Divine Interruptions and God's Perfect Timing; Matthew 9:18-26

My personality profile is that of a task-oriented person. I’m a “get’er done”, kind of girl, a “work, first play later” type person. I’m also a bit of a perfectionist, so I’m get it done and do it right. Multitasking often means I am less efficient and more scatterbrained. I have had to learn over the years when an interruption is important so that I—A. don’t allow myself to become as easily distracted by that which is unnecessary, and B. that I pay attention to important interruptions, some of which are divine encounters. When we are interrupted necessarily, that which is important is what gets done, and the rest falls into place because God’s timing is always perfect. In our gospel reading today, Jesus is divinely interrupted twice. Jesus was in the middle of responding to a question and using it as a teaching moment when He is divinely interrupted by one of the rulers of the synagogue. While Jesus was fully divine, He was also fully human. I am convinced that though Jesus often knew what was coming ahead, He didn’t always know because He didn’t use His divine powers without direction from the Father. He allowed Himself to be led by the Holy Spirit and only did the Father’s will. Therefore, I don’t think Jesus foresaw either of these interruptions. But along comes Jairus with an urgent request. We know his name from the gospels of Mark and Luke. Here is a Jewish leader who has great faith in Jesus. He kneels before Jesus, a position of humility and worship. According to Matthew, Jairus tells Jesus that his daughter has just died. According to Mark’s gospel, she is about to die. Regardless, it is clear that Jairus believes Jesus can raise the dead. Jesus had already raised a widow’s son to life as he was about to buried, being carried out of the house in a funeral procession. Jairus has great faith in Jesus. Jesus, seeing Jairus’s faith, gets up to follow him. Interruptions that seem like inconveniences at first can be life changing events. I visited ancient Capernaum when I was in Israel last winter. It’s not that big, and it probably would not have taken long to walk from where Jesus was to Jairus’s house, but the crowds are thick and Jesus is interrupted a second time. This time because He is touched. This interruption is important. We cannot talk about the healing of Jairus’s daughter without acknowledging the woman that touched Jesus. The gospels won’t allow it. Jairus doesn’t seem too perturbed about the interruption because he believes Jesus can raise the dead. Jesus is the one who makes a point of addressing the interruption. The woman could have touched Him, and He could have gone about His business, but He makes a point of stopping to have the woman identify herself. It is the disciples who are most concerned with the interruption. In the gospels of Mark and Luke, we hear the disciples saying all kinds of people were touching Jesus because of the crowds, what’s the deal. But Jesus stops. He wants the woman to identify herself. He intentionally takes time for her. She too believed in Jesus’s power to heal. She didn’t even need to touch Him, just the tassel of His garment. She too takes a position of humility towards Jesus. In making the woman acknowledge herself, Jesus affirms her wholeness that has come out of her brokenness. Jesus takes time to acknowledge her faith and affirm her position in the kingdom as His daughter. She is part of His family. Sometimes people realize we are busy, and they don’t want to take up our time, but if we allow them to go away and dismiss them, we might be missing an opportunity to deepen a relationship--when your kid tugs on your pantsleg when you are trying to cook dinner, when your spouse wants to talk when you are watching tv, when someone comes to your office door, when an acquaintance stops to greet you in WalMart, when someone asks for help that “will only a take a minute,” we might need to give them 30 minutes, we might even need to reorder our day. Sometimes what is being asked of us isn’t all that’s needed. The woman didn’t just need the blood to stop, she needed to be recognized as a person with dignity and worth. Interruptions can not only mean being inconvenienced, but interruptions can be messy. In both of these interruptions, Jesus makes Himself unclean. It was unclean to touch a dead body. It was unclean to touch a woman on her period, and this woman had been bleeding for 12 years. She was perpetually unclean. Jesus was the only one who could make each of these ladies clean again. Jesus takes our uncleanness upon Himself so that we might be made whole. Jesus takes our isolation upon Himself so that we might be made part of the covenant community. Being interrupted may mean that we might have get our hands dirty in order for someone’s problem to be fixed. It may mean that our reputation gets tarnished or that it is costly for us in some way. But in God’s economy, the benefits always outweigh the costs. Notice the repetition of the number 12. The girl was 12 years old and the woman had been bleeding for 12 years. The number 12 in the Bible symbolizes Divine Rule. These were signs of the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God and the acknowledgement that God is in control and Jesus is the King. It didn’t matter that Jesus had gotten interrupted because God’s timing is always perfect. By the time Jesus gets to Jairus’s house, the girl has been dead long enough that the professional mourners have gathered. There is music and wailing and a lot of hullabaloo, but Jairus is calm. Jesus tells the mourners to give way, for the girl is asleep. In the gospels of Mark and Luke, only Peter, James, John, and the parents actually witnessed Jesus bringing the girl back to life. He tells them not to tell anyone, but the word gets out and gets out quickly. With a crowd already gathered and in the mourning process, it would have been virtually impossible for the word not to get out. They knew she had really been dead and not just in a coma. Despite the delay, the girl lived. Jesus’s power is not limited by our time tables. Some of us tend to get panicked when we feel like we are running behind schedule, but Jesus is not anxious. If what we are doing is what God wants us to do, we need to relax and trust in God’s perfect timing. Are there interruptions in which you know God was trying to do something through you? Have you missed divine encounters because you have been too busy to be bothered? Are there times when interruptions have proven to be an amazing blessing, perhaps you ended up being encouraged by someone else’s faith? Think of a time when you were glad that you stopped for an interruption. Have you ever been the recipient of a blessing because someone stopped what they were doing to offer you help? May we be those who are open to divine interruptions. May we look for opportunities to exhibit the Kingdom of God and to bring healing and wholeness to others, even when it seems inconvenient or costly. May we trust that God’s timing is always perfect and that if we allow God to order our steps, God will accomplish that which is necessary, good, and right through us. The next time you face an unexpected interruption, take time to consider whether it might be a divine appointment or a distraction from the devil. Because God’s timing is perfect, you can take a few moments to pray for God’s direction as you seek to discern your next steps.

Old Wine, New Wine, Good Wine; Matthew 9:14-17

What’s the difference between Episcopalians and Baptists? The Episcopalians will acknowledge the Presbyterians in the wine aisle. I enjoy a glass of wine every now and then, but I am picky. I tend to like NC native grape wines, and in my opinion, if it’s dry, it’s only good for cooking. That being said, I never want to make light of alcoholism. Alcoholism runs in both my family and my husband’s family. It has been present in every church I’ve served, with some folks admitting their problem and practicing sobriety, many having successfully achieved sobriety for a number of years, some who have openly lived with times of sobriety and times of relapse, and a few who refuse to acknowledge what everyone else knows, but no one will talk about, which is a great failure of the church. That which is brought into the light can be healed. We are called to hold one another accountable, and we are called to support one another in our struggles. Addiction is why we use grape juice instead of wine at Communion, even though we know that Jesus used real wine. Wine has played an important part in many cultures in history and still does today. It was important in Jesus’s time. These two parables are probably familiar to most of us, but I’m not sure we’ve given enough thought to what Jesus is really talking about. Too often, I think we assume that Jesus is saying the new is good and the old is bad, but I don’t think that is at all what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying we don’t want to lose the old or the new, but the old and the new what? How many of you grew up having patched clothes? I did my mom actually made a lot of our clothes growing up. It was cheaper than buying store bought clothes. But when it came to pants, I tended to wear out the knees riding bikes, climbing trees, and playing. Clothes are so cheap now, you can just throw old ones away and buy new ones, and then there are those who pay ridiculous amounts of money to buy the holes that wore into my clothes. If you sew an unshrunk patch over a hole or if you use a different kind of material for the patch, you find that the next holes you get are right above and right below the patch because the garment has threaded out. The patch ended up not doing a whole lot of good because you can’t keep patching the same place over and over for very long. In Jesus’s day, all clothing was of course, handmade, so you would want to be able to use a garment as long as reasonably possible. Notice that this parable doesn’t mean we should throw out the old garment. Otherwise, we’d just be left with patches. Correctly patching the old garment will preserve it so it can be useful again. The same is true with the parable of the wine and wineskins. New wine goes into the old wineskin and the old wineskin breaks, and the new wine is lost. To preserve both the wine and the wineskins new wine must be put into new wineskins. Jesus cares both about the wine and the wineskins being preserved. Note that old wine can go into new wineskins just fine. Eventually, old clothes and old wineskins do wear out, but new wineskins and new patches also eventually become old. So what is Jesus getting at? The context of these parables stems from a question about fasting that was asked not by the Pharisees, but by the disciples of John the Baptist. This questioning probably took place at the feast at Matthew’s house or just after it, which are the verses prior to today’s reading. It is quite possible that Matthew held his feast on what the Pharisees considered a fast day. John the Baptist and his disciples followed a rather ascetic life, so fasting was a practice they followed as well. Not only that, but by this time, John was in prison. It would be very appropriate for his grieving disciples to fast. Jesus does not condemn the practice of fasting at all, but He does say that it is not appropriate for His disciples to fast at this time. In fact, Jesus had already taught about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount. He preached that when you fast, fasting was an appropriate act of worship, don’t do it like the Pharisees, where you act like you are miserable just so everyone will know you are fasting, but do it in such a way that people can’t automatically tell. Wash your face, look decent, and go about your day. Now certainly there would be times when people knew you were fasting, like corporate fast days, such as the day of Atonement, but again, the emphasis was on the fact that fasting is an act of worship, a sign of repentance, not a indication that you are starving and can’t wait until you can eat again! But in this case, something new was happening, and it was so wonderful, Jesus likens it to a wedding. No one fasted during a wedding. People were coming to know Jesus. The disciples were introducing their friends and colleagues to the Bridegroom, Jesus. Then Jesus predicts His own death by saying the bridegroom would be taken away from them, and then they would fast. Fasting was an act of worship proscribed by God in the Law on the Day of Atonement. Later leaders and prophets ordered times of fasting for corporate repentance. But at the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had established a pattern of fasting twice a week. It was a new thing that had now become commonplace, but its time was up. Fasting still had its place and still in the way that God originally intended, but these rituals no longer served the people but enslaved them. When the Pharisees started this practice, I do not believe they intended to use it to enslave people. They developed practices over concern for keeping and honoring God’s Law, but over time, their ways of worship became burdensome and not meaningful. In addition, the Pharisees began looking down upon and treating differently those who did not go along with their rules. What once, perhaps, had value, served only now to divide worshippers. How often we judge people based on our own worship preferences rather than trying to understand where someone is coming from? Jesus does not criticize John’s disciples for asking the question. Matthew Henry points out in his commentary that we don’t know what someone’s devotional life is like just by looking from the outside. We must be careful not to judge based on appearances. We can ask curious, caring, and committed questions—questions that are non-judgmental, which we ask to honestly understand someone else with whom we want to develop a closer relationship, not questions that you are using to try and distance yourself from a person or group of people. Jesus values the old clothing, the old wineskins and the new wineskins. Jesus values fasting and feasting. What makes the difference is the appropriateness of the act. What is the context? Is fasting truly an act of humble worship or mere ritual? Is feasting a celebratory act of worship or mere gluttony? We need to remember that everything new becomes old. Take worship music for example. I have heard a lot of “We want to sing the old hymns.” So I pull out something from the 1400’s and inevitably I will hear, “We’ve never heard this before,” despite the fact that it is still sung in churches around the world. What they really mean, is we want to sing early 20th Century American songs, not even early American music. But that stuff was brand new at one time. I hear, “We want to sing contemporary music.” And I will pull out something from Keith and Kristen Getty, but what is really meant is “We want to sing praise choruses from the late 80’s.” New, old, it doesn’t matter to me, and it doesn’t matter to Jesus. To me, it’s important that it have solid theology and a decent sound, even if we have to learn it. To Jesus, the worshipper’s heart is what is important. Remember that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. He wanted to make evident God’s original intentions in the Law that had been lost through tradition. It took some stripping away to regain what was really intended, like cleaning the layers of dust and soot on off of an old masterpiece painting. An old reality was being expressed in new ways, but we can also use old ritual to express a new reality. Paul did not give up his Judaism when he encountered Jesus. He fulfilled a Nazarite vow and made a point of returning to Jerusalem again and again to celebrate the festivals. But Jesus was now very much a part of what Paul did. These ancient rites were all about celebrating and glorifying Jesus. Jesus values the new wine and the old wine. Jesus values new believers and long-time faithful saints. We cannot expect new and not yet believers to be “just like us.” We do need to appreciate the energy, gifts, and ideas that new believers bring. Like new wine, they are joyous and effervescent. Remember that old wine can go into new wineskins, but new wine cannot go into old wine skins. We need to remember that we are all growing and changing. The disciples were learning. They didn’t stay in the same place. Wine aficionados will tell you that aged wine is often superior. It has more depth and character. We need the wisdom and experience of those who have been walking with Jesus not simply longer than we have, but more closely than we have, and we need to keep allowing ourselves to be stretched. That means getting into some new wineskins, every now and then. The most important thing is for us to make sure that what we do is much more about honoring Jesus than our personal preferences. How do we connect with the tax collectors and sinners of our world today? What do we need to change so that we can introduce them to Jesus? What do we need to keep so that we can remain grounded in the ancient Truth?

Jesus, Friend of Sinners; Hosea 6:4-11a, Matthew 9:9-13

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Which is Easier?: Matthew 9:1-8

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What Scares You?; Matthew 8:23-34

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God is Great, God is Good!; Psalm 145

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Don't forget; Psalm 119:169-176

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What is Man?; Psalm 144, Ephesians 6:10-18

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Overcoming Adversaries; Psalm 129, II Corinthians 4:8-18

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"Praising My Savior All the Day Long"; Psalm 119:161-168

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Hope for the Hopeless; Psalm 142, I Sam. 22:1-2, I Sam. 24:1-7

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Light for the Path; Psalm 119:105-112

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Loving God's Law; Psalm 119:97-104, II Timothy 3:14-4:5

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The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Part II; I Corinthians 12:1-11

Last week we looked at the Holy Spirit’s work and gifts within us. Those gifts were justification, sanctification, kinship with God and other people, and empowerment for service and witness. The Holy Spirit’s work within us for empowerment and witness is teaching and applying God’s Word to our lives, interceding for us in prayer and guiding our prayers, giving us the words to speak at the right time and boldness to declare the gospel. All of this and more the Spirit does in us at all times that we are not quenching the work of the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit dwells permanently in us. The Bible also talks about the Holy Spirit’s gifts and works upon us. These are also gifts of empowerment for witness and service, but the big difference between the Spirit’s gifts upon us versus those within us is that they are not the same for all of us. This is what we see in our Scripture passage this morning. In I Corinthians 12, Paul talks about different gifts of the Spirit, and points out that not all of us have the same spiritual gifts of grace but that each of the gifts are needed for the functioning of the Body of Christ. We are encouraged to seek these gifts and to use them, but we are not to be envious nor dismissive of those who gifts are different from ours. Every person who has been born again has a spiritual gift. If you do not know what yours is, ask the Holy Spirit and the other members of the Body of Christ to help you discern it. You may already be using it unaware, or you may be quenching the work of the Spirit. These gifts are not the same thing as the innate abilities God gave you from birth, or the acquired skills you have learned over the years. Spiritual gifts may seem innate or acquired, but they are something that only the Spirit can do so that God gets the glory. In other words, if you didn’t have the Spirit, you wouldn’t have the gift or ability. And the purpose of the gift is not for your own benefit, but to build up the Body of Christ. Other gifts of the Spirit are episodic. These are gifts of empowerment that the Spirit gives to accomplish something very specific. It may occur in your life once and never again, or off and on over the years. When these gifts are used, there is no doubt to you or others around you that this can only be the work of God. There is a doctrine called cessationism that says that certain of these gifts are not valid today. This doctrine comes from a verse in the following chapter—I Corinthians 13:8b “But whether prophecies, they will fail, whether tongues, they will cease, whether knowledge, it will vanish away.” I grew up with this doctrine and came to reject it in my early twenties for multiple reasons. One problem with this doctrine is those who adhere to it, forget the next verses: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is complete (or perfect) has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” When did that occur? I don’t believe it has. I think these things will come to an end when Christ returns, and until then, these gifts are still needed. Even a lot of cessationists recognize that the two witnesses in Revelation will be prophets. It does not make sense that gifts would cease and then return. In addition, Paul goes on in chapter 14 to talk about the proper use of prophecy and tongues in worship. He ends that chapter with some Presbyterians’ favorite verse, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” And yes, tongues and prophecy can be used decently and in order. While these gifts aren’t necessarily constant, neither are some of the other gifts. They are given as needed, but it seems that they are needed frequently. Let’s look at these gifts. Verse 8 lists the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. The word of wisdom is speaking some spiritual insight and having those right words to say at the right time. An example would be Peter’s confession of Christ, when Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”, and Peter answered, “You are the Chirst, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus told Peter that he didn’t come up with this on his own but that it was the Father in heaven who revealed it to him. Jesus spoke words of wisdom when the Pharisees, Scribes, and lawyers tried to trick Him with their questions. They thought they were asking either/or questions, but Jesus always came up with something they couldn’t refute—a third way or a question, which perplexed them or exposed their motives. The word of knowledge is knowing something about a person, place, circumstance, etc. that you could not know unless God revealed it. Satan likes to imitate words of knowledge sometimes through giving people psychic powers. Now a lot of psychics are fakes—they use leading questions or have someone in the background finding out information about people through the internet, etc. making it look as if they know things about a person, but other times, it is demonic power. If someone is trying to cash in on something that is supposed to be a gift of the Spirit, it is demonic. We see this in the book of Acts 8 with Simon the Magus. His power was fake, but he recognized that the power the disciples had was real. He tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter told Simon that he needed to repent and pray and Simon asks Peter to intercede on his behalf. In Acts 16, there is a slave girl who really is a fortune teller, but her powers are demonic. Paul casts the demon out of the girl, and she is no longer able to tell fortunes. Her owners are angry because they can no longer use her to make money and so they lie about Paul and Silas resulting in them being beaten and thrown in jail. An example of the Holy Spirit giving a word of knowledge is when Paul predicts the shipwreck in Acts 27, but assures the crew that no one will drown, but they need to do what he says. In verse 9 we have the gifts of faith and healings. All of us have been given the gift of faith by the Holy Spirit. That is the gift of justification, which we talked about last week, and the ongoing faith of sanctification. But this gift is different. This faith is absolute confidence in God’s power or mercy in a specific circumstance. It the faith that the Centurion had that Jesus could heal from a distance. It is the faith the Syro-Phonecian woman had that Jesus would heal her daughter. It is the faith the woman had when she touched the hem of Jesus’s garment that she would be healed from her issue of blood. It is the faith that the widow had when she gave all she had in the offering that God would continue to provide for her needs. It is the faith Abraham had when he left Haran to go to a place he’d never known or heard of trusting the leading of God. Gifts of healing is broad because there are many types of healings. There is spiritual healing, including deliverance from demons and other spiritual oppression. There are physical healings. There are inner healings from the harmful effects of sin, be it our own or someone else’s sin imposed upon us. There is relational healing that helps people to restore broken relationships. Some people seem to have a particular healing gift which they develop in the Holy Spirit and come to be known by it. Others are used by God as agents of healing in a particular circumstance and may or may not be used again. Verse 10 names the gifts of working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues (languages), and interpretation of tongues (languages). Miracles are the ability to do things that draw people’s attention to the power of God. In the Old Testament, we see Moses, Elijah, and Elisha performing miracles that resulted in the saving of lives. Paul writes in his letters that he and his companions performed signs and miracles, though he does not talk about specifics. IN the book of Acts, we see Philip being translated to a new place after he shares the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch. God still works through people today to protect and provide for others as well as to do things which draw attention to God’s glory and power. For example, a person’s ability to lift something she wouldn’t normally be able to lift in order to save someone from being crushed. Prophecy is speaking for God and may or may not have to do with revealing future events. It is foremost the ability to see and declare what’s happening from God’s viewpoint. Paul writes in I Corinthians 14 that this is the most edifying gift for the church and that the believers should seek it. In the Old Testament, Elisha has the ability to see things from God’s point of view. In II Kings 6, it looks like the Syrians are going to succeed in attacking Israel, but Elisha knows better. He prays that his servant’s eyes would be open, and the servant is able to see the angel army with horses and chariots of fire surrounding their camp. The ability to see and declare what’s REALLY going on was given to the apostles and many in the New Testament and is still happening today. Certainly, there are a lot of false prophets as well, which is why the next gift is vitally important for the wellness of the Body of Christ. The next gift is discerning the spirits. This is the ability to determine whether what is happening is really the work of the Holy Spirit, a conjuring of a person’s mind or will, or a deception by evil spirits. There are some basic tests for discerning the spirits—Does what is being said or done exalt the Lord Jesus Christ?, Is it attested to in Scripture?, Is it confirmed by other believers?, Does it bear fruit? (the love, joy, peace, etc). People with the gift of discernment can see through fakery and deception quickly and identify it for others. The two final gifts, speaking in languages and interpretation go together. Paul says in I Corinthians 14 that the gift of tongues should not be used in worship unless there is someone to interpret. Tongues is probably both the most abused and neglected gift of the Spirit. Some churches say that you are not a true believer if you don’t speak in tongues. This is contrary to Scripture. Some churches practice tongues without interpretation in a kind of free-for-all atmosphere. This is a misuse of the gift. Some say in order to receive the gift, you have to “practice” first by repeating nonsense syllables. While we can grow in and practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we only acquire the gifts by the Spirit’s design, not by practicing in this way. Other churches are so afraid of, put off by the misuse of, or doubt the reality of the gift of tongues that they never make room for the Spirit to be manifest in this way and quench the work of the Holy Spirit. Do tongues always need an interpreter? Some people pray in tongues when they are by themselves. Again, if it’s truly the Holy Spirit, it’s not something you can conjure at will or on your own. Romans 8 does say the Spirit intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. This is sometimes manifest in tongues. Paul goes into more detail in I Corinthians 14, which we don’t have time to look at today. There is so much more we can learn about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But I will end with an observation that healthy, growing churches are churches that move in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember that the purpose of these gifts of the Holy Spirit are to equip us for witness and for service in the kingdom of God. Too often, we limit what the church does by what we think we can handle, what we think we have the volunteer power for, what we think we can afford, what we think we have the energy to do, rather than asking God what God wants us to do and trusting that God will indeed equip those whom God calls with all the necessary gifts to accomplish God’s work. We quench the work of the Spirit among us and within us, looking at things externally rather than by seeing and hearing from God’s point of view. If we want to be effective witnesses and servants of God, then we need to submit to the Spirit’s leading and control.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Part 1: Acts 2:1-21

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"And Sits at the Right Hand of the Father Almighty"; Psalm 110, Acts 2:22-36

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Follow Jesus; Matthew 8:18-22

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Jesus Our Shepherd; Psalm 23, Matthew 14:13-21

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More Than Just for Sin; Isaiah 53, Matthew 8:1-17

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Giving Thanks with All Creation; Psalm 136, Colossians 1:15-20

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Foolish with Christ; Matthew 28:1-15, I Corinthians 1:18-31

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The Whole World is Gone After Him; John 12:9-19

Today is our day of joy as we begin Holy Week. We welcome Jesus as King with the crowds. Yet it is Jesus’ enemies, not the crowds, who make the most profound statements of truth about Jesus, His power, and His reign. They had more theological insight than the crowds that lined the streets, and yet they would not believe. John gives us insights into the triumphal entry that the other gospel writers don’t include. John lists as Jesus’ last great miracle the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus performed other healings after this one, like making blind Bartimaeus able to see again, but Lazarus was the most profound of Jesus’s last miracles. It probably occurred just a few weeks or a couple of months before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem. John includes in that story the culminating “I am” statement other than the final “I am” periods that Jesus will make. Prior to raising Lazarus, Jesus says to Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, and he that believes and lives in me will never die.” Martha professes that she does believe. I doubt that any of Jesus’ enemies were privy to that conversation, and yet the weight of Jesus’ claim about Himself is not lost on them. The religious authorities had already set out to kill Jesus before He raised Lazarus. In fact, it is when Jesus decides to head back to Bethany from Galilee to raise Lazarus that Thomas says to the other disciples, “Let us go with Him that we too may die with him.” They all knew it was dangerous for Jesus to go back. Why was the raising of Lazarus so significant? After all Jesus had already raised a woman’s son, a centurion’s servant, and Jairus’s daughter. Lazarus had been dead and buried for 4 days—his body was in the process of decay when Jesus called him from the tomb. Clearly Jesus had power of life and death, and the authorities knew it. They knew in their heads, yet they still refused to believe in what they knew to be true. They knew others would recognize the signs of Jesus’ kingship and Messiahship, yet they refused to bow to King Jesus. They couldn’t stand to admit they were wrong. Their pride kept them from Jesus. When has your pride kept you from admitting to the truth? Is your pride keeping you from Jesus? After learning that Jesus raised Lazarus, Caiaphas too makes a prophetic statement about Jesus. He proclaims, “It is better that one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed. Even though the rulers knew Jesus power and popularity, their fear of the Roman Empire was greater. They didn’t have faith that Jesus would protect them from Rome, while the people saw Jesus as their Savior from Rome. Fear was another factor that kept Jesus’ enemies from believing in Him. What fears cause your faith in Jesus to waver? Does fear overcome faith or does faith overcome fear? Is there anything keeping you from the truth of Jesus? The priests were right. Jesus did not come to save them from Rome. On the other hand, fear shouldn’t have kept them from the truth. Jesus came to save them from something greater than Rome. He came to save them from the power of death itself. He came to save them from eternal separation from God. He would die not only to save the nation but the world. Jesus had proven that He has power over death, but what no one knew was that Jesus had the power to raise Himself from the dead. The crowds cried, “Hosanna! Save now!” having no idea that the salvation Jesus came to offer necessitated His death. The witness of Lazarus was so compelling that more and more people came to believe in Jesus. The news spread quickly. (Two dinner parties. One on Saturday before Palm Sunday @ Lazarus’s house. One on Holy Tues. at Simon the Leper/Pharisee’s house). These believers or would-be believers are the ones who lined the streets and formed the entourage greeting Jesus as He came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Curiosity had drawn them to Jesus. What drew you to Jesus? The testimony was so compelling that Jesus’ enemies sought to kill Lazarus as well. Some bible scholars and church historians think that continued death threats against Lazarus was why his story is not included by the other gospel writers. How strongly does your life testify to the power and person of Jesus Christ? The religious leaders recognize that this event, the resurrection of Lazarus “caused the whole world to go after Jesus,” and yet they would not repent. Seeing the crowds following Jesus, they thought their plans to kill him and Lazarus were foiled, but they didn’t know that Jesus had come to Jerusalem intentionally. They didn’t know that He would willingly surrender to death, not because of their clever scheme to get rid of Him, but to do the will of His Father in heaven. They didn’t know how easily the shallow crowd would turn once Jesus was arrested. Is your faith in Jesus shallow or whole-hearted? The crowds honored a Messiah they didn’t understand. Some were waiting to see what would happen. Others placed their faith in Him. Some continued to wait for signs. Others believed what Jesus had already told them. The religious leaders refused to worship what they knew to be true. Yet Nicodemus, Joseph, and other Pharisees trusted in Jesus as the Messiah. They refused to participate in the mockery of the trial that was to come. How would you characterize your relationship with Jesus? Are you disappointed when He doesn’t conform to your image? Do you submit in worship to the One who is the True Living Way? Are you willing to trust Him even when you don’t understand? I wonder what Jesus’ expression was as He rode into Jerusalem—Jesus who knows the hearts of all people… The first Palm Sunday might not have been that joyful for Jesus. Jesus was riding in silence. “The whole world has gone after Him” was an inspired exaggeration. We know that in Jerusalem at that time were people from every part of the Roman Empire as well as anywhere the Jews had gone—from Egypt to Afghanistan to Spain. All were there for the Passover and Pentecost feasts. They might not have had a clue on Palm Sunday, but in a few short weeks, thousands would turn to Jesus, believe and be baptized on Pentecost. They would return home and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Though the whole world hasn’t gone after Him, there are those of every nation, tongue, and tribe—people of every ethnic group who have and will go after Jesus. Jesus is King, not only of Israel but also of the world. Jesus did and will have His victory, and that is why we can celebrate joyfully today. We don’t have to plead for the Lord to save us. He has already saved us. We only have to recognize with the saints described in the book of revelation who continuously proclaim, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb! Praise, glory, wisdom, strength, honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” If you haven’t acknowledged the gift of salvation that Jesus Christ has offered you, don’t wait. Don’t reject the gift like the religious leaders.

A Pure Life; Psalm 119:9-16

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The Storm Stiller; Psalm 107, Mark 4:35-41

There are a couple of songs on contemporary Christian radio that I like right now. One is “Rescuer” by Rend Collective, and the other is “Chain Breaker” by Zach Williams. We see Jesus as both of these things and more in our readings this morning. Psalm 107 appears more than once in the lectionary. It occurs at Thanksgiving, which is reflected in our worship this morning as well as in the season of Lent. Obviously, it is a thanksgiving psalm, an ode praising God for deliverance form danger and suffering. We see this in the chorus, which occurs in verses 8, 15, 21, and 31. But in our gospel reading, we see Jesus showing the disciples that this psalm is speaking of Him. Thus, it appears in Lent. By showing Himself as the Storm Stiller, Jesus declares that He is God. Jesus came to show us what God is like. Everything Jesus is, with the exception of His human frailty, God is, and everything God is, Jesus is. The psalm focuses on God’s steadfast love—hesed—which is lovingkindness, grace, loyal love, devotion, affectionate love based on an established relationship, covenantal love, glory, favor, and mercy. God’s love is committed, unchanging, and persistent. And God’s love is seen in the midst of adversity. Our gospel reading reflects verse 4 of Psalm 107—verses 23-32. In our gospel reading, we see that Jesus is in charge of the storm. Jesus is the one who initiates the going out onto the water. He tells the disciples to cross over the Sea of Galilee. They were not the only ones out that evening. Mark tells us other little boats were with them. There were fishing boats and cargo boats, probably just like the one of which I showed the ruins during my Israel presentation. More than just the disciples would be shown that Jesus has power over the storm. The storm was strong and started swamping the boat that the disciples were in. It didn’t happen on our trip, but Jay and Sharon Coker told of a group that went out on the Sea of Galilee like we did, and everything started out calm, but a storm came up and tossed the boat about (and this one with a diesel engine), and then the fog rolled in and no one could see anything. Jay was worried about what the group would think, and they thought, despite some queasiness, that it was awesome because they could see how the disciples would have felt while Jesus was sleeping. In our psalm, we see that it is God who initiates and controls the storm. God causes the wind to lift the waves, which makes the boat go up and down and the men go side to side. In Psalm 107 we see different types of adversity that befall us, and they happen to us for different reasons. In this psalm, the storm represents those times when God puts us into situations of adversity to show us something about Himself in contrast to verses 2 and 3. In verse 2 the prisoners are chained up because they rebelled against the words of God. And in verse 3, sickness has befallen fools because of their sins and transgressions. Obviously, not all in prison are there because of rebellion—innocent people get locked up too. Polly, Elbert, and I watched “Tortured for Christ” last week and saw people beaten and imprisoned for sharing the gospel. It still happens. Even in our justice system, innocent people get locked up and the guilty go free. And obviously, not all sickness is a result of someone’s sinfulness. The wilderness situation in stanza one, Psalm 107:2-9, is a mixture. Part of it is the result of a fallen world. Part of it is human evil, both the Egyptians and the Israelites. Jesus Himself said that as He went about healing people. But this psalm gives different types of adversity and different reasons for it happening. We might not always be able to make a direct correlation, but we ought always seek to learn what the Lord would teach us in it, for there is always a purpose, (suffering is never wasted by God) and we ought always thank God for our deliverance. I don’t think Jesus was a bit surprised by this storm. I think He insisted on crossing the sea precisely because He knew there would be a storm. Certainly, He was not worried about Himself, but He was not worried for others, even though they were about to face adversity. Don’t forget that water was coming into the boat. And so He went to sleep. Now, I’m sure this sleep was in large part due to His humanity. He had been teaching crowds all day and had a breakout session with His disciples afterward. He was in high demand, and I’m sure He was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. He needed to recharge. But just like in Psalm 107, this storm was intentional. The disciples and the others in the other boats needed to see something new in who Jesus was. Just like in Psalm 107, Jesus doesn’t stop the storm until He is asked. In all 4 situations listed in Psalm 107, Yahweh doesn’t intervene until He is asked. Regarding the wilderness in verse 6, “Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble and they delivered them out of their distresses.” The same thing is repeated exactly in verse 13 regarding the prisoners, and in verse 19 regarding sickness, and in verse 28 regarding the storm on the sea. Like the people in described in Psalm 107 and like the disciples described in the gospel, we too often wait until we are in a desperate situation to seek the Lord. We exhaust all human effort, when Jesus is standing by ready and waiting, saying, “All you have to do is ask.” Jesus wants us to ask for His help, but He doesn’t want to be our last resort. Maybe the disciples waited because they knew Jesus was tired and didn’t want to bother Him. Our asking God for help is no bother. The Lord is not annoyed with our sincere petitions. Jesus doesn’t help by bailing water, but by calming the storm with a simple command, “Peace, be still.” The Lord’s deliverance often comes through ways we don’t expect or can’t even imagine, so that we learn something new about God, or remember something we should already know about who God is. Mark writes, “And the wind ceased and there was a great calm,” which directly reflects Psalm 107:29, “He calms the storm so that its waves are still.” Once again, Jesus reveals Himself as God in being the Storm Stiller. Ironically, as Jesus asks them why they were so frightened, they become even more fearful, this time not of the water, but of Him. Now their fear is rightly placed as they contemplate Jesus as the Storm Stiller. The disciples and we would be wise to be attentive to the ending of Psalm 107, “Whoever is wise will observe, and they will understand the lovingkindness of Yahweh.” Fear turns to marvel when we see the love of God through delivering us from adversity. Jesus calmed the storm to show that He was God and that He loves His people. Jesus is still the Storm Stiller. We may or may not find ourselves out on a boat in the middle of a stormy sea, but whatever storm we face—be it one of our own making, one because of the fallenness of the world, or one that comes up because God is getting ready to do something awesome, we can trust that Jesus can calm it and bring us through whatever adversity we face. But we need to not let Jesus be our last resort. When we cry for help, He will hear and answer, probably in a way that we would not expect, so that we will give Him the thanks and praise due His name and better come to understand and experience His love.

Generous Women; Luke 7:36-8:3

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Winning the Spiritual Battle; Psalm 143, Romans 3:19-26

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Protected By God; Psalm 91, Matthew 4:1-11

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What Love Is; I John 3:16-24

Sermon for Ash Wednesday, 2018. To listen, click here.

Childlike Contentment; Psalm 131, Matthew 18:1-4

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Preserve My Life; Psalm 119:145-160, Matthew 11:28-30

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Christ, Rock of Offense; Isaiah 8:1-15, Matthew 3

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A Savior Who Suffers with Us; Matthew 2, Hebrews 2:10-18

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