palestinian Jew and would have been well versed in the Scripture. Something Luke alludes to in his story about Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve.  Jesus would have read, studied and reflected deeply on the Scriptures.

Therefore, it is hardly surprising that we find similar words on the lips of Jesus about families being torn apart and not just on this occasion either. 

As Jesus journeys to Jerusalem, he says to the large crowd following him…

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14.26

This is the serious dedication of discipleship Jesus calls for – even today!

The prophet Micah continues in the next verse…

But for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
    I wait for God my Saviour;
    my God will hear me.

This is the hope that we hear of in the catalogue of the Faithful in the Letter to the Hebrews. This is a wonderful picture gallery of faithful men and woman who looked forward in faith to what God had promised and yet without receiving it in their lifetime.

Jesus comes as the Promise Bearer.

The Promise Bearer many are failing to see and to grasp while they have the opportunity.

Moreover, failing to see Jesus as the Promise Bearer, they bring judgement down upon their own heads like fire. 

John the Baptizer declared…

‘I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Within in families some will see and embrace Jesus as the Promise Bearer and others will not as prophesied by Simeon when Jesus was brought to be dedicated in the Temple.

Luke 2.34 ‘Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against…”

Moreover, fire will indeed come upon them, brought from Rome, as Titus, son of Vespasian put Jerusalem to the torch in AD70.

As Jesus draws near to Jerusalem in tears, he said…

 “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

I hope we now have a better picture of what might be going on here, having seen it in its fuller context and the failure of many to see in Jesus their Messiah, the Promise Bearer, the Word of God in flesh, the hope of all the world.

Is there anything we can take from this story into our week ahead?

Firstly, there is a challenge to us to be faithful and diligent in reading our Scriptures. Here again I would commend to you Tom Wrights ‘Everyone’ series on the New Testament.

We also need to gather with others so that we can study Scriptures in community – helping each other understand and bring insights as we seek to apply the Scriptures to our daily living.

What happens here on a Sunday morning is simply not sufficient to help us live as disciples of Jesus in the 21^st century.

It is a little like going into a swimming pool and standing around in the shallow end near to the handrail. God invites us down deeper where we have to take our feet of the floor and trust that all will be okay.

The second thing we can do is with regard to those who do come to faith and in so doing find they become ostracized by their family.

Some years ago, I met a young Christian man in London who was brought up as a Jew. When he converted to Christianity, his family held a funeral service for him. He was dead to them.

This happens frequently enough today.

Two charities that seek to help by standing alongside those who face rejection, persecution and death from family members are;

‘Barnabas Fund’ (www.barnabasfund.org/) 

 ‘Open Doors,’ (http://opendoorsuk.org/) 

I know a little of this personally. I become a Christian on the 1^st January 1975 at the age of 24.  In May 1976, I was divorced from my wife who had successfully petitioned for the separation because I had become a Christian. My behaviour had become as such so that she could no longer be reasonably expected to live with me. I walked away from the family home, our two-year-old daughter and our marriage with nothing much more than a suitcase of clothes.

The third thing we can do is to consider where we stand – have we accepted Jesus as the Messiah, do we consider him to be the Promise Bearer and the hope of all the world?

If so, what are we willing to sacrifice and to give up in maintaining that faith, thinking back to our passage from Hebrews? 

Are we able to echo these words of Cardinal Newman…?

My God, you have created me to do you some definite service,

You have given me some definite work to me, which you have not given to any other.

I have my place in your plan; I may never know what it is in this life, but I will be told it in the next.

Therefore, I will trust you in all things.

If I am sick, my sickness will serve you.

If I am worried, my worry may serve you.

If I am in sorry, my sorrow may serve you.

You do nothing in vain; you know what you are doing.

You may take away my friends; you may put me with strangers;

You may make me feel forgotten; you may make my spirits sink;

You may hide my future from me;

Still – You know what you are doing, and I trust you.  Amen

Who or what are you going to put your trust in as you enter into the week ahead?

'Jesus is coming back - quick look busy' Transcript of Sermon St Bertelins's (Stafford) 7th August 2016

Sermon – St Bertelins Trinity 11 2016

Isaiah 1.1,10-20 Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke 12.32-40

‘Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.’

Words that we will shortly be saying. Words that encapsulate something of the core beliefs of the Christian faith.

At first glance, our Gospel reading today may appear to be saying something about Jesus’ ‘coming again.’

‘You must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.’

‘Son of Man’ is a well-known phrase from the Book of Daniel.  However, we do not have time to explore all that means especially within the context of judgement outlined in Daniel 7, with the exception of this important piece.

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Here, and in the passage we heard from Hebrews and in the opening words of our Gospel readings are important reminders that God is a God of promises and that He is faithful in keeping those promises.

There are those who put great store by trying to interpret the signs, the times and the seasons, the time when God will fulfil his promises to create a new heaven and earth - and bring judgment.  There are those who declare that we are currently in the last days and the return of Jesus Christ is imminent.

Indeed, you can find those who argue that Brexit was prophesied in the Scriptures, particularly in Daniel and Revelation. Because the European Union is one of the last beasts described in the visions and it will not prevail.

One of my under the radar ministries is responding to questions sent in by email to a web site set up by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association UK. www.peacewithgod.org.uk

I had one such question recently asking if Anita Fuentes was orthodox because some had been calling her out as a wolf.

(The wolf reference is to the false prophets of Matthew 7.15)

I watched a few of her video talks and I was unable to detect anything unorthodox. However, she was very firmly in that tradition that we are now living in the last days.

(However, one question must be, since the Ascension of Jesus, have we not always been living in the ‘last days’?) 

There have always been those who have sought to interpret the times seeking to predict the time of Jesus’ second coming by trying to match up world events with Scripture and in particular the very complex apocalyptic writings.

When we do consider such a passage as we have before us today we must first let it sit in its own context.

We must remember that with either natural perception or with divine insight, (you can choose which) Jesus could see the way things we going to work out.

He could see that if the People of God continued along the path of rebellion against Rome on the one hand, and compliance and acquiescence on the other, things were going to turn out very badly. 

This of course happened with destruction of Jerusalem with the Temple razed to the ground by Titus the son of Vespasian in AD 70.

Reading the actual account by Josephus, a contemporary Jewish historian, brings the full horror into sharp focus.

Secondly, although we are encouraged to be attentive to signs, we are primarily to be about the business of building and proclaiming God’s Kingdom because we do not know at what hour he will return.

The idea of being ready for the master’s return reminds me of my time as an apprentice jockey in Newmarket.

We had one older stable lad who did not ride out anymore. When the horses had gone out on exercise, he would sit around and not do very much of anything. However, as soon as he heard the horses coming back he would dip his hand in the water bucket, splash it on his forehead and then begin to run around huffing and puffing. The Governor, Bruce Hobbs, was not fooled - nor is God.

This for me is the key to the whole ‘Christ will come again.’

I take my cue from Luke’s second book, The Acts of the Apostles. Luke begins his second volume in the same way he ends his first, by reference to the Ascension.

It is Acts 1.6 we read; ‘So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

And Jesus replied; … You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

The story goes on to tell us that the disciples stood there staring into space – but then asked by angels why they were standing there looking into the sky.

As they would say in Lancashire, ‘don’t stand there gawping, you have a job to do.’

That job was to preach and proclaim the Kingdom of God. To announce that the last days were now breaking into the present. 

That there would come a time of judgment and of vindication in fulfilment of prophesies and promises, but how, when, and where – the answer to those questions are in God’s gift, not ours.

Therefore, we might ask what is our task as the People of God today, as the People of God at St Bertelins.

Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again – are we not called to live in that reality.

The life, death, resurrection and ascension and the second coming of Jesus.

Are we not called to ponder very carefully where we place our treasure, where we place our energies, where we place our allegiances ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ 

We heard last week about a man who put his treasure in bigger barns he built – today’s Gospel reading picks up that story, encouraging us not to worry over things like this because God loves us, and wants to give us the Kingdom.

‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’   

As we live in the ‘now and not yet’ of God’s coming Kingdom are we not called to heed the words of the Prophet Isaiah that our worship, our gathering here week by week does not become mere empty ritual with no power of transformation?

‘I hate your new moon festivals and all this trampling of my courts.’

‘Stop doing wrong, learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless and please the case of the widow.’

What we do here only makes sense by what we do out there, in the world, amongst our families, in the neighbourhood, in the shops, at our places of work and our places of leisure.

We had a glimpse of what this looks like last week when over 500 young people came off camp at Soul Survivor.  I went up on the Sunday night and as I expected the worship was very loud, very full on, full of energy and passion.

This passionate worship spilled out naturally as these young people came to work alongside the churches in Stafford to bring a blessing to the town. They washed cars, cleared gardens, and picked up litter, prayed with people and did all manner of things as part of Love Stafford. Love Stafford because God loves Stafford and they helped us show that by demonstrating servant hearts.

I mentioned earlier an email question about Anita Fuentes. In my reply, making reference to the second coming I said that I was mildly interested when world events appeared to match up to some Biblical prophecy, but my main focus is on doing what God has called me to do.

If I have not been called to glory before Jesus returns, I am secure in the knowledge that God will know where to find me.

In closing let me ask; where is your heart and your treasure this morning?

What is it that God is calling you to do individually?

What is God calling you to do as the People of God set in this community?

Remember that the Church of God does not have a mission; the God of mission has a church.

Do you believe God delights in your worship?

Does this worship naturally spill out in acts of loving service, in proclamation of the Gospel in both words and deeds?

Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

However, should he come today would he find faith and faithful people here at St Bertelins – dressed and ready for service with the lights on?

 Let us pray…

O Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lays the secret of all life, and the hope of all people, we pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, it possibilities inspire us, and its vigour renew us. Pour out upon us a fresh indwelling of the Holy Spirit; make us bold and courageous in sharing faith in both word and deed for your Kingdom’s sake we ask.

Amen