Category Archives: Sermons

How the Irish were born again, an example for us

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How the Irish were born again

March 16, 2014 First St Johns Church, York, Pa

A Celtic Benediction: “The vitality of God be mine this day, the vitality of the God of life. The passion of Christ be mine this day, the passion of the Christ of love. The wakefulness of the Spirit be mine this day, the wakefulness of the Spirit of new birth. The vitality and passion and new birth of God be mine that I may be fully alive this day.”1 We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father…who have a new vitality, a new passion and have been born into new life in Christ said … AMEN.

Cead Mille Failte a hundred thousand welcomes, it is truly right and salutary that we should remember the Saints, and of course today who else but St Brendan? ah mean St Bridgett? ahhh ok St Patrick, there got it. So many of the saints we know and don’t know were led to dedicate their lives to bring God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ into places that were spiritually dark. Our Old Testament lesson today is about Father Abraham, Yahweh tells Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s “house”, the Hebrew word tyIB; meaning not just a house, our world today is so transient, I’ve lived in 14 different houses in my life, they were buildings to live in. In the Hebrew it usually has the meaning of the paternal household, probably a place that’s been lived in by the same family for generations. A place that could almost be a family museum, a place where there would be many nuclear families, all dependent on each other, a very familiar place. Unlike us today, we need a bigger place, we need a smaller place, most people would live, raise their families, be with generations of the same family and die at this place. Yahweh, picked Abraham up and moved him out of his family home to start a long journey, that would take him many places and finally put him in the land that Yahweh had promised. This was a land that was unknown to Abraham, a land where they had many different “gods” and practices and Abraham is bringing a new God to them that he himself is new to. York was a new place to Margie and me, still relatively Christian, certainly American, but a place where I was driving by GPS for at least the first year we were here. Much more welcoming a place then Abraham or Patrick encountered.

Greg Tobin writes: “The Apostle of Ireland was not a native of that land, but a Roman Briton, born and educated in the westernmost sector of Britain and Wales. His great-grandfather was Odissus, a deacon; his grandfather, Potitus, was a presbyter, or priest; his father, Calpornius, was a deacon, as well as a decurion, or local magistrate responsible for the collection of taxes. Patrick’s mother … was Concessa, possibly a niece of St Martin of Tours. The family was well-enough off by any standard, for they lived at a villa, or estate… He says in the Letter that in later life, whether figuratively or literally, ‘[I] traded my noble birthright.’”2 Tobin points out also that this was one of the greatest periods of the Christian church, since this was about the same era of Pope Celestine, Pope Leo the Great, St Augustine and St Jerome, also one of the most challenging, because Pelagius who raised many heretical teachings lived at this time. Like Abraham, Patrick claims to have received a divine call. Patrick was kidnapped as a result of an Irish raid in Britain and after years in slavery escaped and returned to his home. He claims his escape was facilitated by angelic direction. From there though he studied at Auxerre in Gaul where he was ordained a deacon, with “…the goal of being appointed bishop to the Irish Christians”. He returned to Britain and had another dream, some have claimed it was an angelic vision: “…whose name was Victoricus, coming it seemed from Ireland, with countless letters. ..I read the first words of the letter, which were: “The Voice of the Irish”. And as I read aloud the beginning of the letter I imagined that at the same moment I heard their voices – … and thus did they cry out as one: ‘We ask you, holy boy, come back and walk among us once more.”3

There was probably a small number of Christians in Ireland, but Ireland was dominated by pagan worship, mostly Druidic and it seems that worship included human sacrifice. It was an evil form of worship. Tobin writes: “Patrick was appointed to succeed Palladius as bishop to the Christians in Ireland in 432. In Ireland he eventually converted the High King, the Ard Righ, … and triumphed in many confrontations with druidic priests.”4 Like Elijah’s confrontation with the priests of Baal another confrontation of the remnant of God against the pervasiveness of paganism.

Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but we are the remnant in what is becoming a very pagan society. I don’t say that to insult, that is what it is and a lot of people who are involved in that will tell you they are pagans. You may have lived in this area all your life, you may not have had any vivid kind of guidance such as a dream or an angel, but in your lifetime, society has moved from being very Christian. So even though you might never have moved, the local culture has and as strange as Philistine to Abraham or Ireland to Patrick, your contemporary society could be as alien to you. Too often though we approach the contemporary culture as if it were like York of years past. Our expectations are that everyone knows and everyone acts he same. We expect everyone to be a certain way for them to be part of the church. George Hunter writes: “The perspective of the ancient Roman Christian leaders (and that would have included Patrick) can be baldly stated in two sentences: (1) Roman Christian leaders assumed that a population had to be civilized “enough” already to be Christianized, that is, that some degree of civilization was a prerequisite to Christianization. (2) Once a sufficiently civilized population became Christian, they were expected in time to read and speak Latin, to adopt other Roman customs, and to do church ‘the Roman way.’” How about if I insisted everyone read Greek in order to be a good Lutheran. The problem is this, because we’ve had a particular understanding through our lives, we think everyone has that same perspective. I can tell you I had to change my life when I became a Christian, it was a challenge, and as the husband and father, I had to disciple my wife and children, as all Christian men should. We live too safely, remember the movie Jaws, the grizzled old sailor, when he realized what kind of shark they were dealing with? He said: “Looks like we’re going to need a bigger boat.” That seems to be our solution, we need a bigger boat/whatever that may be. The boat may be going down, but we feel that we have enough of a life preserver to feel safe and if other people can’t get with our life preserver, too bad for them. We have to put the best face on what other people do. What a new person in church does/doesn’t do is hardly ever disrespect, just unfamiliarity, no one wants to upset anyone, but if there’s no reason to do what they’ve always done differently they will continue to act the same way. Much the same thing can be said about long time Christians. Hunter notes that our idea of evangelism/discipling is one on one, often kind of confrontational, “this is why you need to be a Christian what’s wrong with you?”. I find myself doing a milder version of that a lot. “…Celtic Christians usually evangelized as a team – by relating to the people of a settlement; identifying with the people; engaging in friendship, conversation, ministry and witness… the Celts believed in the importance of the team. A group of people can pray and think together. They inspire and encourage each other. The single entrepreneur, the Lone Ranger is too easily prey to self doubt and loss of vision.”5This is something that we have had to relearn and return to in contemporary Christianity. It is all about the group, the Body of Christ. Jesus is our primary example, using every opportunity as they traveled around Israel to teach His disciples what He expected them to teach their disciples, what it is to be in the presence of Jesus.

When a woman gives birth, it’s a process, a baby takes time to development, so it is with the Holy Spirit, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born of the Spirit, Jesus refers to “the wind blows where it may”, the Greek word pneu/ma which means wind and spirit. We refer to the study of the Holy Spirit as pneumatology, and so Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit with Nicodemus. Jesus is saying that it is what Jesus will do, He will be the atonement, the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and that it will be the Holy Spirit who will chose those who will be born again, that they will be born again in the Spirit and because of that we know that we are born into the Kingdom, sons and daughters of the Father. You probably notice that this is in terms of a small group, not just the acts of Jesus‘ sacrifice, but the acts of the Spirit to bring rebirth and the acts of the Father who adopts us as His children through His Son Jesus.

We can chose then to continue to follow the failed model that dates back to the Roman Church which expected people to change and adapt on their own, or we can chose the model that St Patrick established, being in relationship, being part of a group, helping to show people Christ instead of trying to hound them into the Kingdom. Something I have to work on, but I can’t do that as an individual, it requires a group and that is what we are establishing here as Christ’s disciples. It’s not just me that people interact with, it’s not just those who are “supposed” to … It’s everyone, and you, and I, have no idea how the Holy Spirit will use what we do for someone to be born in the Spirit. So we do the ordinary things of life with those we meet, as a disciple of Christ, with those the Spirit brings here or another area of your life and you model to them what a Christian disciple is, don’t get upset with what they do or don’t do, just as Patrick did for the pagans of 5th century Ireland. Take some time now and think about who you can include in what group to disciple someone in Christ, pray study and journal over it.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

1J Philip Newell Celtic Benediction p 53

2Greg Tobin The Wisdom of St Patrick pp 21-22

3George G Hunter III The Celtic Way of Evangelism p 17

4Tobin p 25

5George Hunter p 47

The Promising Word

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Sermon: The Promising Word (Luke 23:39–43)   (I am doing a sermon series on “Words of Life from the Cross”, Concordia Publishing House)

The second word from Jesus’ dying lips is a word of promise and salvation: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” These words are spoken not to a religious man or to a fine, upstanding citizen or to one of His disciples. They are spoken to a convicted man guilty of a capital crime. He and his fellow convict were hung on crosses with Jesus between them. Jesus is the innocent one among the guilty, the Man among the thieves. These two convicted criminals are the ones given the privilege of being at Jesus’ left and His right when He comes into His kingdom, a privilege the disciples bickered over but had no idea what they were asking. Who could have known?

We do not know the exact nature of their crime. “Criminals; thieves” are what they are called. Perhaps “insurrectionist” or even “terrorist” might strike somewhat closer to the reality. These were no common robbers but those who presented a threat to Roman security. Their public crucifixion was intended to ward off others.

There they hung, one on Jesus’ right, the other on His left. Legend puts the “good” one on Jesus’ right, the “bad” one on His left, perhaps in view of Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats. The one on Jesus’ left reviles Jesus and hurls insults at Him, joining the chorus of the religious leaders and the passers-by who had come to shake their fists. “Aren’t You the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

Strange, isn’t it, that the man’s mockery should come in the form of a prayer for salvation? “Save Yourself and us!” This is not a prayer of faith but of derision. What kind of Christ are You? What sort of Messiah are You going to be? Flex some of that messianic muscle and save Yourself and us too. Or are you a fake, an impostor, a phony Christ? Spare Yourself from this death, and spare us too.

This thief on the left is the spokesman for the unbelieving world. His mocking “prayer” comes in the form of a demand, not a “Kyrie.” If Jesus is worth His salt as a Messiah, He would come down from that wretched cross and save Himself, and while He was at it, save His fellow criminals. But that is not the way of salvation at all. That is the devil’s way, the way that Peter represented when he took Jesus aside and rebuked Him for speaking of His death and resurrection. This mocking prayer echoes Satan’s temptations in the wilderness: “If You are the Son of God . . . If You are the Christ . . . ”

The thief on the right instead rebukes his fellow thief. “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” (Luke 23:40). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To fear the Lord is to put all others fears in their place. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things,” certainly in life and especially at our life’s end, when we, too, find ourselves under the same death sentence of the Law. To fear the Lord under those circumstances is to be wise in the way of faith, trusting that in life and in death, Jesus is mighty to save.

This thief is a penitent. He confesses his sin; he tells the truth. “And we indeed [are condemned] justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:41). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The thief recognizes his sin and confesses it. The only truth a liar can say is: “I am a liar.” The only truth a sinner can say is: “I am a sinner.”

The thief is also faithful. He confesses Christ: “But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). Behold the unblemished Lamb of God! He is pure, holy, and innocent. We are guilty, justly convicted. Did the thief understand all the implications of what he was saying? Did He fully understand who Jesus was for him? What did he actually know of Jesus? We do not know. All we know is his dying prayer: “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Of all the people to address Jesus, he is the only one to use Jesus’ name without some other title. Simply “Jesus.” Familiar, direct, no flattery—Jesus. Death is the great leveler; it puts everyone on a first-name basis.

“Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” A simple word of faith. He sees this broken, bleeding, dying man next to him and takes the sign over His head literally. He is a King with a kingdom. All this criminal asks is to be remembered. Not spared the agonies of death, not rescued—simply remembered. And this tiny little mustard-seed-sized faith is acknowledged by Jesus and credited to the thief as righteousness sealed with Jesus’ own Amen: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Some people wonder and speculate. Was this criminal baptized? Some would make the grand exception out of him to show how Baptism is not necessary. But that is missing the point. He has no need for either Baptism or the Lord’s Supper. The Sacrament of sacraments is there next to him: dying Jesus nailed to the cross. What more does he need? His preacher is the sign over Jesus’ head, written in Latin, Greek, and Aramaic—Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, and all the people who are taunting Jesus, calling Him the Christ and the Son of God.

What sort of Man is this who promises Paradise to a dying thief who admits the guilt of crime? What sort of justice is this that speaks pardon to the unpardonable, that acquits the guilty, that saves those society deems unsalvageable and worthy of the cruelest form of death? This is the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of fallen mankind, the One who reconciles the enemy as enemy and justifies the sinner as sinner. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Hear that word of promise for yourself. Hear it now, and at the hour of your death, for none of us knows the day and the hour of our “Today” when Paradise is opened to us in our death.

 

For Your Word of promised Paradise, opening Your kingdom to sinners, rebels condemned to die as the just wages of our sin, we give You thanks and praise, most holy Jesus. Amen.

The Transfiguration of Christ.

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Jesus, God our Savior reveals His deity

First St Johns March 2, 2014

So now we go from Christmas/Epiphany to Lent/Easter, a profound switch. Christmas /Epiphany a season of great celebration, of great promise, the baby, the magi. We go from a pregnant-teenage Mary, courageously traveling 70 some miles on a donkey to give birth to Meshach, the promised one, in the promised location of Bethlehem foretold 700 years earlier by the prophet Micah. Now she courageously follows Jesus to the cross which Jesus certainly foretold, He tells us in our reading today: “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” Simeon told Mary in the temple “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), (Luke 2: 34-35) Later in Matthew 17 Jesus explicitly says “…”The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.” (Matt 17: 22-23) Everyone is on notice, and they seem to take it seriously, but this passes and it’s business as usual. Lent is a season of repentance, part of repentance requires some serious introspection. We are so focused on moving forward, so focused on tomorrow, not only do we forget the past pretty quickly, but most of the time we aren’t even in the moment, we so often don’t realize what is going on around us, the importance of what is happening in real time, right here and now. Look at Peter. As usual, God bless him, he is off and running. He has just seen an astounding event, he certainly knows Jesus the man, He has been with Jesus for sometime, Jesus’ ministry was for three years. So Peter knows Jesus the man, but now he has been privileged to see Jesus God the Son. “His face shown like the sun”, even with today’s technology, we can only light something up so much. Athletes can easily tell you the difference between playing on a sunny day, compared with playing under the lights at night. “…his clothes became white as light”. Remember they’ve just climbed this mountain, now it is hilly here, much more then I’m used to in Massachusetts, but having been to Israel and seen the “mountains” we are talking a hike, a serious effort climbing up a rocky, dirty, dusty mountain. How do you think they looked by the time they got to the top of this mountain?… Yea, scroungy and sweaty and covered with dust and whatever. How do you think that despite the grime and grunge of climbing up a mountain, that these guys looked when they got to the top, that now they see Jesus in such glory that they are down on their faces, terrified? Maybe covering their eyes from the intensity of the light? They‘ve seen Jesus in His essence as true God, the “Keyword Study Bible” describes the Greek wordmetemorfw,qh“To transform, transfigure, change one’s form …Spoken literally of Christ’s transfiguration on the mount.”1 Jesus literally transformed into His essence as God the Son.

As I said, Peter is off and running, he’s so eager about what he’s seen, what should he have been eager about? … He’s just seen Jesus as God! I will bet that Peter, like too many of us today, was a little too familiar with Jesus the man, even though Jesus never hesitated to hold Peter accountable, to assert His authority over Peter, after reading this I think that Peter got a little too chummy, a little too familiar. Why does it seem that way? … Yea Jesus is great and He’s done great things, but right here I’ve seen these two guys I’ve heard about all my life,WOW! “Lord, it is good that we are [wow, thanks, that was so cool seeing Moses and Elijah, thanks and ah… of course You]. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” What’s Peter really telling Jesus? … “Oh yeah, you’re great! And so are Elijah and Moses”. Ya, NO! Elijah and Moses are great, but they are still men, regular people just like you and me. To be sure, God used them mightily, but they are still men. Who is Jesus? … Not only did this happen, but they’ve seen Jesus in a way that could only be seen in terms of Jesus being God, the divinity of Jesus. Peter’s trying to make them all equally great, but right on cue God the Father chimes in from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Elijah and Moses are great, but this is My Son, the One and only the Meshiach, the promised One, true God, true man, He is and will be the redeemer of all who know Him as Lord. So, listen to Him. “The Case for Christ Study Bible”, Lee Stroebel, notes: “Moses appears as the representative of the old covenant and the promise of salvation, which was soon to be fulfilled in the death of Jesus. Elijah appears as the appointed restorer of all things…”2 Elijah was supposed to be the person who would make the way straight for the Lord, Jesus explained that John was Elijah and that is what John did. Both men have set the table, in baseball you have the guys who can get on base, they reliably hit singles to get on base to be driven home by the big slugger. Jesus is the big slugger, Jesus is the ultimate slugger, the Son of God, He is going to drive His chosen people home, the entire history of the Bible, by being that perfect sacrifice, being the complete fulfillment of everything the cumulative revelation of God through Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, on and on. All that they have done can only be brought together by Him who has demonstrated for the past three years who He is, but has now given them a very graphic representation that He is indeed God the Son. Great, Moses and Elijah, but God the Father proclaims who Jesus is and that we should always, ultimately listen to Him.

Peter tells us in his epistle, our reading today: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty…we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven…” David Ohlman writes; [The word] do,xan “glory, manifestation of radiance, brightness, splendour.’ The important point about the glory of which Peter speaks [2 Peter 1:17] is that it is manifested. This glory looks backward to Moses and Elijah and forward to the second coming of Jesus.”3 As Rev Ohlman points out: “…there is something that false religions lack. They lack the Word … God continues to speak, apart from anything man might do. He continues to call out to his children and bless them. The true God is not sitting in some particular place waiting for someone to bring him something…”4 The point was made on the White Horse Inn, that, “It was well known in the ancient world that the God of Israel acted and spoke to Israel, the “gods” of other people’s didn’t.”5 There are a lot of dumb idols that people worship today, they don’t speak or act either, Peter points out that there are many cleverly devised myths from his time. He is probably writing to the Christian churches 30-40 years after the event on the mountain, and this isn’t the first time, Peter wasn’t with Jesus at His baptism, but certainly it was common knowledge that the Father pronounced: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7) He was an eyewitness on the mountain and there were numerous eyewitnesses at Jesus’ baptism, there was no doubt about what the Father was proclaiming, this is Him who has been promised, my only begotten Son, true God.

The Father bookends His proclamations of who Jesus is around Jesus’ ministry, from His baptism to the point that leads to the cross. Jesus is making it very clear from this point, where this will end, He will die as the sacrifice for the sins of the world and all people that He brings to Himself, all of us who are adopted through our baptism into His death, who take His Body and Blood who know Jesus as their Lord, will be saved because God the Son came to minister and to ultimately be the sacrifice by which we are saved. So take some time this week to journal what this means, that God, who reveals Himself to us through His Word, is your Lord and your Redeemer. What would be going through your mind if you were on that mountain as Jesus revealed Himself as God. Begin now that introspection and repentance that we should practice in this season of Lent

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

1Keyword Study Bible p 2222

2Lee Strobel The Case for Christ Study Bible p 1344

3Rev David Ohlman Concordia Pulpit Vol 24 Part 1, Series A p 43

4Ibid p 44

5White Horse Inn podcast, December 2013

You are a temple of the Holy Spirit

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You are a temple of the Holy Spirit

First St Johns February 23, 2014

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”, that’s a tall order Father, what does it mean to be “holy”? How are we to be “holy”? Too often we rely on our own understanding and inevitably find how far off we are. Satan tries to control our understanding of who You are, what we are in You, “Did God really say?” Satan mocks us with this and since we really don’t know, we wonder, we wander, we question where we really shouldn’t be questioning. Help us Lord, to turn to You, to understand that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and there are things we should be grounded in, forgiveness Your Word. Help me, Your minister to Your people, to teach and preach well, exhorting, rebuking, not giving in to the world, to what’s popular. We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father… and all who are a temple of the Holy Spirit sd Amen

We have to remember that what Jesus is saying here is decidedly contrary to current beliefs, what contemporary society would tell you. And as much as those pious ones out there today, who will try to sell you that they are all about Jesus’ words, when they really read them and put them into context, it’s clear that their life doesn’t reflect their words.

So the issue here is how much does our real life stack up against Jesus’ words. I will tell you right up front that I fall plenty short. Paul tells us we are “God’s temple”. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you? …God’s temple is holy and you are that temple.” Heady stuff, almost scary. Paul is telling us that we are God’s temple and that temple is holy, that’s an intimidating idea, if we are bearers of the Holy Spirit, if we are God’s temple, how are we supposed to treat that temple?

Jesus is addressing that issue. If we are God’s temple, then we are going to have to expect that it is God working through us, that He is going to be working through us to His glory, He is going to be using you to draw others to Him, in order to do that, yes you are different, you are not like the average day-to-day, the rest of the world sees in their slices of the world. God is going to move you to be different with people and part of that means living as the Holy Spirit guides you which is in keeping with what Jesus taught.

The story is told by Chuck Swindoll and J Vernon McGee: “a successful Irish boxer was converted and became a preacher. He happened to be in a new town setting up his evangelistic tent when a couple of tough thugs noticed what he was doing. Knowing nothing of his background, they made a few insulting remarks. The Irishman merely turned and looked at them. Pressing his luck, one of the bullies took a swing and struck a glancing blow on one side of the ex-boxer’s face. He shook it off and said nothing as he stuck out his jaw. The fellow took another glancing blow on the other side. At that point the preacher swiftly took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and announced, ‘The Lord gave me no further instructions.’ Whop!”

This entire pericope of Jesus’ is just so counter-cultural to first century Israel, to any period since then, and just as much today. Why on earth would I forgive someone who deprives me of sight or maybe my ability to eat? Why would I just rollover and let someone take my tunic, my cloak? Why would I let that happen? Of course the short form answer is, “Because Jesus tells us to.” Jesus is God, Jesus is telling us what to do, if God wants us to do things a certain way, it’s going to ultimately be in our best interests to do it. Now before you get too puckered, you, me and Jesus, most of all, recognizes that we are not going follow this to the letter, we are imperfect creatures and we will only follow imperfectly. Having said that we should all set high goals. Does that mean we always meet high goals? No! But it does mean that we will strive higher than we would have otherwise. We are to grow in Christ, that’s an important part of being a Christian. So we strive to achieve that, the person that hits us up for something important to us, we are more likely to think what we can do for that person. I’m not saying be a dope about it, because there are people out there who will play you and prey on your Christianity, but I feel the pulling of the Holy Spirit, He whose temple I am, and I try to serve that person. Jesus tells us “ya take the hit”. And obviously Jesus is making a bit of a metaphor here, but it’s going to bring the heat down a little if you don’t just react to a “hit”. Sometimes people do things in the heat of passion and lash out. It doesn’t serve anyone to turn the heat up in the situation by hitting back. I’ve noticed that today, with everyone and I’m guilty of it too. Someone will say something and we’re really not listening to what is really being said, because we’re more focused on our response, on our wise crack back. One of the things that I keep learning is how to read people better. What I might take as a verbal hit is really intended for something else. How can I help that person by not reacting and just lashing back? James tells us: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” I’ve had the experience when I had wished the person had just punched me in the face then say to me the hurtful thing they just said. I know it’s just so cool today to engage in verbal sparring. What you think may be cute or clever means you weren’t really listening, you weren’t really reaching out to that person in love the way the Holy Spirit who is a part of you wants you to react. And I’m not saying that you should take the example of our Irish boxer, let the other person get in a couple of shots and then let them have it? No! Show some genuine Christian understanding and tell them “I hear you saying… and I want you to know that I understand your feelings and that does not mean I love you less and that you are not loved by Jesus any less.

It’s interesting that Jesus says if someone slaps you on the “right” cheek. For example the Bible refers to the “right hand of fellowship”, we confess that Jesus sits on the right hand of God the Father. The right side has always been considered to be the good side, honorable, it meant that to hit on the right side was to be especially insulting, to attack what is best. I’m sure you know that left-handed people have been considered to be a little odd, not good, that it’s normal to be right-handed. As those who are saved in Jesus, He who died a brutal humiliating death as the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sins and to give us eternal salvation in the resurrection, who endured insult after insult, shame after shame, for us to decide that we are better than our Lord and strike back anyone who offends us, is to mean that; sure Jesus our Lord, He can endure insult, but I can’t. I’m special and I shouldn’t have to endure this affront. We are not more special than the Lord, we are called to take the slap to the right cheek and the Lord’s instructions, by the way are to continue to endure the blows, just as Jesus did from His arrest to His death. Is there any doubt that Jesus was struck more than once? He was struck in front of the High Priest, He was flogged by Pilate, He was struck repeatedly by the guards who were mocking Him, read John 18 and 19 how Jesus was continually beaten. Are we above the Lord who asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him, above Stephen who was being stoned said: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are saved by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. Guillaume Williams points out: “Sin has so deluded our minds that even when we think we know what we are doing, we really do not. If we really knew the consequences of our actions, we would not do the sinful things we do.”1 Sin distorts us so much we just lash back instead of remembering Jesus’ guiding. As is always the case it’s not what we do, it’s what Jesus does to and through us. When you feel that urge to fire one back, and not over the bow, but right into the waterline, ask yourself, am I so special that I can’t forgive? Then turn it over to the Father, saying: “in my own strength Father, I cannot forgive this person, please do it for me.” We grow in holiness like Him.

Take some time this week in your journal, who should you be forgiving, list all the names out, ya, I’m going to be spending awhile on this. For each person you list, write next to the name, Father forgive this person, I rely on Your strength.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

1Guillaume Williams Simply Believe “The Lutheran Witness” January 24, 2014 p 6