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A Living Hope

4/26/2023

1 Peter 1:3-9 ; John 20:19-31

Christ is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

Today we find ourselves in the second week of Easter, in a season we call Eastertide. Eastertide is a 50-day season that goes from Easter Sunday to the feast of Pentecost. It is a time when we read of the many accounts of the Risen Lord to the disciples. Accounts that are raw and tender; for the disciples are experiencing a bit of trauma in the aftermath of Jesus being brutally tortured and crucified. These events stretch the disciples’ grasp of reality as what Jesus foretold has come to pass: Jesus prophesied that:   “ He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.”…(Luke 18:32-33). Today we read of an encounter between Jesus and the disciples in today’s story from John. Jesus passes through locked doors, addresses their fear, brings peace and breathes Holy Spirit on them all. I wouldn’t be surprised if we agreed that Thomas’ refusal to believe in the resurrection seems quite reasonable. As a result, Jesus returns specifically for Thomas showing him scarred hands and a scarred body, and Thomas falls on his feet and worships Jesus, declaring “My Lord and My God!” which is the only time in the gospels anyone calls Jesus God. All these accounts of the Risen Lord that we will read through Eastertide drive home for us the reality that:

   The tomb is empty. Death has lost its sting. Jesus is Alive!
We have been given a living hope that carries us through tough times, through all times bad and good.

        Eastertide is a joyous season, but it doesn’t do away with the pain and scars we carry. It’s not like we can flip on a switch on Easter Sunday, and make all our grief, frustrations, and fears go away. For me, for my family it is a very sad time. During Eastertide, the month between April and May, my family observes the death anniversaries of four loved ones. My brother Sean who died of an intentional drug overdose when I was 14. My brother Chris who died a little more than a year later in a car accident. We think of them during this time, and we not only feel their loss, but the loss of not knowing the men they would have become had they not died, since they died in the 20s.   On top of their deaths, my mom and my dad also died during this season. So, every year, when April and May come around, memories resurface, especially those memories surrounding their deaths, a mild depression settles in, and I feel sad once more. Yesterday, we had the funeral service for Gail Master’s brother Tommy, who died on Good Friday. For Gail and her family, the joy of Easter is now tinged with the grief of Tommy’s passing.

        Although I am sad during this season, it is a sadness mitigated, alleviated, by the message of Eastertide, by the promise Peter assures us, of a living hope.   What is hope if it is not alive? What is hope if it is not borne out of the uncertainties and the sorrow we bear? This living hope is based in the reality that Jesus is called the first fruits of the resurrection. Our living, loving Savior wants us to know that his resurrection is a guarantee of our own eventual resurrection. That is the meaning of first fruits in the bible. Not only is Christ the first and the best of the harvest of resurrection but also first fruits also promises there is more to come. We, too, are guaranteed to be raised to life. Our loved ones will be raised. In our first lesson, we hear how Peter reassures the suffering believers, believers who are being persecuted and exiled because of their faith in Jesus, that through “mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”

      Peter reassures us that although we suffer grief or go through trials, we can also greatly rejoice. Our new birth comes to us through our baptism, and through our public profession of faith that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, or as Thomas put it, “My Lord and My God!” Our spiritual inheritance is not like an earthly inheritance that can be taken away, can diminish over time, or evaporate due to a whim or change of heart. Our inheritance in Christ is permanent. So, we can rest assured that in our trials, in whatever we are facing, that hope stands firm.

       In Eastertide we hear of Paul’s powerful teachings on living hope:
Our mortal bodies – destroyed by death – will be swallowed up by life.
Our souls will be clothed in glorious bodies.
We shall bear the image of Christ and we shall be raised by the power of his resurrection.
Swallowed up by life
Glorious bodies
Bearing the image of Christ

Reassuring and comforting thoughts, are they not? The tomb is empty. Death has lost its sting. Christ is alive!

      Eastertide gives us hope because we recall that before his death, Jesus promised to go and prepare a place for us. The night before he died, Jesus reassured his disciples: In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. (John 14:3) Eastertide reminds us Jesus was going home but to a home that belongs to us as well Jesus’ priority was to get heaven ready for us! What does Psalm 23 remind us? “ I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever more. “

       So, Eastertide makes death a homecoming – as it is referred to in many Christian traditions. Home, where we truly belong, where we fully know love and joy. That the message of our living hope – home on earth is just a foreshadow of a heavenly abode where are loved ones, and where we will dwell. Home on earth is temporary, subject to shifting vagaries in our mortal circumstances. Nothing on earth is made to endure, not even our lives.   Eastertide acknowledges this; our experiences on earth validate this; but our faith claims a hope that Jesus won for us an eternal home, an eternal existence where love endures, love is eternal.

       Eastertide reminds us of these spiritual realities: that though we mourn we are not crushed; and though weeping endures through the night, joy comes in the morning. Our fears are stilled. Death gives way to victory of life, to a living hope, won for us by Jesus.

      All of us grieve in these mortal lives at one time or another we shall experience loss of a loved one, of something we love. Like the early believers, we go through difficult times. Our relationships can be strained. Our health may not be good. Our finances may be shaky. The violence occurring around us in the world, latest stabbings, gun violence, the meanness of spirit we see around us disturbs us. Pain and oppression still have a toe-hold in the world despite the joy of Easter. Even though it is Eastertide, and here in spring life is bursting forth in nature, our spirits continue to waver, like Thomas wavered. But Eastertide we are giving a living hope: that there will be a time we are reunited with our loved ones: our circumstances are in God’s hands, and we have a living hope for today, and for our future; there will be a day; when all tears shall be wiped away, there will be no more death, mourning, no crying and no pain, the old order will pass away, a new order will triumph.

So, during this Eastertide season, whatever is rocking our world in a good way and in a bad way – we embrace with this living hope. We are scarred like Jesus but hope still finds us. We are in lock down at times but hope still finds us. Fear still shadows us but hope still finds us: a living hope through Christ that brings us the Holy Spirit and peace. So let us rest in this living hope that carries us through whatever we must face and renews us for the journey. No matter what Eastertide brings to you – challenge or joy – sorrow or peace – uncertainty or hope –we can face it all -- because the grave is empty, death has lost its sting and Christ is alive!

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An Easter Earthquake!

4/12/2023

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Matthew 28:1-10: Col. 3:1-4

Based on the sermon by Rev. John Tapscott
     Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! In the Bible unusual natural events often accompany God’s mighty works. At the Exodus the Red Sea parted to let the Hebrew people through. When the commandments were given, a dark cloud descended over Mount Sinai. At Jesus’ birth, an unusually bright star led the magi to Bethlehem. On the day of Pentecost, a mighty wind blew as the Holy Spirit was given. As the world’s Savior suffered and died on Good Friday, a strange darkness descended upon the earth and an earthquake occurred that tore the temple curtain in two. On Easter morning, another great earthquake occurred as God raised Jesus from the bondage of death.

    Earthquakes are often frightening and destructive events. The most recent one in Syria and Turkey in February left nearly 47,000 dead. Earthquakes in the bible often different: they tell of God’s power in the world. They speak of important events we need to pay attention to: days of judgment, the last days; and here in Matthew’s text, the power of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus.    Jesus’ resurrection is like a great and blessed earthquake. What it accomplished is all good.

      First, Jesus’ resurrection unleashed a great wave, a tsunami of grace.   Divine forgiveness was poured out and made available for all people, for all time. The resurrection means that Jesus had accomplished the great work the Abba Father sent him to do– save us from our sins and reconcile us to God. The power of this Easter Earthquake occurs in our very being: our sinful, selfish nature is left in rubbles. Our spiritual nature is unleashed. We to are transformed to become more like Jesus.   This easter earthquake shakes our priorities, shifts our perspectives; and crumbles our selfish egos and makes us God-centered, other focused.

        Secondly, Jesus’ resurrection brought about a great rearrangement in the powers of the world. A great earthquake can alter the landscape significantly. What was high becomes low; what was low is now lifted up.   Jesus’ resurrection caused a great rearrangement. It started with Jesus himself. There was nothing lower or more degrading than dying on a cross. But at the resurrection, God exalted Jesus to the highest place, giving him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.

    Jesus’ resurrection also caused a great rearrangement of the earthly powers. Matthew writes: “The angel’s appearance was like lightning…his clothing was white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.” The guards were ordinary men, but they represented the great military and political power of Rome. They were there to instill fear in anyone who might approach the tomb. Yet at the resurrection, they were the ones who became afraid, almost to the point of death. Their power to instill fear was overturned.

       In the Easter earthquake the power of fear lost its sting. Brute political power and the power of evil were overturned. The mighty were taken off the throne and the humble were exalted. On Easter morning the love of God in Jesus Christ was revealed to us as the greatest power in this universe. All the powers that claim supremacy now – fear, sin and death - while still active, have lost their ultimate power. They cannot and will not prevail.

       Finally, Jesus’ resurrection opened the way to heaven.   A powerful earthquake can open a great crack in the earth, leaving a gaping crevice. So, Jesus’ resurrection opened the way for us to enter God’s heaven. The door is now open for us to live with God and be his redeemed people forever. By identifying with the Crucified and Risen One we enter eternal life.

      In the resurrection we don’t deny the pain and sorrow and grief of death, but we say that it has lost its ultimate power. Because of Christ the Risen One we know the best is yet to come. Death now is a gateway to eternity, opened for us by Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Yes, Jesus’ resurrection is like a great and blessed earthquake – unleashing a wave of grace upon the earth, rearranging the landscape, and opening the way to heaven.

     In commenting on this story bible scholar William Barclay says that there are now three things for us to do. 1) Believe. Believe in God; believe also in Christ, the Risen One. 2) Rejoice. Jesus said to the women, “Greetings”! That word is derived from one which means rejoice. We can rejoice not only on Easter Day but every day. 3) “Go and tell!” The Risen Christ told the women, “Go and tell.” Go and tell someone of the great resurrection earthquake that has changed the world once and for all, and all for good! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

https://www.streetsvilleunited.ca/sermons/sermon-template-4/

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On the Mount

4/5/2023

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Psalm 118: 19-29; Matthew 21:1-11

Inspired by Mark Barnes
https://www.markbarnes.net/2019/09/mount-of-olives-the-suffering-and-glory-of-the-messiah/

Today it is Palm Sunday, a day of celebration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Palm Sundays are about shouting out hosannas and praises to Jesus. It’s day of waving palms, lifting our hands up in the air, laying down of coats in honor of the Son of David. It is the highpoint of Jesus’ career. Yet we know over the week ahead everything will slowly unravel. Jesus will encounter vicious confrontations with religious leaders in the temple. The people, including disciples, will begin to slowly drop away. By Friday, Jesus will be betrayed, denied, deserted, tortured, until he dies on a cross. Next Sunday we will be back here, once again celebrating his resurrection from the dead. If we are not careful or observant, we can miss it all. Those critical events that will transpire in Holy Week that form the bedrock of our faith.

Palm Sunday begins at the Mount of Olives and the scriptures invite us to pay close attention because the Mount of Olives is center to the unfolding of the drama of Holy Week. The Mount of Olives, from its place in the Old and New Testaments, reveals the unfolding of salvation history before our eyes. The Mount of Olives tells us a lot about who Jesus is and how we are to relate to him. The Mount of Olives reveals for us Jesus, Son of David, the Anointed one, our Messiah, our Lord and Savior, the one who was, who is and is to come.

The Mount of Olives was on the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem. Also called the Mount of Anointment, the hill owes both of its names to its olive groves. It is also called Mt. Olivet, or the “mountain facing Jerusalem” (1 Kings 11:7). Olives are a symbol of peace and prosperity, and these olives were used in the anointing of priests and kings, in the preparations of sacrifices in the temple. It is no wonder that out of the seven mountains surrounding Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives should play the key role in the life of Jesus, and in turn our life as followers of the Lord.

        Two notable people are associated with the Mount of Olives in the Bible. King David is the first. Who is the second? That’s right, Jesus.

According to 2 Sam. (15:23), King David was forced out of Jerusalem and rejected as King by his own son, Absalom who was trying to take the throne away from his father. David fled Jerusalem with loyal soldiers, and made his way up the Mount of Olives, barefoot and head covered – signs of mourning and penitence. As David climbed the mountain, He wept and mourned for himself and the betrayal he experienced but also for His own sinfulness (2 Sam. 15:30).   So, the Mount of Olives was a place of refuge, penitence, sorrow, and prayer – all aspects that would serve Jesus is his life.
The only two other references to Mount of Olives in the Old Testament come from the prophets that reveal the coming of the messiah. Zachariah (in chapter 14) talks about the coming of the day of the Lord, the messiah:

“ 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ….9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.”
The prophet Ezekiel (11: 23) infers the Mount of Olives when he prophecies about the future restoration of Israel and the regathering of the exiles: And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. This mountain is identified as the Mount of Olives. So, in Jewish lore, the Mount of Olives became associated with the longed-for messiah.

       Not surprisingly then, Jesus is associated often with Mount of Olives. Jesus made many visits to the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37). In fact, it was “usual” for Him to go there when in the vicinity of Jerusalem (Luke 22:39). During Holy Week, Jesus visited the Mount of Olives no less than three times. In the first instance which we heard from today’s reading, he came down Mount of Olives and entered Jerusalem on a donkey, as told in Matthew 21:4 quoting Zechariah 9:9: “Look your king is coming for you, humble and riding on a donkey.”

      As Jesus moved towards the Temple Mount, crowds of Jewish people greeted Him with a proclamation: “Hosanna (or help, save Lord) to the Son of David! “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”. These words were not random. It is a cry to God, Son of David referring to the Messiah – a cry of help. It is the official messianic greeting based on the words of Psalm 118:26. The people are pinning their hopes on Jesus as the longed-for Messiah – who deliberately begins his trek into the Holy City, that last week of his life, on the Mount of Olives, as foretold by the prophets.

     While still on the Mount of Olives, Jesus looked at the vista in front of Him, wept over the city, and pronounced a judgment against it (verses 41–44). Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it…! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” So, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus uses that same phrase from Psalm 118, the phrase that the people were crying out – and by doing so Jesus identifies himself as the subject of the messianic greeting. Jesus is messiah.

     Bible scholars believe Jesus spent Monday of Holy Week at the Temple, overturning tables, violently conflicting with temple leaders, teaching the crowds with highly critical parables and sayings. After this intense confrontation, Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives, when on the next day, Tuesday, Jesus delivers what is usually called the “Olivet Discourse.”

     The Olivet discourse, which bible scholars believe was delivered on Holy Tuesday, is found in Matthew (24:1 —25:46), Mark 13:1–37 and Luke 21:5–36. It was Jesus’ response to His disciples’ question, “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). Jesus’ Olivet teaching are prophecies the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (which happened in 70AD), the future tribulation period, and the second coming of Christ at the end of the tribulation. (Mark 13:1-37, Luke 21:5-36). The conflict on the temple grounds from Monday of Holy Week will spread worldwide. In Jesus last days, he speaks of Jerusalem’s last days, of our last days.

     Jesus’ third visit to the Mount of Olives during Holy Week was on the night he was betrayed, Thursday of Holy Week. That evening began with the Last Supper in Jerusalem and ended in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Then He took His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane (literally, “Garden of the Oil-press”) located on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. There Jesus prayed in agony as He contemplated the day to come. Jesus himself was so pressed by fear and dread, so overcome by the horror of what He was to experience in the passion and crucifixion the following day, His sweat was “like drops of blood” (Luke 22:44).

      We see that as King David was rejected, so Jesus was rejected. As David ascended the mountain, he wept and mourned for himself and his sin (2 Samuel 15:30), Jesus the son of David, both descended and came to the mountain where he wept and mourned for Jerusalem and the sin of its people (Luke 19:29, 41). Whereas David’s companions were faithful and stuck with him (2 Samuel 15:15), Jesus’ companions deserted him and denied him (Matthew 26:31). David suffered for his own sin (2 Sam. 12:10; 2 Sam, 15:30), Jesus suffered for our sins (1 Peter 3:18). By God’s grace, David escaped from his persecutors (2 Sam. 12:13). By God’s grace, Jesus submitted to his oppressors to suffer in our place (Isa. 53:6-7).

      There is still more. Jesus’ presence on the Mount of Olives didn’t end with Gethsemane. Around 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus took the disciples back to the mountain, and it was from there that he ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9-12).
The very location where David wept in defeat and where Jesus was betrayed and rejected will be the place Jesus ascended, and where Jesus will one day return in triumph as Zechariah foresaw:

6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.,,,9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

   Today, Palm Sunday, we are called to the Mount of Olives. We are
called to repent and pray like David did. We are called to find refuge from whatever is troubling us. Today we join the crowd, shouting Hosanna – save Lord! We sing the messianic chant; Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Today on the Mount, we acknowledge Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah sent to redeem the world. This week let us be on the mount, listening to Jesus. Let us be on the mount, praying with Jesus as he suffers and embraces his destiny of the cross for the life of the world. On this mount, this week, let us pay due homage for the great sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. This week, this very holy week, let us be on the mount, as we await his return once more, that glorious day when He will be crowned King of Kings, Lord or Lords, because his name will be the only name that reigns on the Mount of Olives to all the world. Amen.
https://churchleaders.com/pastors/150681-palm-sunday-sermon-what-kind-of-king-did-you-expect.html/5
https://firmisrael.org/learn/meaning-mount-of-olives-jesus-in-the-bible/

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A Living Hope

An Easter Earthquake!

On the Mount

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