In my first church – I was in my twenties, easily embarrassed – we had an occasional visitor; she came from Yugoslavia I think; she had a lined face, always wore a headscarf and spoke no more than a couple of words of English. When she came to church she always brought a bunch of flowers; she usually arrived a wee bit late, walked to the front, laid her bunch of flowers on the Communion Table, and kissed my hand, before taking a pew near the back. The flowers worried me: what would the dear lady who had been there on Saturday, and spent time arranging flowers in a vase, say about this addition to her display? But it was the kiss that made me cringe. It's not the way Baptists greet their pastors. Should I receive this as though I was someone special? I wanted to say to her, "I'm no better than the person you will sit next to at the back." It seemed so out of place.
A Pharisee invites Jesus in for a meal. It's all pretty routine; a cold lunch after the service in the synagogue. Jesus enters and takes his place, reclining on a low couch at the table ... and then the story really gets going. “Look! A woman of the city, a woman with a bad reputation, either a prostitute or an adulteress, walks in, with her long-necked jar of ointment.” No doubt one or two people are thinking to themselves, “What's she doing here?”
What she intends to do is simply a generous, loving response to the fact that Messiah has come, and that Messiah has accepted her and forgiven her sins. She wants to bring her precious ointment and anoint Jesus with it. Jesus is facing the table and she comes up behind him; as she does, she is overwhelmed with emotion, with gratitude and love. Tears flow; not the kind of wee tears that you can wipe away from the corner of your eye with a tissue, but floods of tears. Jesus' feet are soaking wet. The woman becomes confused, embarrassed; what is she to do? Without thinking she pulls away the pin that is keeping her hair up and dries Jesus' feet with her hair. She kisses his feet, and at last with shaking hands breaks open the bottle of perfume and pours it on Jesus' feet.
To the dinner guests it's all a bit much; a bit embarrassing. It seems so out of place... is she... a friend of his? Or is he just stupid? The generous host is thinking “If this Jesus was any sort of prophet at all he would surely know what sort of woman this is. And if he was any sort of prophet he wouldn't let her touch him!” The issue is Jesus' identity. Who Jesus is. And this is a recurring theme in the incident.
You know what it's like when you have the first meal with your kid's new boyfriend or girlfriend. The boyfriend starts eating before you have given thanks and you think “he's a complete heathen then!” Then you bow in prayer and he thinks “The parents are complete religious nuts, then!” It seems that as far as as Simon the Pharisee is concerned Jesus was being checked out and has just failed the test. Silently, the Pharisee makes his judgement. Nothing is said: at most, a raised eyebrow might have betrayed his thoughts. But Jesus answers the Pharisee! “Simon, I have something to say to you!” and Simon replies “Go ahead, Rabbi!” He is polite enough and recognises Jesus as a teacher, but that's all. He's not seeing Jesus as a prophet and not ready for discipleship, for following Jesus. “Rabbi” is polite but it's not the full story. It’s not “Lord”.
What Jesus wants to say, is one of his ridiculously simple parables. “One guy was forgiven £3,000; the other was forgiven £30,000: who loved the bank manager more?” The answer is obvious, but the Pharisee feels he as to go along with Jesus, so kind of grudgingly he answers “The guy who was forgiven £30,000.” He knows he has been cornered. It looks like this prophet does know what's going on inside people's heads. And this prophet is up for challenging people's sins and blind spots.
“Good call” Jesus says. He doesn't mean to imply that the woman really was a bigger sinner, with more to forgive, than the Pharisee. In fact he gives no assurance that the Pharisee has been forgiven at all. He is simply adapting to the parameters of the Pharisee. And he proceeds to draw out the contrast between the Pharisee and the Prostitute. Now, it is sometimes said that that Simon completely failed to offer Jesus the commonest courtesies of hospitality. That is not true. As a good Jew, the Pharisee would have expected his guests to wash their hands before eating and would have provided a bowl and towel for that purpose. Washing feet was a nice luxury; a kiss was a faitrly common form of welcome; anointing oil was a recognition of a really special guest. But none of these was really essential. In inviting Jesus to his home Simon had treated Jesus with the “ordinary” courtesies for having people round for a meal but not as the guest of honour at a banquet. It as the difference between saying “the bathroom is just upstairs” and giving the guest their own towel, bar of soap and hand lotion. The contrast couldn't be more stark and plain. The Pharisee, who thinks he had not too many sins, feels he is doing Jesus a favour by having him round for a few sandwiches after the synagogue. The woman, who knows her life is full of embarrassing moments she doesn't enjoy re-living, who knows that this man Jesus has accepted her and made her clean again – even if she doesn't fully understand how – she is “overwhelmed by love” for Jesus. Her very best seems inadequate. She wants to pour out her ointment, for Jesus. In today's money you could say it was worth about £17000. What did it matter if she had earned that money through prostitution: it was all she had. So she pours out her tears, lets down her hair to dry Jesus' feet; kisses his feet and anoints Jesus not just with oil but with her precious ointment.
Then, horror of horrors, Jesus tells the woman, “your sins are forgiven!” Again, the issue is “Who is this guy?” He obviously is a prophet, he can hear people's thoughts; does he really have the authority to declare people’s sins forgiven? Maybe some are thinking it is blasphemous to make that claim (as they had before: see Lk 5. 21). Luke simply reports the question and leaves us to figure it out for ourselves. Who is this guy?
Jesus is not just a teacher, a Rabbi. We can be respectful to Jesus but not connect with who he is. He is Lord, Messiah, the One who was wounded for our transgressions. He is the one who has a right to forgive our sins. What Jesus does as he receives this woman's gift, what he had done as he showed her grace, is the character of God on display, not simply being guessed at by a teacher however great. God looks at all the embarrassment, all the failure, all the brokenness, all the wrong choices, all the deliberate grabs at what is not ours; all the times when we have put the boot in all the hurts we have caused. All the rebellion, all the times when we have not cared two hoots what God or anyone else wants. Now if you're happy like that, OK. But if you're embarrassed, ashamed, feeling cut off from God by it, and longing fro something better, then know that God wants to welcome you home and forgive you; that God the Son has already dealt with the wrong stuff in your life; he has died for it; that God the Holy Spirit wants to fill you and give you the strength to live for Jesus, so you can with confidence know God the father. Connecting with Jesus, connecting with the trinity, connects us with grace. Jesus is the grace bringer and grace giver.
Let's be quite plain, Jesus is not forgiving the woman her sins because she has shown such extravagant love; she has not earned her forgiveness by what she has done. Jesus is talking in past tense terms here. “He who has been forgiven much, loves much. Your sins have been forgiven”. There has been some earlier encounter with Jesus – either directly or through hearing Jesus preach or maybe even hearing a report of things he has said. She is responding to something that has already happened. Her faith has already connected her with God's salvation. From Jesus, “Go in Peace” was a genuine blessing – the shalom the wholeness and peace of the Kingdom of God surrounding the woman as she goes on to live the rest of her life. No wonder she loves so much.
There is not one person in this room who doesn't need that grace. There may be one or two who like Simon, don't think they need it. There may be one or two who think that somehow God chose you because you are the kind of person God likes. There may be one or two who don't know if that grace can reach them. Maybe you've been following Jesus and you still struggle with guilt. But God's hobby is collecting broken people. Putting them right. That is how God deals with us. Forgiveness, salvation, peace, isn't something we have to earn. It is given because of who Jesus is, because of his sacrifice for us; we don't have to earn forgiveness. We just have to receive it; we simply hand over our lives, our brokenness, our failures and even our successes to God. And in faith we receive from him. He saves us; he makes us whole, in every part of our being; we are able to journey on from here in peace. And we pour out our response, at Jesus' feet.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2015
Sunday, 15 February 2015
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Acts 28. 11-31: The Final stage of the Journey - part 1.
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| Appian Way by "Longbow4u" Creative Commons License | . |
This is the final stage of Paul's journey: they took a ship called the “Castor and Pollux” from Malta to Syracuse, (the most important city in Sicily) and after three days headed to Rhegium (now Reggio, de Calabria, on the toe of Italy) and after waiting overnight – possibly for a favourable wind to get them through the Straits of Messina to Puteoli (the port that received Alexandrian grain ships, now Pozzuoli). They stayed there for a week. Julius must have had business to attend do in the area, so Paul was able to have fellowship with the local Church – travelling Christians had already brought the gospel to this port. And then they headed by road to Rome. There was already a Church. or rather a fascinating collection of house churches, in Rome: Paul had already written to them three years before, trying to arrange a visit. What an encouragement as somehow the Christians in Rome heard of his arrival (either the church in Puteoli had sent a message to their Roman friends, or because one or two church folks were actually in positions of authority in the army or government) and set out to meet him on the way; it was almost like an official welcoming party, and it encouraged Paul to know he had real friends in Rome. (Verses 11-16)
As always, Paul started in Rome by contacting the Jewish community. They were still god's people, who had a historic covenant relationship with God. One of the big themes in the letter to Romans is that relationship and it connexion with God's Grace. In his initial contact, Paul was satisfied simply to establish his innocence of any offence against God's Law and his Pharisaic Jewish credentials. The Jewish leaders, for their part, had heard nothing bad about Paul but a fair amount of criticism of “the Jesus way” of living. These guys had probably had some experience of Christians already. They wanted to avoid any trouble. Jews had been thrown out of Rome a few years earlier because of a dispute of riot proportions about the issue of “who is the messiah”? Presumably the Jewish Christians in Rome walked a tight line between loyalty to their Jewish background and commitment to their Christian faith. (Verses 17-22) So they arranged a time to meet in Paul’s house to discuss what Paul believed. And when they met Paul's theme was not his own authority but the Gospel. He preaches to the Jews about the Kingdom. Some were convinced by Paul's arguments. Others were not, and Paul told those guys that even their rejection of Christ was something prophesied (Isaiah ). And as he had done elsewhere, Paul announced that he would go to the gentiles. “They would listen”. (Verses 23- 28.)
So arguments continued among the Jews about Jesus. That's no bad thing. As with Paul himself, the Holy Spirit was still speaking and convicting people . We can be content if as a result of our witness, there is a debate happening, a big discussion about Jesus. And Paul's ministry, among the gentiles, continued unhindered for the next two years. (Verses 29-32. )
The point:
Luke gives a number of details – some simply providing local colour; some that we can no doubt learn from. But Luke wants to leave us with answers to a couple of important questions:
1. What is the Gospel? That was a question he had sought to answer in his letter to the Romans. Luke says Paul was “testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets” He wanted to show them that he message of Jesus was what the Old Testament was unavoidably, inexorably, leading to. He explained from the Old testament that Jesus was the Messiah, the Kingdom Bringer. That means he is “Immanuel, God with us"; it means he brings a new age of peace and hope to the world; it means he is the Suffering Servant who was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our sins. Now it is interesting that when we went to the Gentiles, he was once again speaking about “The Kingdom” and a the whole Jesus story. For Gentiles as well as Jews, Paul's Gospel was about the Kingdom of God. Do we know what the Gospel is? Can we sum it up in a few short sentences? Does our way of talking about the Gospel agree with Paul’s: is it about God's kingdom or just about our ticket to Heaven?
2 Who is it for? It is for everyone! Paul began with the Jews because they have an historic covenant with the Lord. God wants them to be his people. He doesn't want to turn his back on them: he doesn't want to turn his back on anybody! But when the Jews had their opportunity to hear and respond, Paul went to the Gentiles, as he had been called to do. “This salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles.” (v. 28)The fact is – whether it offends Jews or not – this message has to go to the nations, and Paul knows that the gentiles will listen. The message is for all who will hear it. And today, that message is for a who will hear it. The message of Jesus is for you – if you will listen. Do we as beleivers sometimes forget that and think the Gospel is only for people like us. We are the type that God prefers. But it is for everyone.
The point Luke is driving home is that we proclaim An upside-down Kingdom about God establishing his rule in the world through the death of Jesus for our sins, that is for gentiles as well as Jews and that has a transforming effect, building a community of love and encouragement.
The problem.
It seems there are a number of loose ends as Luke finishes Acts. What happens to these Roman Christians, as they are never spoken of again? And what happens to Paul at the end of those two years which should have been long enough for his accusers to get a case together if they dared? Was he tried and executed? Was he set free? Is Luke writing as the two years draw to a close, without himself knowing what was going to happen to Paul? It looks like Paul had a period of freedom after this imprisonment when he wrote the later letters – to Timothy and Titus. But we simply don’t know. The whole narrative seems to end so abruptly. But Luke who begain writing an “orderly account” for Theophilus finishes with what F F Bruce calls an “impressive and artistic conclusion”.
The difference.
What we do know – and what I think Luke wants us to realise, is that
1. The Gospel is more important than Paul. Paul knew that. Luke knew it. We need to learn the lesson that the Gospel and the Kingdom of god are more important that us. The Gospel is more important than me or Pam or Allan or Ruth. The Gospel is more important than Lighthouse Kids or Gateway or Rosyth Baptist Church or for that matter the Baptist Union of Scotland. The Gospel is more important than CLAN or Faith Mission or Street Pastors. A few years ago we sometimes talked about churches or organisations as “Causes”. The Union might talk about a “new Cause in Rosyth.” But we are not causes. We are effects. Our life together as churches is the result of Gospel preaching and Kingdom living. In the end, it is not a matter of what happens to us or our Church. It is what becomes of this gospel and this kingdom,
2. Whatever happened to Paul later, in these two years, the Gospel is the power of God. Jesus is the Victor. Luke shows us Paul, proclaiming the Jesus message, “openly and unhindered”. This message that Theophilus had been informed about, was not some dangerous, subversive thing. Yes it could “turn the world upside down” but it was not seen as a threat. Paul spent two years, in constant company of a Roman soldier, his activities no doubt reported to the higher authorities, and nobody said a word of complaint! This is the power of the Gospel, the triumph of the Kingdom, the victory of Jesus in Rome! The Gospel is still the Power of God. Jesus is still the victor. The Kingdom still advances. We are not meant to be living in defeat.
3. So Luke leaves us with a springboard for that Gospel to go further than ever. The loose end isn't a loose end. Luke has already hinted at this when he tells us that Paul said “salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles,” because Paul is not just taking about the local, Roman situation; he is talking about the mission and shape of the Church for the rest of time. Luke has told us about the way the Good News travelled from Jerusalem, round Asia and Greece, to reach Rome. But Rome isn’t the final destination; as in the writing of the letter to the Romans, it is only a stopping off point. There is Spain, Gaul, that dark and wild island called Britannia. And from that island, mission to India, China, America, Africa. And from our lives, to people round about us we can't really imagine would ever trust in Jesus.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2015
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Acts 28. 1-11 Paul and the supernatural
Snakebite
Having survived two weeks being blown about in a storm, Paul's ship was driven onto a sandbank and began to break up. Everyone on board survived, and they ended up, shivering on a beach (now known as St Paul’s Bay) on Malta. The locals made a fire for the shipwrecked travellers, who helped by scavenging for twigs and bits of wood to make a fire. Paul, putting wood on the fire, was bitten by a viper, but shook off the attack and survived unharmed. Luke was an eye witness. But there's a problem with the story: it sometimes said that there are no venomous snakes on Malta. That's a slight exaggeration: there are no snakes with sufficiently strong venom to kill someone.
So what’s going on?
Did Luke make up the story? That's simply not his style. If he had been making up the story in order to validate Paul's ministry he could have put it in much earlier in the narrative .
Did he exaggerate a story about Paul being bitten by a less dangerous snake? The Black Whip Snake will bite and hold on, and (although not strictly classed as venomous) it can cause swelling and neuro-motor problems, but that's all. So maybe the bit about the locals expecting Paul to die was a bit of a misunderstanding. After all, the Maltese should have known what snakes existed in their own island. But they weren't Greek speakers (that's what “barbarians” means) and Luke may have not understood what they were saying.
As a doctor one would expect him to be able to identify venomous snakes ; that was part of the knowledge base of the first century medical profession. The behaviour Luke describes, a Viper biting and holding on, is typical of the Levantine Viper which is common today in North Africa, Cyprus and Turkey. It may be that the Levantine Viper was found in Malta two thousand years ago. The Levantine Viper is frequently find around small trees and Malta has very few trees today. So it could be that the loss of habitat combined with persecution, caused the snake to become extinct in Malta. We used to have wolves and bears in Scotland (wolves as late as the time of Cromwell). There are no lions or deer today in the holy land though clearly there were in Bible times.
So why does Luke include this story? I believe he does because it happened pretty much as he describes. I believe he does because it's an example of God at work.
For the Maltese like other people in the Roman world, justice was see not just as a principle but as a goddess. “This man escaped drowning but Justice got him in the end.” The Luke tells with a satisfying sense of irony, how the people changed from thinking he had been caught by a god, to thinking he was a god. In particular, for Christians, it illustrates the point that Paul experiences God's victory in Christ over the forces of evil as symbolised by the snake; and were a fulfilment of Jesus words in Mark 16. 18.
But Luke doesn't labour the point. He simply tells the story and leaves us to draw our own conclusions. And that is how we should handle the supernatural. We should expect God to be at work. When he is at work, there will always be an alternative explanation from somewhere. When he is at work, it is not an occasion for hype or exaggeration; it doesn't prove anything; it simply happened. That is how we should tell it. Let people draw their own conclusions.
Publius' Father
The celebrity guests were welcomed in the home of Publius, the “Chieftain” (literally first man) of the island, where they stayed for three days. He was a local landowner, and probably functioned as a “puppet king” under Roman authority. Paul heard that Publius' father was ill; the combination of fever and dysentery still happens and is known as Malta fever; it probably comes from a germ that is carried in goats milk. Luke's medical interest is showing here! Paul responded by bringing the healing of Jesus to the old man. The sentence in Greek reads like this: “coming to him, praying, laying his hands on him, Paul healed him.” There are four verbs, and each one describes a simple, complete action. None of them are long, drawn-out actions. The last one, healing him, isn't a long drawn out process involving the other three. It is three simple actions leading to a fourth simple outcome. These three complete actions that were part of the process are worth looking at in detail.
He Went. God can heal from a distance, and we can pray for people at a distance, knowing God hears. But the Jesus way to engage in the supernatural, is generally through presence, going there; being with people. It makes sense. In counselling, we are taught to be “fully present” with the person we are helping.; that is, fully engaged, listening, feeling what they are feeling. The very experience of “presence” can be a healing thing in itself.
He Prayed. All healing, whether medical or miraculous, comes from God. The doctor or other health worker who wants to bring healing from God, will not rely simply on their medical skill but will pray for those they work with. And similarly, the person seeking to minister healing supernaturally, will also remember that the source is God himself, not us; so we will pray, as we seek to be channels of God's healing. We will pray for the person we are ministering to, for grace, for an encounter with father’s love, for healing and strength. We will pray for ourselves, for power, for wisdom, for faith, for guidance: “Lord, what do you want me to say, what do you want me to do, what are you going to do in this person's life?”
He Laid hands on him. Someone once said “Jesus didn’t' send us out to pray for the sick but to heal the sick!” That is a slight overstatement, but I think I know what they mean. It is good, having prayed, and having received some sense of direction from God, to lay hands on the sufferer, as a sign of passing something on from God to the person. Jesus used many forms of contact – spitting, mud, touch, as well as speech – speaking to the sick person. Laying on hands says “I believe God wants to do something for you; reach out and receive what God has for you.” God will use us if we will use that simple example: go, pray, touch.
Crowds.
As a result of what happened, led to a flood tide of people, coming and seeking healing. This time, the verbs are imperfect, which means the coming and the curing kept on happening. The island would take about 6 hours to walk from one end to the other. Some may have heard and arrived almost immediately, but it must have taken at least a day or two for word to get all round the place, possibly longer as many people would probably be in scattered villages. I imagine that over the next three months while people were wintering on the island, Paul, Luke and those with them had regular visitors. He says when they left “we were honoured.” Paul's ministry got others including Luke involved too, and the healings may have been partly miraculous and partly medical.
So what does Luke tell us?
The whole story, from Publius' father to the crowds, is very similar to that of Peter’s mother-in-law (Lk 4. 38ff) so what Paul is doing is very much the Jesus' way of ministering. Here, at the end of he Acts of the Apostles, Jesus is still in business, healing the sick. The kingdom continues to operate through the Church.
Luke takes one verse to describe the old man's disease and how Paul sorted him. He takes one verse to sum up the ministry to the crowds. As in his telling of the story of the snake, Luke is calm, matter-of fact, and scientific. There is no place for drama, exaggeration or hype.
Luke says very little about what happened afterwards. He doesn't specifically say that people believed in Jesus. or that a church was planted. The only hint is that they honoured and rewarded Paul and his friends. And there is a tradition that Publius became the leader of the Church on the island. It's possible that the gospel had already come to Malta as it was a stopping off point for shipping to Rome. Luke doesn't tell us. We shouldn't make too many conclusions from Luke’s silence. He leaves a number of things unsaid. For example, the islanders decided Paul must be a god when he shook off the viper. Can you imagine Paul letting that go unchecked? But Luke doesn’t' mention what Paul said. As ever, Luke tells the story without labouring all the details. In the end, it's the same picture of Paul, as in the last chapter,, practical, pastoral, caring for those around him, in the power of the Spirit.
Maybe we need to engage in Kingdom ministry and not worry too much about the loose ends. We encounter evil in the world – Satan, sickness and the false gods of the paganism around us. We challenge that in the name of Jesus – not for the sake of he spectacular, but simply because presenting that challenge is the right response of the Kingdom of god. And then we need to leave the responses to the people and to God.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2015
Having survived two weeks being blown about in a storm, Paul's ship was driven onto a sandbank and began to break up. Everyone on board survived, and they ended up, shivering on a beach (now known as St Paul’s Bay) on Malta. The locals made a fire for the shipwrecked travellers, who helped by scavenging for twigs and bits of wood to make a fire. Paul, putting wood on the fire, was bitten by a viper, but shook off the attack and survived unharmed. Luke was an eye witness. But there's a problem with the story: it sometimes said that there are no venomous snakes on Malta. That's a slight exaggeration: there are no snakes with sufficiently strong venom to kill someone.
So what’s going on?
Did Luke make up the story? That's simply not his style. If he had been making up the story in order to validate Paul's ministry he could have put it in much earlier in the narrative .
Did he exaggerate a story about Paul being bitten by a less dangerous snake? The Black Whip Snake will bite and hold on, and (although not strictly classed as venomous) it can cause swelling and neuro-motor problems, but that's all. So maybe the bit about the locals expecting Paul to die was a bit of a misunderstanding. After all, the Maltese should have known what snakes existed in their own island. But they weren't Greek speakers (that's what “barbarians” means) and Luke may have not understood what they were saying.
As a doctor one would expect him to be able to identify venomous snakes ; that was part of the knowledge base of the first century medical profession. The behaviour Luke describes, a Viper biting and holding on, is typical of the Levantine Viper which is common today in North Africa, Cyprus and Turkey. It may be that the Levantine Viper was found in Malta two thousand years ago. The Levantine Viper is frequently find around small trees and Malta has very few trees today. So it could be that the loss of habitat combined with persecution, caused the snake to become extinct in Malta. We used to have wolves and bears in Scotland (wolves as late as the time of Cromwell). There are no lions or deer today in the holy land though clearly there were in Bible times.
So why does Luke include this story? I believe he does because it happened pretty much as he describes. I believe he does because it's an example of God at work.
For the Maltese like other people in the Roman world, justice was see not just as a principle but as a goddess. “This man escaped drowning but Justice got him in the end.” The Luke tells with a satisfying sense of irony, how the people changed from thinking he had been caught by a god, to thinking he was a god. In particular, for Christians, it illustrates the point that Paul experiences God's victory in Christ over the forces of evil as symbolised by the snake; and were a fulfilment of Jesus words in Mark 16. 18.
But Luke doesn't labour the point. He simply tells the story and leaves us to draw our own conclusions. And that is how we should handle the supernatural. We should expect God to be at work. When he is at work, there will always be an alternative explanation from somewhere. When he is at work, it is not an occasion for hype or exaggeration; it doesn't prove anything; it simply happened. That is how we should tell it. Let people draw their own conclusions.
Publius' Father
The celebrity guests were welcomed in the home of Publius, the “Chieftain” (literally first man) of the island, where they stayed for three days. He was a local landowner, and probably functioned as a “puppet king” under Roman authority. Paul heard that Publius' father was ill; the combination of fever and dysentery still happens and is known as Malta fever; it probably comes from a germ that is carried in goats milk. Luke's medical interest is showing here! Paul responded by bringing the healing of Jesus to the old man. The sentence in Greek reads like this: “coming to him, praying, laying his hands on him, Paul healed him.” There are four verbs, and each one describes a simple, complete action. None of them are long, drawn-out actions. The last one, healing him, isn't a long drawn out process involving the other three. It is three simple actions leading to a fourth simple outcome. These three complete actions that were part of the process are worth looking at in detail.
He Went. God can heal from a distance, and we can pray for people at a distance, knowing God hears. But the Jesus way to engage in the supernatural, is generally through presence, going there; being with people. It makes sense. In counselling, we are taught to be “fully present” with the person we are helping.; that is, fully engaged, listening, feeling what they are feeling. The very experience of “presence” can be a healing thing in itself.
He Prayed. All healing, whether medical or miraculous, comes from God. The doctor or other health worker who wants to bring healing from God, will not rely simply on their medical skill but will pray for those they work with. And similarly, the person seeking to minister healing supernaturally, will also remember that the source is God himself, not us; so we will pray, as we seek to be channels of God's healing. We will pray for the person we are ministering to, for grace, for an encounter with father’s love, for healing and strength. We will pray for ourselves, for power, for wisdom, for faith, for guidance: “Lord, what do you want me to say, what do you want me to do, what are you going to do in this person's life?”
He Laid hands on him. Someone once said “Jesus didn’t' send us out to pray for the sick but to heal the sick!” That is a slight overstatement, but I think I know what they mean. It is good, having prayed, and having received some sense of direction from God, to lay hands on the sufferer, as a sign of passing something on from God to the person. Jesus used many forms of contact – spitting, mud, touch, as well as speech – speaking to the sick person. Laying on hands says “I believe God wants to do something for you; reach out and receive what God has for you.” God will use us if we will use that simple example: go, pray, touch.
Crowds.
As a result of what happened, led to a flood tide of people, coming and seeking healing. This time, the verbs are imperfect, which means the coming and the curing kept on happening. The island would take about 6 hours to walk from one end to the other. Some may have heard and arrived almost immediately, but it must have taken at least a day or two for word to get all round the place, possibly longer as many people would probably be in scattered villages. I imagine that over the next three months while people were wintering on the island, Paul, Luke and those with them had regular visitors. He says when they left “we were honoured.” Paul's ministry got others including Luke involved too, and the healings may have been partly miraculous and partly medical.
So what does Luke tell us?
The whole story, from Publius' father to the crowds, is very similar to that of Peter’s mother-in-law (Lk 4. 38ff) so what Paul is doing is very much the Jesus' way of ministering. Here, at the end of he Acts of the Apostles, Jesus is still in business, healing the sick. The kingdom continues to operate through the Church.
Luke takes one verse to describe the old man's disease and how Paul sorted him. He takes one verse to sum up the ministry to the crowds. As in his telling of the story of the snake, Luke is calm, matter-of fact, and scientific. There is no place for drama, exaggeration or hype.
Luke says very little about what happened afterwards. He doesn't specifically say that people believed in Jesus. or that a church was planted. The only hint is that they honoured and rewarded Paul and his friends. And there is a tradition that Publius became the leader of the Church on the island. It's possible that the gospel had already come to Malta as it was a stopping off point for shipping to Rome. Luke doesn't tell us. We shouldn't make too many conclusions from Luke’s silence. He leaves a number of things unsaid. For example, the islanders decided Paul must be a god when he shook off the viper. Can you imagine Paul letting that go unchecked? But Luke doesn’t' mention what Paul said. As ever, Luke tells the story without labouring all the details. In the end, it's the same picture of Paul, as in the last chapter,, practical, pastoral, caring for those around him, in the power of the Spirit.
Maybe we need to engage in Kingdom ministry and not worry too much about the loose ends. We encounter evil in the world – Satan, sickness and the false gods of the paganism around us. We challenge that in the name of Jesus – not for the sake of he spectacular, but simply because presenting that challenge is the right response of the Kingdom of god. And then we need to leave the responses to the people and to God.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2015
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Acts 27 - All through the storm
In a close environment like a boat, you very quickly find out who are the ones
who are always sure they are right. They can be irritating, right? Now, at first glance, Paul may look like the irritating sort of guy – the one who knows about seamanship better than the captain, the know-it-all who is for ever giving advice, and is quick to say “I told you this would happen!”. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Paul rather is a natural leader of the best, most positive kind.
Firstly, He has friendships.
He builds good, positive relationships.
In these last two chapters of Acts, Luke once again talks as an eye-witness as he did up until chapter 1v 18. he has probably been quietly working at his profession somewhere in Judea until the decision is finally made to sent Paul to Rome. So Luke was on that ship and so was Aristarchus, who had come from Asia with Paul to Jerusalem. It may be that Aristarchus was on his way home to Northern Greece, but Luke was to stick with Paul right the way through to Rome. Both of them must have had to stick their necks out to be sure of a place on that journey, wither identifying themselves as Paul's companions, or taking the expense of arranging their own passage with Paul.
That tells me that Paul had wonderful friends. He was someone who won people's hearts and for whom people were willing to make sacrifices. It's clear from the book of Acts as well as from his letters that Paul, like Jesus, was regularly surrounded by people whom he was teaching, encouraging, listening to, supporting, in a fatherly, mentoring kind of relationship.
And we see that again with Julius, the Centurion of the Augustan Cohort. This unit was mainly responsible for securing the corn supply from places like Egypt. A ship form Alexandria (v. 6) would probably be taking corn supplies to Rome. Julius did his job diligently, finding the right transport, controlling his men, and holding the ship's owners to their contract. Nothing suggests that he was weak or incompetent. And yet, we find that
he shows Paul the kindness of allowing him to be looked after by his friends in Sidon (v. 3, presumably with a guard in tow.)
he is able to involve Paul in the conversations before major decisions (v 9-11; 21-26; 31; 33f)
he wanted to save Paul's life when his men were ready simply to kill the prisoners rather than let them escape (v. 42f)
And all of that suggests that not only Paul's experience as a seasoned traveller, but also his obvious concern for the well-being of everyone on board and the warmth of his personality, had won the friendship of the Roman officer.
Secondly, he is in the boat.
The first journey, round the Syrian and Turkish coast to Myra, was the the normal work of coasting vessels. Then they joined what was probably a grain transport. Then they hit this Euraquilo or Gregale wind which sometimes still blows down the Adriatic from southern Europe and causes storms in the Mediterranean. Men were too seasick, too scared or too busy or wet to eat. It's all the routine, and the unusual perils, of a sea journey. Unlike Jonah, trying to sleep through the storm in the hold of the ship, Paul is fully engaged with all that is happening.
And he shows that he is committed to the welfare of the boat and “all who sail in her”. Throughout the journey, Paul demonstrates that his concern is not just for his own survival – although obviously he is motivated to reach the capital of the empire, Rome! He is concerned for the survival and welfare of all in the boat. He has identified with the ship's company and speaks the language of solidarity with them: “Our lives” (v. 10), “we shall have to run on some island” (v. 26).
That's a model for us, too. So often we can think of the Church as a lifeboat on the rough seas of life. All our efforts are focussed on getting other people into our boat. The Church lifeboat is a good boat. It exists to rescue people. That's a good enough image to work with. We are called to be a lifeboat. But the picture here is of believers, in the same boat as everyone else. So we are also called to be in the same boat with our families, or friends, facing the same storms – the same pressures as everyone else: paying the bills, bringing up your kids, keeping your job, getting older, looking after hour health, surviving difficult relationships, living through epidemics or terror threats. But sometimes we need to get out of our Church “lifeboat” which can become a bit of a ghetto, and be there, in our communities, families, workplaces, as salt and light, and witness within our world, by presence rather than attraction.we need to be bringing blessing, encouragement as we sue our gifts and skills. When God's people were taken into exile, they were all desperate to get back to their beloved home land. But God said “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jer 29. 7) We need to do the same.
Thirdly, he is hearing God.
It may be that some of Paul's – correct – insights came from his astute mind and his experience as a seasoned traveller who had already survived shipwrecks. But some, clearly, were supernatural, prophetic gifts. He was someone who was able to speak God's word into the situation because he was someone who was hearing God.. as verses 21-26 and 33-37 demonstrate.
We need to use our minds. Sometimes Christians get just a bit silly: we're afraid to think things out for ourselves. The story is told that Christian Soul singer Andrae Couch’s musical career began when his dad, who was a pastor, laid hands on him and prayed that he would have the gift of music so the church would have someone to play the piano. The young Andrae sat right down next Sunday and played for the service; but I'm in no doubt that the prayer kick started something that God had already planted in the boy's heart and mind. If you can't carry a tune in a bucket, you're probably not called to be in the worship band. If the weather forecast says it's going to rain, you don't plan a barbecue. It the cup final is on, you don't put on a Saturday all-day course for small group leaders (Yes, I’ve been caught out with that one, and the guys who needed training all disappeared after lunch!)
We need to listen. God will speak, when we need him to, if we will listen to him. You know what it is like, though. Sometimes we get obsessed with rubbish, overwhelmed with the circumstances of our lives, and swamped by our own negative thought patterns. Faith is drowned out and it is difficult to apply God's word or walk in faith. That is the time when we need to take the time to listen.
We need to pray. The angel says “God has granted you all those who sail with you”. Paul gave God time to speak, as he called out in believing prayer not only for himself, but for the people around him on the deck and the hold of that ship. in the boat with two hundred others, had a burden fro them.. He was obviously praying for the others.
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
 |
| Image by Gilmour Lilly |
Firstly, He has friendships.
In these last two chapters of Acts, Luke once again talks as an eye-witness as he did up until chapter 1v 18. he has probably been quietly working at his profession somewhere in Judea until the decision is finally made to sent Paul to Rome. So Luke was on that ship and so was Aristarchus, who had come from Asia with Paul to Jerusalem. It may be that Aristarchus was on his way home to Northern Greece, but Luke was to stick with Paul right the way through to Rome. Both of them must have had to stick their necks out to be sure of a place on that journey, wither identifying themselves as Paul's companions, or taking the expense of arranging their own passage with Paul.
That tells me that Paul had wonderful friends. He was someone who won people's hearts and for whom people were willing to make sacrifices. It's clear from the book of Acts as well as from his letters that Paul, like Jesus, was regularly surrounded by people whom he was teaching, encouraging, listening to, supporting, in a fatherly, mentoring kind of relationship.
And we see that again with Julius, the Centurion of the Augustan Cohort. This unit was mainly responsible for securing the corn supply from places like Egypt. A ship form Alexandria (v. 6) would probably be taking corn supplies to Rome. Julius did his job diligently, finding the right transport, controlling his men, and holding the ship's owners to their contract. Nothing suggests that he was weak or incompetent. And yet, we find that
he shows Paul the kindness of allowing him to be looked after by his friends in Sidon (v. 3, presumably with a guard in tow.)
he is able to involve Paul in the conversations before major decisions (v 9-11; 21-26; 31; 33f)
he wanted to save Paul's life when his men were ready simply to kill the prisoners rather than let them escape (v. 42f)
And all of that suggests that not only Paul's experience as a seasoned traveller, but also his obvious concern for the well-being of everyone on board and the warmth of his personality, had won the friendship of the Roman officer.
Secondly, he is in the boat.
 |
| Image by Gilmour Lilly |
And he shows that he is committed to the welfare of the boat and “all who sail in her”. Throughout the journey, Paul demonstrates that his concern is not just for his own survival – although obviously he is motivated to reach the capital of the empire, Rome! He is concerned for the survival and welfare of all in the boat. He has identified with the ship's company and speaks the language of solidarity with them: “Our lives” (v. 10), “we shall have to run on some island” (v. 26).
That's a model for us, too. So often we can think of the Church as a lifeboat on the rough seas of life. All our efforts are focussed on getting other people into our boat. The Church lifeboat is a good boat. It exists to rescue people. That's a good enough image to work with. We are called to be a lifeboat. But the picture here is of believers, in the same boat as everyone else. So we are also called to be in the same boat with our families, or friends, facing the same storms – the same pressures as everyone else: paying the bills, bringing up your kids, keeping your job, getting older, looking after hour health, surviving difficult relationships, living through epidemics or terror threats. But sometimes we need to get out of our Church “lifeboat” which can become a bit of a ghetto, and be there, in our communities, families, workplaces, as salt and light, and witness within our world, by presence rather than attraction.we need to be bringing blessing, encouragement as we sue our gifts and skills. When God's people were taken into exile, they were all desperate to get back to their beloved home land. But God said “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jer 29. 7) We need to do the same.
Thirdly, he is hearing God.
 | |||
| Andraé_Crouch - image to by Eirik Voss |
We need to use our minds. Sometimes Christians get just a bit silly: we're afraid to think things out for ourselves. The story is told that Christian Soul singer Andrae Couch’s musical career began when his dad, who was a pastor, laid hands on him and prayed that he would have the gift of music so the church would have someone to play the piano. The young Andrae sat right down next Sunday and played for the service; but I'm in no doubt that the prayer kick started something that God had already planted in the boy's heart and mind. If you can't carry a tune in a bucket, you're probably not called to be in the worship band. If the weather forecast says it's going to rain, you don't plan a barbecue. It the cup final is on, you don't put on a Saturday all-day course for small group leaders (Yes, I’ve been caught out with that one, and the guys who needed training all disappeared after lunch!)
We need to listen. God will speak, when we need him to, if we will listen to him. You know what it is like, though. Sometimes we get obsessed with rubbish, overwhelmed with the circumstances of our lives, and swamped by our own negative thought patterns. Faith is drowned out and it is difficult to apply God's word or walk in faith. That is the time when we need to take the time to listen.
We need to pray. The angel says “God has granted you all those who sail with you”. Paul gave God time to speak, as he called out in believing prayer not only for himself, but for the people around him on the deck and the hold of that ship. in the boat with two hundred others, had a burden fro them.. He was obviously praying for the others.
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Acts 26... Paul's Story, again....
Paul's Story
Paul is on trial again, this time, the judges are Governor Festus and King Agrippa, and it is to Agrippa that Paul speaks (Festus has already heard him). Paul insists that he is on trial for his Jewish “hope” — the confidence that God's promises to the twelve tribes of Israel, have been fulfilled or will be, through Jesus. He is on trial for his belief in the resurrection of Jesus.
And Paul for the second time, defends himself by telling the story of his conversion, his first encounter with Jesus, on the road to Damascus. That makes it the third time Luke actually writes this story in the Acts of the Apostles. It's obviously a pretty important story – just as our story of encountering Jesus is important, for us, and for the people around us who are trying to figure out what we, and our message, is all about.
So Paul tells his story of how he lived from his youth as a strict Pharisee – the most rigorously law-keeping branch of Judaism. How he thought he had a duty to oppose Jesus and his followers to the death. How he went to Damascus with arrest warrants against the Christians there, and how he was surrounded by a blinding light and heard the voice of Jesus asking him ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? It is hurting you to kick against the things that are pushing you towards faith, just like it hurts an ox to resist when someone is trying to make it go forward by prodding it with a sharp stick. You're kicking against your conscience and against your destiny, Paul”
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Then he heard the Voice: “I am Jesus, the one whose memory you are trying wipe off the face of the earth” and then Jesus went on “I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders (gentiles) and to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family...” (v 15-18) Paul doesn't give the rest of the details of his conversion, but jumps in to say that he was immediately transformed. “I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that!” (v 19) He was hooked from then on he lived his entire life to tell everyone about Jesus.
Before we go on, let me ask you a question. Do you have a Jesus story? Do you have a story of Jesus' intervention in your life and of a transformation, happening in your life because of Jesus?
Paul's Point
The reason Paul has told his story, is to demonstrate the reason why he is a prisoner. He has sound “Jewish” pedigree, but the Jews had grabbed him and tried to lynch him in the temple “because of this ‘whole world’ dimension” and God's “help” (v 21) came through the Roman authorities. Two years in prison, plenty time to think things through, hasn't changed Paul’s mind. He is still committed to this vital principle that the Good News of Jesus is for the Whole world. And that this principle is no new idea: it is “what the prophets and Moses said would happen — that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” (v 22f )
People, we need to check out our commitment to this principle: “the Good news of Jesus is for all people everywhere.” The Church is the “Body of Christ” — continuing what Jesus began to do and teach; crossing bridges; getting alongside lost and broken people; moving out of the religious ghetto. The call to be a mission oriented Church is not some newfangled fad. It is at the core of our faith, the centre of Scripture, the heart of God.
Problems with Paul...
The pagan governor: “Paul, your learning has driven you mad!” (v. 24)
The Jewish King: “Paul, it sounds as if you're trying to convert me!” (v. 28)
These two responses have very contemporary feel: Festus has been doing his best to look even-handed, fair, and reasonable. But here he shouts out, interrupts Paul, and although acknowledging Paul's education, questions his sanity. It's quite condescending and typifies the attitude of postmodern secularism, which feels free to ridicule what it cannot place within its own categories.
Millions of people this week have been saying “je suis Charlie” in response to the terrorist attack at the offices of the French magazine. As Christians, we absolutely condemn the violent attacks in France and Belgium – as well as the massacre of many hundreds in Baga, Nigeria by Boko Haram. But we also condemn the secularist culture that rejects the idea of the sacred. Secularism is like religion: cartoonists and comedians are its prophets; mockery is its liturgy; “nothing is sacred” its creed and it sacrifices the reputations and sensibilities of others. What Charlie Hebdo has published is no more clever than the sort of thing that gets drawn on lavatory walls.
So as Christians, we will meet people who will suggest that what we believe shows we are just a wee bit flakey. And if you’re one of these people, we're not impressed because you’re nothing new!
And when Paul directly challenges king Agrippa, “Do you believe the prophets?” the King is stuck. If he says “no” then he's denying his Jewish faith. If he says “Yes” then he sees Paul's reply coming at him like a freight train: “The you must accept that Jesus is the Messiah”. So he makes a light-hearted little joke “Surely you're not trying to make me a Christian so quickly!” And for many people today, it's simply about sidestepping that challenge.
The idea that King Agrippa, surrounded with pomp and the trappings of his own importance, could throw his lot in with the despised Christians, seemed indeed a joke. “You may have been suddenly converted by heavenly vision but I am not easily convinced.”
It doesn’t matter how watertight our arguments may be. There will be those who will simply say “Now hold on. You're not out to get me to sign up, are you?”
The Difference with Paul
“That’s what I’m praying for, whether now or later, and not only you but everyone listening today, to become like me—except, of course, for these chains!” (v. 29)
What motivated Paul? The desire to see everyone entering into a living faith in Jesus Christ. However long or short it might take, what Paul wanted for everyone he met, was that they might share his faith and his vibrant experience of the living Jesus. Are we motivated by the desire to see everyone trust in Jesus? Are we able to say we want everyone to “become like us”?
Paul's chains were only on the outside. Paul “is the dominating personality in the scene” (says William Barclay). Festus almost banters with him more like a debating opponent or a friend arguing in the pub,than a judge and a prisoner; and When King Agrippa speaks it seems like he rather than Paul is on trial. At the end of Paul's speech, he has proved himself innocent: “if he had not already appealed to Caesar he could have been set free. It's Paul, not Felix or Agrippa who is in control, because it is God who is in control.
So Paul’s words "I wish that everyone was as I am - except for these chains" takes us back to our testimony, our story of Jesus at work in our lives. How passionately we wish everyone knew Jesus, will be determined by how real is our story of transformation by Jesus and his kingdom. And by the way, Passion for Jesus will not condemn us; in the end it will vindicate us!
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
And Paul for the second time, defends himself by telling the story of his conversion, his first encounter with Jesus, on the road to Damascus. That makes it the third time Luke actually writes this story in the Acts of the Apostles. It's obviously a pretty important story – just as our story of encountering Jesus is important, for us, and for the people around us who are trying to figure out what we, and our message, is all about.
So Paul tells his story of how he lived from his youth as a strict Pharisee – the most rigorously law-keeping branch of Judaism. How he thought he had a duty to oppose Jesus and his followers to the death. How he went to Damascus with arrest warrants against the Christians there, and how he was surrounded by a blinding light and heard the voice of Jesus asking him ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? It is hurting you to kick against the things that are pushing you towards faith, just like it hurts an ox to resist when someone is trying to make it go forward by prodding it with a sharp stick. You're kicking against your conscience and against your destiny, Paul”
Then he heard the Voice: “I am Jesus, the one whose memory you are trying wipe off the face of the earth” and then Jesus went on “I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders (gentiles) and to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family...” (v 15-18) Paul doesn't give the rest of the details of his conversion, but jumps in to say that he was immediately transformed. “I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that!” (v 19) He was hooked from then on he lived his entire life to tell everyone about Jesus.
Before we go on, let me ask you a question. Do you have a Jesus story? Do you have a story of Jesus' intervention in your life and of a transformation, happening in your life because of Jesus?
Paul's Point
The reason Paul has told his story, is to demonstrate the reason why he is a prisoner. He has sound “Jewish” pedigree, but the Jews had grabbed him and tried to lynch him in the temple “because of this ‘whole world’ dimension” and God's “help” (v 21) came through the Roman authorities. Two years in prison, plenty time to think things through, hasn't changed Paul’s mind. He is still committed to this vital principle that the Good News of Jesus is for the Whole world. And that this principle is no new idea: it is “what the prophets and Moses said would happen — that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” (v 22f )
People, we need to check out our commitment to this principle: “the Good news of Jesus is for all people everywhere.” The Church is the “Body of Christ” — continuing what Jesus began to do and teach; crossing bridges; getting alongside lost and broken people; moving out of the religious ghetto. The call to be a mission oriented Church is not some newfangled fad. It is at the core of our faith, the centre of Scripture, the heart of God.
Problems with Paul...
The pagan governor: “Paul, your learning has driven you mad!” (v. 24)
The Jewish King: “Paul, it sounds as if you're trying to convert me!” (v. 28)
These two responses have very contemporary feel: Festus has been doing his best to look even-handed, fair, and reasonable. But here he shouts out, interrupts Paul, and although acknowledging Paul's education, questions his sanity. It's quite condescending and typifies the attitude of postmodern secularism, which feels free to ridicule what it cannot place within its own categories.
Millions of people this week have been saying “je suis Charlie” in response to the terrorist attack at the offices of the French magazine. As Christians, we absolutely condemn the violent attacks in France and Belgium – as well as the massacre of many hundreds in Baga, Nigeria by Boko Haram. But we also condemn the secularist culture that rejects the idea of the sacred. Secularism is like religion: cartoonists and comedians are its prophets; mockery is its liturgy; “nothing is sacred” its creed and it sacrifices the reputations and sensibilities of others. What Charlie Hebdo has published is no more clever than the sort of thing that gets drawn on lavatory walls.
So as Christians, we will meet people who will suggest that what we believe shows we are just a wee bit flakey. And if you’re one of these people, we're not impressed because you’re nothing new!
And when Paul directly challenges king Agrippa, “Do you believe the prophets?” the King is stuck. If he says “no” then he's denying his Jewish faith. If he says “Yes” then he sees Paul's reply coming at him like a freight train: “The you must accept that Jesus is the Messiah”. So he makes a light-hearted little joke “Surely you're not trying to make me a Christian so quickly!” And for many people today, it's simply about sidestepping that challenge.
The idea that King Agrippa, surrounded with pomp and the trappings of his own importance, could throw his lot in with the despised Christians, seemed indeed a joke. “You may have been suddenly converted by heavenly vision but I am not easily convinced.”
It doesn’t matter how watertight our arguments may be. There will be those who will simply say “Now hold on. You're not out to get me to sign up, are you?”
- “You Christians are nice people; if it works for you, fine... Everyone to his or her own ideas.”
- “It's been a great discussion. But religion isn't something I want to be committed to. I don’t actually want my life to change!”
The Difference with Paul
“That’s what I’m praying for, whether now or later, and not only you but everyone listening today, to become like me—except, of course, for these chains!” (v. 29)
What motivated Paul? The desire to see everyone entering into a living faith in Jesus Christ. However long or short it might take, what Paul wanted for everyone he met, was that they might share his faith and his vibrant experience of the living Jesus. Are we motivated by the desire to see everyone trust in Jesus? Are we able to say we want everyone to “become like us”?
Paul's chains were only on the outside. Paul “is the dominating personality in the scene” (says William Barclay). Festus almost banters with him more like a debating opponent or a friend arguing in the pub,than a judge and a prisoner; and When King Agrippa speaks it seems like he rather than Paul is on trial. At the end of Paul's speech, he has proved himself innocent: “if he had not already appealed to Caesar he could have been set free. It's Paul, not Felix or Agrippa who is in control, because it is God who is in control.
So Paul’s words "I wish that everyone was as I am - except for these chains" takes us back to our testimony, our story of Jesus at work in our lives. How passionately we wish everyone knew Jesus, will be determined by how real is our story of transformation by Jesus and his kingdom. And by the way, Passion for Jesus will not condemn us; in the end it will vindicate us!
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Acts: the story so far (readings: Acts 1. 1-5 and Acts 25. 13-27
It's been so long since we looked at the book of Acts - November in fact. I thought we better do what they do at the beginning of instalment 25 of a T.V. series: "the story do far..."
So we have a few verses from the very beginning of Acts... which help us to understand what the book is all about, and a few verses from chapter 25, where we left the story away back in November. And from that earliest chapter several things emerge.
1. It's about Jesus (v1) I have called Acts the story of Jesus, part 2, because really that's what Luke calls it. I know the traditional title is Acts of the Apostles and it has often been called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”, but Luke says his first book (Luke's Gospel) was about “all Jesus began to do and teach...” implying that Acts is about how that ministry continued. Whatever else the Acts of the Apostles is, it is about Jesus about the continuing work of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ, through his people, by his Spirit... The themes of Christian experience, discipleship, mission, Church, are all about Jesus.
2. It's about the Church. Jesus commissioned people to continue what he had started (v2.) The twelve whom he had worked with, taught, built up and encouraged for three years, were the core members of a community that was to spread across the world. We call it the Church. And the fact that Luke uses the word “Apostles” tells me two things about the Church.
(a) The Apostles were the foundation of the Church, so the Church isn’t an afterthought or simply a pragmatic thing set up to get a job done. Rather the Church is the “people of God” a sacred thing. God has always had his people. The Church is a “mystical” community.
(b) “Apostles” means “those who are sent out”. The DNA of the church is always meant to be Apostolic. It is a missional community.
The real Church is a community of people who are connected with each other because they are connected with Jesus.
3. It's about the Kingdom. (v.3) That was the dominant theme in Jesus' life, service and teaching, and it is meant to be for the Church as well. God's reign, what it means, who it works, how it can be entered into, what difference it is meant to make in our lives. Apostles or not, leaders or not, the twelve got things wrong. They continued to chew over the question, “”is now the time to kick out the Romans, and for Israel to rule the world under King Jesus?” Jesus had a different answer.
4. It's about the Spirit. (v. 5) In order to live the life of the Kingdom, to be Jesus' witnesses and declare the Good news of Jesus effectively, God's people need the power of the Holy Spirit, to come upon them, like he upon Mary, and like the cloud came upon the tabernacle in the days of Moses.
And so Luke tells of how the Spirit came, at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and how “Jesus message” touched thousands of lives and the first disciples in Jerusalem became an amazing, loving community that shared their lives together and lived out the radical values of God's kingdom. This is real church, not just an organisation but a family and not just an institution but a spiritual thing, a growing body, a living miracle.
It took persecution to shake the Jerusalem Church into going to other places, but when they went they told everyone the “Jesus message” – and then new churches came into being in Samaria, in Damascus, in Antioch, in Joppa. Someone came to know Jesus then went home with what he had discoverer, to plant a Church. in Africa. But still the Jerusalem Church was a struggle to accept that people who were not Jewish could accept the Jesus message. Even Peter got in trouble for preaching in the home of a Roman officer.
And around that time, there was a hard-line Jew called Saul of Tarsus, who hated the Jesus message and tried to crush it. Saul suddenly met Jesus personally. He trusted Jesus and committed himself to living with Jesus as his King. Strangely when this guy Saul came to the Jerusalem Church, as a new Christian, they were they hadn't the faith to believe that his conversion story was for real. I guess that the pain of persecution had blunted their faith and made them suspicious of any possible threat.
Saul eventually joined the Church at Antioch, where they weren't too bothered about the gap between Jews and non-Jews. They sent him out to preach the message. As a result, of the lives of Saul (now called Paul) and others, in cities like Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, Athens, and even Rome Though Paul didn't go to Rome at this point) people believed in Jesus, embraced this radical kingdom, experienced the life changing power of he Holy Spirit, and became new, real churches, loving communities that shared their lives together.
And then, when twenty years later, this same Paul, came back to Jerusalem, with a cash gift for the hard pressed church, from the non-Jewish churches of Asia and Greece, they were still suspicious. Not, this time, worrying about him being a Jewish extremist, but about him being “not Jewish enough”. Peter and the rest of the elders in Jerusalem persuaded Paul into going to the temple to take part in a purificatin ritual (Acts 21. 22-24) . The idea was to prove to the Jewish Christians that Paul was still keeping the law. And in the temple, doing what the Elders of the Jerusalem church had suggested he do, he was arrested, and charged (wrongly) with bringing a non-Jew into the temple.
Because the Jews wouldn't hear Paul out without starting a riot, the Romans got involved, and Felix, who was then Governor, kept Paul locked up for two years hoping Paul would offer his a bribe. He was the sacked and Festus took over. Paul's case was re-opened. By rights Festus should have set Paul free at the start, but he was feeling his way with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, and as a result, Paul was uncertain about getting justice from Festus so had appealed to the Emperor himself. That's the lead-in to this conversation between the Roman Governor Festus and King Agrippa. It seems that Festus can't see that Paul has broken any Roman law (Acts 25. 25) : there's no clear reason why he should be sent to Rome.
So apart from Paul, nobody comes out that well in the story. Felix trued to use the situation for personal gain. Festus bottled out of doing what he should until it was too late. Even the elders in the Jerusalem Church, who should have silenced criticism of Paul within the Church at the start, instead compromised with his critics, then simply melted away into the background: they are not mentioned again.
And I want to ask, “what went wrong with the Jerusalem Church?” What happened to their radical living? What happened to the power of the Spirit? They seemed more interested in law than the Spirit. What happened to the courage of the day of Pentecost? They seemed so afraid of upsetting people in their dealing with Paul. What happened to a love that would sell their property to provide for the poor? They presumably took the money he brought and then left Paul high and dry! And what happened to the great Commission and the teaching of Jesus about the Church being for every nation? It seems that they only cared about sustaining growth, keeping the people they had got, or being respected in their world. It seems they had domesticated the Kingdom and the Spirit to serve Jewish nationalist ends instead of the global vision of Jesus.
That is something that can happen to churches, or groups of Churches (like the Baptist Union, a local council of churches). We can lose our way. The vision and enthusiasm that launched a movement can become lost. We all want our own ideas heard and our own interests protected; if our ideas differ, we fight each other. If our ideas are the same, we fight everyone else. It has been shown that churches, like other groups of people, go through a cycle from start-up, through a period of growth, to a levelling off, then often to decline and death. What needs to happen to prevent that is, to rediscover the original sense of purpose... and it is Festus who, quite accidentally gives us the key we need. Because nobody can remember what Paul was accused of in the first place. Festus says to Agrippa “some dispute about their own law and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul says is alive.” So Luke brings the story back, before Paul's final trial in Caesarea and his journey to Rome, to where we began. It's all about Jesus. Paul, the Church, you , me. It's all about Jesus.
If we can bring Jesus back to the centre, the real Jesus, we will recover the apostolic DNA of the real church; we will live for the real Kingdom, in the real power of the real Holy Spirit. So may we have an encounter with Jesus, that brings us back to reality. As the hymn says “From unreality O set us free, and let our words be echoed in our ways.”
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
So we have a few verses from the very beginning of Acts... which help us to understand what the book is all about, and a few verses from chapter 25, where we left the story away back in November. And from that earliest chapter several things emerge.
1. It's about Jesus (v1) I have called Acts the story of Jesus, part 2, because really that's what Luke calls it. I know the traditional title is Acts of the Apostles and it has often been called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”, but Luke says his first book (Luke's Gospel) was about “all Jesus began to do and teach...” implying that Acts is about how that ministry continued. Whatever else the Acts of the Apostles is, it is about Jesus about the continuing work of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ, through his people, by his Spirit... The themes of Christian experience, discipleship, mission, Church, are all about Jesus.
2. It's about the Church. Jesus commissioned people to continue what he had started (v2.) The twelve whom he had worked with, taught, built up and encouraged for three years, were the core members of a community that was to spread across the world. We call it the Church. And the fact that Luke uses the word “Apostles” tells me two things about the Church.
(a) The Apostles were the foundation of the Church, so the Church isn’t an afterthought or simply a pragmatic thing set up to get a job done. Rather the Church is the “people of God” a sacred thing. God has always had his people. The Church is a “mystical” community.
(b) “Apostles” means “those who are sent out”. The DNA of the church is always meant to be Apostolic. It is a missional community.
The real Church is a community of people who are connected with each other because they are connected with Jesus.
3. It's about the Kingdom. (v.3) That was the dominant theme in Jesus' life, service and teaching, and it is meant to be for the Church as well. God's reign, what it means, who it works, how it can be entered into, what difference it is meant to make in our lives. Apostles or not, leaders or not, the twelve got things wrong. They continued to chew over the question, “”is now the time to kick out the Romans, and for Israel to rule the world under King Jesus?” Jesus had a different answer.
4. It's about the Spirit. (v. 5) In order to live the life of the Kingdom, to be Jesus' witnesses and declare the Good news of Jesus effectively, God's people need the power of the Holy Spirit, to come upon them, like he upon Mary, and like the cloud came upon the tabernacle in the days of Moses.
And so Luke tells of how the Spirit came, at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and how “Jesus message” touched thousands of lives and the first disciples in Jerusalem became an amazing, loving community that shared their lives together and lived out the radical values of God's kingdom. This is real church, not just an organisation but a family and not just an institution but a spiritual thing, a growing body, a living miracle.
It took persecution to shake the Jerusalem Church into going to other places, but when they went they told everyone the “Jesus message” – and then new churches came into being in Samaria, in Damascus, in Antioch, in Joppa. Someone came to know Jesus then went home with what he had discoverer, to plant a Church. in Africa. But still the Jerusalem Church was a struggle to accept that people who were not Jewish could accept the Jesus message. Even Peter got in trouble for preaching in the home of a Roman officer.
And around that time, there was a hard-line Jew called Saul of Tarsus, who hated the Jesus message and tried to crush it. Saul suddenly met Jesus personally. He trusted Jesus and committed himself to living with Jesus as his King. Strangely when this guy Saul came to the Jerusalem Church, as a new Christian, they were they hadn't the faith to believe that his conversion story was for real. I guess that the pain of persecution had blunted their faith and made them suspicious of any possible threat.
Saul eventually joined the Church at Antioch, where they weren't too bothered about the gap between Jews and non-Jews. They sent him out to preach the message. As a result, of the lives of Saul (now called Paul) and others, in cities like Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, Athens, and even Rome Though Paul didn't go to Rome at this point) people believed in Jesus, embraced this radical kingdom, experienced the life changing power of he Holy Spirit, and became new, real churches, loving communities that shared their lives together.
And then, when twenty years later, this same Paul, came back to Jerusalem, with a cash gift for the hard pressed church, from the non-Jewish churches of Asia and Greece, they were still suspicious. Not, this time, worrying about him being a Jewish extremist, but about him being “not Jewish enough”. Peter and the rest of the elders in Jerusalem persuaded Paul into going to the temple to take part in a purificatin ritual (Acts 21. 22-24) . The idea was to prove to the Jewish Christians that Paul was still keeping the law. And in the temple, doing what the Elders of the Jerusalem church had suggested he do, he was arrested, and charged (wrongly) with bringing a non-Jew into the temple.
Because the Jews wouldn't hear Paul out without starting a riot, the Romans got involved, and Felix, who was then Governor, kept Paul locked up for two years hoping Paul would offer his a bribe. He was the sacked and Festus took over. Paul's case was re-opened. By rights Festus should have set Paul free at the start, but he was feeling his way with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, and as a result, Paul was uncertain about getting justice from Festus so had appealed to the Emperor himself. That's the lead-in to this conversation between the Roman Governor Festus and King Agrippa. It seems that Festus can't see that Paul has broken any Roman law (Acts 25. 25) : there's no clear reason why he should be sent to Rome.
So apart from Paul, nobody comes out that well in the story. Felix trued to use the situation for personal gain. Festus bottled out of doing what he should until it was too late. Even the elders in the Jerusalem Church, who should have silenced criticism of Paul within the Church at the start, instead compromised with his critics, then simply melted away into the background: they are not mentioned again.
And I want to ask, “what went wrong with the Jerusalem Church?” What happened to their radical living? What happened to the power of the Spirit? They seemed more interested in law than the Spirit. What happened to the courage of the day of Pentecost? They seemed so afraid of upsetting people in their dealing with Paul. What happened to a love that would sell their property to provide for the poor? They presumably took the money he brought and then left Paul high and dry! And what happened to the great Commission and the teaching of Jesus about the Church being for every nation? It seems that they only cared about sustaining growth, keeping the people they had got, or being respected in their world. It seems they had domesticated the Kingdom and the Spirit to serve Jewish nationalist ends instead of the global vision of Jesus.
That is something that can happen to churches, or groups of Churches (like the Baptist Union, a local council of churches). We can lose our way. The vision and enthusiasm that launched a movement can become lost. We all want our own ideas heard and our own interests protected; if our ideas differ, we fight each other. If our ideas are the same, we fight everyone else. It has been shown that churches, like other groups of people, go through a cycle from start-up, through a period of growth, to a levelling off, then often to decline and death. What needs to happen to prevent that is, to rediscover the original sense of purpose... and it is Festus who, quite accidentally gives us the key we need. Because nobody can remember what Paul was accused of in the first place. Festus says to Agrippa “some dispute about their own law and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul says is alive.” So Luke brings the story back, before Paul's final trial in Caesarea and his journey to Rome, to where we began. It's all about Jesus. Paul, the Church, you , me. It's all about Jesus.
If we can bring Jesus back to the centre, the real Jesus, we will recover the apostolic DNA of the real church; we will live for the real Kingdom, in the real power of the real Holy Spirit. So may we have an encounter with Jesus, that brings us back to reality. As the hymn says “From unreality O set us free, and let our words be echoed in our ways.”
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Making a start, counting the Cost. Luke 14. 25-35
Luke 14.25-33
Making a start, counting the Cost.
It looks as if they were starting something – or expecting Jesus to start something. Great crowds of excited, enthusiastic people were travelling along with Jesus, wherever he was going. They had seen or heard about him “breaking the rules” by healing someone, right in front of the synagogue crowd, on the Sabbath day. They had heard that his teaching was about choosing the lowest place, about mixing with the lowest people, and about the great “banquet” of the Kingdom of God, and how it was important not to turn that invitation down. “If that is what Jesus is about doing – a banquet of Kingdom blessings that heals the sick, levels out the inequalities, challenges hypocrisy – life could be better for the poorest people. We're in!” They wanted a piece of the Kingdom action. They didn't want to miss out. So they were journeying with Jesus. But where?
Jesus' journey was taking him to Jerusalem (9. 51). Maybe they knew that. Maybe they hoped that in the big city, Jesus would set up his Kingdom; throw out the Romans, take the land from the rich and give it to the poor, and everyone would live in health and prosperity. But Jesus needs to sound another note. There's other water to go under the bridge before a lasting kingdom of peace and prosperity can be established. Jesus demands total commitment from his followers.
That means a realignment of their priorities. “if you don't hate your Mum and dad, your wife and children – and even your own life – you can't be my disciple”. Ouch. It sounds harsh. Maybe we can feel better about a statement like that when we understand the Jewish way of talking about comparisons: “You have to love Jesus so much that it makes your family relationships look like hatred by comparison”. The underlying idea of the Hebrew word for “hate” is “leave aside, abandon”. You don't feel loathing but you are prepared to lay them aside for the sake of the Kingdom. But even when we understand all that, it's stil a big ask. Jesus is using the strongest possible language, to make the point that the kingdom comes first in our lives, if we want to be part of it at all.
He is going to Jerusalem, where he knows, he faces not the honour and joy of setting up a Kingdom, but the humiliation, pain and dread of death on a cross. So if the crowds are journeying with Jesus, they need to take up their cross too.
The Kingdom needs to change lives from the inside before it can change society. The enemy of God's rule isn't the Romans – or the English, or the EU, or the socialists, or the capitalists, the bankers or the terrorists. The ultimate enemy of God's rule, is Satan, and his big idea is rebellion, sin, self-indulgence. Everything else stems from that – from sin. That is why the Cross is so important: sin needs to be dealt with. Those to want to journey with Jesus need to be committed to what he is committed to. The downfall of Satan, the overthrow of sin in the world and in their own lives. You want to follow? Abandon the old life. Take up your cross.
And as Jesus says that, he can see the looks in people’s eyes. A flicker of unbelief: “He didn't really mean that...” The gambler's indifference to the odds: “We'll give it a shot anyway.” The rebel's decision to try and beat the system: "we'll get around that somehow.” So Jesus continues...
Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (v 28) Remember he's talking to poor, farming folks. Which of you when he decides to build a store-room or watch-tower will not first sit down – taking the time and energy to plan and do the sums right. The alternative is for the farmer to go out and dig the foundations, buy the blocks and cement to lay foundations, and then realise he's broke. He's got some nice foundations, but no tower. Everyone who passes the farm can see how stupid he is. Everyone can laugh at the idea. The farmer, before he starts his building project, needs to count the cost.
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand.(v. 31) A king who goes to war rashly, angrily, marching out with his tiny army to redress some insult, is likely to be wiped out. The king needs to have a council of war, and with his officers, to make an intelligent, strategic decision – and if together they realise they are facing an impossible task, it's better to walk out with the white flag and negotiate with the enemy. Now, with God, and a God-given strategy, these odds can be upset; Leviticus 26 v 8: says that blessings on obedient covenant people include "five of you will be able to defeat 100, and a hundred will be able to defeat 10,000" and at Jericho, Joshua had proved exactly that (Joshua 6) and at the Midianite camp at the Hill of Moreh, Gideon had proved it (Judges 7) But the point Jesus is making is that the king, before going out to battle, needs to count the cost.
In parables like this there is one main point and we should not press the picture to make every detail mean something. And the main point is, are you ready to pay the cost. Disciples must be continually ready (present tense) to give up all in order to follow Jesus (33).
And the cost is 100% commitment; the Kingdom will cost you everything. Jesus isn't saying that we shouldn't build and he isn't saying that we shouldn't engage with the enemy. What he is saying is that we should cover the cost knowing that the cost of discipleship is "totality". People, you're starting something. What kind of kingdom do you want to see built? Are you ready to pay the cost? What enemy activity to you want to fight against? Are you ready to pay the cost?
Then there is one last parable: Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. (34-35)
The salt Jesus was talking about was made by evaporating water from the dead sea which is a lake below sea level. The salt in sea water is 85% Sodium Chloride – the salt we use in food. The salts in dead sea water are only 30% Sodium Chloride, with 50% Magnesium Chloride and 14% calcium Chloride. So evaporating water from the Dead Sea yields a very complex load of salts, and there is a skill in gathering the edible salt which precipitates earlier than the others. So when Jesus talks about salt that has lost its flavour, people could relate to that. You could buy a bag of salt from an unscrupulous trader, that contained other chemicals in substantial quantities. It could consist largely of plaster of Paris. It hadn't much taste; you couldn't even put it in the compost. It was only fit for throwing on the rubbish.
This saying about the uselessness of salt has lost its flavour is saying the same thing as the other verses. Disciples who can't hang in there, who aren't ready to pay the price, are as useless as tasteless salt. But salt that has lost its taste isn't really salt. It's something else. Disciples that have lost their distinctive flavour are something else. The question this parable raises in this context is simply this: what are we? Are we really made of kingdom stuff at all?
I think I have told the story before about the pig and the chicken who were walking past the a place advertising all-day breakfast, with a picture a lovely plate of bacon and egg in the window. The pig started to quake in his boots and had to look the other way. The chicken said “what’s the matter with you, it's only a picture of a breakfast!” The pig replied: it's all right for you – you only have to make a contribution...I have to give everything.” The taste of kingdom salty lives is the taste of bacon. It is the taste of a life fully surrendered to God.
So at the beginning of 2015, we can look forward to the blessings and joys of engaging with God's Kingdom. Who are we journeying with? What will we be building? What will be our battle grounds? And, are we prepared to pay the price. Victory will go to, attractive lives will be lived and strong towers built by those who are prepared to pay the price.
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
Making a start, counting the Cost.
It looks as if they were starting something – or expecting Jesus to start something. Great crowds of excited, enthusiastic people were travelling along with Jesus, wherever he was going. They had seen or heard about him “breaking the rules” by healing someone, right in front of the synagogue crowd, on the Sabbath day. They had heard that his teaching was about choosing the lowest place, about mixing with the lowest people, and about the great “banquet” of the Kingdom of God, and how it was important not to turn that invitation down. “If that is what Jesus is about doing – a banquet of Kingdom blessings that heals the sick, levels out the inequalities, challenges hypocrisy – life could be better for the poorest people. We're in!” They wanted a piece of the Kingdom action. They didn't want to miss out. So they were journeying with Jesus. But where?
Jesus' journey was taking him to Jerusalem (9. 51). Maybe they knew that. Maybe they hoped that in the big city, Jesus would set up his Kingdom; throw out the Romans, take the land from the rich and give it to the poor, and everyone would live in health and prosperity. But Jesus needs to sound another note. There's other water to go under the bridge before a lasting kingdom of peace and prosperity can be established. Jesus demands total commitment from his followers.
That means a realignment of their priorities. “if you don't hate your Mum and dad, your wife and children – and even your own life – you can't be my disciple”. Ouch. It sounds harsh. Maybe we can feel better about a statement like that when we understand the Jewish way of talking about comparisons: “You have to love Jesus so much that it makes your family relationships look like hatred by comparison”. The underlying idea of the Hebrew word for “hate” is “leave aside, abandon”. You don't feel loathing but you are prepared to lay them aside for the sake of the Kingdom. But even when we understand all that, it's stil a big ask. Jesus is using the strongest possible language, to make the point that the kingdom comes first in our lives, if we want to be part of it at all.
He is going to Jerusalem, where he knows, he faces not the honour and joy of setting up a Kingdom, but the humiliation, pain and dread of death on a cross. So if the crowds are journeying with Jesus, they need to take up their cross too.
The Kingdom needs to change lives from the inside before it can change society. The enemy of God's rule isn't the Romans – or the English, or the EU, or the socialists, or the capitalists, the bankers or the terrorists. The ultimate enemy of God's rule, is Satan, and his big idea is rebellion, sin, self-indulgence. Everything else stems from that – from sin. That is why the Cross is so important: sin needs to be dealt with. Those to want to journey with Jesus need to be committed to what he is committed to. The downfall of Satan, the overthrow of sin in the world and in their own lives. You want to follow? Abandon the old life. Take up your cross.
And as Jesus says that, he can see the looks in people’s eyes. A flicker of unbelief: “He didn't really mean that...” The gambler's indifference to the odds: “We'll give it a shot anyway.” The rebel's decision to try and beat the system: "we'll get around that somehow.” So Jesus continues...
Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (v 28) Remember he's talking to poor, farming folks. Which of you when he decides to build a store-room or watch-tower will not first sit down – taking the time and energy to plan and do the sums right. The alternative is for the farmer to go out and dig the foundations, buy the blocks and cement to lay foundations, and then realise he's broke. He's got some nice foundations, but no tower. Everyone who passes the farm can see how stupid he is. Everyone can laugh at the idea. The farmer, before he starts his building project, needs to count the cost.
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand.(v. 31) A king who goes to war rashly, angrily, marching out with his tiny army to redress some insult, is likely to be wiped out. The king needs to have a council of war, and with his officers, to make an intelligent, strategic decision – and if together they realise they are facing an impossible task, it's better to walk out with the white flag and negotiate with the enemy. Now, with God, and a God-given strategy, these odds can be upset; Leviticus 26 v 8: says that blessings on obedient covenant people include "five of you will be able to defeat 100, and a hundred will be able to defeat 10,000" and at Jericho, Joshua had proved exactly that (Joshua 6) and at the Midianite camp at the Hill of Moreh, Gideon had proved it (Judges 7) But the point Jesus is making is that the king, before going out to battle, needs to count the cost.
In parables like this there is one main point and we should not press the picture to make every detail mean something. And the main point is, are you ready to pay the cost. Disciples must be continually ready (present tense) to give up all in order to follow Jesus (33).
And the cost is 100% commitment; the Kingdom will cost you everything. Jesus isn't saying that we shouldn't build and he isn't saying that we shouldn't engage with the enemy. What he is saying is that we should cover the cost knowing that the cost of discipleship is "totality". People, you're starting something. What kind of kingdom do you want to see built? Are you ready to pay the cost? What enemy activity to you want to fight against? Are you ready to pay the cost?
Then there is one last parable: Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. (34-35)
The salt Jesus was talking about was made by evaporating water from the dead sea which is a lake below sea level. The salt in sea water is 85% Sodium Chloride – the salt we use in food. The salts in dead sea water are only 30% Sodium Chloride, with 50% Magnesium Chloride and 14% calcium Chloride. So evaporating water from the Dead Sea yields a very complex load of salts, and there is a skill in gathering the edible salt which precipitates earlier than the others. So when Jesus talks about salt that has lost its flavour, people could relate to that. You could buy a bag of salt from an unscrupulous trader, that contained other chemicals in substantial quantities. It could consist largely of plaster of Paris. It hadn't much taste; you couldn't even put it in the compost. It was only fit for throwing on the rubbish.
This saying about the uselessness of salt has lost its flavour is saying the same thing as the other verses. Disciples who can't hang in there, who aren't ready to pay the price, are as useless as tasteless salt. But salt that has lost its taste isn't really salt. It's something else. Disciples that have lost their distinctive flavour are something else. The question this parable raises in this context is simply this: what are we? Are we really made of kingdom stuff at all?
I think I have told the story before about the pig and the chicken who were walking past the a place advertising all-day breakfast, with a picture a lovely plate of bacon and egg in the window. The pig started to quake in his boots and had to look the other way. The chicken said “what’s the matter with you, it's only a picture of a breakfast!” The pig replied: it's all right for you – you only have to make a contribution...I have to give everything.” The taste of kingdom salty lives is the taste of bacon. It is the taste of a life fully surrendered to God.
So at the beginning of 2015, we can look forward to the blessings and joys of engaging with God's Kingdom. Who are we journeying with? What will we be building? What will be our battle grounds? And, are we prepared to pay the price. Victory will go to, attractive lives will be lived and strong towers built by those who are prepared to pay the price.
© Gilmour Lilly January 2015
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