I once had a friend who was trying to diet. Caught with a bag of doughnuts, he explained, “I was passing a Krispy Kream store and prayed “Lord, if you want me to buy some donuts, please send me a sign, provide me with a parking space right outside the shop”. And guess what, the Lord answered my prayer. On my tenth time I drove past the shop, there was my parking space.” It was Oscar Wilde who made famous the phrase, “I can resist everything… except temptation.”
We all know what temptation is. Supermarkets still stack sweets at child height. Petrol stations do the same. But if you want the bread or milk where is it? Goodness knows. But the chocolate and sweets – you know where they are don’t you. They follow you all the way from the door to the checkout.
Jesus called us to be fisherman. But did you realise Satan is a good fisherman too? “First, he chooses the right bait. Satan knows us like a skilled angler knows fish. He notes our habits. He observes our hangouts. He’s had thousands of years’ experience preparing tailor-made lures and he knows how to cast them so they drop right in front of our noses. Second comes the appeal. He can’t make us bite, but he does know what happens inside us when we catch a glimpse of that tantalizing bait. We are drawn to it. We linger over it. We toy with it. We roll it over in our minds until it consumes our imagination. Third, the struggle begins. Immediately, our conscience jabs us in the ribs, warning us of the danger. We know it’s wrong to take a bite. We may even see the barbed consequences poking through the bait. But Satan’s invitation looks so delicious. What do we do? Fourth, the temptation ends with the response. Either we resist or yield. Either we swim away or we swallow it whole. When you’ve resisted you know the feeling of freedom that decision brings. On the other hand, when you’ve yielded you know the feeling of emptiness that follows and the pain of the hook in your cheek.”[i]
First impressions are important aren’t they? They say, you never get a second chance at a first impression. But first impressions can also be shallow? Especially if people are different from us. If they are of a different ethnic group. A different culture or have an unusual accent. But when you think about it, isn’t that also true of the way we view Jesus? William Blake described the dilemma we face:
“The vision of Christ that you see Is my vision’s greatest enemy. Yours has a great hooked nose like yours, Mine has a snub nose like mine… Both read the Bible, day and night, But you read black where I read white.”
What were your first impressions of Jesus? My first memory of Jesus was about the age of six or seven when I attended Sunday School. I remember two things. Singing “Jesus loves me this I know…” and looking at a painting of Jesus on the wall. He carried a lamb in his arms and was surrounded by little children – except they were all different colours. There was an African child, a Chinese child, an Indian child and many others that were different to me. But I do remember, reassuringly that Jesus had long golden hair and a European complexion. My first impressions were of a white Jesus.
I am sure we would all agree that Al Qaida is no more representative of Islam than Zionism is of Judaism, or the Crusades are of Christianity. But the reality is, as we see in the close relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, Christian Zionists are the dominant supporters of Israel’s genocidal agenda in Palestine.
Following the tragedy of 9/11 and the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York, multi-bestselling author and Christian journalist Anne Coulter, wrote,
“We don’t need long investigations of the forensic evidence to determine with scientific accuracy the person or persons who ordered this specific attack. We don’t need an “international coalition.” We don’t need a study on “terrorism.” … We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war.”[1]
More recently, at the July 19th, 2006, inaugural event for Christians United for Israel, in Washington DC, after recorded greetings from the then President, George W. Bush, and in the presence of four US Senators as well as the Israeli ambassador to the US, Pastor John Hagee, stated :
“The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. If a line has to be drawn, draw the line around Christians and Jews. We are united. We are indivisible. And together we can reshape history… Iran is a clear and present danger to the United States of America and Israel… therefore it is time for America to embrace the words of Senator Joseph Lieberman and consider a military preemptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel and a nuclear attack in America.”[2]
Thankfully, most Christians in the US as well as Europe repudiate Christian Zionism as a gross distortion of Christianity and grave insult to the teachings of Jesus the Christ.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In lovehe predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s gracethat he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-14)
In May 1844, a young biblical scholar found himself in St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. Constanin Von Tischendorf wrote in his diary,
“In visiting the library of the monastery, I perceived in the middle of the great hall a large and wide basket full of old parchments; and the librarian, who was a man of information, told me that two heaps of papers like these, moldered by time, had been already committed to the flames. What was my surprise to find amid this heap of papers a considerable number of sheets of a copy of the Old Testament in Greek, which seemed to me to be one of the most ancient that I had ever seen. The authorities of the convent allowed me to possess myself of a third of these parchments, or about forty-three sheets, all the more readily as they were destined for the fire. But I could not get them to yield up possession of the remainder. The too lively satisfaction which I had displayed had aroused their suspicions as to the value of this manuscript… On my return to Saxony there were men of learning who at once appreciated the value of the treasure which I brought back with me. I did not divulge the name of the place where I had found it, in the hopes of returning and recovering the rest of the manuscript.”
If you were like me, when you were very young, there were only two really important events in your life. You felt like they could not come soon enough. What were they? The first was… your birthday. The second was… Jesus’ birthday. Both involved presents. Lots of presents. Then when you were old enough to know that Father Christmas was not in the Nativity Play and you were allowed to stay up late, there was a third special day. New Year’s Eve. There were no presents but you still looked forward to the party and seeing in the New Year. We love to celebrate beginnings. We celebrate new life. Our birthday. Family birthdays. Jesus’ birthday. The birth of a new year.
So, what is it with the Church? When does the Church year begin? Not at Christmas and the birth of our Saviour. Not Easter and the resurrection to new life. Not even Pentecost and the birth of the Church. The Church year begins with Advent. Advent simply means coming. Our Bible readings reveal that Advent is not about Christmas or the birth of Jesus. No. Advent is about the return of Jesus. So why does the Church year begin with the return of Jesus? Because it is the most important event still to come. Jesus is coming to bring an end to this corrupt, godless world order. Jesus is coming to reign as Lord and King and inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth. Our gospel reading gives us three reasons why we begin the church year with the end of this world as we know it.
During the Munich Crisis of September 1938, as Hitler rallied his forces and the world slid inexorably toward war, more radios were sold than in any previous month. In this atmosphere of tension, Orson Welles and his staff prepared for their weekly Mercury Theater radio play. Auspiciously, on the night before Halloween, listeners found themselves listening to the innocent sounds of “Ramon Raquello and his orchestra”, only for the music to be interrupted by the first of a series of increasingly alarming news stories. First came reports of several explosions of “incandescent gas” observed on the planet Mars, then after a brief interlude of more music came a hook-up to Princeton Observatory professor Richard Pierson (played by Welles) who assures the listeners that there is nothing to be alarmed at. Then there are reports of a meteor impact in an unassuming sleepy little hamlet called Grover’s Mill. That night it became the centre of the universe as the beachhead for a Martian invasion advancing on New York City, brushing aside American defenders and destroying dozens of familiar place names along the way. An emergency government announcement gave credence to the story, and huddled about their radios, panicked listeners (all over the USA) began to bombard local police stations with calls. From Trenton comes the account.
“We were petrified. We just looked at each other, scared out of our wits. Someone was banging on our front door. It was our neighbour across the street. She had packed her seven kids in their car and she kept yelling, come on, lets get out of here.”
Life is a journey. It has a beginning and end. We are all travelers, somewhere on that journey, forever on the move, learning, growing, changing. When someone that we know and love dies, our loss invariably arouses strong emotions.
It may also raise questions about our own mortality. About the meaning and purpose of life now. Psalm 23 is probably the most widely known and best loved Psalm of all. I read it with Joanna in hospital the day before she died. Psalm 23 is a great comfort because it addresses the strong emotions we often feel at times such as this.
The English translation refers to the ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’. In Hebrew it means ‘The Valley of Deep Darkness’. How can we handle the deep darkness we may feel as a family today? Let me draw out three ways God intends this Psalm to give us comfort and strength as we face the death of Joanna – a sister, grandmother, mother and wife.
Do not be Afraid
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”. David says “I walk” — not “I run” or “I panic and run the other way”. To walk means calmly, deliberately taking steps through the valley. David says
“I’m not going to be afraid. I will calmly walk through the valley.” So today in the face of our loss and our own mortality, God says, do not be afraid. How can he say this?
God is with us
David said, “For You will be with me. You’re with me every moment.” God promises to be with us in the dark valleys. In the first part of the psalm all of the pronouns are in the 3rd person — David talks about God: “He leads me beside still waters, He guides me into green pastures, He restores my soul“. David is talking about God. But when he begins to walk through the dark valley, his language changes to the second person pronoun. “You are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me.”
It is often only in the dark valleys of life that we turn to God, or find he is with us. In the dark valleys, the ultimate becomes the intimate. Religion becomes what it was always intended to be – a relationship. In the valley of deep darkness we learn from Psalm 23 not to be afraid because God is with us. But more than that, God promises,
God will Sustain us
David reminds himself that God’s rod and staff comfort him. The rod and staff were the two basic tools a shepherd used to protect and guide the sheep. God is saying,
“When you go through the dark valley, I’m not just with you but I am defending you. I’m protecting you.”
One final observation – David writes, “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death“. He didn’t walk through the valley of death, but the valley of the shadow of death. When a shadow falls on you remember
Shadows are always bigger than the reality
Like a shadow, fear is always greater than the actual reality. It is fear that debilitates or paralyses, not the reality of our mortality. Shadows are always bigger than reality.
Shadows cannot hurt you
There is a difference between the shadow of a truck and a truck itself. Shadows are image without substance. They cannot hurt you. They may warn you, they may scare you, but they cannot hurt you. They are just shadows.
There is no shadow without a light somewhere
When we are going through a dark valley, we think the sun has stopped shining. We may feel alone. We may imagine we are in total darkness. But where there is a shadow there is a light somewhere. What happens if you turn your back on the shadow and look directly at the light? The shadow falls behind you. So if and when you’re afraid, don’t look at the shadow.
Jesus says, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” (John 8:12). When you look to Jesus for wisdom, for guidance and strength, the shadows fall behind you.
As the old hymn says “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
When you are walking through a valley of deep darkness, remember three things from Psalm 23. The Lord says, “do not be afraid, because I am with you and I will sustain you.”
The Beaufort scale measures…. wind speed. The Richter scale measures…. earthquakes. The Engels scale measures… faith. That’s right – faith. The Engel scale was developed by James F. Engel, as a way of representing the journey from no knowledge of God, through to spiritual maturity as a Christian believer.
Everyone in the world, and everyone who has ever lived, is somewhere on the Engel’s scale. The Engel’s scale is helpful in identifying where people are in their spiritual journey and how best to help lead them to Jesus Christ. In our gospel reading today, we can observe that as people encountered Jesus, three kinds of faith were exposed. Only one will do. Some had doubting faith, some displayed an unbelieving faith and some evidences a saving faith. Lets consider each and decide which one best describes yours. Which of the three are you relying on today?
“Treacherous colleagues, competitive friends, bloody-minded commuters – it’s a war out there. And according to Robert Greene, it’s a conflict we’re ill-equipped to deal with. After analyzing the moves of history’s great military leaders, he’s written a rulebook to achieving victory in life’s daily battles.”[1]
The blurb goes on to say, “Spanning world civilizations, synthesizing dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts and thousands of years of violent conflict, The 33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life informed by the most ingenious and effective military principles in war. Learn the offensive strategies that require you to maintain the initiative and negotiate from a position of strength, or the defensive strategies designed to help you respond to dangerous situations and avoid unwinnable wars.”
According to Penguin the publishers, this is “An indispensable book… The great warriors of battlefields and drawing rooms alike demonstrate prudence, agility, balance, and calm, and a keen understanding that the rational, resourceful, and intuitive always defeat the panicked, the uncreative, and the stupid… The 33 Strategies of War provides all the psychological ammunition you need to overcome patterns of failure and forever gain the upper hand.”[2]
Today we are going to learn about Jesus’ strategy, not for war but for peace. We are going to compare Jesus’ strategy with that of the Pharisees (and by way of application – observe how the same tactics are used by Zionists today).
