Mary Magdalene

Mary of Magdalene: Part 1

I had thought that no one could understand

as I journeyed through the abyss abandoned and alone,

tormented every hour by seven demons.

They reached into the depths of my being.

Their tendrils of loathing wrapped around me.

Their hate overwhelmed me. So did my shame.

I could scarcely breathe.

Sleep was elusive and haunted by terrors,

terrors which did not abate even in waking.

Daily I thought to myself, “Why O God, why?” and “What life is this?”

Daily I cried out to Him, “In your mercy, deliver me”.

No one could bring comfort and solace.

No one could free me from my shadow-life.

No one could break the chains that entwined me.

One day I was wandering, lost, through the village.

I glimpsed a man, followed closely by twelve others.

Even from a distance, I knew he was somehow different.

The demons attempted to drive me away.

I stood, transfixed, unable to move as the man drew close.

He came alongside me, took my hands and spoke.

Words of love that knew no fear. Words of truth.

Words of life. A voice that spoke the very world into being.

“Mary, Mary, be free.”

At once, hearing his words, the demons fled, screaming.

He had spoken a deep truth that permeated my being.

And I stood there no longer alone, cleansed, no longer ashamed.

Free. Free from torment. Free to be…me.

That moment, I chose to give my life to this man.

I would follow him. I would provide for him.

I would journey with him.

Mary of Magdalene: Part 2

My journey began.

Wherever he went, freedom came.

Freedom from illness.

Freedom from anxiety.

Freedom from shame.

Freedom from lies.

Freedom from abuse.

Freedom from injustice.

Freedom from evil spirits.

Freedom.

I was in awe.

At the heart of this was a love I never knew existed.

I began to see as if before meeting him,

I had been blinded all my life.

I began to see people as God saw them.

Worthy of love, worthy of life, worthy…

There were those who recognised the truth,

those who responded to his love,

those who acknowledged his call,

those who followed.

I wept with joy because the long-awaited Messiah had come.

His disciples were people you’d least expect to follow a Rabbi.

Simple fishermen, and tax collectors.

Simple, ordinary folk.

These were the people he chose to follow him.

But there were those who rejected the truth.

Bitter and resentful.

Challenged and exposed.

Hard-hearted and hate filled.

Little did we know at the time

that they were plotting his end.

But he knew.

He knew why he had come.

He knew what he had to do.

He knew that he had come to pay the price.

And then came that day.

A day that my heart broke.

A day that I saw my Saviour betrayed.

This was no justice.

He had committed no crime.

He was unjustly tried.

And the crowd…

They cried out “Crucify him”.

They wanted to crucify the one who had come to save them.

Darkness fell in my heart as they flogged him,

as they humiliated him

as they tortured him.

They paraded him through the streets

carrying a heavy wooden cross.

It was still dark in the end.

There he hung as he gave up his last, abandoned and alone.

Abandoned and alone as I had been.

And with his last, he cried out “It is finished”.

His body was taken down in death and laid in a tomb.

No time was given for us to anoint him and lay him to rest.

But soon Sabbath was over.

That first day of the week…

we journeyed to the tomb to anoint my precious Lord.

It was empty!

Who? Why? Where?

So many questions.

I ran to Simon Peter and told him the news.

As I stood outside the tomb I wept.

Suddenly I saw two figures in white, seated where his body had been.

They asked me why I was crying. How could they not know?

Through my tears, I falteringly said,

“They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.”

As I turned around, I saw another figure, standing there.

I knew he was somehow different.

He asked me why I was crying, and who it was I was looking for.

Was it this man who had carried him away?

I asked him where he had put him.

He replied with one word with a voice that spoke the very world into being, “Mary.”

It was my Lord! He was alive!!!

The darkness and the sorrow fled as once again I encountered his love.

He told me not to hold on to him.

He told me to tell the disciples the good news, “I have seen the Lord!”

My journey continued. My life transformed.

My Lord, my Saviour, my Redeemer – alive.

The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Good Friday

The prophet Isaiah predicted that one day God would send someone who would be rejected by Israel’s leadership, condemned by his fellow citizens, and abandoned by his closest followers. That person was Jesus. Isaiah, thinking of Israel’s many sins and failures, says that Jesus was “…pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).

I want you to reflect on that…and the utter abandonment that Jesus experienced. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”

Every time we sin, we should be mindful that it is precisely for that that he gave his very life, through suffering the most horrific and painful of deaths imaginable. Yet we shouldn’t stop sinning out of guilt, shame, or compulsion. No. More rather, we should stop sinning in response to God’s love that is beyond measure and because we love him knowing that Jesus is our friend, our brother, our Lord, Saviour, and Redeemer, mindful that “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). We should always seek to act out of and in response to love, and never out of guilt or compulsion. Please know that Jesus wants to be your friend, loves you beyond measure, and invites you to walk with him.

Like a good king and leader, and like an incredible friend, faithful and true – Jesus “took the fall”. He stood in the gap and took upon himself our iniquity. He was pierced, crushed, punished, and sacrificed for the sins, failures, and cruelties of us all. Think about the enormity of that…Jesus took upon himself the sin of the whole world, once and for all – for all times – past, present and future. And since Jesus was willing to be that sacrifice, the only sacrifice that could accomplish that, there is no longer a curtain between the guilty and God’s mercy. Nothing blocks access to God’s presence for anyone anymore. Good Friday is good news because Jesus’ death announces that there is forgiveness for all sins. His blood pulls back the curtain of God’s mercy and now through repentance and in God’s grace, all people can be forgiven and saved from a death that would otherwise be deserved.

This Easter, as you reflect on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and later his exaltation, and perhaps think about your own life, when your time is upon you, how would people know you’ve lived a life worth living? If you’ve exercised a leadership role, how would people know you’ve been a good leader? If you are a friend, how would your friends know that you love them?

As a leader, the answer will be because it was never about you, it was always about Jesus; and in all things, you strived to give God the glory. As a leader, other people will pick up where you left off and continue without you, that you were clear enough, your cause was compelling enough, and the tools that you left were sharp enough that others figured out how to not only use them but to make them better and reinvent new ones. Do you know that? Do you realise the wisdom in that?

As a friend, the answer will be that you were constant and true, faithful, resolute, and full of integrity even in and through adversity. If you are a friend, you don’t abandon your friends. As a friend, you truly yearned for your friends to be blessed, and that you endeavoured to inspire them to be great and to be the best versions of themselves possible. As a friend, you did all that you could to encourage others and lead them to the foot of the cross and the seat of mercy. As a friend, you brought consolation even in times of desolation.

At the end of the day, we will have lived a life worth living if we can look back and say our efforts were never in vain, and that we had the strength and the conviction to complete the tasks entrusted to us by God. And in all of this knowing that we have done right with our time on this earth, that we fought the good fight, we finished the race, we kept the faith. So, I pray that on this Good Friday, you would understand and accept the enormity of what Jesus accomplished through his death on the cross and how he died in your place having lived a life worth living. I pray that you might be a friend of Jesus, as he is a friend to you. Only through him will we have access to God’s mercy and only by his blood do we escape the death we deserve. We have the privilege of being invited to follow him and embrace him as the way, the truth and the life. Amen

Maundy Thursday

If you read John’s Gospel carefully, you will notice that the first twelve chapters cover a three-year period. But when we come to Chapter 13, the pace dramatically and palpably slows, with this and the next five chapters focussing on just one night. All Scripture is important, but there are times when the way that the passage is written draws us in, emphasising that the truth that we are engaging with is of utmost importance and that we would be wise to pay particular attention.

We are told that “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father…Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God”. When you are going to die and you are spending time with the people you love the most and care about the most, the nearest and dearest to you, you don’t mince words.  You talk about the things that are the most important.  Your actions convey that deeper truth which remains when everything else is stripped away. I think as a Priest in which one aspect of my ministry is to prepare the dying for death, I’ve come to realise the truth and significance of this. What Jesus did in his last hours was to share the Passover with his disciples, wash their feet, and allow them to glimpse it in the light of His Second Coming.

We are reminded that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power”. As God incarnate, God in the flesh, fully God and fully man, Jesus was ‘all-powerful’ and yet he chose to do something that was quite simply astonishing…“he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” At my ordination as a Deacon, I received the yoke of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve. At my ordination as a Priest, I took the authority to watch over and care for God’s people, to absolve and bless them in his name, to proclaim the Gospel of salvation, and to minister the sacraments of his New Covenant. The true test of one wielding power and authority is if they have the wisdom and the courage to lay it aside in their service of others at the right time, in the right place, and for the right reason. Is Jesus showing strength or vulnerability in his actions? Or perhaps, is he showing that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, as St Paul rightly alluded to when he reminds us of how the Lord said, ““My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”” (1 Corinthians 12:9)

Jesus’ words echo down the centuries:

• “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
• “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
• “Do you understand what I have done for you?”
• “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”
• “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

In washing feet tonight, what little power and authority I might possess pales into insignificance compared to the power and authority that Jesus held. And as I have said before, the truth is I am not worthy to wash your feet; and if it is right I am always prepared to relinquish that power and authority and be diminished for the glory of God. But know this…I am 100% committed to God and to seeking to serve you in this place, always to the glory of God in his grace. I might stumble through life, but I want you to know my heart’s desire…that you might dare to go deeper with Christ, walk with him, and heed the words of St Paul, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

Is the faith that we profess one that embraces the deep truth we are presented with here? Have we allowed ourselves to be washed by Jesus, washed in the blood of the lamb? Do we understand what Jesus has done for us? Do we realise that we can only be washed by someone if we are close to them physically, and emotionally, and also if we trust them? In some way, I am reminded how we tenderly wash and bathe our children when they are tiny, and how we might tenderly wash our parents in old age and infirmity – both acts of love and tenderness. Are we prepared to wash one another’s feet through acts of service and sacrifice, as Jesus modelled, and as I seek to model in the place? In making the self-sacrificial acts of washing his disciples’ feet, an act typically conducted by a servant or slave, and in identifying and presenting himself as the ultimate Passover Lamb, the result was that Jesus was glorified through the resurrection and by his subsequent ascension and exaltation.

As a Church, we are currently engaging throughout Lent with the course ‘Discipleship Explored’. The Gospel passage ends with a verse I quote often, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” My brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to be authentic disciples. Let me conclude by sharing with you some verses from Hebrews 12:

“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3). Take a moment to close your eyes. And if you feel it right to do so, say the Jesus prayer with me now… “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Amen.

Palm Sunday

When I led a Virtual Tour of Jerusalem in our house group, part of the session focussed on the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. One of these gates was called the Sheep Gate, which is the very first gate mentioned in Nehemiah. It was called the Sheep Gate because this was the gate which the sheep and lambs used in the sacrifices were bought through. It served as a constant reminder of the need for sacrifice to atone for our sins.  The Sheep Gate had no locks or bars: the door of salvation is open to everyone. This was the only gate that was sanctified, setting it apart as a special gate. It speaks of the very first experience we come into in our Christian life – that is, a realisation that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, once and for all. The Sheep Gate reminds us of the cross and the sacrifice that was made for our sins; it represents salvation. It is the starting point of everything! If you read the entire chapter of Nehemiah 3, the Sheep gate is also mentioned at the very end once we have come full circle. That is because everything starts and ends with Jesus’ death on the cross.   Jesus always went into Jerusalem via the Sheep Gate except for his triumphal entrance which we remember today. It was on this occasion, according to Christian tradition, that Jesus chose to enter through the East Gate called the Mercy Gate which was also known as the Golden Gate, the Gate of Eternal Life, or the Beautiful Gate. According to Jewish tradition, the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through this gate. Muslims believe this is the place where justice will prevail on Judgment Day.  This gate has been sealed for hundreds of years and it is said that it will miraculously open when the Messiah comes, and the dead are resurrected.

So, on this occasion, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt, a messianic symbol he effectively affirmed his messianic royalty as well as his humility. In coming to Jerusalem, Jesus did not fulfil the people’s hopes as the conquering deliverer to drive out the Gentiles, but he nonetheless gave all the signs of a royal person making entrance into the city. Mark emphasised Jesus’ humility and his sovereign control of the situation. The divine Son of God was coming to sacrifice his life. The disciples did indeed find everything just as Jesus said.

Jesus came to the temple court, not as a warring king on a horse or in a chariot, but as a gentle and peaceable king on a donkey’s colt, just as we shall see how Zechariah 9:9 had predicted. Jesus knew that those who would hear him teach at the temple would return to their homes throughout the world and announce the coming of the Messiah. Jesus shunned earthly power (and its symbols) in order to demonstrate a kingdom of love and peace. The Messiah entered Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed donkey. In that picture, there is poverty, humility, and majesty: “Yet for your sakes he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9). There is no shame in being poor.

As he drew near Jerusalem, crowds of people had already gathered on the stretch of road a mile outside the city, on their way to the city for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover. When Jesus mounted the colt and headed toward the city, they recognized that he was fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”. All pilgrims walked the final ascent to Jerusalem; Jesus’ riding was a clear sign. The crowd’s spontaneous celebration honoured Jesus; it was demonstrated when they spread their cloaks on the road for him to ride over (compare with 2 Kings 9:12–13). In addition, they took leafy branches from the fields. These branches were used as part of the pilgrimage into Jerusalem. Matthew says branches were cut from the trees (Matthew 21:8). Probably they came from both places; some were also spread along Jesus’ path, and others were probably waved in the air (see Psalm 118:27).

This then was Jesus’ announcement that he was indeed the long-awaited Messiah. He chose a time when all of Israel would be gathered at Jerusalem, a place where huge crowds could see him and a way of proclaiming his mission that was unmistakable. The crowds were jubilant and sure their liberation from Rome was at hand. Although the crowd correctly saw Jesus as the fulfilment of these prophecies, they failed to understand where Jesus’ kingship would lead him. The crowd expected him to be a national leader who would restore their nation to its former glory; thus, they were deaf to the words of their prophets and blind to Jesus’ real mission. When it became apparent that Jesus was not going to fulfil their hopes in the way that they wanted, many people turned against him and a few days later when Jesus stood on trial cried out, “Crucify him!”. We must embrace God on his terms, and not seek to define God on our terms. We must welcome Jesus into our hearts and accept him as our Lord, Saviour and Redeemer the bringer of grace and salvation. Amen

Knowing Jesus through the word of God

If we look at today’s Gospel passage, it begins with a significant and powerful statement from Jesus, “Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” Think for a moment about the implications of that:

• Unless we prayerfully read and study His word, how can we know and obey it?
• Conversely, if we do not obey his word, we will see death! Perhaps this is why in the 39 Articles of Religion that are foundational to Anglicanism, we are told in Article 6 — Of the Sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for salvation, that “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.”
• If we want to get to know Jesus, we can do so through reading the Bible and especially the Gospel accounts – although the whole of the Bible, whether the Old or the New Testament, points to Jesus and how we come to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Jews were incensed by Jesus’ statement and claimed that he was demon-possessed. But no demon could grant eternal life. Only God himself could accomplish that, and Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. ⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Jesus always laid aside his majesty and gave glory to his Heavenly Father. We too should seek to lay aside our ego, vanity and pride and in all things seek to give the glory to the Heavenly Father.

The core issue here is that the Jews had lost sight of God and did not know the Heavenly Father from whom Jesus came, even though they claimed to know Him.

When Jesus said that he existed before Abraham was born, he undeniably proclaimed his divinity. Not only did Jesus say that he existed before Abraham; but he also applied God’s holy name (I AM—Exodus 3:14) to himself. No other religious figure in all of history has made such claims. Either Jesus was God, or he was a madman. His claim to deity demands a response. It cannot be ignored. The Jewish leaders tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy because he claimed equality with God. But Jesus is God.

The paradox here is that the religious leaders were ready to exercise the punishment for claiming to be God in accordance with the law (Leviticus 24:16). They well understood what Jesus was claiming; and because they didn’t believe him, they charged him with blasphemy. However, in reality, they were really the blasphemers, cursing and attacking the God whom they claimed to serve! As a Church, we work hard to be faithful in Biblical teaching and the application of God’s Holy Word. As a Church, we work hard to encourage everyone to engage with the Bible. That’s why we give out free copies of “Our Daily Bread”. That’s why we run Biblical courses, giving us the opportunity to grow in fellowship and go deeper with God. As we approach Easter Sunday, I pray that you are able to engage with the great services we have planned. I pray that you might have a fresh revelation of Christ and worship him joyfully in spirit and in truth. Amen

For the glory of God

We should take comfort from the Gospel reading today because it makes it clear that God is in control and knows what He is doing. If we consider the many prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures that were fulfilled by Jesus’ first coming, and his words and actions, there is no way that this could have been a mere coincidence. If there was a list of all the things a Messiah needed to do or say to fulfil these many prophecies, Jesus fulfilled some of them in his first coming and will fulfil the rest in his second coming. God’s will, his plan and purpose will be accomplished, irrespective of us, and we have the honour and privilege of being invited to be part of it.

When we consider the context of the Gospel passage, Jesus was in a perfect position to consolidate his forces and overwhelm the opposition. Yet, the paradox is that God’s plan needed to be accomplished in a very different way. No wonder the Bible reminds us of God’s words, ““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Jesus faced the heart-troubling hour that was now upon him because he knew that he needed to give his very life to conquer sin and death once and for all. Even in the depths of anguish, Jesus’ fervent desire was for His Father’s name to be glorified. Jesus willingly and knowingly laid aside his majesty to bring glory to God the Father. He made an incredibly bold statement, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.” “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies…. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:36, 42–44). Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin, and also to demonstrate his power over death. His resurrection proves he has eternal life. Because Jesus is God, he can give this same eternal life to all who believe in him. The response to Jesus’ heart cry and prayer from his Heavenly Father was “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

The French Catholic Priest John Vianney, who became the patron saint of parish priests once wrote, “When we do something we dislike, let us say to God: “My God, I offer you this in honour of the moment when you died for me.”” The challenge to us then in our walk of faith is not only to recognise that being an authentic disciple of Christ is costly but also to recognise in our service and devotion to Christ that we must get our priorities in order. Our faith cannot be conditional. If we choose to love our own lives more than God, we will lose the very life we seek to maintain. True disciples must be willing to suffer and experience rejection, even unto death if need be. That means that there may be times when we need to make radical lifestyle changes. Everything Jesus did was for God’s glory. When we choose to follow him, we must live for God’s glory alone. This does not mean we have no fun, no joy, or no security. Rather, it simply means all that we seek to do is for God’s glory alone. Then God will honour us; then, and only then, will we follow Jesus where he goes—as he explains later, he goes to eternal life with the Father. We can derive real comfort and security from knowing that God observes and remembers each and every act of service we do in his name. None will be forgotten.

Jesus said, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God’” (John 8:54). Even though Jesus was fully worthy of glory, he does not claim it. He was fully a participant in divine glory, but chose not to exercise it or even talk much about it. Jesus’ humility is weakness in the sight of competitors, but meekness in the sight of God. True power is often manifested in restraint.

Although Jesus cried out to God, asking to be delivered, he was prepared to suffer humiliation, separation from his Father, and death in order to be obedient and do God’s will. He offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears. Jesus did not seek his own glorification; rather, in all things he wanted to bring glory to God. Jesus takes us, transforms us and redeems us for the glory of God and in the love and grace of God.

Jesus is our model for true submission to God. To resist or to submit is a choice made hundreds of times each week. It is through moral training – prayer and reading the Bible that we might learn to resist overt sin and make the right choice. In response to God, resistance is always wrong and submission is always right. We must follow Christ’s example and submit to God. We must learn to hear only the word of God when there are so many other messages to distract us. Amen

Evidence that demands a verdict

I am sure we are able from time to time to make bold claims about ourselves, after all, we all like to make a good impression and give a good account of ourselves, don’t we? For example, this might happen if we go for a job interview. However, there is a world of difference between a bold claim that stems from a positive and healthy self-image and an utterly preposterous claim that stems from vanity and ego. If someone is seeking to puff themselves up and makes exaggerated claims, I usually tend to ask for evidence and testimony. That evidence can come in many different forms. It might be testimony from people who know us well, a reference much as we might consider when someone applies for a job, it might be the fruit of our labours and accomplishments we’ve achieved. Sometimes though, you encounter people where the evidence simply doesn’t stack up.

Looking back to Jesus’ day, according to Jewish law, truth or validity had to be established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). Jesus’ witness and testimony about himself could not alone validate his claims, even though they were true. For the Jewish leaders, he additionally needed the witness of another. Jesus was known by his words, his deeds, the testimony of many including John the Baptist, and a testimony that was even weightier than that of John. John the Baptist was one witness, but the one to whom Jesus was referring here is his Heavenly Father (see 5:36). The key point is that the whole of Jesus’ being and doing testify to the one who had sent him. In addition, this was supported by the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus said, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” The implication here is that to refuse to come to Jesus is to reject life itself because Christ is the giver of eternal life (1:4; 5:25; 14:6).

The Father gave direct witness to his Son Jesus at his baptism (Matthew 3:16–17), on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), before his crucifixion (12:28), and in his resurrection (Romans 1:3–4); indirect witness came through Jesus’ works (see 3:2). To recognise Jesus is to realise his divine origin and commission. So, to believe in Jesus is to believe in the one who sent him; to reject the sent one is to reject the sender, God. This begs the question, what more evidence do we need? An equivalent analogy would be if we saw a doctor who had the only cure for our fatal disease and was offering it for free, but we decided to try every home remedy and self-help program we could find instead of accepting the cure that the doctor was offering.

We have been presented with the problem of sin and the brokenness of this world. God repeatedly offers us the solution. God sent the patriarchs, and the people didn’t believe. God sent the judges, and the people didn’t believe. God sent the prophets, and the people didn’t believe. Moses had written about Christ, but since they did not believe in Christ when he came, they did not really believe in the writings of Moses. This was Jesus’ final condemnation.

2 Chronicles 24:19 states, “…the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.” God sent himself and they still didn’t believe. 2 Corinthians 4:4 states, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

For me, central to all of this is the need for us to know Jesus personally. He is our friend, our brother, our Lord, our Saviour, and our Redeemer. With Jesus there is that invitation that demands a response, evidence that demands a verdict. Do we believe? Does that belief affect our being and our doing? Wisdom comes from making the right choice with all our being and not a response borne out of empty religious observance, with us merely ‘going through the motions’.

In our house group, we are currently working through a course called Discipleship Explored. It has taken us into some deep places and at times has been challenging. Discipleship is not a game. It is the stuff of life and a life worth living in which we seek to be authentic and express genuine belief in Christ. There is no one better to follow than Christ. So may God give us ears to hear, a mind to understand, a heart to receive, and a spirit to embrace his truth in all fullness. Amen

Do you want to get well?

In Jesus’ day, it was custom and practice for all Jewish men to come to Jerusalem to attend the key pilgrim feasts and festivals in Spring and Autumn, including the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks (also called Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles. These were times when thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem, both people who were healthy, as well as people who were sick. It wasn’t unusual for those who were sick to make pilgrimages to the pool of Bethesda to receive the healing benefit of the waters. Bethesda means “house of mercy”, “house of grace”, or “house of flowing water”. This sets the scene and setting for today’s reading.

This pool, surrounded by five covered colonnades, was a place of collected human suffering—the sick attracted by the hope of being healed. As is so often the case, Jesus stepped down into the brokenness and was present amidst the suffering, coming to this place with purpose and intention, where he offered the grace and mercy of God in bringing healing of all kinds: healing the sick in mind, sick in body or sick in spirit. St Francis reminds us, “We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.” This is precisely what Jesus did.

In this passage, Jesus encounters a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years – in those days, almost his whole life! After such a long time, this man’s problem had become a way of life. The things that we might struggle with so often end up wrongly defining us. Here was this man, who no one had ever been able to help. The context of the passage suggests that he had lost hope and had lost the desire to reach out and ask for help as a result of that. The irony that we see is that the man was doubly paralysed; paralysed by his physical condition, and paralysed in this place of healing. That must have been harrowing and heart-crushing – to be so tantalisingly close to healing, and yet so far – a living torment.

Among the many trying to be healed, Jesus chose the one who had lost hope and was living in torment and asked him directly “Do you want to get well?” This is a profound question framed with respect, compassion, and concern. Jesus always notices these things doesn’t he, drawing alongside and asking questions that evoke a response that takes us straight to the heart of the situation? The man’s hope for healing was stuck behind his hopelessness since he never received help to get to the water in time and get through the clamour. No wonder he said, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

But there is also the underlying question which is, “Was the man who had suffered for so long ready to be healed?” Sometimes we get so acclimatized to the suffering we endure, that the prospect of that burden being taken away scares us. Jesus’ response was to say to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” And at once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. Thirty-eight years of suffering, gone, in an instant.

Instead of the Jewish leaders taking delight in such compassionate relief of suffering, all they were concerned about was seeking to obey the letter of the law, in the way that they chose to uphold it – completely losing sight of the spirit of the law. The Pharisees were more concerned about their petty rules than the life and health of a human being. It is easy to get so caught up in our man-made structures and rules that we forget the people involved. Their response was one of criticism, saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” Instead of looking at the fruit of Jesus’ ministry, the leaders instead began to persecute him because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Having healed the man physically, Jesus also wanted to heal the man spiritually and in his subsequent encounter with the man in the temple, Jesus declares, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus’ declaration was that the man’s thirty-eight years as an invalid would be nothing compared to something worse—that is, eternity in hell. The man needed to stop sinning and come to salvation in Christ. Yes, he had been lame, but now he could walk. This was a great miracle. But he needed an even greater miracle—to have his sins forgiven. We too always need to look to eternity.

Augustine of Hippo said, “…the true health of bodies, which we are expecting of the Lord, will come at the end in the resurrection of the dead. What comes to life then will not die; what is healed then will not get sick; what is filled then will not get hungry or thirsty; what is made new then will not grow old. Now though, notice the deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ: the eyes of the blind that were opened have been closed in death; the limbs of the paralyzed that were steadied have fallen apart in death; and whatever was healed in mortal limbs in this world of time has ended up as nothing; but the soul which believed has won its passage to eternal life.” Amen

Cross the line

If a demonic presence possesses someone it can manifest itself in several different ways. A negative behavioural change, an uncharacteristic change in voice, a negative change in things said, or as in this case of today’s Gospel passage, a man who had been perfectly capable of speaking being made mute. All these cause the person being possessed to be diminished in their humanity.

Jesus drives out the demon and the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. It’s quite shocking that even though this compassionate act represents the restoration of a man’s dignity and humanity, setting him free to be how God created him, some of the people went on to say, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” This statement is shocking for the following reasons:

• It betrays total ignorance of who Jesus is and why he had come.
• It is deeply insulting in the extreme to accuse Jesus, God incarnate, of being able to do this “by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” We know that Jesus exercised his earthly ministry full of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “…every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31-32).
• It suggests the crowds couldn’t appreciate the restoration of the man and the dignity and freedom he was now able to enjoy. The fruit of the Spirit was in evidence and the crowds failed to recognise it.
• The statement from the crowd was a blatant lie, and slanderous. The fact that we are told that “Jesus knew their thoughts” implies that the statement was being whispered behind his back, and not said to his face. You sometimes find that when people are against what you are seeking to achieve for the glory of God, they resort to speaking behind your back with lies and slander to try and bring division and undermine you. Lies often come to the surface and reveal the dark heart of the accuser. In reality, all that they achieved was to lose credibility in themselves because Jesus’ response, said with some grace, served to illustrate how absurd their accusation was.

We are also told how others tested him asking for a sign from heaven. My response to this is, how many signs from heaven did they need to see when they had already witnessed everything that Jesus had said and done in his earthly ministry up to that point, and yet they still didn’t believe? The irony, of course, is that no matter what kind of sign Jesus might have given, they would have stubbornly refused to believe. We will sometimes encounter people who have stubborn and hardened hearts who still refuse to believe even when presented with an abundance of evidence in black and white.

Jesus then goes on to explain that their whispered accusation was both illogical and nonsensical because any kingdom divided against itself would be ruined, as would a house divided against itself. If Jesus was indeed driving out demons by Satan, then the only conclusion would be that Satan is divided against himself. If that were true, it would mean civil war in the kingdom of evil. No king would throw his own soldiers out of his kingdom; neither would Satan throw his soldiers out of a person they had possessed. Such a kingdom could not stand.

In stark contrast, Jesus’ exorcisms were specific evidence of the long hoped-for, long-awaited Kingdom of God breaking through, in the power of Jesus’ authority. That Jesus was powerfully casting out demons and plundering Satan’s kingdom revealed that the Kingdom of God had begun and was being ushered in.

In Jesus’ first coming, the battle line was drawn. There are two kingdoms—God’s and Satan’s. Satan may well be active and powerful in the world, but the truth is God’s kingdom is far stronger and will eventually triumph. We cannot be neutral in this matter. It is a binary choice. Either we choose to side with God, or we do not. Those who choose not to side with God or simply attempt to remain neutral side with Satan. That is the meaning of Jesus’ ominous words: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

In the movie Hook, a revived Peter Pan draws a line in the sand. Everyone who believes must cross. In the account of the Texas Alamo, Colonel Bowie does the same, asking defenders to commit to dawn’s battle. In neither case is it possible to stand on the line. If we’re considering Jesus, weighing the options, and exploring the possibilities— we must take the step, cross the line, and trust God today. Our unanswered questions are still important. If we seek, we shall find. Our doubts are still to be settled. If we knock, the door of knowledge will open. Our unmet needs are vital and known by God. If we ask, it will be given.

Foolishness to those who are perishing

Jesus went up to Jerusalem to attend Passover, one of the most significant pilgrim feasts, and, “In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money” (John 2:14). Although this practice arose from a desire to fulfil the commands as literally as possible, its outworking gave rise to some serious issues:

• Firstly, the shekel that was used to pay the temple tax was the Tyrian shekel, used because of the purity of its silver—but it was a coin with the image of a person on it, and its inscription exalted the city of Tyre, which was one of the historic foes of Israel. Its very use would have been offensive. The temple was a place of worship, where people were to come to worship the one true God.
• Secondly, with the money changing and animal sales, the temple amassed a huge treasury, and many people became indebted to the temple authorities to fulfil their obligations. The merchants and money changers were dishonest and over-charging. This was not how God’s temple was supposed to be.

This practice suggests that the temple authorities had lost sight of the purpose and significance of the temple, and the fact that they were allowed to do this by the religious authorities and teachers of the law suggests that they were complicit in supporting it. The focus had shifted from worshipping a Holy and awesome God to what had become nothing more than a commercial enterprise for some and in the place of worship.  Remember Jesus’ words recorded in both Matthew’s Gospel and Luke’s Gospel, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

Not only that but their presence and practice detracted from the opportunity to worship. How was this demonstrating wisdom, responsibility, and a holy and rightful reverence for God? They had turned the house of God into a marketplace! This ‘mess’ is an inevitable consequence of when we seek to apply worldly wisdom and collude with its folly. What message would this have sent to people coming to Jerusalem to attend Passover?  That allows us to pause for thought and reflect on what the message is that people receive when they come to our Church. We cannot and should not seek to define the Church in our image and on our terms. We should be mindful that we are the body of Christ and that he is the head of the body, and it is him whom we are called to worship.

‌Sometimes we need to have a short, sharp shock to stir from complacency and spiritual slumber and come to our senses.  I think there’s something of God’s grace in that. That’s precisely what happened with the temple. There are so many parallels between what Jesus did next and the practice of purging the leaven and people ‘getting their house in order’. Jesus brought that short, sharp shock: “So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  To those who sold doves, he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me”” (John 2:15-17).  Jesus was cleansing the temple, and in a time of Lent we have an opportunity to ‘purge the leaven’ and ‘get our spiritual house in order too’.

We should always be mindful that “…it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17) Judgement begins in the house of the Lord because we should all know better. As the Church, we are called to be a light to the nations. It was only by ‘destroying the temple’ that Jesus would be able to restore free and unfettered access to all believers to God in the right way and in the right spirit. This could only be achieved by Jesus himself becoming the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for all mankind. The eventual destruction of the temple in 70 AD was the final evidence that the old system had been superseded by Jesus’ work on the cross and in the lives of those who believed in him.

‌We are reminded 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…Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, may we together pray for wisdom and discernment recognising that God has “made foolish the wisdom of the world.”  We need to fervently desire to be blessed with Godly wisdom. May we always seek to worship a holy and awesome God in spirit and in truth, with fear and reverence.  And in this, we might “continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 12b-13). Let’s remember that we don’t worship God because God needs it, we worship God because we need it.

Collect

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.