Matthew 21 v 1-13. Palm Sunday

1. Jesus claims what is his:

• the obedience of his disciples; they had to go into town, acting like horse thieves, and risk retribution, to obey what Jesus said.
• a donkey; the owner was perfectly content with the explanation “The Lord needs it”.
• a city, Jerusalem, that he enters like a King.
• and the praise of all the people.
• And within that city, in verse 12, a temple;

Was Jesus being like a two-year-old – who insists that everything in the room is “mine”...    As C S Lewis says, there are three options in dealing with Jesus' claims about Himself: either Jesus ' claims were correct; or they were deluded (Lewis colourfully says, if Jesus was wrong about being God he would be as crazy as a man who thought he was a poached egg!); or they were deliberate deception. The events that followed Palm Sunday - the death and resurrection of Jesus, confirm that his claims were absolutely correct!

2. The underlying history; the sub-text...

In the second century BC, the Eastern Mediterranean was ruled by the Seleucid Empire – which was formed after Alexander the Great's empire collapsed. In 169 BC,King Antiochus IV (whose nickname was Epiphanes – meaning “God manifest”) had removed gold and silver items from the temple. On 25 December 167, Antiochus was back, and this time he desecrated the temple by setting up a pagan altar in the Holy of Holies and offering pigs flesh to Zeus, as well as using the temple rooms used as a brothel. Three years later, in 164BC, a man called Judas Maccabeus had led a revolt, defeated Antiochus and rededicated the temple to God. After the dedication, the people sang hosanna , waved palm branches, and looked forward to redemption. The pagan yoke had been broken and they expect the son of David to come and set the whole world free of sin forever. This became the newest “Festival” in the Jewish calendar.

And when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, claiming it as his own, claiming to be its King, people recognised the signal: it was like the festival of Dedication. So they began to wave their palm branches and to sing the Hallelujah Palms. “Hosanna!” It had echoes of that great victory nearly two hundred years earlier. And that in turn had echoes of the feast of “Tabernacles” when the people remembered surviving in the desert, and made shelters of palm branches. So as people come to Jerusalem for the Passover – when God's victories for his people began – Jesus' action takes them right through to the latest of God's victories. It places Jesus as the saviour, the bringer of a new age. And yes, that is what he is!

People were beginning to get carried away with the idea that Jesus the King, was going to do what Judas Maccabeus had done two hundred years earlier, get rid of the foreigners, drive them out of God's land, set up “proper” worship in the temple and establish a reign of peace and prosperity for the Jewish people.

But, the way Jesus does this, shows the real nature of that new age. Matthew says he is riding “A colt, the foal of a donkey” And it almost reads like Matthew thought Jesus was riding on both the mother and the colt. Except that "them" refers to the cloaks, not the donkeys. I believe Matthew is right to include the mother and the colt  the best and most humane way to deal with an unbroken colt would be to bring its mother  along also. So even the donkey that he claims as his own, is treated with gentleness and respect.

And it is worth noting this is the only time we see Jesus travelling in any other way than on foot. He enters his capital, not as a messianic figure on a warhorse but gentle and riding on the donkey (Zechariah 9.9) By riding a colt, Jesus wants to make the people of Jerusalem see that though he is their rightful king his reign is one of peace and service. Jesus is acting out the principle of humble service he is just enunciated in the previous chapter.

Michael Green points out, "He has come to rule over the hearts and lives of men and women not to kick the Romans out". Jesus is the suffering Son of Man, who comes to Jerusalem to give his life as a ransom for many.

But the suffering servant, the humble King is still King. He exercises his rule and authority. Judas Maccabeus Jesus entered the Jewish temple, to cleanse it from Gentile defilement. Jesus enters the temple, to cleanse he court of the Gentiles from Jewish defilement! His rule is inclusive, international, for everyone.

His reign is cleansing, and it is healing. I like Peterson's rendering of v. 14: Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.

3. Jesus' actions raise the question – “Who is this?” The question is important.

• The answer supplied by the crowds “The prophet Jesus” seems trivial. But it looks back to Deuteronomy 18.15. where Moses prophesies that God will sent “A Prophet like himself.”)
• Matthew says that the entry of Jesus in to Jerusalem fulfils Zech 9. 9: “Your King is coming”. Jesus is Messiah; he is saviour, combining in himself both suffering and glory. Jesus is the Victor, achieving that victory through his death and resurrection. Jesus is King – a king whose rule is global, and deeply personal.
• The Galileans in the crowd can identify Jesus as theirs: He's from Nazareth. The daughters of Zion – the people of Jerusalem – are told he is theirs. He cleanses the court of the gentiles so all nations can pray so he's for the whole world. Is he yours?

Matthew and Zechariah say “Your King is coming...” And the Church could read that, as a renewed promise of the fulfilment of the Kingdom, when Jesus come back.

The Church would read it as a reminder that Jesus was the Suffering Servant.

They would read it as a reminder that their suffering servant was the Victor.

We have learned as we have prepared for Easter this year that suffering and glory go together. That the way to victory is through sacrifice

They would read it as a reminder of Christ's right to rule in their lives, over all the details.

Matthews readers would realize the implication of the story was "God will judge bad Churches " , this judgement on the temple having been fulfilled in 70 A.D. " his severest judgement will be at is reserved for those Churches whose  worship is hollow, where  corruption and dissension are rife, and which repel rather than attract 'gentile' outsiders."

They would read it as a reminder that their King – the same Jesus who came on the donkey – was coming again, in victory.

 © Gilmour Lilly March  2015

Suffering, and Glory John 12. 20-32

Suffering, and Glory

Some Greeks came ….Jesus has just recently raised Lazarus from the dead. Then, he has entered Jerusalem as King – and shown his Kingly authority by cleansing the temple of all the money-grabbers trading there. People are getting annoyed. The Jewish leaders are scratching their heads. What are they going to do about this trouble-making young preacher? They agree “The world has gone after him!”  

And then – to show just how right they were, John records this little incident: some Greeks either "God-fearers" or proselytes had come to Jerusalem to worship – curious about the Jewish faith, impressed by the sensible idea of one supreme holy God instead of a whole load of gods who squabbled like schoolboys. And now some of them want to “See” and have a conversation with Jesus. It is possible that they had witnessed the cleansing of the temple, and been impressed by it. So they come to Philip (who has a Greek name!) and announce that they want to see Jesus. Philip tells Andrew (another Greek name) who accompanies him to tell Jesus.

Isn't that an exciting mission story! It's about these Greeks, coming to a point where they want to meet Jesus. It's about two of the disciples using what they have to hand – in their case the fairly weak and tenuous connexion of having Greek names and being perhaps more “Hellenistic” than some of the others.

And this request of the Greeks to see (talk seriously with) him is like an exploding fuse in the mind of Jesus. John's gospel quotes Jesus as saying,a number of times, “My hour is not yet come” (e.g. John 8. 20) Now at last "the hour" has come Jesus recognises this as “The Son of man being Glorified!” It sounds good; it sounds positive. That is what we are here for. To reach these guys.

What does that glory look like?  

It looks like a grain of wheat, sown into the ground, to die. The son of man will need to plant himself in the ground like a seed – “crucified, laid behind the stone”... we need to know that.

Catholic theologian Karl Rahner said death is “Guilt made visible.” Bruce Milne says “Death proclaims that there is nothing in our lives which is finally fit to endure to eternity.” And Jesus, the perfect, sinless son of God, the timeless, ageless Son of man, faced death. He took our death, our guilt, our sin.

No wonder his soul was “troubled” (v 27) which signifies shock, agitation, or even revulsion.  If an army is “troubled” it is thrown into disorder. If a person's bowels are “troubled” they have the runs! Jesus suffers severe, gut-wrenching distress, because he has to drink the cup of God's wrath. In a prayer that is echoed a little later in Gethsemane, Jesus says “Father, I don’t know how to pray... what shall I say, 'get me out of this'? No, this is why I came. Father, glorify your name, that's my prayer. Glorify your name!” (v 28) "Glorify your name" is synonymous with " your kingdom come, your will be done." In the Cross, jesus says and acts out “Your will be done – so the Cross releases the Kiingdom into the world.

And the Voice. Does anyone watch that kind of stuff on TV? This is the ultimate reality show. The Voice of God, the father . "I have glorified it and will glorify it again"

1. It's the Voice of his Father's approval. As in his Baptism, as on the mountain where he was transfigured, his father is pleased with him. He is fulfilling his call.
2. It's the Voice of his Father's promise: in Jesus death, the father will be glorified. The Kingdom will come; God's will is going to triumph.

Lesslie Newbigin, a Scottish missionary theologian said “In this act the glory which is the flaming heart of the Universe is revealed"  The Son brings glory to the father in a supreme act of obedience ; and in this action the father will crown the Son with glory.

The Cross is the Glory. It is not just the road that leads to glory: it shows the glory of god. The death and resurrection of Jesus are not divisible simple into a defeat at Calvary which was righted by the subsequent powerful victorious act of the resurrection. Rather both death and resurrection represent one inseparable event in which Jesus achieves the glory of God. Christian Faith, says Bruce Milne, is Easter faith.

That's the Cross; that's the glory. That's obedience; that's the kingdom. As Jesus yields himself, his very life, the the father’s will, the Kingdom comes; as Jesus – the One over whom death has no power, enters death, this terrifying dominion cannot hold him. Resurrection has to follow. C S Lewis puts it like this in the end of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: "If a willing Victim that has committed no treachery is killed in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table will crack; and even death itself would turn backwards."

Mission:

What about the Greeks?

Jesus is not described as having had a conversation with the Gentiles. It could almost look like a slap in the face for them. We don't know whether he spoke to them or not. We have no reason for being dogmatic one way or the other. But what we do know is that he did what needed to be done to bring these Greeks – and us – in.

The rest of the chapter shows us Jesus in conflict with the Jewish authorities: they respond to him with unbelief, self-interest and rejection. Jesus is winding up the “Jewish” part of his ministry; the scene is being set for Paul to say “I am going to the Gentiles”

“The way to the evangelization of the Gentiles lies through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and the mission of the church,” says C K Barrett.

 

What about us?
Jesus sums up by saying four things about the cross and resurrection, suffering and kingdom event.

1. It is the judgement of this world; (ESV) that is (1) it will pass judgement on the world; and (2) It will bear the judgement deserved by the world.
2. It will drive out the prince of this world
3. it will exalt Jesus : he will be lifted up in a positive and negative sense ; the cross is a throne.
4. It will bring a worldwide harvest: "all men" are drawn to Jesus.

Ultimately the "much fruit" which the seed of Jesus crucified brings forth, will be the church of the first-born from all the nations and ages.  We become part of that. How?

Jesus tells us “If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honour him.” (v. 26)

1. We enter eternal life through death to ourselves – taking up our cross –  ceasing to follow all the other “Lords and Kings”.
2. Kingdom fruitfulness is costly . It is in dying that we become life givers. Paul speaks of dying every day (1 Cor. 15.31).

The death and resurrection of Jesus, in its entirety, brings the kingdom and glorifies God. And it brings the kingdom to the whole world; all men. God is looking for much fruit. And we can be part of that as we surrender ourselves to Him.


© Gilmour Lilly March  2015

The True Glory of Jesus. Luke 9. 28-36

View from the Jungfrau. Image by G Lilly

You see some pretty amazing things when you climb a mountain.  We have seen mountain hares on Ben Chonzie, Ptarmigan on Schiehallion; we have seen glaciers and mountains stretch as far as the eye can see from the Jungfrau. But we have never seen what Peter, James and John saw. 

They (Jesus, Peter, James and John) have climbed a mountain to pray.  No surprises there.  Jesus seems to have been fond of the hills and to have appreciated the opportunities they offered him to spend time with his Father.  Possibly an all-night prayer time; almost certainly Jesus was praying about the knowledge that he was going to die on a cross. Jesus has been talking about his death – and about the impact of his death on us.

In prayer Jesus is caught up into the presence of God.    Suddenly, Jesus'  face begins to shine, like that of Moses on mount Sinai.  His dusty unbleached clothes become dazzling white like lightning.   It is more than God's Presence, it reveals his God-nature – for a while the divine glory squeezed into a human body, is allowed to shine out.  And Moses (the lawgiver) and Elijah (the first in a line of prophets who challenged kings and spoke to the nation)  are there, talking with Jesus.  It's kind of a hint that Jesus fulfils the “law and the Prophets”.

 The conversation was about his departure – his Exodus – that he was about to accomplish – to fulfil or complete – in Jerusalem.   That theme again: the Cross and resurrection.  But this time, there is an encouragement.  The Cross and resurrection together are Jesus' “Fulfilled Exodus”.  Luke intends to draw our attention back to the Exodus, the escape from Egypt.  The climax of the book of Exodus is the night when each family killed and ate their passover lamb and put its blood over the door of their homes; that night God's angel brought death to every household except those with the blood on the doorposts, and then the people escaped through the Red Sea from slavery in Egypt.

The Cross of Jesus is the death of the Passover lamb; it is the moment at which the people who choose to paint his blood on their doorpost are set free from the Angel of death; it opens up the day in which god's people are rescued from slavery.

This is an amazing moment:  Jesus is having this amazing time.  As Jesus glows with the glory of God, we see God is at work in power.  We see who Jesus really is. We see his engaging with the challenge and the power of the Cross and the Kingdom.  It's amazing! It's wonderful.

Wake up and receive God's gift!
But Peter, James and John nearly miss it.  They are asleep!  This amazing thing is happening. God is at work in power revealing who Jesus is and what he does – and those who could be witnesses are asleep.  That's a scary possibility for us as well.  We can be asleep to the fact that god is at work; we can be asleep to who Jesus really is; we can be asleep to the challenge and the promise of the Cross and the Kingdom.  All this stuff is there, happening., waiting for us to engage with it.  And we are asleep.  We are lulled to sleep by unbelief: “I can ignore all that 'god' stuff”.  We are sent to sleep by exhaustion.  Usually in Scotland, you wouldn't sleep on the top of a mountain – it's cold up there, even on a hot day, there's often a cold wind, and sometimes (is that the right word?) rain or sleet.  But if you've climbed a hill at the end of a day's work, and it's dark, and the wind is a pleasant breeze, you might doze off.  We doze off through the boredom of thinking we have everything sorted out and nothing more to learn. When I was at Primary school, we had French lessons.  There were gramophone records that always began with a jolly Frenchman saying “Bon Voyage...!”  to this day I have a great French accent but no French grammar, because by the time I got to Secondary School, and had “proper” French lessons from a “proper” French teacher, I thought I knew French.  I was  a wee bit ahead of the class – so I didn't listen and didn't learn.  Boredom can lull us to sleep and shut us up to the possibilities of learning and growing.  I believe God is telling us to wake up to what he is doing. To Wake up to who Jesus is; to wake up to the challenge and promise of the Cross and the kingdom.  Don't dismiss what God is saying; don't be too busy to engage; don't be bored as though you have nothing to learn.

Receive God's gift.     And so,  the light of God's glory penetrates the disciples' sleepy minds.  Peter and the others wake up, and see, and maybe hear.  They see his “True Glory” and they see Moses and Elijah.  And they recognise Moses and Elijah.  This awakening, the ability to tap into what is happening. to Jesus – so that the awesome, transcending experience of Jesus himself touches their lives – and the discernment to identify the two patriarchs with him, are God's gift to them.  We need to wake up, and receive god's gift.  Some of us sometimes think that there is a world of people who get special things in their walk with God – a world of Billy Graham or Selwyn Hughes, of Joyce Meyer, or Nicky Gumbell.  We look in on their world of insights and miracles.  But God has a gift, an insight, a miracle, for all of us.  Wake up and receive God's gift.

A monumental error!
Then the two patriarchs  – begin to take their leave.  Peter's instinct is very much like ours: he has to head that off.  “It's good that we are here” Freeze this moment, preserve it for ever: “Let's build three wee shelters – one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah” – "It is a good thing we are here" probably means "it is a good thing for us to be able to enjoy this experience and so let us continue it."  The three booths that are imagined, would probably be like those built in the feast of Tabernacle's. Luke helpfully throws in “not knowing what he said.”  Sometimes it's like that with us, too.  We want to freeze the moment, to preserve it in formaldehyde, to make some sort of commemoration.  Stick up a blue plaque: “on this spot, Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus!”

We don't know what we are saying some of the time.  We get obsessed with how to preserve the outward signs of revival.  We can't fully get to grips with the whole message: it's one thing to see the glory, and another to embrace the Cross, and to take up our own cross. And Peter's idea is such an irrelevance... Is freezing the moment really the best we can manage by way of engaging with what God is doing?     God has other plans.

Bring it home.
The cloud comes down, and the Voice speaks: “This is my son, my chosen: listen to him!”  It's a reminder of what we saw at Jesus' baptism.  The father is pleased with the Son, and lovingly affirms him, says “Well done Son, you're on the right track” when Jesus is holding Cross and resurrection , suffering and glory, sacrifice and Kingdom together. But the Voice is speaking to Peter, James and John.  “Listen to him” means obey him.  Do what he says.  Learn from him. Be like him.  

Then the cloud lifts, Moses and Elijah are gone and the three are left with Jesus, his face maybe returning to “normal.”  They say nothing at that point – not until after Jesus has risen from the dead (Mk  9. 9)  Talking about it can be just another way of building a monument.  Instead, they watch.  And they listen,. And they learn.   They have been involved in this strange, sobering, supernatural moment.  They have seen Jesus' glory.  Their call is not to hold onto the moment; their call and experience is to be transformed by the moment.

At the foot of the mountain, reality – the other reality –  the reality that can't imagine things any different, the reality that struggles to see God at work, the reality that just doesn't get what Jesus is all about – kicks in.  The rest of the disciples have failed to drive out a demon from a boy; the boy's Dad is disappointed and in despair.  And the greatness of God is seen as Jesus casts out the demon and makes the boy better.  Then Jesus is again talking about his death, and the disciples still don't get it.  They  want to have the ministry all to themselves, to call down bolts of lightning on people who won't listen, and struggle with the idea that the “”Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”.  And it is in that world that they are to listen, to learn, to obey, and to be transformed. 

It's not enough to build three shelters - to preserve the moment of blessing. We need to bring it home, to live in that blessing in the place where we are: in our home, in our real world! 

© Gilmour Lilly March  2015

What is Lent and what good does it do?

(This is not a Sunday talk but a wee conversation piece)

Someone fired this at me earlier a few days ago: “Can you explain Lent to me please. Its something I hear mentioned in the world every year but not something I hear much about in church. Could you give me a little historical background and why people observe it.”

Some Churches – historically the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox, and the Church of England/Episcopal Churches – have always followed a “liturgical calendar”. That means that every Sunday in the year – not just Christmas, Easter and Pentecost – is allocated to celebrate some part of the Christian faith, with set (or suggested) prayers and readings for each Sunday. Some other Churches have adopted this practise. Baptists (especially Scottish ones) along with most Pentecostal and independent Churches have tended to avoid it. That explains why you may not have heard much about Lent in Church – while Lent get a mention in the secular news due to the lingering legacy of the influence of the Church of England and the RC Church.

Basically, Lent stands in the church's year as a “Penitential season”. It lasts for forty days, which calls to mind the forty days Jesus spent in the desert, fasting, and being tempted by Satan. Indeed the set Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Lent is exactly that story. The basic idea is that we learn from the example of Jesus, overcome temptation, and turn away from known sin. By so doing we prepare ourselves properly for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. Other readings for Lent do focus on the meaning of the Cross (hence our theme for Messy Church) and on some of the events that took place between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. So for example we were looking, on 1^st March, at the cleansing of the Temple.

Fasting

The connexion with Jesus fasting in the desert explains the common custom of “giving something up for Lent”. Often it's simply a frivolous activity – giving up something you won't really miss. Sometimes it provides an opportunity to go on a diet for six weeks and detox or lose a bit of weight.

The Roman Catholic Church had at one time strict rules about fasting during Lent. In the middle ages, meat, fish, eggs, dairy products were all forbidden; the diet was strictly vegetables (cabbage soup according to the guys at Stirling Castle. Bleah!) By the way ...

• this explains the custom of having pancakes on Shrove Tuesday – using up all the eggs before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday.
• Mother's Day is half-way through Lent. It has a theme of “rejoicing” and traditionally was known as “refreshment Sunday” when the strict rules of lent could be relaxed.

Some people may feel that by self denial they can somehow get right with God. I don't think that is right, helpful or even kind. It leaves us slogging our guts out to “calm down” an angry God. Rather, we are put right with God as we put our trust in Jesus, because he carried our sins on the Cross, plain and simple.

Fasting is something we don't do often do in our churches. Jesus said, “When you fast” not “If you fast” and taught that fasting can help in prayer and spiritual warfare. I believe there is benefit spiritually and psychologically in fasting or “giving something up” as a way of identifying our potentially addictive habits and idols and making them subject to the authority of Jesus. I don't think we should be legalistic about it, but some people may find Lent is a good time for that sort of discipline.

Penitence/repentance

Ash Wednesday (straight after Pancake day) is the first day in Lent. In the Catholic and other churches, ashes (traditionally the ashes of last year's Palm Crosses) are used to make the sign of the –Cross on the forehead or sprinkled on the scalp of worshippers. The point is “repentance in sackcloth and ashes” and to consider our own frailty (“remember that we are dust...”). Again, not something that is big in our tradition. Perhaps we might be benefit from some way of humbling ourselves!

I have however heard of some churches offering “Ashes to go” as a way of street-witnessing on Ash Wednesday. As unchurched people receive the ashes (and people are willing to do so) they may be able to reflect on their own need to turn again to God.

Prayer, reflection, study

Traditionally the fasting was accompanied by prayer, and study. Ornaments and statues would be covered over, flowers would not be displayed; on communion tables, cloths of sombre purple would be used. It was common in the Catholic Church for people to follow the “Stations of the Cross” – a mini-pilgrimage consisting of a series of 14 plaques or pictures recalling the events of good Friday installed in Catholic Churches.

In the fourth century, new converts would be baptised at Easter, and those gong to be baptised would spend Lent preparing for their baptism. Sometimes this involved daily classes which lasted fro three hours!

Today many Churches and local groups of Churches hold Lent home groups. During 2013 we held a weekly “School of Prayer” during Lent. Again, there may be benefit to be had from taking a bit of time out each day – for example if you give up tea and coffee, use the coffee-break times to read the Bible or pray.

Conclusion

So, are we enjoying our freedom in Christ, or are we missing out on something? I personally don't believe in imposing legalistic ideas on others. We are free. But we should be free enough to dip into some of the traditions of Lent and benefit from them. In particular, I believe there is benefit to be had from:

• Penitence: taking time to reflect on and turn away from our sins.
• Prayer for ourselves and the world,
• Self discipline
• Study and reflection, and
• Preparation for Easter. As Bible-believing Christians we place a huge value on the Cross because Jesus died for our sins. However, in the way we handle the story, we can sometimes kind of soften its impact. Jesus died for our sins – but it's OK, he rose again. Now I want to say a big “Hallelujah” to the resurrection! But that “Hallelujah” is even bigger if we have taken the time, properly to reflect on the horror of the Cross and the significance of the events that led up to the Cross.

So the Lord may have some treasures for us in Lent, if we will receive them! 

© Gilmour Lilly March  2015
 

Luke 19.41-48 Compassion Cleansing & Claim

I wonder when was the last time you had a good cry?  Were they tears of joy?  Tears of sadness?  Tears of pain? What makes the tears flow for you?   Is it a love story, a miracle, a bereavement, or images of starving children.

1. The Compassion.
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as he foresees its destruction. (V. 41-44) Jesus could have been angry, critical, resentful, or full of self-pity. But he wasn't. He was weeping for Jerusalem, a city he loved and respected. He is not weeping for himself. He is weeping for the pain of the City and its people; and for the  failure of the City and of the People who make the City what it is.

He wishes they knew the things that "make for your peace"(v. 42) that is to say for salvation.   He wishes they could recognise the “day of visitation”.   Salvation – the present life-changing action of the Kingdom of God – has been knocking at their door.  They have had a day or time (the Greek word is Kairos – which means the right time, a moment of unique opportunity) of visitation.  The Greek word is Episcope.  It literally means oversight.  It's the word from which we get our English words “Bishop” and Episcopal”.  It speaks of the visit that someone responsible makes – as a Bishop visits the parishes in his area, to bring encouragement and challenge.    "Visitation" is a coming of God whether for good or for judgement.  Jesus is the bishop (visitor, overseer, guardian, Episcopos of our souls, 1 Peter 2. 25).  His presence among the people has been a “visitation” intended to encourage them to know God's salvation, the arrival of his Kingdom.   That's what God wanted. Jesus says says “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him”.  (John 3. 17) 

But peace isn't what is happening.  Jesus sees the future – seventy years later, and his words came true. Building a wooden palisade and then a stone siege wall were tactics the Romans used.  The city would be besieged, and its walls and its people including the children, flattened. That was what happened in ancient warfare is it still happens today.  It was common (as it is today) to make a point of mentioning atrocities against children.

Why the judgement? “Because you did not know the time of your visitation.”  Visitation is intended to be the occasion of salvation, but as the people failed to recognize it as such the same visitation becomes the basis of a judgement yet to follow.   The "last days" have come through Jesus.  Those who don't recognise the salvation, put themselves in the place of judgement.

And Jesus is crying.   We need to learn from the emotion of Jesus here.  The word speaks of “a loud expression of pain or sorrow” – “howling.”  Like the woman who washed his feet, this is no wiping away of the tears from the corner of the eye.   Jesus is howling with grief.  He is overcome with emotion.  Let's be clear: the ability to be blasé about suffering and about judgement, is not part of the work of the Spirit.  That is not what Paul means when he talks about the fruit of the spirit being “self-control.”   We have filtered and diluted the emotion out of following Jesus, and as a result, we've lost sight of the real Jesus.   We have turned Christianity into a  cerebral, systematic, institutional way of being, a matter of  “knowledge”, or of “techniques” for dealing with our inner darkness.  Jesus  is calling us to a holistic, dynamic, relational way of being, a journey of discovery, and romance, where truth involves walking with this Jesus. and being changed.   We need to be transformed by the fact that “when human hearts are breaking under sorrow's iron rod, all the sorrow all the aching, wrings with pain the heart of God.”   Whether we see ourselves as having grasped our salvation and received our day of visitation or not, let's learn from the tears of Jesus.

2. The Cleansing
Then Jesus goes into the temple.   And in there, merchants were selling the requisites for sacrifice – animals, wine, oil, salt and so on, as well as changing money.  This trade was justified by the need, according to the OT law, for unblemished sacrifices including money untainted by gentile images.  He's seen all this before.  But on this day,  Jesus decides to drive these things out. He knows he is heading towards the Cross.   The outcome of the cleansing will be to further set the seal upon Jesus' commitment to sacrifice his life upon the Cross.  It will alienate and provoke his opponents to orchestrate his arrest and eventual death. 

Luke doesn't make very much of this story: he shortens Marks version of it, clipping out pretty much all the derails.  He simply tells us that Jesus. quotes from two Old Testament prophets:
1. Isaiah 56.7 –  Luke doesn't include the words “for all nations. ”   If he had wanted he could have included the words to make the point that the Gospel is for everyone, but he doesn't. He knew what happened when people thought Paul had taken Gentiles into the temple! (Acts 21. 27ff).  He's aware of the fact the  temple did not become a place for the Gentiles, and maybe for a Gentile reader he doesn’t' want to introduce confusion.  Of course Luke believed the gentiles should be fully included in God's people. It goes without saying.
2. Jeremiah 7. 11.  The temple had become a “den of robbers”.  For Luke – consistent with hid concern for the poor not just the poor in spirit – the main thing wrong with the trading in the temple, is the dishonesty, greed, economic violence and oppression and legalism.
 
Luke wants us to appreciate that the cleansing is a challenge, not only to exclusivism, but also to dishonesty, economic oppression, legalism.  So, the action that led Jesus to the Cross was political as well as personal and religious.  The Cross deals not only with “religious” sin, personal sin, but with structural sin, economic sin.  It exposes all that is wrong with the world; and all that is wrong in our hearts.   Paul puts it like this in Romans 8

The Cross condemns sin in the flesh.  (Rom 8. 3)  The perfect Son of God, obeying the father's will all the way to the Cross, exposes every sort of sin, personal selfishness, rebellion, greed and lust, religious contempt and intolerance, economic injustice and political oppression, for what it is: sin.
The Cross atones for all that sin.  Through it God has set us free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8. 2; Col 2. 14-15)
And through the Cross, all believers are set free from all sorts of sin, to “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8. 4).

3. The Claim
Having “cleansed” the temple, Jesus then teaches in the temple.  He does so repeatedly, over a number of days.  He's not being fazed by the fact that some disapprove. He knows he has the right.  This temple is “his Father's house” (John 2. 16). 

But this is hard, challenging teaching.  He's not preaching the Gospel – which is why he is not healing the sick. He's simply dialoguing with those who are set to oppose him; he is challenging the wrong attitudes of those who don’t' want to give God his rightful place in their lives (Lk 20. 9-23) but  simply want an intellectual debate instead of putting their faith in to practise  (Lk 20. 24-47). And he warns of judgement to come.  As Jesus claims the temple, he claims our lives. As he claims the right to stand in the temple and teach the truth there, so he claims the right to stand in our lives with authority: hand over to God the things that are God's (Lk 20. 25)

So now, as two thousand years ago,  Jesus comes to us with compassion; he comes to cleanse and to claim our lives. And today some try to destroy him. Some hang on his every word, hang onto him as they listen to him. They depend on him and are prepared to pin their lives on him.   His tears challenge us, his grace cleanses us and his authority claims us.  In response, only you can speak for you: only I can speak for me. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”.  (Josh 24. 15)

© Gilmour Lilly March  2015

Lent 1: Temptations of Jesus: Matthew 3.13 - 4.11

The Context of temptation: 
The work of The Spirit.  

Bernini: "Descent of the Spirit" Image Dnalor, Creative Commons license

The temptations follow an intense, spiritual 
experience

Jesus has just made a public declaration of his willingness to identify with fallen humanity – by taking on a baptism that in every other case was “for the forgiveness of sins”.  His cousin, John, had said “You  should not be coming to me for baptism, you should be baptising me.”   Jesus did it, not  as an act of “repentance from sin” but “to fulfil all righteousness”  (v 15). His baptism was “part of his life of obedience” (Green)  By submitting to baptism, Jesus acknowledged God's right to demand “total consecration of life and holiness of character”. As the sinless Son of God he was setting his face on the journey towards the Cross, right there and then in the river Jordan.

And when he had taken that step, the Holy Spirit had come upon him, seen like a dove landing on him.  And the voice from Heaven had said “this is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”  What an amazing moment.  Incidentally it was a  moment of Trinitarian blessing.  God the Son, committed to his earthly ministry, is empowered by God the Spirit, and affirmed by God the Father.  

I want us to have our encounters with God: the be filled with the Holy Spirit; to know that our Heavenly Father is pleased with us; to be like Jesus, set upon doing what we are called to do.  I want us to have these moments of intense spiritual blessing. In fact Paul says (Eph 1. 3) that “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”  But you know what? These times come with a health warning.

The Spirit led Jesus into the desert. 
 
Jesus' journey into the desert was the work of the Holy Spirit. Matthew Mark and Luke all agree about this, although the language they use is subtly varied.  Mark says the Spirit thrust Jesus into the desert; Matthew says the Spirit led him into the desert, to be tempted.  Luke says the Spirit led him in the wilderness.    The desert – the place of solitude, silence, self-discipline and even struggling – is just as much a place where the Holy Spirit can work as the river or the mountaintop. The Holy Spirit will take you to places of solitude and lonesomeness, where you can learn to discern the difference between hear the voice of God, the voice of the enemy and the voice of your inner heart desires.

We need these times of solitude – even after such a difficult time of testing, Jesus never lost his taste for time alone with his father.    Michael Green says “The desert is the place where we meet God.”  In Revelation 12.14  the woman (who represents the Church) is sent into the desert to be taken care of.

So let's not be afraid of the “Desert”.  We can be tempted anywhere. Jesus was also tempted when one of his followers told him that suffering and death could not happen to him – so much so that he said to Peter “get behind me, Satan!” (Mt 16. 23) Let's not be afraid of those times when everything is hard work and the fruit is limited.  Let's not be afraid of the times of solitude and silence.  The Spirit leads us into that place, and in that place.

And when we experience temptation, let's not imagine that somehow we have lost contact with God's Spirit or are outside of God's will.  Part of the experience of the spirit, is the experience of being vulnerable to the enemy's temptations.  Indeed, as we shall see, there are particular temptations that present when we know the power of the spirit in our lives and that have to be overcome in our own minds, if we are to be safe and ethical handlers of the dynamite that is the true power of the spirit.   Michael Green notes, “Temptation builds spiritual muscle.”

The cause of temptation
The reality of warfare.  

The temptation was a Spiritual experience not just a psychological one.  Now the enemy can use people (Mt 16. 23) and he can use the processes of our own minds – so much so that James said “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1. 14).   But let us not run away with the idea that temptation is simply a matter of recognising our own weaknesses and “desires”.  We have an enemy who wants to destroy us – just as he wanted to destroy Jesus – physically, spiritually, emotionally, morally.  And that enemy is no gentleman.  He will exploit our weaknesses.  He will pervert our strengths.

The core of temptation
Let's look at the temptations in detail: what do they mean?  

1. Wilderness bread:  “Turn these stones into bread”

Many rabbis believed that when Messiah came there would once again be “manna in the desert.”  So the enemy comes along and suggests to Jesus “Hey, Son of God – you don't need to go hungry; do the 'manna in the desert' thing now.”  The temptation is to take the quick and easy way.  To get personal  comfort through the power of God and by cashing in on the old promises. Christians who have had times of blessing and dramatic answers to prayer can be tempted to feel that the power of God is there to be used for their own comfort.  We can all be tempted to pray selfish prayers, simply askign for things that will make us feel good. 

2. The roof of the temple; “Throw yourself down”

Another belief about messiah was that he would “stand up on the roof of the holy place”.   So the enemy takes him up to the pinnacle of the temple – and suggests that Jesus jump off, claiming the angel protection promised in  Psalm 91. 12.   He tempts him to do something really spectacular that will draw a crowd. The Church can so easily be tempted to find a strategy for filling the pews, attractig a crowd: so we sometimes resort to pulling "Stunts" of one kind or another. Of course we don't call them "stunts" but "profile-raising activities".  Now there is a place for special events, but they must be undertaken in a spirit of wervice to our community, not simply to draw attention to our ministry. 

3. Striking a deal. “Bow down and worship me”

View from the top of Schiehallion. Image by G Lilly

In the end the enemy shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world and promises to hand it all over to Jesus... if he will bow down to Satan, just once, just for a second.  The bait isn’t' so much about getting wealth and power: it's about achieving what he came to achieve: it's about establishing God's rule – over all the earth.  The temptation is to achieve this by compromise with the very enemy Jesus had come to remove. “If you worship me, I'll go away...”  Michael Green sums it up brilliantly:  Satan tempts Jesus “to gain universal dominion back from the usurper Prince,  but to do so by striking a bargain with him rather than by striking him through the heart with the wood of the cross.”  God's word says “Worship the Lord young God and him alone!” 

The temptations to be selfish, to opt for the sensational and to compromise come to all Christians but they are recorded here so that we may witness the testing of god's son .  He was tempted to bypass the cross, to short-circuit the path of obedience, and to adopt the role of Son and King without stooping to the role of the suffering servant.  And that sums it up.  Whether it's temper, sex, money, lying, temptation is always about bypassing the cross.

The cure of temptation
Well, there isn't one! Temptation will always be there. It may change as we get older and our bodies, minds and circumstances change.  But always we will experience that pull to “bypass the cross”. 

But we can triumph over temptation, and Jesus shows us how.

1.  Get committed.  

Settle your mind on submission to God.  Jesus had already fixed in his mind which way his life was going to go.
  
2. Get equipped. 

Three times, Jesus responds to the temptations “it is written...”  The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   Do you know where the three quotations Jesus used come from?  
Dt 8. 3 man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord
Dt 6. 16 You shall not put the Lord your God to the test
Dt 6. 13  Fear the Lord your God, serve him only
It looks as if Jesus was particularly steeped in the book of Deuteronomy at this point: he may even have been reading these chapters – which for Jesus would probably involve regular visits to the synagogue.  The Spirit took the words that Jesus had stored up, and used them against the enemy.  The way to victory is to know the Bible well, and to know it freshly, through regular reading, listening, and study.  We need to use the Spirit's sword, to avoid the traps of selfish, sensational or compromised living. And there is one last thing to encourage us. If we resist, he will flee. 

© Gilmour Lilly February  2015

Luke 7. 36-50

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