Luke 4:15-21

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Have you heard those words before?

They are commonly attributed to Nelson Mandela. About 10 years ago, I saw them on the walls of 2 different religious institutions and underneath them they have the name: Nelson Mandela – from his Inaugural address as President of South Africa. What really fascinated me after I first read those words is the fact he never actually wrote them. And in addition, he never in fact spoke them as part of his inaugural address. He said other important and inspiring things, but these words were not among them.

When I discovered that I was amazed how after just 10-15 years, words that were never spoken by Nelson Mandela were attributed to him. How quickly legends grow, even in an age of instant mass communication. They grow around people who make a big difference in the world. And so perhaps it is not surprising in the end that words like this should be attributed to Nelson Mandela as part of his inaugural address . Because he did inspire many people around the world, and in South Africa, both black and white, to become our better selves, and so to let our own light’s shine.

Even if those specific words were not used in his inaugural address, they do embody something of the effect that he had on many people.

Inaugural addresses are really important...because they give an indication of the values and the program of the one who is giving the address:

Abraham Lincoln in his inaugural speech as United States President, to a country that had been divided by civil war, ended with the following moving words:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”

Winston Church in his inaugural address as prime minister to parliament and a nation on the brink of war said the following:

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Powerful words that galvanised a nation.

Luke 4:18-21 represent the inaugural address of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. In these 6-8 lines, Luke identifies and summarises for us the shape that Jesus’ ministry would take.

One could say that it is a 5 point sermon...

• Point number 1: I have come to proclaim good news to the poor. According to Luke, at the top of Jesus agenda: the poor. Throughout the history of Christianity, there has been a tendency to spiritualise the message of Jesus, as though Jesus were only speaking about other-worldy matters... about life after death. Many forms of Christianity reduce Christianity to a way of getting into heaven. Even in Matthew’s Gospel it speaks of the spiritually poor. I do believe that there are many kinds of poverty. It is possible to be rich in money but be poor in social skills, to be poor in things that really matter, like love. It is also possible to be materially poor but to be rich in spirit and heart. But Luke’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus message was not just about some spiritual other world, but had a social dimension that just cannot be avoided. Love is not love unless it is expressed in practical ways to those in genuine need.

• Point number 2: Jesus has come to release captives and prisoners. It is a reminder that God is in the business of setting people free. The foundation story of the Old Testament is the story of Exodus, that story when God sets a bunch of Hebrew slaves free from oppression in Egypt. And the whole of the rest of the Old Testament is working out the implications of what it means to be free. The 10 commandments for example were meant to be a means of protecting and nurturing Israel’s freedom and not inhibiting it. True freedom does require a certain amount of discipline. Jesus comes to continue that work of setting people free, from whatever it is that binds them. Whether it is some persistent moral failure or addiction or a toxic situation or relationship, Jesus proclaims God’s wish for us that we should be free.

• Point number 3: Recovery of sight to the blind. Where people walk in darkness, not knowing who they are or where they are going, Jesus comes to give people a sense of direction and meaning and purpose in life. He comes to open our eyes, to see God’s Glory that is shining in this world like that burning bush in the story of Moses. Its happening every moment of every day. There are burning bushes all around us.

Thomas Merton once wrote: “Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable. It is true.

Jesus comes to unveil our eyes to give recovery of sight to the blind.

• Point number 4: Jesus comes to bind up the bruised and broken-hearted. As we read through the Gospels, one gets a deep sense that in Jesus’ presence, the broken-hearted and those bruised in life find comfort and a friend. As Jesus says in Matthews Gospel: Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. It is a reminder that God’s heart is moved in a special way for those who are victims for those who are broken and those who are bruised in life.

• Point number 5: Lastly, Jesus comes to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. It is interesting. Jesus has not come to proclaim the year of God’s judgement but the year of God’s favour. This is a good new message. In these verses, Jesus is in fact quoting from Isaiah 61. The original context in which Isaiah 61 was written was to a people who had spent 60 years in exile in Babylon, and who had now returned to their homeland. But the joy of leaving Babylon, the land of their captivity, was soon dampened by the realisation that the land they were returning to was in fact in ruins. Trying to make a home in the midst of the ruins of a glorious land they had left behind must have been disheartening for many. It is in this context that the prophet proclaim the year of God’s favour. The promise and the hope that God would turn things around. Jesus comes to proclaim the year of God’s favour to those who feel they are sitting in the midst of the ruins and the rubble of life.

If Jesus comes to proclaim good news to the poor, release for captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to bind up the broken hearted and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, which one of those points speaks most deeply into your place of need today.

And secondly, if God is calling you to be an agent of God’s love in somebody else's life today, then which of those 5 points express most accurately God’s call to you? To proclaim good news to the poor? TO help release someone who is feeling like they have become a captive, to reach out to care for someone who is bruised and broken hearted, or to be a blessing to someone this year that they may have a sense of God’s favour being upon them in 2019 where 2018 may have felt like a year of desolation.

John 2:1-12

Today we are going to take a short detour from the flow of Luke’s Gospel as we consider a text from John’s Gospel.

John’s Gospel is a very different Gospel to Matthew, Mark and Luke which are clearly related. They are sometimes called the synoptic Gospels a word which means “to see together” because they have a lot in common. The biggest thing that they have in common is in fact Mark’s Gospel. Both Matthew and Luke have used large parts of Mark’s Gospel almost word for word, in some parts changing and editing it, and in other parts adding completely new material. Both Matthew and Luke are expanded versions of Mark’s Gospel.

But John’s Gospel has a very different structure to it. Although it is clear that he is writing about the same Jesus the whole structure and feel of John’s Gospel is different. John’s Gospel is quite poetic and symbolic. It’s structure is designed around what the author calls 7 Signs, miracle stories that are meant to point beyond themselves to a deeper symbolic meaning. John’s Gospel also contains what are called the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus... I am the bread of life... I am the light of the world... I am the good shepherd... I am the Resurrection and the life...

In John’s Gospel, the first of the signs is the story of the wedding at cana. Now just as a signpost on the road points beyond itself. A sign with the name Belfast on it points beyond it to the city of Belfast. In the same way, the wedding at Cana is meant to be interpreted symbolically as pointing beyond itself.

The first thing to take note of is that this is a wedding banquet.

Wedding banquets play a significant role in the New Testament. Jesus tells an number of parables about wedding banquets. Jesus is also called the bridegroom in Mark’s Gospel. At the end of the book of Revelation, the return of Christ is pictured as a wedding. The promise of these passages is that when God brings history to it’s final conclusion, it will be like a wedding banquet. In other words, the whole goal and purpose of history is that it should culminate in a joyful wedding feast.

The ancient writers, reflecting on the life of Christ, believed that God’s purpose for us as human beings is joy.

This is reflected in another symbol in the story: the symbol of wine. In the symbolic world of the Hebrews, wine was a symbol of joy. And in this story, significantly, the wine has run out. The joy is gone. Where God’s purpose for humanity is joy, the joy is no longer there.

Another significant detail in the story are the 6 stone water jars used for ritual washing. The number is significant. The number 7 in Jewish thinking was a symbol for completeness and wholeness. The number 6, a symbol for that which is incomplete or has something missing, also a symbol for humanity who were created on the 6th day.

In addition, these 6 stone water jars are the type used for Jewish ceremonial washing. In the centuries leading up to the time of Jesus, Jewish religion had become more and more rule based. It’s whole emphasis had come to revolve around ritual cleanliness and purity. It had become obsessed with minute ritual rule keeping. These sixstone water jars represent what Jewish religion had become. A legalistic, rule based, purity obsessed religion. One could say, a religion emphasizing man made rules and ceremonies with something missing... with no joy.

Jesus comes to to a Jewish religion that had lost its way in man made ceremonial laws and man made rituals, and he comes to transform it. To breathe new life into it. To restore it to God’s original intention as something that should bring life and joy, turning the water of ceremonial purity laws into the wine of God’s joy.

How sad it is that where Jesus came to bring renewal, new life, new purpose, new joy, Christianity, the religion that bares Jesus name has not always been good at nurturing joy. Like the Judaism of Jesus day, Christianity has sometimes got so caught up in a legalism and rules that it has stifled any true joy.

This is vividly portrayed in the 1987 film Babette’s feast. The film is set in a Lutheran community in Denmark in 1800’s, a community, that much like 1st century Judaism, had become austere, legalistic, joyless. The film, portrays how a ‘blow-in’ to the town, begins to help the townsfolk to get in touch with a sense of joy again as she prepares a feast, and invites the whole town to come. It sounds a little bit like one of Jesus’ parables. There are some in the town who are suspicious, but as the feast unfolds, so this austere, rigid community of people begin to loosen up, and slowly but surely begin to find themselves actually enjoying themselves the first time seemingly in a long long time.

It is very easy for religion to lapse into joylessness.

My mom describes how she grew up in a church environment that at times was quite constrictive, where sometimes the joy was squeezed out. Within the Salvation Army that she grew up in, dancing was a sin, a real no-no. They also weren’t supposed to go to the cinema. But she and her sisters would sneak in hopefully undetected by anyone else from the Salvation Army corps seeing them.

I get the sense that there is a legalism that is creeping back into some sectors of church life and that there might be some denominations that continue to see it as part of their responsibility to limit peoples joy rather than nurturing it.

If Christianity is meant to be a religion of love, where love is at it’s heart, then it should also be a religion of joy, because where love is truly present, there will also be joy.

I remember watching a documentary on the life of Mother Teresa. In it, one of the sisters in her order was interviewed. She says that on one occasion she had woken up feeling very down, like a cloud of depression had blown over her. Somehow for her the joy of life had left her. Mother Teresa told her on that day, she should not go out and serve the poor on the streets, because it was important in serving others, and especially the poor she should be sharing her joy with them. She was given some time off so that she could rest and so get back in touch with a sense of joy, before she would go out again to serve the poor.

It is a helpful little story to remind us how important joy is. Joy is important, not only for ourselves, but also that we might share it with others. If there is no joy in our lives, then it should be a little alarm bell that something is wrong, something important is missing.

When the joy of life has run out, it is an important moment to re-evaluate our lives, to make changes, to examine closely what it is that is sapping you of joy, and what is it that we need to do to help us to feel alive again, to help us connect again with a sense of joy.

May you bring to God those places in your life where it feels like the joy has begun to run out, those stone water jars of drudgery and joylessness may be touched with God’s grace and transformed into the wine of God’s joy.

Luke 3:15-22

Most people in most mainline Christian denominations that practice infant baptism don’t remember their baptisms, which is natural, because most would have been baptised before they they were really aware what was happening.

In looking through the baptismal records of this church I was interested to see that most of the older generation in this church would have been baptised not in church but in their family homes. The reason for this seemed to be an utterly practical one. The congregation in previous generations was so large, with so many children being born that to have had them all baptised in church would have meant that every second or third week it would have been a baptism service and there would have been very little room for much else in regular church worship.

I was never baptised as an infant. Although my father had grown up as an Anglican in South Africa, he met my mother while attending the Salvation Army where he had become a member. My mom had grown up as a member of the Salvation Army. The salvation Army doesn’t practice baptism because in their theology they did away with all sacraments. In the Salvation Army they would say that what is important is not the outward ritual or outward sign of Baptism. What is important is rather the inward experience of baptism, the inner experience of being transformed by God’s saving love. And so Instead of being baptised as an infant, I was taken to the salvation army to be dedicated.

It was only later, when we moved to a small town away from the city where there was no Salvation Army, that my parents started attending a Methodist Church. It was there probably as a 3-4 year old that I was finally baptised... I still have a memory of sitting on the edge of my parents bed with my Dad explaining to me and my brother what baptism was all about, in as much as a child could understand and, asking us if we wanted to be baptised.

It is not often in church that we have an opportunity to reflect deeply on the meaning of Baptism in Church. In the lectionary passage that is set for today we have read about the Baptism of Jesus. I thought it appropriate that we use this passage as a means of reflecting more deeply on baptism itself.


Firstly, in this passage, we see that Baptism is all about identity. We read that when Jesus is baptised, there is a voice from heaven saying: “This is my beloved son.” Baptism is meant to remind us of who we really are. In times past, baptism was used as a naming ceremony. In baptism the parents would formally name their child. This practice of naming a child at Baptism has largely fallen away now. But that practice is a reminder that baptism is all about identity. But our truest and deepest identity is not the name given to us by our parents, not our nationality of culture, not even what religion we are or what football team we support. Rather, our truest and deepest identity is that we are God’s beloved. Children of God, made in God’s image.


Secondly, in this passage we see that the true Baptism is not in water.... that is the outward sign. John the Baptist says in this passage: “I baptise with water, but one will come after me who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. The true inner meaning of baptism is that we are baptised into in God’s Spirit of love.

The Greek word baptizo means to immerse. The real immersion is not immersion in water. The real immersion is in the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit of Love.

Acts 17:28 reminds us that every moment of every day we are already immersed and drenched in God’s Spirit. God is not far away from us in some distant heaven, for “In him we live and move and have our being”. We are already living in God, surrounded, and immersed in God’s love and presence.

Baptism reminds us, and brings to our attention that which is already true, firstly that we are God’s beloved and secondly that we are, every moment of every day, swimming, immersed, drenched in God’s Loving presence and loving Spirit.


Thirdly, Luke uses another word to describe Baptism in this passage: The word Fire. John the Baptist speaks of being baptised with the Holy Spirit and with Fire... and he goes on to speak of it as an unquenchable fire.

“I baptise with water, but one more powerful than I will come... He will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with Fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn away the chaff with unquenchable fire.” vs 16-17.

Normally when Christians speak of unquenchable fire, they are most often referring to the fires of hell where they believe that unbelievers will suffer in torment for all eternity.

But the Scottish Presbyterian Minister George McDonald who lived in the 1800’s could not conceive of a God of love who could throw people into a fire of suffering and punishment for all eternity. He was a universalist, in the sense that he believed that in God’s grace and love, one day all people would be saved and would live in communion with God. In some cases it might take longer than others but in the end all would be saved. No-one would be lost forever.

For George McDonald, any reference to the unquenchable fire of God was ultimately a reference to God’s love. Just as fire is a purifying agent in the purification of gold, burning away all the impurities, so George McDonald believed that God’s love will purify us, removing all the impurities to reveal the precious gold that God has placed within us. And it is unquenchable, because there is nothing in this world that can ever extinguish God's love.

In our passage, the image is that of wheat that has been harvested. Once it is harvested and the outer chaff has been removed because it is no longer necessary, it is burned. These are not the fires of hell, but fires of purification that burn away all that is not necessary, all that gets in the way of the precious seed God has placed within us.

To be baptised into God’s love is to be immersed in a love that overtime will purify and cleanse us of all that is not necessary, of all that is not love.

But the imagery of fire is not just about the fire that burns. Fire also brings warmth and energy, and when we are warm and energised we become passionate. To be baptised in the Fire of God’s Love is meant to set our own hearts on fire, to make us passionate about life, to make us passionate about this world and to give ourselves away passionately as a blessing to others.

Baptism in the fire of God’s love invites us to ask: What am I passionate about?... and in what way can that passion bring life and love to others.

May this story of Jesus baptism remind you of the meaning of your own baptism...

• That you are God’s beloved, made in love, by love and for love.
• That moment by moment you are immersed in and surrounded by God’s love
• That the unquenchable fire of God is none other than the purifying love of God that will over time burn away all that is not love within us.
• That the fire of God’s love is meant to set our own hearts on fire with love, a love of life, a love for others, a love for the world, and that God’s purpose for us is that we should take those things that we are passionate about and use them a means of serving and blessing others.

Isaiah 43:1-4 Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,

He who formed you, O Israel;
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned,
And the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
And honored, and I love you.

Luke 2:25-40 Epiphany Sunday

Today is Epiphany in the Christian Calendar. It brings to an end the 12 days of Christmas. And so according to the Christian Calendar it is now time to put away those Christmas trees and Christmas decorations. No more Lord’s a Leaping, No more maid’s a milking... no more partridges in pear trees!

But what is Epiphany all about? The word itself means a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization.

In the Western Christian calendar, Epiphany usually refers to the revelation of Christ to the Magi, Also known as the three wise men – the revelation of Christ to the Gentile world. It is a sign that the promise of Christ is not just for the Jews but for all people.

Last week we considered the first few verses of Jesus being presented at the temple. This week instead of looking at the story of the Magi, I would like to continue at the temple where we meet two elderly characters – Simeon and Anna.
For both of them, seeing the Christ child is a moment of revelation. An Epiphany moment.

As we explore this text we will find that it contains a number of key themes that are of particular emphasis in Luke’s Gospel.

Firstly:

• Prayer - More than any of the other Gospels, Luke’s Gospel emphasizes prayer. Luke describes Jesus constantly withdrawing to spend time in prayer. At his baptism, Jesus is described as praying. In this passage, Simeon and Anna are people of prayer. Anna in particular, since her husband died after just 7 years of marriage, has devoted herself to a life of prayer at the temple. Simeon’s name – Hebrew Shimone – means to listen. Simeon has devoted his life to listening deeply for the sign of God’s movement among the Jewish people. And here in meeting the infant Christ, his life of prayer and listening has been rewarded. He has seen with his own eyes, God’s chosen messiah who will be a light to the nations.
  
  

Prayer can mean a variety of different things. It is not just about presenting a list of wants and needs to God. At it’s root, prayer is a deep openess; a deep listening to the movement of God in the world. At it’s most profound, prayer is simply being open to God in the silence.

Secondly:

• The Holy Spirit, which in Luke’s Gospel is connected with prayer – Prayer leads one to be moved by the Holy Spirit – both Anna and Simeon, in their lives of prayer – deep listening – are moved, nudged by the Spirit within to go over and see the Christ child in his mother’s arms.
  

To be moved by the Holy Spirit, is to be moved by a wisdom that is greater than us. Listening to a deep sense of intuition. Listening deeply to the gentle nudges in our heart. Ultimately, to be moved by the Spirit is to be moved by Love.

Thirdly:

• Justice – fairness: In the NIV translation Simeon is described as being a righteous man... but a better translation is the Greek word dikaios is the word ‘just’ - it means to be equitable in character and action. In other words, he is someone who is balanced and whole, and someone who deals fairly and honestly with other people. He does not allow his own self-interest to get the better of him. To be just is to be fair. To place our own interest on equal footing with that of other people.
  

As we read in Philipians - "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil 2:4).
The source of corruption in politics and society is when we place the interest of ourselves and of our own group above the interest of others. A just person seeks to put these interests on an equal footing. To be just is to love one’s neighbour as oneself.

That is an important theme in Luke’s Gospel. To be a follow of Jesus is to seek to build a more just and equitable society.

Fourthly:

• The important role of women – Woman play a far more prominent role in Luke’s Gospel than in any of the other Gospels. In Luke’s Gospel, we are told that Jesus’ itinerant ministry is sustained by the financial contributions of a number of woman disciples. While Matthews Gospel focuses on the role of Joseph in the birth of Jesus, Luke’s Gospel focuses on the importance of Mary.
  
  

It is significant in this passage that this is a story not just about Simeon, but also Anna. In a patriarchal world, where simply by virtue of being a male brings a bigger pay package, Luke’s Gospel encourages us to build a world where woman are valued equally to men.

Lastly:

• An emphasis on the Gentiles, or the nations – Scholars will tell you that Luke’s Gospel is a Gospel written especially for a Gentile audience. The coming of Jesus will bring consolation to the Jews as we read in this passage, but Jesus coming is actually for all people.
  
  

Ultimately – God has no chosen people. In other words, no-one is chosen to occupy a privileged position above others. Israel was only ever chosen by God to be a blessing to other people. At the time of Jesus, Judaism had become very insular and inward looking. The coming of Jesus was to be a reminder to the Jewish people that their vocation was to be a blessing to others. Jesus reveals that every human being is of equal value in God’s eyes, no matter what nationality, language, colour or creed. The coming of Jesus invites us to move beyond our closed groups, and invites us to become a blessing not just to those we love and those we feel some affinity with, but to be a blessing to all.

In 2019, may we be a people of prayer, moved by God’s Spirit of Love to build a world in which all people, no matter their gender, creed or colour are treated with dignity and fairness, in the spirit of Jesus. Amen.