"Father, Forgive Them"; Luke 23:32-34

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Carrying Christ's Cross; Luke 23:26, Mark 15:21, Acts 13:1-3, Romans 16:13

 

    Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  We all have a cross we are called to bear—to die to self.  When we suffer, we know that God is with us in our suffering.  In Isaiah 41, God promises us that when we pass through the water or the fire, He is with us “for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”   God commands, “Do not fear.”  In the New Testament, we hear again and again how Jesus has compassion on the people and is compassionate toward us.  The word compassion literally means “to suffer with.”  Because Christ is fully human and suffered so much Himself, He can identify with us in our sufferings, so that when we suffer, Jesus suffers with us. But we are also called to carry Christ’s cross.  We participate with Him in His sufferings.

            Today we look at Simon of Cyrene, the man who literally helped Christ carry His cross.  Simon was pulled from the crowd by the Roman soldiers and compelled to help Jesus carry His cross.  Jesus was too weak to carry His own cross.  He was bruised and battered and had already lost a lot of blood.  He had been up all night.  Jesus was physically incapable of carrying His own cross.  Without Simon’s help, He may have died prior to being crucified, but that wasn’t God’s plan for Jesus.  As Simon carried the cross with Jesus, he would’ve gotten Jesus’s blood on him.  He would have seen the pain in Jesus’s face and the wounds in His flesh.  In his small, but crucial way, Simon participated in the sufferings of Christ.  I don’t think he slinked away in the crowd when they got Golgotha.  I think he would’ve continued to watch the Man on the cross. 

            When we suffer, we are carrying Christ’s cross.  Peter tells us in I Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”  Suffering should dive us to keep looking at Jesus.  In the letter to the Colossians, Paul tells us that our suffering is a continuation of Christ’s suffering, not necessarily for our own sake, but on behalf of the Church. Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”  When we see our suffering as Christ’s suffering, instead of asking, “Why me?”, we might ask, “Why not me?”.  I’ve seen people who have endured what seems to be more than their fair share of suffering, and I wonder why my life is so easy in comparison.  I had a man in one of the churches I served who knew the Bible very well.  He had large chunks memorized.  He knew how much the Bible talks about suffering and not being surprised when it occurs, but rather that we should expect it.  He confessed that he felt he hadn’t had to suffer much in his life.  He wasn’t particularly wealthy, but he had plenty because he lived simply and frugally.  He lived John Wesley’s words, “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”  He was incredibly generous.  He took Jesus’s words literally about taking the homeless into your home, something he did at least 4 different times.  But as he was nearing the end of his life, he realized that his life had been relatively easy, and it caused some discomfort in him.  Now I don’t know that he prayed to suffer, but God definitely took his discomfort away.  In his final 5 years, he saw one of his sons die from cancer.  He lost his mobility and eventually lost both legs to lack of circulation, but he never acted like he was miserable in suffering.  He embraced it, and he joyfully embraced when it came his time to die and meet Jesus face to face.  I don’t think we have to pray for suffering to enter our lives, although I have heard of people doing that.  Then there are the ascetics who caused themselves suffering to identify more with Christ.  Rather, we shouldn’t be surprised at suffering when it comes, and when it does come, if we think about our sufferings as Christ’s sufferings, we can better endure it, and even know that there is meaning in our suffering. 

We don’t know if Simon knew much about Jesus at all.  He was a pilgrim to Jerusalem, coming for the Passover feast.  He was from Cyrene, a city in northern Libya, less than 6 miles from the Mediterranean Sea.  He was a Jew.  He could’ve come from a family that had been part of an exiled group long ago, but if we think Simon is the same as Simeon Niger from the book of Acts, which many scholars do, then he would have been a convert to Judaism, part of a long-standing Jewish community in that city.  His dark skin may have been a factor in the soldiers pulling him from the crowd as he would have stood out.  He was the father of two sons—Alexander and Rufus. 

            Why do scholars think Simon of Cyrene is Simeon Niger?  Simon and Simeon are the same name—one is Greek and the other Hebrew.  It’s no different than Joe/Joseph, Jim/James, Dot/Dorothy, Jen/Jennifer.  One reason is that Lucius of Cyrene is also named in Acts 13.  Both men were from the same city.  They had probably been part of the same synagogue, but now they are in Antioch.  Simeon obviously is dark-skinned and perhaps Lucius was not.  Along with Barnabas, and Manaen, who grew up in a completely different environment with Herod the tetrarch and Saul, whom Barnabas had brought to Antioch were the prophets and teachers of the church.  If we go back to Acts 11 we find more proof that Simeon is Simon of Cyrene.  After Stephen was martyred, persecution against Christians in Jerusalem began to be more intense.  In verse 19 we read that believers went to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.  Verse 20: “But there were some of them, men of Cyprus, and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.”  In other words, these Jewish background believers who had been in Jerusalem, but who were originally from Cyprus, and Cyrene went to Antioch and started the church there.  The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to check it out.  He did, and he rejoiced at the thriving community in Christ he found there, so he went to Tarsus, and got Saul, who had now become a believer and who had already spent 3 years in the desert being taught by Jesus, and took him to Antioch.  They spent a year meeting and teaching with the community at Antioch, and in verse 26, we read that “the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.”  At the end of the year, the Antioch Church took up an offering for the church in Jerusalem because there was a famine in Judea. 

They returned to Antioch with John Mark.  Mark is the one who tells us in his gospel that Simon is the father of Rufus and Alexander.  He would have met Simeon Niger in Antioch, so again, more evidence that this is the same person.  Paul also knows this family well, so when he sends greetings to Rufus and his mother, who by the time Paul writes Romans, they are in Rome, it is likely that this is now Rufus, Simon’s son, who is grown.  Paul writes Romans around 57 AD, 11 years after starting his first missionary journey.  Somehow Rufus and his mom had already gone to Rome, carrying on in the missionary tradition of Simon.  Perhaps, he himself had gone, but had died by the time Romans is written.  We don’t know what happened to Alexander.  The only Alexander mentioned is one in Ephesus, a coppersmith, who did Paul wrong, and also was a false teacher.  Hopefully, this is not the other son of Simon! 

            After Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch with John Mark, the church leaders including Simon of Cyrene, discern through the Holy Spirit that Paul and Barnabas should be set apart for missionary work. 

            We can see that Simon’s life was radically changed from his carrying Christ’s cross.  By the time we get to Acts 13, it is 13-16 years after the crucifixion of Jesus.  Simon chose not to return to Cyrene after that Passover feast.  He may have been one of the 500 in the crowd to whom Jesus appeared after He was raised from the dead.  Obviously, Simon had embraced the resurrection.  He was probably a witness at Pentecost and may have been filled with the Holy Spirit himself.  He obviously had at some point.  He was compelled to take the gospel to a different place when persecution came.  Instead of going back home, he went north to Antioch taking the gospel with him.  Simon’s suffering with Christ gave him a missionary zeal to share the gospel.  It caused him to dive deep into God’s word.  It was something that gave him a starting platform to tell others about Jesus. 

            When we carry the cross of Christ, we are changed as well.  It is in knowing that our suffering is Christ’s suffering that we can better understand the power of the resurrection.  This is what Paul says in Philippians 3:10-11.  “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”  Paul had suffered so much, and yet he was still pressing into knowing Christ in both his death and resurrection.  Sometimes it is the suffering itself that changes us and makes us more effective witnesses for Christ.  In II Corinthians 1:3-5, Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”  Maybe you have had this experience where coming through a major trial or tribulation, you say, “I wouldn’t want to go through that ever again, but if I had to do my life over, I wouldn’t change that because without that experience, I wouldn’t be who I today.  Because I went through X, I can help people who are struggling with the same thing or similar thing.  I can share how God brought me through that, and how God is faithful and never gives up on us.”  Our sufferings can give us the same zeal to tell others about Christ.  We can even be witnesses in the midst of suffering by the way we offer our sufferings in solidarity with Christ, by not becoming bitter or vengeful or blaming God even in the midst of pain and grief. 

            Finally, when join our cross to Christ’s we can look forward to the same joy that Christ had which is our eternal life with Him in the new heavens and new earth.  The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 13:12-14, “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”  We don’t get to choose what cross we bear.  We may be compelled to carry the cross, like Simon was, but whatever our cross, we can know that Christ is with us in our suffering, and we are with Him in His.  Jesus didn’t bear the cross alone, and neither do we.  We can offer our suffering up to God.  In carrying our cross, which is really Christ’s cross, we become more like Him. 

Inconvenient Truths; Isaiah 28:9-29, Romans 10:8-21

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God's Guidance; Psalm 19, Matthew 2

 

    When we think of astrology verses astronomy, we think of the latter as scientific and objective, and the former as mystical, superstitious or downright demonic.  These divisions aren’t as clear as we might think.  Early astrologists made some incredible scientific observations and discoveries, and modern astronomy isn’t so divorced from religion.  On my conspiracy theory rabbit trail, I discovered that occultists were heavily involved in the origins of NASA.  Let me just say, Jack Parsons, and leave it at that.  People have worshipped the stars and planets as gods.  Others have tried to discover the mysteries of the stars so that they could be gods.  And many have looked to the stars to know the will of God. 

The stars do tell a story.  The constellations of the northern hemisphere have been recognized the same way across cultures of the world but with different names.  The Hebrew term for constellations of the Zodiac is Mazzaroth.  The Jewish calendar is based on them.  Each of the 12 tribes of Israel were identified by one of them.  Psalm 19:1-4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.  The skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words. No sound is heard from them, yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  The heavens tell the story from Creation to the new creation, and the ancient Israelites understood them as such.  It’s not so surprising then that God would use the stars to tell of the birth of Jesus, since the coming of Jesus to earth was always a part of God’s plan for the redemption of humankind.  God speaks through the heavenly bodies.  But the story found in the skies is not separate from God’s Word.

            The second half of Psalm 19 speaks of God’s law.  For a long time, I thought the jump from a psalm about creation to David abruptly switching subjects was strange, almost as if they should be 2 different psalms, but it makes sense.  We can’t know what the stars mean apart from the word, and creation adds a visual representation to what we hear in the Word.  In our gospel reading today, we see God using both creation and word to guide the magi to Jesus.  And the magi responded to God’s guidance because they were seeking it.  In their conversation with Herod, and Herod’s consultation with the chief priests and scribes we can see that both the stars and the word were used to determine where the King of the Jews was to be born.  The magi clearly tell Herod that they have come to worship the new king, who was not just a king, but Messiah.  Herod knows that this is a prediction of Messiah.  The difference is that the magi were expecting and looking for the Messiah and Herod and the chief priests and scribes, who knew the prophecy about the Messiah weren’t looking for Him.  They weren’t paying attention to the stars, nor were they excited about His birth, but fearful.  God was speaking all along.  Those who were seeking His guidance heard and followed. 

            God still speaks.  The book of Hebrews opens with the words, “God, after He spoke long ago to the ancestors in the prophets, at many times and in various ways, in these last days has spoken to us through His Son whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the world.”  Jesus is the revelation of God. He is the One to whom the stars point.  He is the one of whom the Scriptures speak.  I had a Bible teacher once whose answer to people who want to know what God’s will for their life was would say, “Jesus Christ is God’s will for your life.”  What does that mean?  Obviously, it is to believe in Him for salvation, but it is more than that.  Romans 8:29 says that God has planned for us to be “conformed to the image of His Son.”  In Philippians 2, Paul exhorts us to have the mind of Christ, which in I Corinthians 2:16 he says we already have.  In other words, we are to think like Christ, which we can do because He has given us His mind.  We are also to act like Christ.  What does it mean to act like Christ?  We go back to the Scriptures, particularly the gospels to see how lived.  Jesus Himself told us to do things like love one another—His most repeated command, forgive one another, serve one another, love our enemies and bless them.  It’s not always that hard to figure out what God is saying to us. 

            Jesus also said He and the Father would speak to us by the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to live in us.  Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth.  The Holy Spirit also guides us by convicting us when we are not doing what God is telling us to do.  How do we hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us?  We hear through the Spirit illuminating our consciences.  We hear through the same communication channels that God used to guide the wise men—the written word and creation and through other people. I was visiting George this week, and we were talking about God speaking to us.  He mentioned how God has used His word to speak to him, when he has run across the right verse at the right time or how sometimes it’s just a little phrase, maybe of 4 words that sticks out.  He talked how a verse can have one application at one time and a different application at another time.  When it comes to God speaking through people, we can infer that the magi consulted with each other as to what star meant and the way they should go.  We also seeing them consulting with the Jewish religious leaders through Herod.  Sometimes God speaks through people who aren’t seeking Him, and in fact, are resistant to Him.  God can speak through anyone or anything.  It is the Holy Spirit who helps us to hear the message God is speaking through an unknowing or even hostile messenger without their knowledge.  Have you ever heard God speak through an unlikely person?  Of course, God speaks through other believers as well.  Proverbs speaks of getting counsel from other people. Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”  Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” And Proverbs 15:22 “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.”

Another way we can hear God speak to us is through prayer.  Our text doesn’t tell us that the magi prayed, but it is certainly a communication channel offered to them.  We do see them worshipping Jesus.  Worshipping is a form of prayer but prayer also involves listening to God.  Sometimes God speaks to us in prayer through silence.  Sometimes God speaks to us in prayer through action, by answering our prayer even in the moment.  Sometimes God speaks to us in prayer through our own words that as we speak, we get clarification for God’s direction for our lives. 

God also speaks to us through circumstances.  There are events in our lives where things come together in such a way that we know God is speaking to us.  The right opening comes at the right time.  Sometimes God speaks to us to take an action.  Sometimes God speaks to us so that we will stop and rest in Him.  Sometimes God speaks to us through circumstances just so that we will know His love and care for us.  I have God use circumstances in all three ways at various times.

You really know God is speaking to you when multiple things come together at once.  You read something in Scripture, then you might hear something about what you read on a radio program or in conversation with a friend, then circumstances come together to reinforce it, then you pray about it, and it is very clear what God is up to in your life.

There is a saying that you often see on Christmas cards or bumper stickers that says, “Wise men still seek Him.”  This is true!  Those who are wise seek God and those who want to be wise will seek God.  God is still speaking.  God isn’t silent.  God wants to be found.  God reveals Himself in various ways, but we have to be paying attention.  Probably most of us do not make New Year’s resolutions anymore, but one thing we can commit to seeking to be more like Jesus, which we can do when we follow God’s guidance.  May we always to listen to God’s voice. To that end, I have made us star words for this year.  Each has a Scripture verse and a word.  Maybe God will speak to you through the verse, the word, or both as you meditate on it.  You might want to put it on your refrigerator or mirror or keep it in your Bible.  Let God guide you this year through the Word, Creation, prayer, circumstances, and people.

Peace & Goodwill; Luke 2:8-15

 

Tonight, much of what we have been studying, anticipating, waiting for and preparing for comes to pass.  Advent past becomes advent present as Christ is born, Emmanuel, God is with us.  A couple of weeks ago, we heard about God’s promise of perfect peace from Isaiah 26:3.  We looked into what perfect peace is and isn’t.  Tonight we hear angels sing, promising peace that will affect the whole earth to people of “good will.” 

            At our first joint Advent service with St. Christopher’s, Fr. Paul talked about the song that the angels might have sung.  He suggested and sung for us what is a familiar worship song—“Shalom, Aleichem”, which is “Peace upon you, ministering angels, messengers of the most high, of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. Come in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High.  Bless me with peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High.  May your departure be in peace, messengers of the Most High.”  This is the song sung by Jews on the way home after Friday night Shabbat synagogue worship or around the table as the shabbat candles are lit.  This song in its present form dates back to the 17^th Century and is based upon a Talmudic legend.  Fr. Paul wasn’t saying that this WAS what the angels sang, but he suggested that they would have sung something recognizable that would have quickly transformed the terror of the shepherds into joy. 

            Why were the shepherds so terrified.  Well, we’re all startled by sudden, strange phenomenon.  Look at the chaos the mysterious drone situation is causing.  At this point, most people know that the official story isn’t the real story, but what’s really going on?  Notice that a careful reading of the text does not say the angels appeared in the sky.  Verse 9 says, “an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them.”   It became bright!  In our Advent Bible study in November, we looked at the hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.”  We looked at artists’ renderings of angels based off biblical descriptions of angels, from very early in Church history to many done by AI, depictions that would indeed cause one to be terrified if they showed up—angels as warriors with flaming swords, angels with 6 pairs of wings, angels covered in eyes, angels with 4 faces.  The hymn speaks of “rank on rank the host of angels spreads its vanguard on the way.”  Again, although these are heavenly messengers, it doesn’t say they appeared in the sky.  Verse 13 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel (the one who was standing in front of the shepherds) a multitude of the heavenly hosts.”  This is military language.  Whenever we read of a host of angels in the Bible, it is military language. It’s not just talking about a lot of angels, but an army of angels.  By the way, I’m 51 years old.  I’ve known this story from early childhood, and yet, this is the first year that I realized the angels weren’t in the sky.  I went to tell Jim and he was like, yeah, I know.  Yet, this army comes with a message of peace.  Fr. Paul suggested that some Old Testament saints might have been included in this army.  Perhaps so. 

            We don’t know the full of the song, but we know they gave glory to God, using this familiar term for God—“Most High.”  God gets the glory.  God is the Peacemaker.  I do think the song was one which told them that what they had heard in the Scriptures was coming to pass.  What is the promise?  On earth peace.  Well, we certainly don’t have world peace, and they didn’t have world peace, so we need to take a closer look at the angels’ message.  The first angel tells the shepherds to not be afraid “for I bring the gospel of great joy for all people.”  The gospel is for all people.  The gospel is that the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord has been born.  Jesus is the Savior of the world, the only hope the world has for peace and the source of true joy as we saw a couple of Sundays ago.  In his commentary on Luke, David L. Theide writes that Jesus came “to bless and restore humanity.”

Fr. Paul pointed out that the angels delivered their message, not in Greek, but in Hebrew or Aramaic in which both the word for peace is “shalom” meaning well-being and wholeness.  It is peace between God and people and people with people.  This is a promised blessing for the world which comes through Jesus and those whom He has chosen.  When we live like Jesus wants us to live, we can bring about human flourishing, which results in peace.  The earth is a better place because it is cared for properly.  The needy are cared for.  People are treated fairly. 

This does not mean everyone will be saved, but no one can be saved without Him.  The second half of the heavenly host’s message can have multiple interpretations.  The KJV says, “Peace on earth and good will toward men.”  This translation is based on very late manuscripts, and is not the best one.  Other translations say “Peace on earth among men on whom God’s favor rests or peace on earth to men with whom God is well-pleased.”  This word “well-pleased” is unique to the Jews and Christians, and was not used in any of its forms in secular society.  It most often refers to that which is pleasing to God.  The root word is the same as when God the Father says of Jesus at His baptism, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.”  However the form of the word is different.  It could mean and has been interpreted as people of good will or of good pleasure—i.e. those with good intentions or those who do that which is pleasing to God.  This interpretation goes with Scripture promises like Jeremiah 29:13 in which God says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”  St. Augustine said that our hearts are restless until we find our rest in God.  The message of the angels would be that peace comes upon earth in those whose intentions are right because God will come and has come to them.  And then of course, the shepherds do go forth to seek the Savior. Perhaps God sent His angels to these shepherds because they were those with hearts that were seeking God.  However, another interpretation is closer to exactly how God uses it towards Jesus—people who are well-pleasing to God or to those whom God favors.  This interpretation aligns with our Reformed tradition of the doctrine of election, that God is in charge of our salvation.  Of course, both of these things can be true at once.  God has predestined us for salvation, and therefore those who are the elect are and will be those who seek God. 

Is God pleased with all people?  We know that God is not, and yet God still blesses all people.  In Luke 6:35, the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil.  God loves everybody, even those with whom He is not pleased.  More than in any of the other gospels Luke records calls to repentance by John the Baptist and by Jesus.  We have seen in our Isaiah studies that God’s blessings as well as God’s judgments are tools God uses to bring people to a state of repentance.  Part of God’s blessing is bringing shalom to the world—that wholeness and flourishing, which Jesus brought wherever He went as He walked the earth, and which God still brings through people whom He has favored who are in turn dedicated to pleasing God.  Friends, believe the good news—Jesus the Savior has been born for you.  God’s favor and peace are upon you.  May you live into peace so that the people and environment around you also flourish and find peace. 

Rejoice and Be Glad!; Isaiah 25:9-12

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Perfect Peace; Isaiah 26

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