Mark 10:32-45 Not to be served but to serve

message recorded at HopeWhangarei August 25th 2024  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/Sermon-Howard-Carter-25th-Aug-Mark10-32-45-Not-to-Be-Served-But-to-Serve-e2nirbs/a-abgc4iu 

A rider on horseback, many years ago, in colonial America, came upon a squad of soldiers who were trying to move a heavy piece of timber. A corporal stood by, giving lordly orders to "heave." But the piece of timber was too heavy for the squad.

"Why don’t you help them?" asked the quiet man on the horse, addressing the important corporal. "Me?” he replied, “Why, I’m a corporal sir! I’m in charge"

Dismounting, the stranger carefully took his place with the soldiers. "Now, all together boys - heave!" he said. And the big piece of timber slid into place.

The stranger mounted his horse and addressed the corporal. "The next time you have a piece of timber for your men to handle, corporal, send for the commander-in-chief." The horseman rode off and it was only then did they realise it was George Washington, the first American president.

Jesus said to his disciples ‘don’t lord it over each other as the rulers of the gentile do… rather whoever wants to be great amongst you must be your servant. The son of man did not come to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.”

We are working our way S L O W L Y through Mark’s fast paced account of the beginning of the Good news of Jesus the messiah, the son of God.” The series is called ‘the way of the cross’ because against the cultural expectations around what the messiah would be like, Mark portrays Jesus primarily as the suffering servant who came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, and we are invited to see that to follow Jesus calls us down the same path of service and self-sacrificial love. The way for us to be a flourishing Christian community is to walk the way of the cross.

The reading this morning starts with a brief travel log. For the first time we are told the destination of the journey we’ve been on. We are told that they are heading up to Jerusalem. We are literally on the way to the cross. It is a journey, in Mark, bookmarked by narratives of Jesus healing two blind men, one at the start in Bethsaida and the other Bartimeus in Jericho. Along the journey Mark shows us how Jesus is trying to deal with and heal the spiritual blindness of his disciples.  Jesus predicts his suffering death and resurrection, three times, this is God’s salvation plan being worked out in Jesus, this is what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah. Each prediction is followed by the disciples not getting it: Peter rebuking Jesus, there is heated discussions about who is the greatest and now jockeying to get the prized positions when Jesus establishes his kingdom, comes in his glory.  Each time Jesus then teaches his disciples about what it means to truly follow him: pick up your cross and follow me, welcome even a child in my name,  to be great you must be the servant of all. Even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

 You know as I have read and studied and wrestled with this passage that last line of Jesus is the one that has stuck in my mind… I hear it over and over again, a line that both spoke to me, delighted me and challenged me. ‘The son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many’. So today I want to look at that verse and the whole passage and see what it says about Jesus, what it says to the disciples and then what it says to us today.

What is says about Jesus?

Here it acts as a rounding off of all Jesus teaching and ministry up to this point and it points us forward to what is to come. It makes sense of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

We are told in verse 32 that Jesus was out in front, he was leading the way, as Timothy Gombis puts it he is resolutely heading to Jerusalem to carry out the divine agenda. His disciples are following with a mix of astonishment, they are hoping Jesus will establish his kingdom, but their understanding of that is that is based around the cultural expectations of a military  and political messiah, and fear, that Jesus and they are heading into trouble and conflict with the religious leaders and power structures in the city… and its not going to end well. So Jesus turns and again give them a prediction of what will happen when they get to the city.

He talks of his suffering death and resurrection. Of the three predictions in Mark this is the fullest and most detailed. It could almost act as a table of contents for Mark’s account of the passion of Jesus. One of the most shocking things in this list is that the son of man will be handed over to the gentiles. Jesus would have understood that for him to be executed it would have had to be done with Roman approval, but also this was a total rejection by Israel of their messiah.  The use of the title ‘the son of Man’ from the Old Testament show that Jesus understanding of what is to come is very much based on his understanding of the scriptures of what the messiah will face.  Scriptures like psalm 22, that Jesus quotes on the cross and Isaiah 53…

But not only in this passage do we have Jesus understanding of what will happen, and that this is God’s divine plan, but in the son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many we have Jesus understanding of the why as well. The word ransom in the Old Testament has the idea of deliverance by purchase, buying one free. A ransom was paid for a prisoner of war or a salve or someone who had forfeited their lives under the law, and so they were then set free. It came to represent in the Old Testament the idea of God’s redemption, liberation from an imprisonment from which humanity could not free themselves. Jesus as God’s messiah as the exalted son of man freely offers himself in our place. He pays the price that should have been ours. This is the ultimate service that Jesus offers. Underlying this is very much the words of Isaiah 53 the servant song, which speaks of the servant of God, suffering and dying and presenting himself as an offering for the sins of many. Taking on himself our punishment, our guilt, the price of all we have done wrong. That we would be reconciled with God and know freedom and new life. This is the profound truth of the Gospel, Jesus God’s anointed one, his son would give his life for you and I, to win our freedom, in his death the price is paid… and in response to this gift we are called to live our lives follow Jesus.  

Ok Jesus saying the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many also rounds off Jesus teaching his disciples about what following him means after they again don’t get it.

Right after Jesus prediction James and John come to Jesus with a request. They ask Jesus to grant them whatever they desire. In one sense this is an act of faith, it is the sort of request you’d bring to a monarch as they are about to ascend their throne, So James and john are aware that Jesus is about to establish his kingdom. As a negative example you may remember Herod Antipas offering to do anything up to half his kingdom to Herodias’ daughter. Jesus isn’t an unwise monarch, so he asks them what they are wanting, he is not prepared to issue a blank cheque. James and john ask that Jesus allow them to have the places of privilege at his right and left when he comes into his glory. At a victory feast the privileged positions to the triumphant king were at his right and left. After all they were part of Jesus inner three, just like David had had his three mighty warriors, they had been on the mount of transfiguration. But  James and John are not thinking in terms of Jesus suffering or death or what it means to be a disciple rather only their own status and position.

Jesus response is not to scold them, he responds in terms of looking at what is in front of him. In Mark, Jesus crucifixion is portrayed yes as suffering but also as a coronation, of him coming in his glory, so he asks James and John if they can drink the same cup or be baptised in the same baptism. These were terms that Jesus used to speak of his coming passion as messiah. Of course James and John, still not understanding but with some sense of courage say they can. 

Jesus does admit that they will indeed share in his suffering for the gospel. We know from Acts 12;2 that Herod has James executed by the sword, and John suffered imprisonment on Patmos where he wrote revelation. But to give the right to sit as his right and left is not for Jesus to assign, he acts as God’s servant it is in God’s hands. There is double irony here as when Jesus was crucified, came into his glory he was crucified between two thieves.  

Then of course we have the other ten being indignant with John and James, you could imagine them all thinking… why didn’t I think of that… I wanted that place… that indignation has very much to do with their thoughts on prestige and status and importance. That word indignation is used t speak of Jesus reaction to the children being sent away, he was indignant for those with no status, here the disciples are indignant about their own status. So Jesus again has to teach them about the idea of being a true follower. So he contrasts the rulers of the gentile who laud it over each other, who seek power and prestige with what it is supposed to be like in the kingdom of God. That whoever wants to be great must be the servant of all, and who ever wants to be first must be the salve. And for emphasis gives himself as the example. The son of man came not to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many. In the kingdom of God service and sacrifice comes before glory, and it is God who lifts us up, not ourselves. As William L Lane explains it there is a difference between the rulers of this world who serve their own interests and those of servants and salve, all their activities are directed to the interests of other people. “the order of life for the common dealing of the disciples is to be love expressed in the form of service.” For this Jesus is their and our example.

Let’s move to look at what ‘the son of man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many has to say to us today.

Over the past few years one of things that has really saddened me has been the public scandals around leaders and pastors in the church who seem to have focused on their own interests and wellbeing, wealth and prestige. We’ve seen it in places like the United States, Australia and in our own country. In one pod cast I listened to they talked of the creep of expecting more and more amongst in particular mega church leaders. There was the expectation of lavish life style, expensive gifts, big love offerings as a sign of appreciation, being put in positions of authority where they couldn’t be challenged, people being used and abused for the leaders vision and dreams. Much of it undergirded by what is called the prosperity gospel, that this lavishness is a sign of God’s blessing, a kind of baptism of greed. It saddens me because it shows that we like Jesus first disciples are still in danger of being blind to the cultural expectations of prestige and status and position and power that are so much part of our world, as opposed to Jesus teaching on service and sacrificial love. Maybe that is that tendency writ so big that it makes the headlines of our papers, but it underlines how easy it is in our everyday life to find ourselves influenced by that… maybe to find ourselves amongst the indignant, or wanting an open cheque kind of relationship with God.

Perhaps the best way of looking at what ‘the son of man has come not to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many has to say to us is to look at one of the two disciples in the passage. It gives me hope that I and we can learn and grow, as followers of Jesus. As I said before James was martyred very early on, but we have John’s writings, and  you can see how this incident and Jesus words and example and love had a profound effect on him… In 1 John 3:16, easy to remember the reference… it’s the other John 3:16… John says this “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.’

We could finish this off right there or with examples of great sacrifice from Christians for other people. Two came to mind Bonhoeffer in prison in nazi Germany comforting his captors during bombing raids. Richard Wurmbrand a Romanian pastor imprisoned under both the right wing and communist regimes in that country, caring for men wiping their brow and cleaning them up, as they lay in the room put side for the dying in prison… leading them to Christ, men who had imprisoned him, and had him tortured, who later fell out of favour with the regime. we could remember the small acts of service we receive like someone taking the time out of a busy day to talk with us and share in a moment of need. But I thought it best to leave it open for you… and to simply finish by going back to that opening illustration. If I may if your life is under a burden too hard for you to bear, the burden of sin, like you are under a heavy piece of wood… know our commander and chief, Jesus son of man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. That he was nailed to a piece of wood and can lift it off you and set you free. As you see others around you who are struggling under burdens don’t stand back and holler heave… rather join your commander and chief and get alongside to serve and give your life. The son of man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many…

Mark 13:1-13 Certainties following Jesus in a world of change and turmoil

  A recording of this sermon is on the HopeWhangarei website 

 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/3-11-24-Howard-Carter---Certainties-of-following-Jesus-in-a-world-of-change-and-turmoil-e2qfnqu 

When we were young one of the ways we were certain Christmas was coming was at the start of December mum would put an old cardboard advent calendar up on our kitchen wall. Each morning my sister and I would take turns opening the appropriate door on the calendar. It would reveal a picture that was relevant to the nativity or Christmas in general, and a bible reference, which we would read together from the bible. It was a great way to build up the expectation of Christmas and celebrating the incarnation.

 

When I went online to find images of advent calendars I was confronted by a whole array of different versions. Some beautifully crafted wooden ones, real heirloom sort of things, fitting for family traditions…but also a whole array of others associated with consumer good… Lego Star Wars, barbie, milky bar chocolate, Swarovski crystal and kiwi craft beers. Part of the pressure to make Christmas simply a celebration of consumerism and consumption.

In November we are working our way through Mark Chapter 13. What is known as the little Apocalypse, where in response to a question from his disciples about the destruction of the temple Jesus speaks of future events. Many people have used this and similar passages like an advent calendar, a count down a tick box to Jesus second coming, his second advent. As they associate world events with Jesus teaching it is like they open one more ‘last days’ door. There is almost a commercialization
of it as well, with books and novels written, film series made, and speakers making a living by claiming special revelation to how it all fits together. There is a heightened sensitivity in people’s minds to Jesus second coming: In 1948 for the first time in almost two thousand years Israel appeared again as a nation, We have been through a millennium. We live in uncertain times, there are wars, particularly the one in the middle east, we’ve had a global pandemic, significant environmental issues, and we are facing incredible social and technological changes. If we simply try and treat Jesus teaching in this chapter like an advent calendar, we will miss its very relevant and encouraging message for Jesus disciples, for Mark’s first readers facing growing hostility to the gospel in Rome, and for us. A message of certainties not idle speculation as we follow Jesus in a world of change and turmoil.

We are working our way S L O W L Y through what Mark calls ‘the beginning of the Good News of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God’. The series is called ‘the way of the cross’. As against the cultural expectations of what the Messiah would be like, Mark portrays Jesus as primarily the suffering servant, the key verse being ‘the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” and the call is for those who would follow Jesus, amidst world changing events and trying times, to walk the same road of service and self-sacrificial love, trusting God.

Before we look at the reading today, we need to look briefly at the whole of chapter 13… Mark chapter 13 contains what is Jesus longest section of uninterrupted teaching in the gospel.  It comes at the end of his ministry time and bridges into the narrative of Jesus passion, his betrayal death and resurrection. This is symbolised as the chapter starts with Jesus leaving the temple for the last time. He had entered it with the pilgrims come to celebrate Passover, looked around and left. The next day had cleansed the temple, tipping over the money changers tables. Then the day after that, after an enacted parable cursing the fig tree, passing judgment on the religious system of the temple, he had had a series of confrontations with various factions of the religious authorities. This resulted in their final rejection of him. Now he leaves the temple.

 In John we have Jesus teaching at the last supper but in Mark Jesus teaching on the mount of olives acts as a farewell speech to his disciples. Like in John Jesus prepares them for what is to come. The emphasis is very much pastoral… Watch out… do not be deceived… do not be alarmed… be on your guard do not worry… the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

The context of Jesus speech is the disciples coming to him after his prediction of the destruction of the temple and wanting to know what are the signs and the times of this happening. Jesus gives some general warning of what is to come in the passage we read out today, then in 13-23 speaks of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, but is very clear that this is not the end. However they can look forward to the coming of the son of man and then in 27-34 finishes by giving two parables to encourage watchfulness and faithfulness. William Lane sums it up well when he says  “the primary function of chapter 13 is not to disclose esoteric information but to promote faith and obedience in a time of distress and upheaval…”  a future of both suffering and mission, as they and we await Jesus return.

Ok let’s look at the reading this morning and what it has to say to us and I want to do that by looking at the certainties that Jesus gives his disciples and us.

The first  is the certainty of the destruction of the temple (1-4).

As they leave the temple an unnamed disciple comments on the grandeur, splendor and that permanent feel of the temple. Look at the stones and the magnificence of the place. The Herodian temple was amazing. The massive stones covered at the front in gold. But Jesus simply says that not even one stone will remain on top of another. When the Romans did come in 70ad burned and Jerusalem, the gold melted on the temple and to retrieve it the romans literally pulled the temple apart stone by stone.

But the destruction of the temple was also a certainty because just like in the Old Testament times when the people of Israel were taken into captivity in Babylon, they had not keep there side of the covenant relationship with God. Now the authorities had rejected Jesus and shown that they too did not keep God’s law.  

I don’t think that certainty speaks only to the downfall of Jerusalem. Which for the disciples would have seemed like the end of the world. But the church and we have faced times when there have been life and world changing events. When institutions that seem permanent and give meaning to life change. Our own time is one such era. In fact it seems the only way to describe where we are at the moment is by saying what has gone before… We are postmodern, post-colonial, some say post Christian, I would say post Christendom, even moving towards being post human, it may be a bit of a humorous illustration, but amidst all this post stuff the only thing you can’t find is a post office, and you can no longer say the cheque is in the mail or the post. Empires and world systems institutions rise and fall and change… It may feel like it sometimes… but it is not the end of the world.

The second certainty that Jesus talks of is that the disciples and we will face three great spiritual dangers.(5-9)

Firstly deception because of false prophets and messiahs. Jesus warns his disciples to watch out and be on guard unless they be deceived. Jesus teaching in chapter 13 relies heavily on the Old Testament. As Jerusalem was facing destruction by the Babylonians, Jeremiah confronts many prophets who say everything will be all right, no need to worry no need to repent, God is blessing us with peace.  In 152 ad as the romans final destroyed Judea, Bar Cocba on of the leaders of that time, said he was the messiah.

Down through history there have been people who claimed to be the Messiah and even claimed to be Jesus come again. It is a spiritual danger we always face, people who would draw our allegiance from Jesus to themselves, who would each another ‘gospel’ rather than the one of Jesus. We live in a time when the internet gives people a platform and way more influence than they may deserve, and as a friend of mine said every heresy there ever was alive and well and living on the internet. The desire to find someone or something that will be the answer is very alive: Political Messiah’s economic messiahs as well as religious ones.  We can be susceptible to the cult of personality. To be on guard means to be focused on Jesus, to know his teaching, to be discerning people of the word and prayer.

Secondly being distracted by world events. Jesus said there would be earthquakes and rumours of wars and wars and nation would rise against nation. We are not to be alarmed these thing swill continue to happen. These things are not to draw our attention away from following Jesus and being agents of the Kingdom of God. In the first century it may take months to hear of a war, unless it was happening at your door step, today it seems that every conflict is caught on camera and ever tension between nations is broadcast nightly to our homes. Yes there is a Kingdom of God way of responding to these things… with lament, that this is not the way it should be, with compassion and generosity to those who suffer from natural disaster and war, and prophetic voice, Jesus said blessed are the peace makers.

Thirdly, despondency due to persecution and suffering for the sake of Jesus. We must be on guard, not be taken unawares because these things will happen. The examples given are being called before the councils of synagogues, and before governors and Kings. Jesus also goes on to talk of families being disrupted and handing over family members.  You can read the book of acts and see this play out. The Church in Rome was about to face persecution from the likes of Nero. The church has found itself down through the ages and in many places a persecuted minority. We should not however be despondent or loose heart. In Acts we see that god used persecution to push the church out on its mission from Jerusalem, into the gentile world. In the world today some of the places where the church has faced the worst persecution is where it is growing the fastest.  The largest Christian population in the world just maybe in mainland China, now one of the fastest growing churches in the world is in Iran. There is truth to the comment that the church grows by the blood of the martyrs.

Detrick Bonhoeffer, was invited to stay in America before the second world war, and in deciding to return to nazi Germany where he would eventually be imprisoned and killed, he said that the church in the west was weak because it would do anything to avoid suffering. One of the dangers for us of suffering and persecution is that its too easy to simply assimilate into our culture and to stagnate, to lose our focus on Jesus and his call to live out and proclaim  the counter culture Kingdom of God. We must be on Guard.

Amidst these world events and spiritual dangers is the certainty of mission. Amidst the spiritual dangers Jesus mentions that even when being bought before governors and kings we will be called to bear witness to Jesus. The gospel will be preached and proclaimed to all nations. As certain as difficult times are is the mission that the disciples and you and I are called to. Jesus calls the hard times birth pangs, contractions and the time between Jesus death and resurrection and his Parousia are what theologians call an already but not yet time, Jesus death and resurrection inaugurated the kingdom of God and we await its consummation, but we live in a time when the old is passing away and we are invited to be about giving birth to the new…  Waiting for the second coming is not a passive experience it is being called to be about the mission Jesus has called us to. I’ve been using the Romans Course by the bible society a bit this year and I am really impacted by the testimonies go with each session. One testimony was of a Welsh man called Jos who felt the call to be a missionary and was prepared to go to a small town, village in Wales filled with real troubles and be willing to respond…working as a rugby officer in the local schools. I know many of you have recently moved to villages I wonder if you’ve been called there as witnesses as well… we see many kaianga ora villages being set up and is part of gods call to us to be prepared to witness there.

The fourth certainty of the presence and power the Holy Spirit with us as we face difficulties and mission. Jesus said not to worry when you are called before authorities to bear witness, because the Holy Spirit would give us the words to say. What gives us hope to endure and courage to continue is the abiding presence of the risen Jesus with us through the Holy Spirit. A quick example from my own life is almost the opposite to what Jesus said, the Holy Spirit allowing me to witness by being silent. When I was in my late teens I was involved in an outreach coffee bar. It wasn’t that effective. One night two guys came in and told us that they could prove to us that Christianity was false. They would give us all the reasons why they didn’t believe, and we’d get angry and throw them out like everyone else did. Up for a challenge I said Ok go for it. What followed was about forty minutes not of well thought out arguments but the hurling of abuse and vile language. I didn’t say much, but s I happened I felt the presence and peace of the Holy Spirit, I started to smile. After forty minutes, these guys suddenly looked at each other and said man we’d better get out of here this Jesus stuff is real.

The last certainty is that Jesus will return and with the Holy Spirit’s help those who endure to the end will be saved. We can trust Jesus at his word, and we can trust that Jesus by the Holy Spirit is able to lead and guide and bring us through the world changing events, the wars and rumours of war, the persecution and suffering. As we have put our faith in Jesus and his death and resurrection, we can trust him with our future. Writing to the church at Philippi Paul says this “ I am confident of this that the one who started a good work in you will bring it to co0mpletion by the day of Jesus Christ. Mark 13 may not act as an advent calendar, but it acts as an advent promise. Amidst the certainties of suffering and turmoil, amidst spiritual dangers, there si the certainty that  God is at work, That the gospel of Jesus Christ is bring about new creation in our world and the certainty that we can trust the Holy Spirit all the way. So be on watch… do not be deceived…be on guard…do not to be alarmed…do not worry…stand firm to the end.

Mark 11:27-12:12 Jesus authority, the parable of the tenants and the rejected stone

I haven't posted my sermons on line in recent years, but am going to try and post more of them in the coming months. One of the reasons is that they are now recorded and available online. You can listen to this message and others preached at HopeWhangarei (by our preaching team) by following this link to the HopeWhangarei website  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/15-09-24-Howard-Carter---Jesus-authority--the-parable-of-the-wicked-tenants-and-the-rejected-stone-e2odeip/a-abhdl9c 

In first century Judea much of the rural land was held in large estates and owned by absentee landlords. People who lived overseas. It was part of the unease about being an occupied country.  Peasant farmers would work the land and pay rent to these landlords. Unlike today that rent wasn’t paid on a weekly basis, in cash or by automatic payment or internet banking, at the press of a button, rather the rent was a proportion of the harvest that would be collected annually, usually by an agent of the landlord. They would get an agreed fixed amount of the grain, and the wine produced, despite the years yield, that would then be transported back to the landowner. Like in today’s world disputes between landlords and tenants were quite common. Maybe those of you who’ve been landlords or tenants can relate to that. Maybe you’ve got some horror stories. We actually have preserved Papyrus documents that tell of the legal disputes over these situations from before and after Jesus day. But also there was a tension over who owned the land, peasant farmers wanted to own the land they farmed, and if a landlord died the heir had a certain time to come and claim the land  otherwise the  tenant could claim it as unowned land. Of course if there was no heir then the land could be claimed more easily.  Jesus uses this social context as the background for the parable that is at the centre of the passage we had read this morning. Tying it in with the reading we had from the book of Isaiah he uses it to speak against the religious leaders in Jerusalem. 

For about a year now we have been working our way S L O W L Y through mark’s fast-paced account of the beginning of  the good news of Jesus the messiah, the Son of God. The series is called the ay of the cross, as against the cultural expectations of the day Mark portray Jesus primarily as the Suffering servant, who came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, and calls those who would follow Jesus to walk the same way of the cross with service and self-sacrificial love.

We talk about Mark’s fast paced gospel but now we are in Jerusalem, the gospel actually slows down. We have a day to day account of what is happening with Jesus. Then later as we come to the events of the crucifixion the gospel slows down even further, hour by hour minute by minute. Time is being slowed in the story line, like a slow-motion sequence in a movie, as we focus in on the pivotal event of the crucifixion, this pivotal event in human history, this pivotal event in God’s salvation plan for the whole of humanity and creation.

The context of the passage this morning is Jesus third day in Jerusalem. As we looked at way back on Palm Sunday, he came to Jerusalem went to the temple looked around and went out again to Bethany, then the next day had come in and drove the money lenders out of the temple, and on the way into the city he had cursed a fig tree for not producing fruit, an enacted parable about the corrupt nature of the temple worship system, it was not producing the fruit God required of it.

AS Jesus was travelling to Jerusalem he had spoken three times of his rejection by the religious authorities, his suffering, his death ion the cross and his resurrection and that sets the agenda and acts as a table of content for what happens in Jerusalem. The passage we have today is the first in a series of conflicts between Jesus and the various religious groupings in Jerusalem that lead to their rejection of him. The passage today finishes with the religious leaders going away to try and find a way to arrest Jesus, with their rejection of him.

The passage is in three parts. The first revolves around a question of Jesus authority. Then in response to that we have the parable of the wicked tenants, which finishes with the son murdered and thrown out of the vineyard and the owner coming and removing the tenants. But then we have a second parable, with an architectural theme, a quote from psalm 118 about a rejected stone becoming the capstone of the new temple. So we are going to look at those three parts then see its implications for us today.

A question of Jesus authority… The Sanhedrin was the council that was the supreme court of the Jewish religious system. It was made up of the high priests, the teachers of the law and the elders, and so we have representatives from all these three groupings coming to question Jesus. It’s a pretty high powered official delegation, different from Pharisees and Sadducees who were actual a couple of the dominant factions, within the Sanhedrin. Sort of like political parties in our parliamentary system. They come to ask Jesus what authority he has to do these things. These things refers directly to his coming in and overturning tables and driving out the money lenders, disrupting the financial system that was set up in the temple. But also had a wider inference to Jesus teaching and preforming miracles, this is a continuation of the conflicts Jesus had had earlier with groups from Jerusalem  in the gospel in Mark 3.

The religious leaders, are thinking in terms of earthly authority, Jesus didn’t have the training or their approval to be a rabbi, and definitely didn’t have their approval to do what he’d done in the temple the previous day. Jesus action challenge their authority in the temple and community. Jesus however steps it up a notch with the question he then asks the authorities. In asking that question he is not being obtuse, but rather using an established part of rabbinical teaching. He is saying if you answer my question, correctly, you will have the answer to your question. You’ll know whose authority I have.

He asks them was John’s baptism from heaven, or of human origin? Jews were reluctant to use God’s name so when Jesus asks is it of heaven he is asking was on God’s authority. Did they consider John to be a prophet?  Jesus and John are linked, John’s baptism was for repentance, for being whole hearted about serving God, but also he pointed people towards one who would come after him, who would baptize with fire and the Spirit, referring to Jesus.

The religious leaders confer and rightly realize if they say John’s baptism was from heaven that they will be accused of not believing him. Also that Jesus will claim the same authority from heaven, which means they will have to acknowledge him as at least a prophet sent by God. That Jesus has God given authority. If they say john’s baptism was of man they are aware that the people may turn against them, as they believed John a Prophet. There concern is not in the truth but rather their own position status and authority.

So they answer Jesus in a shocking manner. They say they do not know…  AS they have shown themselves unwilling to handle the truth Jesus is not prepared to tell them straight out where his authority comes from.

 This question of Jesus authority is not only from the religious authorities of Jesus day as people who read the scripture who look at it, we too are invited to ask who is Jesus, how can he do the things he does. What is our answer to that question. C S Lewis says, when you see what Jesus taught and did we are left with three options, we can write Jesus off as a lunatic or a liar, or we have to acknowledge that he is Lord. That is a challenge for those who are irreligious and for those of us who are religious as well. We need to do what Jesus says.

 In response to the religious authorities answer Jesus now tells the parable of the tenants. As I said before this is a parable that is very much rooted in the social context of first century Judea. With absentee land lords and disgruntled tenants, but what makes in very pointed is that Jesus goes back to the prophecy e had read from Isaiah 5 his morning. The picture of Israel as the vineyard that God planted. God built a wall and watch towers to protect it, he invested time and energy into it. In Isaiah it did not produce fruit, so it was removed, here the tenants put in place to tend the vineyard by the owner do not give the harvest back to the owner. They want to keep it for themselves. The owner sends his agents and servants, but the tenants mistreat them, beat them and even kill them, rather than acknowledge the owner of the vineyard. You get a picture here of the historic way in which God had sent prophets to call Israel and Judea back to himself, to call them to live in a way that bears the fruit God wants, living a way that reflects God’s justice and mercy.  

Finally, the owner sends his own son, thinking that the tenants will respect him. But they don’t, in fact they beat him, kill him and toss his body out over the vineyard wall. With no heir they believe that the vineyard will become theirs. Inn fact one commentator said that as the son had come the tenants may have assumed that the landowner was dead so in getting rid of the son, there was the very real possibility that they would receive the land as unowned.  The parable parallels the Old Testament where Israel and Judah continually rejected God’s prophets and were eventually taking out of the land. Jesus point is that with his rejection they are repeating this process, that they will be removed and the vineyard will be given to someone else.

It's hard for us to read this parable and not focus in on the person of the son. In Mark we are let into the identity of Jesus from the very start of the gospel, it is the gospel of Jesus the messiah, the Son of God. It looks towards his crucifixion, and the judgment on the religious system based on the temple. Depending on the dating of Mark’s gospel the original readers would have been aware of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 ad by the Romans. Certainly just before the account of the crucifixion narrative in Mark Jesus speaks of that going to happen.

It might seem that this parable leaves us in a dark place, with the Son of the owner dead, and tossed aside, and judgment coming on those who have rejected him. But Jesus finishes with a glimmer of hope. That the vineyard will be given to others. Mark’s original hearers and we enter into the story. Jesus finishes with a quote from the Old testament that acts as another parable. One of hope.

 The builders of the temple may have rejected a stone. In Hebrew there is a play on words between the word for son (ben) and stone (ebin) they sound alike.  God has made this stone rejected by the builders of the temple the capstone or corner stone, the central important stone of a new temple totally radically different. The quote is from psalm 118 and comes after the verses that people sang out as Jesus entered Jerusalem… blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. It’s a psalm which the jews saw as speaking of and looking forward to their messiah. In the previous parable the son may be rejected killed and thrown over the wall, but that is not the end of the story. God would take that stone and make it the stone which was the capstone. The stone at the center of an arch which holds it all together of a new temple. A new dwelling place of God.

The religious leaders knew Jesus had told this parable against them and they start to look at ways of arresting Jesus. They reject him. It is very sad and it leads to the judgement of that whole system. But as we have read the gospel we know that is what will happen, Jesus had predicted this  he will be rejected, suffer and die on a cross, and be raised to life again.

 Perhaps the best way to look at the implications for us of this passage is again through the lens of one of Jesus disciples. The Disciple who tradition says is the source of much of Marks material that of Peter. In 1 Peter 2 he picks up Jesus quote from Psalm 118 and the idea of the vineyard being given to others and says

 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

As We, you and I, come to put our faith in Jesus Christ, who was rejected, suffered, crucified and raised to life again,  we  are being built into this new dwelling place of God.  The challenge of this passage is that we like the religious leaders may put our trust in places, in rituals and traditions, in keeping the rules and doing what is right, trust in our own status and position, but our faith our relationship with God is not founded on those things it is founded on the person and action of Jesus the Messiah. What he has done for us… and now God dwells with and with in his people.

On Your Mark! Get Set! Go!: an introduction to the face paced gospel according to Mark (Mark 1:1-8)

 

an introduction to Mark's gospel a major sermon series at HopeWhangarei. his sermon was not recorded so there is no link to the audio. 

Today we start a new major sermon series here at Hope Whangarei. Over most of the next year, with gaps in summer and between Easter and Pentecost, we are going to be working our way through the gospel according to Mark.

AS I’ve been getting ready for this series, and using Mark in my daily devotions one of the things that has revolutionized my thinking and reflecting on this book, is the fact that it was written not primarily for people who did not know Jesus but to a church community.   People who knew Jesus teaching, one of the motifs of Mark is that Jesus is always teaching but we don’t have much of that teaching recorded, there is a presupposition that the original audience knew Jesus teaching… Also Mark was written to a community that had committed themselves to Jesus, but they had some very clear cultural expectations of what it meant that Jesus is the messiah and saviour, as I have read through the gospel, I find myself standing with the disciples, which is quite uncomfortable because even though they are closest to Jesus, they come across as really struggling to understand who Jesus is. Mark writes to remind and reorient his audience and us to realise that Jesus messiahship was radically different than those expectations. In Mark Jesus is presented as the suffering servant. Key passages focus on Jesus coming not to be served but to serve, giving up his life for the people, Jesus coronation as King is his crucifixion, and to follow Jesus is equally to walk ‘the way of the cross’: service, self-sacrifice and love even when it hurts even to the point of death.

Our vision at HopeWhangarei is to be a flourishing Christian Community  with the mission of connecting people with God and with one another. Maybe it is easy for us to have a picture of that idea of flourishing that is full of cultural expectations. Numbers, influence, full bank account…When I read through Mark, there are times when we see great crowds around Jesus, and you can think, this is Jesus being successful, flourishing. But Jesus is always focused not on the pull of the crowd but doing the will of the Father. We’ve just finished a sermon series on loving one another as Jesus loves us and I believe Mark invites us to continue on that theme, to see afresh what Jesus love for us looks like, that it means the way of the cross, his suffering and dying to reconcile us with God, but also how to live as one commentator puts it to be an army who realises our only weapons are service and self-sacrificing love. To flourish in Christ, as a Christian community,  is to walk the way of the cross.

That’s quite a heavy introduction… and I really struggled to know how to start this series…Of course… when it comes to the text we start at the beginning… and I can’t help but have a sound of music moment… A very good place to start… ABC … 1,2,3… do re me.. our reading today Mark 1:1-8. One of the features of Mark’s gospel is its fast paced nature. There is a break neck speed, it is full of immediately Jesus did this, then Jesus did that. So I thought it would be appropriate to start today like you start a race on your Mark (hey It’s Father’s day so I’m allowed a dad joke kind of pun), Get Set…Go.

On your Mark. Let me introduce Mark…

Mark is most probably the first of the gospel’s written, it’s the shortest, the other two synoptic gospels, which is a fancy way of saying similar gospels, Matthew, and Luke, contain most of the material that Mark does, and follow a similar pattern for the story of Jesus life. So it assumed that they were aware of Mark when they were written. John of course comes later and has a totally different structure.  

It is traditionally seen as being written by John Mark. There is some speculation that John Mark was the young man mentioned in Mark 14:51-53, the original Streaker, who was in the garden of gethsemane when Jesus was arrested, and who when they tried to detain him ran away leaving his lined cloth behind him. We know Mark was part of the early church in Jerusalem, His mother Mary had a house there. That is  where Peter goes to join the community as they pray for him, after he is released from prison in Acts 12.  He is also identified with the Mark who Paul and Barnabas fall out over in Acts, Paul calls him Barnabas’ cousin in Colossians and later Paul asked for him to come to him in Rome.  In Rome he is thought to have also been with been with Peter and that his writing is a recounting of Peter’s eyewitness memories. It is to the church in Rome that Mark is believed to have originally written.

Dating these writing is always difficult and the matter of much debate. Scholars tend to agree that it was most probably written during or just after the time of Nero as emperor. The original apostles are being killed and so their accounts are important to preserve, but also to a church that was going through or had just gone through persecution it was important to remind them of Jesus himself and his own suffering, and how Jesus acted in response to persecution and descent, to remind them in a world where their was a clash of empire and the abuse of power that Jesus walked the way of sacrificial service and love.

As we move through the gospel there are significant changes in emphasis, it starts with Jesus public ministry declaring the kingdom of God is at hand, and demonstrating that through various actions and miracles, then it shifts to focus on how three distinct groups react to Jesus, the crowd, the disciples, and his opponents, primarily the religious leaders of the time. And asks How do we react to Jesus? Then Jesus focuses on teaching his disciples what it means for him to be king, he tells them of his death and resurrection three times and they don’t get it. Finally we have the climax of the story as Jesus enters Jerusalem is betrayed, suffers and is crucified. There is a prologue which tells of his resurrection. On your Mark…

Get set.

The open verse of Mark, Give us the setting for the whole gospel. In fact it is seen as being the title of the book. As the NIV translation puts it ‘The beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.’ Not all manuscripts contain Son of God. We might call it Mark’s gospel, but it is primarily from start to finish focused on Jesus and what it means that he is God’s chosen and anointed one, the Son of God. That is what we are to focus on as we read it.

The beginning really sort of stuck out to me as I read this verse. Not just because this is the start of the book, but because when you hear that it brings up the words of Genesis… in the beginning… while John uses those same words to speak of Jesus pre-existence, here that echo of genesis alerts us to the fact that in Jesus, God is doing something new. This is a new start, however as right after this opening verse we are taken back into scriptures of the Old Testament, to what we are told is a quote from Isaiah, but also contains a line from Exodus and possibly Malachi that this new thing is a continuation of what God has been doing. The story of God here is continuing.

But also the fact that we are talking of the beginning here of the good news of Jesus Christ  means that what is started here, the inbreaking of the kingdom of God into the realms of humanity, is also continuing, the good news of Jesus Christ, was continuing in the lives and times of mark’s original audience and it is continuing on to us today. We are part of the ongoing story of Jesus the Messiah. We are part of the Kingdom of God establishing itself in our world… today. He is good news for us as well.

Good News and the idea of messiah had significant meaning for people in Mark’s audience, for the Jews the word Good News was linked to the book of Isaiah and the promise of God restoring Israel. They had a picture of a messiah a saviour who would be a military and political leader who would establish them as the predominant world power. Mark’s gospel has some deep irony because while Jesus meets some of those expectations he shows that his messiahship is a different one, it overcomes power through embracing powerlessness, it focuses on freeing his people from slavery to sin and death, and overcoming, as Paul puts it in Romans, evil with good.

Likewise for the gentile audience in Rome, they would have cultural expectations when they hear good news, anointed one and even son of God, because the roman emperors would use this language to speak of themselves and their rule. Good news was used to celebrate emperor’s birthday, it was good news that this emperor reigned and even that they conquered you as it meant peace and prosperity. There is a great scene in Monty Python’s life of Brian, if I may be so bold, where the Jewish zealots are complaining about roman rule and ask the question what have the romans ever done for us! And after some thought an embarrassing long list of the positive impact of roman rule come out.  Roads, sanitation, aqueducts, wine… but still they finish with what have the romans ever done for us!

So Marks opening in the setting of Rome was quite political, it invites us to see the Good News of what the reign of king Jesus will look like. Again a rule that is not backed by military power and might, political intrigue but that is established on a roman cross, in service and love. Something that is as equally challenging and revolutionising in our world today. The good news of Jesus Christ invites us to stripe away our expectations as well to see Jesus the Messiah.

In this introduction we are also introduced to the title the Son of God, pointing to the divine nature of Jesus, his unique relationship with God. Mark’s gospel reads like a mystery novel, as while we are let in to this secret right at the beginning, right through out the gospel, it is only spiritual beings, demons and God himself who recognize Jesus as God’s son.  Jesus healing miracles, his authority to forgive sin, his mastery over nature, his feeding miracles, walking on the water, power over evil spirits point us to who Jesus is. Jesus is continually telling the spirts to be quite and for those he heals not to tell. It is not until the cross that we truly see Jesus, then the climax of the gospel (spoiler alert) is that a gentile roman soldier sees in Jesus death that surely this is the Son of God.  ON your Mark, get Set and finally

Go…or maybe you could say the Go to guy…

Unlike Luke and Matthew who start with Jesus birth and his whakapapa, and John who starts way back before the beginnings, Mark starts his gospel with John the Baptist. John, john Mark tells us, is the fulfilment of the prophesy in Isaiah of the one who will come before the Messiah, who will herald God’s coming to save his people. He acts as an Old Testament prophet. In Marks description of his attire, we are to see a similarity between John and Elijah, the one whom Israel expected as the messiahs herald. John acts as a prophet as well by calling the people to repentance. Both individually but as a nation to set themselves apart for what God was going to do. John baptized with water, but his call to repentance was because he believed that soon would come the one who baptized people with the very spirit of God. That call to repentance also seems to be a call away from the temple centered
Jewish faith, which he saw as corrupt. For the Jews it was significant that John was calling people to come out into the wilderness, as it was in the wilderness that God showed himself to the people and fashioned them into his people. We can actually find ourselves caught up in our own religious space as well and we need to hear John calling us out into the wilderness again… to freshly encounter Jesus. 

but there is a ‘Go’ here for us from our reading for our study of Mark’s gospel.  A Go to be ready and expect to meet God doing a new thing. A Go to meet the good news of Jesus the Messiah. A Go to adopt the correct posture for when we come to the gospel. Not simply settling for the way things are and have been, but being open to change, God doing a new thing. A Go to be about repenting, that is stopping from simply going our own way and to turn round and to seek the things of God. A Go of longing for and looking for God’s Kingdom as it breaks into the world. As it breaks into the world then and as it continues to break into our world today. A Go to look to examine our cultural understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ and allow Jesus to show us what it means afresh… A Go to follow Jesus in service and self-sacrificing love to walk the way of the cross. Are you ready for that… are you ready to encounter the good news of Jesus Christ and to walk the way of the cross… well…On your Mark, get set, go…

Submit to Oneanother (Ephesians 5:18-6:9)

 

a sermon from our winter series on Oneanothering: the spirit filled art of Christian community... you can hear a recording of this message here on the HopeWhangarei website   https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/June-25th-Submit-to-One-Another-Ephesians-518-69-Howard-Carter-e2658gh/a-aa20s1q 

Submit yourselves to one another because of your reverence for Jesus Christ is a difficult saying. This idea of submission does not fit well with our modern western worldview. Our emphasis is on personal rights, striving for, securing and maintaining social status. Also we have a lot less hierarchical structure, how we see women, marriage and work is radically different than the first century roman world.

Part of our disease with this imperative is that sadly for much of two millennia the church has applied it exclusively to those who occupy traditionally subordinate positions in society and has failed to apply it to those who hold the traditionally dominant ones. We’ve missed the mutual part. Karl Marx’s criticism that religion is the opium of the masses, keeping them in their place, placid and pliable, reflects that historical imbalance.

We’ve seen the misuse of the wider passage in action. Affirming overbearing and even violent husbands and fathers and encouraging wives and children to stay in those abusive situations. It’s been used to affirm slavery, of course we can’t look at slavery without the North American and English experience and its connection to racism. Recently we’ve also seen and heard of fresh excess and abuses of power by Christian leaders, and ordinary church members silenced, or worse open to being abused, by being told to honour and respect their leaders in an unhealthy way.

Our winter sermon series this year is called ‘One Anothering: The Spirit filled art of Christian Community’ we are exploring Jesus new commandment to love one another as I have loved you by looking at twelve  ‘one another’ sayings in the New Testament Epistles. Seeing how Jesus inspirational and aspirational command works itself out in everyday life, it practical terms. Submit to one another takes that Christ like love and applies it to relationships where power and authority are involved. The early church was a radical place where that sense of love and unity crossed all the social barriers of the day… men and women, jew and gentile, Greek and barbarian, free and slave it was the only place they meet as equals one of the questions that would have been upper most in peoples minds was how, when we have equal access to God, when we are all saved by Christ, when we are all filled with the Holy Spirit, when we are brothers and sisters, do we live that out in our very ordered, patriarchal world. Paul’s answer is ‘submit to one another’ because of reverence for Jesus Christ. It is an ethic here Christ and his example and his self-sacrificing love for us that shows the way. And you know what that Love revolutionizes and transforms those relationships.

Let’s look at this saying.

Paul starts his letter to the Ephesians by speaking of Jesus being exalted at the right hand of the father and pouring out every spiritual blessing on his people. Saving us setting us free, giving us new and eternal life, drawing us into a new people together, then he turns and brings that down to earth to show in the light of what God has done for us, how we should live and how the church should manifest both unity and purity in all relationships. The section where we had our bible reading today starts way back in Ephesians 5:1 with Paul saying “Since you are God’s dear children you must try to be like him. Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.” What follows is an out working of that.

In verse 18 where our reading started Paul charges his readers to not keep charging their glasses and get drunk on wine but rather to be filled and keep on being filled with the Spirit. He contrasts being filled with the spirit with drunkenness which only leads to ruin. It may make people happy and cheerful, but it also contributes to the breakdown of social order and has negative impact on close relationships. Rather says Paul being filled with the Spirit fills us with Joy, which is expressed in speaking to one another in a way that builds up, with words of psalms, hymns and sacred songs. Joy, that comes out in singing praises from our hearts. There is something wonderful and special about congregational singing that allows us to express our thanks and praise to God, it calls us to act in unison and harmony. Paul goes on to speak of having a spirit of gratefulness, always giving thanks to God. Being filled with the spirit is far superior deeper and richer than any chemical induced buzz. Submit one to another out of reverence to Christ finishes off that list, by showing that spirit filled life shows itself in social cohesion and right relationship.

With all the talk of music and singing in this section it gives us a good metaphor to think about submitting to one another. For songs and music to happen and make sense everyone needs to play their part, to defer to others or to take lead roles, to take direction from a lead or conductor and be willing to step back and play a lesser role for the overall good. It takes discipline and deference. If that does not happen, then instead of music all we have is competing noise. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 13 without love even all our wonderful words are just like a clanging symbol, a loud obnoxious noise.

This brings us to look at what submit to one another out of reverence to Jesus Christ itself. Submitting says Mark Roberts simply involves placing ourselves under someone else in a structured relationship.  Without that structure things cannot get done, it is how we fit together as a group. What revolutionises it is that we do this not because of social expectations or norms but rather because of Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ as our example in servant leadership, and in obeying Jesus’ teaching. In roman society the emperor kept order on a wider level and the expectation was that in a household, the head of that household, predominantly a male would keep everyone in line as well. However, as we will see when Paul applies it to the Roman Household Code it changes it completely. The person without status and power is empowered to show their love of Christ by the way they act in that relationship and the person in the power position is reminded of things like Jesus talking to his disciples after a discussion of who would be the greatest, told them, don’t be like the gentiles who lord it over each other rather if you want to be great learn to be the servant of all.

Let me share an example a quite fresh example of what I mean with you. You may have noticed the  fashion accessory I’ve got on my leg. My moon boot. It’s there to correct a twisting of my foot caused by long term diabetes. I dreaded having to wear it, I’ve got to wear it for six weeks. I could simply not wear it, but that wouldn’t be good for me.  It gave me a chance to think about submitting to one another. Shane Jansen is the health professional at the hospital who is the expert in orthotics. He noticed what was happening to my right foot and passed it on the orthopedic surgeon and my podiatrist. I had to go up and submit myself to Shane’s care and professional expertise. Trusting that he knew what he was doing…As I got there and Shane went to work I knew he did, but I noticed him down on his hands and knees working at making sure my foot was comfortable and padded and that nothing rubbed and I wasn’t too unbalanced when I walked, I couldn’t help but think it reflected Jesus washing the disciples feet  in his leadership role Shane acting like a servant, for the good of the other person, showing love and care. When I asked Shane if I could use that illustration he said he always sees his Job as being a servant and serving his clients. He’s not here today because he's got a bad head cold, not because I’m speaking about him.

We are blessed because Paul does not simply stop with the command to submit to one another he goes on to give some very practical outworking in the basic relationships at the heart of roman society. He applies it to the Roman household code. In Roman Society the emperor kept order on a wider scale and at an almost cellular level as an outworking of that household were to be kept in order by the head of the household usually a male, who was a husband, father and if they were wealthy a salve owner. So when you read through this section you could see some people really could feel picked on. It was a very structured and hierarchical structure. Often what people have done is say that the roman household code is what the bible says a family structure should be, its God ordained. I’ve heard lots of teaching that emphasizes the structure and order rather than the mutual submission. Of course, it gets hard because you have to say that culture has changed and the last section on slaves and masters applies note to employees and employers, and the principals do. That household code has more to do with culture and can be found in writings like Aristotle more than just in scripture. I think our ideal of marriage as a partnership between two equals, a man and a woman, is more in line with scripture. This passage and when Jesus speaks of marriage they quote Genesis that a man will leave his family and cleave to his wife and the two will become one flesh, that is at the heart of God’s ideal for marriage. That form the right basis for raising a fmaily Mutual submission love and respect apply to that cultural understanding equally. We don’t have time in this sermon to dive into the intricacies of each of these relationships, but I want to highlight some things that reflect that mutual submission as love one another as I have loved you in relationships where there is power.

This by the way would have been a radical teaching in Paul’s day. You would have of heard a lot of gasps when it was read out. Firstly in all three relationships that make up the roman household Paul addresses the people with the least power. The wife, children and slaves. They could not normally be addressed. He turns what was just a socially accepted position into a act of worship and service to Christ. These people now become their own moral agents able where they are to be examples of Christ like love. Modern leadership theory talks of leading where you are or 360 degrees leadership. Where you show leadership and excellence in what ever position you are in. here wives, children and slaves are called to show their Christian faith in how they fulfil the situation they are in.

Secondly, they are given incentives and encouraged in what they do. Wives are told of Christ’s headship over the church, which in Ephesians 4 Paul had said resulted in the church growing up into all maturity and lacking nothing. Children are told that obeying and honoring parents has a reward of a long life in the land. As an aside I know many of you are still wrestling with honoring your parents and it I a life long thing, as you are know taking up the role of caring for them in your old age. Many of you parents are having to learn a new way of submitting by allowing them to make decisions and help care for you. To salves Paul speaks of reward, slaves seldom if ever benefited from their labors and service, but not in Christ this submission and showing Christ like love in the way they worked was seen as service to Jesus would be acknowledged and rewarded when their true master returns.

Thirdly, the people in positions of authority rather than being instructed to keep order are called to show love and care. To sacrificially serve those in lower positions. Husbands love you wives, as Christ has loved the church… he gave his life for them, for us. He does not abuse, neglect, put down, the church, but builds it up and is one with the church. Remember Jesus prayer father make them one as you and I are one. Fathers were told not to exacerbate their children. To treat them in a kind considerate and caring manner, to invest time and energy into them and also to serve them by teaching them the way of the Lord. That by the way is by example as much as it is by way of education. Slave owners while not being told to emancipate their slaves, one commentator said for Paul to think of a world without slavery was like us conceiving of a world without electricity, But they were to treat them with care, not only not abusing them but making sure they have all they need. It is interesting we have in scripture the example of Philemon and Onesimus as owner and salve and how that relationship was to be worked out. Philemon is called to forgive Onesimus for running away, accept him as a brother and be willing to send him to continue serving with Paul. In Corinthians, Paul has to remind the church when they get together for meals not to simply dive in and eat everything but to wait for the slaves who could only get their once they had completed their work. What was radical was for slave owners to remember they themselves had a master in heaven who did not show favoritism. Who say everyone as equal. If you are in a position of leadership or authority says Paul you need to be a servant as Christ is a servant.  

Gerald Sittser uses a wonderful illustration in his chapter on this one another saying, I’ve used it before but I know you won’ mind. He and his wife love watching old movies, particularly musical. They loved watching the mesmerizing, magical dance routines of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. Dances that were filled with such grace. In an interview with Ginger Rodgers after Fred death she said he was so good that he never seemed to be leading and her following. There was a seamlessness, an elegance, as if two people were dancing as one.  You could see the car they had for each other and the love of the dance. When we submit to one another out of reverence for Jesus Christ even when there are leaders and followers it becomes about the grace and the love of Christ.

Bear one another's Burdens (Galatians 6:2-5)

I haven't uploaded a sermon to my blog for a period of time. but have decided that i should restart... so here is one from a winter series in 2023 called Oneanothering: the art of Christian Community . 

If you want to hear it... here is a link to the recording of the sermon from the HopeWhangarei website... of course in preaching live it varies a bit from the script.  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hope-whangarei/episodes/13-8-23-Howard-Carter---Bear-one-anothers-burdens-e28ri62/a-aaae171 

 One of my earliest musical memories as a child is hearing the Hollies 1969 song “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”, it was recorded and released the same year by Neil Diamond. All I remember is the haunting mouth organ introduction and that line “he ain’t heavy he’s my brother’ and as I started to prepare this message for today on ‘bear one another’s burdens’, it ended up on repeat on the playlist in my head. “ He Ain’t heavy He’s my brother”…

 The song was written by two men, Bobby Scott and Bob Russell, who only meet three times and composed the song. It was quite poignant as Bob Russell had terminal lymphoma and died six months after it was released.

 But the line ‘he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother’ has a deeper origin. father Steven Boes writes… 

 ‘Back in 1918, a boy named Howard Loomis was abandoned by his mother at Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys, which had opened just a year earlier. Howard had polio and wore heavy leg braces. Walking was difficult for him, especially when he had to go up or down steps. Soon, several of the Home’s older boys were carrying Howard up and down the stairs. One day, Father Flanagan asked Reuben Granger, one of those older boys, if carrying Howard was hard. Reuben replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s m’ brother.”’ 

 In 1947 Flanagan saw a photo of a child being carried by his brother in a magazine with that same caption under it and wrote asking to use the photo and the slogan for the basis of his growing organizations logo. …that was Boystown… ‘he ain’t heavy he’s my brother’ Let us bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will obey the law of Christ.’ 

 Our winter sermon series this year is called ‘One Anothering: The Spirit filled art of Christian Community’ and we are exploring Jesus new commandment to love one another as I have loved you by looking at twelve ‘one another’ sayings in the New Testament Epistles. Seeing how Jesus inspirational and aspirational command works itself out in everyday life, in practical terms. Bear one another burden’s and fulfilling the law of Christ for me picks up Jesus teaching in the sermon on the mount about going the extra mile… Jews could be made to carry the pack of a occupying roman soldier for a kilometer, a task that was onerous and seen as the epitome of oppression, we can push you around like a salve or a beast of burden, but said Jesus show love even to your enemies by carrying it an extra K. As the passage we had read finishes with this morning we should not get tired of doing good to others and especially to our fellow believers… part of that is bearing one another burdens. 

 Let have a look at this exhortation in its context in the book of Galatians. Then at what it means and some practical thoughts about how we live it out. 

 Paul was writing to a church struggling with a controversy over whether gentile believers needed to obey the Jewish law to be Christians. Paul writes to remind the believers that it is through the life death and resurrection of Jesus that we have been put right with God, not by the law. His teaching is summed up in Galatians 5:6 where he says ‘for when we are in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.” Then Paul had gone on to defend himself against allegations that without the law it would lead believers to simply fall back into appeasing the desires of their old self. Paul counters that by calling the believers not to focus on their own wants but the needs of others, to serve one another, in doing that they were fulfilling the spirit of the law, by loving their neighbour as themselves. 

 He then goes on to point the believers to walking in step with the spirit is the way to avoid falling into simply focusing on our own desires, as we walk in step with the spirit says Paul it will lead to us developing this glittering list of virtues. Things we call the fruit of the Holy Spirit… love, Joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

 Then in chapter six grounds Paul those virtues with what Richard Longnecker calls ‘a loose collection of exhortations’ concrete terms of what it means to walk in the spirit as opposed to the law, practical ways those fruit of the spirit are used in everyday relationships. Our family loves cherries, Christmas for us is not Christmas with out a box of cherries of four on the table. In Rotorua we had a cherry tree in our yard, but it was an ornamental cherry tree, beautiful red cherry berries, but as I discovered they were totally bitter and sour and inedible, real cherries are designed for the sweetness and taste to be eaten and shared. Paul shows how those fruit of the spirit are not just to look nice on the tree but to be shared and consumed in relationships in the Christian community. . One resource I looked at recently defined discipleship as spending time with Jesus, to become like Jesus and do the things Jesus did’… 

 Paul's list contain negative exhortations, ways we shouldn’t act… with the focus on who we are our own importance and in then positive exhortations restoring those who are trapped in sin, bearing burdens, even carrying our own load, and not becoming tired in sowing good seed, which of course is the purpose of fruit to reproduce, and doing good. James Dunne in his commentary says that the spirit lead life leads us to be sympathetic to others and self-critical at the same time… self-aware of our own need for forgiveness and transformation… 

 The exhortation we are focusing on today from that list is bear one another burdens. In his Book Love One Another Gerald Stittser defines burden bearing as like comforting, it is a command that helps us deal with people who want to progress on the journey of faith but for some reason find it difficult’. There is some debate as to what is meant by burden but really that burden can mean anything that is oppressive and a hinderance to the other persons progress. Stitter asserts that modern phycology has the unwanted side effect of making people perpetual victims, that they will not find healing and wholeness, but our faith is in Jesus to be able to bring his healing and wholeness. A great example of what this might look like comes from that nameless group of friends in the gospels who bring their crippled friend to Jesus. Lowering him down through the roof of an overcrowded house. They carry him, they work at getting around the obstacles between their friend and Jesus, they use their skills and talents, ingenuity and imagination, determination and even their cheekiness, and their faith to see their friend encounter Jesus and come to a place of wholeness. Mind you sometimes we will need to help carry that burden for a long time, maybe even a lifetime… 

 Carrying burdens can be messy, the passage connects this exhortation to the one that went before, restoring those entrapment in sin and its consequences, helping them untangle from that web. Those who may be led off the path of following Christ, or who are actively hurting other people in the community. Paul says the person in tune with the spirit, will focus on gently leading them back, restoring them to right relationship with God and with their fellow believers. Gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and it is applied in this situation. Gentleness comes from the same word as meek, as being focused on the common good and not being distracted or put off that by any slight or injury. 

 Paul also warns us again that the life in tune with the spirit means we stay aware of the trap of sin that has tripped up the person we are working to restore. Perhaps remembering that experience with the ornamental cherry tree, when you are dealing with someone trapped in bitterness and resentment, it is easy to find yourself not caught up with the same feelings when you hear painful stories of wrongs that have been done and you can lose sight of grace and forgiveness. carrying others burdens can mean a sharing in that sort of pain and a walking through it to Jesus.

 Bearing one another’s burdens does not mean that we dump stuff on each other. You may have found it interesting to note that a couple of verse after Paul talks of carrying one another’s burdens that he tells the Galatians to carry their own load. While the words are similar in meaning. Burdens speaks of an over oppressive situation whereas load talks of the everyday humdrum demands and weight of life. The context of load here speaks very much of finances. So someone might need to have help as they work their ay our of crippling debt, but the expectation is that as much as they can they are to be able to look after caring for themselves. In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul has to tell believers there who were expecting Jesus imminent return so had stopped working and sold everything they had, and just waited round looking at the sky, to not be a burden on the Christian community but if they don’t work they don’t eat. The emphasis on financial help and loads does carry on here as it links what Paul is saying with the next verse which kind of seems like it does not fit… to share from the good we have received with those who teach the word. It is one of the earliest pieces of evidence of a developing dedicated professional teacher in the Christian church. Paul saw that as a proper and important development, even though his own practise was to support himself in ministry. 

 We need to be aware that we can get tired in carrying one another’s burdens, and in doing Good, and Paul warns against that. How do we keep ourselves from getting tired of doing Good. To help others requires that we keep our tanks full, we do the things that keep us us, we cultivate those. We look after our wellbeing, we rest, we sabbath and take holidays. We need a balance in our lives of the things that build us up and relationships where we need to be doing the carrying and building up. Carrying burdens is also a team sport, and we often think Paul is writing to us as individuals we have what I call You sing itis… we read you in the bible with as second person singular verbs not as corporate verbs… one another means that we are all involved as much as we can in the burden carrying. 

 The last thing I want to say about carrying one another’s burdens is that one of the things that often stops burdens from being carried is that most kiwi of reactions (note to international readers here Kiwi is how we New Zealanders refer to ourselves) … ‘ Oh I don’t want to be a burden’… scripture exhorts us to help one another. The most amazing thing I’ve seen in this church is when there is a ned that is expressed there are people who come to the fore and help meet those needs are carry those burdens. Remember you aren’t heavy you’re a brother, you ain’t heavy you’re a sister in Christ. 

 I started this message by talking about the song 'he ain’t heavy he’s my brother' and I want to finish by quoting some of the lyrics… …

 If I'm laden at all I'm laden with sadness 

That everyone's heart

 Isn't filled with the gladness 

Of love for one another 

 But they don’t get the last word… Jesus does… We know the gladness of being loved, so should love one another, we know what it is to have our burden carried, as Jesus invited us to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So let us carry one another’s burdens and in that fulfil the law of Christ."