The Lord your God is with you wherever you go

With you wherever you go - our final worship

We had had very little time at all to get together to plan the final worship ... but in the wonderful way that happens in worship the music, the prayers, the readings came together and there was a very real sense of the Spirit's presence with us.

We had in the Bible lectures been walking the road to Emmaus.  In one of my workshops I had explored the connections between the history of art and the history of the interpretation of the Bible.  I had been using and looking at Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus.

In a workshop part of the worship we asked the two questions Jesus asked of the expert in the law of the painting by Caravaggio.  What is written there?  What do you read there?

We then went on to discover that Caravaggio had painted another painting of the same story.

Why should this be so much darker?

Between the two paintings something had happened.

Caravaggio had been involved in a duel, killed a man and was on the run.  The two paintings had been brought together in a wonderful exhibition at the National Gallery in London, the Last Years of Caravaggio.  As with the other paintings of that period they are dark because he is a haunted, hunted man ... and he is aware of it.

 

We reflected on the way that stories from the Bible can speak to us at different times in different ways and how they speak into the circumstances we find ourselves in wherever we may be.  God really is with us in his word wherever we go.

A wonderful song invited us to touch Jesus - in just the way the later of the two pictures seems to invite us to take hold of the hands of the two friends and become part of the circle with Jesus himself.

I then shared some final thoughts in what I had been invited to think of as a charge, a challenge to all on the way home.

I recapped the three Bible lectures.    In the conversation with the Lawyer in Luke 10 Jesus reminds us of the importance not only of what is written in the Torah but also of what we read there.  And in a story that is effectively a midrash, a commnetary on the whole of the Torah, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we realise that there are no limits to who is our neighbour.

In the second lecture we went on to see how those two questions can be asked of the Prophets.  And we explored the way Jesus fulfils the Prophets by taking up the mantle of the prophets and taking to heart all they say it takes to be King in the Kingdom of God.

As Pentecost people the mantle is passed on to us and young and old, women and men are empowered by the Spirit to share that prophetic message.

Take up the mangle and discover the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

In the third of our Bible Lectures we made connections between the writings and Jesus and discovered that indeed in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses those very questions to invite us to take seriously all that is written in the Law, the Prophets and by implication the Writings, but at the same time to be open to read what is there.  Do to others as you would others do to you is after all the whole of the Law and the Prophets.

The résumé over, I took up the final part of the story of what happened that first Resurrection evening.

Having taken the broiled fish and having opened the Scriptures to them, Jesus shares his last words with the disciples.  It is as if he sums up the whole of the Gospel

He speaks of himself as the Messiah, but not the all-conquering Joshua figure the two had pinned their hopes on but rather one that would suffer and rise from the dead.

Now repentance is to be proclaimed to all the nations.  But what is repentance?  Not just saying sorry, not just making a new start.  Metanoiew the Greek words brings together the little word 'meta' which in the word metanarrative speaks of looking at a narrative that holds everything together.  Metanoia, repentance, involves a whole new way of thinking of the world.  A very different way of being kingdom from the one in practice under the Romans and envisaged by those who would want a military insurrection against Rome.

Linked with such a whole new way of thinking of the world is the primary place of forgiveness.  Forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed not just to individuals but to nations as well.   Never let it be said that Jesus does not challenge the powers to be of his time and want us to do the same today!

Just beyond the car park of the hotel we had come across a wonderful art installation.  

TypecastRecast was an invitation to a whole new way of thinking.

It was about rebuilding what was old.

It was about gathering together in community

And I just had to take this picture of an American Robin - a faithful friend on our walks around Omaha!

This celebrates the ordinary people who make a diffence in community.

And a reminder of the great significance of water to us all - but how different is its accessibility

And over those Grand Union railway tracks the side of the hotel and a new wall - talking of the divides maybe that need to be overcome.

But the final piece was the most wonderful.

Never forget were the first words we came to.

And then on the other side, Always forgive

It may sometimes be important to forgive and forget. But often things cannot and should not be forgotten.  But forgiveness is still the key.

Never Forget

Always Forgive.

Along with a whole new way of thinking of the world forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all the nations.

And so where can we begin?

Those two and the disciples had to begin where they were.

And so do we.

The meetings have been addressing big change in the NACCC.  This does not mark the end of the process but the beginning.  It starts here.

The whole new thinking about the world, the message of forgiveness is shared by those who are witnessses - we all must pass it on.

But so too the things that have come out of these few days, the way we have been touched, the changes that have happened can make a difference if everyone is willing to talk about them.

And the sad reality is that none of us can rise to the task.

In our own strength.

But the good news is that we have a strength to draw on from beyond ourselves, a power from on high.

We too are Pentecost people who can draw on the strength, unseen and yet so real, of the power of God in the Holy Spirit.

The Lord your God, our Father,

the Lord your God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

the Lord your God, the Holy Spirit in all its power and strength

is with you wherever you go!

Omaha

And so our time in Omaha has very nearly come to an end.

It's been a great time!

It feels as if we have done the history of the USA through the eyes of a single city!

We have seen the Omaha people's children telling the story of the indigeneous American people through dance and song and story telling in a remarkable children's theatre!  How moving!

We have been to the Union station and seen where the Union Pacific railroad began as the transcontinental railroad was completed and the offices of the railroad today.

We have done a fraction of the Lewis and Clark trail and seen the story of the first explorers who opened up the west.

We have followed in the footsteps of the pioneers and their wagon trails into the Great Plains ... and seen how that trail led to the birds flying free only to be help captive in a gilded cage belonging to a bank!

We have done a bridge telling the story of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement.

We have crossed the Missouri, the longest river in the USA, and walked from Nebraska to Iowa.

And we have traced the story of the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower right up to today and beyond as we have shared in the NACCC annual meetings and conference.

Yesterday began with the third and last of my Bible lectures, looking at the way the third part of the Old Testament, the writings, can be read through the eyes of Jesus.

My Bible lectures have offered a way of reading the difficult bits of the Bible and especially the Old Testament by looking at it using the strategy Jesus shared with his closest friends and followers on the Road to Emmaus on the day of resurrection.

We then took time out and visited the Joslyn Museum and Art gallery with its wonderful galleries of American art.

We went round to look at what had originally been built as Nebraska's Capitol building on Capitol hill but has now been a High School for more than a hundred years.

That was great for me as I have been reading an Omaha based novel while we have been here and managed to finish it last night.  Omaha gold tells the story of Abraham Lincoln and the founding of the Union Pacific railroad here in Omaha in the 1860's and weaves it in with the story of the discovery of a box in the mud of the Missouri by a student from the high school.  A thriller that has at its heart the journalism of the Omaha World Herald newspaper [slogan:  A Free People A Free Press].  A great read which I managed to finish late last night ... or was it early this morning?

We watched the final half hour of the USA game in the Spaghetti works and were sad to see them lose after a gallant effort that took them into extra time.

It was then round to the Urban Abbey for a coffee and to pick up a couple of books, in particular the latest Walter Breuggemann, Reality, Grief Hope - three urgent prophetic tasks.

Back to the conference for the final act of worship - which I will record in a separate blog.

Then burning the midnight oil talking ICF and plans for the future with Sharon and friends, and meeting up with Doug Gray.  His grandfather, Henry David Gray, had been a good friend to my father and he had met my mother at one of the ICF events.  Great conversation around the impact of the internet age on ways of being church -- watch this space!

It was somehow a great way to finish the weekend with our friends from the NACCC - Felicity and I have known folk from the NACCC for as long as I can remember.   The Congregational Federation is a small famkily of churches stretching across the UK; likewise, the NACCC is a small family of churches stetching across the USA.  We share the same story.  We are very much part of the same extended family of churches within the much greater family of Christ's church.

So it has been good to share!

Bible lecture 3 With you wherever you go to the end of the age

Bible Lecture 3

With us on the way to the end of the age

Matthew 5:3-12 and 43-48

It had been a long night … but what a night!

They thought they had known their Bible.  They had been so sure Jesus was the One, another Joshua, a prophet mighty in deed and word to overthrow the Romans and to set Israel free.  And with his death their hopes had been dashed.

They had heard him countless times before, they had seen him at work, they knew deep down in their hearts he was the One.  And yet they had not got it.

The conversations he had with them, all he said as they walked the long walk home had been wonderful, their hearts were burning within them as they walked and talked on the road –

Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

It’s not just what’s written there … it’s what you read there … and the heart of the matter Love for God, Love for neighbour – and no limits to who your neighbour is!

It had been so memorable; an approach that opened what had been a closed book to them before – he had indeed opened the Scriptures to them.

And then in the breaking of bread they knew it was him, Jesus, risen – his reading of the Scriptures vindicated.

It had been so exciting the walk back to Jerusalem took no time at all, but the evening was not over.

Peace be with you – he was there with them – not just bread this time, but a piece of broiled fish.  And more of the same, so much more – this time with all the others too.

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.

They could see it now – a whole new way of looking at the world - and it’s there in the Prophets – As Prophets speak truth to power and Kings endeavour to rule – this is what it takes to rule in God’s way, to be King in the Kingdom of heaven –

Bring good news to the oppressed,

Bind up the broken-hearted,

Liberty to the captives,

Release to the prisoners

With righteousness, with justice he shall judge the poor

And decide with equity for the meek of the earth

Righteousness, justice shall be the belt around his waist.

It was wonderful the way he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

All of the Scriptures!

Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled!

Something happened that was very special on that resurrection day.  It’s something that shaped the way those people read the Scriptures.   Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.  And that way of understanding the Scriptures, their Bible, what we think of as the Old Testament shaped the way those people went on to read the Scriptures we think of as the Old Testament.

Read on into Acts and the Letters and you will find the preaching and the teaching of those very people and their close friends recorded – the way it draws on a particular way of reading the Hebrew Scriptures bears the imprint of Jesus.  Read back into the Gospels and again you will find that they have a way of reading the Scriptures that’s not simply the inspiration of the first followers of Jesus, the Gospel writers and so on but owes so much to the insights of Jesus as well.

How do we read the Old Testament?

To read the Scriptures of the Old Testament how important it is for us to seek out the strategy Jesus adopted in reading those Scriptures.

Think back to our first Bible Lecture.  Remember the questions Jesus asked of the expert in the Law.

What is written in the Law?

What do you read there?

Remember the response Jesus accepted.

Love God

Love your neighbour

Remember the Midrash Jesus gave on what is written in the law, the story we think of as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and we must realise that we can put no limits on who our neighbour is!

Think back to our second Bible Study and the way we asked those same two questions this time of the Prophets …

What is written in the Prophets?

What do you read there?

Remember the prophets hold the powers that be to account and show what it takes to rule in God’s way in God’s kingdom –righteousness and justice, good news to the poor, release to the captive.

As Pentecost people who are called to take on the mantle of that prophetic role Jesus fulfilled we have the presence within us, guiding and enriching us of the very Spirit that was the inspiration of those first followers of Jesus, the writers of the Scriptures.  We need to cultivate the art not just of studying all that is written there, but actively seeking the guidance of Jesus and the inspiration of the Spirit that inspired those first writers in seeking out what we read there – what the nub of the matter is.

From Luke and Mark, today we turn to Matthew.

Pause for a moment and ask people to turn to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:3-10, 43-45, 7:12 and what this is saying to us.

The Hebrew Scriptures are known as the Tanakh – that’s simply an acronymn

T stands for Torah – the Law

N stands for Nevi’im  - the Prophets

K stands for Ketuvim – the Writings

There are influences at play in the teachings of Jesus and the Gospels in the third part of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Writings.

Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles and in the style of apocalyptic writing Daniel too address questions of identity.

God so loved the world that he gave his only son that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life is itself almost a commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah and 1 and 2 Chronicles

When Jesus says the Son of Man came note to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many, you cannot help but feel he has partly in mind Daniel’s talk of a Son of Man.

There’s great poetry and wisdom in the writings too.

Read through the Sermon on the Mount and it has the feel of the poetry and the wisdom of the third part of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Writings – Job, Psalms, ProverbsProverbs, Ecclesiastes

There’s the feel of the poetry of the psalms

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

‘Ask, and it will be given to you;

seek, and you will find;

knock, and the door will be opened for you.

For everyone who asks receives,

and everyone who searches finds,

and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

There’s the wisdom of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job –

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.

Today’s trouble is enough for today.

There’s the prayerfulness of the Psalms – even in that moment of agony –

My God, My God why have you forsaken me?     Psalm 22.

How do you get from Psalm 22 and its desolation to the glory of Psalm 24 –

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,

The world and those who live in it

Who is the king of glory?

The Lord of Hosts,

He is the King of glory

You have to pass through Psalm 23   

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

He leadeth me beside the still waters,

He restoreth my soul

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness / justice for his name’s sake

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil for thou art with me

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me

How that imagery of the shepherd resonates through the teaching of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

There’s a real sense of form in the writings that make up this final part of the Hebrew Scriptures

There are five books of Psalms – look carefully and each book ends with a wonderful acclamation of praise and glory to God, a doxology

1-41                 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!

42-72               Blessed be his glorious name forever

73-89               Blessed be the Lord forever.

90-106             Blessed be the Lord God of Israel

107-150           Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!

There are five books in the Megilloth, the five little books that are read by Jewish people at the great festivals of the Jewish year

Ruth                            Pentecost

Song of Solomon        Passover

Ecclesiastes                 Feast of Tabernacles

Lamentations              Commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem

Esther                          Feast of Purim

The craft of Hebrew Poetry is nowhere seen more clearly than in the Book of Lamentations.

Five chapters –

Chapter 1 22 verses

Chapter 2 22 verses

Chapter 3 66 verses

Chapter 4 22 verses

Chapter 5 22 verses

Why 22 verses?   There are 22 verses in the Hebrew alphabet.  It is structured around the acrostic – each verse starting with consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Bleak, awful – lament at destruction

It follows a pattern used in the Middle East.

Whereas our western way of thinking tends to think logically – the argument works through from point 1 to 4 and reaches its conclusion at 5 – and that is the point of it all.

In the Middle East there is a pattern – called chiasmus.

Whereby the middle part is most important.

In all the bleakness of Lamentations look to the middle chapter.

Chapter 3

And then to the middle bits of that chapter and what do you find?

19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness

   is wormwood and gall!

20 My soul continually thinks of it

   and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind,

   and therefore I have hope:

[25]      22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

   his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

   great is your faithfulness.

24 ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,

   ‘therefore I will hope in him.’

The inspiration of one of the greatest hymns – Great is thy faithfulness –

What tremendous hope.

And what do you find in Matthew’s gospel?

That same sense of structure.

The clue to Matthew is at the very end as Jesus commissions the disciples …

Make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

How can you do that?  You need a compendium of the teaching of Jesus.  And that’s what Matthew collates together.

His gospel is structured around five sets of teaching

5-7       The Sermon on the mount beginning with those great blessings and ending with three parables of choice

23,25   Jesus’ final sermon – beginning with woes and ending with three parables of choice

            Commissioning of the twelve

18        What it takes to be the church

And in the middle 13 – a chapter of parables – teaching on the Kingdom of heaven – the heart of that message taken up by John the Baptist

Repent, have a whole new way of looking at the world, for the kingdom of heaven has come near

The very message of Jesus

Repent – have a whole new way of looking at the world – for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

So what is this kingdom of heaven like?

That’s what the whole book is about, not least the Sermon on the Mount.

It starts not so much with words of comfort as with a call to action.

Elias Chacour is a Christian a leader of the church in the Holy Land – he is an Arab – and he makes the observation that in the language of Jesus, Aramaic, which has come down through the centuries the word that is translated here as blessed is a much more pro-active word – he suggests translating it …. Get up, go ahead, do something, move.  Try it and the Beatitudes become a call to action in the work of the kingdom!

Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice,

for you shall be satisfied.

Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers,

for you shall be called children of God.

The whole sermon on the Mount finishes with a rousing call to action – we must not only hear the words of Jesus but act on them and be like that wise man who built his house on the rock.

Here, right at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, those two questions are more than hinted at.

You can almost hearing him asking, those two questions What is written in the Law, the Prophets and the writings?

He makes it absolutely clear that he values all that is written there …

17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

But equally, he makes it clear that what’s important is what you read there and so you can almost hear him asking the second of those two questions: what do you read there?  In chapter 5 it is as if he unpacks what it means to Love your Neighbour.

Six times Jesus says, You have heard that it was said … but I say to you.

In Chapter 6 through to the first part of chapter 7 Jesus explores what it takes to Love God.

And then he comes to the point at which he wants to sum up what you read in the Law and the Prophets, and by implication in the writings, in the whole of the Scriptures …

Chapter 7 verse 12 says it all.

In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

Just the same thought we have met before.

What is written in the law and the prophets takes up 947 pages in my Bible.

What do you read there amounts to this – in everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

Bearing this remarkable insight in mind I want to introduce a tool I have found really useful in reading the Old Testament

The time cone.

It is based on the ‘double cone’ which has been used to describe the relationship of space and time.  The central point where the two cones meet is the present moment in one place.  All that comes into the left hand cone is the past which leads up to that moment; all that is in the right hand cone is the future which is affected by that moment.

Outside the cone are events which cannot affect or be affected by the present moment – that is, other things which happen at exactly the same time.

As we meet together in this hall – where the two cones meet is this moment, now.

To the left is all that’s past – all that has happened to make you the person you are today.

This is a precious moment -

We don’t know all that’s to come – but we can be sure all that is past, this moment too will help to shape what’s to come.

You could think of a significant moment in your life – think of a joyous moment – a day when something special happened –

Think of that moment at the point of intersection – and then think of the things that led up to that moment – and then think of the things you can put into the right hand cone that have been shaped by that moment.

You might think of this moment in the story of the NACCC the whole history of Congregationalism is past, the more recent history through the 50's and 60's, the most recent period of planning for change, the decisions taken this weekend: all now in the past.  And then think of what's to come.

And in a year time the intersection, the 'now' will be a year on - see how much has come to pass!

For Bible study we are going to put the life, death and resurrection of Jesus at the point at which the two cones intersect.

In a sense beyond the scale to the left is Creation – in the beginning.  And to the right beyond the scale is Glory – the new heaven and the new earth.

We are located over here

The Law – the Prophets – the writings – make up are over here – and all went to shape Jesus.

The Gospels, Acts, Letters Revelation – came afterwards then you can see 2000 years of history – and then it’s us – and then the future goes on.

There is an immediacy about the Bible which means it can often speak to us in wonderful ways immediately.

But often the Bible is a puzzle.

At that point get the time cone out!

A gospel quote – has behind it Christ – and the whole of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.

A quote from Joshua, Judges – remember all that has come since, especially remember Jesus – and take him into account.

How has Jesus brought all that that passage is a part of to the point of fulfilment – and now what must I be doing in the light of what has happened since as well?

Let me take one example.

I want to go back to the second Sunday in September a number of years ago.

We were following some lectionary readings.

In our evening service we read together a Psalm

The Psalms are in the Writings and so, using the time cone we need to locate the Psalm – [click click]

The Psalm of the day was Psalm 139.  It is one of my all time favourite Psalms.

I grew up chanting Psalms at church – so many a song and a hymn and a sermon inspired by these wonderful words.

But the hymn book I grew up with had edited the Psalm down.

We have the Good News Bible – people read the Psalm from the Bible.

Wonderful – verses

Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

   you discern my thoughts from far away.

3 You search out my path and my lying down,

   and are acquainted with all my ways.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?

   Or where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning

   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

   and your right hand shall hold me fast.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;

   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Then we get to these verses.

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,

   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—

20 those who speak of you maliciously,

   and lift themselves up against you for evil!

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

   And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred;

   I count them my enemies.

Hateful verses

What should I do about getting the congregation to read these verses?

I couldn’t ask them to do that.

Then, remembering the time cone,  I noticed the NT reading for that day was from Matthew 5 – the very end – You have heard it said –

 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;

I decided to read alternate sections – the Congregation the first paragraph, I the next.  I arranged it so I would be the one to read those words – and in reading them I pointed towards the text in Matthew 5:6 – however we feel, we must remember those words.

And then the whole congregation read the final verses

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

   test me and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me,

   and lead me in the way everlasting.

It was moving.  A most wonderful prayer.

It made sense.

And then that Tuesday something happened.

I was driving home when I heard it on the radio.

It was 9/11

We finish our time with you here with a couple of days in New York – just after the museum and memorial at the World Trade Centre has been completed.

As has become so much more apparent in the recent revelations,  Cheltenham in the UK has very close links with the USA.  Cheltenham is home to the UK’s Government Communications Head Quarters, GCHQ and that has close links with your National Security Agency – people from GCHQ regularly go to the NSA and people from the NSA are over with us.

I knew that afternoon one of our folk would be on their own, far from home – I called round to see them simply to be with them.

That evening we had a planning meeting for a mission and outreach initiative we were involved in – the Alpha Course –

What do you do?

I invited another group meeting in the church at that time to join us in a time of prayer in the church.

What do you say?

I felt it was an occasion when I couldn’t choose an appropriate passage or appropriate words.

I returned to the passages from the lectionary we had read that Sunday evening.

And I invited people to share the words of Psalm 139 in the same way as we had done.

The opening words were wonderfully comforting speaking into this situation.

We alternated paragraph by paragraph.

It fell to me to read those hateful words.

And for the first time in my life I could understand how it was that you could utter such words.  They expressed how so many were feeling, I felt it too.

But then I paused – and brought to mind, very deliberately pulling into our consciousness those words of Jesus – from the Beatitudes from the end of Matthew chapter 5

4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;

We then paused for a moment of thought … and then together we read those last verses of the Psalm …

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

   test me and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me,

   and lead me in the way everlasting.

It was one of those most moving of moments, when God’s word spoke from the words of Scripture in a way that no one had planned and yet was so real.

Shortly after we learned that one of the main church leaders in the UK, Rowan Williams who was then the Archbishop of the Church in Wales and later became the Archbishop of Canterbury was at a conference in a neighbouring tower block.  He had to flee for his life as he was engulfed in the cloud of dust.

The next morning he had a phone call from the Welsh-speaking radio channel back home – the journalist spoke in Welsh and asked him for a comment.

Rowan Williams recalled later how he had paused for a moment.

What flashed through his mind was that if he replied in Welsh then his comment would be broadcast simply to the Welsh speaking members of his church.  If, on the other hand, he replied in English then his thoughts would be broadcast to all the English speakers as well and further afield.  He replied in English.

He told of that moment in a very moving little book he published.  He called it Writing in the Sand, a title inspired by the account of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery when Jesus is challenged to keep to what is written in the law and stone the woman to death.   John’s account describes the way he takes time to think, pauses and for a moment writes in the sand.

At such a moment as this, Rowan Williams, wrote in 2011, but also at any like moment, we might add, how important it is that we take time to pause a moment, that we think through.  That we move beyond the moment.

Maybe it is good to get the hate out – to shout it at God in prayer.  He can take it.

But then we need to pause.  We need to hear again the words of Jesus.  We need to reply to atrocities in another, a different language.

And we need to pray.

In reading the Old Testament, I find the time cone one of the most useful tools.  It helps us as Christians to put Jesus at the centre of our reading of the Bible.

How important that we ask both those questions Jesus posed to the expert in the law

What is written in the Bible?

What do you read there?

We must go beyond what is written to what we read in the Scriptures.

We must use the eyes of Christ to help  us in our reading and constantly seek not just a sense of the presence of God with us … but a sense of the presence of Christ with us too.

And what do we read there?

Love God, love your neighbour

What do we read there?

In everything do to others as you would have them do and the prophets.

to you; for this is the law

It’s not just the Lord your God is with you wherever you go – wonderfully inspiring though that though is

But in your reading of the Scripture always remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is with you to the end of the age, he is with you with you wherever you go

Bible Lecture 2 - With us on the way to Caesarea Philippi - reading the Prophets

Bible Lecture 2

With us on the way to Caesarea Philippi

reading the Prophets – Mark 8:27-9:1

On the Road from Emmaus to Jerusalem

When he was at the table with them he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them.                    

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight.

They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning with us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

There was nothing else for it.

That same hour, they got up and made the seven mile walk back to Jerusalem.

They made their way through the dark and forbidding streets to the upper room.  They found the eleven and their companions gathered together.

There was a buzz of excitement.  They were bursting to tell their story but the others got in first.

“The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!”

Cleopas and his travelling companion then started their story.  They told the others exactly what had happened on the road, and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

They were in full flow, talking about everything that had happened, going through the conversation in every last detail when it happened.

They hadn’t been expecting it

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them

Peace be with you.

They were startled.  More than that they were terrified.

They were convinced they were seeing a ghost.

There was something in Jesus’ voice that calmed them, made them focus …

“Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself.

Touch me and see; for  a ghost does not have flesh  and bones as you see that I have.

When he had said this he showed them his side and his feet.  While in their joy there were disbelieving and still wondering he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”

They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them something very profound.

In a strange way it was familiar to the two who had journeyed on the road to Emmaus.   

These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

Then he did exactly as he had done with the two on the road.

He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

Luke is in no doubt at all.

This was the priority the risen Jesus had on this Resurrection day.

Jesus wanted to leave his closest disciples a way of reading the Bible, a strategy for reading the bible  – it was a way of reading the Bible that found its focus in him.

His concern was to open their minds so that they could understand the scriptures – see how they worked, see what was at the heart of them.

It’s the big question we as Christians need to ask ‘How do we read the Bible?’

Thinking back to our first Bible  Study we need to remember the questions Jesus asked of the expert in the Law

What is written in the Law?

What do you read there?

We need to remember the response Jesus accepted

Love God, Love your neighbour.

And we need to remember the Midrash Jesus gave on what is written in the law, the story we think of as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and we must realise that we can put no limits on who our neighbour is!

Today I want to see what happens when you apply those two questions Jesus asked of the expert of the law to the next section of the Hebrew Scriptures.

What is written in the prophets?  What do you read there?

What is written in the prophets is what you find in Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings and in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve

That’s what’s written in the Prophets – but Jesus is interested in enabling his friends and followers to understand the scriptures.

And so there’s a second question we might expect Jesus to ask …

What do you read there?

To help us I and to move from Luke’s Gospel to Mark’s Gospel and to a passage that comes right in the middle, at the centre of Mark’s Gospel.  Indeed it is a passage on which the whole of Mark’s gospel hinges.

As we take a look at Mark 8:27-33 we shall find that the Lord our God is with us wherever we go and when it comes to reading the Prophets he is especially with us on the way to Caesarea Philippi.

Pause and ask people to look at Mark 8:27-33  or bring to mind what they recall of that passage headed ‘Peter’s Declaration about Jesus’ and ask ‘What’s it about?’

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ 28And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ 29He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ 30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

I am always in a rush to get to the punch line of a joke, to the end of a story.  I have been influenced by the heading of this passage and I rush to Peter’s acclamation of Jesus as Messiah.

Until fairly recently I always tended to skip over what the disciples report the crowds as saying.

I have read it in a tone of voice which suggests that Jesus implies that the people have got the wrong answer – of course he’s not John the Baptist!  Of course he’s not Elijah!  Of course he’s not one of the prophets!

But I have been thinking again about this conversation.

Let’s suppose Jesus is asking a very searching question.  He is wanting to check out whether he is getting the message across, whether people have really understood what he is about.

And so on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

When they answered him John the Baptist I wonder now whether a smile began to creep over Jesus’ face.  Yes, they are beginning to get it, was his implied response.

Others were saying Elijah.  The smile was growing.  Yes, so they are getting the message, Jesus thought.

And still others, one of the prophets.

By now Jesus was excited.  Yes the people had got the message.

They were beginning to understand what he was doing, what he was saying.

Jesus is quite clear on the evening of resurrection day that everything written about him in the Law, the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.

But in what way did Jesus set about fulfilling the prophets?

How does Jesus fulfil the prophets?

It is very easy to slip into the way of thinking that scattered through prophets are predictions that come true in the story of Jesus.

I wonder whether something very different is going on, something very much more interesting.

One thing we know about Jesus is that from a very young age he knew his Bible.

At the age of 12 when taken up to Jerusalem by his parents he went missing.  When they found him, what did they find him doing?

They found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.   And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

1)  Jesus positions himself in the line of the prophets as a prophet

Might it be that by the time Jesus embarks on his mission and his ministry he deliberately models himself on what the prophets did.  In the synagogue in Nazareth he described himself as a prophet, ‘a prophet is not without honour except in his own land’.

When his cousin John the Baptist appears and starts his ministry he dresses like the archetypal prophet of old as if he is another Elijah, another Elisha, another prophet.   His message is a powerful indictment of the powers that be exactly in the mould of the prophets of old.

When Elijah died he took Elisha with him down into the Jordan and up from the Jordan and then he cast down his mantle for  Elisha to take up the mantle of Elijah, cross back through the Jordan and take up where Elijah had left off.

And when the time comes for Jesus to start his ministry he goes down into the Jordan is baptised by John and then comes up out of the Jordan into the wilderness … and only when John has been arrested does he begin his ministry.

It is as if Jesus is taking up the mantle passed on from Elijah to Elisha passed on down through that great line of prophets passed on to John the Baptist and now passed on to Jesus.

John’s message had been simple

Repent – not so much sorry as have a whole new way of thinking, a whole new way of looking at the world for the kingdom of heaven has come near.  Matthew 3:2

And when John had been arrested, from that time Jesus began to proclaim Repent, not so much sorry as have a whole new way of thinking, a whole new way of looking at the world for the kingdom of heaven has come near.  Matthew 4:12,17.

The words are identical.

What is it about the prophets that John takes up and Jesus does too?

Joshua to the end of 2 Kings sees the slow move of the people towards thinking of themselves as a kingdom.

The prophets are those who see that move as fraught with dangers.  They are the ones who challenge those who aspire to positions of power, who hold them to account.  They are the ones who speak truth to power.

When Abimelech attempts to forma a monarchy in Judges 9 Jotham tells a parable, a story about the trees of the forest who look for one tree to be King over them.  The olive, the fig tree, the vine all say their task is to produce olives, figs, grapes – they cannot be king.  It is only the bramble that is left … and the bramble is only too keen to seize power and become king with calamitous consequences.

When the people demand a king to be just like the nations, Samuel warns them in no uncertain terms that God alone must rule over them.

When David arranges the death of Uriah and takes Bathsheba to be his wife he thinks he has got away with murder until Nathan tells him a story about two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had very man flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had brought up.   When a traveller came to the rich man seeking hospitality, the rich man did not want to lose one of his fine creatures and so took the poor man’s one and only lamb to make a feast of it.

Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Micah, Isaiah – as the story of the kingdom unfolds it is a sorry tale whereby those in power are so often found lacking – and it is the prophets who speak truth to power, hold the king to account and challenge.

This is exactly what John the Baptist did as Luke records in his powerful preaching – it is when he calls Herod the Great’s son, Herod Antipas to account for his marital arrangements that he is arrested.

When he is executed Jesus withdraws to the mountain to be quiet in prayer.

Jesus’ preaching in the sermon on the mount, in so much that he does holds the powers that be to account.  When that same Herod Antipas hears what Jesus is doing and what he is saying he is taken aback – he thought he had silenced John the Baptist, now Jesus is saying much the same thing.  Pharisees came to Jesus warning him that Herod wanted to kill him.

In replying Jesus speaks of himself as a prophet and speaks to Herod in the voice of a prophet holding truth to power

Go and tell that fox for me.  Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow and on the third day I finish my work.  Yet today, tomorrow and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.

In the Herodian City of Caesarea Phiilipp Jesus checks to see if the people have got it.

 It is not without significance that it is when Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesara Philippi and when he is on the way that he asked his disciples,  Who do people say that I am?

It’s easy to miss the point.  But location is important here, very important.

This is one of hose points in the Gospel story when geography matters.

Here it matters a lot.

Where is Caesarea Philippi?   What is Caesarea Philippi.  It is significant for Mark – he wants us to know exactly where Jesus is at this point.

Caesarea Philippi is a brand new town.

It is one of those great towns that were built first by Herod the Great and then by his sons as his Jewish kingdom was divided among them.

Herod the Great was a tyrant, ruling his people with a rod of iron.  His building works were monumental and designed to establish his power over the people.

His summer palace overlooking Bethlehem was to be his mausoleum and it was incredibly powerful statement.  He carved off the top of a mountain shored up its sides and sank into the top a palace that would be cool in the heat of the summer.  At the foot of the mountain a palatial villa complete with a large scale pool big enough to have mock battles with small –scale war ships.  And on the side of the hill his mausoleum

On the coast he built the city of Caesarea – named after ht emperor.  It had a full sized chariot racing stadium, a theatre, it was the seat of government for the roman occupation of Judea and Samaria – and in the theatre they have discovered a seat with Pontius Pilate’s name on it.   The harbour used under water setting cement and as ships arrived trading across the Mediterranean world they were greeted with the sight of a temple Herod the  Great had built to Augustus the emperor as  Son of God.

The part of his kingdom to the west of the Sea of Galilee was handed over to Herod Antipas.  And what should he do but set about rebuilding the city of Sepphoris near Nazareth up in the hills, and by the shores of the  Sea of Galilee  a great new Roman city, tourist resort complete with shopping mall and theatre, the city of  Tiberias.

And Philip another son, had the area to the north and east of Galillee – and he too built a city nestling uneder the hills and he called it Caesarea after the emperor and I nall humility to differentiate it from his father’s city on the coast he called it Philips’ Caesarea, Caesarea Philippi.  Ooh and he built a temple to the Emperor as  Son of God.

It had been a stroke of genius of Augustus, the first Roman emperor to decree that his Dad, Julius Caesar was a god.  If his dad was god, what did that make him, Son of God?

And you owe complete allegiance to the Emperor as Son of God.

What is Jesus message?

Repent – not just say sorry, not just turn around and make a new start.  Have a whole new way of thinking a whole new meta narrative to understand the world – metanoio – repent.   For the Kingdom of heaven has come near.

He makes his base in Capernaum facing off Tiberias – he offers an alternative way of being kingdom to the Roman way of empire – it is based on love for God, love for neighbour, love for enemy too

Jesus is himself a prophetic voice speaking truth to power … and it is no wonder that the is arrested and executed by Herod in collaboration with Pontius Pilate.

Read through the prophets to see the way they bring people back to God and the way they speak out against the powers that be – and this is the line that Jesus is in.

But he is more than a prophet. 

He turns to the disciples and asks, “Who do you say that I am?”

And Peter is the one who responds.

You are the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, the one anointed of God to be king in the kingdom of God.

2) Jesus shapes the way he is to be Messiah by drawing on those passages that show what it takes to rule in God’s Way in God’s Kingdom

Jesus accepts this description and goes on to describe how the Messiah must suffer, be killed and after three days rise again.

Peter doesn’t however read the prophets in that way at all.

And so he intervenes.

As far as Peter is concerned the Messiah will be one to overturn the might of Rome and use might to do it – Jesus will be another Joshua, as it were, coming in power and might … and so Peter takes Jesus on one side and rebukes him.

He wouldn’t let such a thing happen.

This elicits a really strong response from Jesus

Looking at the disciples he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.

In one sense Jesus fulfilled the prophets simply by living, working, preaching, telling stories, doing miracles and taking a stand against the powers that be in exactly the way the prophets had done.

In another way he has an understanding of the Prophets that draws him to particular passages that show what it takes to rule in God’s way in God’s Kingdom.  These were the passages the prophets of old used to hold their kings to account.  These are the passages that Jesus draws on as he shapes the way he envisages God’s rule to happen.

So what does it take to rule in God’s way in God’s kingdom?

What does it take – in the first sermon in Nazareth that he preaches he shapes the kind of Messiah he is to be from Isaiah 61

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

   because he has anointed me

     to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

   and recovery of sight to the blind,

     to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

Initially all spoke well of him and were amazed at the words of grace that came from his mouth.

But in Jesus’ mind it wasn’t just ‘our poor’ that needed good news preached to them – it was all poor – it was when Jesus recalled an incident in the life of Elijah when he was sent to the widow at Zarephath in Sidon, a Gentile, and an incident in the life of Elisha when he was sent to cleanse Naaman the Syrian that the crowds turn against Jesus.

Other passages have gown to be linked with Jesus, the Messiah.

Isaiah 7 – that in Jesus God is with us – Immanuel.

Isaiah 9 –

authority rests upon his shoulders;

   and he is named

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

   He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

   from this time onwards and for evermore.

Isaiah 11

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

   the spirit of counsel and might,

   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

   or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

   and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

Isaiah 32

See, a king will reign in righteousness

And princes will rule with justice

He will be a suffering servant in the mould of Isaiah 53.

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
   a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him of no account. 

These passages are the ones that find their focus in Jesus because these are the passages that determine what it takes to rule in God’s way in God’s kingdom..

What’s written in the prophets runs from Joshua chapter 1 verse 1 through to II Kings chapter 25 verse 30.

What you read there finds its focus on the way the prophets hold the powers that be to account and show what it takes to rule in God’s way in God’s kingdom – and what it takes amounts to nothing less than righteousness and justice, good news to the poor, release to the captive.

Read the prophets in this way and something happens.

Seven weeks after that first Resurrection day, Peter it was who on the Day of Pentecost was the first to draw on the kind of passages from the prophets that Jesus had opened up as he could see that that prophetic role was now to be passed on to us

In the words of the prophet Joel

God declares

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh,

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions

And your old men shall dream dreams

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

In those days I will pour out my Spirit

And they will prophesy.

Read the Prophets in this way, through the eyes of Jesus and it becomes and we too must take up the mantle of the prophets from Jesus and have a prophetic voice.   We are called to speak truth to power, holding the powers that be to account.

And we can measure what those in power do by the very measure Jesus used as we recognise that what it takes to rule in God’s way under God’s kingdom is that kind of justice, that kind of righteousness that is indeed good news for the poor.

As you seek to fulfil that prophetic voice and shape be sure to know that the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.