God's nature

We have heard parts of the Matthew passion story this morning. 

I am aware that at times on Good Friday we are encouraged to think about ways in which we have failed God. I can remember being in services hearing about how I had hammered the nails into the hands and feet of Jesus.

 

I confess, I find that understanding of God, and Good Friday, difficult.

 

yes, we sin, we fall short of what God desires for our lives, we don’t live in ways that honour God or Gods creation.  We sin, and that pains God.

 

We live in a world where betrayal, violence, oppression, fear, anxiety and sorrow all exist. We live in a  world where people hurt each other, and the world we live in.

 

Today we reflect on the worst of humanity, as seen in the torture and death of Jesus; and we reflect on the best of God.

God didn’t leave us to our own devices, God didn’t give up on us or the world. God in Jesus stayed true to who he was and is.

 

A story: The Old Man and the Scorpion

One morning, after he had finished his meditation, the old man opened his eyes and saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the water. As the scorpion was washed closer to the tree, the old man quickly stretched himself out on one of the long roots that branched out into the river and reached out to rescue the drowning creature. As soon as he touched it, the  scorpion stung him. Instinctively the man withdrew his hand. A minute later, after he had regained his balance, he stretched himself out again on the roots to save the scorpion. This time the scorpion stung him so badly with its
poisonous tail that his hand became swollen and bloody and his face contorted with pain.

At that moment, a passer-by saw the old man stretched out on the roots struggling with the scorpion and shouted: "Hey, stupid old man, what's wrong with you? Only a fool would risk his life for the sake of an ugly, evil creature. Don't you know you could kill yourself trying to save that ungrateful scorpion?"

The old man turned his head. Looking into the stranger's eyes he said calmly, "My friend, just because it is the scorpion's nature to sting, that does not change my nature to save."

http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/story/oldmanscorpion.html

 

 

Good Friday reminds us of the nature of God.

God doesn’t rely on our faithfulness, goodness, obedience or love.  God doesn’t turn away from us, or from the world, in the face of rebellion or degradation or violence. 

We see God’s nature for what it is.

God is love,

God brings grace and forgiveness into our lives

because that is the nature of God.

 

Today, as we reflect on the cross, we see two sides, we see the inhumanity that people are capable of, and we see the great love of God.

 

resurrection - so what?

Proclamation

It is Easter again, already – where has the year gone?

And we hear the familiar story, a story of procession, of eating, of praying, betrayal, arrest, trial, crucifixion, death and burial. And this morning we hear of the resurrection, because it is Easter Sunday and we hear it every year.

This is a story we know.

Matthew has his own twist, the earthquake and angels, but basically, Jesus is killed, Jesus is alive.

So what? Yes, I know it isn’t the usual sequence of events.

 

But what does this mean to us?

We could talk about the reaction and responses of the women and the disciples, we could think about what it was like for Jesus, we can ponder the how of the mystery of resurrection.

But if that is all we do: talk about the historical reaction, have a philosophical discussion, what difference does it make?

Jesus was a trouble maker, he upset the neat ordered world of Rome.  The Emperor was considered divine, God. Sure they let the people of Israel worship their God, just as long as the religious leaders kept the people in line. Then along came Jesus, he upset the religious and civic leaders. And he didn’t even stay dead. They thought they had gotten rid of this agitator and  troublemaker, and then … he’s back!?

On Facebook this week a friend asked the question:

“Easter is about resurrection right? So I was wondering in what ways churches could witness to resurrection on Easter Sunday? In what ways can we embody resurrection not just talk and sing about it?” [Phil Newton] 

The first thing is do we believe in resurrection, do we think anything happened that we can witness to, that makes a difference?  We may say we believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but what does that matter in 2014?

The tomb was empty, The guards were told to say the body was stolen.  Which brings another question – when does an empty tomb mean resurrection, and when is it just a blank space?

 …

We live in a world where it is easy to see the pain of Good Friday; tragedies of suicide; terrorism; famine; child abuse; violence in the home; ….

But where do we see resurrection?

In our own lives we are aware of our need for God’s grace, forgiveness and love – but do we recognize God’s grace, forgiveness and love in our life?

It isn’t so easy to see signs of resurrection, new life, transformation.

It is easy to focus on the problems of the world, and on our own problems.

Resurrection is about being transformed.

This morning isn’t just about an empty tomb
This morning is about possibility
Hope
New life

 

On Friday I said it isn’t about you – Jesus dies because it was his nature to love.  Well now you get to make a decision – what do you make of the empty tomb – not only in your head, but in your heart and hands and feet and life.

It is and was and always will be the nature of God to love.

What do we do as people who are loved, who are offered transformation?

 

The angel said: do not be afraid.

Jesus said: do not be afraid.
I think it is code for –
you don’t know what might happen next
or strap yourself in for a wild ride
because being part of the resurrected body of Christ is not ordered and regimented like life was under the Romans.

A quote:

“The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb,

but the full hearts of his transformed disciples.
The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave,
but a spirit-filled fellowship.
Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.”

(Clarence Jordan).

In what ways can we embody resurrection not just talk and sing about it?”

Hosanna and Peace

We come again to the time of the Jewish festival season, extra soldiers would come into Jerusalem to keep the peace. They didn't come with a pale blue helmets of United Nations peacekeeping force. They came with sword and shield, these peace keepers are more about keeping people under control, this was a style of peacekeeping that was about holding on tightly to power.

In the passage we heard read this morning we hear of a Parade, Jesus riding into town on a donkey people waving palm branches , well not exactly waving palm branches. It says a large a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. I can't imagine what it is like for a donkey to is tread over branches and things like that, it doesn’t sound like it would be comfortable to walk on.

What is called in some Bibles: “the triumphal entry into Jerusalem”, was a parody of the entry of the extra soldiers that came into Jerusalem at that time of year to maintain the peace of Rome.

The Roman version of peace was for everyone to do as they were told. Peace meant nobody stepped out of line, or spoke out of turn. This was really a veneer of peace, which was actually oppression. This kind of peace is easily shattered.

How often does brutality, oppression, even the law and order campaigns, come dressed in the guise of a peaceful, ordered society. Peace is not something that can be imposed from the outside. Peace is something that comes from within.

For each one of us to live in peace, in a society or community that is built on peace, it needs to be peace for everyone, not just some.

What we saw in the life of Jesus was an acceptance of people who were considered unclean, who were outsiders in some way or another. It is only when people are included, treated with dignity, have access to food, water, shelter, health care and education, that we have any chance of peace. All people need to have access to the basic necessities of life.

My guess is the day that Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem there were a whole lot of things happening, and many different responses. Some people would have been watching the Roman army come into town, because a crowd would have been rounded up to make sure there was a welcoming group for them; some people would have stayed home and kept off the streets for fear of doing the wrong thing; some people would have tried going about their regular daily routine; and some people came across Jesus and the disciples.

 

And we are told that the people who saw Jesus riding into town called out :

“ Hosanna to the son of David!

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

As I said earlier hosanna was originally a plea to God asking God to come and save them. The people are crying out for God to save them from Roman oppression. I'm told that hosanna is an Aramaic word, where most of the gospel of Matthew is written in Greek. To ask anyone other than the Roman Emperor to save them was an act of treason, so calling out to God to come and help them was done in a language that most of the Romans would not have understood. While the Romans would have realised that this was a different language they would not have sensed the potential for revolution that comes in that word: Hosanna! [1]

Today, Palm Sunday, is traditionally a day for peace, a day when we think about peace. For many people it is also a day when they attend a rally for peace. While I was at college one activity that I was involved in was a Palm Sunday rally at Parramatta. While it was organised by an ecumenical Christian group, the rally started with an interfaith service or maybe multi - faith service would be a better way of putting it. People from a variety of faith backgrounds came together to pray for peace. And then together, this mixture of Christians and Buddhists and Muslims and other religions and people of no religion at all, would march from the park down to the town square, where there were some speeches. That's one march I was actually being in, rather than watching from the sidelines.

Today, Palm Sunday, there will again be a peace rally, with a march, this time in the city.

Over the centuries people have tried finding a way of bringing about peace. As I said earlier, to a certain extent peace comes from within, it cannot be imposed as the Romans tried to. But for true peace it near the dignity and life of each person needs to be respected. In mid-March the Uniting Church set aside a week called Destiny Together, it was a week set aside for prayer and fasting (though I don't know how much fasting went on), that as a church we might recognise that our future, our destiny, is tied up with the destiny of our indigenous brothers and sisters.

Our destiny, as people of God in this country, is not only connected to the people that we sit with this morning, but with all God's people. That means those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background . It also means people who worship in a variety of languages each Sunday. All God's people aren't only those who believe in God, but all people, for we are told that all people are created in the image of God.

While a family lives in a car because they can't get adequate and appropriate housing, while children are in detention centres on Manaus Island and Nauru, while people can't access the medical care they need because of cost, while people are treated as less because of the gender, ethnic background, sexuality or religious beliefs, none of us can truly be free, none of us are able to live in peace, if we are truly the body of Christ.

In what way are you working for peace for all people?

---

[1] Swanson: Provoking the Gospel of Matthew Page 113

Hope in despair?

Ezekiel, is one of the prophets of the old testament. The people of Israel are in exile. For people at this time God was tied tightly to the land that they lived in, so being outside of their land meant that they were distant from their God, remember the song By the Rovers of Babylon, it is based on a  psalm, which includes the words “How can we sing the Lord’s song In a foreign land?”. Another country's army beating them in battle meant that the other nations God was more powerful than the Israelites God. The people felt hopeless, they didn't know if they would survive as a nation. And God brings a vision to Ezekiel. A vision that speaks to the people of Israel on a number of levels.

The vision is of a valley of dry bones. During this time those defeated in battle were often not buried, but left for wild animals, this was another way of humiliating the defeated country.

The nation of Israel had been defeated, humiliated, and is now in exile they wondered what the future held.

I wonder have you ever felt that way, but things are going so badly that you just can't see a future at all. Can you remember a time when you lost all hope?

This is how the people of Israel were feeling. A few times in the last few weeks we've talked about our identity. Where do we find our identity, how do we live out our identity. Today is about how do we hold on to that identity and how do we rediscover it when life has changed so much.

In this vision Ezekiel speaks the bones come rattling together to form a skeleton, and then the sinews and muscles. And Ezekiel sees bodies where once there were bones. But there is still no life.

And God breathes into the bodies, and they come to life. This is similar to the creation story in the second chapter of Genesis where God makes people from dirt and breathes life into them . The breath of God is life-giving. The word for breath is ruach, the same as the word for spirit.

Right through this passage is Ezekiel listens to God, trusts God, speaks the word that God has given to him, and in the process sees new life, new hope for the nation of Israel.

Where are the places we see hopelessness and despair today? I see it in the faces of parents waiting at hospital with a sick child. I see it on the nightly news in the face of people living in war-torn areas. I see it in the body language of people who are stressed and tired. And I see it in the art that comes from children being held in detention centres.

The gospel reading we heard this morning also has images of resurrection. Notice when Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb it is the community who gets to unwrap the grave clothes. And yep, there is probably some smell.

As a community of faith, we are to be like Ezekiel listening for God's word, being open to the vision that God puts before our eyes. And we are to be like the people who unwrapped Lazarus, removing that which stops people from living life to the fullest.

Often I hear, and read, about the decline of the church. There may be less people going to church these days, but there is more to the Christian life than turning up to church on Sunday morning. As the people of God we are people who God has breathed life into.  The Holy Spirit dwells in us, is active in our lives. We are people who see hope when others see despair. We are people who are willing to go out of our way to remove the things that hinder fullness of life.

I sometimes wonder if the church is going back to a similar model to the early church, small groups of people meeting together to learn, to pray, to eat together, to encourage each other. What people noticed about the first disciples was the way they cared for each other and cared for those in the community who were outcasts.

What do people in this community notice about us?

In what ways are we bringing hope to those who are in despair?