Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 (EHV)

¹ All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ He told them this parable: 

^11b “A certain man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³ Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all that he had and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted his wealth with reckless living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He would have liked to fill his stomach with the carob pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, and I am dying from hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

²⁰ “He got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, hugged his son, and kissed him. ²¹ The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate, ²⁴ because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “His older son was in the field. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. ²⁷ The servant told him, ‘Your brother is here! Your father killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ The older brother was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.

²⁹ “He answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I’ve been serving you, and I never disobeyed your command, but you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours arrived after wasting your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

³¹ “The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’”

Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so we may not only realise the depths of our lostness, but also believe how we’ve been found and forgiven by the undeserving grace and mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Imagine you’re at a boxing match as the two main contestants are introduced…

In the left corner are the sinners and tax-collectors who were eating and drinking with Jesus. They’re the type of people who have given into to their own fleshly desires and have sinned against God and their fellow humans, and therefore most people would consider them to be…the unrighteous!

In the right corner are the Pharisees and Scribes who were grumbling about the fact Jesus was welcoming these unrighteous sinners and tax-collectors. He was even eating and drinking with them as a sign he accepted them! The Pharisees and Scribes have tried to keep all the religious laws, regulations, and traditions (which means they’d never associate with such sinful ‘deviants’). Most people would consider these faithful and obedient people to be…the righteous!

These contestants gather in their separate corners. Two groups of people who always frown on, complain about, and critically judge the other: the unrighteous versus the self-righteous. And as the battle lines are drawn between these two groups of people who are gathered around Jesus, he tells a parable about a man who had two sons.

Now, when Jesus tells a parable, he invites you to consider who you are in the story. Therefore, as Jesus tells the parable of these two sons, which one do you relate to the most?

For example, are you a bit like the younger, unrighteous, son? For example:

• Do you like to question or reject the way things are normally done and want to do things your own way?
• Do you often attempt to get your own way, no matter what it costs?
• Are you tempted to live like everyone else in the world just so that you can fit in, such as: getting drunk, swearing, taking advantage of others, sleeping around, telling dirty jokes, and so on?

Even though you worship here among your brothers and sisters in Christ, do you act like the younger brother when you:

• Question or challenge the old traditions or reject the heritage you’ve been brought up with?
• Gather for worship irregularly because there are so many other things you’d like to do on Sundays?
• Feel the need to stimulate your senses and satisfy your emotions, even in worship?

In the parable, the younger son insults the father by wishing his father was dead so he could get his inheritance right now. He then wastes everything his father gave him in order to live the way he wanted to. But by getting everything he wanted, he ended up losing everything.

When he finally realises the mistakes he’s made, he tries to make up for it. He tries to work his way out of trouble. He’s the typical example of a rebellious and recalcitrant person who struggles to live with what’s expected of him.

Like it or not, some of you might relate to the younger, unrighteous, and rebellious, son.

However, if you don’t relate to the younger son, it must mean you’re more like the elder, self-righteous, son. In this case:

• You might consider yourself as dutiful, conscientious, and faithful.
• You always try to do the right thing and stay out of trouble.
• In fact, you’ve sacrificed many things for the sake of others, and you might be tempted to remind them how much you’ve done for them.
• You try to live a good life and so don’t live like everyone else, that is: you don’t get drunk, you don’t swear, you try not to take advantage of others, you don’t tell dirty jokes or put people down, and you don’t sleep around, etc.

Even here in in this Christian congregation among your brothers and sisters in Christ, you might act more like the elder brother when you:

• Try to keep and defend the traditions of the past, after all, this is the way we’ve always done it, and this is the way we’re always going to do it!
• See yourself as a kind of moral, ethical, or even biblical ‘policeman’ and make sure you tell all those other ‘younger sons’ off when they’ve done the wrong thing.
• Expect people to give you the respect and admiration you deserve for being such a good person.

Of course, the dutiful and faithful elder son never left the father. He was always there doing the ‘right thing’. But you can see in his responses that he was also distancing himself from his father through his self-righteous attitude as he expected to be rewarded for his good behaviour.

He thought he deserved to be treated better because he lived a better life, was more dutiful, more conscientious, and more faithful than the ‘other’ type of son. Shouldn’t he be the one rewarded for his behaviour, rather than the reckless and rebellious son? Because he alone was right and faithful and dutiful, he wanted nothing to do with his rebellious brother.

Like it or not, some of you are like the elder son.

One way or another, we’re all in one of the two corners (although some of us can swap corners at different times of our life). We’re either like the younger son or we’re like the elder son. We’re either like the unrighteous sinners and tax collectors, or we’re like the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees.

In reality, both sons left their father – one by leaving home so he could live the way he wanted, and the other one by staying home and expecting a reward for it. Both sons ended up shaming their father. Both sons sinned.

You see, both tried to become their own gods as they attempted to manipulate their father to get what they wanted – one through obvious rebellion and waste, but the other through the subtle rebellion of expecting to gain good things for himself through his diligence and good behaviour.

What’s so surprising in this parable (and what upset the Pharisees and Scribes so much) is Jesus was pointing out to every self-righteous elder brother that their hearts were just as far away from God as the younger brother’s!

The good news is that, amazingly and undeservedly, the father went out to both sons and invited both of them into his celebration banquet. Both were wrong, but both were still loved. Both received the welcome of the father. The father didn’t wait for either of his beloved children to come in by their own efforts, but he went out of his house in order to restore and reconcile both of them.

The startling difference between both sons is, at long last, one of them realised his need for his father’s love. One realised his sin and sought forgiveness from his father. One wanted to be welcomed back to eat and drink on his father’s property. Unexpectedly, the younger rebellious brother received forgiveness from his father through a warm and loving embrace even before he expressed his heartfelt confession.

Unfortunately, the other brother was still stuck in his self-righteous attitude, as they often are. He not only rejected his sinful brother but, despite the fact he thought he’s always done the right thing his whole life, it’s now revealed how much he’s rejected his father’s love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Joy wasn’t going to be his while he sat outside enraged by the gross injustice and unconscionable mercy of his father.

The parable ends with the elder son still fuming outside of the father’s fellowship banquet waiting for his form of justice to be done, but this doesn’t mean the parable has to end there!

In a sense the parable remains unfinished, which means we’re left with questions such as: Will the elder son enter the house or not? Will he put aside his self-righteous anger and be restored in his relationship with his father and his younger brother? Will he humble himself by recognising his own sin, and accept his father’s invitation to feast at the banquet table?

You could also ask yourselves such questions as:

How will all the younger brothers and sisters be willing to forgive those who have judged and criticised their choices? How will they welcome the self-righteous elder brothers into their fellowship and share the love of Christ with them?

On the other hand, how will the elder brothers act more graciously toward those they judge or criticise? How will they proclaim the forgiveness of Christ to them and make them feel welcome within their own fellowship?

In the case of both brothers, how will we love the lost and found, no matter which brother we are? How will we receive, and pass on, the love of the Father? How will we encourage those around us to repent, forgive, and be reconciled so we may gather in peace and joy around the feasting table of the Lord?

Thankfully it’s not up to any of us to make the first move, because Jesus made the first move. He came to save unrighteous sinners as well as self-righteous sinners. He’s the Father who runs out of his comfortable home in heaven and comes into our sinful and troubled world to welcome us, embrace us, forgive us, and invite us into his thanksgiving banquet.

He’s the one who clothes us with his own perfect righteousness and gives himself as the prized calf to feast on. He’s the one who reconciles you and me to our heavenly Father. He’s the one through whom we are now reconciled to each other.

God’s mercy in Jesus Christ is extended to all of us. Even before any of us could say ‘sorry’, seek to make up for our wrongs through our attempts at self-righteousness, or even realise the folly of our rebellious sinfulness, Jesus said from the cross ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.’

He says that for criminals, prostitutes, murderers, but also for Pharisees and faithful church goers. He pleads with his own Father for our forgiveness, and through faith in his suffering, death, and resurrection, we’re forgiven.

The good news is, Jesus paid the full price to forgive you all, freely. None of you can earn it or deserve it, no matter whether you’re an elder brother or a younger brother. You’re all offered forgiveness and are invited to celebrate a meal of reconciliation.

You’re invited to share in his celebration together with all those sinners who have once been lost but have now been found. You’re invited to come and celebrate with all those who were once dead in their sin but have now been made alive through the blood of Jesus.

Whether you identify yourself as an elder brother or a younger brother, Jesus invites all sinners to come into his fellowship and celebrate.

Therefore, whether you relate to the unrighteous younger brother or the self-righteous elder brother:

• Come and receive the body and blood of Jesus, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
• Come and celebrate the lost have now been found.
• Come and celebrate the dead are now alive again.
• Come and celebrate your reconciliation with God the Father.
• Come and eat and drink together – younger and elder brothers and sisters coming together to feast at the one table.
• Come and learn to love your fellow lost and found brothers and sisters through faith in our gracious loving and forgiving Christ, so that…

…the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Luke 13:1-9 (EHV)

¹ At that time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? ³ I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. ⁴ Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too.”

⁶ He told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. ⁷ So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil?’ ⁸ But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. ⁹ If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down.’”

Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so that we may repent of our sin and believe your promise of forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.

As I preached this sermon I asked the congregation: “If you reckon you’re the worst sinner in this church building right now, please stand up!”

Some people stood up. Some people didn’t. I then continued:

The point of this exercise is to identify who of you won’t stand up because you might reckon you don’t sin as much as others do. Jesus is talking to such self-righteous thinking people today in the Gospel reading as they came to him to gossip about others who had something bad happen to them. They assumed bad things usually happen to people because of their sin. But they also assumed the greater the tragedy, then the greater their sins must have been.

And don’t we do the same sometimes?

Don’t we wonder what people have done for them to deserve any misfortune happening to them, as if it was sent as punishment for their terrible sins? Don’t we wonder if our own little catastrophes are punishments sent by God for something we did? And, if we’ve ever escaped such tragedies, don’t we often figure God has blessed us because we’re not as bad as others?

But how quickly we forget we live in a sinful and corrupted world where bad things happen, often without any purpose or meaning behind these events. But just because somethings happen without any purpose behind them doesn’t mean God can’t use our personal or national disasters to lead us to repentance or to strengthen our faith!

Jesus’ response to these self-righteous people coming to him to gossip about other people’s misfortune was to use these local tragedies as examples of the way we’re often tempted to grade other people’s sin and assume we’re better than they are.

He asked the people in front of him if they reckoned those who were affected by such tragedies were worse sinners than they were.

But before we hear their answer, Jesus answered for them. He told them plainly that, even though these people died, they weren’t worse sinners than anyone else. Bad things happen, and it’s not always because they’re being punished for their sins.

Even more importantly, after each example, he called the people in front of him (who may have thought they weren’t as bad as those who had died), to repent.

In other words, Jesus used this opportunity to teach them that it’s not about how good or bad we reckon we are (especially in relation to others), but he calls everyone, including you and me, to repent.

Part of our human problem is that, while we have a tendency to acknowledge all of us have fallen short of the glory of God (as we’re taught in Scripture), we might come to Confession on Sunday morning racking our brains to remember many particular sins.

Most of us are simply not aware of how much we hurt people or how much we hurt God by what we do or say or think. But God knows how much we’ve sinned against him and those around us. He knows the secret desires of our heart and knows we need to repent.

Another issue is, even if we were to recall how we’ve sinned through careless words, selfish actions, reluctance to serve others, or laziness toward God and his Word, we don’t often know what it means to repent.

In this case, repentance isn’t just feeling sorry for what we’ve done or even feeling sorry for being caught. That’s called remorse. Feeling sorry or remorseful about what we’re said or done isn’t repentance. It’s much deeper than that.

Instead, repentance (which literally means to do an about face) seeks to discover the reason we’re doing the wrong thing in the first place so we can truly do an about face and, with God’s help, resist the temptation to do it again.

In other words, repentance isn’t just about turning away from what we’ve done (which would treat only the symptoms of our sin). Repentance seeks to turn from the reason why we did it in the first place (which would be treating the cause of our sin).

Once we know the why of our actions, which are usually because we don’t fear, love, or trust God as we should because our hearts are fearing, desiring, or trusting in someone or something else, we can then look for Christ to create within us a good and clean heart so that we can be transformed and renewed from the centre of our being.

For example, if we were to use a fruit tree as an analogy (as Jesus did), I think we can all agree that the purpose of any ‘Christian fruit tree’ is to bear fruit, right?

St Paul even describes some of the ‘fruit’ we Christians are expected to bear in his letter to the Galatians saying, the ‘fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ (Gal 5:22-23).

Now, if a fruit tree is looking good and lush to the passer-by but not bearing fruit, where’s the first place you’d need to work on so the tree could bear good fruit?

You’d work on the roots, right?

Perhaps you’d dig around a bit, check the ground to see if there’s any mineral imbalances, perhaps fertilise it some more, and make sure it gets the right amount of water. Usually, with the right amount of effort at a tree’s roots, you’d hope to see some fruit next season.

It’s the same with us.

Repentance involves looking at the root cause of your sinful words and actions or looking to identify why you didn’t speak those words of encouragement and mercy in the first place.

For instance, one symptom of your sickness could be that you’re critical and judgmental toward others. If you’re only seeking to treat the symptoms, your ‘repentance’ might involve just trying to hold your tongue, but your hearts would still harbour those sinful thoughts and critical attitudes toward others.

However, if you were look deeper at the roots of what you do and say, you might discover the cause of your critical and judgmental thoughts and words is because you’re proud of yourself and reckon you’re better than them. It could also be because you’ve jumped to the wrong conclusions about them based on your own presumptions or misunderstandings. In either case you haven’t sought to understand or love them, but you’ve simply judged them as worse than yourself.

But what’s even worse about such a critical attitude is that you’ve become the judge and jury of people made in the image of God, when God should be the only Judge. Therefore, when you judge and criticise others, you not only sin against those you’re critical about (in your words and actions), but you attempt to shift God from his Judgment seat and replace him with yourself!

This means you not only need to repent of your critical words and actions which have hurt others, but you also need to repent of your proud and arrogant heart which has attempted to enthrone yourself as judge and jury in the place of God!

If you only repent of the symptoms of your arrogance and pride by holding your tongue, you’d never repent of your idolatrous and arrogant heart which is the cause of your sins against both God and the people around you.

When your repentance goes all the way to the root cause of your sinful words and actions, which is your proud and idolatrous hearts which don’t fear, love, or trust God as you should, you may finally despair of yourself and your own abilities, and rightly receive the nourishment of the gospel of Jesus Christ who creates clean hearts and a renewed spirit within you.

This is because Jesus is the patient and merciful gardener who understands your temptations, who speaks for you, defends you, and loves you enough to ask for another chance to work away at your hearts so that you may produce the fruits of faith.

He digs away at your sin-infected hearts through his word of the Law to expose the sinful attitudes, self-centred fears, and selfish desires of your hearts, in order to lead you to repentance. He patiently and persistently calls you to repent how you haven’t truly feared, loved, or trusted God above all things. By digging at the roots of your sinful natures, the grace of Christ is able to work deeper into your hearts.

Then, like some gardeners who speak to their plants, Jesus continues to speak to you. He tells you the good news of the Gospel that you’re forgiven because he paid the full price for your disobedience and your rebellious attitude. He forgives you for what you’ve said or done which hurt others and hurt God. He forgives you for what you didn’t say or do when you should have. He forgives you for the sinful attitudes of your arrogant heart and creates a new heart within you so that you may bear the good fruit of the Gospel.

Like blood and bone being placed on the ground to nourish it, he gives you his own body and blood to reassure you of his forgiveness and strengthen your faith. Despite your sinfulness, you’re still welcome at his table so you can receive his grace and mercy and peace.

The Gardener doesn’t want to just prune a few words and actions out of your life, but he purposely comes to disturb your roots where those words and actions came from. But he also tenderly treats you with his Gospel of grace, love, forgiveness, and peace.

Through repentance and faith, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, we’ll all go from this place willing to live as in God’s presence, and lead a holy life, even as Christ has made us holy, and produce the fruits of faith, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

So, one more exercise, and hopefully this won’t be uncomfortable for you.

Stand if you believe you need a Lord and Saviour who’ll speak for you, forgive you, and give you another chance to bear the fruits of repentance and faith…

Well then, may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, patiently and lovingly guard and renew your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Psalm 27

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
² When evildoers advance against me to eat my flesh, when my foes and my enemies come against me,
it is they who will stumble and fall.
³ If an army lines up against me, my heart will not fear.
If war rises against me, even then I will keep trusting.

⁴ One thing I ask from the Lord. This is what I seek:
that I live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
    to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple.
⁵ Yes, he will hide me in his shelter on the day of trouble.
He will hide me in his tent. He will set me high on a rock.
⁶ Then my head will be lifted up above the enemies who surround me.
I will offer sacrifices at his tent with a joyful shout. I will sing and make music to the Lord.

⁷ Hear me, O Lord. With my voice I call.
Be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸ When you say, “Seek my face,” my heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
⁹ Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my help. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God who saves me.
¹⁰ If my father and my mother abandoned me, the Lord would take me in.

¹¹ Lord, teach me your way, and lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.
¹² Do not give me up to the desire of my foes,
because false witnesses rise up against me, and so do those who breathe out violence.

¹³ Unless I was confident to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living—
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord!

Dear Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us so that when we’re afraid, we may look to our Lord Jesus Christ who is our light, our salvation, and our stronghold. Amen.

Most of us don’t like to admit it, but everyone’s afraid of something, someone, or some situation.

For example, you might be afraid of:

• Getting hurt – physically, mentally, or emotionally.
• Getting in trouble with friends, family, church members, and authorities.
• Getting old, with all its complications, debilitations, and inevitable end.
• Getting sick with viruses, diseases, cancers, heart problems, and dementias.
• Losing your reputation among people you love or respect, which might threaten whether they’ll love and respect you.
• Losing your mind, your health, your family, your friends, your hopes and dreams for the future, or your life.

Even our fears of little things like itsy bitsy spiders, or mice, or needles, or missing an appointment, become enormous and terrifying in our minds as our imaginations blow our fears out of all proportion and threaten to overcome us. The conversations and pictures in our heads snowball into overwhelming situations as we fear what might happen, even though they haven’t (and probably won’t) become a reality.

Like it or not, we’re all afraid of something, someone, or some situation.

But what do we do when we’re afraid?

Well, we’re likely to respond in one of four possible ways:

• Fight
• Flight
• Freeze, or
• Flop

Examples of fighting in the face of our fears is when we attempt to overcome our adversaries with force. We do this when we attack people physically as we hit out at them, or by threatening them verbally through our abusive words, name-calling, or threats. Even when we seek the support of others, we attempt to damage someone else’s reputation through our gossips. We slander people by telling others about someone’s evil motives.

As Christians, we might also threaten people with God’s laws or with some other threats of biblical justice, which never correlates with God’s nature of grace and mercy. Because fighting is a natural response to fears, this means the biggest bullies might also be those who are most afraid. Unfortunately, fighting never gets rid of our fears. Vengeance isn’t the answer.

Examples of flight are when we attempt to deny or avoid certain people, certain situations, or certain things. We quit jobs, end relationships, change churches, or file for divorce as ways to flee the people, situations, or places which scare us.

Those who are most afraid and devoid of all hope might despair of their future and avoid the rest of their life through suicide or assisted dying. Unfortunately, running away from whatever terrifies us never eliminates what we’re afraid of. Lacking courage to face our fears, we keep running whenever we’re reminded of whatever we’re afraid of in every new situation or new relationship.

Examples of freezing is where we just don’t know what to do, so we do nothing. It’s the ‘deer, or rabbit, in the headlights’ response where we seem incapable of any response. We don’t know what to do. We feel helpless. But what makes it worse is we feel incapable of seeking help or even receiving help. We’re frozen in the fear that nothing and no-one can do anything about what we’re afraid of, and so we remain trapped and frozen as our fear continues to incapacitate us.

Examples of flopping includes those times we give up in the face of fear. We become numb and unresponsive to whatever scares us, but also numb, and empty, and unresponsive to any help or hope. We’re apathetic and indifferent, hoping we’ll become numb to whatever and whomever we’re afraid of, but the fears continue to make us insensitive and unresponsive.

We usually respond in one of these ways, or in a combination of responses. They’re all natural human responses. Even many Christians respond with fighting, or flighting, or freezing, or flopping.

Now, you could argue fighting or fleeing is actually an act of faith, but it’s a faith in oneself and one’s own power, or strength, or influence, or ability to flee from whatever we’re afraid of. It’s a misplaced faith in oneself, which is a form of idolatry, and idols will always lead us down the path toward destruction and despair.

You could also argue freezing or flopping are examples of unfaith, where we’ve decided no-one is able to help us. This rejection of help or comfort or support also leads to despair or destruction.

However, King David, who wrote this psalm, has a different response to fear and anxiety.

In this case, his faith, his hope, and his confidence, isn’t in his own might, or strength, or cleverness, or influence, or army, or running speed, or musical abilities. His faith, his hope, and his confidence during those times when he’s afraid, is in the Lord – the maker of heaven and earth.

In fact, he describes God as his light, his salvation, and his stronghold.

For him, there’s no need to fight, or flee, because he trusts God is his stronghold who provides him with security. God is the one who fights for you. God is the one who defends you. Within God’s stronghold, you’re safe, free, and at peace. Nothing and no-one can truly harm you when you take refuge in the Lord, who is bigger and mightier and more powerful than whatever and whomever you’re afraid of.

God is also his light. Like turning on a light in a dark place, God’s light helps you see clearly. Where once the dark and all your fears of the unknown grew out of all proportion, God’s light exposes where the true danger is, but he also provides a lamp for your feet and a light for your path. You’re no longer helpless and hopeless to freeze or flop, because God is your Saviour who comes to rescue you from everything, and everyone, you’re afraid of. The darkness and despair of sin, evil, death, and the devil have all been defeated.

Therefore, when you trust the Lord is your stronghold, your light, and your salvation, even if an army of enemies is bearing down on you, seeking to destroy your life, your heart won’t fear because you know with Almighty God on your side, who on earth could prevail against him?

Even when you’re facing the most terrifying war or flood or virus which threatens to shatter your life, you’re confident you’ll endure in strength and courage knowing the Lord himself is your everlasting stronghold.

But then King David leads us to an unexpected place during those times when we’re afraid. He doesn’t lead us to a bunker or a defendable mountain. He leads us to worship!

When you’re afraid, there’s no call to fight or flee or freeze or flop. King David calls you to receive God’s mercy and blessing in the place God promises to be present. He calls you to sit in the presence of God and gaze on God’s beauty.

But the problem is we can’t see God, and neither could King David. So, what’s he looking at? What is King David gazing at which gives him joy and peace and security whenever he’s afraid?

Well, since God is always present in his Word, we’re to look at God through our ears.

You’re to actively listen to him speaking to you through his Word so that you ‘see’, recognise, and trust God’s good, gracious, and glorious character. The more you listen to him (instead of your own scary thoughts), you hear, see, and experience God, not as a terrifying or vengeful God, but a God who loves to lavish you with the gospel of his forgiveness, love, mercy, protection, comfort, and peace.

God isn’t unresponsive and uncaring about whatever or whomever you’re facing, but he promises to be with you and accompany you as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He’s near you as your stronghold, light, and salvation.

So, what does King David do as he hides in God’s stronghold and is reassured by the Lord’s gracious and loving presence and protection?

He sings!

Now, this may seem a strange thing to do when you’re afraid, but he sings praises to the God who is attentive to his cries and who surrounds him with security and refuge. The songs he sings aren’t focussed on himself and his own feelings, but they praise God and his awesome character. The songs praise who God is and what God does for him.

And what does God do for him?

Well, God listens to his cries and his prayers, and he listens to your cries and your prayers.

Whenever you attempt to fight your enemies or tell others of their evil, people may listen to you, but they don’t always answer your cries the way you need. Whenever you flee from the people or places you’re afraid of, people won’t always hear your cries. When you freeze or flop, prayer is often far from your lips.

But God listens to your cries. Even if your own parents, the ones you love, or the ones you look up to and respect were to abandon you or treat you less than you think you deserve, God will take you in.

God will listen to you, gather you like a hen under his protective and secure wings, and attend to your needs. God won’t give you up to your adversaries who spread lies and false witness against you. God has already defeated your greatest enemies, so the people and places you’re so scared of don’t stand a chance against him. God remains your security and provides compassion.

Since he’s already promised you citizenship in heaven and you’ve been promised eternal life through faith in your Lord Jesus Christ, you know you’ll live forever in his care.

While you wait for that day to come when he takes you from this scary world to his eternal home, you gather every Sunday with those who live eternally – both those you see in the flesh, but also those who already gather around the Lord’s altar who have gone before you.

You don’t have to look very far to see things which might scare you. A virus still threatens the elderly and the fragile. Heart attacks and other ailments take the young. Floods wash away lives and livelihoods. Wars and conflicts continue to terrorise people around the world. Bullies continue to try to have their way with the vulnerable. Not only this, but your own minds will continue to terrorise you with your own fears which only God can truly know and understand.

But again I ask: “What will you do when you’re afraid?”

Will you continue to fight, or flee, or freeze, or flop?

Or will you look to your Lord in faith and confidence knowing that with the Lord on your side as your stronghold, your light, and your salvation, whatever or whomever you’re afraid of can take a running jump in the lake!

You don’t have to face your fears alone. God himself is your fortress of safety and security. God will bring all things into the light. God himself is your Saviour. God is your help and he’s promised you that you’re already citizens of heaven. God will protect you like a hen protects its chicks under her wing.

So then, may…

…the peace and security of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Luke 6:17-26 (ESV)

¹⁷ Jesus went down with the apostles and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁸ Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured. ¹⁹ The whole crowd kept trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.

²⁰ He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said:

Blessed are you who are poor,
    because yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    because you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    because you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you whenever people hate you,
and whenever they exclude and insult you
and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven! The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets.”

²⁴ But woe to you who are rich,
    because you are receiving your comfort now.
²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,
    because you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    because you will be mourning and weeping.
²⁶ Woe to you when all people speak well of you,
    because that is how their fathers constantly treated the
        false prophets.

Dear Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us so that whatever we may be experiencing in our life, we may trust you truly bless us through faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have you ever come across something with the wrong label on it?

For example, have you ever grabbed a jar of what you thought was sugar, and placed it in your tea or coffee or cooking, only to later discover it was in fact, salt?

If you’ve ever done so, you would have discovered your tea, or coffee, or cake, just doesn’t taste like it should!

This teaches us the important lesson that, no matter how many wrong labels you might put on a jar, you can’t change the truth of what’s inside it! You simply can’t make salt into sugar by changing a label or by making out it’s something different than it truly is!

Now, without going into the dangerous topic of debating how people are currently being encouraged to ‘self-identify’ themselves and be whoever they want to be (without being able to actually change the genetic substance of who they truly are), today Jesus challenges us by telling us our labels are often wrong and we’re tempted to believe the false labels.

This ‘changing of the labels’ has been an age-old problem which started in the Garden of Eden.

For instance, God had labelled a certain tree as ‘out of bounds’ and to eat from it would result in death. Every other tree in that Garden was labelled as ‘good for you’ and would sustain humanity if they ate from them.

But the deceiver came along and did what he does best: he started swapping the labels around!

He first questioned the instructions given by God which led them to distrust God’s word. He was effectively suggesting to them God had put the wrong label on this forbidden tree. He then tempted them to see how the fruit from the forbidden tree was in fact ‘good for them.’ They started to believe God had got it wrong and the deceiver was the only one who saw things the correct way. They saw the fruit was pleasing to the eye and good for food.

So, believing this false label, they took, they ate, and they hid from God.

You see, not only had Satan changed the label of the tree, but he had also changed God’s label. Even though God is by nature gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, the first humans now saw God as ungracious, unmerciful, vindictive, and angry. They not only hid from God and each other, but they were also attempting to hide their new labels: the labels of ‘guilty’ and ‘ashamed’.

Unfortunately, the deceiver keeps on labelling worthless and destructive things as valuable and desirable, and valuable and desirable things as worthless or destructive. He calls evil ‘good’ and good ‘evil’. Because our hearts are full of fears and desires which so easily deceive us, we keep believing the false labels, thinking a change of label changes the substance.

We’re also tempted to do this with all our experiences in life. Since our hearts so easily deceive us, we don’t know how to label, interpret, or evaluate whether what we’re going through is to be received as something good for us or not.

For example, when something goes wrong, you might ask such questions as “What did I do to deserve this?” or “Why me, Lord? or even “God, what would you have me do so that you might bless me once again?”

It’s possible you might think a church with financial problems or with small numbers is doing something wrong and we need to do something different so we can be blessed again.

Similarly, when something goes right, you might think God is rightly pleased with you and has blessed you with riches, or success, or a good reputation. You might think a church experiencing growing numbers or budget surpluses are signs God is rewarding the people for their faithfulness.

But if success and good health and growth and popularity are signs of God’s blessing for being faithful or obedient, why were the faithful prophets of the past persecuted and criticised? Why was Jesus crucified, even though he is God’s own dearly beloved Son with whom God was well pleased?

You see, God doesn’t get the labels wrong. We do, and we label many of our experiences differently than Jesus does.

For instance, just because some of you might be labelled ‘poor’ or ‘hungry’ or ‘grieving’ or ‘hated’ doesn’t change who you are. If Jesus calls you blessed, then blessed they are, no matter how you’re labelled by yourself or anyone else!

Similarly, some of you may be labelled ‘rich’ or ‘well fed’ or ‘laughing’ or ‘well-though-of’, but this doesn’t change the fact you might be in danger because these things aren’t always signs of having a right relationship with God. Many people have placed their trust in humans or the ways of the world, and yet God tells us through the prophet Jeremiah that such people, despite their apparent successes, are ‘cursed’ because their hearts have turned away from trusting in God!

Why don’t we get the labels right? Because our eyes don’t see what God tells us to see, our ears don’t hear what God tells us to listen to, and our hearts are deceptive.

The labels we place on ourselves, or the labels given to us by others, are no more real than calling salt ‘sugar’ or sugar ‘salt’. The label doesn’t change who you truly are, but it does affect the way you perceive yourself and your relationship with God.

You see, by labelling yourself poorly might make you look down on yourself and so you criticise yourself. But if you look down on yourself, you look down on a person who has been made in the image of God, who has been made holy in the waters of baptism, who bears the holy name of the Triune God, has been bought with the precious blood of Jesus, has been forgiven of all your sins, and has been promised eternal life in the kingdom of heaven!

This means, by looking down on yourself you don’t recognise and trust in the reality of the glory of God who has created you, redeemed you, and sanctified you through and through.

Similarly, by labelling yourself as being better than you truly are, might fill you with pride. But having pride in yourself might tempt you to limit the glory of God and what he’s done for you. Pride in yourself is a form of trusting in yourself and Jeremiah warns us that those who trust in the strength or the ingenuity or the abilities of humans aren’t always trusting in the Lord.

You see, instead of having pride and hope and faith in the work of Jesus through his faithful obedience, his bitter suffering, his cruel death, and his glorious resurrection, you pride yourself in your own work, or your own cleverness. Even thinking God has blessed you for being a faithful and obedient person takes away from the glory of Christ.

The trouble with labels is you’re tempted to believe them. It’s not only how you label yourself, but you might be tempted to believe the labels other people call you, such as Good-for-nothing, Know-it-all, Trouble-maker, Nosey, Do-Gooder, Rich, Good, Old, A Few Bricks Short of a Wall, or even Blessed, but the label can’t change the substance within. Similarly, you might be tempted to place unfair and critical labels on those around you which would question or deny who God says they are.

But God knows who you truly are, and he sent his Son to remind you who you are and whose you are. In fact, just like a label can’t change the substance of what’s within, neither can any other outward circumstances change who God says you are.

This means, even if you experience old age, or a lack of possessions, or sickness, or injury, and any other negative circumstance or experience (which many people might think indicates God doesn’t favour you), the kingdom of heaven is still yours.

Even if you experience an emptiness of hunger, meaning, or contentment, Jesus promises to satisfy you with his gifts of love, forgiveness, and salvation.

Even if you weep or mourn, you’ll be given reason to laugh and be joyful as you receive the fullness of Christ’s mercy and compassion.

Even when you’re insulted or criticised for your faith in Jesus Christ, your experience is compared to the faithful prophets of the past who continued to believe and trust God’s word despite their experience of ridicule and persecution.

Jesus, the One who became poor for you, who became hungry for you, who wept over Jerusalem and at the grave of loved ones for you, and who was unjustly bullied, criticised, tried, and convicted to death for you, calls you blessed. And blessed you are, no matter what any other labels or experiences of life tell you.

Jesus also loves you enough to warn you not to place your trust in those good labels or good experiences which would often be interpreted by many as proof of God’s favour because of your faithfulness, obedience, or goodness.

If you’re placing your hope of God’s love on these things, he reminds you this is what the false prophets experienced. They were praised by humans because they said all the things the people wanted to hear. Unfortunately, all those good experiences, all their apparent success, and all those lovely platitudes spoken to them didn’t save them.

Now, this doesn’t mean if you’re poor or hungry or crying or insulted you’re automatically blessed, and if you’re rich or well fed or laughing or have a good reputation you’re automatically doomed.

Remember, the warning is for you not to believe a false label.

Don’t place your trust in what others say of you. Don’t place your trust in your comfort or success. But on the flip-side, don’t despair because of your bad experiences or because of your poor situation in life. Don’t place your trust in those labels which are trying to lead you away from true faith in your Lord Jesus Christ.

Believe instead that Jesus loves you and nothing anyone can say, and no experience in life, can change that.

Believe your sins are forgiven. Jesus has paid the full price for your sins through his suffering and death for you. Nothing you experience in life is punishment because Jesus paid the full price for your guilt and shame.

Believe you’re a dearly loved child of God because you’ve been baptised into Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. It doesn’t matter what surname you have or what others call you, because you bear the holy name of God. You’re his and no other names or labels can change that.

Believe this life will be full of sorrow and heartache. There will be tears, and suffering, and grief. This is the pain we experience as we learn to let go of the fragile, tenuous, temporary, and transitory things of this fallen world and learn to cling to the eternal kingdom of God with all its beauty, majesty, and splendour.

It doesn’t matter what labels or experiences you’re putting up with. God loves you, and Jesus proves it to you through his death and resurrection. That’s all you need to know and trust in so that…

…the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 6:1-13 (EHV)

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. ³ One called to another and said,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies!

The whole earth is full of his glory!

⁴ The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ Then I said, “I am doomed! I am ruined, because I am a man with unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”

⁸ Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

⁹ He said:

Go! You are to tell this people,
“Keep listening, but you will never understand.
Keep looking, but you will never get it.”
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused.
Make their ears deaf and blind their eyes,
so that they do not see with their eyes,
or hear with their ears,
or understand with their hearts,
and turn again and be healed.

¹¹ Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

He answered:

Until the cities are a wasteland without a single inhabitant,
until the houses are totally deserted,
and the farmland is completely devastated,
¹² until the Lord has removed the people far away,
and the abandoned places within the land are many.
¹³ If there is only a tenth left in it, that too will be burned in its turn.
Like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains when it is cut down,
so the holy seed is its stump.

Dear Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us so that we may see with our eyes and hear with our ears that you are holy, for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have you ever noticed how often we like to make special and important things into something normal, ordinary, and common?

For example, once upon a time people came to church in their ‘church clothes’. Men would wear suits and ties, while women would wear their best frocks. These clothes were worn only on Sundays because attending worship at church was special. Today we’re likely to turn up in jeans, sneakers, and T-shirts which we’re also likely to wear shopping, or when we go to the pub for lunch. While it’s no sin to dress this way, is it an indication we no longer treat going to church as special as we used to?

You may know that pastors don’t have to wear their white robes and vestments, but some may choose to do so because it marks the pastoral office as something special and worthy of respect. This doesn’t stop some people from wanting their pastor to wear ordinary or common clothes like everyone else. Some people might also unintentionally demean or disparage the holy office he bears whenever they put down or criticise their pastor when he doesn’t meet their expectations.

Many people look up to sports heroes and movie stars, but we also want them to be down to earth and like one of us. We want them to be someone we can relate to and mix with. And if they ever think they’re special, we’ll soon cut them down to size through what we Australians call the ‘tall poppy syndrome’!

It seems we tend to cut people down to size, bring them down to our level, and want them to be just like us. And yet, when we discover they’re just like us, we’re likely to lose respect and honour for them!

Similarly, we seem to wear special clothes on ordinary occasions and ordinary clothes on special occasions. We make special people into someone ordinary, and ordinary people into someone special. It seems we’ve lost or confused our sense of honouring something or someone as special or worthy of respect.

Knowing we do this, how on earth are we to understand what God’s holiness is or how to react when we’re in the presence of something or someone who is holy? If we’ve lost our respect for people or things, and made them common and ordinary, what on earth does it mean to be ‘holy’?

Well, for something or someone to be ‘holy’ means it or he or she is set apart from common use as special and worthy of respect and honour. While it could be because the object or person has special qualities in and of itself, when we hear of someone or something being holy in the Bible, it’s because God himself has sanctified it or made it holy. He’s set it apart and dedicated this object or person as a special part of his plan to bless the world.

As an analogy to understand how we treat something as holy, you’ve probably got your ordinary plates and cutlery you use every day. But, when someone special comes to visit, you might use some of your special China plates or precious cutlery which has been set aside for special occasions only. You may even have them displayed in your China cabinets because they’re special to you – not only because they’re expensive or beautiful, but it could be someone special gave them to you as a gift, and you respect and honour that person by looking after these items. They’ve been set aside from common use and are only used for special occasions.

Now, of course, when we hear God is holy, it’s not that he was once a common god who we’ve chosen to set aside as someone worthy of respect and honour. It’s because he’s supremely holy and is the source of all holiness. Only God is pure, innocent, and holy. In fact, he’s holy, times holy, times holy! This means he’s the measuring line or standard by which we judge our own holiness, purity, innocence, and cleanliness.

Unfortunately, we always fall short. We live too much like the common people of this world to be holy. We’re too selfish and self-seeking to be holy. We’re too judgmental and critical of each other to be holy. We’re too quick tempered when things don’t go our own way to be holy. We’re not gracious and merciful toward those who need our forgiveness to be holy. And we too often neglect to help the vulnerable and helpless to be holy.

We’re people who like to insult, put down, joke about, belittle, and treat each other with disrespect through our criticisms, gossips, and unwholesome talk, which makes our lips unclean. If our lips are unclean, it’s because our hearts are unclean and polluted with selfish and self-centred intentions.

We don’t just speak such unwholesome talk to people we consider below us, but we also do it to those who reckon they’re above us. We cut them down to size and attempt to make people who are made in God’s image into unclean and unworthy people. We tell anyone who’s willing to listen to us as we mouth off at how bad and unworthy some people are. We show disrespect toward those made in God’s image when we show how little we value them and their opinions.

We’re not holy in and of ourselves, and the more we’re aware of God’s holiness, the more we become aware of our own unholiness and impurity, like Isaiah did in our Old Testament reading, and like Peter did as he became aware of his sinfulness in Jesus’ presence.

On the other hand, our Triune God, the Holy One of Israel, is holy, holy, holy. He’s absolutely perfect, pure, and sinless. His absolute righteousness can’t tolerate the slightest error or blemish, even if it’s unintentional. This means we can’t do anything wrong at all, say anything wrong at all, or even think anything wrong at all without placing ourselves in danger of his eternal wrath and damnation.

The good news is that, because God is holy, he makes you and I holy in the waters of baptism. God’s holy name was spoken over you and claimed you as children of a holy God. You’ve been washed clean and made innocent and pure through faith when you believe God’s promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

You’re also washed clean and pure by the forgiving words of God’s authorised servant who declares your sins forgiven and removed from you for the sake of Christ’s atoning death and resurrection. As your sin and guilt is pardoned and removed from you, you become holy and pure and innocent through faith.

Not only this, but because your mouths defile yourselves again and again, and other people’s mouths defile you (as some of the mud thrown at you sticks), you humbly come to receive God’s holiness as you receive the holy body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Lord’s Supper.

Aware of your sinfulness and unworthiness, you come forward thinking ‘Woe is me because I’m a lost and condemned person because of my impure thoughts, words, and actions!’ But God touches your lips with Christ’s holy body and pardons your sin. Christ’s holy and innocent blood enters your bloodstream to wash your guilt from your hearts and transform your selfish will into an obedient will which submits to God’s words and ways.

In this way, you never possess God’s holiness, but you receive it from him as a gift. But like all gifts from God, it’s not just for your own personal benefit, but in order that you may serve as God’s instrument of blessing to those around you.

He’s called you to be his holy people who share the goodness and holiness of God with others. You do this when you proclaim and enact the gospel of Jesus Christ in your daily lives.

For example, when you confess your sins before God, and in the presence of those you’ve sinned against, God makes you holy through the forgiveness of your sins. People can see the holiness of God at work among you when you humbly admit your need for God’s grace and mercy and cleansing. As you let God’s Word expose your sin and you receive God’s cleansing through the gospel, people will see the changes in your words and actions as you repent of those harmful ways and now faithfully let God’s Word direct you on how to live holy and humble lives as God has made you holy.

Similarly, when you forgive as you’ve been forgiven, that is, when you share the holiness and innocence of God with those around you as you’ve been made holy and innocent through Christ’s forgiveness, the people you’ve previously judged and criticised become special to you once more. You not only see them as people made in God’s image, but as you forgive their sins for Christ’s sake, you consider them as people who have been made holy and innocent by God once more. Your reconciliation with fellow sinners is the way you get to share God’s holiness with those around you!

This is how Jesus taught his disciples to be fishers of men. He didn’t teach them to be perfect or expect everyone else’s perfection, but he taught them to forgive, to be merciful, and compassionate. He taught them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Of course, like Isaiah would discover, this holy gift of forgiveness and cleansing won’t always well received. People would see him and listen to him, but they wouldn’t comprehend what he was saying to them because their ears were blocked to the good news, their eyes were blinkered to the truth, and their hearts were calloused and no longer sensitive to the hope God was offering them. Many won’t respond very well to God’s Word and ways, including God’s own people.

But this was never to stop the servant of God from preaching the fullness of God’s Word to those whom God had sent him to. God remains holy even if his people don’t live according to his holy ways. His holy Word won’t remain empty and ineffective, but that doesn’t mean it will always work in the ears and eyes and hearts of the people around us in the time we want it to.

God can’t become any more holy than he is, and he can’t become less holy than he is (no matter what we wear to church), but we may learn to treat God as holy. We may learn to listen to his holy Word rightly, see him working in our life as he cleanses us from sin and changes us to be more like him in word and deed, and he may guide our forgiven and forgiving hearts so that our will is submissive and obedient to God’s own holy will.

We, the people of God, are made holy by God through his holy Word and Sacraments. Because we recognise God’s holiness, we honour and respect him as our holy God. We also learn to share the holiness of God with those around us, not because they deserve it, but because God is holy, and he’s made us holy so that we may share the blessings of his holiness through forgiveness and reconciliation.

And in this way, may the peace and holiness of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (EHV)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. ⁵ It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. ⁶ It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophetic gifts, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be done away with. ⁹ For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, ¹⁰ but when that which is complete has come, that which is partial will be done away with. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see indirectly using a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I was fully known.

¹³ So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so we may be people who love as your Son, Jesus Christ, loves us. Amen.

I don’t know if you’ve realised this, but the Lutheran Church of Australia, of whom each congregation (and hence each of you) are voluntary members of, has a tag line: ‘Where love comes to life.’

Now, even though I love this church we’re a part of, I’m not sure if our church is truly a place where love comes to life because I’ve seen and heard of many very unloving words and actions among its members. I’m not even sure if the tag line is supposed to be descriptive, prescriptive, or aspirational. That is, I’m not sure if this is describing who we are as a church, what we’re supposed to do in our church, or what we’re hoping to become as a church.

But, since we have this tag line, let’s consider if we, as a church (and as individuals within each of our congregations), are a place or people ‘where love comes to life.’

Although, in this case, let’s not judge our love from any human understanding of love, but from God’s description of love, which St Paul so famously describes in our text for today.

In this case, as individual members of this church (where love supposedly comes to life), how would you rate yourself on the following:

• How patient are you?  That is, how good are you at being willing to wait without complaint, even in times of suffering, and are always self-controlled and calm, even when people provoke or criticise you?

• How kind are you? That is, how willing are you to be generous and caring to irritable and fussy people, or how much mercy and forgiveness do you show to those who don’t deserve it, even when you know they’ll never show you the same?

How are you going so far? Would anyone dare rate themselves as perfect in these attributes?

Now, while love is normally a positive action, it can also be defined by what it isn’t, for example:

• How jealous do you get? For instance, do you desire what others have, and even work out ways you can get the same? Do you compare yourself to others on the mainland, or with others within the parish? Are you always happy for others when they’ve been blessed, even if you don’t get to share in their blessing?

• How much do you boast about yourself, or get puffed up by your own sense of opinion or importance? Do you want people to notice you, compliment you, or thank you for your service? Or are you happy for others to get more attention than you?

• How do you behave? Are there any times you behave disgracefully, dishonestly, or indecently? Or do you always behave with dignity, honesty, and honour, even when people aren’t watching?

• Do you insist on your own way of doing things? In other words, do you seek first what’s good for you? Do you attempt to force others to agree with you or think less of them when they don’t? Or do you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?

• Are you easily irritated and snap at others at the drop of the hat? Does your stomach churn and blood pressure increase because you’re so upset at others? Or are you slow to get angry?

• Do you find yourself dwelling on all the evil done against you and how unfair life is? Do you hold a grudge against others because of what they’ve done? Or are you willing to forgive and no longer let the incidents of the past hinder your relationships?

• Do you delight in evil? Well, of course you don’t! Unless of course you have a laugh when you see people get hurt (including when you watch YouTube clips from ‘Fail Army’), or when people make jokes at another’s expense, or when you pass on rumours about others before checking the facts, or when you feel justified when others are caught out, or if you rejoiced when you didn’t get caught doing something wrong!

What about some other positive behaviours, such as:

• Do you rejoice in truth, especially when the truth of your lack of love is exposed?

• Do you willingly bear all things, including difficult situations within the body of Christ?

• Do you believe all things without being naive?

• Do you willingly endure all things, including times of suffering or trouble?

Ok, so how did you go? Are you someone who can honestly say ‘love always comes to life’ in all your thoughts, words, and actions?

What about collectively? Are we, as each congregation or parish, a place ‘where love always comes to life’, or do we fall short?

I’m guessing none of us have passed the high standards set by God in the ways we love, either as individuals or as Christian communities, and if you think you do, you’re fooling yourself!

So, if we’re not a place ‘where love comes to life’, what’s going wrong? Aren’t we trying hard enough? Should we try harder and write a set of policies which clearly sets out the expected behaviour of each person? Should we have a meeting and set out the facts so that we make sure those who did the wrongs things are brought to justice? And if anyone stuffs up, should we get rid of all those who don’t let their love come to life?

The truth is, by our own power we can never love perfectly, and if we ever wanted to get rid of everyone who doesn’t love us perfectly, well, there’ll be no-one left. You see, unfortunately…

• Instead of hallowing God’s name, we often want our own names to be great.

• Instead of seeking the kingdom of God and submitting to God’s order and reign, we often want to rule our own little kingdom where we get to be the boss, and so place high expectations on ourselves and each other.

• Instead of seeking the will of God, we often want our own will to be done – and in our own time frame!

• Instead of being content with the daily blessings God gives us, we often want more and more.

• Instead of forgiving as God graciously and undeservedly forgives us, we often make our own forgiveness conditional on others doing the right thing first.

• Instead of asking God to lead us not into temptation, we often eagerly place ourselves (and others), into situations where we’re tempted to act dishonestly, critically, rudely, irritably, and indecently.

• Instead of looking to God to deliver us from evil, we often dwell on all the evil done to us, hold onto the hate building in our hearts, rejoice in our own attempts to get back at people, and encourage others to do the same.

This means we end up idolising ourselves and our own selfish desires, and we don’t always fear, love, or trust God above all things.

So, who will save us from all the evil of ‘unlove’ done to us (and by us)? Who will save us from the devil’s deceptions who loves to call evil ‘good’ and good ‘evil’? Who will save us from the death we deserve for not being people where ‘love comes to life’?

Well, thanks be to God for Jesus Christ!

Jesus, the incarnation of God’s perfect love, was the one who received the punishment you deserve for your lack of patience, your lack of mercy, your pride, your irritability, and your selfish behaviour. Because he took your punishment of suffering and death, he forgives you for not loving as you should.

You see, Jesus is the only one who is patient and kind. Jesus isn’t jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jesus doesn’t demand his own way. Jesus isn’t irritable, and he keeps no record of being wronged. Jesus doesn’t rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever God’s truth wins out. Jesus never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

You want to know the only place ‘where love truly comes to life’? Well, it’s only in Jesus Christ, and it’s this Christ who patiently, faithfully, and eagerly loves you, whether you like it or not!

The only way we can be congregations or a parish ‘where love comes to life’ is when Jesus Christ, and his gracious love, is central to all we think and say and do.

It’s when we keep seeing the love of Christ fully demonstrated through his death for the forgiveness of sins for all the times we failed to love as expected, and rejoice in his resurrection, which gives us hope of life eternal with him, that we may learn to love others as he loves us.

So, this means each of our places of worship, is to be where we hear of our continuing failure to love as we should, as well as the place where we hear of his gracious and merciful love for you and me (and those we serve), again and again.

This means we’re to keep hearing his Word, especially his words of warning, promise, justice, mercy, love, and forgiveness.

We’re to be washed in his love as he baptises us in order to cleanse us from all our sin and graft us to himself to receive his love like a lifeblood.

We’re to taste his love as he nourishes us with his very own body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins, and as a sign of steadfast love for his loveless people.

This means, here, as we empty ourselves of ourselves, and repent of all our selfish idolatry, pride, and envy, and look to Christ to fill us through his trustworthy Word and holy Sacraments with his faith, hope, and love, and as we share the love which only comes from Christ, that we may be the people ‘where love comes to life.’

Of course, this doesn’t always mean all your own loving actions, born out of the love of Christ for you, will always be readily accepted. Even Jesus wasn’t well accepted in his hometown.

Therefore, the hardest places to practice your love (as you’ve been loved by Christ), is in your own home and in your own church.

You see, they already know you too well. They’ve already seen you at your most impatient, unmerciful, jealous, proud, rude, indecent, irritable, self-seeking, and untrustworthy worst. You also know them very well and have probably also seen them at their worst (which makes it hard to love them)!

But no matter what you experience from them (or them from you), this is where God wants you to live out the love of Christ. You’re the vessel who has receive God’s love, and you’re the servant whom God has placed among them to share his love, patience, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion.

So, is this church a place ‘where love comes to life’? No, it isn’t! At least not to God’s exacting expectations, but it’s never been about us and our love. It should always be about Christ because he’s the only one where love truly comes to life.

So, even when we fail to love as we ought, this is the place where Christ’s love is proclaimed, and where Christ’s love is communicated in word, water, bread, wine, and in our humble service to each other as we learn to love like Christ loves us.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, may our parish, our congregations, and our homes, be places where Christ’s patient, merciful, humble, and sacrificial love comes to life.

And may the peace and love of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 (EHV)

¹ When the seventh month came and the Israelites were in their cities, all the people gathered together at the public square that is in front of the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. ² So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation, both men and women and all who were able to understand what they heard. ³ From dawn until midday in front of the public square in front of the Water Gate, he read from the scroll, while facing the men, the women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. 

⁵ All the people could see Ezra as he opened the scroll, because he was elevated above all the people. As he opened the scroll, all the people stood. ⁶ Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” while they lifted up their hands and then knelt and bowed down with their faces to the ground.

⁸ So the Levites read from the Book of the Law of God clearly and interpreted it, and the people understood what was read.

⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who helped the people understand, said to all the people, “Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or cry!” because all the people were crying as they heard the words of the Law. ¹⁰ Nehemiah said to them, “Go, eat rich food and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, because today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Dear Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us so that we may hear, understand, and faithfully respond to your Word, for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

This might be a bit presumptuous, but I’m guessing most of you don’t know much about Ezra and Nehemiah and why they, and what they did, are important for us today.

They once lived in exile in Babylon, along with most of the Israelites. God had punished the Israelites for not keeping their covenant with him and they lived in exile for many years as rebellious and defeated people. In the meantime, since they had no access to God through the sacrificial worship system at the temple in Jerusalem, tradition suggests that during their exile in Babylon they established worshipping groups, which was the beginning of what we call synagogues today.

Meanwhile, a few poor Israelites had been left behind in Jerusalem. The temple, once chosen to bear the holy name of God, had fallen into disrepair. The Lord stirred the heart of the Babylonian King, Cyrus, to rebuild the temple, and he sent one of the exiled Israelites, Zerubbabel, to do this. He was largely successful, but not without problems being stirred up among the residents of Jerusalem. The temple also was nowhere near as impressive as it had been formerly.

Sixty years later, another Babylonian King, Artaxerxes, sent Ezra, who, as a scribe, was a man well-versed in God’s Law, to teach the people of Jerusalem. He also sent Nehemiah to organise the rebuilding of the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

The scribe and the layman worked to re-establish the people of Jerusalem into a worshipping community, and an important part of this included the reading of the Word of God as we hear today. But something new occurred in today’s reading which is important for us as Christians.

After the Law was read to the people, verse 8 says: ‘they gave the sense (or interpreted it), so that the people understood the reading’. So, they didn’t just read God’s Word, but they also interpreted it so the people could understand what God was saying to them.

We also do this in our own Christian worship today. We still hear the Word of God read from various parts of the Bible, including the Old Testament, the Psalms, one of the gospel accounts, and from one of the New Testament letters of the early church. But we don’t always clearly understand what God’s saying to us. This is why we have the sermon soon after the readings to help us understand and apply God’s Word to our own lives.

The sermon helps us understand what God’s saying to us, and how the age-old human problem of sinful disobedience should grieve us and make us long to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The sermon will also proclaim how God answers our human problems with the good news of forgiveness, life, and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. As we hear the Word of God explained and interpreted using the tools of Law and Gospel, we learn to take what God says to heart and apply it to our own lives.

This is even more important today because there are so many other words we read and watch and listen to which don’t give us so much hope and peace and joy. There are many other words and visions which terrify us and lead us astray from truth and compassion and forgiveness and unity. There are so many other words which deceive us by encouraging us to place our hope and trust in people and things which don’t last. There are so many words which are encouraging us to divide and judge and belittle and put down and condemn.

Led by the deceptions of the devil who wants us to doubt God’s Word, the critical words of the world which wants us to place our hopes in politics or science or medicine or power or glory or influence, and the self-centred and doubtful words on our hearts which want us to trust only our own selfish opinions, we become distrusting, judgmental, and afraid of each other.

So, God offers us his Word which is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and trustworthy. God’s Word revives our souls with peace and hope because it’s reliable and gives us lasting hope. God’s Word makes simple people into wise people who can discern and know what’s good and right and true. God’s Word causes us to rejoice in what God’s doing for us. God’s Word gives light for our eyes to see how God blesses us, which is hidden from most people. God’s Word warns us when we stray from God’s ways and comforts us with his forgiveness and compassion. The sermon helps us understand so we trust God’s Word.

Therefore, what was introduced by Ezra and Nehemiah when they not only read God’s Word but also helped the people understand what it meant for them, is still important for us, even today.

The scribes continued to read from the Scriptures and interpret what it says for the people of God who gathered in their synagogues. This happened for many generations and is the context of the gospel reading today where Jesus, who regularly met with people in their synagogues, was asked to read from Scripture and interpret what it meant.

After he read from the scroll of Isaiah, which spoke about the Spirit anointing his chosen servant to proclaim good news to the poor, pardon those who are captive, give sight to the blind, and release those who were oppressed, he sat down, which is how the scribes would normally teach the people.

Everyone was waiting to hear what he had to say so the people could understand what they just heard.

Then Jesus said: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”.

But this isn’t an interpretation! This is an announcement that what Isaiah had spoken of has suddenly been fulfilled. This is a proclamation that the words they heard from Scripture have just come true. Jesus is the interpretation of Scripture!

In other words, Jesus is declaring this Scripture reading is all about him. He’s the One chosen and anointed by God to preach the good news of God’s kingdom to the poor. He’s the One sent to pardon the captives. He’s the One who will help the blind see. He’s the One who will release the oppressed.

This is the day when Jesus began his ministry of preaching good news to those who have nothing to offer God. He preaches the good news of mercy, forgiveness, and love to all of us who can’t make up for what we’ve done, who can’t justify forgiveness or mercy, or who struggle with obedience. We, the spiritually poor, can’t buy or bargain our way into God’s presence, but we receive it as a divine gift when we believe and respond to God’s Word.

Jesus begins his ministry of proclaiming freedom for the prisoners. While we think we live in a free society, many people are imprisoned with restrictions to their freedom, with high walls of expectations built around them, and are shackled with the threats of abuse and manipulation. Other times we imprison ourselves out of fear, or guilt, or shame. We want to hide and avoid getting into trouble or we want to avoid suffering or death. We endure lockdowns forced on us by others, but sometimes we lock ourselves down with the result that joy and peace and freedom elude us.

But Jesus forgives and frees us so that we’re no longer bound and shackled by our fear or guilt or shame. For all of us who’s conscience is being held captive by the devil, or by others, or by ourselves, we have been freed from our slavery by Christ to love and serve him in his everlasting kingdom. For in Christ, we’re free to be children of God, free to come to him and ask for forgiveness, and free to be bound to Christ in service to him and those he loves.

Similarly, Jesus begins his ministry of giving back sight to the blind. While he restores physical sight, he also gives us spiritual insight to see the truth about our sinful condition and the truth of his grace and love and peace. He heals us through the precious words of forgiveness and cleansing so we may live as people who live in his light and truth.

Jesus begins his ministry of releasing those who are oppressed, burdened, shattered, and weakened by life’s struggles with sin – the sin by which we hurt God, the sin by which we hurt those around us, and also the sin which has been done against us.

Through the power of Christ’s words of forgiveness and cleansing and freedom, we’re released from those who oppress and burden us – whether it be the binding power of Satan, the binding power of troubled consciences, or the manipulative power of others. We’re free to live under our Lord Jesus Christ who shares our yoke and lightens our burdens.

But freed and released by Christ, he places us into a community – his chosen and sanctified community called the Church which continues to read God’s Word and helps us understand what he’s saying to us.

Here in the Church, he’s bound us to each other through our baptism into the one holy body of Christ. He’s made us one with Christ and one with each other.

The Holy Spirit has gifted us with different gifts so that we complement each other and makes us inter-dependent to each other. This means we can never say one, or another, isn’t welcome or needed or valued or loved. After all, if we hurt or exclude or criticize one member of his body, the whole body of Christ suffers. Like it or not, we need each other. Who are we to say whom God doesn’t need within his holy body?

This means that even those we struggle with, or those who embarrass us, or those who trouble us, are to be treated with special honour and respect and mercy. So instead of removing them or saying we don’t need them, we treat them with extra grace and forgiveness. We dare not seek to divide or separate what God has joined together without offending the God who joined us together.

Since God, in his infinite wisdom, chose to include each of us into the body of Christ, we’re all equally important and valuable, no matter what our function or spiritual gifting may be. He’s gathered us into Christ; not so that we may serve ourselves and our own fears and desires, but so that we may participate in the ministry of Jesus Christ as we serve each other.

Since we’re all one in Christ, on whom the Holy Spirit rests to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, we’re all called to proclaim the good news of the forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to each other, without favour or compromise.

So, as we journeyed through the readings for today, beginning with Ezra and Nehemiah, we learn that we’re all called to hear God’s Word. We’re called to listen to the interpretation of God’s Word so that we understand what it means for us. We’re called to receive and believe the good news of the forgiveness of sins and our release from oppression through faith in Jesus Christ. We’re called to receive the Holy Spirit as we use God’s gifts for each other’s good. We’re called to share the forgiveness and freedom of Christ among God’s chosen and valued people without division or favouritism.

Which is why the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will continue to guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

John 2:1-11 (EHV)

¹ Three days later, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. ² Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.

³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”

⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My time has not come yet.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Six stone water jars, which the Jews used for ceremonial cleansing, were standing there, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” And they did.

⁹ When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had now become wine, he did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew). The master of the banquet called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have had plenty to drink, then the cheaper wine. You saved the good wine until now!”

¹¹ This, the beginning of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Dear Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us so that, as we consider this first sign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we may believe in him. Amen.

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it, but there’s a regular pattern to our church readings.

For example, on Christmas Day we always hear about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the Sundays after Christmas, we always hear about the childhood of Jesus, even though we have very few stories of this part of his life.

On the day of Epiphany, which is always on the 6^th of January (although we might celebrate it on one of the Sundays near it), we hear how Jesus was worshipped by Wise Men as their King and God. This officially ends the season of Christmas, which is why Christians usually take down their Christmas decorations on this day. Orthodox Christians do their gift giving on this day.

On the first Sunday after Epiphany, we always hear how Jesus was baptised in the Jordan river.

And today, on the second Sunday after Epiphany, we normally hear how Jesus prepares for his public ministry. Except today we hear something unusual and unexpected.

You see, in Matthew’s account of the gospel of Jesus Christ, after Jesus was baptised, he was tempted in the wilderness before he began his ministry of proclaiming: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. He then chose his disciples.

Mark’s account is very similar where Jesus says after the temptation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Luke inserts the genealogy of Jesus between his baptism and the temptation, but Jesus begins his public ministry by proclaiming: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (which we’ll hear more of next week).

So, today we would normally expect to hear from the synoptic gospel accounts how Jesus is tempted and begins his public ministry by proclaiming the gospel about the coming kingdom.

But today we hear from John, and John doesn’t follow this regular pattern of temptation and proclamation. John doesn’t mention any temptation after Jesus is baptised. Instead, John tells us how Jesus calls his first disciples, including Nathanael to whom he says: ‘You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’, and then three days later, he attends a wedding.

It’s one of the very few times we hear Jesus participating in the life of those around him as he attends the joyous celebration of a wedding between a man and a woman. Normally he’s got something to do, such as preaching, teaching, and healing, you know, kingdom of God stuff, but today he’s a guest with no divine purpose. He’s simply mixing with family and friends.

So, why does John break the regular pattern to include this part of Jesus’ life which doesn’t seem to be connected to the important life-saving and sacrificial ministry of Jesus at all?

Well, John sees Jesus’ miracle at the wedding as a sign of his divinity. This first sign helped his disciples believe in him.

And what was the problem which led to the sign? Well, the wedding celebration had run out of wine! How dare the wine run short at a wedding! This is a very embarrassing situation for the couple and their families!

However, Jesus’ mother, Mary, notices the problem. But she also knows this hasn’t got anything to do with Jesus and his salvation mission, so she simply states the fact to her son: “They have no wine.” She doesn’t even ask Jesus to do anything about it.

Jesus also asks, “What’s this got to do with me?”

It’s not his responsibility. It’s not his fault. It’s not his mission.

So, while we’d all like Jesus to grant us happy days filled with good people, good food, and good wine; make the lights turn green when we’re running late; stop us from getting sick or injured; grant us the right portions of rain and sunshine on days which would be convenient for us; and bless our everyday activities, it’s not his primary purpose. This isn’t what he’s here to do.

He’s here to suffer and die for the forgiveness of our sins so we would be reconciled to God the Father. That’s his job. That’s his purpose. And the time for his suffering and death hadn’t yet come.

But despite this isn’t the time or place or situation for Jesus to do anything, Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them.

In other words, she’s calling them to trust him. But their trust wasn’t to be a passive trust as if there was no response needed. It was to be an active trust. This means, if they trusted his words, they would faithfully do what he says.

Jesus directed them to six stone jars which were there for the Jewish rite of purification – each of them capable of holding between 70-100 litres. This was where cooking utensils and hands were to be washed to ensure they were ritually clean. They should have been full of water for this purpose. The fact Jesus tells them to fill them up with water may have indicated this was another problem.

In other words, not only had the wine run dry, but the jars of water to purify people’s hands and utensils may have also dried up.

Jesus tells them to fill them with water, then to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast to taste. They trusted Jesus’ words and did what they were told, and the resulting wine was of exceptional quality!

Although I can’t help wonder why one jar wouldn’t have been enough. I mean wouldn’t you think 70-100 litres of wine would be enough for a wedding, but no! Jesus provides them with between 420-600 litres of exceptional wine! But then again, this is a sign of God’s abundant grace and mercy and how much he wishes to bless his people.

While the master of the feast was unaware of the miracle, the servants (and later the disciples) were aware of it. This miracle is a sign we’re to believe in the one who performed the sign – Jesus Christ.

We believe it was the first sign which points us to the fact Jesus is much more than human. This is a miraculous glimpse of the glory of God in human flesh who comes to save us all from sin through his death and resurrection. And even though this wedding (and the problem of them running out of wine) had nothing to do with his purpose of salvation, it shows his love and compassion.

His hour of glory would come at the right time, but it wasn’t like what happened at this wedding feast. His most glorious moment wasn’t turning water into wine, or walking on water, or healing the sick, or raising the dead, but his greatest glory was when he hung on the cross to die for our sins so we may be forgiven.

In his hour of glory, he wouldn’t be offered water, or even some of this good wine. He would be offered sour wine instead, and he drank from this bitter cup.

His glorious hour came as he suffered and died because someone had to pay. Someone always has to pay, and we can’t pay or make up for all the times we don’t trust God or do what he says.

And so, Jesus paid that price by taking our place of punishment: the maker of the good wine was sacrificed for those who ran out of wine; the vine-keeper gave up his life for the good of those attached to the true vine; the Son of God died so that the sons and daughters of men would be forgiven and granted the inheritance of eternal life in his kingdom where the wedding feast never ends.

When everything is going well and we have all we need, we don’t feel the need for Jesus, or his miracles, or his forgiveness, or his gift of life. When our life is rosy and full of celebration, we don’t feel the need for Christ or his saving work. When we figure we’re living good lives, we don’t feel the need for his forgiveness. Of course, the need for our forgiveness and mercy is still there, but we don’t, or won’t, acknowledge our need.

But it’s when the wine and celebrations run dry, when we feel our inadequacy and incompetence, when we realise we’ve failed our God and those around us, when we’re in need of mercy, when we feel the sting of death as our bodies slowly break down, when we feel the bitterness of injustice, when our hearts are emptied of love or peace or hope, and when unforgiveness makes our hearts a cold and as empty as those stone jars, our need for a Saviour is exposed once more and we eagerly turn to our Lord and look for a sign of his presence and grace to fill our hearts once more with his Spirit.

You see, under our own power, we’ll always run dry and won’t attain the holiness and perfection demanded of us, but the hour of Jesus’ glory has already come, and he gives us his holy gifts of grace and love and hope in abundance.

While we don’t always get to witness any miraculous changes to our situation or health, we’re still encouraged to listen to Jesus and do what he says.

We’re told to make disciples by baptising and teaching. In baptism the holy name of God miraculously binds itself to the waters and in turn binds us to Jesus himself so we may receive the benefits of his death and resurrection through faith. The teaching goes hand in hand with baptism as we listen to Jesus, and do what he says.

We’re told to take and eat and drink. In the Lord’s Supper we don’t have the miracle of water turning into wine, but the body and blood of Christ miraculously binding himself to the bread and wine. We faithfully receive his body and blood into our mouths and bodies for the forgiveness of our sin through faith.

We’re told to forgive as we’ve been forgiven. If we forgive based only on our own goodness, or the goodness of others, we’ll very quickly run dry and won’t forgive. Yet filled with the grace and mercy of Christ’s forgiveness through his death for our sins, we pass on that sweet and heavenly forgiveness to those around us and so they too will marvel at the miracle of God’s grace.

Whether our lives are abounding with God’s good gifts, or we feel empty and have run dry in our faith, we’re told to pray trusting our heavenly Father hears us for the sake of his dear Son Jesus Christ. God will hear us. He’s promised it. We trust it. We do it faithfully.

In today’s reading the hour of Christ’s glory hadn’t come, yet Jesus acted to bless those around him and gave us the first sign which encourages us to listen to him and do what he says.

If he was able to bless this wedding celebration so much, even though his hour hadn’t yet come, how much more will he bless us now that his hour has come? How much more will he bless us as we trust in his words and do what he says?

After all, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 43:1-7 (EHV)

¹ But now this is what the Lord says,
the Lord who created you, O Jacob,
the Lord who formed you, O Israel.
Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name. You are mine.
²     When you cross through the waters, I will be with you.
When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away.
When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,
and the flame will not set you on fire.

³     Because I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior,
I gave Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴     Because you are precious and honored in my eyes,
and I myself love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
and peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵     Do not be afraid, because I am with you.
From the east I will bring your offspring,
and from the west I will gather you.
⁶     I will say to the north, “Give them back!”
and to the south, “Do not hold them.”
Bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
⁷     everyone who is called by my name,
everyone I created for my glory,
everyone I formed,
yes, everyone I have made.

Dear Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us so that we may trust you love us as much as you love your own Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

How much are you worth? What is your value? And how would you figure this out?

I suppose one way to figure how much you’re worth is to consider how much someone might be prepared to pay for you as a ransom amount. So then, how much would someone pay for you? $1,000,000? $100,000? $1,000? $100?

Another possibility of measuring your worth is to consider your usefulness. What skills do you have? What sports or games are you good at? What musical instruments can you play? How much do you do for those around you? How much joy and pleasure can you bring to the people you love? Although, if you’re old, differently able, or limited in what you can do, how does this affect your value?

Another possibility is your presence on social media. How many followers or ‘friends’ do you have? How many likes or views do you get for your posts? How many comments do you make or receive? And what if you’re not getting as many as you used to? How does that affect your value? How does that affect your sense of self-worth?

Perhaps you might consider how many friends you have, or how many interesting topics you can engage in, or what names of impressive people you’ve met whom you can bring into your conversations, or how many jokes you can recall, or perhaps even your ability to remember and quote from Scripture or discuss theological topics meaningfully?

What is your worth, and how would you measure it? How could you increase your worth, or is it out of your hands?

Part of the trouble is we don’t usually value ourselves very well. We either value ourselves too highly and have inflated egos and pride, or we’re tempted to put ourselves down and have a poor sense of self worth.

Another part of the problem, but also part of the good news, is that your worth isn’t up to you. Just like any artwork, your value is in the eye of the beholder, not in the work itself.

In other words, you don’t decide your ransom amount. That’s up to the one who pays your ransom. You don’t decide whether you’re likeable or not. That’s up to those who are willing to like you. You don’t decide how valuable you are. That’s up to those around you to decide how precious you are to them.

As we consider this reading from Isaiah and how God values his people, we’d also benefit from understanding the context into which it was first spoken.

In this case we don’t have to go very far into the previous chapter to realise the value of God’s chosen people isn’t very high.

God calls his people deaf, blind, and disobedient. (Is 43:18-25)

They had heard God’s word but chose not to listen to him, which made them spiritually deaf.

They had seen the miracles of God but chose not to take notice of them, which made them spiritually blind.

They had heard and seen how much God loves them and how much he wanted his chosen people to live according to his ways so that they might bless the world through them, but they rejected his ways and wanted to live like everyone else around them, which made them disobedient.

As a result of their spiritual deafness, blindness, and disobedience, God had sent them away from his land and they were living as exiles among foreigners. They had been looted and plundered by other nations and treated as outcasts and worthless people. They even felt as if God no longer considered them worthy.

And it’s into this context which God speaks his words of love and mercy and compassion.

The One who had created them, and who had built them into a nation, was going to buy them back. He was going to pay the ransom price for them so that he would restore them.

Even though they were spiritually deaf, blind, and disobedient, he still considered them precious, valuable, redeemable, and worthy of paying their purchase price…again.

This wasn’t because of anything they did to make themselves worthy or valuable or redeemable, but because this is what God chose to do. God had chosen to reveal his glory through them. God was going to call them by his own name.

He was going to be with them as their Immanuel, their ‘God-with-us’ so that when they passed through dangerous waters or damaging flames, they wouldn’t be harmed.

This means that, while he wouldn’t always let them escape troubles and hardship, he will accompany them through those times. There would be no reason for them to be afraid, no matter what they faced, because with God at their side, who could be against them?

The good news is that God did redeem his people and bring them back to his land. He gathered these homeless and worthless people and restored them so that he could be among them as their God. With his help, the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt, and the temple was restored. While it wasn’t to their previous glory, God did what he promised.

More than this, God himself came to be with his people in the person of Jesus Christ who was baptised among his own people in the river Jordan, which we heard in the gospel reading today.

Now this is all good and dandy, but how does this apply to you? How does this affect your worthiness, even though you’re not an Israelite?

This means, when we consider God’s word which was first spoken to the Israelites, we can’t automatically apply the same words to our own situation because we’re not the people whom he originally spoke to.

However, instead of dismissing God’s word, these words can, and do, apply to us for a simple reason:

Baptism.

Our baptism into Jesus Christ, the true and fully obedient Israelite, is the watery and effective glue which binds us all together with the people of God; past, present, and future.

Our baptism into Jesus Christ is the conduit of God’s love and mercy to foreigners like you and me.

Our baptism into Jesus Christ is the means by which God adopts us as honorary Israelites because we’re now joined to Jesus, the obedient Israelite who truly hears and sees.

Our baptism into Jesus Christ is how God places his own holy name on us and claims us as his own possession to cherish and protect and grow in knowledge, faith, and spiritual maturity.

Our baptism into Jesus Christ is the lens we put on to read God’s Word, the hearing aid which help us hear God’s Word, and the faithful reception and obedient response to God’s Word as if it were spoken directly to us, even though it was originally spoken to others.

This means that, just like the rebellious Israelites, we’re also all too often spiritually deaf. We simply don’t listen to each other very well, and we definitely don’t listen to God very well. We’re all too busy listening to our own selfish opinions and our own critical thoughts and judgments to listen properly. Our selective hearing gets us into all types of strife and problems in our relationships, including our relationship with God, which only lessens our worthiness.

We’re also spiritually blind. We don’t look at the right things and we don’t see what we’re supposed to see. We see viruses threatening and we become afraid. We see long line ups and empty shelves and we blame the government. We see sports stars turned around at airports and we arrogantly mock them and criticise them.

When we look around at what bothers us so much, we fail to see God’s activity in our lives, and we fail to look to him in all our troubles. We fail to see the blessings God gives us every day so that we might trust him when we’re afraid. We fail to see how he offers us strength and peace and hope during times of trouble.

But we also fail to see each other through the eyes of Christ and value each other the way God values us. Because we fail to see each other in this way, we also fail to act with mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. Our spiritual blindness to God’s abiding presence in our lives and failing to see each other through the eyes of Christ only lessens our worthiness.

Because we don’t hear and see very well, we don’t respond with faithful obedience. We’re selective which words of God should apply to us, and we’re also selective which words should apply to others. We’re all too often critical and judgmental. We’re also all too often reluctant to love and serve and forgive, which only lessens our worthiness.

So then, how much are you worth to God? What is your value?

Well, spiritually you’re bankrupt, but you don’t get to decide your worth, and neither does anyone else on this earth. You don’t decide what price God decides to pay to purchase you as his own dearly loved precious child. You don’t get to decide whether you’re forgiven or loved or worthy of saving. God is the One who decides!

And God decided to send his own dearly beloved Son, with whom he is well pleased, to pay the price for you, your forgiveness, your life, and your salvation. The price was his beloved Son’s innocent blood and atoning death.

You’re worth much more than $100, $1,000, or $1,000,000 to God. Your price is the death of the one and only dearly loved begotten Son of God.

Not because you deserve it, but because God decided that’s the price he was willing to pay for you so that you would belong to him and that he would rule over you as his King.

This is the price he was willing to pay so that you would be forgiven and be set free from death and the power of the devil. This is the price God decided to pay so that you would live under him and serve him, innocent and happy forever, just as he is raised from death to life and now lives and rules eternally.

The connection between this payment for you and Jesus Christ is through your baptism into him. God gives forgiveness of sins, freedom from death and the devil, and life with God forever to all who believe what he promises.

As God’s word reveals our deafness, blindness, and disobedience, we learn that we need to keep drowning the old sinful nature in those same waters of baptism. God continues to call all those who bear his holy name to repent and believe because he knows everything selfish and sinful in us has to keep dying.

But by faith we also rise again with Christ every day so that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can live anew as God’s obedient, loving, forgiving, and serving people who truly hear, see, and respond with mercy and grace.

No matter how worthy or unworthy you think you are, God has created you and shaped you. He tells you not to be afraid because he’s with you. He’s called you by name, placed his own holy name on you at your baptism, and you’re now his own cherished and valuable possession.

When you cross the threatening floods and go through fiery trials, God is with you. He’s paid a valuable price for you and he’s not going to give you up.

God has chosen to love you and he will, at the right time, gather you from the ends of the earth to be where he is. Because you’re joined to Jesus through baptism and faith, you know that you are also his beloved child.

Because you’ve been covered with the righteousness of Christ, you know that he’s pleased with you, which is why…

…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jeremiah 31:7-14 (ESV)

⁷ For thus says the Lord:

“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’

⁸ Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here.

⁹ With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

¹⁰ “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’

¹¹ For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

¹² They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.

¹³ Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

¹⁴ I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.”

Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so we may be filled with joy knowing you will satisfy us with your goodness through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

We celebrated Christmas recently. It may seem like a long time ago, but I pray you were all blessed as you celebrated the incarnation of our Lord – the Word-made-flesh.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, as part of your celebrations, you all indulged a little over Christmas or New Year’s as you feasted on some tasty food. If you did, most likely you would have had some leftovers, you know – the ‘Remnants of Christmas past’.

Perhaps you’ve been finishing off Turkeys, Hams, Christmas puddings, and any number of delights which have a habit of making the belly swell through excessive calories and lazy days. As time goes on, you may have needed to get a little creative to use up the leftovers before they go off, or before everyone is sick of the same food!

Another reason you may want to finish off the leftovers is that you know the remnants, the leftovers, and the scraps may start to go off. The previously tasty and delicious food changes to be something we tolerate, and then becomes something unwanted, unhealthy, and discarded.

But why do I talk about Christmas leftovers?

Well, because the bible reading today is preached to the remnants, the leftovers, and the scraps of Israel. It’s proclaimed to the black sheep, the ostracised, the excluded, the shunned, and the unwanted.

You see, they were once part of the holy people of God whom God went to great efforts to free from slavery so that he might bring them into his Promised Land, but now, as a result of their disobedience, they were exiled, kicked out, carted away, and left to rot far away from family, friends, and even from their God as they could no longer worship him in his temple.

Now, even though these words are proclaimed to the remnants of Israel and doesn’t seem to apply directly to you, it may also depend on how you perceive yourself or how others might perceive you.

For example, it could be you’re considered to be popular, fit in well with others, and are often surrounded by family and friends, but maybe you’re not.

Maybe you feel like a black sheep and often feel left out or ostracised. Maybe you feel shunned, banished, ignored, detested, or out of favour with friends or family. Maybe you feel you don’t quite fit in and aren’t as liked as you wish. Even as a congregation, parish, or State, you might feel uncared for or isolated. You might feel as if you only get the dregs left over from other people’s spoils.

And, even if you don’t feel like this, it could be you have family or friends who feel, or act, like they’re on the outer and are often the subject of rumour and lament.

In a sense then, this text is written to all the black sheep who feel punished or banished by others, or even by God.

It might surprise you how many people feel like they’re the black sheep and don’t feel welcome by their own families, friends, or even their own worshipping community.

There are many reasons some of you feel this way:

• It could be because something was said to you, or about you, which made you question the way people perceive your worth.
• It could be a difference of opinion you’ve had with someone which seems to force a separation between you.
• It could be something you did which makes you feel ashamed or unworthy, especially as you compare yourself with those around you whom you value and respect.
• It could be something was done to you by someone else which troubles your sense of worthiness.
• It could be you’re hypersensitive to any disapproving frowns or vocalised judgments because of a fragile sense of self-worth.
• It could also be because you’ve banished yourself because of your own sense of disapproval or judgment.

Now of course, theologically, none of us are truly worthy, and so we all stand equally condemned by God because of our sinfulness. None of us deserve to be part of the family of God. So, in effect, we’re all exiles and excommunicated from God because of our sin, but we come here because we believe we’ve all been made worthy and holy through faith in Jesus Christ.

However, in our moments of exile, of banishment, of exclusion, or separation, and ostracism, we might relate to the exiled community of God’s people who were being spoken to by God through the prophet Jeremiah.

These people were troubled because they felt left out, shunned, and judged – not only by those who were still living in Jerusalem (who could still worship in relative peace, and who may have thought they could keep on worshipping because they’re ok with God), but they may have also felt detested and cold-shouldered by God. They felt God had let them down, chased them away, and had chosen not to bless them.

But what’s the message God speaks?

God says you’re to sing aloud with joy, praising God by saying: ‘Lord, save your people, the remnants!’ You’re to look with faithful expectation God will save his leftovers, the scraps of humanity.

He promises he’s going to gather all his people from the furthest places on earth. No matter what dark cave you want to crawl into, and no matter how you’re perceived by others, God says he searches for you in order that he might gather you as a precious and highly valued member of his family to be where he is.

Even those who normally can’t travel because they’re blind, lame, or heavily pregnant – they’ll also be gathered. It doesn’t matter whether you feel broken, feeble, depressed, or burdened. God searches for you in order to bring you home to him.

God himself will lead his people as you pray for mercy. He’ll lead you beside streams of living water – water which cleanses and nourishes you.

The streams of the waters can be likened to the waters of baptism which cleanse you of your sins, refresh you with his washing of forgiveness, adopt you as God’s holy child, and join you to Jesus himself who carries you in his body to his heavenly home.

These waters not only wash away your own sins, but they cleanse you from any unrighteousness done toward you in order to purify you and make you holy and innocent. God won’t let any unrighteous acts leave you abandoned and excluded. God washes you clean and brings you into his presence.

Even if you feel picked on or abandoned by God, then, like the people he once scattered among the nations, he’ll gather you into his arms in order to restore you to fullness and wholeness – not only for your own sake, but for the sake of the whole community. He wants the whole flock of his wayward sheep to be reconciled into a newly restored and wholesome community. Black sheep, white sheep, brown sheep, and coloured sheep are all gathered and welcomed by God.

The whole community, including you, will be filled with joy. Not because of your own goodness, because you’ll never be good enough, but because of the Lord’s goodness.

He loves you – warts and all. He chose to gather the scraps of humanity to be his own people.

It’s like loving the discarded leftovers from Christmas so much, he chose to grab them out of the bin and restore them to their former glory through the power of his loving mercy.

And that’s what he does for you. Even though you might sometimes feel unwanted and discarded, he wants to gather you to himself, restore joy and peace to you, and reinstate you into his holy community.

You experience a taste of this here on earth as you feast on the grain and wine of his Son’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper and through the oil of the Holy Spirit, but the fullness of this joy and peace is reserved for you in heaven where you get to gather around the Lamb of God and feast on his goodness.

It’s only in the goodness of the Lord, where the troubled, the lonely, the depressed, the young, the old, the mourning, and the cast out remnants, will have their joy and peace restored through faith.

Your joy isn’t restored by dwelling on your own unworthiness, or on what others have done to you, or on what you’ve done, or on your fears or desires for human approval and love, but your joy is restored by dwelling on and trusting in the Lord’s goodness, the Lord’s compassion, the Lord’s mercy, and the Lord’s steadfast love for broken, imperfect, scared, and scarred people like you and me.

I don’t know how you view yourself or how others view you. It could be you feel useless, unworthy, sorrowful, sad, depressed, ashamed, unwanted, or like a discarded remnant. The good news is: the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is for you too.

You are the people God comes to save.

You are the people he loves.

You are the people his Son Jesus died for.

You are the people he forgives.

You are the people he washes clean in the waters of baptism.

You are the people he restores.

You are the people promised to be received into his eternal kingdom.

You are the people he wants to gather around himself to feast on his Son’s body and blood in perfect fellowship.

You are the people he wants to see rejoice and be glad for your Lord comes to gather you and reinstate you as one of his own dearly loved children.

You are the people who will experience his joy, comfort, and peace through faith in his promises.

Therefore, by faith in your loving Triune God, may …

…the peace and joy of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.