Of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy. Oh man. I have been reading the space Trilogy. With by C.S Lewis with my son Agustin in my household. I got pretty bored on the third book. And we've put it down. So, I'm, I mean, but just this week, we picked it up and read some, right?

Yeah, but, um? Gotten pretty bored. I think we'll finish it. I hope that I'll be motivated enough to finish it, but we have finished peralandra, which is the second book in the series. In the book, the main character Ransom. Is put in contact with, like a pre-fallen planet, so a planet that hasn't rebelled against God yet, right?

And Weston, who's another character in the book is motivated by greed and anger and hatred, and he gives in to these vices in significant ways and becomes overtaken. Even like, demonized is what it would look like, right? And I was really impacted by the description of this that this innocent woman on this planet, a woman I like, alien.

Female alien, you know, uh? Uh, yeah, it's a it's a space Trilogy, but uh, a female alien she gives to him. She refers to him as the bent one. Right, she calls him the bent one. And I think that's a phenomenal description of the impact of sin. Sin turns us inward.

It has us looking at creation rather than the Creator. It has. It's a corrupting influence, right? One of the things that happened it happens in this book. Is that Ransom, who's notably less wicked than Weston when he's confronted with true innocence? He realizes that he is also a bent one.

He realizes he's bent. You know, have you ever bought Lumber like you're doing a project I had to do? More home project than I ever wanted to do. I had two floods in my basement, so I had to do some, uh, rebuilding a couple years ago. And have you ever brought bought Lumber and then got it home, only to realize that you picked the one you picked up is way too bent to do anything with it.

Like, I mean, usually, you can salvage it by cutting it into smaller pieces, uh, but uh, that's what really the only way you've got you've got home. You've realized that it's just too bent that you can do anything with it, and you didn't notice until you put it next to the straight board that might be on your framing of your house, right?

Then you say, oh, this is really bent, right? When you got it next to the straight board? He's next to Westin. He looks straight. But next to these innocent people. In paralandra, he realizes he's bent. Right? And I just love that description again. Did it bent to describe the impact of sin?

And I was reflecting this week freshly on the physical impact of sin in our lives. Do you realize that we carry physical manifestation of sin in our bodies? We carry the effects of sin with us. Sometimes there's a personal choice aspect to that. Maybe we're over consuming food or alcohol?

Maybe we're dealing with drug addiction, and then there are these physical changes. To our bodies that are visible. People can see them, right? Sometimes there isn't personal choice involved in it, right? We're dealing with mental illness or insomnia or physical illness. We're not making choices, but we're still dealing with the manifestation of sin.

On our bodies of just being in a fallen World on our bodies, and we're carrying it on our bodies, right? It's always a mix of both this personal choice and what happens to us just by being in a fallen world, right? We were made to shine with the glory of God.

And instead, we're bent. In Our Gospel reading today, we see a woman who is bent up. We don't know a ton about her, but we know that her body is bent, and we know the cause of that bending is a disabling. We aren't given much more than that, but What an example of someone who is bearing the result of a world bet by sin in her very body.

Right? She is literally a bent one. She's crippled. She's fruitless. She's discarded. In our readings today, we see God's response to his bent creation, his creation that is bent. And when we look at God's response to his bent creation. We're invited into learning to love as he loves. Value what he values.

So, let's take a look at his. Response God's response to the bentness of creation. His response to bent creation is made straight, not consumed. I don't know who's talking on a group thread right now on a Sunday morning, but I'm turning on. Do not disturb right now. Because that is gonna bug me.

Maybe I am? Yep. So, God's response to his bent creation is to make straight and not consume. Luke gives us two teachings of Jesus right before he shows us this bent woman, right? And actually, we talked about this bent woman last week in the sermon last week because we talked about.

Uh, what happens right after this, and I was trying to to make a point about what we talked about. It was kind of weird what our legendary did our lectionary. Was in, like the next chapter, and now we just like rewound, which we don't do that very often in our lectionary.

But here we are at the passage right before what we were last week, right? And there's these two teachings. The first teaching are these victims of sacrilegious Injustice, right? And Jesus said, hey, it's not because they're more sinful that they suffered in this way. So? Luke chooses a very.

Um, violent and and visceral description of these victims of Injustice, right? Pilot mingled their blood with their sacrifices. Right, that's what. That's how he describes them. Pilot mingled their blood with their with their sacrifices, so their religious observance. They were martyred in the midst of it or killed in the midst of it, and they had.

Their own blood mingled with the sacrifices of their. Religious observance really violent, uh? And evil, and and they were victims of this grave Injustice in the midst of their worship right and connected to their worship. And Jesus says, hey, it's not because they're more sinful than you, that they suffered like this.

Unless you repent, you'll likewise suffer. And he talked about people that are evicted, maybe not of the Sac religious aspect, but of an accident. An accident, right where Tower falls on them? And same thing, he says. It's not, cuz they're more sinful, right? But then that second teaching he gives.

He gives this this description. Then he gives this second teaching of a fruitless fig tree, right? That is given more time, just a little bit more time. Right to bear fruit after receiving manure. Right? And it's only then that we're shown the bent woman. We're told that Jesus is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath spoiler alert.

Luke's telling us that because it's going to be a fight, right? And then. We're and we're told the cause of this bentness is a disabling spirit. And here's the deal. We don't know the level of personal responsibility. That the woman shared in the reception of the disabling. We don't know if she participated in idolatry of some kind if she had some sort of sinful habit that invited this oppression of this demonic Force.

We really don't know, but I'll tell you, we do know what most people thought about her. Surely, she was more sinful than the other people. Have suffered this fate to have received this day. This disabling Spirit, obviously this woman is fruitless like that fig tree. She can't produce anything.

You know that? We know what people thought of her. Right? And I think. The people. As I was reflecting on this, I think the people that we've we most often experience in our day-to-day lives. That we would experience the same way as these people experienced this woman. Would probably be the homeless and drug addicted.

Okay. We experience them. About the same way that? These people were experiencing this woman. When we look at them and surely, you know, they don't have their stuff together. And this is why they're in the situation they're in, right? And just like the people of that synagogue. As Jesus taught, let me tell you something that we as bent people.

Are really bad at. Something that we're really not very good at at all. We're bad at rightly assessing the level of personal responsibility in someone's bentness. We're really bad at it. So, we think we're good at it, but we're bent up pieces of lumber like they are, so we're just not very good at.

So we're very bad at looking at that person that's bent, and that is experiencing the effects of sin on their own body. And we're terrible at looking at that, and rightly assessing the level of personal responsibility they have. Sometimes we underestimate personal responsibility. Our kids are being downright naughty.

And we attribute it to their learning disability or something like that because we don't want to deal with the fact that they're just being naughty, right? The kids are being bad, and sometimes they are. I know even mine, you know, even mine. Sometimes they're just being naughty, you know?

But sometimes we overestimate personal responsibility. We come across a Vietnam veteran who runs into danger and drags his friend out. He's unsuccessful in saving his life. And he's coping with survivors guilt, and he starts using drugs, and he picks up a habit. And there we are. And word, and we over emphasize personal responsibility in in some cases too.

So, we're we, we're just bad on both ends. Sometimes, we underestimate personal responsibility. Sometimes, we overestimate personal responsibility, but the fact is, we aren't very good at giving a good evaluation because we're bent pieces of lumber.

And God's response to people who are dealing with bentness of creation is to make straight. And not consume. You know, I? There are two organic pictures given to us in the readings today. The first? Is actually a burning bush. We see a burning bush and what happens to the bush.

It's lit on fire with the presence of God, but what happens it's not consumed? It stays a bush. It stays intact, and it's not consumed. Now, let me geek out for just a second. This is a good picture of the Eucharist. This is where this is an area where we actually disagree with our Roman brothers and sisters.

Day that the presence of God takes away the presence of bread. It's no longer bread, and now it's. The body of Christ right now. It's the body of Christ only. What we see in the burning bush and what we see, the reason it matters. That we would say, hey, no, the presence of God leaves it bread.

It's still bread, and it's also the body of Jesus. It's a gift, and what we would say is this is actually really important. Matter of? Disagreement because we would say the pattern in scripture is actually not God blowing up and making something new. It's God, renewing and mediating his presence in using.

To give us the glory of God. Right? Well, it's Stills bread. His goal for all of creation is to shine with the light of his presence. Like that bush to be burnt up but not consumed to be lit on fire with the presence of God and not consumed. And this is what he does all the way through.

This is why we think this is actually kind of important. Communion theology actually important, right?

We also have the Fig Tree, right? The fig tree, that's fruitless. And God doesn't. Brewed up that fig tree in the story. What's he do instead? Puts poo on it. You know? That's how he he actually puts poo on it. But in this in these two organic pictures, the manure and the burning is this picture of the same thing.

It's a picture of the presence of God, the presence of God, which brings fruitfulness rather than destroying the burning bush brings for like the, the bush shines with the radiance of God's glory without being consumed. That fig tree is given manure, the radiance of God, glory, meant to bear fruit within this fig tree, not consume the frick tree, not rooted up and plant a new fig tree.

Bonds to bent creation. He makes it straight. He doesn't destroy it. He makes it new. He doesn't destroy. And then this woman experiences the same thing. She isn't condemned. She isn't destroyed. She isn't even told come back some other day, much to the Sagrin of the butt heads in the synagogue, who thought that was the point of the story.

They watched the story, and they thought the point was whether or not he did it on the Sabbath day. Right?

He touches her. And she's made straight. That's what God does with a bank creation. He brings his presence. Any make straight?

Jesus spoke words to her. He laid hands on her and his presence healed her, the bent one made straight. The presence of God makes bent things straight, makes the bent creation straight. That's what it is, and just so, like, like Bread and Wine shine with, give us the body of Christ.

They realize what the end of all of creation is, which is to shine with the glory of God and all of us who have the spirit of God and are touched with the presence of God are meant to shine with the radiance of God's glory, and instead of destroying us, God touches us, makes us straight.

That's the story of the Gospel. This is the good news.

And we look at God's people's response to this God, who comes and touches things and makes them straight. The wrong response is to limit the ways bent things could be made straight. They were worried. About whether was out of bounds with the law. These people who likely Unbound their cattle and Drew them to and brought them to water on the Sabbath day because they know it, even though it's Sabbath.

My cattle needs a drink. Really wondering whether it's okay to heal this? Been up woman on the Sabbath day? How insane is that? Right, they're actually wondering the, the probably on the way to synagogue. They watered their animals. Right? And then they actually wondered. Can a woman be made straight in the synagogue on the Sabbath?

What else is the point of the law, except to put us in touch? With our bentness so that we can be made straight. That was the whole point. That's why God gave us the law, the entire point of the law. The purpose of the law is to reveal God's character to us, and in so doing, to show us that we're bent.

Is to take us home. Is to take us home, like the lumber piece, and to put us up next to the straight piece of wood and say, oh, I'm bent, right? The law, the whole point of the law, is that it was to reveal God to them. It was a merciful gift of God to show them they're bent.

They missed the whole point. The woman already knew she was bent. Dealing with the physical effects of sin. In the world. So the right response? It's not to limit how and when someone could be made straight. The right response is to be made straight. And what makes bent people straight?

God's presence. Being with the Lord. The best way to be made straight from our bentness is to be in the presence of God.

And then the other right response is to reach out to other bent ones to see them made straight to. You know, I'm pretty convicted that the people in that synagogue found this woman repulsive.

And it, and it just made me wonder how, how do you and I? Respond to bentness. When we see someone bearing the effects of sin on their bodies? Think again. I, the closest example, the the drug addicted homeless person. How do you respond to that? How do I respond to that when we see someone who's bearing the bentness of a Fallen World and abetoness of their own personal choices and all of it mixed together in their very bodies.

How, what's our response?

Are you? Are you immediately trying to assess the level of personal responsibility? This person has. Cuz I promise you, you're getting the answer wrong, you don't know. You don't know? And you're getting it wrong. 100 times out of 100, you're getting it wrong. Do you view yourself as above or higher than the bent one that's in your midst?

You're probably wrong. Well, I think we're being invited to look with compassion on the people who are Bent by sin. And to invite them to touch Jesus and be made straight. We're being invited to just invite them in to touch Jesus and be made straight. The one who makes all of creation shine with the radiance of his presence.

That's the end of it all. So, we learned something today about how God made the world to display his glory bushes, fig trees, and all that he made. Is meant to reveal him and to mediate his presence. Most centrally, though, we are made to reveal him and to display him where his image bearers and send Ben us and it bent all of creation.

No longer do we shine with his glory brightly because we're bent. Of creation is bent. It doesn't do what it's supposed to do, but God shows us how he responds. He responds by bringing his presence. His presence causes creation to shine, like it was supposed to again. He doesn't blow up things and start over.

He brings his presence and makes straight. He does this with the burning bush where his presence Burns, but it doesn't consume he does it with the fig tree, where the manure brings life rather than destroying. He does this in the Eucharist when the Bread and Wine find their ultimate end.

Body and blood of Jesus. And most importantly, he does it with people when the touch of God makes the bent woman straight. Were invited today to come into the presence of God. We're invited to be made straight. In the presence of Jesus. God will meet us, he'll cure our Bentoness, and he'll make us straight.

And we're also invited to celebrate the God who can make others straight. When we see bent people, we don't see people who are different from us. We see other bent people. Like us, and if they are brought into contact with Jesus, they can be made straight. So, we invite them to touch the Lord.

In so doing, they are made straight right along with us. So, this Lent, may we draw ourselves and others into the presence of Jesus, the one who makes the bent ones straight. Amen.

Unedited transcript follows:

My son Augie, uh, he does this. It's called faces of History as a part of his like final project for school, so he. In different periods of world history. He, like, dresses up as a character from world history, and he presents facts about their life as if he's that person.

So that's kind of the story. That's what he does so in first person. And this year, he's in the time of history that he's been waiting for for three years now. Where he gets to pick Saint Augustine, so he, uh, he gets to dress up, like Saint Augustine, and he's going to.

Be, he's, I mean, there's plenty of material for him to read to get his sources and stuff on Saint Augustine, uh, a lot better than last year. When I put in his mind that he should do Thomas kramner. And then my wife said you will get him to change his mind about this.

Or, uh, you will be looking for kid sources for Thomas gramner. So, uh so, so we did King Henry VIIII instead. Uh, so, uh, uh, so we still kept it Anglican, but, uh, but we, uh, we, we got away from Thomas kramner, um, real quick. But this year, we get plenty of sources and one of the things we're doing to prepare is I'm getting to read the confessions to him, so I'm reading.

The confessions with with Augie? And we're having a blast, and he he, uh? He shares like one of the things that's just striking about Saint Augustine is. He's so introspective, he, like, knew himself really well, and um, both knew himself before Christ, and after coming to know Christ and and really highlighted the difference between those things.

Uh, he shares a a famous story. It's probably fairly famous, you guys might. Many of you might know about it, but he talks about shaking a neighbor's tree and knock down all the pears. So that he could steal them with his friends. And he stole the pairs with his friends, and then he hardly ate any of them, he said.

Um, instead, he fed them to the pigs. And according to Augustine, what was particularly wicked about that act? Was that he was interested in sinning. For the pleasure of sin itself. Rather than the benefit he might get from the sin. He wasn't interested in the pairs he was interested in the stealing, in other words.

He said, this is what he said, uh, what I stole. I already had in abundance. And of much better quality, too. I did not steal so much as to enjoy the fruits of my crime, but rather to enjoy the theft itself and the sin. He goes on to say.

I did not love what I hoped to gain by Rebellion. It was Rebellion itself that I loved. See Augustine knew himself. He knew himself apart from Christ better than perhaps anyone? That I've ever read. When John Calvin opened his story that institutes or his book, The Institutes of the Christian religion, he said, our wisdom insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid.

Wisdom consists almost entirely of two parts. The knowledge of God. And the knowledge of ourselves. And Augustine had part both these parts of true wisdom, and he had them in space. You know, every good thing that John Calvin said came from Augustine. So, just so you know, so? So, John Calvin said a lot of things, and not all of it was good.

But every good thing, he said, came from Augustine. So if you're going to spend your time reading somebody, don't waste your time with Calvin is everything good, he said. He just took it straight from Augustine, so just read Augustine instead. Um, but Augustine looked at this gospel reading that we read today, and he said knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves is Central to right.

Understanding of the entire universe? If this is true? It may not seem surprising that when our Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, his temptation was centered on these two questions. Who are you and who is your God? Right? Today, we're going to be looking at this temptation of Jesus, and we're going to specifically be looking at the first of the two parts.

Who are you knowledge of self? Because yes, Augustine was brutally honest about who he was apart from Christ. But we're still in the first part of the confessions when I'm reading it with Augie. Augustine also knew who he was in Christ. And he knew how that was a complete identity shift, who he was changed when he came to know our Lord.

He knew who he was once he found the love that is so longed for. Today, we're going to take a look at as our identity as people United with Christ in his baptism. And therefore, in his Victorious Temptation, we're going to see how the knowledge of who we are changes everything.

And before we do that, there's something to clarify so much. Discussion revolves around identity today. Do you realize that so much of the public discourse revolves around identity who you are? And everything from our careers to our sexual preferences are spoken of as if they are core identity questions.

Who you are? Right? When the scriptures talk about who we are? None of these things are Central to what describes who we are. Right? The scriptures teach. Two things are true about us simultaneously. On the one hand in most fundamentally, you and I were created in the image of God.

We are image bearers of God. We're made to look like him, and we're of incredible value because we're made to look like him. That's true about us. And when Adam fell, his nature was corrupted, right? That's the other thing that's true about us. And he passed on that corrupt nature to to those who would come after him.

That means, even though we're in the image of God, we're unable to take steps toward him. Unaided by Grace. If God doesn't show us Grace, we can't take a single step toward him because we inherited a fallen nature. Right? Will rebel against. God will rejoice in evil for evil's sake, just like Saint Augustine talked about.

We'll rejoice in law, breaking for law-breaking sake apart from God's grace. And yet, in Christ, we have the one who took on human nature. So that we can partake in divine nature. Christ took on Humanity so that we might participate in Divinity. In Jesus Temptation, we see a human being overcoming Temptation.

This is an example to us, but it's much more than an example to us. We are united actually with Christ in his baptism and then right, right after that in his temptation. His victory actually is. Are Victory? When he is Victorious, we were Victorious, too. We actually were. He wasn't just an example of how to get through temptation or get through our day.

He went into the Wilderness if you ever wonder why the spirit would lead him into the Wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Is, remember that it says the spirit led him into the Wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Why would the spirit do that? Don't we pray lead us not into temptation?

Every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, and here we have the spirit leading him, why is he doing that? He's leading a human being United with us into temptation in order to be victorious over Satan and to come out Victorious because his victory is our Victory. Jesus had to go take Humanity with him into temptation and emerge Victorious, not just as the one who can overcome Temptation, and we can look at him as an example.

But as the one who brings Humanity into confrontation with Satan, who held it captive. He held Humanity captive, right, and won the victory over him. Is what's happening in the Temptation? When Christians in the scriptures talk about who we are? Post fall and before the resurrection, they talk about it in two ways.

And I think it'll be helpful to look at both of these ways. And and learn about who we are in ourselves, but also who we are and who we're meant to be in our Union with Jesus. So, first, we look at who we are in ourselves. You know, we really talked about this a lot in our Ash Wednesday.

Homily, right? Like Father, Andy gave a great homily on Ash Wednesday. Um, and he talked about. By the way, Ash Wednesday was awesome. For those of you that were there, there was like, there were a ton of people here. I felt like I felt like I felt like I knew, like, maybe half the people that were in the room.

If that was, it was, it was cool. We had a bunch of University students come and hang out with us, but Um, he gave a really. He made a really important point, and he talked about when we're fasting, right, that maybe we're tempted to dismiss sinful Behavior? Because we're like, because we're uncomfortable, right?

So, when we snap at our spouse or at our children, or like, we say, well, I'm just grumpy because you know, because I'm fasting, you know, I'm like, it's not really me. It's, I'm just grumpy, because I'm fasting, right? And he reminded us rightly. That we might actually get a clearer sense of who we are when we're fasting.

When we're a little uncomfortable when things aren't, uh? Everything isn't right, and then we might actually get a clearer sense of who we are. Feeling content in our bodies can make us behave more nicely, but it doesn't always mean that we've dealt with the illnesses of our soul. Right?

We may just not notice. Those illnesses of our soul as much. When we're hungry, a spotlight can be shined on some of the things about us that need the Light of Christ. And father Andy exhorted us that we might find things about ourselves that we don't like when we're fasting.

This is all good. This is half of what the scriptures tell us about who we really are. And it was really appropriate to zoom in on that half and Ash Wednesday. Because these dark aspects of Our Lives that persist even after we're baptized, right? They're the reason that the churches said, hey, the whole church goes into Lent, not just the catechumens.

The whole church goes into Lent, right? It's because all of us need repentance. All of us need to be able to find where the parts of us that are broken. All of us need that light shined on us. More specifically, though, if we start getting into that second part of what's true about us.

That were in the image of God, and that that's meant to be restored, right? This is only who we are. In as much as we are acting apart from God. When the scriptures talk about? You and I, and who we are. They say you were created in the image of God, and you were made to be partakers of the divine nature, your true identity.

Is a son or a daughter of God? All of you who are in Christ, right? And because you and I were made to partake in the divine nature, the scriptures would say that when we sin, we actually become less of who we truly are. That we enter into, like, non-being.

We enter into walking away from what God made us to be where, when we participate in sin, we're actually turning away from who we are. That's why Paul can say things. It's the scriptures this attention so that, I hope you guys are having fun with attention because the scriptures will say, hey, like?

Like what father Andy said, don't don't look at your actions because you're hungry and say, that's not the true me. They're going to say no, like, you do everything you do, right? The real you does it, but the scriptures are also going to say Saint Paul says it was not I who sin, but the sin, who lived within me the true me, the one that God's redeeming the person that God made me to be.

The my true identity is found in the fact that I'm a son of God. With him and like him, and to be a partaker in the divine nature. And when we participate in sin? We participate in becoming less of who we are becoming less of who God made us to be.

We participate in walking away from what God made us for, right? In Christ Temptation. What we're meant to see. Is our Victory? Our Victory. And who we are truly meant to be. Who we were made to be. We were made to be Victorious because we're Sons and Daughters of God United with Christ in his baptism.

So that that Deuteronomy reading that we read. I was struck by the movement of the Declaration that the people were to make this old Covenant, by the way, but they were the the people were to make before God when they offered their offerings. He, it starts with a Wandering or aramian was my father.

He went that he went down to Egypt. There he became a nation, and then it says the Egyptians treated us harshly. We've moved to the first person plural. The Lord brought us out of Egypt, brought us into this place, right? And then it moves to. Behold, I bring the first fruit of the ground that you have given me.

First person singular. You're starting with him. And you're moving to us, then you're moving to me learning that his story. Is my story? His story is my story, and it's teaching us what the people of God are to do, ultimately, with Jesus. Our representative is that his story becomes our story through our Union with him.

This is how the people of God are going to be in all ages. When we read either the old Covenant people of God's story or the New Covenant people of God's story, the goal is ultimately. Being brought together in Union with God. That's what lends about, about enacting and bringing about our Union with God.

Becoming one with God, one with Christ, and that changes who we are. No place in scripture. Is this more explicit than we talk about the baptism and Temptation of Jesus? The passage, right before the temptation of Jesus, is his baptism, right, where he hears his identity spoken over him.

He hears who he is. Who are you, Jesus? You are my beloved Son. Do you think he didn't need to know that going into the Wilderness? What was the Temptations in the wilderness? They were all centered on his identity. If you are the Son of God. If you are the truly a Son of God?

Make the stones become bread, right? Satan is walking him through. Should a true Son of God have to deal with Hunger? Should a true Son of God? Shouldn't the true Son of God get a shortcut and not have to go through what you're going to have to walk through in your life.

You can just bow down before me. I'll give you the kingdom now. Right? Should the true Son of God face consequences for his actions? Jump off the temple Lounge, and let's see if the Angels will. Catch you like. The scriptures say you won't strike your foot against a stone, right?

All of it centered on. The true Son of God is what God Said about you at your baptism. True about you? Right? And what Jesus does is he wins the victory over Satan. He goes to battle with Satan in the wilderness, and he wins the victory, but we say he.

And then we're supposed to make the same move. A wandering airman was my father. He was there. You're with us. You're with me. Jesus because we were United with Christ. See, this is the important. This is how the scriptures make it so explicit. You know what Paul says about our baptism.

In Romans 6, you were buried with Christ. In your baptism, you were buried with Christ. In your baptism. I was buried with Christ in my baptism. His baptism is my baptism. When Jesus walks out of that water and goes and does battle with Satan in the wilderness, and he emerges Victorious.

He took me with him. He took me with him. He took you with him. You've already won victory over Satan. Ultimately. And you know, what's really cool is Satan? Quotes the psalm. He, he quotes the psalm to try to try to say that we, actually, the song that we chanted today, right, where he quotes the psalm, where he says, you won't strike your foot against a stone.

Do you know the very next verse of that Psalm? Did you notice? Satan quotes the storm. That is a prediction of how Jesus was going to win victory over him. Right. Remember, we read our Psalms crystallogically. They're all about Jesus, right? So, he, he rightly talks about how verse 12 is about Jesus.

You won't bury your foot against a stone, but look at verse 13 you shall tread upon the lion and Adder the Young Lion and the serpent. You shall trample under your feet. Satan is quoting a Psalm that's about his demise. Remember what Genesis 3 said? The Satan's going to be trampled under the foot of Jesus.

What what did we just pray when we were walking around, chanting the great litany that you will put Satan under our feet? That you will put Satan under our feet as Grace's favorite part of the great litany right. And so, yeah, it's. It's a crush Satan under our feet and what happens and Satan is a is quoting a verse about his demise and trying to use it against Jesus.

This Psalm is about how he's going to be crushed under his feet. And when, when Jesus crushed his Satan under his feet when he's victorious over the temptation? You and I were. You were already Victorious. Listen. Everything that we heard on Ash Wednesday is true about you. When you're tempted?

It's because of illnesses and urinary soul. It's true about you. It's not because you're hungry. It's because you actually have a problem sin that needs to be dealt with, but hear this as well. When you're tempted? I want to invite you. To see what's also true about you. That in Christ, you have already been Victorious over Satan that you have everything you need as a child of God to stand in the face of Temptation that the spirit of God resides in you that you were United at crisis baptism and that you have all that you need.

To be victorious, because what's truest about you? Is not only who you are today, but who you will be. You are a son of the most high God. You are a daughter of the most high God. And you were made for Glory. And you will get it because God keeps his promises.

So as we enter into temptation? During this Lent and afterward. May we do it as people that know who we are united with Christ Victorious over the evil one? Satan has been and will be crushed under our feet. And may we walk into this season as people who know that the victory has been won because Jesus overcame the tempter.

Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit. Amen. So, I remember running into Blaise pascal's quote in high school. Um, and some of you guys may have heard of this as it's one of the things he's most famous for, he said.

A lot of things. Um, smarter than this. He was a really smart guy, and uh he was. He was a philosopher, Christian philosopher, also like a mathematician. I mean, just a smarter guy than I. Uh, this quote is probably one of the things he's most famous for, though, is, uh, what.

What we call the pascal's wager? And he said belief is a wise wager. Granted that Faith cannot be proved. What harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all if you lose you lose nothing. Wager than without hesitation that he exists.

So his argument was, hey, go ahead and make a bet. Make a bet on God because if you bet on God and you're wrong, you don't really lose anything. That was his argument. And when I was in high school, this was actually really convincing argument. I came to a place where it wasn't convincing, probably in college.

I said, hold on a second. The big issue for me was, what was his statement that if you lose, you lose nothing? Right. I think I struggle to recognize that and reconcile that with the teaching of Christ. When he demands things like, take up your cross and follow after me.

That sounds like losing something if you're wrong, right? If you, if you go walk to your death, it sounds like you've lost something if you're wrong. This week, we celebrated Valentine's Day. There are several conflicting accounts about Saint Valentine. About his life, and there may have been two Saints by the same name, and their stories may have converged in places sometimes hard to put together history.

But some of the stories? About Saint Valentine praying for and receiving a miracle where he had heals a judge's daughter from blindness. And um, and, and then converts the judge, and then when he's getting in trouble for it, he continues, preaching the gospel and evangelizing until he was put to death.

Another account as Emperor Claudius. Outlawing marriage because it took young men out of service for a season in the Army. And Valentine performed illegal Christian marriages until he is martyred. Right, which is probably why the the love stuff, right? So? Uh, what all the accounts agree on is that he was at odds with the power structures in Rome for something, and that he was martyred in about in.

Mid 3rd Century, right? So, Saint Valentine's Day? Is actually a feast day connected to the martyrdom of a faithful Christian minister. Who we know very little about. Other than that, he was martyred for his faithfulness to God. This juxtaposition led to the creation of some funny memes that many of you many of you may have seen.

Circulating the internet right means that say things like roses are red. Pilots are blue. I was beaten with clubs beheaded buried under the cover of Darkness and disinterred by my followers, and you commemorate my martyrdom by sending each other chocolates.

Now, that's, uh, that's silly, right? But you realize actually most of the feast days of the church are martyrdoms? Do you know that? The church actually teaches us to Feast and not to fast in response to a martyrdom. That's something right. The church, so we're silly about that. But the church actually teaches us feast when you talk about a martyrdom.

Don't fast modernoms are not someplace something simply to be mourned. Although we mourn the sinfulness of the world system, that makes them possible, right? But martyrdoms are like Badges of honor. I, I wonder. If, like, Jesus. There might be in our resurrected bodies. I think it's like, quite possible, that those who have been Martyrs will bear the tokens of their martyrdom.

Much like Jesus beared, the tokens of his dying on the cross. Um, I, I wouldn't be surprised at all and that this would be beautiful and and redeemed in in the resurrected life that we would be able to look at these martyrums and say and and see this as the testimony of faithfulness, right?

See, I want a faith more like that. I don't want a faith that doesn't cost me anything if I'm wrong. Right? I wonder what Saint Paul would have thought about Pascal's wager? You know, the guy who wrote? If in Christ, we have hope in this life only. We are of all people most to be pitied.

That's what he wrote in what we just read, right? All four of our readings today lay before us two ways. And what we'll see today is that although the way of Christ costs us everything? It's worth it. How can we join with Saint Paul and say that we are willing to live our lives in such a way that we would have to admit we were absolute fools who wasted our lives if the gospel weren't true.

How can our lives look like that? How would you, how do we live a life that's wasted? If this plan doesn't work out of good news of God, making the world right through his son, Jesus. That's what we'll be looking at today because the the two ways first we look at.

If we look at the first way it's the cursed way. Jeremiah tells us that the man who trusts in man. Or makes flesh his strength. Is cursed? Right? There are several ways man can make fles. His strength. Or trust in man. Many of them are dressed in the book of Jeremiah itself, right?

With the, uh, the book of Jeremiah is written to a people who are about to go into Exile, right, telling them you, in fact, are going into Exile that's not changing. And this. This is happening right, and there's all sorts of different ways. People might be tempted to trust in man and a lot of them are addressed.

Military might, so he talks about. Don't go making Allegiance with Egypt like they can save you right. So, don't trust in your military might or your strength. Right, um, it could be wealth. Don't trust some of you have great wealth now. You will be dragged into Exile, and your wealth won't come with you, right?

So Jeremiah addresses a lot of these things. The people of God were in great danger. Exile was coming, and they were seeking security. What do you seek for security? When you're feeling anxious? Yeah, what? What are the things that you? Uh, that calm your anxiety. Right? Oh, what? What are the things you run after it could be like, um, military strength?

Um. Could be? The the account balance on your retirement accounts? Could be, uh, there's lots of things we can chase after. When we're feeling anxious? In, Jeremiah tells us. That's the way that's cursed. The way, the way that trusts in man or trusts in flesh. Right? In The Sermon that's on the plane.

So this is, like, very similar to The Sermon on the Mount, but in Luke, he's on a plane, right? He, uh, right? Jesus Takes us even a step further, right? Woe to the rich woe to the full? It was kind of cool, I don't know. Uh, how many of you are reading the daily office with regularity?

I hope all of you, it's not. It's not too late to start. If you, if you keep saying, I'm going to get to that like, you can do it. But if you are reading the Daily Office regularly. We got to read The Sermon on the Mount yesterday. Um from Matthew, and now we're reading it today in Luke, um, in our Eucharistic lectionary.

Kind of fun, when those things line up like that, right? And we got to read that yesterday. And there's maybe two surprises that stood out to me. Kind of reading those so close together in the differences. Um. One is Luke doesn't give the same qualifications. We'll talk more about that in the moment.

But the one that we'll talk about now is that Luke includes the woes. Whoa to you, right? In Matthew doesn't include them in his account of the Beatitudes. There's no woes included at all. So, Luke intentionally lays out not only the Blessed way, but the cursed way. He, he, he, he.

He lays out both the way of the Blessed and the way of being cursed. Just like Jeremiah does. And being cursed seems to be the result of doing very normal things. Like eating until you're full? Laughing and having a good reputation. Like, pretty normal things right, so that which is kind of shocking, maybe, or interesting to us, or should make us uneasy.

It's actually it's very similar message people who put their their energy and might. And trust in the flesh. For security are going to be cursed. And the results of this cursed way is futility and death. So, Jeremiah talks about the cursed way, the cursed man being like a shrub in the desert.

Right? Think dry dead? Unfruitful. Psalm 15 talks about the ungodly, like chaff, which the wind scatters away, and it is gone. Right? Luke talks about those who are full being hungry. What's the picture here? A life of futility and ultimately death, right? These things. These are pictures of death.

And this isn't simply because God likes his people to suffer. Like, hey, if you do really normal things that would? Keep you from suffering in this life. Um, I'm gonna curse you like, it's not because he just likes his people to suffer. This is the inevitable result of living in a fallen world that is ultimately subject to Decay and death.

The Fallen World is ultimately subject to Decay in death. Some of you guys might remember. Or heard about probably after you were born. You know, the the Enron Scandal of the early 2000s? So, like the Enron Scandal? Um, some of what took place is actually kind of difficult for me to understand.

Um, I only got my undergraduate in like economics and business, so I'd like, I don't always understand what, what, when I'm reading what they're saying, I'm like, I don't. I don't really get what happened that well, but the short of it is. That some shady bookkeeping combined with uh financing of loans on stocks drove up the stock prices.

In a way that wasn't real, and that didn't last. And when it started to collapse, it all went down and the short of it is if you had a million dollars invested in Enron in October of 2000 by the end of 2001, it was worth less than three thousand dollars.

He didn't want to have. All your money invested in Enron? Right? Christians are saying that investing in the world system is like investing in that investing in Enron if we have our investment in the world system because it is subject to death and Decay. It's like investing in something that's going to fall apart.

It's not worth putting our hope in. It's all it's going to be worth nothing. Sometime soon, right? Now, we're not talking about the physical creation when we say the world system. That's good. That's the object of God's Redemption. God made the world and called it good. He's going to set it right, right?

That's the end of the story as God comes here, and he makes the world right. But the world system, the world, the system that's marked by Fallen about all the structures of the world system, the political structures, the Nations, all of it, and, and even like our very families, if we're putting all our investment at these all of these things Decay.

All of these relationships Decay and what remains? Is all that wasn't marred and touched by the world system. So if all our investment? And all the places that we run for security are in this world system. It's not because God wants us to suffer. It's because that system's following is is going to pass away if that's where your investment is.

You'll have nothing. Right. That's why it's the cursed way. But then, these readings all lead out, lead us to another way, the blessed way or the Blessed way. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Jeremiah says. This is in direct conflict with a man who trusts in man, the one who trusts in the Lord, right.

Psalm 1 speaks of the man who Delights in the law of the Lord. That's the one who's blessed. Right? Just think about that for a second delighting in the law of the Lord. That's that. That's something that we could all spend some time meditating on right to be able to approach the law of God with joy and Delight that we've that we that we've come to understand the law of God leading us into the way of life as a way that's a gift to us, so we Delight in it.

And then Luke tells us we are blessed if we hunger now more now and are poor. In addition to that one difference, I told you about that would, including the woes that Matthew leaves off. Another important difference is that Luke doesn't qualify these. These statements in any way Matthew does.

So, Matthew tells us that we're blessed if we hunger and thirst for righteousness. Or if we are poor in spirit? Luke doesn't qualify these in any way. He just leaves the qualifiers off. Blessed are those who hunger. Blessed are those who are poor. Uh, um. That's a pretty significant contrast, right?

Now, this could have been two different sermons. You have them on a mountain one time in a plane and another time. Um, it's pretty likely that Jesus would have taught similar sermons in more than one occasion, right? That wouldn't have been surprising. So that was probably Jesus practice, but whatever the reason for what the difference is between Matthew and Luke, it's important to realize that Luke.

Is recording these words of Jesus? And he's inspired by the Holy. To give this emphasis. To to to raise to our attention, something that's important. The Blessed ones are the people most uncomfortable in the current world system. That's what Luke is pointing us toward. He's showing us the Blessed ones are the ones who are uncomfortable in the in the world system.

They don't have a high reputation. They're hungry, they're poor. Yeah, those are the ones that are blessed. In Luke's telling of the story. These words should make people like us who live in the wealthiest, most comfortable civilization in human history. A little bit uneasy, right? That should make us feel a little bit uneasy.

And I want to soften Jesus words. But it's in, but it is an important thing to know that Jesus had wealthy people funding his ministry, so people like were funding his ministry that had means to do so, right? So, it's not necessarily about being completely opposed to anyone having.

Wealth, right? But I think at the very least we need to realize it's hard to live the Blessed life of those who end up seeing God, which is the goal of human life to see God face to face right. If we're too at home in this world system? It's hard to do it.

It's hard to keep your wealth intact. Right, if you're too invested in Enron? If you have all your money in Enron, it's hard to keep a nice portfolio, right? If it all goes. Downhill really fast. And if you have all your money invested in this world system, all your energy, all your heart, all your trust for, uh, all your all your hopes for security.

Invested in this world system when it crashes. It's hard to keep a blessed life going. So, what we're invited to do is to go all in. You know, no limit! Texas Hold'em became all the rage when I was in college. People were weird, okay, like people would watch on ESPN.

People play poker against each other. I don't think people do that anymore. That's a weird way to spend an hour, but people would watch people play poker on ESPN when I was in college. So, like, this was like, really popular, and one of the things that one of the phrase like when we talk about going all in that actually comes from No Limit Texas hold them.

It's a poker term for when you're committing every chip you have in front of you. To this hand. To this pot. Right? If you take out the bluff as part of the game, which is dumb to do with poker because it's not a small part, but when you do that when we put all our chips in the pot, what we're communicating is.

This hand is good. It's so good, it's worth everything. Even if we're bluffing, we are communicating that we're just lying, but, uh, yeah, but, uh, so. But we're communicating this hand is worth every chip I have in front of me. This is so good, I'm it's worth putting all of it in there, right?

I think. What we're actually being called to by the gospel is to go all in on this. To say this one. Is worth betting my life on. Much opposed to Pascal's wager, which is saying, hey, had your bats? You might as well. What Jesus is calling us to is something much more go all in?

If this isn't right, if this isn't the right story, if this is the wrong thing to invest life in? Your life's over man, you lost it all. You lost it all on this one, right? It looks more like going all in than it looks like making a conservative business investment, right?

God requires too much. The Blessed life requires us to give up too much Comfort, too much, standing too much reputation, too much money too much. Everything to be able to work to toy with an idea like Pascal's wager and Saint Paul knew it, which is why he wrote, If in Christ, we have hope in this life only.

We are of all people most to be pitied. It might sound Pious to say, even if there was no afterlife, I would just love Jesus, but that. But Christians didn't play with that stuff. They didn't talk about that that way, they they said, look. We're giving our whole lives to this.

If this doesn't work out if this ship goes down. I'm going down with it. Like, I've put my everything I have.

I think we're invited to count the cost, and then if we want to follow Jesus, go all in. Be willing to lose it all. Our lives should be transformed to the degree that if we are wrong about this, we've lost everything. So, live your life with such Devotion to Jesus.

But if this thing isn't true, you lived like a complete and utter fool. So, only right response to the gospel. We're presented with two ways today. One way is to trust in men and comfort in this world system, and this way might lead to more worldly or short-term Comforts.

But it's bankrupt, and it's futile, and it leads to death. The current world order is going to pass away and will be left with nothing if that's where our investment is. The other way is to invest everything in the gospel. We give all of ourselves. We give our entire lives, our energy, our money, our heart into seeing God's kingdom come.

This is a way that leads to discomfort in the current world system that's Fallen and broken. But it leads to brand new life. When everything's turned right side up, the Kingdom of Heaven is the stock that's going to be rising. And those who have their lives invested. There are the ones who are getting the kingdom.

So, if it's true, our lives need to be lived with such devotion. That we could never entertain the idea that if the gospel isn't true, we've lost nothing. We know that if it isn't true, we've lost everything because we've intentionally structured our lives so that with Saint Paul, we can say.

If Christ is only to be hopeful in this life, we are above all men to be biddied. So, may we live our lives holy for God and for his kingdom. May we willingly give all that we have and are, for the sake of Jesus, and may our entire lives be poured out toward the end of saying, as we pray in the Lord's Prayer, thy kingdom, come.

Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy. Oh man. I got roped into coaching comp soccer. I think I've told you guys some of you the story of how I got kind of roped into that. What happened was I, uh? I showed up at trial, so I'm not like, I've never played comp soccer.

I. Like, I played organized soccer until, like, I was like. And, and like a Rec league, you know, like where you pay them to play, you know, and? Um, and they, you like, get to play half the game, even if you're bad at it. That's, like, that's really all sports for me, I kind of my sporting career ended when you stopped being required to play people half the game, you know, uh, once that was the case.

I didn't play sports anymore at all, but that's as far as I went in competitive soccer. It, and what happened was, I like? Zoe. Was like doing really well at soccer in a Rec league, and I was like, we should, like, all right. Maybe we'll look into doing something else, so she was trying out for a team that she'd been asked to try out for.

And. Then, she tried out for another team and a bunch of people showed up. And they said, oh, there's so many girls we should make two teams. Can anyone coach? And then someone put my name forward because I'd coached. Zoe's not competitive soccer team? And they said he's a good coach.

He should coach, so the the president of the club asked me. Would you coach a team and the other coaches will kind of share their notes. They'll show how they pick players. You just watch the trouts and you pick your players and they'll pick their players and we'll have two teams.

Uh, and I said yes, like a moron. And uh, and so because I wanted like Zoe to have a competitive soccer team to play on. So, I said yes, and then what happened was? Uh, I thought that meant like, hey, they were gonna pick a player, and I was gonna pick a player and they were gonna pick a player, and I was gonna pick a player.

What that meant is they were gonna pick 11 players, and then I was gonna pick. 11 players. Um, and uh, and Zoe was gonna play on that team. You know, the team with the 11 players that didn't get picked for the first team and I was, like, well, that's not exactly how I thought this was gonna turn out, but all right, I guess I'm coaching a competitive soccer team with the girls that didn't make the soccer team, which is fine.

And you know, what's been cool about? That is, it's been one of the most rewarding things I've done over the past year, is just to kind of build into these girls and love on them and see them. Learn how, uh, to play soccer, you know, and they, uh, it's been really fun to watch.

I think I don't. I don't think I don't think we're too many years out from beating that team that picked the first 11 girls. Just so, you know, just, you know, maybe a couple years, but, uh. But yeah, it's been super fun to do it and to take a team of people and to see kind of transformation, and that comes from that.

How the whole thing played out. I was going to have a bunch of girls who didn't make the competitive soccer team, right, that if the gospel is true just by virtue of the message of the Gospel, we're going to find people. That aren't worthy to be messengers of the Gospel.

And, like, if God didn't pick unworthy Messengers, there'd be no one to pick. If the gospel is true just by virtue of what the story is, if it's true that God created the world and the world fell into sin and evil, but there's no one to pick that like?

Their nail in it, and they do a great job. So, if God's going to have anyone to proclaim the good news, he's going to pick unworthy people to Proclaim the good news. He's going to transform them. And that's the story. We're going to see that the story of the Gospel is a story of God picking unworthy people to be messengers of good news.

Then doing the work of transformation, making them new. So, we start by we. We look at three unworthy Messengers today. First, we look at Gideon, right? Look at Gideon. And he said in Judges 6, 15, he says, please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

So, you came to the weakest Clan, and you picked the weakest guy in the weakest Clan, and you said, you're gonna save Israel. What he's saying, right? Gideon knew that if you were gonna look out for the most likely candidate. To save Israel. It's not him. It's not even anyone in his clan.

Yeah, it like they, they picked the wrong group. Peter, the same thing. He. He, he, he says. When he saw the miracle, and you know, what's? Lot has gone, like, we don't necessarily see all that's happening behind the scenes, but I would read Peter's words as sarcastic here. That word used Master isn't the same as Lord, which is later in the passage.

Like, uh, like? All right, boss. All right Chief, you know, uh? So, this is a professional fisherman, right? He's fished all through the night. He's caught nothing, and Jesus says, put your net on the other side of the boat. Right, and he's like. Sir Chief, if you say so.

I'll put my net on the other side of the boat, you know, like that's more. What's going on here. It's like, he's not like, what? Oh, I believe that, you're an expert fisherman, and I'm gonna do what you said your word. I don't understand this, but I'll just do whatever you say because you've displayed your prowess, right?

That's not what's happening here, which is why he responds with depart. I'm a sinful man. It's because he was kind of with an eye roll, like all right Chief, I'll put the Nets on the other side of the boat. If you say that's going to be the way to do it.

And so his response. Is? Depart from me. I'm a sinful man. I had you wrong. Right? Paul. Right. Saint Paul is the other unworthy messenger that we read his letter to the church in Corinth today. And he says, I am the least of the Apostles. Unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.

So, Paul, maybe, unlike Peter, who talked about his lack of personal Holiness, I'm a sinful man depart from me, right? Paul was crushing it in personal Holiness. He was nailing it, like by all the measures he was getting it done, right? He was a holy guy. He was zealous.

He was a Pharisee, and he was pretty good at being a Pharisee. He could handle his business. He had it down. And yet he was dreadfully wrong. And ended up being an enemy of Jesus and his people. So, notice this progression in the unworthy Messengers, right? We have one.

We have it starting with weakness with Gideon. Right, you have Peter, who lacks personal Holiness and seems to know it and saying things are happening that are beyond me here. And then you have Paul, who's a full-on enemy. Of Jesus. And the way. All of whom are chosen to be Messengers for this good news.

To be messengers of God. Good news and his might and his power to save. This is the principle of God's mercy all along in the old Covenant in the New Covenant, right? Deuteronomy 7, 7 reminds us, it's not because you were more in number. Than the other people. And then he reminds him.

It's not because of their righteousness. Know that the Lord's, your God in Deuteronomy 9-6, is not giving you this land to possess because of your righteousness. Because you are a stubborn people, right? You're not strong. And you're proud. Like, like, you have two strikes against you. You, first of all, you weren't strong.

Second of all, you weren't particularly humble about it, you were. You were stubborn, and you were weak, right? And, and so, I didn't pick you because you were the likely candidate. That's not why I gave you the land. This has always been what God's about, but here's the deal.

I think this is how it would always have been if the gospel is true because the deal is we have a worthy message. To be carried, and it's like. It's like if you were being if you're trying to find the right person to carry. To just like transport a killer whale from, like by hand from one ocean to another.

It's like the the it's just too big a job. There's there's no one worthy for the task, right? The the good news is so much so incredible and so mighty. This worthy message is so big that there wasn't anyone that you could find that would be worthy. And Gideon.

They didn't have anywhere near a. Understanding of the good news that was to come. But Saint Paul did when he wrote the letter, right? He had a he had a more full understanding and picture. And so he tells this story of what? Wow, look at this message. Look what the message is.

And he talks about Jesus death, resurrection, and Ascension. You know when, when, when the gospel? Is giving out or summarized in the scriptures. It's all about the story of Jesus death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Sometimes we're tempted to think the gospel is about. Forgiveness of sins for Sinners, and it is about that.

But when the gospel is summarized in the scriptures, it's always about the story of Jesus, and it's about his word. It's more than the Forgiveness of sins. It's about his death, Resurrection, Ascension. It's why the first four books of the New Testament were named by the Church of the gospel.

The gospel is about the story of Jesus conquering sin and death and evil. So he tells the story of Jesus and what he's done and how God created the world and and God called it good. You guys know this story, and God made all that is, and all of it was good.

And then the people fell into sin and evil, and they turned away from God. And ever since then, all of them were weak and Unholy and unworthy.

Good news that Heaven and Earth have come together. He did Miracles. He demonstrated the good news that Heaven and Earth have come together as one. He died on the cross for our sins. He rose again and conquered death and evil. He reigns is King now. In heaven, where he'll return from where he'll return to judge the living in the dead, you guys know the story.

We Proclaim it every time we say the Creed, right? And we're going to see this kind of cosmic story that Saint Paul applies to himself in these verses 8 through 11, the second part of the reading, right. He applies them to himself, he says. This is like about this is my story, too.

This Cosmic story is my story. I'm unworthy to be called an apostle. But by Grace, I've been made who I am, right? See if the gospel is true. Messengers are going to be unworthy. There's no one else to find. If it's true that it's Humanity, we've taken the life that Jesus has given us.

He breathes air into our lungs as we sit here. And we've used that to rebel against him, and all of us have done that, and that he. Set up a way and and came on a rescue mission in the person of the Sun to. Break the power of death to break the power of sin and evil to forgive all our sins and to reconcile us to God.

If this is true, there's no worthy Messengers to tell that story. There's no one worthy, and so God finds people that aren't. And he makes them worthy. He transforms them. He calls them by a new name. See God's grace becomes the fuel for unworthy people to give this worthy message, right?

I, I always I find it really fascinating that Gideon, right, at the beginning of this passage. Is addressed as Mighty Man of Valor. God comes to him and says. Mighty Man of Valor. And. Nothing's changed about Gideon yet. Right? Nothing's changed. He's still the weakest guy from the weakest tribe.

And God is announcing to him. You're a mighty man of Valor. Because God's calling him who he will be. By its Grace, how's that? For the sermon guys, listen, God calls you what he's going to make you. Before you are that. God calls Gideon, the Mighty Man of Valor before.

He is a mighty man of Valor. Because he's going to transform him. He's going to make him new. You know, fascinating things happening here that we might miss. Is that Gideon isn't understanding that he's talking, that he's in the yahweh's presence? Even as Yahweh has said, I will be with you.

Right, Gideon doesn't really know who's talking yet. He doesn't figure that out till the end when he says, oh, no, I'm gonna die. I just saw the Lord face to face. But in, in verses 15 to 16, when he says I will be with you. It's like. He, he doesn't know he's talking to.

Yet, he hasn't figured it out yet. So, he says, what do you mean, you know, that I'm a mighty man of Valor, he says? With you. It okay, great. But I don't know what, like? I don't know who you are, but we're gonna need more people like you. If we're gonna go, uh, if we're gonna go, save Israel, right?

And he doesn't figure it out to the end that the end of the, at the end of the reading, where he realized, oh wow, I've seen the angel of the Lord. I've seen the Lord face to face, right? Is that God's presence is with him, but when he gets scared because he realizes he's seen the Lord face to face the Lord said to him, peace be to you?

Do not fear, you shall not die. Right? Hope comes for him and for us in the fact that the Lord is with him. But it's not simply his presence. It's his presence to bless. It's his presence to restore. It's his presence to make new. He says so, it's just God being with you.

Wouldn't always be great news. Gideon found out the Lord was with them and started freaking out. Like, I'm definitely going to die. I just saw the Lord right and but, but the Lord reminds him of and reassures him with is that I'm here. I'm here to bless you. And I'm here to make new, and I'm here to bring restoration in life.

Peter is told. From now on, you will fish for men. Right? When he says, depart from me, I'm a sinful man, he says. From now on, you will fish for men. And then a lot of the rest of the story of the gospels is has a lot to do with Jesus Peter's transformation into becoming the type of one that will fish for men.

You know, what's so funny this morning? Morning prayer reading was Jesus, like, remix of this miracle. So it's in the end of the Gospel of John after his resurrection. So after his resurrection, he does this miracle the remix? But what's happening is Peter is just failed. He's just completely failed to be the type of person that's going to fish for men.

He's denied Jesus, you know, he's denied Jesus three times all that's gone down. He's going fishing. He's not fishing for men. He's fishing for fish and Jesus. Does this miracle the remix to restore him to the person he caught, he said. No, you really are going to be fishing for men.

He has that whole, you guys know, the story that whole threefold. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me three times because he denied him him?

Knew Jesus? You will fish for men. I will restore you. I will make you new, and this is what I do with unworthy Messengers. Why? Because if he didn't pick unworthy Messengers, there's no one to pick.

Saul's conversion took place. While he was still breathing out murderous threats against the church. Doesn't get much worse than that, right? You think, like, hey, I'm unworthy. Have you breathed out murderous threats against the church? Lately, you know, have you are you on your way to murder people because they proclaim the name of Jesus?

That was Paul's story. When he was still Saul right until God transformed him. And made him new. The fuel of these unworthy Messengers being made Proclaimers of the Gospel or the good news. Is Grace? It's God's presence to bless us. It's God's presence Among Us to make us new.

And to bless us. So we, we get to Proclaim. This good news, this message, even though we are an unworthy Messengers, because we have God's presence with us. And he expresses that Grace to us in our Union with him in baptism. When we're baptized into his family. In our reception of the Holy Spirit.

When we receive the Holy Spirit at our baptism in our continual participation in Jesus body and blood in the Eucharist in our receiving of the laying on of hands. When we pray for healing prayer, we experience God's presence Among Us to continually bless us. Also experience God's presence Among Us so that we might Proclaim that blessing.

To others. Unworthy Messengers because those are the only Messengers God has. Right, we've been given an incredible message to share. Although we participated in sin and evil, just like everybody else. God gives us a new name. And he makes this new people. He's present with us. His presence with us is here to bless us rather than to condemn us.

Jesus died for us, reconciled us to his father, and set us free. This message is so wonderful and we're unworthy Messengers, right? Each of us could find a hundred people better suited than us to share the good news. We're weak, we're distracted, we're sinful. But God gives us Grace to be messengers of good news.

That God transforms us. God can set us free. God can heal us. God can forgive our sins, and God can set us up to be Messengers of that. Good news, so we may we take seriously the call. To Proclaim good news. May we unworthy Messengers because God's given us a new name?

Proclaim the glory of God. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy. Oh man. We had a joke when I was going through like youth Bible classes. Like when you did like with the youth group Sunday school or we were talking about Bible passage and we would say, the answer is always Jesus.

So like, if you weren't listening And someone asked you hey what do you think about that? You could just say Jesus And you'd probably be right, right. The answer is always Jesus. So we could just say Jesus and you're probably right. You know, a few years ago, I was praying Conklin with my kiddos.

So Coplin is our bedtime prayers, right? So, I was praying compliment with our with my kiddos. We were reading Psalm 4 Zone 4. It says know this, the Lord has chosen for himself. The one that is Godly. And Zoe said that's Jesus. And I I was at first, I was just brought back to those days when I said the answer is always Jesus, right?

But I also realized, she's exactly right. That's Jesus. Jesus is the Fulfillment of Psalm 4. When it says, the Lord has chosen for himself, the one that is Godly Jesus is the Fulfillment of that passage. Jesus is the Fulfillment of the law, the prophets, and the Psalms then he taught us to read the Bible that way he taught us in several places that if we're going to read the Bible rightly, we're going to see that.

It's a book about him. Me the answer is always Jesus then huh? And in this brief gospel reading, we're going to see the same thing Jesus by his very presence. Claims to, to be the Fulfillment of all the longings of the prophets. So today, we'll see that Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah's longing and particularly in his longing for the year of Jubilee, right?

We'll see that this good news or the promise being fulfilled is good news. That requires the people of God to be about both Proclamation and about release. So first, let's look at how Jesus is that fulfillment? The Fulfillment of the year of Jubilee. So right after Jesus reads the scroll, Luke records, very short interpretation.

Right. It's very short. He says, he says one sentence, right? Jesus says today. This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Now that's quite an efficient homily. Say James give homies more like that. You know, uh, Jesus said today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and then that's the end of the homily.

Move on to the next thing, right? Now, the use of the imperfect tense is probably a sign that he said more. So it says he began saying to them, right? He began saying to them, but Luke is able to summarize all that. Jesus said in one sentence today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

There it is now today. The scripture has been fulfilled. And what scripture has been fulfilled? Well, the one he just read, right? The one he just read from Isaiah, And it's interesting that he He chose a passage from Isaiah so the scroll of Isaiah was given to him and then he finds a place in that scroll so there's like Electionary thing happening and then also like a Choose Your Own Thing but Jesus gets to make a choice for himself with what passage he's reading.

So a little bit of both happening at the same time but he gets the prophet. Isaiah handed to him not a different scroll and then he finds the place where it's written. He says, he talks about proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. Proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor.

Now, this is technical term. It's a reference to the year of Jubilee. So if are we familiar, maybe not with the year of Jubilee, right? The year of Jubilee was every 50th year. So it's kind of meant to happen once a lifetime For people. All captives. All those who are enslaved are meant to be released of the people of God.

They're supposed to be released. All debts. We're supposed to be canceled. Right. So all debts, were supposed to be canceled, Seems like a pretty cool thing, right? So like When you think of like the economic system of the scriptures, you're going to have a recognition that there's such a thing as like private ownership.

So we you don't want to read modern economic systems into like the old Covenant, we usually will mess that up. But what's cool is you you do have private ownership. So, something that like like what we would see in capitalism we're like I can own something and it can be mine, right?

And it can be viewed as mine. So, God gave people the land and that was theirs, you know, that their land was their land, right? And, um,

Them that like once a lifetime all debts, are going to be canceled and that the land is going to be restored, anyone who had lost their land through their participation in economic activity, was going to have their land restored to them every 50th year. Once a lifetime, we get a big reset button and we get a fresh start.

And the people of God were even supposed to not think about how soon is that year of Jubilee before they loaned money to people. That'd be hard to do, right? Like so before they loan money, they weren't even supposed to ask the question. But wait. If I loan you this like, there's no way you're paying this back before the year of Jubilee comes.

Because it's like, it's in five years, they weren't supposed to regard when the year of Jubilee was coming when they were to loan out money. Sounds impossible without the grace of God, right? Seems like that's not happening, right? And it didn't happen. The Jewish people didn't live that out really ever.

They didn't really live out the year of Jubilee as they were called to. They didn't restore all the land to the people. They didn't release all the cavities, they didn't cancel all the debts. They didn't live out the year of Jubilee, but the idea was built right into the system that there were going to be Releas.

And Fresh Start economically for the people of God. And then Jesus applies, this imagery of the year of Jubilee to his ministry. It's what his ministry is about, is to Proclaim. It is. Now, the year of the Lord's, favor it is the year of Jubilee.

So that, that forgiveness of debt is turned. Toward that, that forgiveness of debt is is turned to us thinking about release from sin. And the Forgiveness of sin. He's, he's turning us toward the ministry. He's going to do, which is going to be about releasing the captives. Those of us who enslave, not only economically, but enslaved to sin, and evil and death.

And then he gives his homily. Today, this scripture has been fulfilled. In your hearing. And that's a really brief homily, and it's also probably a surprising one, right? There's still an occupied people. They're still Jewish people in the land, which is occupied by the Romans. No one's been freed.

No one's debts have been canceled, not like In many ways, nothing's changed from when Jesus started reading from the prophet. Isaiah right? And yet Everything has changed. Because just what Jesus is saying is just the act of God's anointed. One reading, this passage in the synagogue. By itself changed everything.

Having the Messiah read. This passage in the synagogue by itself was enough to Proclaim its fulfilled. It's happening.

You know, Jesus had done some miracles by now probably like, Luke hasn't recorded a bunch of them. It says he came in the power of the spirit. Is really all all. It says, this is like right after Jesus, Temptation in the wilderness. But other gospel readings will put some miracles in between, obviously, people are starting to talk about Jesus, words getting around, he's coming into his hometown.

He's done some miracles, but that's not the point. Luke is making here. He's saying even without the Miracles, I'm not even mentioning the Miracles. I'm telling you that just by Jesus reading, this passage in the synagogue. It's being fulfilled. Just that Proclamation. I think there's a couple lessons, we could learn there.

First lesson is just the power of reading the word of God aloud. Reading Holy Scripture aloud. It's why in worship? We have, Holy Scripture. Read from four different places, every single Sunday. Out loud. Right. It's because there's a power in reading the scriptures out loud and Brian had to read a lot of names out loud today.

Right. And he did a great job. Yeah. Good example. For any of us reading the scriptures out loud. I, he got a couple warnings not only for me, but he had a couple people warning him about. There's a lot of names there. Uh, so just be prepared, but there's a power to just standing up and reading the scriptures out loud in the assembly.

So we should know the power of just reading the scripture out loud. It's why we value the daily office so much you know, praying the daily office with a family of seven. Life, we pray at every like every morning and every evening. We pray the daily office and it's sometimes a wrestling match.

Oh man, you know, our our newest thing has been. Hey, here's the deal. I'm gonna start reading a passage and if anyone talks, I'm just gonna start back at the beginning. And then, They're learning to not talk if they don't want to be reading Jeremiah for 45 minutes, you know.

Uh yeah, like because we'll read Jeremiah for 45 minutes, if that's what it takes to that, just learn how to be quiet, you know, and to learn how to sit still but it can be a wrestling match. Quiet and to sit still and to wrestle a family of seven through reading the daily office.

But I can tell you this. Even the many times when it feels like nothing's changing, no one's learning. If I ask my kids, what did I just read about? There's no way they could tell me. Which is maybe more times than not because more times than not, when doing the daily office.

It feels like, if I asked someone I read about, they couldn't tell me, right? That might be more often than not. But I'll tell you, it's a sanctifying thing to just read the scriptures aloud in your home. And to walk through the process of continually bathing your home in, Holy Scripture.

And reading the Old Testament every year and reading the New Testament twice a year and reading this altar once a month and walking through that process of just letting scriptures. Be the foundation of of family life. There's nothing better. It's why we believe it's why we do it.

Second lesson though is Jesus is the Fulfillment of the year of Jubilee. Just him being there. Is fulfilling what the year of Jubilee was pointed toward the year of Jubilee was all about a big reset and all the economic injustices can be righted and all can be made right again.

And that was just merely a picture of what the real reset that we need. The big reset where we can receive forgiveness of sins and Redemption. And New Life. Jesus is, is the end that the year of Jubilee was just pointing toward. It was just the air Jubilee was just scratching the surface of what Jesus came to do which was to set the captives free us.

Who are encaptive, who are captive to sin and death and evil, and participated in our own in, in our own ways, and Jesus is the Fulfillment of all of that. So just him being there is the Fulfillment of what that was all pointed toward. And as Jesus reads, the passage aloud in the Gathering, the promises fulfilled.

Now's the year of Jubilee. And what we learn from, What Jesus, the passage Jesus chooses to read, is we learn a little bit about what that message means. We learn first that the year of Jubilee is a time of proclamation, it's a time of proclamation. So it's a proclamation of good news to the poor, that's what he says, they Proclaim good news to the poor.

You know, one of the things I reflect on, when I read those words, it's just like How often do the poor? Receive good news. Like people that Struggling. Financially. How often do they receive? Good news. How often is a trip to the mailbox? Good news for a poor person.

Not often. Um something you expect, how often is is a trip to the mailbox, good news for you. And I I mean it's it's not often good news, like we we Where we've maybe find out. Oh, that that medical bill. I thought was in cover was covered by insurance turns out.

It's not now I'm I'm either in a fight with an insurance company or I owe someone a lot of money or whatever, right? How often is a trip to the mailbox? Good news for the poor. You know. And Jesus came to give to Proclaim good news to the poor.

To the poor. To those who often don't hear good news. He came to Proclaim. Good news to them. The poor as the central. Beneficiaries of Jesus gospel is a central theme. In Luke. If you're reading Luke, it's about the poor receiving, the benefits of the gospel, it's all through, Luke.

So like, uh, the other gospels don't emphasize that quite as much. That's an emphasis of all the gospel because it's just the emphasis of the good news. It's good news to the poor, but Luke in particular is going to zero in on how this is. Good news for the poor for the people that don't hear.

Good news very often it's good news to them, right?

It's proclaiming the needs. The poor will be met. He proclaims Liberty to the captives. This is likely more focused on spiritual Liberty or those encapted to sin and evil than probably in literal prison. But I'll tell you something about that, all of us are to look at prisoners. And see ourselves.

It's one of the measures of someone that's rightly related with God, according to Matthew, 25 is when I was sick and in prison you visited me. Often we're just Tempted to look at prisoners. The people who couldn't get their act together and now they're locked in a cage. Um, where they can't be a danger to themselves or to others anymore.

And there's truth there. But we're supposed to see our story when we see prisoners. All of us were locked in the cage. Of evil sin. Death Satan And we've all participated. And evil in our own lives and we need set free. When we look at a prisoner, it's easy for us to kind of stand in judgment over them, but they need set free.

And we need set free. We should see us when we look at the prisoner and he's proclaiming release to the prisoners to those who are in prison. And sometimes that's a literal prison someone in a cage. But, but that's just parallel of all of us, all of us, walk our lives in prison and we need set free.

And Jesus came to Proclaim freedom to the captives. The year of Jubilee is a proclamation that Victory has been won and the captives are set free.

I think like when I think about that and while I understand that like you have to have a society that has like laws, right? If Christians understand the gospel message, They shouldn't be the loudest ones. Proclaiming for exacting. Justice on perpetrators. That shouldn't be the loudest thing coming out of their mouth.

One of the things I'll turn to my kids when they say someone did this and they need to be punished, I'm like, okay, do you want me to like spank them right in front of you? Would that bring pleasure to your life to watch me spank your sibling right?

I'll ask them that because I'm helping them process. Hey, my place in life, shouldn't be exacting Justice, making sure everyone gets what's coming to them, right? We understand the gospel. Should be hoping for repentance and renewal and restoration. More than Justice and Punishment being meted out all's necessary. I'm not saying stop punishing.

People that commit horrific crimes. What I'm saying is that our heart should be that these people are Set free that they're able to repent and be made new and be restored. That's our posture because we're gospel people. And the good news is about Restoration and release for those who are imprisoned.

He talks about proclamation of recovering sight to the blind.

Right, and this is probably talking about a spiritual blindness, right? Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. The ones who appear and are will see God. And Jesus is going to take those who aren't pure in heart like us and make us appear in heart.

So that we might see God. He's going to give her. He's going to give sight to the blind. The people that can't see God, because they're not pure in heart. He's going to transform our hearts. Make us new. Give us pure heart, so that we might see God. Might see the glory of God.

So, the year of Jubilee is a year of proclaiming good news, But the year, Jubilee isn't just that it's also a time of actual release. See, one thing to recognize is that Jesus isn't simply reading from the scroll. We know that because he starts reading in Isaiah 61, I think it is and then he ends up in Isaiah 58.

Well, so he's not just reading from the scroll, obviously, because if he's just reading from the scroll, if he was started in Isaiah 61, he'd stay in Isaiah 61, right? But he starts in Isaiah 61, he ends up in Isaiah 58 and he purposely Works in a passage that says set at Liberty.

Those who are oppressed not just Proclaim Right. It's not an accident. The people in the synagogue would have noticed, we might we're less familiar with the prophet Isaiah than they were. And so we might not notice that he starts reading in one part of Isaiah and then switches to another part of Isaiah.

But they would have noticed. They said, hey, that's not where that Falls that falls earlier, right?

So they knew they noticed and they would have known that, he's making a point with this. And he purposely is working in this. Call to Israel that says that where it says this is not this the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the straps of the Yoke to let the oppressed go.

Free said, Liberty, the oppressed Ray and to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh, huh? Purposely brings this in.

He purposely pulls this passage in to say it's not just about Proclamation. Of release. It's about actually an acting release. It's about actually doing Justice with our hands. It's about actually doing Mercy with our hands. You know, and some people are proclamation, people only they they the the year of jubilees about Proclamation and release a lot of people Second being only Proclamation people, so like, sometimes you'll find homeless Ministries that are like we're not feeding anyone until they like listen to the sermon first, right?

Like they have to listen to the sermon. If they don't sit through the sermon, we can't give them a burger and I I yeah. And I get it. Um, you, you need to gather some people together and they need to hear good news Proclaim to them, right? That's true.

Failed maybe to recognize that just the act of giving a hungry person, a hamburger is in itself. A gospel act because the gospel is about release it. If they don't hear any message attached to that, and they just receive if a hungry person receives food, they have received good news, they have received part of that release.

And so some people are like only Proclamation people, it's only about saying the words of the good news, right? Look at those people and they'll say, oh my gosh, they're so backwards. They feel like they have to say the, it's a bait and switch, they're making them listen. Just so that they can provide some release.

We're going to be only about release here. We feed the hungry and we don't care about proclaiming all that stuff. It doesn't matter about that. We're just being the gospel, we're being the good news. Be problematic because I these people never hear the good news Proclaim to them, how they might have lasting Freedom, right?

The gospel is always about both and it doesn't pick. It doesn't pick. It's not all about Proclamation without release and it's not all about release without Proclamation. It's always both. It's people. Proclaiming good news. And at the same time, being agents of that, good news and being good news.

It's always both and Jesus was about both and he was always about both. Aiming people how they can get their sins forgiven. Yes, I'm also Releasing them from the effects of sin and death and evil that they're experiencing and are and that they're struggling with. It's why there's all these healings happening.

Ministry, right.

So Jesus was a proclamation and release person. He was always doing both. And so, he's inviting us to be a people of proclamation and release. So I ask you, where can you Proclaim? Good news. Where are the relationships in your life where you can proclaim the good news where you can tell people?

About a Who has come to set them free. A God who loves the world, who's ready to forgive their sins, who's ready to receive them into his family? If they will repent and believe where are the relationships in your life, where you can Proclaim that? And I want you to ask yourself the question, where is God calling you to be an agent of release?

Whereas God calling you into situations where you see Brokenness, where you see the effects of sin. Whether they're physical. Spiritual emotional mental health. Like where are the areas that God's calling you to be an agent of release? Whether it's providing food for Hungary. Laying hands on someone and praying for their healing.

Giving of your money. Generously to help support the poor. Where is God calling you to just be good news to the poor to be good news to those who are in captive, who are captive, or is God calling you to be an agent of release? See, we have good news.

Today, we see that Jesus is the good news, his presence by itself with nothing else added is plenty to be the good news that we've all longed for. Because he is here. It is the year of the Lord's favor. That's what we were taught here. And he's called us to be people that broke that are people of proclamation and release were to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

We're to Proclaim. Hey, God is with us and because God is with us, all that we need is here. God has come. God has come to set us free? We're to Proclaim. Good news that God is saving the world from all the effects of sin and evil. But he's also called us to be release people.

We're to be writing Injustice. We're to be giving sacrificially of our time, our money and energy, so that the poor the sick, the imprisoned. And the outcasted might be released and set free. We're to pray for healing. We're to see God reversing the effects of sin.

Demonstrate that good news by being good news. Let us be people of proclamation and release. Amen. 

Name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. Amen. Bring me my prayer book. Have you ever uh have you ever received a gift that you really felt like you needed? Like man, I I needed that. And like, it was, it's I'm really glad I received that because I needed it.

I, I know that I, I have a lot of times this year. In fact, I I guess it wouldn't really be a gift, but I had a, a good friend of ours. So sold us his SUV for the pro for the price that he was going to get from the dealership when he traded it in.

So we got like heavily discounted and then we also got like he said, why don't you just like pay it off over time on a zero interest loan to me uh 10 grand. And we were like, outgrowing our minivan. Like as not, our family isn't continuing to grow as far as adding numbers, but they are adding stature to their bodies.

And, uh, and we were starting to outgrow our minivan. So I, I know that I was feeling like, oh my gosh, we really like that, just filled such a need Life. And I'm sure you've experienced that too. Just getting a gift where it's like, man, I needed that Um, and and, you know, In this passage, we're going to see Jesus.

Given two gifts at his baptism, he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and then a declaration of both his identity and his vocation. But I want to challenge us to maybe read the story differently than we might have a habit of doing. In every Sunday, you know, not today.

Because it's a baptism and so we won't say it today but we say the words as part of the Nicene Creed we believe in one baptism for the Forgiveness of sins. Often these words one baptism are cited for when when we're explaining the reason that we don't baptize someone who's already been baptized, I was baptized as a baby and then I walked away from the faith and I Or I joined another faith and now now I'm now I'm coming back and I mean it this time and we'll explain.

Hey, it's one baptism, we don't need to baptize you again. God was with you the whole time even if you walked away. Right? And that's right, that's good. It's good to use those words that way. But I think, maybe, There's more to it than that. In Romans, 5, Saint, Paul tells us we are baptized into Christ.

That's what Paul tells us. So it's important to hear this Jesus baptism. Is your baptism? His baptism, is your baptism, there's no other baptism. It's the one baptism. In one sense, we always celebrate our individual baptisms. Any of you have been baptized by me. Might remember, Receiving texts from you on your baptism day, right?

Or text from me on your baptism day saying I'm praying for you as I remember your baptism. But, So we we remember our baptism individually but our baptism isn't unique. Your baptism simply the day that you were baptized into, Christ's baptism. That you were baptized into his baptism. You were baptized into Christ.

You were as Saint. Paul said, buried with him in baptism and came up to New Life in him. It's Central to Saint, Paul's understanding of baptism to realize that our baptism is, Jesus baptism. So when we look at the gifts Jesus received his baptism, We are looking at the one baptism, that was all of our baptism.

We're also looking at the gifts that we receive in our baptism. So that's what we'll take a look at at the for a few short moments today. The first gift Jesus got was the help of the Holy He needed it. So, there's two baptisms here, that John talks about, John the Baptist Right.

John's baptism in Jesus, baptism. I think there's an important distinction to make sometimes people will understand these words. I baptize with you with water, but one is coming over. Baptized with the Holy Spirit and they see this as a distinction between Baptism and spirit baptism. So they'll say hey there's like a water baptism but then that maybe at some later day there's some experience with the Holy Spirit where then you receive Spirit baptism might be accompanied by gifts such as speaking in tongues or prophesying the sign gifts, but this is a distinct from water baptism.

This is something that can be held apart from water baptism. Problem. Is that both Jesus and John baptized with water, right? So Jesus also baptized with water. So if the difference that so if John the Baptist was trying to distinguish water and spirit baptism, he wouldn't say I baptize you with water but someone's coming that will baptize you with Holy Spirit.

2, right? So both are a water baptism. So there's no distinction between water and spirit baptism, both baptized with water, both involve repentance. But the unique thing about Jesus baptism, Is that it comes with the coming of the Holy. So, both baptized with water, both repent, both both receive a bat.

So, like you might remember we just read most of the passage we read today a couple weeks ago in Advent, With when John the Baptist was preaching this sermon but you you might remember us talking about. There's a baptism with water for the Forgiveness of sins. A lot of continuity between the two baptisms, but the thing that's different about Jesus baptism is that his baptism is coming with the Holy Spirit.

Now, this isn't a distinction between water baptism and spirit baptism. This is a distinction between John's water baptism and Jesus water, baptism that comes with the Holy spirit. So after after the ministry of Christ, all baptisms. Come with the Holy Spirit when we receive baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit.

This is what the scriptures. Teach us at our baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy

Things. Talks about the Holy Spirit and fire. And fire, right? So fire brings about a sense of empowerment. A lot of times, we'll think about that. Um, And maybe in more charismatic circles and we're a charismatic Church, you might hear that emphasis the power of God, you know the fire like fire is powerful, right?

But I think here in this, in the context of this passage, we're probably seeing something more like uh, purification or judgment. Being more. I mean, you have the winnowing Fork. You have the chaff being burned with unquenchable fire. You have. So you're having this distinguishing between that which lasts and that which doesn't, right?

That's kind of purifying element of fire. Purifying. So, we get this empowerment and this purifying. And what we see is that Jesus receives this, Holy Spirit at his baptism and I said before, Jesus needed to receive the Holy Spirit. Wait, what? Csda. The Eternal Son of God did not have need.

He didn't he didn't have need But we know that. As God Jesus, added Humanity to his deity. And as a human being, Jesus needed the empowerment of the Holy Spirit before, going out to do ministry. Jesus needed the Holy spirit's. So before Jesus, Temptation in the wilderness, Which is coming right after this.

He receives the power of the Holy. Before casting out demons before his Proclamation before his death and Resurrection Jesus receives. The Holy The Holy Spirit to empower him. And we know that the baptism worked Because in chapter 4 verse 1, you have Jesus going out into the Wilderness full of the Holy So he receives the Holy Spirit who falls on him like a dove and then he goes out in the power of that Holy Spirit Into the Wilderness.

All who have been baptized in the name of the Trinity. Have received the Holy. Right. All of the, all of us who have been baptized into the Trinity, have received the Holy Spirit. Now, this isn't When I say baptized in the name of the Trinity and I say it, every time before we have communion right, all Christians have been baptized in the name of the Trinity can come forward.

I'm not talking about magic words like a formula. It's baptized into the life of the Triune God baptized baptized in the name of the Trinity. The reason we say that isn't because we just needed some words to say to fill space. What we're saying is you're baptized into the life of the one true God, who's revealed himself as three persons, Father Son, Holy spirit.

So when we're baptized in the name of the father and of the son and the Holy Spirit, we're being baptized into the life of the Trinity. All of us who have been baptized into the life of the Triune, God have received the Holy Spirit, all of us,

They didn't receive the Holy Spirit yet because the Holy Spirit hadn't descended, right? And so they were to wait in Jerusalem and they were to wait until they had received power from on high. Holy Spirit descending on them. In order for us to fulfill, whatever Ministry we've been called to, to live our lives to grow in Holiness.

All of us, have a desperate need for the Holy spirit's empowerment. And all of us have received him. At our baptism. So Jesus receives the gift of the holy Spirit as baptism the second gift he receives And we received because his baptism is, our baptism is identity and vocation as children of God.

Identity and vocation as children of God. Give this identity piece. Jesus hears this word. From his father. It's a second. It's in second person Luke's. The only one that puts it in second person. You are my beloved Son. You are my beloved Son with you. I am well pleased.

You know, in the very next chapter Jesus is tempted. You guys know that, right? Very next chapter. And you know what the word is the what? What word? Satan keeps repeating. If you are the Son of God, And then he fills in the blank with various things that he's going to tell him to do.

If you're really the son of God, you think Jesus didn't need to hear about his identity from his father before going out. And having that identity being the first thing challenged, if you are the Son of God, Turn these stones into bread, right? Or if you and what heard from his father is you are my beloved son.

That's what he heard.

He needed to hear the voice of his father. You know. As he died for the sins of the world. You know what the people said to him? If you are the Son of God come down from the cross, If you are the Son of God come down, Huh. You think he didn't need to know his identity and who he was in his father who said you are my beloved Son.

You are

And in Christ, we share the identity of Jesus. Now, Jesus was God's son by Nature. Right by Nature. He was the son of God. We receive his being children of God through adoption. So we're adopted into God's family, as we receive the Holy Spirit, the spirit of adoption that makes us cry.

Abba Father. That's what Paul says. Right? So we we receive the spirit and that spirit is a spirit of adoption. We are God's children by adoption and just like Jesus. We need to hear that second person word from the Condition. That people are God's children. Right. During times of self-doubt or insecurity.

Platitudes won't cut it. Listen, do you know what God thinks of you? He looked. If God like had a refrigerator, He doesn't, but if he did, And like, he hung pictures on it. You know, just like a dad you like, you'll find my kids all over my refrigerator, right?

They're my kids. And I they're my beloved children and I love them. They're like the joy of my life like I can't like like I could all the time Google photos like Interrupts my life and says, like look at this memory from five years ago, you know. And and, and I can spend like an hour and a half doing oh, look at that one.

Oh, that looks so cute. Oh my gosh, look at that. Oh, that was so funny when that happened. It's because I'm I'm a dad and I love the kids and I like when Google photos interrupts me, I need to make it, stop doing that. But when it does that Uh, I could get sucked in for an hour.

Why? Because I love these kids, they're my kids. And this is how God taught us to think about how he thinks about us. You know, we don't live our lives and really understand that. I think, honestly, we walk about our lives and we forget that, God isn't like, just like this Stern judge looking down on us.

It's exactly. Like we're, as kids think about For my eight-year-old girls soccer team. And like, you think like when they like trip over the ball, which they do a lot and like, Like what how do you think I'm responding in that moment? Do you think I'm like oh my gosh, what an idiot?

That eight-year-old tripped over the ball? You've made a fool of yourself. You should be embarrassed and like, no, they're like they're a cute little eight-year-old girls. I'm like oh they just fell over the bomb. And this is how God is looking like, you think when you fall into sin that God's there, like, oh my goodness.

Like, oh like how could he have done? Listen. This kid. He's just ready to pick you up. Dust you off and get you back at it, right? Your child. He loves you, you're his beloved and you're his beloved because you've been adopted into his family at your baptism. So listen, you're God's son.

Listen to God's word to you today. You are my son. You are my daughter. I'm proud of you.

I'm pleased with you. It's God's word to us in our baptism. Zeph hear these words today. Hey, your baptism, you are my son. That's what God says to you. I'm pleased with you. We we hear these words of our identity, but we also hear words of vocation Yeah. And and Jesus heard words of vocation in his baptism in Isaiah 42, which we read we have.

I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people alike for the Nations. Now, these are words about Jesus, we might think of the song, a Simeon who calls Jesus a light to Enlighten.

The Gentiles which is almost a direct quote from these passages, right? Which we say every day and evening prayer, but I also think of the Benedictus and we pray the Benedictus every morning in morning prayer.

Child, or the prophet of the most high? To go before the Lord to prepare his way. Have you ever wondered? I mean, for those of you who Like to pray the daily office if you don't like you should. It's awesome like separate. Uh, like it is the best. But have you ever wondered why we pray the song of Zechariah every day?

I think in some ways, Seminary I went to Seminary and I learned to exegete the original Tech like what what was the original intent of this author when he wrote this? What are the original 10 of these words? And I think I learned something that was really awesome but I also in other ways that are important, I maybe learned how not to read the Bible.

English reformers. Had thought the main point of this text is something that John the Baptist is being or that John Zechariah is saying about John the Baptist and that's the end of it. We wouldn't be reading that in morning prayer. What the church is actually act asking us to do is daily reflect on our vocation to be the prophet of the most high to go before the Lord to prepare his way to give his people knowledge of Salvation by the Forgiveness of their sins.

Is in the tender compassion, Our God. The Dawn from on high will shine. Upon you. To shine light on those who dwell in darkness in the shadow of death. It we're called to recognize this is our vocation. To be a people who have the Light of Christ shining upon us.

And therefore shine on those. Who are not part of the Covenant family. Who live in darkness and in the shadow of death. Same thing. That Simeon said, same thing that Isaiah said a light to Enlighten the Gentiles those who dwell in darkness in the shadow of death. See, the church is calling us to recognize our vocation.

It's a people. We are called to be a people who prepare the way of the Lord in the Acts reading. We read today. We see the vocation being embodied by Peter, right, he's going. Going to be a light of Revelation to the Gentiles and what do we have? We have Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, receiving the Holy Spirit and everybody having to catch up like they're like, oh my gosh, how can we keep from baptism from these people who got the Holy Spirit just like we did and now I know that God chose no partiality.

Peter says, you realize that right before that Saint, Peter had to be told three times in a vision. To be spending time and eating with Gentiles. You realize he told the Lord no twice before he finally said. Okay? Why? Because he was learning to live into this vocation that the Light of Christ shines on us and it's meant to be a light to the world.

So Zeph today, you will hear your identity as an adopted child of God. But you're also going to hear a calling A calling to be alike to Enlighten All Peoples. All of us will hear today. Because we're brought into God's family and our baptism and we're called and we're we in that bringing into God's family.

We're called along with Christ to be a That's why we celebrated an epiphany. See, Jesus baptism is our baptism the gifts he received of baptism are precisely the same gifts we receive in our baptism today. Let's join with zeph in renewing, our commitments to the Lord. Let us ask for the empowerment of the spirit to empower our ministry, and let us also receive these words of identity and vocation Gods Sons and Daughters.

We've been adopted into his family by receiving the Holy Spirit of adoption. This identity is tied to our vocation. Let us ask God for fresh opportunities. To like, John the Baptist shine light on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death. And let us be people determined to light the way to Jesus.

That all might know him and worship Him alone. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

Well, in the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy. Oh man. One of the things that comes up are one of the most common questions that we tend to get. If people are visiting our church, Would they would take a look at? Big Altar in the middle of things and our vestments, our church calendar, all the stuff that we're doing.

Are long and somewhat, elaborate liturgy that we do every week. Our insistence of having weekly celebration of the Eucharist and they would ask, are you Catholic? Now, because we're always doing catechism. Here's a quick catechetical. Answer. Are we Catholic? Yeah. Yes, the answer is yes, we're Catholics. So, uh, I'm a Catholic.

We're a branch of the ancient Catholic and Apostolic church, where one of three branches that claim Apostolic succession, right? We value our historic liturgy In our historic church government. But that isn't the question that people are asking when they ask, are you Catholic, right? They're usually what they're actually asking is, are you Roman Catholic?

Right? And rightly, we would answer that question. No, we aren't Roman Catholic. If the conversation continues at all somewhat early, they'll be asking the question. Do you pray to Mary at your church? Right. One of the central things that people wrestle with when it comes to the Roman Catholic church is the teaching and practice surrounding Mary.

And the other Saints And the 39 articles of religion, They have something to say about it article, 22 says the Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory. Pardons worshiping in adoration, as well as images of relics. And also invocation of saints is a fun thing, vainly invented and grounded upon no warranty of scripture.

But rather repugnant to the word of God, Yeah. Yeah. And yet, if we're going to be led by the scriptures, they have something to speak to us about this. You know, without discussing whether or not these words should have been formulated into a prayer. It's fascinating to look at how much of the Hail Mary Is a, is a direct quote from the passage we read today, from Luke, and the passage directly before it You know, on Christmas Eve, we're actually going to include an Ave Maria in Latin.

And when we do that, We're going to be quoting scripture. Almost entirely. So, even though as anglicans, you won't typically hear us praying to Mary or other Saints in public liturgies, or letting the invocation of saints form a central part of our devotional life. Isn't like we think the prayer itself is evil much of it comes from the Bible.

So Roman Catholics. Pray, Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Luke 1, 28 blessed. Are you among women? And blessed is be the fruit of thy womb. Jesus, Luke 142. Holy Mary Mother of God, Luke 143 Then this part pray for us sinners. Now, in the hour of death, that one doesn't have a Bible verse but the rest of the entire prayer has this has the, I mean they're direct quotes from scripture, right?

So even as we recognize that, maybe some of the practice is a little elaborate and unfounded, which our articles do, I think all of us are required to reflect much more carefully. On what makes Mary special. Even if we think prayers to Mary and to the other Saints aren't meant to hold a central place in our devotion.

Shouldn't we be willing to laud Mary? As she predicted, we would do In that song that she's saying in Our Gospel reading today, So why should we do as Marion predicted? What does it mean for all generations to call me blessed? Which is what she said they would do.

Why should we intentionally laud Mary today? We'll look at three reasons why we should laud Mary intentionally. First Mary is blessed among women. That's the first reason. Mary is blessed among women. In some way. So, you know, Elizabeth meets Mary and she says, she's specially blessed blessed. Are you among women?

In some ways she set apart amongst all others, Mary is unique. And is blessed. And worthy of Honor. No one else. Had the lord of the universe reliant on them.

No one else nursed God. At her breast. Mary, nursed. God, you know that Yeah, yeah. She nursed God. No one else. Bounced? God on her knee. She bounced God on her knee. No one else watched. Die for the sins of the world. Mary, watched her son die for the sins of the world.

So, Mary's unique, In some ways she's not like all of us, right? She's also blessed. Blessed called blessed among women. Among women in particular, you know, any person, What wrestling with whether women have a central place in the gospel narrative, need to read the gospel of Luke The gospel of Luke is the book to read about women's place in the gospel.

Read it again. Read it again. So, we have Anna the Providence. In Luke 2, 36-38. After this passage, we have women supporting Jesus ministry financially in Luke. 8 3, we have repent, the repentant woman, anoints Jesus feet in Luke 7 11-15, we have Mary and Martha visiting Jesus, and we have that whole interaction with who did the better portion in in Luke 10 38-42.

We have a woman, um, spoke to Jesus, while he was teaching, 27-28. Jesus speaks to women on the way to Golgotha. In Luke 23 27-28 and women witnessed the resurrection and the men doubt it, and they call it an Idol Tale. In Luke 24, 11 wondering if women have a central place in the story in Luke read that gospel.

And here in this passage, you have two pregnant women, one old and seemingly Barren and one young and unwed And they're the announcing the beginning of a new age. Luke has Mary an essential part of the narrative. But he has her there for a specific purpose and fulfilling a specifically feminine function.

Yeah. A particularly feminine function, he's doing there. From the Syrian said this. John jumped for joy. To make an announcement concerning his future preaching, the infant of the barren woman exalted before the infant of the Virgin Our Lord prepared his Herald in a dead womb. To show that he came after a dead Adam.

He verified Elizabeth's room first and then vivified the soil of Adam through his body.

This passage is like an anti-abortion activist's dream, right? You have an unborn baby, recognizing an unborn baby as the lord of the universe. That's what's happening in this passage. So, like, but part of the reason that feminism and abortion need to get a divorce is because it's like this.

Huge attack on the most uniquely feminine activity, in the name of feminism, like the most, the only thing that only a woman can do Is where is where it's attacked there? In the name of feminism. See, far from being a liability. The things that made Mary Central in the story.

Where because of her Womanhood. It was because she was a woman. It wasn't like there wasn't a liability associated with her being a woman. And having to have be the one to have the child. That's what made her Central that's what put her in the center of the story.

It was a thing that she could do that a man cannot do and that's what set her apart. That's not to say that if a woman doesn't have kids. If she's unmarried or she's unfertile that, she's not like fully a woman, but it is saying that child bearing is something that one a woman can do that defines Womanhood.

That men cannot do Not do that. A man could not have fulfilled. Mary's role in the story? A woman had to do that. It's what Saint Paul means when he says that. The woman will be saved through, child bearing. What is that? Like, that sounds crazy in the middle of that passage.

And everyone's like, what are you talking about? Like, each individual woman is earning her salvation by having babies. No, he's, he's talking about that. God chose to save the world by using the new e doing something. Only the woman can do Like so yes, the woman fell first, but God chose to use a woman doing only what what only a woman can do to bring about the salvation of the whole world.

Wow, what a surprise got? Joseph saved the world through childbearing. Which is something only a woman can do. And isn't that just like God? It's why Paul says, in Corinthians that although man was made first, he is born of woman. And every man that lives was relying on a woman in it, for his very existence in a way that she will never rely on a man.

Right.

So, Mary's blessed among women. And we should laud her. For being The Prototype for what God does through woman. Submitted to him through a woman who is submitted to him. We also should laud Mary, because she believed the Lord's word and became God's mother. Elizabeth said to Mary blessed is she, who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

We should laud Mary, because she believed. She believed, you know, I've spent a lot of time talking about what faith is and what it's about. It's important to reiterate that, the faith isn't just like a cognitive assent. She didn't merely cognitively believe that, God could do something impossible and put a baby in her room.

Even though she was a virgin this belief disrupted her entire life. This belief, upended everything, this belief almost destroyed her marriage. It took another Angel visiting to save the marriage in the because rightly Joseph was like you know virgins don't have babies so I have my doubts, you know.

Um and so it took another, it took another visit from another Angel to even save the marriage, right? And in the passage. Right before this one, we get the statement of Mary's belief. She says, may it be to me according to your word. That's what belief looks like, may it be to me, according to your word.

She's simply saying she's cognitively recognizes the fact that nothing is impossible for God, which is what Gabriel had said. She's giving consent. She's placing her entire trust in God. Who she believes cares for her and loves her. And this is how Mary is so Central to the story. She shows what God is able to do with a redeemed person?

Who puts their whole trust in him? This is why in some of the extra biblical Dogma around our sinfulness, like her sinlessness. Actually, take something away in the name of giving something to Mary. If Mary never sinned, she wasn't redeemed, She didn't need Redemption. We lose the example of what God is able to do with a redeemed sinner.

Like what we see in Mary is what God's able to do with a redeemed sinner, who will submit to him. We'll put their trust in him. We get in in Jesus, we get a picture of what perfect Humanity looks like, but we don't get a picture what redeemed Humanity looks like because he wasn't a sinner.

But in Mary we see what God can do with. Regular people who submit to him. Third reason that we should laud Mary is that Mary's heart magnified, the Lord Mary, this young teenage mother knew how to magnify the Lord didn't she? And she's saying that song, her song was incredibly subversive.

It was like, it was high. It was mature. It was courageous. Remember, she's a teenage girl. And all of this was possible because she loved God and his kingdom, she loved him. And with she sings this song and this song becomes absolutely Central to Christian worship for two Millennia.

We sing or say this song every single day during an evening prayer, was actually really hard to read those words in a different translation. And I almost made it. And if Malachi hadn't been acting a fool, I think I'd have made it without messing up once and going into the Memorize translation from the prayer book so but uh it's hard to do it, right?

This is a side note. Liturgy shapes us. Right? And so like when we do our, why do we have these elaborate liturgies? It's because they shape us and this song has begun to shape my life and your life. For those of us who are praying evening prayer and say it every single day, or sing it every single day.

This song starts Why do we say this song every single day? We're cultivating an appetite for God's kingdom. We're nurturing a proper desire for what? Only he can give And maybe more importantly than that, we're kindling a love for God. See, we know that friendship with the world means enmity toward God and we are getting ourselves acquainted over and over and over.

What it means to have a soul that magnifies the Lord. We magnify a God who keeps his promises, who overthrows unjust World structures. And who judges rightly? He fixes everything that is broken. He moves. What looks immovable? He's a savior, he's a redeemer. And we learn, To be like, Mary.

Whose Soul knew how to magnify the Lord.

Whose Soul knew how to give praise to the Lord. In an impossible situation that was going to get more impossible before it got better. She extolled the Lord.

In two days, we'll be right back in this space celebrating the Feast of the Incarnation. Right. And if we're going to be ready to celebrate, the Feast of the Incarnation, we need to be like Mary. And as we learn to be like her, we rightly laud her and call her blessed.

Just as she said, all generations would do Mary is blessed among all people. She is set apart. She's you? She's used as part of the story in an entirely unique way. There's no one like her. We laude Mary as blessed among women as we recognize that God uses her in a uniquely feminine role.

To redeem, the curse of the Fall. Where women fell first and increased pain in child bearing, now through child bearing God's going to redeem the world. Now God uses, what only a woman can do. To bring the salvation of the world. We Lord Mary as one who believed the Lord.

Not simply cognitively, but in a way that disrupted our life And upended everything, she welcomed the disruption and shows what God is able to do with a redeemed person, who will put their trust in him. And finally Lord Mary because she knew how to magnify the Lord. We become like her all the time.

As her song is one of the most repeated songs in our prayer life. We learned to magnify God as she did. And when we look at the world with its in it, seemingly immovable unjust structures. That are everywhere. We praise God. Who we trust to keep his promises. So let us all Lord, Mary the mother of the Lord.

Let us honor for pointing the way to her son. And let us join all the generations in calling her blessed. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

The name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy. Oh man. Have you ever had someone uh tell you I have good news and I have bad news before. Never heard someone tell you and you're like, just get the bad news over with right.

That's what you're feeling when I was first learning to practice evangelism. Uh, it was I was taught to put forth the story exactly that way. Some of you guys might have been trained the same way I was, but I I we would start with bad news and then we would talk about the good news.

So we it was the good news. Bad news, gospel presentation, a lot like a sales script. I like Not great. But I would say the bad news is that you're a sinner and that you've committed all these sins and that God's really mad at you. And then the good news is that you can be forgiven.

So that was kind of the way I learned to Put forth, sharing my faith with others, bad news and good news. And I've come to think that that isn't the best way to frame the story, as you might have, heard in preaching or whatever. I think something is either good news or bad news.

The gospel isn't both. Bad news and good news, it's just good news either, the Christian Gospel is good news or it's bad news. And today is got it, Sunday, gaudette is the Latin word for Rejoice. We're called to be rejoicing and giving. Thanks. Grace talks about this Sunday for an entire year.

Because I don't do the pink Sunday in Lent. I just can't bring myself to do it. So the other we only do one pink Sunday a year, got it Sunday, which is the third Sunday of Advent and she gets. She likes to make sure she's the gospeler so she can wear this little pink stole, right?

In our Old Testament reading tells us it's a day of rejoicing. It says in Zephaniah, Rejoice and exalt. With all your heart. It says God is in our midst. He will Rejoice over us with gladness. Quiet us with love. And exalt over us with singing. In the psalm, we want God to turn and heal us.

Why, so that we might rejoice in you Saint Paul opens the reading in Philippians with rejoice in the Lord. Always again I say Rejoice Catching a theme, right? And then Our Gospel reading closes. So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. Now, I got to tell you Verse 18 in the gospel reading.

Kind of stands out from the rest of the reading and the re and that whole reading stands out from the other readings, right? It makes me wonder how I could close that way. And wrestle with how we read it. Why do we read this on God at Sunday? I don't know about you, it's something else to read, John.

John the Baptist Ministry over the last two weeks. And then get the conclusion we read in those words. This passage opens with John, the Baptist calling his listeners, The Offspring of snakes, And then closes with, Luke telling us with many other. Exhortations, he preached good news to the people.

Makes makes me wonder, maybe two things. One. Luke, did you. And I just hear the same sermon Didn't sound like good news. Right didn't sound like good news, they're The Offspring of snakes. Right. You're calling it good news. And then, it makes me wonder, maybe what were the other the many other exhortations that, uh, that John, the Baptist was giving That we just that maybe what made such good news, but I think when anything like this is that surprising when you're reading in the gospel, As a sermon, like you brewed, a vipers who warmed you to flee from the Wrath to come.

And you're hearing that, that's good news. When there's something surprising, it's a good sign to slow down. To try to reflect. Luke's conclusion tells us that he intends this to be good news to us. He intends this sermon to be good news to us, and I think it's important to consider how it might be good news that we're the brood of vipers.

So I have good news today. You brewed a vipers We're going to examine how that could possibly be good news that you're a brood of vipers. We're going to take a look at a lifestyle that characterizes vipers brood of snakes. Who have repented? So first, we we have this sense of a need of repentance, we recognize that we're The Offspring of snakes.

So verse 7, gives us the audience of of this sermon, right? And it says, the crowds of people who were being baptized by him. The crowds of people who were following him in order that they might be baptized, that's really important to recognize. So he's not, he's not talking to like opposition people that are opposing his message.

This is the people that came to be baptized. They were already favorably disposed to the message. John was preaching, right? So he's not talking to enemies, he's talking to friends right now and he, and these are people that have come out to be baptized by him and he says, you brood of vipers to them

Of his ministry. Their spiritual hunger, LED them out into the Wilderness to be baptized by John. But it didn't change their condition before God. They were the Buddha vipers. And as The Offspring of snakes, they're in contrast with The Offspring of Abraham. He sets, right? Brutal vipers, the word is genemata.

Ganemata it's where we get our word like genealogy from or Being birthed from coming from you brood of vipers brood. Offspring. Offspring of vipers. And he says, don't say we have Abraham for our father In response to this message. Don't say we have Abraham for our father. And he reminds them.

Hey God can raise up offspring for Abraham from the stones. For me, even the hard-hearted Gentiles, God can rate us up Abraham of Abraham's offspring, right? He says we can. God can raise up other offspring. Don't say we have Abraham. And the Vipers maybe remind us of the snake.

Who will be defeated and judged the snake, that's going to be put under the feet of the Offspring of Eve, you know, of Mary Uh, Mary giving birth to Jesus and ultimately her Offspring. You know, crushing the feet, but we remember The Offspring of the snakes are the enemy, the Vipers of the enemy.

The I the vipers are Satan. It's very similar to the language. He uses later that Jesus uses later when he calls when he says you have Satan is your father, your children of Satan. Your Offspring of Satan, right?

In our nature when Jesus comes to judge the world and separates good from Evil. We're on the wrong side of it and these are the people that are the recipients of the ministry of God, the recipients of of John, the Baptist Ministry. This. May surprise us to hear but it might remind us.

Of Ephesians 2 3. Where Paul says, By Nature. You were children of Wrath like the rest of mankind. Remember, By Nature children of Wrath. This is who we are by Nature. That's a term that's saying this is In in yourself who you are children of Wrath, there's nothing in within you or within me that puts us on the right side of the Wrath to come.

We are The Offspring of vipers, the children of the devil and we need God to come and save us. With many. Other exhortations, John preached. Good news to the people, right? How's this good news? I think those who have tried in their own strength, To be something different than they are.

And have failed. Might find this to be good news. Deep down if you're trying to be be righteous in your own strength, you're if you're anything like me, you're finding that, you're not cutting it. That you're not righteous enough. That you've never done enough. Exhausting right.

There's a whole Faith here. That's telling everybody be holy and righteous and they're incapable of doing so. It's exhausting. Right. They deny the doctrine of the Christian doctrine. We're talking about here of original sin, that we're by Nature. Children of Wrath that were by Nature, The Offspring of vipers that this is who we are that without God entering in to save us.

We can't take a single step toward him. Maybe if I've been trying to take a step toward him and I'm finding myself weak and unable to take a step toward him. I'm finding what's true about me to be true about me and I'm exhausted by it. I might find it.

Good news to hear. It's not going to get better. You can't try harder your way out of this.

Maybe anyone raising children might find this to be good news. You hear parents say this, how can my kid do something? Uh, Listen, they can't. Like you think that they're, they're like more special than the other kids and they're not. There there is capable of evil as all the other kids and and they they don't need to be taught it by you.

It's not, like, how could one of my children tell a lie? Like they can because they are your children, but they're off also offspring of vipers and like you and they're like all of them are and they and they're born that way. So they, they will, they will bring all the they will fail.

They will lie. They will hit each other, they will fight with their siblings, and their neighbors, and everyone else. They will do all of that because they have the same problem you have, and the same problem I have.

They are and in their nature. They'll they're far from God and they will rebel against God. Right. Also beautiful in the image of God and all that's true about them. They're wonderful have babies. I love babies. So uh, have lots of babies but but they are just recognize that they're born with this problem that they're sinners.

That by Nature, they are going to rebel against God and they're going to do what's bad for them, right? I think any of those who have been alienated by others, because their sins happen to be the more public ones. Might find this to be good news. Any people who's who their sins happen to land them on the wrong side of culture, wars, or what it like, might find this to be good news that actually all of us.

Are in the same boat. All of us, capable of rebellion against God. And a lot of times, the sins that are more public are just the sins that are less often dealt with by the majority. And that's really the only thing that separates them. And makes them the public ones, right?

Hey, anyone who's been alienated because their sins are The public ones are the ones that are in the eye of the of the public, they're going to find it. Good news that actually They're like all of us. Proper understanding of ourselves makes us, the type of people that bear the fruit of repentance that John talks about.

John talks about bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Well, when we recognize who we are that, we're The Offspring of snakes. We're able to then bear fruit in keeping. We're able to even think about repenting, we don't know. There's anything to repent from until we know, we're a brood of vipers.

And then we can bear the fruit that comes with repentance and this is another interesting thing. The fruit of that repentance in this sermon is Justice toward our neighbors. That's kind of interesting, right? About relationship with neighbors. Check out those actions that show the fruit of repentance. Right, three, different groups, visiting the crowds, and then the tax collectors, and then the soldiers, right?

And all of it has to do with relationship with our neighbors. We might expect repentance to be primarily about individual. Moral Purity before God. But that's not the case. Repentance. Looks like the crowds. The one with two tunics is to give to the one who has none. The tax collectors man, even the tax collectors.

Making peace with the Romans and collecting taxes from their own people. Even they can be right with God. And what are they told to do? Collect only what you've been appointed to? Soldiers are to be content with their wages. See in spirituality is primarily about your personal Purity before God, my personal relationship with God.

And my Purity. I I necessarily start viewing myself as separate from my neighbor. Because my neighbor can do nothing except make that harder for me to have my personal Pine. They're going to be loud when I need them to be quiet, right? They're gonna be annoying when I need them to get out of my way so that I can be personally, pure before God so that I can enter into my little personal party.

Like they can do nothing but get in the way and make it more difficult. Because they're offspring of snakes. Like I am, right? And so all they can do is make it harder for me to have my personal thing with God. But, If if spirituality is about recognizing, I'm a brood of vipers and I can love part of this offspring of vipers along with them and I can show Justice to them, right?

Tim Keller, says the gospel is this, we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe. Yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. It's good news. It's good news, because it, it keeps us from being separating from one each other.

One another, to try to be, More holy, which means I need to get you out of the way so I can have more personal time with God and get myself. Pure And it teaches us that I like I'm one with you with all. There's no like them in us.

It's just us. And we're all in a mess and we all need God to save us. And it creates a situation where I can show love and concern and caring compassion for my neighbor. The fact that we are more sinful than we could imagine. And yet more loved and accepted than we can imagine turns us to our neighbor in love and graciousness, and humility.

So how do we really view ourselves?

If we really get this, The fruit isn't a group of people who look morally more morally, pure than the outsiders. It's people who turn toward the outsiders in love and graciousness and invite them. To be reconciled to The God, Who loves them. So, think about your relationships with others, the people in your family.

This is a season of the year when um, any Brokenness in the family is just magnified, right? Cuz you try to like get in a room together. And uh and when when there's Brokenness in the family, it's hard to get in a room together. And so either you can't get in a room together because there's just too much Brokenness or you're gonna get in the room together and it's gonna be hard.

And think about how recognizing that we're all in this mess together. Needing God to save us, can help turn us toward our family in love and in graciousness. Think about people in your church. Think about people in the workplace. Particularly think about your enemies or people who have offended you In some way.

Think about people who Destitute really poor and don't bring a lot. Into their connection with you other than need. Right. These spring needs. Or people who are really sinful. And something about their lifestyles offensive to you.

John's message is actually that our standing with God. Will be primarily displayed by our relationship with these people. The fruit of repentance. Is going to be displayed. Mostly in. Chiefly by our relationship, with these people that we're thinking of now.

So what do we do to prepare for the kingdom? That's to come. Well, we The other vipers because we're one of them, we're a part of the family. We're, we're part of the same brood. You or I will be walking down the street. Or walking into an establishment and you're going to be asked for.

Money soon. Someone's going to ask you for money. Um, and without saying, what, what's the perfect way to handle that situation? I'll tell you this, what's going on your heart at that moment. Is probably much more important than whether you give someone that asks you for money money or not.

What God's doing in your heart? And what you believe about that person and what you believe about yourself? Is going to impact that interaction. Okay. And whether you see that person, As one with you or to stink from you. Is whether you see that person? As part of the same family, the brooder vipers that need saving or someone lower or less than you.

The way you view yourself and the way you view, them has everything to do with how you're gonna handle that interaction, right?

What about people that are like emotionally or mentally sick? People with mental illnesses or who are emotionally unhealthy? Are often marginalized and alone. Maybe, maybe you're called to be a friend to someone, in that state. This week. Or maybe I mean we're surrounded by people who are spiritually sick.

People who've tried to live a life pleasing to God have failed to do so. Many of whom are angry and hurt. And they have Lifestyles that are downright offensive. A lot of times. We love them because we're part of the same family. And all of us in the same mass needing God to come and save us.

See so John gives us actually really good news on its face. It might not feel like good news. We are the children of snakes. We're by Nature far from God, we're on Satan's side, we're children of God's Wrath. However, God has shown us Mercy by Nature. We are far from and yet we are loved by him and the Christmas story which we're about to celebrate.

It's coming soon, guys. Jesus comes into the world and he comes and joins the Human family.

And this reality turns us toward our neighbor in a radically different way. We don't look at the world and see people that we are superior to by our nature. We're no different than any of them. So we move toward people in Mercy, we're radically generous. Because even while we were children of Satan, God moved toward us in Mercy and showed us generosity.

So let us be people of radical mercy. Recognizing that if it weren't for the mercy of God, none of us could stand. As a brood of vipers, let us show Mercy to other children of vipers. Because God loved us first. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

Name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy. Oh man. So I share with you guys before, but until maybe a few years ago, four or five years ago, I always struggled with the character of John, the Baptist, like I always thought What a weird way to start all the gospels with this guy.

I and as I reflect on it, I realized I, I couldn't remember a single sermon on John, the Baptist from growing while I was growing up. Like, I don't know if I ever remembered anyone preaching on John the Baptist. Um I think a hundred percent of my reflection on him involved like distinguishing him from John, the Apostle, especially in John chapter one.

So when when John is writing about a guy named John, I remember in like teaching being like okay different John and that was really all that. I I remember thinking about him or talking about him And so I was a little surprised and maybe some of you guys are and were your first trip to an Anglican church and sticking around long enough to get through a change of liturgical year and heading into Advent that we spend two Sundays, two out of four.

Um, it's a short season and we spent two out of four of the Sundays reflecting on John. The Baptist and talking about John the Baptist or John the Forerunner as some people call him the Forerunner of Jesus, the one who came first. So why all this attention on John the Forerunner, or John, the Baptist He's kind of a strange figure, right?

Um, Matthew and Mark. Both make it a point to tell us. He wore a camel camel hair, and eight locusts. Yeah, so to remind us of Elijah, right? But and And I know like when a lot of people like so he's kind of weird dude. You know, I mean like he wore camel's hair, he ate Locust.

Yeah, he was kind of a weird guy and Uh, and I know like a lot of times when people like are doing classes or training, someone in evangelism, they'll say don't worry. I'm not telling you you have to become like the guy with the sign and a bullhorn holding a sign that says repent.

John the Baptist was like that guy though. You know that, right? He was the guy with the sign saying repent. He was that guy. He was saying like the Kingdom of Heaven is here. It's kind of a big deal. It's gonna be really disruptive. You need to turn toward God now because uh, because things are gonna get messy for you.

Was that guy, he was the guy with the sign and he makes all of us because of that made me feel a little uncomfortable because we know that Not only was he the guy with the sign that we that all us well-meaning teachers tell you you'll never have to be like that guy.

He was the guy with a sign and we know his ministry was ordained by God and he was called to do what he was doing by God. He was called to be the guy with the sign in the Born. This was God's calling for his life. And that makes us feel a little uncomfortable.

Yeah, that God calls some people to be the guy with the sign. Right. And yet, Jesus tells us. Later in this gospel. I tell you among those born of women, none is greater than John. Yet, the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

Somehow John. Are somehow Jesus. I'm sorry exalts. The ministry of John of this man. Well at the same time telling us That citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven us have an even more Central role. So, we have Enigmatic figure right in the beginning of all four gospels telling us something about what the gospel is about.

What the Kingdom of Heaven is all about. So over the next two Sundays we're going to be reflecting on the character. John the Baptist like we do every year. And as I reflect on the passages we had today, it was interesting to read about John the Baptist with the words of Psalm 126 ringing in my ears.

Those words that said, It the one who sows with tears will reap in songs of Joy. Because if anyone is experienced sowing in tears, it was John the Forerunner. This man sowed in tears to reap with songs of laughter, songs of joy and laughter. So let's take a look at what it looks like to sow in tears.

Let's take a look at what it means to cultivate a deep eschatological longing, a longing, for those last things, the things that are to come. And let's reflect on being a people who sow in tears with John the Forerunner so that we might reap with songs of Joy. So John sowed this message of the Kingdom with tears.

He had this authority of a message. The the his authority for his message came from. The word of the Lord. It was a response to the word of the Lord. The Greek word for John, received a word from the Lord was Rhema which, uh, it's easy to make a lot of the like words that have big fields of overlapping meaning, but every time so I, I search the Greek Septuagint and every time the word of the Lord comes to a prophet, it's logos.

Every time except Jeremiah 1 1, so there's one spot. Where Jeremiah 1 1 you're going to have the word Rhema used but like the the formula is normally logos. And so what we should see is Rhema probably has a Nuance of a little bit more, like, individualized word like um, he's especially talking, so less like just an announce a prophetic word that's for everybody for wide consumption and maybe a little bit more nuanced and individualized.

So he got a word from the Lord, a direct word. So, a point for the charismatics, he's listening to the Lord and he's receiving the Rhema word word.

Receive that Rhema word that kind of individualized word from the Lord, right? And he was Let out to preach the gospel, the gospel of the Kingdom, Luke makes it a point. I mean, Luke's kind of a nerd. So like that's probably what I Experience the most as we just finished the book of Acts in morning prayer.

And by the end of the book of Acts, I'm like Luke like a lot of detail here. You're kind of a nerd, you know. And uh and he's kind of a nerd here. He name dropped a lot of people. He name dropped a lot of powerful people. Right. But I think, like, what's like, half the reading was just reading all the names of the people who were in charge.

Like we had a six verse reading and three verses, that was like name dropping all these people who were in charge of various institutions, right? But he he ran he mentioned secular leadership, he mentions religious leadership. And it serves. A purpose of raising conflict. The message of the kingdom is going to be in conflict with religious and secular power structures, right?

And the tension will come to the head in the crucifixion of Jesus when the religious and secular powers work together. Crucify. The Lord, right? So, The authority, is this this word from the god of the universe in contrast with these worldly authorities and Powers. There's this direct word from the Lord that gives him authority for his message.

And sometimes we do a poor job at interpreting God's call. Like it isn't their connections or their positions that brings Authority, but it's God's call. It's like, it's almost like, if we were to say, hey, there was a lot of powerful people, doing really powerful important things. But the word of the Lord came to John.

Right. The word of the Lord came to John. And that changed everything. And perhaps the reality that for why this works. And the reason that there's this upside downness to it is because the Kingdom of Heaven is disruptive, right. We learn that from this passage, right? Verses four to six is almost directly a quote from the LXX, the Septuagint of Isaiah 43-5 and it intentionally focuses us on salvation.

You shall call his name, Jesus. Is what we see in Luke 131, right. Which means The Lord or Yahweh saves right. This has always been the thing in the gospels of Luke so far, it's about salvation. Zachariah's Prophecy, over John the Baptist that we read regularly in morning prayer.

Is blessed, be the Lord, the god of Israel for. He has visited and redeemed. His people and raised up a Horn of Salvation for us. You child will be called the prophet of the most high talking about John the Baptist you'll go before the Lord, to prepare his way to give knowledge of what salvation by the Forgiveness of sins.

Simeon's song is Lord. Now, you're letting your servant depart in peace. According to your word, for my eyes, have seen your salvation The message of John, the Baptist then is a message of Salvation, which is good news, right? God Saves. But, In Salvation, that comes with a lot of disruption, right?

This, I this quote from the book of Isaiah has high places getting low low places getting high. Everything's getting flipped around and upside down and it's important that we recognize that although it brings salvation, there's this massive disruption. There's this massive disruption to the, to the power structures of this world to all that kind of holds things stable it all gets Its head, and it's disruptive, So have you ever thought stop to think about?

What are we asking for in the Lord's Prayer? When every day we pray thy kingdom come. Have it. Do we want that? It brings salvation, it's good news. But it's disruptive, it makes a mess. And and John the Baptist knew that so he stood there with aside the Kingdom's coming and it's gonna make a mess.

He was outcasted his entire life. The height of his ministry. Can you imagine this the height of his ministry was seeing people leave. To follow Jesus instead. That was the high point, right? The high point of his ministry, he devoted his life to his ministry and the high point.

The climax was when people left him to go follow someone else, That was the end of his story. And it was to follow his younger cousin. You remember that too. So it's not only just to follow someone else, that was to follow his younger cousin, right? So they all they all left to follow his younger cousin.

And because he knew the disruption that was coming, he ended up surprised. There's a curious, passage, we read about, John the Baptist, where he doubts he sends right before the passage. I just read. Where Jesus says, no one greater than No one greater than John, the Baptist born of woman, right?

But right before that John the Baptist had sent he was doubting he was like rotting away in jail. And it didn't look like things were getting overturned in all the structures were getting fixed, right? While he was rotting in jail. And he sent Messenger to Jesus saying, are you the one we're waiting for or were you supposed to be looking for another?

Right? Because I expected this to be a whole lot Messier. And I expected things to be overturned and I expected this Injustice to be fixed. I expected more. Right? He was expecting more while he was in jail. He he'd ultimately have his head lopped off because the oath of a mock King watching, his stepdaughter, doing erotic dance.

This man knew Injustice, what's a more senseless death than a mock, king who doesn't really matter at all, making an oath because he because he'd watched his stepdaughter, do an erotic dance and therefore cutting your head off. That was the end of John, the Baptist life. He knew Injustice.

He knew this isn't how it's supposed to be yet? We haven't gotten there yet, right? And that's why he sowed in tears. Because he knew this isn't how it's supposed to be yet. We haven't arrived yet. He sowed in tears. There's got to be more. And so, He sowed and we In tears of longing because don't we know what he knew.

Don't we long for more? Don't we long for the injustices, perpetuated by tense race relations to go away? Don't we long for more Equitable distribution of resources? That would alleviate suffering and hunger in a large portion of the world population? Don't we long for an end of the murder of innocent babies through abortion?

Don't we long for all people to be freed from human trafficking? Don't we long for the sad divisions in the church? That testify against the truth of the Gospel to be healed and made, right? Don't we long for more? Don't we know? Hey, there's got to be more coming.

I said this to many of you before, but this Advent cultivate hunger, be hungry, hunger for more hunger, the scriptures say, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for God to bring righteousness and Justice. All that he promised cultivate hunger be hungry. If you had someone paying for a five course meal as a gift to you, you wouldn't stop and get full on McDonald's on the way, right?

You'd show up hungry. You didn't you'd be ready to eat. Hopefully. Right. And God's gonna bring all that is right, he's gonna heal. All that is broken. Be hungry, be hungry. There's more than this. This isn't all there is And so, in tears of longing, Like John the Baptist.

When we know that there's he knew that there was more to come. If God's promises were going to be fulfilled, he knew there's got to be more coming. We should do the same. So we long, we know that, if God, all that, when all God's promises come to pass, All will be made right and we're not there yet.

Right. We long this morning in morning prayer. We began the Book of Revelation. Uh, we don't, that's the only book in the New Testament. We only read once a year instead of twice. So I always get so excited. Not only because we are done with acts, which the end Luke's a little nerdy.

So, uh, so like, but I, I love so, but mainly, I get excited because we're starting Revelation and I get to read the book of Revelation once a year and the end the, the cry at the end of that is Maranatha. Come Lord, Jesus, right? Come Lord. Jesus come come save us like we're supposed to be a people that are longing and are asking for more.

We sow with, with tears, with John, the Foreigner, when we cry, tears of longing, God fulfill all the promises you promised Fix what is broken? But we don't only sell in tears of longing. I think it's important to realize. We also sew with tears. Of gratitude. And this is what I sense is the most difficult.

Tension. Of a Christian view of the last things of the things that are coming. Cause we're simultaneously meant to cry out. Come Lord Jesus. And we know that Jesus and yet, at the same time, we know that Jesus return is the end of all things, and it brings judgment.

And so, first Peter, in the book of First Peter, Peter writes to a church that is suffering and they're suffering persecution and their cry. They know how to sow with tears. How long. And so God redeems us like how long until he alleviates our suffering and returns and judges.

And and when he writes this, Um, he writes so actually in second Peter in 3 verse 9, he says the Lord's not slow in keeping his promise. As some understand slowness. Instead he's patient with you. Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance when they are crying out.

How long come Lord. Jesus come fix. What is broken? Peter says, hold on. God's not just waiting around because he's just bored and doesn't have anything to do. He is waiting and tearing because he is gracious and Desiring. All to come to repentance. The reason that your suffering is prolonged is because God is giving people more time.

And turn to him. So what's taking God so long, why hasn't he set the world right yet? This actually comes up a lot in our discussions and the answer to that question is God is patient. And he does not want any to pairs, but all to repent and turn to him.

That's the whole reason this age exists. And that's the whole reason this age is prolonged. So yes. We long for the day when all will be set, right? When all that is broken, is is fixed when all that is unjust, is made just again, we long for that day and it's coming, and it's coming soon, and the Lord will one day crush Satan under our feet, like we pray in the great litany, that's coming.

But yet and here's the tension, we're thankful that that day hasn't come yet. Not only because of the disruption that will come inevitably in our lives, right? And the preparation. We all need for that day. We all need to repent and prepare for the Lord's return, right? But mainly because the only reason for the delay is that God is patient and wants all to come to repentance so we cry tears of longing.

Yes, we want God to set. All right, but we also cry tears of gratitude because every day that the Lord tarries is a gift to humanity where he gives them time to repent and turn to him. To repent and turn to him. So today the church spends time, looking at an enigmatic character, John the Baptist or John the Forerunner.

The Forerunner of Jesus is an example of what it looks like to live a life in the already and the not yet. You know, he lived right after Simeon, can declare my eyes have seen your salvation. And yet before he even gets himself out of jail, right? He's in the already and then not yet.

And he teaches us that in the in between time and the time that we all find ourselves in. We sow in tears, we long for the day, when we will reap with songs of Joy. But we most certainly have not gotten there yet. We haven't arrived there yet, we have the foretase and the Fortes are great.

But we haven't had the meal yet. So we long with John the Baptist. These aren't the only type of Tears, though. We also cry tears of gratitude. We're thankful that the Lord has given us another day. Another day to prepare for his coming, we look at the relationships in our lives, our friends, our neighbors, the people, we play with, and we know that the, that the reason the Lord tarries is because he is merciful And he is giving them time.

So we long for more from God, but we're also thankful for his Mercy. Allowing that all these people might that we love that, we know that we care for might come to repentance, because his desire is to show Mercy. So Saint John's, let sow in tears. Let's long for the fullness of our Redemption, but let us all do it as a people marked by compassion and gratitude knowing that God's judgment is taring because God is giving all of us, a little more time.

Unedited Manuscript Follows:

The name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy. Amen. So it would not be a great shock to you to say that we're living in very anxious times right now. If you haven't noticed, we've just experienced another painful election cycle. Which, particularly if your Camp lost left?

You feeling pretty anxious. But even if you're team, You still have reason to be anxious because one that your team's gonna be on the chopping block in a couple years where it can definitely lose. But there's lots of issues that could give us anxiety right now. We have wars in the Ukraine and Middle East, that could very well blow up and drag other countries into it.

Um, We also have serious issues with the economy. With the environment. And but at least with those issues, our leaders are talking about one issue. That's really dear to. My heart is our national debt and that's one that all parties are like, let's just not talk about. I hope it goes away as a strategy which I think is very maddening.

Um and to face all these issues, we have to face the fact that we have a very divided country right now as evidenced in the election, it's divided politically culturally And it's growing in hatred for the other side. And this undermines Our Hope, as we have to face these big challenges.

So, bottom of line, we have a lot of concerns that can make us very anxious right now. But believe it or not, there have been worse times in history than right now, even just a basic grasp of history from the last century could make that clear. Just think of both world wars and the Great Depression that we have, some members of this church that have memories of some of that.

But even if you don't, you are probably one generation away or two generations away from people who do have memories of that, you might have talked to them. When you were a little kid, they all dwarf, what we're going through right now. Trust me things don't really get much better as you go further back in history.

Wars disease, economic collapse and social Strife. These have all been part of our human experience, in our times are no different. So how do we find Hope in anxious times? If we try to find Hope only in ourselves or fellow human beings, we are placing our ultimate hope in the very source of much of the anxiety.

We face. Now. We're all creating God's image so there is good in other humans so there is some trust that's that's involved and that's a good thing. But grounding, Our Hope. In broken and sinful people. Is a very valid reason to be anxious. We should definitely be anxious because wholly trusting and salvation only from fellow human beings has been proven false time and time again.

So, is there another way out of this anxiety? Because if not ourselves, who can we trust uh, for for Hope. As we'll see from today's passion in Luke in a very anxious. Embrace, the hope Christ offers that will be fulfilled upon his return. So before we dig into today's text, I wanted to examine it in light of its greater, this passage is greater context than Luke.

The discourse Jesus having with disciples actually starts way back in verse five and Father, James actually preached on the parallel passage in Mark a couple weeks ago. But in the previous passage after his disciples uh expressed a lot of praise for how awesome the temple was. Jesus tells them there would be not one stone left upon another So disciples are like well when is this going to happen?

And what's the sign that this going to take place? So Jesus, then spends verses 8 to 24, describing a violent and terrible time of persecution and suffering that would end up with Jerusalem being surrounded and destroyed by Gentiles. Well, what do you know, that's very familiar to what happened in Jerusalem in eight from 80, 66 to 70.

And if you want to read more about what happened, there's a guy named Josephus who wrote about it but it's a tvma kind of reading material it's pretty dark and grisly but it's what really happened. Um, Jesus discussing what will happen in the future when he said this, the historical Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans and their destruction of the temple.

The Romans smashed a rebellious Jewish party that had taken control of the region for three to four years. And I can't stress enough how consequential that Siege and destruction Temple was in history. It left the Jews without a way to sacrifice in the manner. God commanded them to in the Old Testament.

It also forced a clear distinction in the early church, which at that point was mostly Jewish. Uh, the speaks between them and non-chris following Jews. Made picking a side, much darker. And the description of everything leading up to and including this horrific event seems to be the key key focus of Jesus saying prior to our present, passage But with our present, passage many readers, see what might be a shift from a focus on the destruction of the temple in the first century to Christ's Second Coming.

Um, in the second return in the in the final day of judgment And one possible clue. Uh, is a conclusion of the previous passage, which is verse 24. Jesus said that Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by Gentiles until the time of Gentiles is fulfilled. So that might indicate a shift because between what he had been talking about the destruction of the temple, was something happening much later in the future because we're arguably still living in a post-temporal time of the Gentiles.

Then we get to our present passage Jesus describes signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth, the distress of Nations because of the Roaring of the season waves, Now that seems a little weird to us and that's because Jesus is talking metaphorically. This is how people talked at the time.

His readers would have heard this as Language about great Nations and Kingdom going through serious convulsions. And as I reflect about that, we actually have recent memory of something like that. Remember covet. We know how quickly and unexpectedly. Great changes can occur with huge and unpredictable consequences. And that's the sense that that metaphor Jesus metaphor is trying to convey.

Jesus describes them causing people to be faint with fear as to what's coming in the world. That was kind of true with covet at least for the first few weeks. And I think it's safe to say that events. We see in the news right now are causing us to be faint to be anxious.

Think about if you're living in the Ukraine right now, or the Middle East, Jesus saying that such events are signs to be expected in our times. But their signs pointing to an ultimate event that the son of man is coming in a cloud with power and glory. Now, later in Acts.

Luke describes Jesus after the resurrection ascending in a cloud using very similar language that uses here in verse 27 and the disciples in Acts are then told that Jesus will return in the same manner. And that's another reason. Why many readers see Jesus shifting in this passage from the destruction of Temple to his own second coming?

This is when he will finally come to judge the world and make all things, right. When we will be bodily resurrected and inhabit, a new Earth that's joined with There'll be no more sin, no more suffering, no more death. No more cause for anxiety. This is the Eternal future promise to those faithful to Christ.

This not anything on Earth. Is our only source of Hope. That we can fully trust that won't fail us. This is why Jesus then says that, when we see these anxiety inducing events take place, Jesus tells us straighten up and raise your heads. Because your Redemption is Drawing Near.

Jesus is telling us that instead of being anxious during all the serious worldly events and problems we Face. We ought to instead to see them as signs. Science. Not to despair in the plight of humanity. But instead of Hope of its ultimate, uh, Redemption Christ's return will bring about not only judgment to the wicked but deliverance for the faithful.

This is why he then says that when you see these things taking place, you know, that the kingdom of God is near the Saints are pointing To our future salvation. In a very anxious World Embrace, the hope Christ offers that will be fulfilled upon his return. Now, verse 32 is interesting.

Jesus says that this generation will not pass until all has taken place. And this is what some scars point at to say that maybe all Jesus has been talking about up to, this passage was only about the destruction of Jerusalem. And that's because the events of 8070 would have been taking place during a lifetime of many of his years.

And to be fair, they may be right? This interpretation is definitely contested by faithful readers of scripture. But I maintain that Jesus does seem to shift from the previous pastor to a focus of the second coming. In today's reading, I think this verse particularly with the break in verse 29 and 30 it discusses the parable of fig tree might mean that he could be referring back to be discussed.

In the previous passage the destruction of the temple. Which is a sign like many other signs. We've seen a history of judgment. And all these signs point to a future final judgment. A final Redemption for all those faithful to him. And this is why fortunately, for us. No matter how we interpret this passage and it varies.

Whether it's only about Jerusalem's destruction of the first century. Or only about Jesus second coming or a mix. It doesn't detract for how we respond to it. Jesus was telling us here is then who are about to face some serious anxiety, on the end of the Romans, but also to readers today.

Straighten up, raise your heads because your Redemption is coming near. All the dangers you're facing all the sources of your anxiety will pass away. But Jesus words, his promise of Hope will not pass away. When facing these times instead of trusting in the sinking sand of worldly Powers, we have a solid rock to place our trust One who defeated death and rose from the grave, whose Incarnation were now anticipated as a start of Advent today.

In a very anxious World embrace, the hope Christ offers will be fulfilled upon his return. Now, this truth has led many Christians to Go in two different directions. One is to disengage from events in the world and become Escapists this. The idea of let's just because we know this is going to happen, this final judgment, let's just hunker down and wait for Christ's return.

Problem is it's not what Christ calls us to do. Faithfulness involves faithfulness to Christ involves loving all creating God's image which means getting out there and pursuing Justice and witnessing for Christ. Well, it's true. Only Christ will execute perfect judgment. That's true. He still commands us to model that Justice right now on Earth.

Now, unfortunately, that truth has caused some Christians to go too far in another Direction. Because of the issue is to enact Justice, you have to gain some kind of power on Earth. And unfortunately, some Christians have been complacent with letting those that end justify. Some ungodly means to get that power.

And then once they get power, They often allow them to become shaped more by worldly Powers than Christ. So we have the tough job of resisting being pulled in either direction, resisting the pull of escapism. And resisting the Quest for obtaining power at the cost of our witness. And this is really hard.

Christians have and will continue to make less than faithful decisions here. We will get it wrong sometimes, but when God shows us this, we repent. We have a loving God. Who knows? We're sinful. He just seeks our faithfulness by regularly confessing our sins. And allowing him to shape us more and more into the human.

He designed us to be It's not a process he'll complete until we finally do. See the son of man coming in a cloud with power and Glory. So today is the first Sunday of Advent, the four weeks before Christmas they anticipate and prepare us for God, entering the world in human form which initiated his plan to save the world.

It's interesting how our reading today. Jumped straight from anticipating Christ's birth to the final culmination with Advent anticipates. God's restoration of all. That's wrong in the world. Perfect Justice. So, the key message of today's passage is Hope. Christ is telling us in this passage that serious anxiety inducing events.

Like for some the recent election, but all other serious issues facing our nation right now. These are to be expected. But instead of allowing them to cause us to be anxious, he's asking us he's telling us bum his signs. Signs. That ultimate Rescue is coming. That Christ, not man will achieve.

So, as you reflect on events, going on in worrying Direction and no, some concern is definitely warranted with stuff going on in the world right now. We need to stay aware of those issues and prayerfully discern how best to engage. But, Our primary hope needs to say squarely on Christ, not on man-made rescue.

Now, in light of political news, one of the worst things I've done is scroll social media. I'm sure I'm the only one that's done this. And within a few minutes, you can see it's dehumanizing effect on you. It's shaping you more and more into someone who's prone to hate others.

That's what it does. Someone who feels more, you feel more and more like you're very whelping and identity is at stake. Know that these are simply lies. Powerful lies and their their lives are designed to divide God's people to pit us against each other. To entice us to pull our loyalty from God to deeply flawed political ideologies of the world.

That honestly are all ultimately opposed to Christ. Please please. Resist this temptation. Because that's what it is. Instead spend time in prayer. Pray, especially for those, you think putting our nation World in a bad Direction. I truly love the fact that we pray for our present and Governor every Sunday, no matter who it is, which state you're in?

And we're not doing it because we're just putting our head in the sand about the state of the world. We know it's bad, we know we've had bad leaders, we currently have bad leaders and we will have bad leaders. We pray for them regardless. Christ is encouraging all of us today to have hope in the face of an ancient anxious.

He is encouraging us, despite the pressures of the world to collude with it. Stay the course. To remain faithful to him to continue caring for others and pursuing Justice, while also refusing to compromise on our means for doing so. Instead of placing our ultimate trust Incorruptible. Earthly Powers, God is inviting us to place our trust in him.

He is a rock solid source of Hope. A hope that promises to make the world, right? That will raise us to New Life, where sin suffering and death, all sources of our anxiety will be abolished forever. So please cling on to this hope as we enter into Advent. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy. Oh man. Sometimes I like to share on Christ looking Sunday, just how I I like to think about, um, all the choices that we make in our lives. And, and we make a lot of choices, don't we?

I mean, it's, it's fascinating to stop and think about all the things we choose. We're an era of History, we all find ourselves in where we make more choices than perhaps any people before us ever have. We make a lot of choices we make choices about whether we'll marry or who will marry Um, people didn't always do that in world history deciding whether they're married or who they'll marry, right?

We choose our governing authorities at least kinda and we, we choose where we, uh, spend our money. You know? We we choose where we're going to spend our money. And the internet and smartphones and their streaming platforms everywhere, and they increase Choice choices are all the time. Choices. Choices everywhere, right?

Think about it. Next, Netflix was always about choice and convenience, that's like why it existed. But it started as a service. Uh, you guys might remember. Uh, where you receive like two or depending on how much money you sent them every month, you sent you got like, two or three.

Uh, DVDs in the mail. That you would then put back in the mail when you were done watching them. You guys remember that? That was what Netflix was when it started, right? And like, have you ever tried to watch TV with like Someone under 10 or 15 like live TV.

Have you ever tried to do that? Uh, when they're like, what wait, what like Uh, they're they're just putting something on and everyone's just stuck with like what? What they've put on. So like, I mean, it's happened, really rapidly, if you think about it. But like I there were all, I mean, Ever, since I was probably in high school, there was 100 100 channels that you could choose but But even then you were still stuck with like, what was on TV at any given moment, right?

You were still stuck with that and not like now, that's not even what watching TV looks like. Watching TV. Looks like choosing between honestly, like more shows than you and I ever have time to watch, right? And and it's all every time you just pick what what you're gonna watch on TV.

You've made a choice between Thousands, and, and maybe millions of hours of content, uh, That you've chosen between by just making a choice of what you're going to put on. Tv. Down to the second. Every time you pull out your smartphone You're presented with 45 choices to spend the next 30 seconds of your life.

Right, how many times I it just happened to me today where I pulled out my smartphone for one reason and then I ended up like this one and then I was like, why I have my phone out? I don't remember. But I had a reason that I pulled it out, but but being presented with all those choices was immobilizing or at least Caused me to be less productive.

It's exhausting all the choices we make, right? And it impacts our worship. We choose what denomination, our church is. And even the church, you go to within a denomination. And sometimes that choice is simply a choice of preference. We pick a church where we like the pastor or as sermons or we like the music or the Aesthetics or we like the Liturgy.

And in the face of all these choices that we make all the time, Here we are in the last Sunday of the church here. Proclaiming something loud and clear. Jesus is King. And you didn't choose that. All right, that's not a choice that you or I made. Jesus is King.

The truth is, it's great news because as our readings and the entire really in the entire scriptures, like all of it and virtually all of world history shows us, human rulers are often if not always immoral corrupt and unjust, right? In our scripture readings, compare them to the Raging Seas.

And it's an app comparison. So today on Christ, the King Sunday, we'll reflect on. How, although the Seas are stirring and raging with the Raging tyrants, God is mightier. And Jesus is reigning over all the Raging Seas as the true God and king of all. And just and just before we turn toward Advent, we commit to being loyal subjects of the returning King.

So we see the Seas stirring. The seas are stirring. The Psalms had words in it that are this Psalm today, Psalm 93 had words that I've always read wrongly, I think In Psalm 93, in verse 4 it says the floods have risen O Lord the floods have lifted up their voice.

The floods have lifted up their waves and I've always read that and it's I mean I've I read this every month, you know. Um I read this Psalm every month and I've often read this as a A lot of times, the Psalms will talk about how the Earth is praising God, right?

Like the, ER, like, uh, the creatures lift up their voices, the the things that don't talk at all, like, the sea lifting up its voice and singing, praise to God. All of it is praising God, but that's not what's happening in Psalm 93. When it talks about the sea is lifting up, its voice or the sea is?

Raging it's talking about rising up in opposition to God and it actually presents the Lord as mightier. Which we'll talk about more later. But it's it's actually this the, the sea Is a sign of chaos and fear. It's a big dark place and we know that, right. Have you ever been out like on a boat at night in the ocean?

You know, um, It's fun. I I've been deep sea fishing with my grandpa and it's fun. But like, it'd be, it'd be fun for Two seconds, if like it broke. If the boat broke down and we were wondering how we were gonna get out of there, you know, like like then it would immediately no longer be fun.

Like it would be a nightmare because you're in the middle of like you can't see anything. You're like the water's deep, like would you when you're letting you're lying out in the water? You know, how far it just goes so far before you hit the bottom right? When you're fishing off the bottom you're like my gosh, that's water's deep and it's vast and it's scary and there's a whole lot.

There's more, we don't know than we know under there, right? When you look under the surface and so because the ancient people are smart like we're smart. They uh, they they knew that's kind of scary, you know, uh, when there's this vast and measurable expanse of water and we don't know what's under there, that's scary, right?

And so that often was associated with And the powers of chaos. And so, The pairing with the Book of Daniels probably instructive, too. There are four beasts being judged in our Old Testament reading today. The number four isn't mentioned Because it was mentioned earlier but there are four beasts being mentioned and verse two tells us where they came from.

Daniel declared I saw in my vision by night. And behold, the Four Winds of Heaven were stirring up, the great sea. The beasts that came out in opposition to God, in in verse two, our be our um, powers of The powers they end up being being linked with governments different, human governments, or civilizations and they're rising up in opposition to God out of the water.

The Seas have lifted up their voice. The Seas have lifted up their voice, they're raging the powers of dark. The, the powers of the Nations, which are linked with powers of Darkness are rising up in opposition to God. That's what's happening in the Book of Daniel. The Seas lifting up its voice.

Political powers are coming out of the water like beasts and they're causing chaos. And obviously, this is at the center in Daniel of judah's experience during Exile, right? So, um, judah's experience during the Exile The fourth Beast is thought to correspond with Antiochus Epiphany, right? But understand something. This was nothing new for them.

To have a ruler in power, who is causing chaos. It was nothing new for the people of God to be dealing with ramifications of being led by Wicked rulers and although it's different to be doing that under Exile, they were led by Wicked rulers all along. Right. First Kings 8 10 when they asked for the King, Samuel said to them, this Samuel told them all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king.

He said this is what the king who will reign over, you will claim as his rights, he will take your sons and make them serve his Chariots and horses and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and others to, plow the ground and reap his Harvest and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

Looks like to have a king. He doesn't. It looks like someone is Make your sons go fight Wars. That's what that's what having a king looks like you want a king like the other nations. This is what you don't want to trust Yahweh to protect you. You want a king to protect you, then what it looks like is that he's gonna send your sons to go fight Wars, don't we?

No, that's true. You have a civilization. One of the things you can measure civilization by is they're going to raise up your sons to fight Wars. Because because your options are or at least for it, we don't really have that option. But for Israel, the option was, you can trust Yahweh to keep you safe.

Or you can have a king and a military and that's who you can trust. And those are the those were the options and they chose a king and a military like the other nations had. Right? And he told them what that would mean. Some of the some of your sons are gonna fight your Wars and the King's Wars and some of the sons are going to plow his Fields.

But they're all serving the king now, right? And the entire books of Chronicles and kings are a long line of wicked leadership. And the effects and ramifications of what takes place because none of them are following God. This is how it always has been always has been or always and will be with Kings and with rulers in our current world system, it shouldn't surprise us.

Because just like we prayed in our collect, the peoples of the earth are divided and enslaved by sin. The rulers are sinful and Fallen, they always have been, they always will be. Right.

The waves have lifted up their voice. The Seas have lifted up and caused chaos, and we've seen it. We've experienced it. And we live in a In a time, in our nation politically where we're polarized and divided as ever, right? The Seas of raised up their voice. But we're told in the psalm and in all the readings that the king is mightier.

King is mightier than the Raging of the sea. Mightier than the sound of many Waters, mightier than the waves of the sea. The Lord who dwells on high is mightier. That's what the psalm says. And then in our Daniel reading today, We have behold with the Clouds Of Heaven.

There came one like a son of man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom that all people's Nations and languages should serve him. His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

This. Many commentators. And I like to see this is, um, Then you'll be giving being given. Um, revelation of the Ascension before the Incarnation, which is kind of neat. Uh, but um, but you have, you have the son of man being presented, the kingdoms, and the powers and the authorities of all the world.

He's seen before. Even the son of man has come in the flesh. He's seeing When when when does it happen that all the kingdoms of the world are given to the son of man? It happens at the Ascension of Christ right? When the son of man ascends and it's this coronation service, it's his coronation day.

He wait like he is handed the kingdom of and he is handed all rule and every Power and every Authority. Ascension. And the Beast who got judged and destroyed came from the sea, right? That's right. There was the weight rate. It was the Seas raging but listen. We when we recognize the Lord is miter, we can see that if we look back at that verse in Daniel, It's that it's the heavens that stirred up, the sea.

Hold on. So even these powers of the world that are raging or raging only with power that God gave them God, Reigns over them, God is in authority, over them. God Stir the powers of Heaven, are the powers that stirred up the sea. They're the ones who even gave the power to these rulers who then rise up and use that power to do wickedness and the beasts are as bad as they can be, but listen.

Is over all of that. They the the beasts only rage with power that God gives them. In God's, destruction of them. Is immediate? In Daniel, when the seas are raging and all this activity is happening, the Ancient of Days is sitting He's not in a, he's not in a fist fight with the, with the powers that come from the sea.

He's not having to like really gird up, his strength to destroy them. He's sitting. He pronounces judgment. He hands the kingdom over and the Beasts are judged. That's the story. God is mightier. So when it looks like everything's Raging we it's good news. It's good news that we have a king that we didn't choose and put into Power.

Why? Why? How could that be good news? Because he Reigns over all the numb skulls that we put in power, which we like which we're just really good at putting Numb skulls in power. The reason that is the case is because everyone's numbskulls, you know. I mean it's just like just there's no one else to put in power, you know they're all just like us, you know.

And like so there's there's no one else to put in power besides morons and, uh, and people that aren't faithful and uh, and people that aren't because that's all that's around. If anyone's gonna, it's why you want a king. This is what it looks like. It's because these are the only people you have to choose from right.

So, we're on the last Sunday of Advent. The last Sunday or the last Sunday, before Advent? Sorry, the last Sunday, the liturgical year. The churches invites us to reflect on the fact that Jesus is the unrivaled king of the universe. In the in the Incarnation his deity is concealed right?

And we're getting ready to celebrate the Feast of the Incarnation. That's what Evan's about. We're getting ready to look at Christmas and Christmas. You see those beautiful? Nativity scene. Sometimes you see them played out like in Christmas, pageants They always find a cute little baby to be Jesus, right.

Cute little beautiful baby. Boy of sweet baby. Never hurt anybody. It's baby Jesus, right? The sweet little Jesus to sleep on the hay. You know, this is this is the picture and this is true when Jesus came. He came in weakness. Um, he A trip down his mom's fallopian tube like everybody else like like he came in as we as much weakness as you can come, right?

So he came in absolute, utter, dependency and weakness. But it's tempting for our thoughts, to think of sweet baby, Jesus. But when he returns, He's not returning as a sweet little baby in a Manger. He's returning on the clouds. And he's judging the beasts that have raged against him, all the world systems, who have set up rival powers He's the absolute King.

He's the absolute King. So our Revelation reading said Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the Kings on Earth. You know, a lot of times, we'll talk about King of Kings. Right, we'll talk about King of Kings but that, but John here, in the Revelation, Puts a little different.

Um, construction together. He uses a verb, a participle Arcone ruler, you know? Um, and almost to give a picture of like he could have said, King of Kings, but he's like, the one ruling the Kings, the ruler of the Kings, the one who's already right now, standing over all the Kings, the ruler of the Kings.

Everyone will know him to be ruler of all and their relation to him in this life, will not change that recognition. It says that they were recognized him with weeping, even the ones who pierced him, even the ones who were wrongly related with him will recognize him as king and ruler over all Your beliefs about Jesus change, nothing about him.

Right. What whatever personal beliefs you bring about Jesus change. Nothing about objective reality. He's King. Or not King. Whether you recognize him King or not King. Does that make sense? So like your beliefs don't change anything. We live in a world where we because we vote on people in power.

We think that we have so much power that like our my personal beliefs impact reality in some way. They don't at all. Like we and we use that language, right? Have you made Jesus the Lord of your life and you don't make Jesus anything. You can't you're not capable of making Jesus anything.

He's either the Lord and King of all or he's not regardless of what you've done, right? He's the king over all. And this can comfort us and it can challenge us. It can challenge us because we don't get to pick and choose the aspects of the story that fed our sensibilities, like we're at a buffet line.

I like what Jesus had to say about the poor. I don't like. Some of his ethical statements, you know? Um, so like, you know, I'll just pick this and leave that and I'll like I can treat it like a Buffet line. So it's challenging for us that way that he can't be like our mascot for whatever our pet issues are.

You know. You know, like we don't we don't want We don't need pictures of Jesus behind. Our president like holding up his arms like, like, like he's not our mascot, he's not like, Uh, he's not our, he's not, he's not for us only, you know, he's for the whole world, right?

So he's the king of the whole world. So we don't, we don't, we can, like, get rid of all that, so it can challenge us that way, but it also can comfort us. Because listen, nothing can keep Jesus from extending his righteous Reign over the face of the Earth.

Let me say that again. Nothing. Can keep Jesus from extending his righteous Reign over the face of the Earth. All the time. In public discourse, you're going to hear like About threats to the ex like oh, the gospels threatened and Um, all that if this person gets in power, The Christians will be losing you know or like the gospel will go.

Listen. No ruler can get in power. That can thwart Jesus from extending his Reign over the face of the Earth. That doesn't mean that we can't have someone get in power. That could make things more difficult for us. Okay, that's happened all the time through his tree. The wrong person, gets in power.

Christians are being fed to lion. So you know like so that I mean, that can happen. Absolutely. But nothing can ultimately stop the extension of the kingdom of God and his righteous Reign nothing. So, you like, When there's like an election and everyone's freaking out, you can just sleep well just sleep.

Just go to bed. Nothing can stop Jesus. Righteous rain from extending over the face of the Earth. Just go to bed. Just relax. Because the seeds will stir up and they'll they'll always will and they're always bad, guys, they're always bad. But God is mightier. And he sits enthroned overall.

And so, what we're called to do is submit to Jesus. As a good King. So although we don't elect a king and we can't make Jesus Lord of anything. We do relate with this King. As as individuals, we see that in what Jesus does with pilate, right? Jesus has this interaction with pilate and he just refuses To let pilot wiggle out of taking a stand, right?

He can't pilate tried everything to keep out of taking a stand. He says, handle him yourself. But what, but but what happens. Is when he says, are you a king? Jesus says, do you say this on your own or does someone else to have you say this? He's asking, what do you think?

Pilot. What do you think? Am I a king and pilate tries to say, am I a Jew? Why do I care whether you're the king of the Jews or not? You know, and so he's trying to say, I don't need to, I don't need to take a sight on this.

I'm going to stay neutral. And Jesus refuses to let pilate off the hook. And the guy who most tried to wiggle out of taking a stand, a personal stand on who he says, Jesus is Became the guy that we mentioned in our Creed every Sunday. Right. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

Yep. And so the one guy that tried to be like, I'm not taking a side in this, he's the one that gets mentioned every time as the governing Authority. Over the crucifixion, right? Cuz we have to shatter the my Of neutrality, people love to say to pastors. You shouldn't talk about politics.

They don't mean that. By the way, they mean, you shouldn't say anything. I disagree with, that's what they always mean. When they say you shouldn't talk about politics they're fine talking about politics if it's in line with what they think. Right. But the minute you talk about it and it's not in line with what they think then they're like hey you pastors shouldn't get involved in politics, right?

And to the truth is pastors, probably shouldn't be partisan. Um because the political parties are part of the Seas. That are raging like we shouldn't be that that aligned with them. But Jesus's King isn't necessarily political statement. You guys know that if we say Jesus is King it's necessarily political So, President John F Kennedy said at one point There are some dispute over a Roman Catholic, being a president, right?

And whether the bishop of Rome hath jurisdiction in this realm, that was what the fight was about. Because there was a Roman Catholic, who was going to be the president, right? And he said, I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private Affair. Whatever issue might come before me as president on birth control divorce, censorship gambling or any other subject.

I will make my decision in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be National interests and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in America. I guess, right? But the, but the truth is he couldn't do it. Of course, like no one can.

We can't go to some neutral place to decide on issues. Where we can like turn off religion. Right. Or we could turn off the hey, before you make decisions, can you turn off the the things you believed was most fundamentally true in the world? Like that's not a thing so no one can do it right.

And more than that, we shouldn't want to. Either Jesus is King of the universe or he's not. But if he's King over the universe, he's certainly King Over America. And he certainly King over our families and he certainly right. Jesus is King is unnecessarily political statement. It wasn't its day as well.

When the, when the Christians early claim was Jesus's, Lord. They were saying that. In contrast to the powers around them that said Caesar is Lord. So when they said Jesus is Lord, they were saying Caesar is not.

And so in Acts, you have Jason being Drag before authorities. And it says these men who have turned the world upside down, have come here and Jesus received them. And they're, it's acting against the decrees of Caesar saying there's another king. Jesus, they're acting against the decreases either saying there's another king Jesus.

We are the people who insist, there's another king, Isn't transformed by one more election, by one more Democrat or republican in Senate by one more false promise, by one more conservative, Supreme Court Justice, or or liberal Supreme Court Justice. We, we're the Christians who persistently declare, the good news.

There's a good King, Jesus, and he's good. And he rains fairly.

And this means he's King over all personal decisions. If Jesus is the unrivaled, King of the universe and he is There's not a moment we get to take off, there's not a moment where you are the ruler of your life. There's not a moment where you get a break from his lordship, there's no political stance or grocery transaction or interaction with someone on the road or heated discussion where you get to ignore, that Jesus is King.

Where I get to ignore. That Jesus is King. So as Advent approaches the question, we can. All ask ourselves, is this, are you submitted to the rule of King Jesus? Cuz Advent's the right season. Before we look at his return. To look at our lives and submit freshly. To the lordship of Jesus.

Submit today to the unrivaled king of the universe. Almighty and everlasting. God whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved, Son the king of kings and the Lord of lords mercifully, grant that the peoples of the earth divided and enslaved by sin. Freed and brought together.

Under his most gracious rule. Who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit. One God now and forever. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. Amen. Well, we have We have several papers on here today. Let me, let me see if I can organize my life a little bit, so I don't Walk them all together. All right. So Advent is coming so that you guys might have noticed from the reading.

Advent is coming Advent. Perhaps my I mean I say that about all the things. So I'm I'm trying to stop. I love preaching during Advent. So I'm going to stop saying, it's my favorite time of the church year because I say that about like every time of the church year.

So but I I love preaching Advent, I love preparing sermons and Advent Advent. Um, is an incredible time of anticipation and expectation. Where we prepare for the celebration of the first coming of Christ. By preparing for the second coming of Christ, which is kind of an interesting tension that we enter into.

We both look forward to that celebration of what Jesus did in the past and we We look back at it. I mean, I'm sorry we both look back at that celebration. What Jesus did in the past, by looking forward, at what Jesus is going to in the in the future.

And we say, just like he gets kept his promises in the past, he's got more promises to fulfill in the future. More is coming. More is coming for our church. Um, our families for ultimately, the whole kingdom, of God, as God restores, all things and makes all things new.

And Advent is the season that we enter into that expectation. So here one Sunday before Christ, the King Sunday, which is next Sunday. Which I love preaching Christ, the King Sunday, too. But Christ one Sunday before Christ, the King Sunday, we enter into this first half of the Olivet discourse in the Book of Mark, we'll transition, we'll catch the second half of the Olivet discourse or the Mount of Olives discourse, but we'll be reading in the Book of Luke in two weeks.

So and father, Andy will be preaching on that. But now we're coming into this first half of the all of that discourse and here's the deal, he gives an exhortation to his people. Run. Run away, they're giving they're given one word and that is Run. There when they see the abomination of desolation standing, where he ought not to be, that's when they're told to run, right?

That's kind of interesting. And then there's this weird parentheses, let the reader understand, uh, which is, obviously, Jesus didn't say that in his sermon. I mean, I wouldn't think right? He's not going to say when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought to be let the reader understand uh and that's right.

So that so obviously this probably isn't a direct quote. It's a parenthetical statement added in by Mark where Leaders of his gospel to understand what the words of Jesus are referring to. An important caveat for understanding the entire sermon. Would be. That this was prompted by a specific question of the disciples.

Okay, so in in verse 3, The people ask them tell us Jesus says there's not going to be one stone on top of the other. So they've just walked out at the beginning of chapter 13. They just walked out. They've been commenting on the temples. Look at these beautiful buildings.

This Temple, this Jerusalem Temple. And Jesus says, a day is coming, when not one stone will step on the other and then the disciples ask him. When's this going to happen? When are these things going to be? And that's what prompts this sermon. So Jesus is answering the question when these things are going to be, when not one stone will be standing on another in the temple.

When is this going to happen? And he gives this discourse. And he says, Run. It's important not to speak with too much confidence about events in history that are fulfillments of prophetic sermons or literature. Uh, we get weird when we try to do that in the future. We're like, hey, the locusts are like Apache helicopters.

So we, we get really weird when we when we do that with some of our prophetic literature or apocalyptic literature. Speak with too much confidence, but I think New Testament scholar, William Lane points to a pretty compelling event that Jesus might be alluding to when he talks about the Abominous nation of desolation standing where he ought not to be.

There was a farcical high priest named Fanny and he was installed in the temple and this was culminating a bunch of murder and false worship. That would have been taking place in the temple. Tired. High priest andonist. Said it would have been far better for me to have died before.

I had seen the house of God Laden with such Abominations and it's unapproachable and hallowed places crowded with the feet of murderers. So, The beginning of this sermon is probably pointing toward. These events and ultimately, the overthrow or the destruction of the temple, in 80 70. Now, like Scholars debate over when Jesus transitions to stop talking about the temple.

And now he's talking about the end times. And I I won't I won't like come down on a side but most agree that he's talking about the temple here at this beginning part of his sermon that they. He's talking about this fulfillment, uh, or this is fulfilled by this destruction of the temple.

This judgment of the Jerusalem religious system, right? This complete and decisive judgment over these powers of Jerusalem, over the Jerusalem Temple that rejected their Messiah. Had all sorts of things that that caused them to be being unfaithful. You see Jesus in conflict with this leadership right? After this sermon, when he's cleansing the temple saying, you've made the temple a house of robbers.

So you seeing Jesus in conflict with his Jerusalem leadership. Ultimately that Temple is destroyed in 80 70. So the the point was they were going to be alerted to this impending judgment on the temple. And one stone was not going to be set on another and it was going to be something.

So obviously Wicked. That they knew the result was going to be God's judgment. They were going to know when they saw it. The abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be. We might not have as much Clarity but they knew and they were going, you know, and they were told to run.

Were to run quickly. They were to run. Really fast. It's like, don't go get stuff. Don't go getting it going around. Don't go get stuff. Run away. Jesus is showing compassion on people who have conditions that would make it harder for them to run. Hello to those who are pregnant and nursing children in those days, right?

So he he's saying, man, when the Judgment comes, he's showing compassion on those who would be in a condition that would find it harder. To run. Right? It's hard to run if you're really pregnant. It's hard to run. If you're having a baby that needs carried and is being nurse, right?

It's harder to run and so he's showing compassion uh oh we don't want that to happen, right? And you want to know, something kind of cool about history. They did run they, if they followed, Jesus instruction, right? They took Jesus in his word and when they saw the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be the reader understood and the reader ran and they ran they ran away.

And they they went up to the hills, they went up to the mountains, they knew judgment was coming and Josephus tells us about their flight. The the Jerusalem Christians, when they saw this starting to take place they ran and they and they went away because they followed Jesus word.

Principal at work here. Just about judgment in general and it's the decisive judgment is always disruptive even for the people of God. Decisive judgment on World Systems systems that are Fallen or broken or sinful or rebellious against God, which is like all of them, right? And decisive judgment on those systems.

Always results in a lot of disruption. In everyone's life who's relying on the systems, but even the people of God, who are reliant on those systems, Right. There's a sense in which all God's people should be Desiring. God's judgment. God's judgment is not. Only something to be feared as the people of God because he sets, right?

What is broken? When we see Injustice, when we see grave Injustice throughout the world and we don't have to look far to see grave Injustice in the world. The Cry of our heart should be with the Cry of the hearts Through the Ages. Maranatha come, Lord, Jesus come set this right.

Come fix. What is broken? Come heal, the world from all its Brokenness from all the effects of sin and evil. And death. Come more. Jesus. Come save your people. But we pray in the Tate Doom, come Lord, and help your people, but with the price of your own blood, right?

He said, come

But there's also an exhortation. We shouldn't be Desiring the day of the Lord. Amos says that right woe to you. Too long for the day of the Lord. Why, and how could it be that we on the one hand should call out for God to bring? Decisive judgment and said everything right?

That is broken. But at the same time, it's saying, hey, hold on, don't get too excited about the day of the Lord. How could that be? Except that when the Judgment of the Lord comes, it is Quite disruptive. Even to God's people. If anything tied, these people down to the current order of things.

Even pregnancy. They were going to have a significantly harder more difficult and challenging time, you guys know I'm kind of into babies, right? Like I got five of them. And I love pregnancy. I I'm all for all of you having all the babies God gives you like, fill the church with loud, obnoxious babies, just do it.

Um, I I want I want you to fill the church with loud. Obnoxious babies, please do it. And, uh, I love it. I love the babies. And yet, we have to recognize that having children puts us in a state of Reliance on the world system. Stability for like, just general stability for our lives and for our family's lives.

And the reality is like all World Systems. And America, any Nation. We would find ourselves in is corrupt is Fallen is broken. And we're Reliant on this system for our well-being, a system that Be decisively judged, one day, you know? And it will be only one system remains. We'll get into Christ the King next week, but only only one system rains at the end.

None of the other nations are going to stand. Like there's not like special Nations that are going to be waving their flags at the feet of King Jesus, right? And so when all of them get destroyed which they will, they'll all be overturned because the whole world system will be overturned.

Directive. Those of us who find ourselves Reliant on that system. For our stability. See, there's a real arrogance that can come from believing. We aren't caught up in the broken aspects of the world system. That we don't. Benefit from broken structures. By receiving some. Amount of order and stability.

So when we rely on structures or educational institutions, governmental Powers military, might corporations protections given to us as U.S citizens, pensions or retirement accounts to the degree that that we find ourselves reliant on these systems. Judgment is going to be more difficult. This is what was true for. These people in the temple system was decisively judged, it will be true for anyone relying on any world system when it's judged.

So, that's why. We don't want to be the people that are too excited about God's judgment because we know that we all benefit from systems that bring order to a chaotic world. But also are not all that they could be and all that they should be right. So don't hear me saying burn all the structures down in modern society.

Actually, in our morning prayer reading in Acts yesterday. Paul appeals to his Roman citizenship, right, and he does that to flex in the face of being unjustly, beaten, and imprisoned. You did this to a Roman citizen. He says, right. Into the fullness of God's kingdom comes. There isn't like a better system to replace all the systems with, right?

And don't hear me saying that we don't work to make Society more fair and more Equitable and to do better. We can always strive and get better, right? It just means that we have to Realize that the theological principle present in this text. It's not talking about the ultimate Judgment of all things.

It's talking about a precursor of it. That when a system is judged, in this case, the Jerusalem religious leadership, the people who are reliant on that system are disrupted, their lives are completely disrupted. In other words. Yeah. Paul appealed to his Roman citizenship and the rights he had because of it that doesn't change the fact that when Rome fell Both Christians and non-christians who are relying on Rome for the ordering of their lives were deeply disrupted, right?

They were deeply disrupted. When Rome fell? So we should be longing for God's judgment. Yes. And for God to come and set the world, right. But not with such arrogance that we believe judgment won't be disrupted or really disruptive for us and really difficult for us too. Judgment's hard and when God brings judgment it disrupts our our lives.

And, That's not the end of the sermon, right? Um, we're called to live as obedient and a hopeful people. Right. This Judgment of the Jerusalem, Temple was pointing toward another day. Another day that that we're going to talk about in a couple weeks from the Gospel of Luke It, it's pointing us toward another day.

When? The world will be decisively judged and God will reign on the throne. And in the meantime, we're to live these obedient Earnest and hope-filled lives. The Epistle of re the epistle reading in Hebrews that we read today opened with it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God, right.

But it also tells us therefore do not throw away your confidence. Which has a great reward for you of need of endurance. So that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. Our Psalm that we read today tells us that God will not let his Holy One.

See corruption, how obviously this is about Jesus, right? Learn to read the songs and see that they're about Jesus. So obviously it's about Jesus. Who died but didn't see corruption because he rose from the dead, right? However, in crisis is also all of our story. It's all of our story as we are in Christ that we don't see corruption that.

As we as we go through judgment and as judgment comes. Yes. Is if this world, if this system, if the United States Um, doesn't last until the Lord returns it will be disrupted to our life. It'll be a mess but God's people do come through and God doesn't allow his holy ones to be seek corruption and although they die.

They rise again, like Jesus. And they have every reason to hope that when God does decisively judge the whole world system, That they receive reward and blessing and honor because God doesn't let his holy One. See corruption We're to recognize the reality of disruption in experiencing God's judgment for.

Also as we pray looking forward with great expectation. To being abundantly rewarded when our Savior Jesus Christ comes to restore all things. That's what we prayed in our collect. A reward's coming for the people of God. This is good news. So, As we're getting right, we're, we're getting ready to turn our hearts into a season of anticipation of Advent Advent's, actually a penitential season.

Listening to the majority of my home. You see why, right? It's because when, when God's presence comes in judgment, Um, he when Jesus returns, he's not coming as a cute little baby, right. He's, he's coming as the returning King and, uh, and, and claiming his world. And so we it's a sign a season of penitence as we get ready to receive the Lord, so we obey the Lord, as we turn to this season.

Participation. When he says, run, we run just like the people of God did. We don't think we're the exception? We know that in other words, we know that judgment is disruptive for all of us. The people of God and the people outside of the family of God. So it's not just God coming to judge those people.

It's God's coming to judge this world and we're a part of it, right? And so we're ready. We don't think we're the exception, but we also run with hope. We know that if we are in Christ, we will persevere through judgment. That is the Epistle of the Hebrews says, we we won't be like those who shrink back.

That we will persevere through judgment. And that all that is broken and all that is messed up in the world is going to be set right? When our Lord, our judge comes again. So let us welcome God's presence. As we turn toward the new liturgical year, Let us welcome God's presence that will definitely chasten us, but thanks be to God.

It will also heal us. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript Follows:

Of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. Amen. There's a comedian Gary Goldman and he has a bit where he takes on the Old Testament. He's a secular Jewish man. And he calls, um, the Old Testament, a compilation of Jewish suffering. Right. It reminds me kind of the chi.

It reminds me of the cheeky line from the, uh, from the one of my favorite musicals, the Fiddler on the Roof right? God. I know where your chosen people, but did you ever think of choosing someone else? And ultimately Goldman closes his bit by talking about God's relationship with the Jewish people.

Being best described by the title of the 2009 film. He's just not that into you. He says if he doesn't text you back, he's not that into you and if he enslaves you for 400 years in Egypt and then delivers you to the only strip of land in the Middle East without an oil.

Well under it. He's just not that into you. It's clear that Yahweh wants to see other peoples, he said, And it's witty and it's silly. But it isn't that hard to find even Christians who treat the Old Testament, as a long boring indigestible prequel to the real story which God waited to tell in the New Testament.

We do that both in our neglect of the Old Testament and sometimes in our disdain of it, it's been long enough since I showed you. I mean, gosh, what two weeks? But, uh, Here's where the by the New Testament begins in our Bibles. Right. And we often treat. The scriptures.

And this has that like concordance and like Maps. I mean, it's like even deceptive like look at that. Look how short that is compared to like the Old Testament and it's so easy for us to treat the scriptures. Like this is the long boring prequel To the story that really matters here right?

And and it's it's what someone like Goldman is pointing out. I mean that's the testimony that's given to the world when we treat the Old Testament that way And yet the Jewish people had access to all the same stories, they knew of these enslavement in Egypt for 400 years.

It's not like they weren't aware of that. They knew about the golden calf and the judgments and the plagues. And in the psalm, what we write here is what the writer of Psalm. 119, had to say about the law, in verse 14, I have had greater Delight. The way of your testimonies.

Then in all manner of riches. Delight. In the law of God. This is what the people of God have handed to us from the old Covenant, to the New Covenant Delight. In the law of God. What does it look like to Delight in the law of God? To see the law of God as what, another psalmist, comment sweeter than how many honey from the comb.

What's it look like to Delight in the law of God. See, the early Christians saw the Old Testament as a book about Jesus. They read it as a book about Jesus, he taught them to do that when he showed them in the law and the prophets, and the writings, how all of it pointed to him, right?

He taught us to read the Old Testament as a book about Jesus and the earliest Christians read that book of the law, the book that they'd inherited. They were all Jewish the earliest Christians and they read that as the stories about Jesus. Jesus, who was not only the one who kept the law perfectly.

Ultimate fulfillment of the law. See, Jesus prayed the Psalms You know that? Jesus prayed the Psalms the psalter was his prayer book and his hymnal. And he knew how to Delight in the law of God. Why is the law of God? A delight and what helps us to distill the law as something beautiful and worth delighting in.

That's what we'll look at. So first, why would the law be delightful? The result of keeping the law? Is a fruitful good life in the land, a light, a life that is good. A life. That is fruitful lightful a life that Brings life and it is fruit bearing. So Deuteronomy 6 was our first reading today.

And Deuteronomy 6 1, we see that they they were given the law. The people were given the law so that they might do them, that kind of might seem a little redundant. They were giving the law so that they might do it. Right? So that they might obey it, they were to know the law so that they could obey the law and they were to know the law and teach it to their children.

In verse 7, it starts with you shall teach them diligently, teach these laws diligently to your children. And she'll talk of them when you sit in your house. And when you walk, by the way, that this law is just continually on their lips, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, you shall write them on your doorposts.

Wow. The law was going to be. The way that they live their life, they were meant. To know the law to pass on the knowledge of the law to their children. And to obey the law. And that and like all of it, right? All of it. And even, even the parts that were maybe more challenging culturally for them to understand.

It reminds me like so with my kids and I've shared this with some of you before but with my kids we have Uh, my kids are especially as they grow. They're becoming more um, Dialectic, which means there, which means they're learning, they they're asking why A lot. Yeah. So a, why a lot?

So and Because Mom and Dad said so isn't enough? Um and it's not and it shouldn't be enough at that stage. They're at a good stage where they're starting to question. So which is good. But we have a saying in our house, we obey first Right, we obey first and then we can talk about, why?

So if I say go do this, Obey. And then if we want to come together and have a conversation about why I'm happy to sit down and have a conversation about why, but we obey first and then we talk about why, right? And I think that this is a disposition that um, Would be healthy.

For the people of God to orient ourselves toward the law obey, the law first, and then ask all the questions you want. Why did God have? Um, what I mean, the big thing for us probably today would be like, why does God have these like really strict sexual ethics?

You know, um, that's probably culturally something that we wrestle with in Western culture. Obey first. And then wrestle, you know, wrestle with the Y and what's God doing with all that and have the conversation. But obey first is a great disposition to sit with and to live with and we have a general disposition to obey and then to ask the questions, right?

There are hosts of things that you and I don't understand. We're called to obey the law first and then ask the questions and gain understanding. Right. And and keeping this law. The reason that this law was a delight is that this law results in things going? Well, in their lives.

This law results in, in Good things happening for them. So, in verse 3, Be careful to do them why that it may go well with you. And that you may multiply greatly as the Lord your the god of your fathers has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Right. The results are good. There's good results. Now this comes for a few reasons. One is, it's a result of God's direct blessing as we obey the law of God, we receive blessing from the Lord. That's that's definitely particularly an old Covenant idea, right? That that's like what the whole book of Proverbs is based on obey the law of God and God will bless you directly, but it's not simply about God blessing you directly in relation to obedience to him.

It's also just being about being in harmony. With how things are made, right? So just recently, maybe about two weeks ago or three weeks ago, I finished Auggie. And I, Built a Lego R2D2. So I I don't know what could be nerdier than that, but it was awesome. You know.

So we built R2D2. By Legos. You know. And so we we got a hold of one and we built it and it was awesome but there were 500 something steps. In the directions for building this R2D2, right? And, I could. Have just opened up all the bags. And kind of eyeballed it and tried to build R2D2, right?

I could have done that. I don't think the result would have looked much like R2D2. Right. I think it probably would have looked like a big mess right? If we if I would have just said, I'll go for that and I wouldn't have just meticulously walked through the steps.

There was actually one point in the process where One step I think. I argue would say it was him, so I'll go with that. Auggie said, he missed a step at one point and uh, We had to. Try to fix that and it was a pain because as you guys know that have put those together that trying to get inside of like they're it's all falling apart.

I was about to throw the thing at the wall and start over. Like I was like Daddy needs to walk away right now. Uh yeah, take a deep breath. Uh because I'm getting angry at R2D2 more than I need to be right now. Uh and so but we so we've experienced this, right?

We I and we walk through that process and we recognize that to live in harmony And to not have it all fall apart and to not throw the thing against the wall, we have to follow meticulously the steps. And I, I think we should look at the law of God as like the Creator.

Giving us steps to live that are going to work. With how he created us. Right. Just like these. I mean it's like Engineers who do these Legos things I think like and they like make it step by step and this is how it's going to work. It'll work if you do this.

And it won't work if you don't and the Creator. Of all that is has given us the law, which is The way to live. If we want it to work, So, maybe even more than just direct blessing from God. By obeying but because we obeyed him, it's more like as we live in harmony with the way that God made things to be.

Life goes better. And, and life is good and there are good results of that. So God's. Given us a gift in the law. He showed us how to live. He showed us the way to live in harmony with creation. And and we know that because of our Brokenness that we fail to live in harmony with how God made us and that we fall into sin.

But we can begin to see how these people could have looked at the law with all the commands and all that is and say. It's a delight. It's a delight because it shows us the way that we are to live. What we see in Our Gospel reading today. Is the summary of this law.

We see how Jesus summarizes that law that God has given us that law. That is a delight to our eyes, right? That law, that is meant to be a delight to us. We Begin every Eucharist with an ordinary time with the words that Jesus says here, right? Every Eucharist and ordinary time.

So when we're not actually reading the decalogue, Right? Which was you which we do in penitential Seasons. We start every Eucharist with this summary of the law. We read it from Matthew. Right? We read it from Matthew. We read it today from Mark, but we read these. Same words, love the Lord.

Your God with all your heart mind, soul and strength. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments defend all the law and the prophets. Jesus is saying this is the summary, this is what it's about this is what all those Commandments are about.

It's about love of God and love of neighbor. Right. Jesus is saying here's the lenses. He does it with two quotes. The Deuteronomy 6, which we read today, marks the only one that actually Gives us that first intro that we get from Deuteronomy 6. But he also quotes Leviticus 19:18.

About loving your neighbor as yourself, and he takes these two spots. And he says, here's what the whole thing's about. If you are to rightly understand the law, you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And you'll love your neighbor as yourself.

When we speak about theology, or Doctrine, or catechism or the essence of Christianity, Here's the deal. If it doesn't lead to Greater love of God, and your neighbor. It isn't Christian theology. It isn't Christian catechism. Christianity. And the whole law of God is summed up in love of God.

And love of neighbor. So, if your theology Doesn't make you a more meek gracious person. It isn't Christian theology. If your ethics, don't make you more gentle and kind to your neighbor. They aren't Christian ethics. If your understanding of the church doesn't lead you in deeper fellowship with other True Believers and radical forgiveness for, uh, for those who offend you.

You don't have a Christian understanding of the church. If your Ministry for justice, doesn't lead you to Greater love for both the oppressor and the oppressed You don't have a Christian view of Justice.

If your disciple making plans, don't lead to people who love God and their neighbor, you aren't making Disciples of Jesus. Christianity, always leads to Greater love for God. And greater love for neighbor. The whole story is summed up in that. There were people that loved the Lord Our God and that love our neighbors.

And that's the whole story. And, and all the rest of it is about leading us into greater, love of God and greater love of our neighbor. Our neighbor who was made in His Image. Loving God's image in them in our neighbors. Whether they're offensive, whether they've hurt us. Um, whoever they are like this, this love of God leads us directly into love of neighbor.

And this is the Christian Gospel. This is the law, and this is the Fulfillment of all of it. So, our Psalm this morning, Started us with a call to Delight in the law of God. Delight in the law of God, far from being something, we ignore or disdain. The law is a gift to us.

And it's something that we can Delight in. When Jesus invites us to Delight in the law, he gives us a summary of what it's about. And he calls us to be people who grow in our obedience to the law. Which is, which is summed up in love of God and love of our neighbor by God's grace.

Jesus tells us what it means to Delight in and fulfill of God and fulfill the law of God. Love God. With all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Because this fulfills all the law and the prophets. Amen. 

Unedited Transcript:

Name of God. The Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. Amen. Go ahead and be seated.

I'm beginning. What what's become? Or I wouldn't say I'm beginning. I am a part of what's become a discipleship. A group, it didn't really start that way. We were a group of people that were Uh that we're goofing around on a text message thread, a group of priests uh that goofed around on text message throughout how it started.

But it's grown into A really beautiful discipleship group. In our life. And and one actually had enough impact on me that I reached out to, uh, some of you guys about maybe piloting some of these groups, uh, starting an advent. So, uh, Just a way to connect with each other in a deep way and Um, one of the things that has grown out of that group is, uh, we decided to start, and we're just kind of testing it out, but The brothers, the brothers of Saint Lucie.

The little brothers of Saint Lucy. So our little order of the little brothers of St. Lucie now, St. Lucie Um, is a is often called a patron saint for the blind. Now, the reason she's called a patron, saint for the Blind, They always, they tend to make a lot of Martyrs the way that they died so that that can make us a little squeamish but like that's why you'll see icons of John the Baptist like holding his head.

Because he was beheaded, you know, and so you'll see icons of John the Baptist holding his head because their deaths are actually, um, A gift to us, right? Their deaths are a testimony to the goodness and for Saint Lucie when she died. Um, her eyes were gouged out so often in icons.

She'll be Holding her eyes and so she became the patron saint for the Blind for people that would be seeking, um, healing from blindness or seeking Vision, which is kind of interesting. So we're the little brothers of Saint Lucie One of the I think I shared with you guys last week, when we talked about the in the gospel of Mark, kind of the story of the blind man being healed.

The two Blind Men in two different spots in the gospel. Mark, I said, a lot of the goal. In life is to see God. Well, that came Uh, from The Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the pure in heart. That they shall see God. The ones that are pure and hard are the ones that see God and that a lot of life, the goal is To see God and the Saints are people that Saw God, they saw And they they were able to look upon him and they're the ones.

Now that see God more fully than we do. Yeah. They they see God today in his throne room as they're with him. In our quest to see God. Yeah, I think that All Saints Day might give a couple just two lessons to train our vision as we attempt to see God.

And what are the one? What what an amazing attempt to embark on. As we? Five people beginning their life with Christ today. Um, just the goal of continuing to seek after and to see God. So one thing that we could train our eyes and our quest to see God do is to it is is don't look past the Saints.

We should train our eyes to not look past the Saints. Don't look past the Saints. See the Saints gave us a gift, you know, it's it's funny. We'll we'll talk often about Theology and things like that and Doctrine. But just the scriptures themselves. Our testimony from the Saints from the people who came before us.

So Christians that came before us, not only wrote the scriptures. So, a lot of the saints that we honor on Red Latter days, in our church would be, The writers of these scriptures Saint Paul. Saint Peter, Matthew Mark. It's like, we, we honor these writers of the scriptures. So not only are we relying on the Saints for the scriptures, because they wrote them.

But even we rely on the Saints that came before us to even determine What the Canon was that might make a squeamish. We like to think that we Just like receive the Bible like, Handed to us on tablets of some kind. Right? We like to but we like to think that that's how we receive the Bible.

Uh that's not how we receive the Bible. We receive the Bible as the people of God reflected on the words written by the people of God and saw the very words of God in them. And so we received the Bible, the reason that we read the gospel of Matthew and not the gospel of Thomas is because the people of God Who came before us recognized the gospel of Matthew as authentic.

And as the word of God and they did not recognize the gospel of Thomas as authentic and as the word of God, right? And so, even the, when we just open our Bibles, In that act. We're receiving a gift from the Saints. Who received the deposit of faith and passed that on to us, right?

So when just, when you're sitting alone with your cup of coffee, reading your Bible, you receive that inheritance from the Saints. Who pass that down to us? Right. And not only do we, Look not look past the Saints for the scriptures, but we also for the historic gospel, for the historic interpretation of those scriptures.

You know, it was it's interesting that today we were we're just reading through the book of Acts in the daily office. So The acts 8, which we read today. Uh, The story of Stephen uh are not Stephen of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, the the story that we read today.

Um, It wasn't really because it wasn't like a cherry-picked one for All Saints Day, which is interesting. Um, it wasn't one that they're like oh because that was the first reading that we read today from Hebrews was cherry-picked for All Saints Day. It was picked because it was All Saints Day.

That's why we read it, but the second reading we read wasn't. It was just the next reading that we read. And what was really cool is. You have the Ethiopian eunuch, reading the holy scriptures and then Philip asked him. Do you understand what you're reading? And, what's he say?

How could I understand if no one tells me if if no one's there to teach me, how could I understand? And it says, Stephen starting with that scripture preach, the gospel to the Ethiopian unit, right? And so this is like, there's a big myth that if you just get people alone with the Bible, they can clear themselves of all their presuppositions and be like a computer and that it's so obvious and clear that everyone's going to get to the right interpretation but church history tells us, that's definitely not true.

And just walking down. The street should tell us. That's definitely not true. Um, when when

Bring with them. The historic Christian faith, the deposit of the faith that always went along with the Bible. When you're disputing with a heretic. In other words, it's not getting a Bible verse war with him. It's tell them. You don't believe the Christian faith, and this has always been the church's book.

Repent, and believe the gospel. So, when we're reading the scriptures, Not only do we not look past the Saints by just which books we're reading, but also By holding the Christian faith that they Faithfully passed down from generation to generation to generation. And every mom and dad. Before Ben praying, with their kid, who's scared because they heard that monster under the bed or whatever.

Is doing the very same thing. They're passing on the faith from generation to generation to generation and we received a gift and we pass it on. So when we're looking to see God, we don't look past the Saints for the scriptures for the historic gospel, but also for the example that they give us of a holy life, Yeah, they um People like to debate how much they see what's going on, you know?

And whether they can hear us when we talk to them, I'll tell there's nothing. Um, It was C.S Lewis. That I quote that there's nothing more natural than someone who talks to People who have passed on you. Do it too, right? Like Um, your mom, your grandma, your your the people who went before you every.

So every so often you'll catch yourself talking to them and assuming that they can hear you, right? And the same that that shouldn't surprise us that that's very natural for us because Our Hebrews reading from morning, prayer said that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Who's he talking about other than the Saints?

Then the communion of saints, right? That we, that we Proclaim, we believe in that this cloud of witnesses and he says something so cool that apart from our walking out of the faith. Be perfected. But somehow, Us receiving that faith and receiving that way of life and walking in it.

Is. It perfects the work that they begun by passing down the faith to begin with. It's why when you go to a beautiful Cathedral, For a church for some Mainline denomination that has left the gospel. Just know. There are faithful Christians who gave their entire life savings to foundations, for the very buildings that they're meeting in.

And that they've left the gospel and those people are horrified. I can like, and because part like what we do on All Saints Day is we receive the gospel and we Faithfully pass that on and not just the gospel but the way of life that accompanies the gospel, we receive that gospel and we pass that on to the Next Generation.

And so in our quest to see God which is the goal of life, the pure in heart, see God. Don't look past the Saints. But also in our quest to seek God. Look past the Saints. Look further than Don't stop. Saint Augustine's, the most influential saint in my life.

You guys might know that I named my son after him. Um, I like to read his work. I I think he's the combination of like amazing intellect and love for God, like a heart set on fire for God. I I just never met anyone else in my reading like him.

But I guarantee you this. He wants me to keep looking past him. Um, he wants me to see him as a sign to the god that he loved. As a sign pointing toward the God who he loved. He doesn't want me to stop there and spend all my time.

Dwelling on him. He wants me to look at the god that he loved and worship the god, that he worshiped and press on toward the goal that he pressed on toward The Saints are nothing more and nothing less than a signpost pointing us on the way to Jesus.

You know, this might be a really important truth. Maybe most important for the people who are being baptized today. We have Ira. And a Leia and Connor and Mikhail. Today. U5. Looking for all of you. I think I I mean I'll contact all of you now. Yeah, you join the family of God.

You're joining the family of God, you're joining the communion of saints. And I'm so happy about this for each of you. For the Matt, since your family is right now, the most important signpost in your life parents and your family, most important scientists in your life, For Connor and Mikhail.

It might be others who have walked the faith who have been Christians already. They're the most important sign Post in your life. The entire company of the faithful though. Are going to be signposts. Hopefully, that point you Toward the toward the true God toward love of God towards seeing God.

And you should look at them, look at your family. Look at us. Look at the church. Look at other Christians. Let them point you but listen. Outgrow us. Outgrow us. See God better than we ever did. Love God more than we ever could. Chase after him and outgrow us, run past us.

Um, because apart from you, we can't be made perfected. That's what the Hebrews tells us that that the saint as they pass on the faith. They're watching and they're rooting. And I want and I'll tell you and messenger, parents want nothing more than you to love God. More than they do.

I promise and then chase after God and serve him with more fervor and and more passion than they ever could. And the same is true for you guys. You adults who are being, baptized that all of us want, nothing more than you to outgrow us. Outrun us outpace us.

And look at God and see God better than any of us ever did.

Because apart from us St. John's The people that have passed down the faith. Their work isn't made perfect but that worries it's meant to. It's not like we earn anything for them. But that they that it be completed that it made perfect, that it would be completed. Their work is completed.

As we walk out the face. So Saint John's and especially you being baptized Don't look past the Saints. Don't ignore the Saints. Don't ignore the gift that they have given. You don't ignore the treasure of the faith. The Treasure of the scriptures, don't ignore what the Saints have given us, but listen, Saint, John's And especially you being baptized, Look past the Saints.

Get past them. Outgrow them. Chase after God with everything in you. Make it your life's Endeavor to see God. And to follow God and find him to be a God who loves you. Who's drawing you? And your desires to live in communion and fellowship with you. Let us receive the faith humbly.

From the Saints. And then, let's pass that on Faithfully to others. Amen. 

Unededited Transcript Follows:

Name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. Amen. I've been watching the Star Wars Saga with my kids. I'm kind of ashamed that I never really been through it.

So uh, we we, I've watched, like I've watched like the first three episodes or four five and six. But we're about halfway done with episode two now. So we'd watch four five and six and then we'd watched episode one. And we're halfway done with episode two and I always love prequels.

Like when you're coming into a story and then you get to re read or watch in this case, a prequel to the story and say, hey how how did Darth Vader become such a bad guy or whatever. But I I love prequels. That's why I don't entertain reading the Chronicles of Narnia.

Anything other than the publication order. So that like I, I'm really serious about this. Don't read this in any other order. Like, some Publishers are going to put this out in chronological order. Don't do it. That's silly. That's you. Read it in publication order. Starting with the lion, which in the wardrobe and I'm, I, I have very serious feelings about this, so, So so don't ever do it but in Our Gospel reading today we have Mark doing a bit of a callback To a situation earlier in his gospel, our tendency to read the gospels.

Short chunks because it's not really possible to do it any other way, the way that we organize worship, might lead us to miss some of what he's doing, but he's doing a bit of a callback to something earlier in the gospel and we'll talk more about that. But this blind healing of a blind man.

Isn't the first time he's done that and it's not the first time. He's that Jesus has healed a blind, man, even in the gospel of Mark. Arc and what we learn as we kind of jump into this second healing of a blind, man. And this call back to something earlier, is that our call needs to be the same as this blind man's call Bartimaeus call where he says to Jesus.

I want to see. Where he says to Jesus, I want to be one that sees. Today, we're going to look at how blindness is both Universal. So it's not just a problem that he had, or that people that are blind in their sight have, but it's Universal, and it's also debilitating, but we're going to see that we when we admit our blindness.

We ask God to meet us. We find them already in a conversation with us and ready to bring healing to us. So, first blindness is universal and it's debilitating. Our readings today, link together, physical, and spiritual blindness. So, in Isaiah 59, We see that we grope for the wall, like the blind.

So there's this picture of trying to find a wall as a blind person in darkness as we're seeking Justice and we're not finding Justice, we're reaching out like blind. These are the people of God that we're talking about in Psalm 13 David wonders. How long will God hide his face for me?

How long will you hide your face so that I can't see you? And ultimately he asked God, give light to my eyes. That. I don't sleep in death Enlighten, my eyes. How long will you hide your face from me? God, Enlighten my eyes. In the gospel of Mark. Makes this the most explicit.

See one of Mark's favorite narrative techniques is what people will call like a sandwich. We bred like where one event is. Sometimes he does this where he breaks up an event in the middle. So like Mark 5 21-4-3 is kind of a famous one where on the way to go raise this dot.

Well the daughter's not dead when the guy reaches out to him, but on the way to go heal this daughter who dies while he's on the way, this woman who has the who's been having Flow of blood for years touches the Hem of His Garment and the scene is kind of broken up.

Um, By this event. And so what we do is we interpret the events in the middle and the events on both sides by each other when he does this. So it's important to realize when Mark's writing the gospel of Mark, he's not just like following Jesus around writing things in the order that they happened.

Okay, so he he has a bunch of stories about Jesus and he puts those stories in the order that we have them, for a reason to tell a story. And so, now we have another of these sandwiches Where we? This blind man, Bartimaeus. And he's this blind man, Bartimaeus, like I said, it's not the first time that we see a blind guy getting healed.

This is one of these sandwiches. The first healing of a blind man is in Mark chapter 8, verses 22 through 25. We have this first healing of a blind man in Mark, 8 verses, 22 through 25 and it's kind of and so we you guys you guys remember how I got really excited about the message of the Loaves, right?

Like Jesus walking on water and this weird throwaway line from Mark where he says Understand the message of the loaves. It was right after the feeding of the 5 000 and saying they didn't understand the message of the Loaves. And then Jesus starts teaching them, the message of the Loaves, right?

And there's this another sandwich, a healing or the feeding of 5 000, followed by the feeding of four thousand, right? And then this message of the Loaves is happening in the middle. He's warning them don't be. Don't be led astray by the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They start arguing about having brought no bread and he's like, you guys are still thinking I'm talking about bread and they remember so he's telling them the message of the Loaves.

He he gives us this Mark, gives us this sandwich to teach that lesson and now he's doing a new thing right after that. He has this blind guy healed, but this blind guy was different than blind Bartimaeus, right? This blind guy was healed in two stages. Right? So he's healed.

And Jesus doesn't have to do it in two stages. It's not because he like didn't muster enough up enough power the first time. So he had to really breathe hard and try harder and do it again. That's not why he was healed in two stages. He was healed in two stages to teach us something, and so this guy in in Mark, chapter 8 is healed in two stages.

We don't have his name and then Disciples and Jesus like go on a journey. And that Journey Begins, it's it's it marks. The only gospel writer that gives us one trip to Jerusalem. Jesus isn't going in and out of Jerusalem in the Book of Mark. He's making one long trip to Jerusalem and on the way, what is Jesus doing?

He's saying I'm going to be handed over and killed. And he does that three times on the way to Jerusalem. And three times the disciples blow it right? They the three times the disciples don't get it the first time. Peter rebukes him, right? The then you have you have them arguing about who was the greatest right after the second time and then you have the request of James and John, what we talked about last week about who gets to sit at his right and left hand.

The third time so three times, he just he describes himself as one who's willing to die. And three times his disciples are saying, are messing it up and arguing about who's the greatest or doing whatever they're doing. And then at the end of that, right before Jesus enters in Jerusalem, the very next passage is going to be the triumphal entry.

Right, it's going to be Palm Sunday, right? And it's going to be him entering into Jerusalem. You have this blind guy getting healed, but he gets healed in one stage. All right, boom. The lights turn on and he sees and this is a picture of what what his disciples have been through.

They partially understood what it meant that Jesus was Messiah Peter. Confessed that you are the Son of God, right? And so they, they understood part of what it meant that Jesus was Messiah, but they didn't understand that. That many was going to be handed over to the Romans and crucified, they were partly blind.

And then they finally Were then able to see. Blind Bartimaeus is showing us that these ones are beginning to understand. Beginning to understand what it means to follow their Messiah and to follow Messiah. Who's willing to give his life for the sake of the world. Everyone's blind. In the gospel of Mark.

The Pharisees are blind. The, the people are blind, God's disciples. Jesus own disciples are blind. They don't see, they need someone to turn the lights on. They need to Enlight, everyone's blight in the Book of Mark. And it may remind us of a story. You know, I received my mail-in ballot this week for the election.

So, I I'm mailing my ballot. I don't know. That might be controversial statement now. So we can argue It depends on who you ask that might it might be controversial when I mail it in. I don't know. I am blown away like by how unmotivated I am to participate right now.

So I am like looking at the whole thing and just like I am so convinced. Of the blindness. Of I, I and to the point like and some of you young adults, like, Haven't participated. In an election cycle where it wasn't this crazy. But like the level, like the political discourse is like debates are not much better.

Maybe one step above like schoolyard. Taunts like my dad can beat up your dad. You know, like I I mean that's like how we argued on the schoolyard. Like I think my dad could beat up your dad and that was that was the argument, right? This is like where we're at.

As a country in like the presidential debates, like this is where it's at. We're not talking about policy. We're not, we're just like insulting each other. Like, everyone's just insulting each other. And this is what qualifies. And like, the whole deal is like a bunch of people yelling about who's on their team.

It's like, like, it's like, if you had the two captains of the two teams at the homecoming game, Dunking on each other before the game started and then everyone going. Oh, like and that, that's like political discourse. In our nation right now, and We don't even know who to trust, right?

I mean, I think that's the narrative. Like we there's all new sources or untrustworthy, social media is untrustworthy, like we don't even know to trust the whole thing is a mess like and If we're not convinced of our blindness today, I don't know if we ever will be guys, we're blind.

Like we Uh, it's hard to discern the truth. We are out of our minds. Um, It's a It's a time where we should know. About how blind we are and that we need to make be made to see. But it often seems like we're tempted instead of admitting our blindness and that we're all blind.

Just like in the Book of Mark, everyone's blind to be most like the Pharisees In John 9 40. Remember that story where they say are you saying we're blind to And Jesus said, if you had admitted, you were blind. We I could help you, right? But since you claim, you can see.

I can't help you. Right. We're a blind people in a sea of blindness. The Disciples of Jesus are blind. The Pharisees are blind. The people of God are blind in the book of Isaiah. They're reaching for the walls as blind people and they can't find it. David can't see God's face.

This is the situation. We find ourselves in The blindness is universal. No one can grope after God. None of us can find God and yet. Jesus wants to give us sights. Jesus wants to let us see. He wants to Enlighten the eyes and he tells us in The Sermon on the Mount.

That blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. See Jesus says something. Strange at the end of this interaction with this blind Bartimaeus, right? He says your faith has saved you. Use that word salvation. So, Joe You know, salvation. And he says your faith has saved you.

It's kind of an interesting word like I mean it might show us just how desperate it was to be blind and unable to provide for yourself but salvation he receives salvation that day your faith has saved you. Your faith has brought salvation to you. In other words, linking this spiritual darkness and this physical blindness.

Faith saved you. We see this link between our spiritual state. And this blind, man, we're supposed to enter into the story as the blind, man. Crying out. Lord, have mercy on me. I want to see Our goal in many ways, the goal of life in many ways is to see God.

Is to see God's face. And we can't see him. Because we're blind, and all of us are But the good news is, when we cry out to God, for Mercy, We find Jesus. Already conversing with us. See, our story is the same story as the blind man, Bartimaeus. And do you realize that our liturgy invites us?

To enter into the place of Bartimaeus, really every week, every week, our liturgy begins in the same spot. Do you realize that What's he crying out? What's he crying out? Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Kyrie. Kyrie and laison you guys might be familiar with those words.

Have mercy on me, have mercy. Lord have mercy Christ, have mercy. Lord. Have mercy. What do we? We are entering into the same story as the blind, man. Bartimaeus is right at the beginning, right? Before Jesus enters into Jerusalem, he's seeing the curier. He was the first guy to say it, right?

Lord have mercy on me. And we're invited to do the same thing every Sunday. As we come together in worship to say, Lord, have mercy on me. Christ, have mercy on me. We prayed in our colic today that God would mercifully hear our supplications, And then, finally, What does Jesus do with blind Bartimaeus at the end of the story?

He says. Go your way. And at the end of worship, every time after having received the body and blood of Jesus, what do we say, go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Blind. Bartimaeus's story is all of our story. We come to God, we ask him to have mercy, he heals us and then he sends us on our way. But what's really neat is when we is when, when blind Bartimaeus calls out in this story, what we find is that Jesus was already having an ongoing conversation with Bartimaeus.

There's the Greek formula in this passage and it's often not translated because it's pedantic and it would be really boring to translate it that way. It's kind of a but it's it's Jesus answering said to him, right? So instead of it, just Jesus said to him or Jesus answer wherever the ESP gives us.

It's actually Jesus answering said to him now. What's interesting about that that formula is all all over the place in Greek. So we don't translate it every time because like I said, it'd be really pedantic. But what's interesting about it being here, is it usually happens, like, in the case of like a dialogue of some kind, there wasn't really any dialogue happening here.

You have a man yelling out. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Up, because he's being loud and annoying when they're on the way somewhere. You know, I'm not somewhere very great, but they're still learning. Um, but they're they're on the way and so telling him to shut up.

And then he cries out all the more Jesus have mercy on me, right? And, but then what happens is, Jesus calls for me comes and it's this starts out with Jesus answering said to him. Already answering already been with this man. I don't know how long you know maybe in the words of the psalmist, how long O Lord will you forget me?

How long will you hide your face from me? Maybe blind Bartimaeus might be right in that spot. He would have known these words he might have been, how long has he been crying out for God? To have mercy on him and to give him sight? How long Has he been excluded from the house of the Lord?

How long? And he says, And Jesus says, Or what Mark tells us is that Jesus is answering. This long going. Conversation with Bartimaeus, where he's been crying out for Mercy. Any answers. Him. I think what I find from that is just like, when we're when we put ourselves in the posture of crying out, for Mercy, what we'll find is that God was already there.

In that spot. Ready to show Mercy.

When we stop saying with the Pharisees, Am I blind? And we start saying with Bartimaeus, Lord, let me see. We find a merciful god who was already there and answering and moving to answer the Deep cries of our heart.

See, we are blind. All of us we couldn't see God, we're grasping around in the darkness. And God knew our blindness and he sent his son and he sent his son in the flesh. So that when we looked at the Son of God in his flesh we saw God he made the invisible God visible to our dull senses and his son gave the one who gave sight to the blind man.

Wants to give sight to all the blind men and women on the Earth. Jesus died. So that we might see God. He paid the price for our sin. He conquered its power and he purchased our sight. So, if you Will join Bartimaeus in recognizing, your blindness and your need for God, he will show you that he has heard your cry.

He'll meet you. He will show you Mercy. And he'll feed you with his body and blood. So come to the table, blind people. And let the Cry of your heart. Be Lord, have mercy on me. And then find Jesus ready to show you Mercy. And give him very his very self to you.