Palm Sunday - The Irony

Luke 19:28-40
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Palm Sunday - that’s what we celebrate today.  If you think about it, its an ironic celebration:

We celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  We read in the gospels about crowds who wave palms and cry out “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!”

Wow!  What a welcome.

At the same time we look forward to a week of remembering the worst that humanity can do…  The saddest week in Christian tradition, to Christians, possibly the saddest week in the history of humanity:

It opens our eyes to the human condition:

The cruelty of betrayal by a close and trusted friend.

The violence of torture and punishment inflicted on the innocent and disempowered by the cruel and powerful.

A blood thirsty mob; worked up; excited; calling for the liberation of a murderer, and the murder of a liberator.

It brings to mind images of the holocaust, the abuse of human rights associated with apartheid, the murder of children in war - and every evil that humanity has ever brought to this earth.

And the most terrifying thing - the most disturbing thing is this - THE SWITCH - from crying “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  To that terrifying cry - “Crucify him.”

It is in each of us:  hands that can touch, caress, bring healing, can also cause pain.

Our mouths which can produce songs, words of love, poetry, can be used to build each other up - and just as quickly, almost more easily tear each other down…

*  *  *

We live in tension between Good and Evil and in Holy Week Good and evil come face to face.

Evil is confronted by the best that God can give, Jesus Christ, God’s own son.

And it seems for a terrifying moment that the evil of humanity will triumph.

*  *  *

Think of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus.  For 30 pieces of silver he told the Jewish leaders where Jesus was… leading to his arrest, and ultimately to his suffering and execution.

The scripture tells us that when Judas realised what he had done, when he heard that Jesus had been condemned: he gave up.  Unable to live with himself - he hanged himself.

The sad thing about Judas is that he didn’t get to see how the story ended…

He got caught in that moment when it seemed like evil had triumphed.  In himself, in the world, in what was about to happen to Jesus.

*  *  *

What terrifies me is this.  We’re not that different from the angry mob.  We’re not that different from the disciples who run away from Jesus at his time of need.  We’re not that different from Judas.  We’re not that different from those who viciously punished Jesus.

We are in so many ways the same as them… yet we don’t want to admit it:

We could just as easily shout “Hosanna!” on Sunday and “Crucify!” on Friday.

Holy Week; Palm Sunday; remind us of this uncomfortable reality, an uncomfortable tension between:

The best that humanity can do.

And the worst. 

Living right here, next door to each other.

*  *  *

The end of the story, the part that Judas never got to see is the victory that we celebrate next Sunday - we call it Easter… God can take the worst that humanity can offer.  Betrayal, torture, cruelty, abuse of power… God can take all that we can give and turn it into something of beauty. 

The cross, an instrument of torture, an instrument of shame -because of Jesus, becomes a thing of beauty -something we hang around our necks to remind us just how much God loves us in spite of the evil that we have the capacity to do.

*  *  *

We celebrate, we worship, because we have got the magnificent gift of 20 20 vision.

Hindsight

We’ve read ahead - we know how the story ends and that that is where our hope comes from.

*  *  *

We come together, to celebrate and sing because we have seen how God deals with all the horror in our world… God has experienced it and come out victorious.

We celebrate a very different victory to the one the crowds anticipated as they sang and shouted: “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

We celebrate and anticipate today God’s ability to take the very worst that humanity can do to God. 

The abuse, The insult, The humiliation, The torture.

And still emerge victorious and loving all the same.

God can take the worst that we can do, and the worst that we can do can not destroy God’s love for us. 

*  *  *

For me; Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Easter teach us among other things two important, simple things:

1.  As human beings we are all capable of a lot of evil.  As we reflect on the Easter story we are exposed to the sort of evil that we are capable of.

2.  (As I have said before) God’s Love is enough to overcome the worst that humanity is capable of.

*  *  *

This Easter I want to invite us to go on a journey with Jesus, a healing journey, and sometimes a painful journey.

What is it that is wrong in our lives?

How have we suffered at the hands of this world, at the hands of the evil people are capable of?

Is it abuse?

Is it broken relationships?

Is it betrayal?

Is it injustice?

Then Holy Week and Easter is a time for us to journey with Jesus through the pain that he experiences with us, a time for us to lay it at the foot of the cross.

Perhaps we are people who damage others with the words we say, the actions we do?

Easter is the time for us to journey with Jesus through the worst that humanity can do to us, the worst that we can do (as Jesus takes the same journey) - and emerge victorious - with Jesus.

*  *  *

God can take the worst that we can do - that can be done to us, and turn it into resurrection - in the hands of Jesus - death, becomes life.

*  *  *

In the gospel passage for today the people shout praises to Jesus because of all the wonders that they had seen him do.  Jesus’ ministry made the power of God real in the world - he used his hands, in partnership with God to bring healing, to restore sanity.

He used his voice - to proclaim a miraculous message of grace and reconciliation.

A challenge to us - to do the same.

In contradiction to Jesus ministry of healing and restoration, the crowds will later cry out for punishment, revenge, and destruction - a crucifixion.

*  *  *

If we take stock of our lives this week, if we examine the things we do, the attitudes we hold - the words that we use… the way we run our business, the way we treat our families - our attitude to those around us:  are we imitators of Jesus: through grace bringing healing and wholeness to the world?

Or are we imitators of the blood thirsty crowd?  Bringing destruction.

*  *  *

The line between good and evil runs directly through us.  With Jesus help we are able to bring both sides of ourselves to God - and hopefully learn to live on the side of the good.

Lent 5 C

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

It happens in restaurants - especially around holidays of special sentimentality - Valentines Day, Christmas Time and New Year - someone at the table with a big basket: “A rose for the lady..? - in aid of charity - R20 a stem!!?” 

“By buying this rose you could save the life of a puppy…”

*  *  *

That awkward moment when the aspiring romantic (that’s me) gives a painful look at his wife - feeling guilty because: 

“Shame I’d hate to have the job of selling roses in a restaurant.”

“Shame the poor puppy.”

“What will she think of me if I don’t fork out for the rose?”

- I’m cheap.

- I don’t care about puppies.

- I don’t like her enough to buy a crummy rose?

*  *  *

Being married means we’ve discussed this before - we’re both to cheap to buy the crummy rose and save the puppy… but we’re nice to the seller.

Between mouthfuls of overpriced steak, trying not to be too irritated by the seller, trying not to say (sarcastically) “I hate puppies”

“Thank you - but no thanks - good luck in your endeavour…”

*  *  *

But there’s always someone at the restaurant - in love with the girl - reaching for his wallet - pulling out the R20 - and buying the rose.  Picking up the bill for the movie and the dinner - although he really can’t afford to - because he’s in love…

And love, reaches those things to which we are most attached… love hits you where it hurts - right next to your heart - in the wallet. 

Love often means we’ll pay more rent and work for less money for the sake of caring more for our children.

Love means that we make opulent sacrifices for the people we care about… sometimes buying gifts in which we have absolutely no interest - at great cost to ourselves, because we struggle to express how much we care for them in any other way.

*  *  *

In John’s gospel a woman expresses her love for Jesus… the show of love is a bit awkward and embarrassing - even a tad inappropriate.  It is humiliating / self effacing and as Judas quickly points out - a bit unnecessary.

*  *  *

According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary Mary’s action was absoloutely scandalous:

1) in the Jewish world it was scandalous for a woman to let down her hair in the presence of a man who was not her husband; (2) the anointing of feet was the task of slaves; and (3) the cost of the perfume (not mere oil) was extravagant (costing approximately 300 days’ pay for the ordinary laborer).

*  *  *

Mary’s act was extremely intimate...  In a society where contact between men and women of different families was very limited, if not completely off limits - for Mary to talk to Jesus was a bit controversial (but Jesus spoke to women as well as men.) 

For her to touch Jesus - a prominent Rabbi and Holy Man - would have been questionable…

But to do what she did; pour perfume on his feet and wipe it with her hair - absolutely scandalous.

Mary goes beyond what is considered fitting and proper in order to express her love for Jesus.  She humiliates herself completely.

1^st by doing something completely inappropriate to the culture of her day.

2^nd by doing something a slave would do.

Mary’s action could have cost her her honour.

*  *  *

In a time when people didn’t have bank accounts or building societies there were various ways of saving ‘for a rainy day.’  Something small and costly was a good investment…

Perfumes fit the bill.

Judas (someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing) informs us that Mary’s perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii…  The equivalent of about a years wages for a casual labourer.

(About R20 000 in today’s terms.)

Mary’s action probably cost her her savings, as well as her honour.

*  *  *

Mary’s act of selfless devotion to Jesus - an act of showing deep emotion in a public setting makes us a bit uncomfortable.

We prefer not to wear our emotions on our sleeves… we are reluctant to mourn in public - reluctant to declare our love for God (and for people) publicly - always a bit slow to say or express what is on our minds.

Because we are afraid somehow that we will betray our weaknesses if we do…

*  *  *

Judas is an interesting character in the gospel stories… many of us - I think - are afraid to say that we identify with him…

He acts as one who has been hurt too often in the past.  Made to feel awkward by the show of emotion - by the intimacy that has been shown in this room - he reacts with a nasty / critical comment…  “We could have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor…”

Judas knows the cost of Mary’s actions, but not the value.

*  *  *

We live in a world where we have been taught that emotion is a sign of weakness… Jesus points out however that Mary’s action is appropriate & prophetic.

*  *  *

Immediately after this passage John writes of how Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time - to the waving of palm branches - we know that this means Jesus will soon die on the cross…

An ironic display of God’s love - which looks a lot like weakness and defeat…

As I read about the breaking open of a jar of expensive perfume as a symbolic sacrifice of love; I am reminded of the death towards which Jesus is moving.

A death which sounds like weakness, which sounds like shame, like foolishness - Paul will later write in his letter to the church in Corinth that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

This death (which looks like foolishness) actually shows us God’s power - Yahweh - Elohim, God most high, is not so weak that he is killed on a cross…

His love, rather, is so powerful that he loves us enough to be literally torn apart for us.  Making himself a sacrifice of love - so that we can know that our sins are forgiven, that we are loved.

*  *  *

On the third day - Jesus rises from the dead - he is revealed to be who he said he was; God incarnate.  Showing us how much God loves us.

*  *  *

For Mary love reaches deep enough for her to sacrifice her dignity, her honour, her wealth in order to show Jesus that she is committed to him.

For Jesus, for God, love reaches so deeply that he himself sacrifices all that he is to show us that he is committed to us…

We are God’s beloved people… in spite of who we are, and about this there can be no doubt.

*  *  *

Paul writes in his letter to the Church at Philippi that he regards all things as loss in comparison to the value of knowing Christ Jesus. 

Love demands sacrifice - the person in love will go to all lengths, losing their wealth, their dignity, their pride in order to show their love.

Loving and being loved by God is for Paul, the most precious thing in the world.

*  *  *

Paul writes that he is a righteous man - a Hebrew of Hebrews - someone who has kept the commandments and lived by the law… but those merits count as nothing compared to faith in Christ.

Faith in Christ, meaning simply, believing, accepting and knowing that my relationship with God is in order because I have seen what kind of love God has for me.  In spite of all I have done, in spite of who I am - Christ has died on the cross - breaking open God’s love for me.

Paul goes on to say that he presses on towards a goal - a goal of living a righteous life, doing what God calls him to do - not because by doing so he can achieve righteousness but because as he says “Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

*  *  *

Lovers in a restaurant may be induced to sacrifice some cash in order to buy a rose in order to express their love and care.  Love reaches into that which is precious to us -

Mary - smashes a precious jar of perfume as a sign of love and devotion to Jesus - sacrificing her money, and her honour.

Paul - speaks about faith in Christ - faith that believes in Jesus sacrifice of love which he makes to show us his love.  He speaks of faith that lets him knows that he is God’s beloved.

*  *  *

Love demands a response, that response is a voluntary expression of our love. 

Today we will baptise Jason - a sign that we claim that promise for him - that Jesus died for him before he even knew it…

Today we will remember that love - that love that loves us, is broken open for us before we know it. 

As a congregation of people who want to respond to Jesus, it is up to us to guide each other into a suitable response to that love…

When we learn - to love extravagantly… when that love is shown to our husbands / wives and children - and to those around us - as Jesus has taught us - then we will begin to see the Kingdom of God in this place.

Amen.

The prodigal, the older brother and the compassionate father...

Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

 

When I was candidating for the ministry I worked as lay pastor at the Wynberg Methodist Church.  Wynberg, being an urban area had many interesting characters who lived on the street, in the graveyard and in the nearby park.

At night the area was quiet, but all sorts of folks would walk the streets - some of them prostitutes, some of them dealing in drugs.

Two street people, a man and a woman, who had been partners for a long time, one day decided to get married.  The wedding was arranged - the Salvation Army Chapel in Wynberg was the venue for the wedding.

The whole affair was one great big moment, when I had the privilege of seeing God’s Kingdom shining through into the world around me.  The bride to be, very much in love with her husband to be, had secured a job washing dishes at a local restaurant, and found a place for her and her husband to live.  A dress maker in the area had heard about the wedding and made a dress specifically for her…

I was volunteered by my congregation to lead the singing.

*  *  *

The Kingdom moment for me - was standing in front of the congregation, leading them in the hymn: Amazing Grace.  I looked out on a small sea of smiling / enraptured faces - lit up with joy.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me… I once was lost, but now am found - was blind but now I see.”

I have never heard that song sung so convincingly before - or since… and let me tell you about the congregation:

Some police men and women who knew the local street people.  Some ministers from the area.  Bergies - more drunk than usual.  The local prostitutes - in all their shapes and sizes:  Transvestites even, all in the chapel that day - singing God’s praises and about God’s love for them.

*  *  *

The parable which we read in Luke’s gospel is part of a set of 3 parables which Jesus tells in response to the grumbling of the Pharisees - “they grumbled saying: “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!””

Parables about God’s boundless and scandalous grace offered to all people.

Three parables:  The parable of the Lost Sheep - ““Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them—what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it.””

The parable of the lost coin: “Suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses one of them—what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it...”

Finally - the parable of the Lost Son.

*  *  *

You’ve probably heard the parable a thousand times… a man has two sons - one of them demands his inheritance before his father is dead, he goes to a foreign country and wastes all his money in reckless living…

He ends up hungry, feeding pigs for a living - longing to eat what the pigs eat.  He thinks to himself: “My father’s workers have plenty and here I am starving.”  Returns home.  As he arrives home his father runs to meet him and welcome him in - immediately calling for a great celebration…

His older brother grumbles.

*  *  *

In one of my favourite books The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen, Nouwen reflects on a painting painted by Rembrandt van Rijn - of the same title.

Van Rijn painted his interpretation of this parable in about 1969, shortly after the death of his beloved son, Titus - Titus was the last, and only surviving out of four children whom he had by his first wife, Saskia, who died at 30 years of age.

Van Rijn’s deep love for his own son is reflected in the tenderness with which the old man in the painting - half blind and worn out by life holds the prodigal at his breast.

*  *  *

The parable may be given many titles… It is commonly called the parable of the prodigal son; but is it not perhaps: The parable of the older brother; or maybe: The parable of the gracious father?

Is it about a son who repents - goes home and is accepted with rejoicing?

Is it about an older brother who resents the fact that his brother is welcomed so warmly?

Or is it about the undying and irrevocable love of a father?

*  *  *

Jesus tells this parable in response to the grumbling of the Pharisees… he uses it to challenge their perception of who God is or what God is like, and what God’s relationship with people is really like.

*  *  *

It was probably a common story in Jesus time, (examples of it have been found in C2 Jewish literature) but in its common form it ended with the son in a far away land, cut off from the community - desolate and deserted. 

Jesus’ original hearers wouldn’t have expected the bit which Jesus adds on to the story…

*  *  *

Jesus continues where the story would normally end.  With the story of how this runaway child realises who he is…

“Coming to his senses…” (Jesus end to the story begins.)

He realises that he is his father’s child.

In spite of the fact that he has disowned his father / broken off his relationship with him... he realises that this is not something you can undo... he is fundamentally connected to his parent.

He decides to return home; with an apology prepared.

“I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men…”

Even before he’s had a chance to say these words - his father is already looking out for him, expecting him… running to him, embracing him and kissing him.

Amidst the hugs and kisses the son gets out a part of his planned confession…

“But” it says in verse 22… (not conditional like therefore - but (in spite of what the son was saying)) the father was already calling the servants - bring the best robe and clothe him - put a ring on his finger…

The father immediately and unconditionally affirms that this young man is his son… the robe and the ring, symbols that he belongs - is a part of this family.

*  *  *

Look at Rembrandt’s painting - see how he depicts the intimacy with which the son is embraced - he rests against the father’s chest (like a young boy) he belongs here.

*  *  *

Rembrandt paints the older brother, standing on the right hand side of the picture, looking a little glum, his hands folded - reluctant to hug the younger brother as the father has.

Interpreters suggest that the older brother represents the Pharisees, who grumble about Jesus’ love and care for the outcast.

In a rewards based world we can identify quite well with the older brother - we really don’t understand and refuse to grasp this concept of unconditional love which the father offers.  There must be some sort of hierarchy!

That is what we’re used to.

There must be some measure of judgement - 1^st 2^nd 3^rd place?!

No.  In the Kingdom of God - all belong equally.

The Father’s response to the concerned older brother is to remind him… my son - you are my son, you also belong here, what is mine is yours.

*  *  *

Finally - as the whole story has directed us, our attention is drawn to the Father…  This parable is not the parable of the prodigal son - it is the parable of the compassionate Father.  The one who seeks the one who is lost, the one who - before the words of confession are on our lips - embraces us and lets us know that we are all a part of his family.

Jesus is telling us what God is like.

*  *  *

Nouwen suggests that we probably identify - either with the older brother or the younger son.  In both cases we are realising that we belong to this family… in both cases we are realising that this family is wider than we expected it to be.

The call of the passage to us, Nouwen suggests, is to become more and more like the Father…  In the words of the letter to the Ephesians 5:1-2: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and life a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

*  *  *

To be able to love, like the father in the parable, we need to begin by realising - like the younger son - that we are loved… we belong.

Like the older brother - to know that our belonging is not dependant on our works, but on God’s faithfulness.

Then we will see the Kingdom of God in this place.

Lent 3C - Is Suffering a Punishment from God?

Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

On the 29^th of September 2006 I had - what some people would call - a near death experience.

I had taken a friend to drop his wife off at the airport in Johannesburg. We were heading home (back to Pretoria) along the freeway at 100km/h - talking about the church in Zimbabwe (my friend was a bishop there) when a bolt - weighing about ten kilograms crashed through my windscreen.

All I knew was that we were driving along - passing a long flatbed truck when I noticed what looked like a piece of tyre flying through the air - next thing I knew there was a huge hole in my windscreen, my arm was sore and I was spitting out bits of (shatterproof) glass - it felt like sand in my mouth.

We made our way home - a bit shattered - slowly - through rush hour traffic - I hadn't yet seen the bolt that came through the windscreen.

* * *

When we got home, and found the bolt we realised - frighteningly - how close to an absolute disaster we had come.

If the bolt had come straight through the windscreen - and not hit the frame before coming through, it would have done some serious damage - to me rather than my car.

I realised that Ananias - my travelling companion, and I might easily have been killed on the freeway that day.

But we weren't.

* * *

When these things happen - we ask questions.

Why was I spared?

Why, sometimes, are people killed?

What do these things tell us about God? Creation? Us? The World in Which we live?

* * *

In the gospel, Jesus is confronted by people with this sort of question on their mind… what makes bad things happen, and he gives an answer - .

In Jesus day (as is the case in most ancient cultures) - the accepted answer was that the people to whom bad things happened had sinned - and they were being punished… (They brought it on themselves).

Think of the question in John 9:2 - Jesus sees a man who was born blind; the disciples ask a valid question in their minds: "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

It is assumed - if someone has come into misfortune that they are being punished. The same went in Jesus day for those who were poor - their poverty meant that God had rejected them -

* * *

In the gospel we read today people tell Jesus that Pilate (The Roman Governor of Judaea) had killed some Galileans while they were offering sacrifices at the temple… they waited for Jesus response…

Maybe they thought he would tell them the gossip - the bad things that these people had done to deserve the fate which they met.

But Jesus - as he dealt with the question about the blind man - quickly debunks the theory that when bad things happen it is a punishment from God:

He asks a question: "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than the other Galileans?"

And gives the answer, and "I tell you NO!"

He also mentions another disaster: The 18 who died when a tower fell on them… "NO!"

* * *

So that settles that - Jesus answer to the question: When bad things happen is it a punishment from God - "No it isn't."

I want you to remember that - because there are people who believe that suffering is a punishment from God, the witness of Jesus in the gospels tells us it isn't.

AIDS is not a punishment from God. Cancer is not a punishment from God. Accidents are not a punishment from God. Disasters - are not a punishment from GOD!

Some people disagree with me on this one - but I choose to stand with Jesus and I think I'm in good company.

No, suffering is not a punishment from God.

# # #

That's the good news. The bad news is Jesus warning which accompanies his answer: "If you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did…"

* * *

Jesus extracts a message from the disasters that happened and the pain which they cause: In a way the horrors of life - speak to us.

They tell us that the world in which we live is quite simply not the world for which we were made... Pain / discomfort / disaster communicate a message to us that things are not as they should be.

* * *

We allow ourselves - too easily - to become numbed to the horror around us - car crashes, violent robberies, broken relationships, poverty - things that should disturb and upset us become the order of the day. We have forgotten (too easily) how to feel.

Philip Yancey in his book Where is God when it hurts? speaks about pain as a kind of gift. He looks at leprosy, the disease which takes away one's sense of pain and shows how not feeling pain causes further injury.

A leper will wear shoes that don't fit right and those shoes will do horrible damage to their feet - all because they can't feel it.

A leper will take a hot potato out of burning coals - injuring their hand - without knowing it.

Pain sends a message to the body that things aren't the way they're supposed to be - and when we get that message, we change our behaviour accordingly.

But too often we become leprous to the world around us… we don't feel the pain, and we don't change our ways.

* * *

We forget to feel the pain that we cause each other when we speak harshly.

We forget to feel the pain of guilt that we ought to feel when we act dishonestly.

We forget to feel the pain messages which our body sends us when we work too hard, when we don't sleep enough, when we worry too much, when we don't let ourselves love and be loved enough...

We forget to feel the pain that a community feels when one of its members is suffering.

Or that we should feel when a community is divided.

Our whole lifestyle is built around avoiding pain.

We have learnt too well to subdue pain, pain that sends us messages - we keep pain killers in our bathroom cupboards, and I guess in the secret cupboards of our hearts…

We have forgotten how to listen to the messages which the world sends us.

* * *

The disasters about which Jesus speaks in the gospel are not a punishment from God. But they are a wake up call to people… a call to repent, to change the way you live…

Hurricane Katrina, floods in Mozambique, Tsunami Disasters - HIV and AIDS - Global Warming, a Bolt through my windscreen - not a punishment sent by God, but a wake up call to humanity - a reminder that life is fragile and we need to respect it.

They are a signal (like pain is) - that not everything is as it should be and we need to respond.

* * *

Having warned the people about their need to repent, Jesus goes on to tell them a parable about a fig tree that doesn't bear fruit.

Lk 13:6b-9: "The owner went looking for figs on it but found none. ⁷So he said to his gardener, 'Look, for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil?' ⁸But the gardener answered, 'Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig round it and put in some manure. ⁹Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.' "

* * *

The parable tells us about God's mercy - although we seldom listen to the warning signs - we don't change our ways and bear fruit that is evidence of that change.

The gardener continues to defend the fig tree - telling the owner to come back next year.

Jesus' doesn't say how the story ends - I have a feeling - if he went on it wouldn't end… the owner will come back again. The tree will have borne no fruit, the gardener will defend it - the owner will go away - and come back again next year… and on and on.

* * *

How great will that day be when the owner returns to the tree - looks into the branches, and finds some fruit.

That fruit will come when we learn (as a community) to respond to the world around us:

To feel the pain that we cause when we forget how to love, and then to learn to love.

To feel the pain of those who suffer, and then to learn how to help them.

To feel the pain that we cause ourselves and those around us when we continue to sin, and learn (with the help of the gardener - who faithfully digs around us) to stop sinning.

* * *

I believe, that when we learn to respond to the world - as Jesus has called us to do - we will begin to see the Kingdom of God in this place.

Lent 2 C

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36

Don’t you hate it when you get left out…  I was a lazy kid; never was very good at - or interested in sport (I was one of those kids who played the piano) - I was always the last to be picked for the soccer team.

My favourite days at school were the days when I got to pick the team (or one of my other - less active friends)…  We had an unwritten agreement to always choose our friends first - the other guys who weren’t that good at sport.

If it was cricket, soccer, or swimming - we would inevitably lose the competition of the day - but we’d tell our mothers when we got home - “I was one of the first to be picked for the team today!”

It was good to feel included.

*  *  *

The Readings from the Old and New Testament speak about events probably two thousand years apart.

*  *  *

In the older reading (from Genesis 15) God makes a promise to Abraham:  “look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that.”

God’s promise to Abraham is linked to events which immediately precede it:

*  *  *

Abraham hears that his nephew, Lot, living in Sodom has been captured by a marauding army… he gathers 318 of his own trained men, pursues this army and recaptures his nephew, all his nephew’s goods, all the stuff that the army stole from Sodom - their women, and the people and returns them to their home town Sodom.

When the King of Sodom offers to repay Abraham for his troubles (probably a considerable amount - because Sodom was quite a larny neighbourhood at that time with rich and fertile lands. (Gen 13:8-13)

Abraham refuses to take anything because of a vow he has made to God:  He had promised not to take anything so that no-one could say “I have made Abraham Rich.”

Abraham’s life was to bear testimony to the fact that God would look after him.

His purpose was to point people to God’s faithfulness, so that they could know what Yahweh was really like, people of all nations were to be included in this revelation.

*  *  *

“After these things” as the scripture puts it - God reiterates his promise to Abraham… you will have as many descendents as there are stars in the sky…

And these descendents become the nation of Israel / the Jewish nation.  A nation of people whose purpose it was, as it was Abraham’s purpose - to point people to God’s faithfulness.

The laws of the land, the ways that they were supposed to treat even foreigners and slaves were designed so that the community of Israel - Abraham’s descendants - would lead all people and nations to worship Yahweh: The God of Abraham.

*  *  *

The story of the history of Israel shows that from being a nation that originally existed to shine the light of God’s love into the world around it, they soon became self centred and exclusive - no different from the nations which surrounded them. 

Fixated sometimes on getting rich at other’s expense.  Sometimes on worshipping God’s other than the God of Abraham… hoping at one stage that by worshipping a God called Baal they would get better crops… 

The nation that was the object of God’s dreams - became a great disappointment.

*  *  *

As if, to illustrate the frailty of human beings the lens sweeps across centuries / millennia.  And some 2000 years later, in the gospel reading for today, Jesus is teaching, preaching, healing and making his way to Jerusalem to be crucified…

*  *  *

Two thousand years is a long time.  The dream about which God spoke to Abraham is an old dream -

The nation which they were going to be has seen better days - they’ve moved into the land which God promised them, yet they speak fondly of days gone by when Solomon and David reigned; when they were a powerful nation, enjoying plenty!

They are now ruled by Herod, a client King - who rules on behalf of Caesar. 

They’re a conquered people and their land is being taken away, piece by piece, because of the heavy taxations which their new rulers impose on them; their people are without hope. 

In fact, by the time Luke, the gospel writer, puts pen to paper and writes the gospel which we are now reading, the temple, the last symbol of the nation’s former glory - and God’s providence - will have been destroyed.

The nation of Israel will be a scattering of people, littered in small groups among the nations.

*  *  *

God’s dream of hope for the people - which God shared with Abraham has been destroyed…  it feels to them as if God has cursed them!  They feel like they have been left out.

Yet the honest truth is that they, like us, simply have not been obedient, and their disobedience has led to their ruin.

*  *  *

In the gospel reading for today Jesus sings the blues about the dreams that He and the Father had for Jerusalem and its people…

One of the commentaries I read calls it: “The Lament of the Rejected Lover.”

The picture which Jesus paints is simple - God is like a hen, trying to protect her chicks from danger.  She stretches out her wings and runs around, making a noise, trying to gather them…

Desperate, but losing the battle.

Heartbroken she watches her chickens getting eaten up, one by one, by foxes…

“How many times have I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!” (GNT)  He cries out.

*  *  *

We are a lot like the chicks which the mother hen tries to gather up to safety - we keep escaping; going off on our own journeys…

We - like the people of Jerusalem about whom Jesus was speaking, keep repeating our mistakes.

*  *  *

Sometimes we make mistakes of blatant disobedience.

I can think of many times when I have gone directly against what God was leading me to do - and I have ended up getting hurt, or messing something up. 

I don’t think I’m the only one whose done this.

We’re so thick headed that we go along our own paths - thinking that God’s just being a party pooper and not letting us have any fun… Meanwhile God is like the mother hen and all she’s doing is trying to protect her young from getting hurt...

“How many times have I tried to gather you under my wings…”

*  *  *

Sometimes we make sincere mistakes…

The Pharisees were often upset with Jesus.  On several occasions he got into trouble with them for healing people on the Sabbath - not because they didn’t like Jesus - but because the Pharisees thought they were properly enforcing God’s law. 

Jesus corrects them - “The Sabbath is made for people, not people for the Sabbath.”

Even some of the instigators of the crucifixion of Jesus probably had the best intentions - they actually thought they were being obedient to God... 

After all Jesus message was radical and it sounded ridiculous and blasphemous.  He threatened to destroy the temple.  He associated freely with people who were known to be sinners.  He called himself the Son of God…

Most of us would probably have agreed that he had to go.

…the desperate picture - a hen trying in vain to gather her chicks to safety…

*  *  *

And that is the story of Israel, 2000 years of God trying to gather his people safely into his arms… But they’re always escaping - running away and getting hurt.

That’s the story of Jesus ministry - trying to gather his people to safety - but we’re disobedient and we end up getting hurt.

And that continues to be the story of us today… the church.  We do stupid things.  We say things that are hurtful - hateful sometimes, we destroy the world around us…

And God continues to reach out.

*  *  *

The Bible speaks of a dream which God shared with a man called Abraham about 4000 years ago.  A dream about a nation of people that would show the world what God was like…

2000 years ago God sent his son to show the world what God was like…

2000 years later - and here we are, a new nation - called by God to live in a way that lets people know that God loves them - even in spite of their mistakes.

*  *  *

The God we worship is not an exclusive God.  We however are disobedient people who constantly run around hurting ourselves and each other - doing the things which God has called us not to do and not doing the things which God calls us to do.

*  *  *

During the season of Lent we look forward to and prepare ourselves for Easter - the resurrection of Jesus…

The sign that even our most radical disobedience - although it causes great harm - will never be able to overcome the love that God has for us.

And God continues to reach out to God’s people - gathering them into safety…

It is up to us to respond to that invitation -