He Chose Christiana – Ascension and Mother’s Day

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But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.   [Acts 1:8]

A young boy just finished reading John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.  When asked about what he like best, the boy responded that he like Christiana (the mother) the best, since she took the children with her.

He had realized that when Christian (the father) set off on his journey, he set off alone.  Truly, the path of faith is indeed something that no one else can do for another, which likely is what Bunyan wanted to portray.  But what happens, though, when a child isn’t ready to go and face all that the world can throw at him?  What happens when a child doesn’t have the knowledge, the experience and the wisdom that is required when faced with life’s choices and circumstances?

Represented in mother Christiana, the boy saw the comfort of someone to whom a child could turn, who thought about him, who cared about him, who considered the needs of his age, one who would walk with him in all those early steps of life.  As he grew older, sometimes a reality check would be required, whether voluntarily as when the mother might be approached with something that was puzzling, or involuntarily as when discipline needed to be applied.  Here was a base of security from which he could foray into the world to test what things matter, what things were solid enough to build a life on.  And Here was a base of support to which he could return to lick wounds and to celebrate successes.

This is a relationship with no expiration date.  During his adolescence, the road may be rocky and frustrating, and yet the testing of one’s uniqueness and the development of identity so often depends on the home being a secure place.  Even into adulthood, the subjects change, the questions are more mature, and the bond just gets deeper.

And then with grandchildren the whole adventure starts afresh.

These are some of the most essential characteristics of godly motherhood that we celebrate on Mother’s Day.  They should not be exclusive only to the mother, but still, she often plays a key role as a child takes his first steps in just about everything in life.

However, this is not just about of the privilege in having a pivotal role in another human’s life, but also about a mother’s remarkable honor of giving a child a taste of what God is like.  It may seem awkward to speak in such terms, but in a sense God is hampered: He doesn’t have a physical form by which we can recognize Him or see Him at work.  However, although He is hindered, it is by deliberate design.

Of course He could have created the universe so that He could be obviously seen.  But that was not what He set out to do.  Instead, He wanted human beings to be an essential partner in what He does.  What activity among us does God do that does not depend on using humans?  Whether it be telling people about His Good News, or touching the hurts of a person, or feeding the hungry, or whatever the task may be, humans are the visible means by which these things are accomplished.  He will not use angels, He will not do it in any other way.  Even when it came to a role that God had to be uniquely involved in, namely, saving the world, He did that as a human being.

This actually is also the mystery that is celebrated today as Ascension Day.  As Jesus departs from His disciples and they are empowered to become His Church, His Body on this earth, the task is not merely for them to deliver tracts to doors.  No, their mission is to be witnesses to Jesus, but witnesses to all that Jesus is.  He is indeed the Savior on the Cross and in the Resurrection, but He is so much more than that.  It involves that they be the demonstration of what they preach: not just talking about love, but loving others; not just talking about helping, but sacrificing of their time and resources for the sake of another person – which is precisely how Jesus’ People handled themselves after Pentecost, as we read in Acts 2:

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.  So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart  [vv 44-46]

In fact, some of the strongest words that Paul writes to especially the Corinthians and others is because this physical aspect of their witness needed to get straightened out.  They were having a hard time understanding how the message had to be a whole message,  where a godly life had to also be demonstrated if others were to actually understand just what the point was of their testimony.

A godly mother is right in the middle of all this.  The very first experiences of love, mercy and grace will not be found in a church service, but rather right at the cradle, with the hands that clothe, feed, and rock a child.  Here are lessons where words just are not enough.  In the smile and the joy that the baby first recognizes, that is where the child learns about God’s attitude toward him.  In the plans and the promises of daily life he learns about God’s intentions for him and his hope for the future.  Again and again the mother’s hands are a powerful tool to forge the child’s coming relationship with God.

Yet, although the mother has such a significant role in these things, how often she is far from ideal.  Humans inevitably make mistakes, and can even have some major relationship crashes – there will be minor slip-ups, but there may also be some upsetting breakdowns in her rapport with her child.  Indeed such things are not desirable, yet even these times can be valuable – they are opportunities where the forgiveness that comes through Jesus can be demonstrated.

These are times not merely for an exercise in forgiving someone else, which of course is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer; it is also an opportunity to observe how to handle it when one repents and then receives forgiveness.  By watching his mother even during the times when she herself must repent, the child begins to understand what forgiveness is truly all about, what meaning it has for himself and for his own relationships, and what effect it has on all of life.  Now he is equipped to confidently come to the Lord for forgiveness and realize the preciousness of this gift found in Jesus.

A second outcome to this is the discovery that one still can be accepted, cherished and valued even when one is not perfect – and again that is a two-way street.  As she brings him to the Cross and the Resurrection, the child learns that reaching out in forgiveness is the result of love and that love has little to do with perfectionism.  Love is not won by being perfect, but rather it has much more to do with enjoyment and delight in another person – because one has chosen to treasure the other no matter what happens, no matter what failures, no matter how painful things may be, just as God has so loved a humanity that is far, far from perfect.  This unbreakable commitment of love that the mother has reflects God’s own love toward us in the words of St Paul:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   [Romans 8:38-39]

Although not focused on perfection, still the child looks for the difference that this love makes: a different purpose for the day, a different motivation in control of life as opposed to the world’s attitudes that surround him.  He seeks hope in the midst of a sea of fear, uncertainty, and sometimes despair that can be much too frequent in life.  He watches the journey that his mother is already walking, and seeing her faith working in her life, he has a chance to realize the anchor which he has in God’s love which is being poured upon him through the Holy Spirit’s activity in the mother.

The godly mother is God’s representative with a witness in which the Holy Spirit is profoundly involved, in Whom there is power.  He affects her life, her actions, her attitudes, her thinking, her values; He shapes her recreation, her marriage, her businesses of the day; He touches the words she speaks to the people around her, whether it be a simple “Good Morning,” or as she reaches out to care about them and their lives.  She is as much a manifestation of her Lord’s presence as were the disciples who had been sent out to be Body of Christ in front of the world; and the child watches, looking for “the reason for the hope that lies within” her [I Peter 3:15].

In the midst of all of this high privilege that the mother has, sometimes what may be forgotten is that every godly mother is also a child.  In Baptism, God has reached down to make her His child, giving to her that extraordinary relationship that she shares with her own child.  Long before she is able to show these qualities to her child, she herself is surrounded by God’s love, mercy, grace, forgiveness and hope.  God has used others to touch her life in these ways, the same as she touches her child’s life.  She also has the experienced the security and comfort of running to her Father with her bruises, her triumphs, her excitements and all the rest that makes up her life, the same as now the child eagerly comes to share his life with her.

Sometimes it may seem that her efforts are so small compared to the greatness of God, but isn’t that just how a child might feel?  Yet as she sweeps the child into her arms and admires the work and the effort he has done, so also her Heavenly Father sweeps her into His arms in the shared joy of how she has reflected Him to her child.  After all, the more she experiences her bond with God, the better equipped she has become to echo this and between she and her child, to discover together the depth of the goodness of God

It is indeed amazing when we stop to realize just how amazing it is to have the privilege of being the way by which another gets to experience what God is about, a demonstration that puts meaning into the words.  What a fantastic honor that God has indeed given to humans, especially to godly mothers.

The Branch and the Unblemished Fruit- Easter 5

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I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing… You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.  [John 15:5,16]

Eventually, unless Jesus returns before then, everyone of us will die.  When your time comes, what would you like to be remembered for?   As you look over your life, as you look at the things that make up your total life, what will you be remembered for?  Finally, what will God remember you for?

Jesus strikes a chord in us: Everyone of us wants to feel that, when all has been said and done, that our life was meaningful – it was worthwhile that you and I were here at all.  We want to have mattered in the great drama of life.

It is rough in the world we live in.  More and more we seem to be an insignificant cog in the great machinery of life; there is nothing for us to uniquely contribute, and we are told how easily we can be replaced should we not measure up in some vague way.  Scientists with their theories of evolution strenuously insist that we don’t matter – one day the universe will go dead, or it will start all over again, and there will be nothing to even have suggested that we once were here, and nothing that would even care that we had existed.  In the world of business, in the world of science, in the world of politics, over and over the message is that we do not matter.

That is what Jesus is touching on here in John 15.  Countering all the messages that we receive from all around us, He is saying that we matter a great deal.  Not only can we bear “much fruit” – but more, in verse 16, He declares that it will be fruit that will not spoil, it will be fruit that has the ring of eternity to it.  That’s sounds great.  That is just what we want to hear.  But how can this be?

For starters, we have to begin with Jesus. One article on this passage emphasized that Jesus never says He is a post, but a vine – there’s quite a difference between the two.  A post may be big and worthwhile in many ways: it can be used for fences; used to bring a power line and a telephone line to the house, and used for other important and valuable applications.  But it is dead and slowly it will rot away.

Jesus, however, says that He is a Vine – a vine is alive, it is growing, spreading out, bearing fruit, giving shelter, giving joy.  The vine is a symbol of abundant, joyous life in art and poetry.  It has roots that reach into the soil, drawing up and distributing the things that make for life.  And the Vine, this Jesus, is especially cared for by the Father – not as one among many, but rather as the only Center that gives every branch its life.

There is something important in the image that Jesus uses, notice that He talks about branches here, never seeds. He does not suggest that we are like seeds, if only we would follow his lead, as if He were referring to Himself as some model upon which other plants would pattern themselves.  Neither is He planting a seed in us as if we have the resources in us and all we need is just the proper encouragement.  Our human nature wants it to be like that, that all we need is to be pointed in the right direction, give us a little start and we will take it from there.  But instead, Jesus is saying that unless we are connected to Him in a very intimate way, we will have no life at all.

And it must be an intimate connection!  I can show a branch all kinds of pictures of a vine doing quite well; I can stick it into the ground in front of a flourishing vine to help encourage it along; I can tie it right onto the main stem of the vine – and it will simply, merely shrivel up and die.  It is only when the branch is grafted into the stem, then will it live.  It has to be that way, not just for its survival, but also if it is going to matter at all, if it is going to bear fruit at all and if that fruit is going to have any real value.  No, Jesus is not meant to be our model, He is not meant to show us how – He is the Source that gives life, that gives fruit its foundations, and makes it valuable all the way into eternity.  It must be that we are grafted into Him.

To be grafted into Him means that Jesus has to be cut, His Life has to flow.  He is cut, on the Cross, and His Blood does flow and now it surrounds us.  Without this Lifeblood of the Vine, we will simply shrivel up and spiritually die.  Here is where He must pour His righteousness into and through us.  Being grafted in means that we can count Him as our necessary Source of Life, that all which He has done and is still doing does indeed make us live.

However, being attached doesn’t mean that we automatically are green and flourishing either!  Have we not come across branches still connected to the main stem and yet are dried up and withered?  What makes the difference about bearing fruit is that the Lifeblood of the Vine must be kept flowing through the branch.  Therefore the Vinekeeper has to keep checking to see if anything is thwarting that flow to that branch.  Are the passages open and available, is the branch where the Lifeblood is flowing?  Has it lost the connectedness and is drying up?  Are there little sucker growths that are robbing the branch of what could make it thrive?

But how does one keep the pipelines of the Vine’s – Jesus’ – Lifeblood flowing?  One way is through His Word, the Bible; another is His Holy Sacraments; still another is the sharing of faith and love and worship that goes on within the Body of Christ, the Church; another is when we spend time in prayer with our Lord and Savior; another is when we take hold of His promises and watch them at work in our daily life.

Ah, yes, we are indeed right here in church among the People of God, where the Word is preached and the Sacraments stand available to us.  Indeed, the connectedness is here, the passages for the flow of Lifeblood are open and being used.  Obviously we are on the right track.  But, hey, what’s this??  Jesus is talking about pruning!!  If everything else is working all right, then why do we need pruning!!

We would rather glide past these words, but we cannot – this is a most necessary stop if we are to go beyond just existing in the Vine and move onward to the bearing of fruit.  Jesus indicates that PAIN is involved in being a branch, deliberate pain – necessary pain.  Well, we suppose so … but, then, what kind of pain?  Opening the Bible, we discover even Jesus Himself experienced the pain of frustration, of weakness, of inability, of being victim.  Throughout the history of Israel, how often a failure and defeat are an essential stop on the way to victory!

In other words, we need failures?  We need to experience weakness and inability?  When we botch something, or we cannot do it, this is on the road to “bearing fruit”, the “fruit that lasts”?  That’s not the picture that we like to have about the victorious Christian life!  The sharp edge of the Father’s pruning knife is not an appealing thought!

But once the panic passes, once the pain subsides, then, yes, we do realize that such things in fact do strengthen our faith, and they do force us into a better road that we should travel, and they do take away the excuses and props that we use.  Our world is presently so infected with sin and its destructiveness that the Vinedresser must deal with all the things that keep sapping our life – and they do sap our life, attempting to turn our lives into merely self-absorbed existences and empty grasps at survival.  Yes, the pruning knife does help, although realistically we probably will never quite stop moaning and complaining about it.

One thing that Jesus emphasizes for a great deal of comfort to us, is that since we are grafted into Him, then we are already clean through the Word He has spoken to us.  Being grafted into Jesus is nice when we think about all that we get from Him, but we forget that He is grafted into us as well.  What must give us pause is to realize that we are pouring something back into the Vine – so just what is it which we are pouring back into the Vine?

There are things that we do that we might feel good about, but then there are many things that we are not proud of:  the times we are irritable, the times we are obstinate, the times we are selfish, the times we are uncaring, the times we are rebellious – not listening, not even thinking; the times we hurt someone even deliberately.  Whether we like it or not this is often what is being poured back into the Vine, into Jesus.

And yet we are clean Jesus says.  What a message of forgiveness! Jesus went to a different stem of wood, a Cross, and has taken all of this junk that we have poured into Him, He took it and then died for all that sin that can mount up so rapidly, as He fully pays the penalty we have deserved.   And now we are clean – we are clean!! – all that junk is gone!  Instead of getting the junk thrown back at us, what flows back is His Lifeblood – His Life!

However, what is surprising is that Jesus Himself is described as a “Branch” – the Branch of Jesse.  He literally stands on our side of the fence – or, better, our side of the “grafting.”  He has lived our human life, living the perfection that we never had on our own.  He did this, though, not just to supply a “salvation” need, but to specifically walk with us through life; that as He looks for fruit from us – in other words, a daily life that is pleasing to Him – He is not demanding something that He is not right with us to give – and He willingly is experiencing Life with us.

It is out of this experience that we discover something else.  As we see Jesus take our junk and pour back into us His Lifeblood, we become full of God; God now makes His home in us and we in Him – we become ENTHUSIASTIC – the word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek “en theou” – “in God.”  As we become full of God in us and we in God, as we become enthusiastic, then we find all sorts of changes happen in us.

Flowers and fruit start popping out in our lives: we become more patient, we cheer someone up, we give a glass of water to someone thirsty, we give the Water of Life to the spiritually thirsty.  Some things about ourselves of which we are not proud just aren’t such big things anymore – they begin to dry up and get cut away.  More and more we go out of our way to help someone else out.  Our attitudes change.  All kinds of things are popping up and popping out – we are beginning to actually bear fruit, unspoiled fruit, the kind of fruit that will last all the way into eternity.

And we realize all over again what it means that we really are a branch that has been grafted into the Vine, and that the Lifeblood of Jesus is indeed being pumped through us, His promises are indeed coming true, and we bear the fruit of God’s presence in our lives, a presence that will just never end, not even in all eternity.

Suffering: Looking Backward, Forward, or at God

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Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

 

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him Who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” [John 9:1-5]

It is inevitable.  The first thing we often do when there is personal suffering is to look backward, trying to figure out what brought it on, and true, it may be the result of something in the past, for instance, blindness could have come from a disease that is a result of an “indiscretion.”  But Jesus shakes up that attitude: there was nothing in the past that brought this on!  No great sin had compelled God to act in judgment, no “bad karma” or any other such thing had put a dark cloud on this man’s life – there was not even some sin that the man himself might do in the future that would cause this suffering.

The man himself expected nothing more than his blindness – according to all experience, one who was blind from birth had no hope of ever being able to see.  He did not seem to be aware of Who Jesus was, but even if he were, it probably would never have entered his mind to go to this Messiah in order to be healed.  He knew he simply had to live with his blindness.

But that blindness had an essential role, not just because it was healed, but because it laid the foundation for an iron-clad logical deduction that could only have come out of this suffering.  One reason why Jesus had used clay on the man’s eyes was so that he would not see Jesus after being healed – he was still “in the dark” about Who or what Jesus was.  The man’s conclusions therefore came not because of what Jesus said but because of what his blindness taught him – since no one was ever healed from blindness from birth, the fact that Jesus could heal even this kind of affliction indicated that God’s hand was indeed upon this Messiah.  His experience of suffering equipped him to use powerful logic to refute the blindness of the Pharisees.

Suffering helps us realize the important and the necessary. Frazier Hunt once spoke of a time when he was feeling dejected and discouraged during a dry spell in his writing as he rode his horse on his regular call to Helen Keller, the famous deaf and blind woman.  He had his horse stand as he watched Helen walking alone by following a smooth wire that had been stretched for her through a wooded area.  She stopped and gathered a handful of wolf willows, breathing in their fragrance, then with her face toward the warm sun, mouthed the word, “Beautiful!”  Frazier had tears in his eyes.  He could see all the wonders of the world and sky, he could hear all the sounds of nature around him, yet he had been so preoccupied with his problems he missed it all.  It took someone who could neither see nor hear to show him beauty and courage.

Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit” [John 15:2] – in other words, again, God may give suffering not as punishment, but rather as a preparation for something greater that He is doing.  St Peter identifies a key goal is a participation in the consummation of God’s plan for saving the world:

Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal …, as though something strange were happening.  But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His Glory is revealed.   [I Peter 4:12-13]

We run from suffering because it is uncomfortable, even painful, but God is not afraid of it.  We see suffering as an evil, but God knows that it can be the wedge that breaks through the complacency of daily life.  We see suffering as a useless intrusion but often it is the catalyst that exposes what is real and essential in regard to human need, as St Paul discovered:

To keep me from being too elated, …a messenger of Satan to torment me…  Three times I appealed to the Lord that it might be removed from me, but He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness.”  So, I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  [II Corinthians 12: 7-9]

According to both Peter and Paul, any suffering in God’s hands should always have an air of expectation in regard to something worthwhile to come from it.

You Should Have Been There – Easter 4 (2)

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By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  [I John 3:16]

Maxine Glover in the “Life’s Like That” feature in Reader’s Digest [no date on page 216] wrote about that when her father retired, he enrolled – and was the only man – in a night-school sewing class.  It was a bit awkward with measurements and fitting patterns, but there was one incident that really was a class-stopper: it was when he threaded the sewing machine by lifting the machine up to the light with one hand, and as he squinted at the needle, pushed the thread through its eye with the other hand.

“You should have been there …” is a comment with which we are familiar, because, although this example is indeed a humorous story, how much more amusing it must have been to actually be there and see the amazement in the women.  After all, actually being where something happens leaves a deeper impact which words cannot fully describe.  There just is no way to duplicate experience.

There are many other circumstances where that same comment might be used.  Often being there adds powerful content that makes some event into a meaningful experience.  Perhaps it was a significant speech by a great leader.  Winston Churchill’s statement concerning the heroic British fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain, as he surveys the damage done by the Nazis, but also that Hitler’s intention to invade England was turned aside, how powerful it was to hear him say, “Never have so many owed so much to so few.”

So also with the backdrop of the terrible battle fought in that place, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was most impressive.  But it has taken those who were actually there to tell us that his concluding line has often been misquoted – not that the words are wrong, but the accents are wrong.  Often those who quote the words stress the “of,” “by,” and “for,” when apparently what Lincoln said was “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  That change of emphasis is enough to make a difference in how we understand what he said.

“Being there,” indeed, can change the what and the how as one views an occasion.  New realizations are given, and we are aware of the potent foundation that can lie behind the words.  Martin Luther put it this way: “He who merely studies the commandments of God is not greatly moved.  But he who listens to God commanding, how can he fail to be awed by majesty so great!”

This is the backdrop for the text that I read at the beginning.  John tells us that Jesus laid down His life for us.  In many ways, we of course do understand exactly what he is talking about and it gives us a powerful impression of how great is the Love that Jesus has for us.

Yet how humbling is the conspicuous difference between, for instance, when I talk about how Jesus laid down His life for us and when John says the same thing.  When John says it, it causes us to step back a bit as we become aware of how John actually stood at the foot of the Cross and watched Jesus “lay down His life” – he watched as Jesus died.  This is no sterile detached approach, and we startled by the grittiness behind what John is saying.

This is no academic idealism, instead John speaks of a reality that intrudes into our existence.  It is as he stands at the foot of the Cross looking up into face of his dead Lord, and with tears in his eyes, turns to us, saying, “And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

He is not talking about is some sort of occasional concession in regard to this or that arbitrary person, he is not talking about minor inconveniences – he talks from the place where he watched Jesus bleed, suffer and die.  And in the midst of persecution, he has watched other believers bleed, suffer and die.  He himself has known the sharp edge of persecution.  This is not idealism; this is not being theoretical; this is reality from which John writes.

Just what is it that has caused the tears in John’s eyes as he now stands at the foot of the Cross?  Perhaps the best way to answer that is by a series of questions that I have asked at times in Bible Classes:

How big are you in comparison to this Earth? – pretty tiny!
How big is the Earth in comparison to the Solar System? – not very big!
How big is the Solar System in comparison to the Milky Way Galaxy? – very tiny!
How big is the Milky Way Galaxy in comparison to the Universe? – infinitesimally minute.
How big is humanity in comparison to the Universe?

Once humans thought that the Earth was at the center of the Universe, but then we discovered that we merely rotate around the Sun.  Then we found out that the Solar System wasn’t even at the center, but rather is on an outer arm at the very edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.  And then we found out that the galaxy isn’t even at the center of the Universe, but rather only at its edge.  As amazed as King David was, we have even more reason to be bewildered as we repeat the words of Psalm 8[:3-4]:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained:  what is man that You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You visit him?  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, yet You have crowned him with glory and honor.

No, as John looks up at the face of his crucified Master, his tears are not of grief, but rather of astonishment – this is the Creator on the Cross, this is God Whose head hangs low in death.  It is the profound impact that Jesus would do this for him – and for us all.  There is no reason that God should do this, not to this degree!  Is it possible to comprehend in the vast Universe why we, of all creatures that He has created, that we should be so honored – we whose track record with the Lord has left a great, great deal to be desired?  Have you ever stood next to John and seen what he has seen?  Have tears ever filled your eyes with the realization that He would do this for you?

There is a concrete reality from which John speaks – as tangible as reaching out and feeling the rough surface of the wood, of touching the cold skin of the Savior.  This is the reality with which he starts right off at the beginning of his letter, as he writes [I,1:1-4]:

He Who* was from the beginning, Whom we have heard, Whom we have seen with our eyes, Whom we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life – the Life was made manifest, and we saw Him, and testify to Him, and proclaim to you the eternal Life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – that Whom we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

This tangible reality is not something that merely lies in the past.  He stood there and watched the Roman soldier thrust the spear into Jesus side and could never forget the water and the Blood that came out of his Lord’s heart.  Yet he came to understand [I John 5:8] that with the Holy Spirit, the water and the Blood – Baptism and Holy Communion – are the tangible evidence of this love from God that we can have right now in our lives of today, something we too can see and look upon, and hold and touch with our hands. These are that continuing proof that “the Life that was with the Father” is here made manifest before our eyes.

“We know love, because He laid down His life for us” – yes, indeed, we do know love.  And now John has turned to us and said, “we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  John has watched fellow believers suffer and die for their Lord.  Was this because they had a bunch of doctrines under their belt?  Was this because they had memorized the right answers for confirmation class?  Or was it because they too have in a sense stood with John at the foot of the Cross and had seen such love, that they really had no other choice but to so love their Lord to the degree that not even death would get in their way.

John is not talking about an obligation when he says that “we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  He is talking about a characteristic of love that will not let even death stand in its way, a trait of love that we receive as we also stand at the foot of the Cross and see this hallmark of God’s love manifested before us, and then reinforced through the Holy Spirit as we hold in our hands the witness of this love in the water and in the Blood.

But then selfishness intrudes – as John puts it, when we have the world’s goods, yet close our heart to our brother in need, we lose the sight of the characteristic of love that is so evident on the Cross. Indeed is a lot easier to love in word and speech, and so much harder in deed and in truth.  Truly we have much of which to repent.

Yet John has not written this without his eye firmly on the empty tomb.  Remember that he and Peter were among the first to see the concrete evidence of the resurrection on Easter morning, and when Jesus came among their midst that evening, to “handle him and see” [Luke 24:39] that He was truly alive again and had come back for their sake.  Here again John meets face-to-face with an extraordinary Love which has come to personally comfort, to strengthen, to forgive and to empower each disciple according to that believer’s needs.

And look here in Holy Communion!  Jesus does the same as He touches each of us, reassuring us that ”God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” [Romans 5:5].  Come now and experience this immeasurable love that God has for us as Jesus shares His very self and His extraordinary love so that we are indeed equipped to let nothing, not even death, stand in the way of our love for one another.

(*Note: in grammar, the relative pronoun refers to something or someone that is identified elsewhere in the sentence or the paragraph, and in the Greek it would match the gender of that referenced item; in the Greek text this relative pronoun is “neuter” (therefore is often translated as “which”), yet there is no other word in these verses that has a neuter gender – “word,” “father,” “son” are masculine, “life” is feminine.  It therefore is here assumed that, although the “wrong” gender, “the Word” is the referenced item, that “Word” Whom John tells us in His Gospel [1:14] was made flesh and dwelt among us.)

Suffering and Job’s Wife

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Some years ago, a minister was going through a great deal of stress.  Although he was hanging on, his wife exploded in frustration and in a sense of betrayal, asking why God was allowing this to happen.  What I appreciate about the account of that outburst is that it made me think immediately of Job’s wife and her outburst, “Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!’” [Job 2:9]

What I realized was that Job’s wife was not some terrible person.  She was not evil where she was earnestly trying to destroy her husband’s faith.  Instead of being judge, who has ever taken the time to be mindful of her suffering?  She also was drowning in grief, because after all, it was her children that died as well, and now she must stand and watch her husband suffer.  It makes me think of an article I had once read which talked about what happens to a family when a child dies.  The comment was made, “Who do you lean on when the one you depend on is already doubled over with their own grief?”

How many times I have watched a family by the bedside of one who suffering, perhaps even dying.  How painful is the frustration of those who must look on and be a mere bystander – sometimes that is the hardest and most exquisite of all torments!  It is that helpless feeling that comes when one wants to do something, but cannot: if only Job’s wife could take some of the suffering upon herself in order to ease her husband’s anguish, or to give him some of her strength.  If only there is something she could do to “fix it,” to “make it all better.”

Instead, she has the agony of watching someone she loves suffer without apparent meaning and she is locked out on the outside his suffering.  Job, even as he handles his pain, is involved in the battle and in a way this affords an occupation of his mind and resources.  At least he is doing something, even if it isn’t the most pleasant of experiences.  But she can do nothing – nothing!

It is out of her utter helplessness and tortured love that she cries out, “Curse God and die!”

Yes, her outburst is wrong, imprudent at best, and yet how many of us have found ourselves with this same frustration, just wanting the suffering of our beloved to stop?  How many, with one of our own loved ones, have considered hastening such an equally unbearable situation to its end, whatever action it may take – perhaps even to the point of “Curse God and die!”?  In fact, although many have been reluctant to take such a step, yet how often has this agony been the prime motivation behind “mercy deaths” of loved ones?

And the problem of Job is that there does not seem to be any reason for the suffering!  As mentioned the last posts, not even afterwards is Job told why the suffering had to occur.  Yet as we see the situation unfold in the Bible book, we discover that the purpose is of cosmic proportions: this is not merely about one small man on this earth, this is a demonstration to Satan and also to all creation that, for a believer, sin and rebellion are no longer inevitable.

This does not mean that the agony and suffering of both Job and his wife are trivial, yet Jehovah of Covenant stresses to Job in the final chapters of the book, “trust Me.”  That is far easier said than done.  But as we look at the book, there is the strong statement that this Jehovah is very much involved, even to prescribing limits beyond which Satan cannot go.  And the story ends with blessing – sometimes, though, that blessing is not for this world.  The last post ended with a woman who in her dying had witnessed so powerfully, yet on this side of death probably was never aware as to how great was her effectiveness.  Yet she was noticed by God, because, as was discussed a number of posts ago, God does notice.

And we have an advantage that Job and his wife did not have: we know that Jehovah God Himself put feet on our earth – Jesus came to walk in our lives.  He was not one to merely pontificate from some remote, detached throne, touching us only through some proverbial ten-foot pole – perhaps only through an angel.  After all, He is the God of the universe – what is He doing here among us, walking in our day, experiencing our lives, touching us with His very own hands?  He is weeping over grief, wrestling with frustration, dealing with discouragement, experiencing betrayal.  In Gethsemane, He struggles in the agony of knowing the suffering He must face.  On the cross, the Beloved Son of the Father is actually feeling pain and cries out as He experiences abandonment.

But what is especially poignant is God the Father.  Imagine Him Who is all-powerful, to Whom nothing is impossible; Whose very Word brings creation out of nothing – not out of virtually nothing, but really out of nothing.  His Son is on that cross suffering.  His Son cries out to Him.  His Son is dying!  Yet the almighty God can only watch.  It can well be imagined that a path is worn in heaven, paced by the God of the universe Who must helplessly stand by.

Of course, it should be asked “what has so tied the hands of the Father?”  The answer simply is love.  Yet the Son is the Father’s most beloved Object in the universe!  What could make the Father so tie down this love so as to make Him unable to alleviate any of that suffering?  The bewildering answer is: His love for us.  But how can this be?  He simply cannot love us more than His own Son!  Yet that is His choice.  And so He stands by without lifting a finger, watching His Beloved suffer and even die.

The wonder we are faced with is that God has put feet on the ground of our lives so that we would know that we are not abandoned, but rather must stand amazed at the depth of love by which He has chosen to love us.  He has demonstrated that He is not afraid of suffering and He will do what it takes to walk with us through our day, whether it is a good day or not as good.  And in Jesus’ death and resurrection, He has shown that there is blessing awaiting us when the suffering is all over.

As we look at Job’s wife, God’s helplessness sheds light on her helplessness – and her helplessness sheds light on God’s helplessness.  But we also become aware that God is not afraid of suffering, and to use suffering as His tool when it brings about worthwhile blessings, even on a cosmic scale – even if it creates a situation where He voluntarily is made helpless.

When Our Hearts Condemn Us – Easter 4

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By this we know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. [I John 3:19-20]

Today’s Epistle [I John 3:18-24] is a passage that contains such a wealth on the Gospel and Christian life  that just about every verse could stand by itself and alone be a topic for the sermon.  So the job is tough to pick one around which to base a theme – however, this one caught my eye because it deals with a guilty conscience.

While guilty consciences are not unfamiliar to us, at this time of year they can become a little heavier.  Schools wind down soon, and on the report card will be the indication of effort over the year.  Businesses may contemplate the past winter season, where some activities may not have been the most ethical.  On farms and ranches, the hours spent plowing, seeding and fencing may give a person perhaps too much time to think and remember.  Some look forward to their holidays, yet as they relax, often there is more time to recall and reflect, and sometimes there are things that would rather be forgotten.

Perhaps we cheated on something – only just a little, only to get a little ahead, or to even the playing field.  Perhaps we simply made everyone else miserable because that was just our attitude that day.  Perhaps we gave someone a hard time, or simply blew our top – only to find out that we were wrong, or else that there was something very difficult going on in the other person’s life, where they instead really needed our understanding and friendship.  Perhaps it was a foolish argument with the spouse, yet in pride neither would give in and there is still anger, which adds to your guilty conscience.  Perhaps there is a flashback, where someone got in trouble in school or at work, or was being bullied and isolated and we did not speak up to defend him – or were in fact involved, to our shame.

How easily we can agonize over some wrong moves, a stupid remark just said at the wrong time, a totally foolish action that we wish we could change.  Here the conscience points its finger at ourselves and the experience can be so very painful.  All those times when we just failed, failed ourselves, failed the people who loved us, failed the people who trusted and depended on us; the times when we mishandled the situation, and just blew it.

We all have times when we feel miserable about who and what we are.  Some will keep themselves so busy, to avoid time of reflection and looking at themselves, to not give guilty consciences time to catch up – they run so hard to avoid that emptiness and torn-apart feelings which so often come as one confronts the foolishnesses and failures of the past.  We all have our own ways of trying to escape the responsibilities of the past:  Some turn to alcohol; some turn to bitterness; some just give up and hide in some way; some turn to blaming everyone else.

How hard guilt can come down on us, what a burden and a weight which we drag around and which drags us down.  How uncomfortable it is, how rotten inside we can feel.  We shrug it off, as if “well, that’s that, and what can you do about it??”, yet it still returns, nagging at us.  We try to justify ourselves, because what else could we have done and yet we still try to figure out what else we could have done.  If only we had not reacted so quickly, perhaps we would have done something better.  Yes, it had to be the other person’s fault, because if he had only done… or not done …, and yet we are amazed at the evil that did pour out of our hearts, through our mouths and into our lives.

Now we face God in worship, and here comes a whole new load of guilt: how many times have we simply and too easily failed HIM?  We have let Him down – especially in the two areas mentioned in the Epistle: in our faith in our Lord Jesus, and in our love for one another.  We know we have hurt our Lord, ignoring Him and His will, deliberately disobeying and conveniently forgetting about Him.  We stop to reflect in disappointment at ourselves, aware of how we have really hurt the love that has reached out so faithfully toward us.

Even latching on to some popular feel-good-isms does not help us ignore the accusing finger of guilt.  The guilty conscience sits there like a big pile of manure in the middle of our living rooms: you can’t miss it, it just keeps coming back to haunt us and make us suffer through it all again.

John’s words in today’s passage hits us like a splash of ice-cold water: “for God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”  Plagued by guilt as we can be, to say that God knows everything can be extremely frightening.  After all, we are too aware of just how terrible our attitudes can be, how ugly our moods can be, how rotten our treatment of others can be – there are parts of ourselves that we really do not want to see at any cost nor do we want especially God to see, because, after all, He is the Judge before Whom each of us will stand one day.

We want to think we are basically decent people, and we very desperately want to sweep these things under the rug, but then to hear that God – GOD! – KNOWS everything – EVERYTHING about you and me – that makes the blood run cold.  It has the death knell of judgment: “God knows everything – He knows the hidden closets of our hearts, He knows the hidden recesses of our minds, secret things we have done when we thought no one was looking – He knows everything we have done wrong.”  This has to be one of the worst things that will ever face us,

But actually that is one of the sweetest words that St John could ever have told us.  God knows all about you and me – just think, He will never be disillusioned by us.  He never will suddenly discover what we are “really” like and then recoil in horror and say, “Is that the way you really are???  Then I don’t want you around!”

That will never happen, because God know everything – EVERYTHING about us!  That is when we stand at the cross of Calvary in utter amazement.  Those things that we have so well hidden from everybody else, those things we even have tried to hide from ourselves – GOD KNOWS! and yet still the Father would send His Son, His most beloved Object in the universe, to a Cross; GOD KNOWS! and yet still Jesus would die for US!  He still would pay the awful cost of agony and hell and being forsaken by the Father – even though HE KNOWS all about each one of us!

What is so powerful is that the resurrection is more than Jesus simply rising from the dead.  It is that He comes back to say, “I want you to be with me forever and ever.  Will you come with me?”  Easter is the confirmation that these things that we agonize over, these things that carry such a burden of guilt, when we confess them and put them into His hands, that God has indeed taken our sins and thrown them behind His back, to remember them no more.  They just do not exist  anymore to God.  What a wonderful message of pure mercy and love!

And the message is even greater as we approach Baptism, where God more than just washes you and me clean – He adopts us, He actually wants us to be part of His own family!  And God chose the example of adoption, because the Roman law was such that the parent could never, ever disown his new child.  Think of that: God has declared that He knows EVERYTHING, He knows exactly what we are like, and still He voluntarily puts Himself into such a position so that we are assured that He cannot ever turn His back on us.  Though we may walk out on Him, though we may seek adoption by Satan and the world, God will never walk out on us.

How ironic it is!  We desperately try to hide our guilt from everyone else, even from ourselves, even from the Lord – trying to hold it down and keep it from popping up – afraid that someone might find out –, and meanwhile the Lord has been saying to us that He not only has known about everything all along, all along He has stood ready to forgive, all along He has been ready to get rid of our guilt forever, all along He has been telling us, “Come, I have poured out my lifeblood for you already on account of this; come, I can wash it all away; come, repent and be free!”

What a release that can be!  All those old failings, the bad feelings that we have held on to for so long, in fact , of which we have been afraid to let go, of which we have tried to bury deep inside, the fears and the turmoil that we have spoken about to no one – here is our freedom from a God Who already knows and already before you ask has forgiveness prepared.

Oh, but this is easier said than done!  Yes, we can finally stop hiding our past, take it to the Lord, and hear the blessed words of absolution remove it forever – but then a little voice pipes up in the background, our conscience cries out, “But you know, that was a pretty dumb thing you had done back then, that was a pretty terrible thing you did to that person…” and on it goes.  And there we are, getting those old feeling back, all over again.  Of course, Satan is at the center of this, since he wants us to experience no victory, but rather that we agonize over our failures to the point where we give up on being God’s People.

That’s why John’s second statement is so important – that God is greater than our hearts.  We have a solution for the pesky little conscience that won’t let go of the guilt: we bring the matter to the Lord Who is greater than anything – greater even than our conscience.  Any time our conscience or even someone else brings up these times of guilt, all we need is to lay it all at the feet of the One Who died for us.  And what wonderful words are returned to us to repeat over and over, “This has already been forgiven, it is in the hands of the Lord – it exists no more.”

Still, we wonder – how can we be sure?  Maybe this failure is the exception to the rule?   Here Holy Communion comes to our rescue: it is the  unmistakable demonstration that the forgiveness of God is so total that the perfect holy God Himself, Jesus, is willing to enter us with no hesitation – something that could not happen unless the sin had been completely cleaned away.  This is the power of the simple statements, “This is My Body; This is My Blood” – “This is Me,” says our Lord, “I enter you, into your heart and soul, into your bodies and your lives.”  What a rich and wonderful statement Holy Communion can be for one plagued by a guilty conscience!

The good news that John has for us today is found in the words, “God knows everything”, that in the hands of Christ, that phrase is turned from judgment to the good news of God’s love and forgiveness.  And John also has the reminder that God is greater than anything – greater even than our consciences – and that is a wonderful, powerful, strengthening message as we face guilt, and even as we face the world.  What a source of joy and power for daily life is the simple message that John gives to us today!

Suffering and the Inevitability of Sin

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The opening chapters of Job seem to set up a contest of sorts – but what could be its point?  Although it appears on the surface that Satan is challenging God, actually it is the other way around.  Right at the beginning, God directs Satan’s attention to Job:

Then Jehovah said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” [1:8]

But what is the reason for this contest?  It is important to first consider the nature of Satan.  When originally faced with the idea of rejecting God, the Devil had jumped at it, and like an addict, rebellion now fills the center of his vision, or as St Paul puts it: “To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure” [Titus 1:15].  Satan thoroughly expects that anyone who is given the chance to reject God wouldn’t even think twice about the opportunity – in other words, “rebellion is inevitable.”

On these same lines, one may encounter comments where there is high praise for Adam and Eve for finally “thinking for themselves” when they sinned – in other words, when humans really think for themselves, it is unavoidable that they will reject God’s will.  One also hears the “cult of selfishness” speaking in the Devil’s accusation that Job is merely acting “in his self-interest” when he worships God, since God is blessing him.  However, take away the props of blessings, and he will fall like a ton of bricks into rebellion.

Of course, it would appear that Satan has the advantage in this contest, since humanity by nature is already leaning so far in the direction of rebellion that it should not take much of a push to make one go all the way.

It is true that Job certainly does not show himself as “a saint,” that is, he is not “like a sheep that before its shearers is silent” [Isaiah 53:7].  He does not unquestioningly submit to the trial.  No, he wrestles, he argues to know why, he curses the day that he was born – but what he does not do is what Satan challenges through the mouth of his wife, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die” [Job 2:9].  Instead, he pronounces a powerful statement of confidence and faith,

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last He will stand upon the earth; and even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, my eyes shall behold Him, and not another.  How my inward self yearns within me! [Job 19:25-27]

At the end of the book, Satan likely would be seen walking away completely bewildered that one who has so much reason to “curse God and die” refuses to do so.  The concept of such faithfulness is just too foreign to the Devil’s nature – after all, his whole being has already leapt at the chance to rebel.

As well, the contest also identifies that there is serious responsibility that comes with rebellion, which cannot be trivialized as in the idea that  “the Devil made me do it!” or that “I could not help myself, I am the victim!” which often is the excuse for addictions.  No, sin does not have to be inevitable, when one looks to the Lord.

It is also important to realize that the contest is not merely for Satan’s sake.  Remember that it has been played out from the very throneroom of heaven, therefore its observers are the universe.  It is demonstrated literally to all that, at least for the human believer, sin (rebellion) does not have to be inescapable.

Still Job does not understand what has happened.  It is startling to realize that nowhere in the book does God ever tell him why.  Nowhere is this human given to understand that the battle fought in his life has cosmic significance.  But then could he ever comprehend that he is the proof which refutes what Satan thinks cannot be avoided?  Jehovah of Covenant does not explain the importance of what he went through, rather the message is simply, “trust Me, I do know what I am doing.”

The message is the same as when after St Peter is reinstated and informed by Jesus that he will courageously stand up for his faith [John 21], he indicates St John and asks, “what about him?”  Jesus’ reply is “What is that to you? You follow Me” [vv 21-22].  No, God is not obligated to explain everything He does to us, but rather He looks us square in the eye and says, “you be faithful – trust Me!”

The Covenant Name “Jehovah” is used in Job, although as Abraham’s contemporary, he would not be under the Circumcision Covenant.  Yet the relationship here parallels Abraham’s bond with Jehovah: there is the total reliance upon each other for those who have bound themselves together.

The demand on Job is really not much different than the call on Abraham when Jehovah commands him “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering …” [Genesis 22:2].  Abraham’s response is the uncomplaining trust of this bond, although he also probably powerfully wrestles with this command as Job wrestles with his circumstances, since Satan does not take vacations during these times.

Is the contest only for 4,000 years ago?   In a congregation where I once served, there was a older woman who was dying of a painful cancer.  Yet every time that I visited her, staff and even doctors would take me aside and remark how this woman would patiently wait for medication and without a miss would always thank them for whatever they did – all in spite of the great pain that they knew she had.  When she died, probably half of the congregation at the funeral was from the hospital.  Like Job, she probably had no idea why she should be the battleground for suffering.  But like the Book of Job, we know.

And even here, Satan walks away, shaking his head in bewilderment.

The Children of God-and So We Are! – Easter 3

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Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God – and we are! … Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  [I John 3:1-2]

A Melvin Hiscock once wrote in a Reader’s Digest [no identification available other than page 120] about how, during his daughters’ high school years, his family had adopted the slogan, “Remember who you are and what you stand for.”  Some time later, one daughter asked her boyfriend if it was OK if she went with a friend who was dateless for a party at his new job.  He agreed, but added, “just remember whose you are and what I’ll stand for.”

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God” – for centuries up until 1969, the second week after Easter was called “Misericordias Domini” or “the Mercy of God” Sunday, which came from the Introit or the Entrance Sentence of the day: “The land is filled with the mercy of the Lord.”  “Misericordias” is made up two words, “miseri” – “to pity” – and “cor” – “the heart” –, so it speaks of “heartfelt compassion,” and so “mercy” is not a bad translation.

However this word entered into whole new class of meaning when the Bible was translated into Latin, when “misericordias” became the word of choice for the Old Testament Hebrew term “Hesed.”  “Hesed´ is one of those words that really cannot be translated very well, because when used of God, it attempts to plumb the depths of the heart of God, and there is just no word in any language that is adequate to that task.  In English, “Hesed´ is translated as “steadfast love, mercy, kindness,” and other terms that really do not quite do the job.  In the New Testament Greek, its equally difficult counterpart, of which you may already be familiar, is “Agape” – that word for “love” which we see in the text I just read: “Behold what manner of love the Father has.“

So if we were to think of the title of today, “Misericordias Domini” Sunday, the emphasis is as the Introit put it, “The land is filled with the Lord (the Creator of the Universe, the Jehovah of Covenant, the God of Glory)’s heartfelt, merciful, steadfast love.“  Indeed that is an ideal title for today, since that is exactly what we will see as we come to the Baptism of Alayna.

God’s heartfelt, steadfast, merciful love – “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God.”  Can you imagine how precious this identity is?  It is something that should make us drop to our knees when we realize what it means to be actually be “God’s children.”  Now please realize this in not the insipid concept that all creatures, or to narrow it down, that all humans are children of God.  That popular belief does not even touch what John and even St Paul talk about when they use this phrase.

No, for their understanding we have to go back to Bethlehem and behold a human child in a manger in a stable.  But this is not just any human child, for we discover that both God and Man are in one Person in this Baby.  God the Son has become a human, the Creator has stepped down to become His own creature.  He is now subject to time and space.  He is subject now to the health and welfare of His body.  He is now subject to human emotions, He feels our griefs and our despairs, our joys and our amazements.

He does this in order to live our life, that life which we should have lived to please God, which we must live, which we cannot live because of the destructiveness of our sin [Hebrews 2:17].  His life was without blemish [I Peter 1:19] – He was faultless as was proclaimed by the prophecy of God [Isaiah 53:9], by the declaration of Pilate [Luke 23:4], even by the High Priest’s false witnesses who could not make any charge stand against Him [Matthew 26:59-61].  Therefore the innocent Lamb of God lived in our place, died in our place – and then rose from the dead so that we could have an eternity, a life forever in the presence of the Father.

But there is another reason why He became human.  Think of a suspension bridge – both ends have to be firmly anchored before anyone can go from one side to the other.  That’s one of the things that the Baby in Bethlehem has done: on one side He is firmly anchored in God because He is God the Son; and now, in that manger in the stable, the other side is firmly anchored in humanity.  If Jesus had not become Man, then Baptism could never have made us become the children of God.

By Baptism we are placed on that Bridge called Jesus.  In this act, Paul says we are buried with Jesus into death, so that as He was raised from death by the glory of the Father, we also have newness of life – actually, Paul even says “we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” [Romans 6:4,5].  This is where it gets interesting, because if we are united with Him, then the other side of this Bridge, we discover, is not that its anchor is merely in heaven – rather It (or better, He) is anchored in God.  Why are we called the sons and daughters of God?  It is because in Baptism, united to Jesus, we find ourselves on the end of the Bridge that is the Son of God

We are not God’s children in some romantic generalized all-creatures sense, nor are we “like Him” as if we become little gods ourselves, no, we are in the Son of God and therefore we participate in what He is, or as St Peter put it, we have become “partakers of the divine nature” [II,1:4] and through this we have become the children of God.

Now perhaps this all sounds like confusing mental gymnastics, but actually being “in Christ” is really quite an important concept in the Bible – in fact, that phrase is one of Paul’s most favorite word images in his writings.  Consider for the moment the kind of relationship that is going on constantly between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  How could we ever describe the extraordinary heartfelt closeness between the Persons of the Trinity.  There just is no way we can even begin to imagine the love, the fellowship and the communication that flows between them – just remember that problem we had earlier, trying to describe what “Hesed” and “Agape” mean!

Now remember, we are “in Jesus,” Who is the middle of all of this flow of mutual love.  Everything that Jesus receives flows right to us.  This is what is behind what Paul says in Ephesians, chapter 2[:4-7] – and listen for the phrase “in Christ”:

But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Baptism is the beginning of what Jesus means when He said, “Abide in Me, and I in you” [John 14:4].  Here in Baptism is God’s impossible-to-understand relationship of love and closeness, in this atmosphere of “the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness” – there we are, right in the middle, right in the pathway of that flow that swirls between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This intensity of His love gets even better when you remember that in Baptism, the Holy Spirit also comes to make His home in us, with one of the aims being that Father wants to hear the deep things of our own hearts, those things that we could never have put into words – just as much as the Father listens closely to the heart of His Son, so also He wants to hear us.

Baptism declares, that even though we have our moments where we feel separated, where God seems distant, where there just seems to be a black hole in the sky, that that is never the truth.  “No!” this Sacrament declares, because constantly swirling all around us is the flow of love, care, involvement, grace and kindness that is internal to the nature of God – and because we are “in Christ,” then there is no other choice, God is deeply involved with us.  We have an unshakeable confidence.

With this background, now that little story with which I began plays its part.  Baptism does not encourage us to remember “who we are” – because even as a child of God, our concepts of ourselves can be far too faulty, influenced by whatever mood or circumstance happens on this or that day.  No, Baptism reminds us “Whose we are” – remember that Baptism is always passive: we are Baptized, we don’t Baptize ourselves.  God reaches down and takes Alayna, you, and me and then places us into Christ, on that Bridge, where we end up in God the Son, in the midst of a relationship that is impossible to find words for –  all because that is His choice, His desire, His action – and His love.

What a wonderful security that gives to us!  Think of when Jesus declared that even the hairs on our heads are all numbered [Matthew 10:30] – that is the intensity of God’s interest in His Son, and we are right in the middle of that attention.  Being so deeply imbedded into Christ fulfills the Psalmist’s description [139], “where can I go from Your Spirit?” – heaven, death, east, west, dark, light, it does not matter.  No wonder Jesus can say, “Lo, I am with you always” [Matthew 28:20], and “wherever two or three are gathered together in My Name, I am in their midst” [Matthew 18:20] – because not only is He in our midst, we are in His midst.

But there is also something else that is so wonderful about “Whose we are” – Luther reminds us that every time we turn to the Lord in repentance, we renew what happens in Baptism: we are again cleansed by Jesus “by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present [us] to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [we] might be holy and without blemish” [Ephesians 5:25-27].  Think of how every single time Jesus touches us with His forgiveness, all the old baggage, all the old burdens, all the pain and the distortion of life that sin brings with it is removed.  In Jesus we stand in God, and we stand thoroughly clean, thoroughly delightful – as delightful as Jesus Himself is – to the Father.

This is what we are placing Alayna right into the middle of.  What a wild ride of God’s love is she in for!  “Behold! – here at the font – “what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God – and so we are!”

Suffering, the Blind Man and Job

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Continuing the topic of suffering, especially when the “innocent” suffer, we might as well as cover its range.  One of the most famous examples of “innocent” suffering is, of course, Job.

Had Job known, he probably would not have appreciated that God singles him out to Satan in the first two chapters of his book, however the interchange there between God and Satan is important for a number of reasons.  The first item of note is that God Himself twice proclaims Job’s blamelessness:

Then Jehovah said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” … [This statement is repeated] And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”  [1:8; 2:3]

Please remember that this is God’s assessment of this man’s blameless, therefore it establishes that Job is not a “bad” man who has brought judgment upon himself.  It echoes the disciples asking of Jesus about the man born blind, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [John 9:2] and Jesus’ reply, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him” [v 3].  The story goes on to identify how the man born blind has clearer vision in regard to Who Jesus is than what the spiritually blind Jewish leaders can see.  What these stories illustrate therefore sets into caricature the accusations of Job’s “friends” who keep demanding that he fess up as to why such terrible events have been visited upon him.

The second aspect in these chapters is that rather than a contest being between two equals, God and Satan, with God having the slight edge, instead God clearly initiates here, and then Satan responds and basically has to receive permission before he can act.   Jehovah of Covenant is the One Who is definitely in control; the plan He has established from before the world was created moves according to His governance; He is very much aware of even an individual’s life; and ultimately, “The Buck Stops Here” (the phrase US President Harry S Truman made famous, which indicates that the president – here God – has to make the final decisions and bear their ultimate responsibility for what happens).

On one hand, this is comforting by demonstrating that the time will never be where God turns around one day and is startled by something which Satan snuck in.  Satan’s rebellion does not initiate, but rather can only respond to what God makes available.

However, this is also distressing, because it also means that the responsibility of both the good and the bad ultimately rests upon Jehovah’s shoulders – not in that He does the bad, but rather that He sees, allows and even initiates the situation where the bad can happen.  It is here where Jesus’ answer to His disciples is crucial as we face Job’s suffering, especially when Jehovah describes His Glory in terms of goodness, grace, mercy, steadfast Love and – significantly – justice (see the post “Show Me Your Glory”), all of which seem in such conflict with how Job is treated.

Jesus declares that suffering is not always a result of something negative, but can in fact be a platform upon which a greater task is accomplished.  With Job’s initial chapters, one has the sense that there is something going on here that is not merely being done in a corner, as so often we think of our lives.  Rather the stage on which the drama is played out is being observed by creation – or at least by the spiritual universe, including the angels, the devils, and us.  As we subsequently see with the blind man, Job also has a most significant role to play, although in his case, Jehovah never tells him why the ordeal is necessary – on this earth he would never know what the role is about (next week we will talk more about it).  God’s concluding message to him is simply, “Trust Me – you know Me, and I know what I am doing.”

It is quite a reversal of thought to think of suffering not as a penalty, but rather that our neighbors, or maybe the universe, are watching, which now God will use to reveal His glory through our lives.  There was once a word of prophecy given to missionary couple at their commissioning service, “You will have great suffering, and then you will have great joy.”  In India, after a number of fruitless years working at their mission station, as they rounded a curve in their car, another car went too wide and crashed head-on with them.  The man and his wife survived, but their three children did not.  By themselves in their hospital beds, each remembered the prophecy.  They realized that God was about to act in His Glory, and they began to praise Him in the midst of their sorrow.  After their recovery, they returned to their mission station and one of the first things they did was to hold a memorial service for their children.  For most Indians, the death of a child is devastating.  Many came because they wanted to know what this couple had that could give them the ability to celebrate the death of their children.  And the prophecy indeed came true – they experienced great joy as many people became believers.

Of course, the most classic example of innocent suffering is the Cross of Jesus.  We cannot possibly understand the sorrow of the Father as He watches His beloved only Son die, nor the full weight of the suffering that occurs on that Cross outside of Jerusalem.  It seems as though Satan is winning.  Yet even here all goes according to a plan long before laid out, where God uses something as unjust as the Cross for the platform upon which eternal life is built.  Especially here all creation watches the drama of salvation being revealed in all of the intensity of God’s Love.

Suffering is not fun, especially when it seems to come out of nowhere.  Yet as Job, as the man born blind, and as Jesus on the Cross powerfully demonstrate, there are times where suffering provides the ideal stage by which God can reveal the greatness of His Glory – but especially of His Love.

Hopeless End or Endless Hope

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For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  [I John 5:4-5]

A Rev Gilbert M Beenken once commented, “Other men see only a hopeless end, but the Christian rejoices in an endless hope.”  That’s quite a statement to make, and yet the season of Easter puts this comment into stark contrast in our world.  Really, without Jesus, what kind of hope is offered in the world?

Some may cling to the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation, yet unlike the West’s romantic idea that this declares a comforting “second chance,” actually for those who live under that doctrine it is regarded as a curse.  Reincarnation’s main idea is that the wrong that one does in his lifetime will have to be undone in the next, and the bad things that happen in this lifetime probably are the result of evil that one did in one or more past lives.  So supposedly we have a chance to try again, only we are carrying the baggage of who knows how much comes from the past, and yet you will never know what you had done wrong in the past so as to avoid it this time around.

The problem is that we know of really nobody that is perfect – and that is just what we see on the surface.  Really, other than Jesus, have we ever heard of anybody being perfect?  Even those we regard as the kindest and gentlest of souls are often the first to admit that they have their problems. Therefore everyone, including ourselves, would be condemned to yet another lifetime.

There are some current religions that try to build an eternity based on human selfishness, for instance, some are merely disguised promotions for the man’s selfishness for pleasure.  Some of these faiths have glibly tried to pass the wife off as a “goddess,” yet she is a very secondary figure to her husband.  Then again, Islam’s “72 perpetual virgins” may sound great in the ears of a man, but for half the humans in this world – the women –, there really is no hope to be found.  In fact, according to Islamic authorities, hell is said to be populated basically with women.

But actually, does such a system based so heavily upon selfishness really hold much hope even for the man? – the problem with self-centered gratification is that it eventually wears thin when placed against a backdrop of an endless eternity.  After all, when one is preoccupied with oneself, it actually is a very small world.  Consider the book of Ecclesiastes, where “the Preacher,” after having amassed everything, still must face the question, “now what?” – and at best it is a most uncomfortable question.

Some have turned to evolution as the symbol of hope, because human fantasy believes that here, now, is something that speaks of how things are getting better and more perfect.  Yet in reality, it is a philosophy of despair, with a most depressing picture of what the final future holds: ultimately, the end of all things is simply a nothingness; there is nobody out there to care about anything; and, once the last card has been played, there will be nothing left which would notice anyway.  Truly Rev Beenken had it right when he described some as having “a hopeless end.”

Science is often regarded as the savior of mankind, that for example, just tweaking our genes will bring about the wonderful humanity we have longed for, perfect, with potentially endless life – we can even end up with people manufactured the way we want them to be.  Yet with every advance of science, there seems to always be a dark side in which the potential for evil increases as well.  And when you think of the history of when humans fiddle with nature, like African bees in here in North America, or rabbits in Australia, how often have the good intentions only ended with unthought-of negative results.  As much as we may wish, there really is no hope to be found even here.

Some are thrilled with social media like texting and tweeting and Facebook, yet does having contacts all around the world really hold hope for a better humanity as seems to be assumed?  Unfortunately, greater sophistication is confused with progress in being human.  Although we may be connected with hundreds of “friends” around the world, more and more we tend to ignore the person sitting right in front of us, often treating them as of secondary importance when our iphone insists that a message has been received and just must be answered immediately.  And are we really more human when embarrassing pictures of others are posted, or is it simply that we practice a subtle abusiveness as we expose others to ridicule?

Rev Beenken had said that the Christian has the security of not “a hopeless end,” but rather “an endless hope” – how does Jesus’ Resurrection declare this to us?

The major difference to all of these other empty offers of hope is that foundation of the Resurrection is built upon Love.  But we have to be careful here because so many things are labeled “love.”  How important it is to remember that Easter springs from Good Friday.  This is a Love that comes not from a root of selfishness, but rather from a wondrous self-giving Love.

After all, we celebrate not merely that someone would give his life for the sake of other people, but that this Someone is the Creator, Who would volunteer His own self to come into human flesh.  This is not a hope that comes from a minor improvement of life here and there, but rather the huge difference because Jehovah would commit Himself in an extraordinarily close relationship to humans and that this God would give Himself even to death to take our place under the condemnation of sin.

This self-sacrifice is really hard to get our mind around.  It certainly stands in contrast to the selfishness that is promoted throughout our lives.  One can even come across attempts to redefine what God has done into a sort of selfishness, supposedly that He only did this just so that He could have a bunch of people who would praise Him.  But really, at least – I – can think of far easier and less demanding routes by which to go if that was all He wanted.

Actually what we are left with is the bewilderment that God would choose to Love to such an extraordinary degree where it would cost Himself the ultimate price – and He foresaw this demand on Himself even before He created the world.  And yet this is the reason why the Christian has the hope he has: it is not just that Jesus rose from the dead, the confidence runs far deeper – it is because of the Love that got the Creator into this situation to begin with.

It is fascinating though how often some people feel that it is their necessary mission in life to remove all hope from anyone else.  I suppose that it is because unless they can prove to others that a God Who cares is absolutely ridiculous, they would be confronted with idea that they are accountable to Him.  So they are intent on describing Jesus as merely a figment of our own selfish yearning to have Somebody greater than ourselves care about us.  Yet it is amazing that if Jesus is merely a fabrication, how He can hold the faith of billions throughout the centuries.

It is not as if Jesus merely comes out of nowhere.  From Adam and Eve onwards, God has been talking about what He would do.  In His Covenant with Abraham, He vows that He will die if ever He breaks this relationship.  In the book of Zachariah, it is prophesied that He would indeed break Covenant and that the context would be where thirty pieces of silver is paid as His worth.  When Good Friday happens, there are far too many descriptions from centuries, even millennia, ago for this to be merely a fabrication.  Then when one also considers what happened in the heavens for Jesus’ birth and death, no, the evidence is pretty strong that Jesus is no figment of the imagination.

The reality of Jesus then confirms that the foundations of hope which we have, which culminates in the Resurrection, are powerful and sure – and most of all, Jesus confirms that the heart of God has indeed given substance to what we believe.  The Resurrection now becomes something that we can take into our daily lives, knowing not just that a resurrection is possible, but the very Love of God is what fills it with awareness this is indeed for us.

Jesus offers this reality to us today.  Here in Holy Communion, the Resurrection Himself, with the same self-giving we see on the Cross, offers Himself to us once again.  What a joyful thing it is to have confirmed to us that this is for each individual that is here.  What a wonderful thing it is to be called away from all the empty hopes that surround us to the hope backed up by the deep and steadfast heart of God.  This is not merely for some good feeling, or for some far distant future day, but rather Jesus is here right now for our daily lives – the Resurrection comes to touch our days and nights with this Hope that will not fail us.

The Resurrection, as it did for the early disciples, gives a confidence so that we can boldly live Jesus in thought and action; that we know that God is involved in an extraordinary and personal way with our lives; and that we have a hope that makes our days meaningful, that makes our actions significant and our thoughts centered in God’s will.  The Holy Spirit has used Baptism to declare that we have been made closer kin to the Creator than the angels – because of Jesus being made one of us, we therefore are privileged to be regarded in the heart of God as equals to Jesus, we are placed into the honor of being the children of God.

Today we are called upon to turn away from the false hopes that surround us in this world and stand upon the solid rock of hope that celebrates more than a resurrection from the dead – we celebrate the heart of a God Who has powerfully and deeply loved us; Who has chosen to be part of our world; Who reaches down to forgive and to raise us up to become the image and reflection of the Heavenly Man, that is, Jesus.