Wait and See

This event happens after Jesus’ baptism and after he recruited at least his first four disciples: Andrew, whom had been one of John the Baptist’s disciples, Andrew’s brother Simon, whom Jesus would give the name Peter, Philip, who was from the same home town as Simon and Andrew, Bethsaida, and Philip’s friend Nathanael.
The structure of the account of this miracle is similar to some other accounts of Jesus’ miracles: the expression of a need, Jesus’ reluctance or hesitation to respond to the request for help, and a further demonstration of faith followed by acts of obedience to God’s will and Jesus’ directions. The miracle is performed as a response to the request, the demonstration of faith, and the acts of obedience. This is similar to the account of Jesus healing the sick son of a royal official from Capernaum, which was in area of Galilee. This can be found in John chapter 4. I looked up Cana and Capernaum on one of the maps in my bible and found that they are about twenty miles apart. This royal official came to see Jesus during another visit to Cana. The man begged Jesus to heal his sick son and Jesus responded, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe.” But the man persisted, begging, “Sir come down before my child dies.” Therefore Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The account of that miracle states that from the very moment that Jesus uttered those words, the boy’s fever left him. That is recorded in John, in Mark and Matthew the account of Faith of the Syrophoenician Woman. She was a Greek woman and she had a daughter that was possessed by an evil spirit. She fell at Jesus feet and begged him to drive the demon out, but Jesus said, “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs. The woman persisted replying, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Jesus was impressed by her faith and because of it, he made the demon leave the daughter’s body.
This is probably a very familiar story from the gospel for most of us. Jesus is at Cana in Galilee with his mother Mary and his disciples. During the wedding banquet the party runs out of wine. This would be a very embarrassing and unfortunate problem to have. It would be like running out of punch, or soda pop, or coffee or all three at a present day wedding reception. The guests are celebrating the marriage with the bride and groom and having a grand meal, but they need something fitting to drink with it. It would be a very embarrassing miscalculation on the part of the bridegroom and his family to run out of wine.
Judging by the amount of water that Jesus turned into wine, enough to fill six 20 to 30 gallon stone water jars. This must have been a pretty big party. Jesus created somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. Just judging by that volume there must have been many guests at this banquet. From experience, I know that when something does not go right at a party people remember it and talk about it or joke about it at future gatherings. For example, in my family we always remembered and talked about the time that we were grilling out and some how the steaks got dumped in the dirt. We did not have anything else to eat, and it landed in clean sand so they were rinsed and served and we ate them. We always joked about the sand crunching and squeaking in our teeth, even though I do not think any of us really did get any sandy bites.
Mary wanted to save her friends from the embarrassment of not being properly prepared for this wedding banquet so she took action. She asked Jesus for help. This is something that she had in common with the royal official from Capernaum and the Syrophoenician woman. They needed help or they knew of a need for help and they took it to the Lord to ask for help. This is something we might need to be reminded of when we have problems.
When the wine began to run out at the wedding banquet, Mary did not have to say anything to Jesus about the problem. It was not her job to make sure that the party was well supplied. Apparently there was a water source nearby, the people could have gotten by with just water to drink, but Mary did take the step to present this problem to Jesus. She did not just try to work on her own to find a solution for this problem. When Jesus tested Mary’s faith by questioning whether this was the right time for him to act or the right place, Mary persisted in her faith. She did not give up just because she did not get the answer that she had hoped for right off the bat. She still told the servants to do whatever Jesus asked them to do. The servants that were there respected the faith Mary had in Jesus and therefore they were obedient to the instructions that Jesus gave them.
The next part of this story presents two more important points. The first is that the persistence of faith of one person can plant the seed of new faith in the hearts of others. The servant’s had drawn water from the stone jars and presented it to the steward of the banquet. When he tasted the water it had become wine. He did not know where this wine had come from, but the servants knew that this wine had been water just moments before when they were filling the jars. Those servants may have gained at least a seed of faith from witnessing this miracle. The scripture also says that Jesus glory was revealed through this miracle and the disciples put their faith in him.
The third point is that when the water was transformed into wine by Jesus the wine was better than the first wine that had been served at the banquet. The wine that the family had provided for the banquet was probably the best that they could afford, but it was not as good as the wine that Jesus had provided. If Mary had not stepped in or interceded on behalf of the groom and his family, they would have been left to their own devices. Whatever they could have provided as a drink for the rest of the banquet, it would not have been as good as the wine that was provided by Jesus.
These are important lessons for us to keep in our hearts and minds. It may be difficult when we are engulfed by our problems and trying to find a solution or a way out, to stop and take the time to turn to God and ask for help, but when we do God does hear us. When we ask God for direction and help he does listen. He may not respond as soon as we would like him to and he may not provide the solution that we had expected, but in his own time and in his own way, God does answer our prayers. His answer may be, “yes”, it may be “no”. His answer may also be wait and see what I can do for you.

Mercy Me!

I some times struggle with this parable for two reasons. If I put myself in the shoes of the prodigal son, it just seems way to easy. He has taken the inheritance that his father gave him and blown it on wine, women, and the wild life. This was wealth that his father worked nearly a life time to earn; he burns right through it within a couple of years. Then he falls on hard times, at the same time that the country that he lives in also falls on hard times. Now not only does he not have any riches to squander on the good life, he does not have the bare necessities to sustain his life. He goes to work for a pig farmer, and he is so hungry that the slop he is feeding to the pigs looks good enough to eat. To us this might seem like exactly what he deserves. He thinks of his father’s hired hands and servants. They have plenty of decent food to eat, so he decides to travel back to his father’s house and throw himself on his father’s mercy, and beg. He intends to beg, not to be accepted back as his father’s son, but just to be taken back to work as a hired hand. In our human minds, even coming back as a hired hand, is probably better than he deserves after the way he has treated his father.
What does the father do when he comes back? Does he wait for this son that went astray to beg for forgiveness? No, this father has been keeping watch waiting for his wandering son to come home. He has been fearing that this prodigal son, may have died, and he is so glad that this lost sheep has returned home that he runs out to him and kisses him, and gives him a new robe and a new ring, and new sandals for his feet. The father tells the slaves to go and kill the fatted calf because they are going to have a grand celebration because this son, whom he thought was dead is now alive again. Then they begin to celebrate. Seems a bit over the top doesn’t it? Seems like way more than he deserves doesn’t it?
This is not justice is it? After disrespecting his father and running off with his inheritance money to a foreign land and squandering it, that boy deserved whatever he got. He truly should have been grateful to get any job that he could get, slopping pigs let alone working as a servant or hired hand for his father. Does he get what he deserves? No he does not. His father loves him so much that he shows grace and mercy beyond normal human understanding. He honors this prodigal son and treats him like an honored guest. He treats him like a favorite son.
That brings me to the more realistic part of this parable. The elder son, the one that has stayed at his father’s side and helped to take care of the estate for all these years, these years when his younger brother was off living a life of debauchery and lasciviousness’. The elder son has been faithful and loyal and trustworthy and hardworking. So it is pretty understandable that when he is out working in the field and hears this music and sees the dancing from this celebration for his no account brother that he gets angry. The older son has been a contributing member of society for years, and has his father ever even given him a young goat so that he could have a party with his friends. No way, no how. The son that wasted his share of the estate gets a party just for coming home and the one that has stayed at home and kept the household running just gets day after day of drudgery and work. Does that sound very fair to you?

We may see ourselves in either one of the two sons, some of us may even see ourselves in the father. I am going to review these characters in reverse order. Any here that have been parents or parental figures to children crossing from youth into adulthood, there has probably been more than one point in your relationship with those children where you felt lost, where you felt like your child was going astray. Maybe they stop going to church. Maybe they have chosen not to go to school to better themselves or they won’t get a job. Maybe they are living a life or lifestyle that goes against the will of God and the teachings of the bible. If you are a parent with children in your life that have gone astray and have not yet returned to God, you understand the feelings of that father that would look out over the horizon keeping watch for the return of your lost child. This precious life that you helped to create and mold is some where out there lost and alone because of their own choices, and all that you can do is pray that God will help them turn their lives around. And if those children have later turned their lives around and come back to God and come back to you, then you probably have a good idea of how the father of the Prodigal Son felt. That child which was lost has now been found. That child which was dead to you because of the choices they were making in their life has now repented and turned their life around to go the other way and therefore they are alive again.
We may see ourselves in the character of the elder son. The one that has always been faithful, the one that tries to be obedient to the father, we are the ones that step up to help with funeral dinners, work on projects in and around the church or in the community, we serve and clean-up at picnics, hog roasts, smorgasbords, and bazaars all kinds of luncheons, meals, and functions. We submit our own wills to the will of God, and sometimes it may be hard to see what we get for it. The reward may not come right away. The reward may not be apparent. It does not seem fair to us when the tax collectors, prostitutes, drunkards, drug abusers, and philanderers finally hit their rock bottom and decide to turn their lives around. All of a sudden everybody is making a great big fuss over them, those horrible sinners. What is the big deal. That guy just blew all of the money that he had, and when he had nothing to eat he decided that he would go back home to see if he could get some help. All the while those prodigals were out there living it up, doing whatever they pleased, however they pleased, wherever they pleased, we were back here holding down the fort, working for we new that the night would be coming. We were tilling the ground, planting the seeds, pulling the weeds, reaping the harvest, and this no account good for nothing shows up and is welcomed with open arms just in time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The answer from our Father in Heaven is that he loves us just as much as he loves the Prodigal. His answer is that our reward is found in Heaven and our inheritance is secure.

Jesus answered the Pharisees well, when he told this parable about the Prodigal and his brother. Remember that they were grumbling among themselves because Jesus was eating with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. God is glad to have all those that are saved and that have accepted salvation in Jesus Christ and that are therefore part of the family of God. However, the lost souls are the ones that need to be sought after. To put it another way, healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people surely do. When even one more lost person is found, when one more sick person is healed, when one more prodigal sinner repents and is redeemed and is brought into God’s family, of course he is thrilled and there is celebrating in heaven. He is our loving Father in Heaven, and nothing can make him happier than welcoming each new saved son or daughter back into his family.This leads me back to that Prodigal Son, the one who was lost, the one who took his inheritance and squandered it on sinful living. He went against the will of the father. He did the things that he should not have done and he did not do the things he was supposed to do. Does this sound like anyone you know? At some point in our lives, or even at some point in each day, all of us slip into sin. We say hurtful or unkind things to “our neighbor”. We do things in order to serve ourselves before God and before others. We go astray in many ways, some obvious and some that might be very subtle. When we go astray, we are just like that Prodigal Son. We put the inheritance that God has planned for us in jeopardy. We risk losing that mansion that Jesus returned to Heaven to prepare for us. But the good news is, all we need do to come back home is pray to God asking for forgiveness. Our Father in Heaven watches over us even when we wander off on our own sinful paths, and he can see us when we repent. He sees us when we turn around and come back to the way that is the one right way, and even though we may only feel like we deserve to work like a hired hand in our Heavenly Fathers kingdom, he does not treat us that way. When we return to his paths of righteousness from the ways of sin and the world; he puts a new cloak of righteousness around our shoulders. When we make it home He will put a precious ring on our hand, and even a crown of victory on our heads. He does this not because we earned it, but because our elder brother, Jesus Christ toiled, suffered, died and rose again to pay the price to redeem us from our sins. Jesus earned these rewards, but as repentant believers and through the grace and mercy of God we get a share of them. Praise God?! Amen!!

Life in Christ Is an Open Book Test

When I was growing up, I thought the greatest Christian must be the person who walks around with shoulders thrown back because of tremendous inner strength and power, quoting Scripture and letting everyone know he has arrived. I have since learned that the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ. The Christian is not the one who has achieved the most but rather the one who has received the most. God’s grace, love, and mercy flow through him abundantly because he walks in total dependence. This is an excerpt from Fresh Faith by Jim Cymbala, and it echoes one of the points of this morning’s Epistle lesson. This point is that though we face many trials and temptations in our lives, it is not our own inner strength that gets us through them, but it is the strength that we can draw from God through faith that enables us to conquer them all.
Paul starts this passage to the church in Corinth with warnings to the members of the church. He wanted them to be aware that they were still surrounded by temptation, but also that they needed to be conscious of their own feelings. Corinth was a major city in the Roman empire filled with temples for all kinds of pagan religions, and Corinthian Christians were quite a motley crew. They were people that you probably would not expect to turn their lives over to the teachings of Christ. They were converted idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, thieves, drunkards, and swindlers. They came from pagan religions where immoral behaviors were part of religious customs, so Paul uses the example of the Israelites and their travels through the desert to give these new Christians some instruction.
We live in a world where the pagan religions are harder to see. The world we live in preaches messages that right and wrong are just a matter of personal choice, and if we happen to do something wrong, than it is not really our fault. A world that teaches us to do what feels good. A world that tells us that we deserve to have more comfort from more and better material goods. The secular world brings all kinds of messages of sublime self-indulgence. This is really not so different from the culture surrounding the new Christian church in Corinth.
When Moses lead the Israelites up out of Egypt they passed through the sea by the power of God. This for the Christians in Corinth and for us today is an analogy to being baptized into the family of God. In the wilderness the Israelites wandered the desert under a cloud, which was the indication of the presence of God. Once we become a part of the family of God, then he is always with us. He may not appear over us like a cloud leading our way, but he is in our hearts and in our minds. God goes with us wherever we go and whatever we are doing. He is always with us.
Now once the Israelites had followed Moses and God into the desert, did they live the rest of their lives as devout worshipers and saints? It does not sound like it. We can read in several places in the book of Exodus about the people straying from their commitment to God. They would fall into idol worship and behave immorally. By straying from the path that God was leading them on, they were putting God to the test. Paul used that example for the Corinthian Christians, because just as the Israelites were tempted by the hardship of their own situations and the behaviors of the peoples around them, the Corinthian Christians also faced hardships and the temptation of seeing the indulgent behavior of the pagans around them. In the end only two of the generation of the Israelites that went out into the desert with Moses were allowed to enter into the Promised Land, because of their faith in God and obedience to his word. Paul wanted to use this instruction to help the Corinthians do a better job of remaining faithful to God.
The problems that the Corinthians faced were very similar to the problems that the Israelites had struggled through thousands of years before. Now we are living some two thousand years after Paul wrote his letter to the church in Corinth, and some of the problems that they were facing do not really relate to us. Like the issue of eating meat that had been sacrificed to pagan idols, but some of the issues the church is dealing with today are much the same as those that were faced by the Corinthians. There are divisions in the church, lawsuits, immorality, the single life, the extent of Christian freedoms, and differing views of worship and worship styles. Every breakdown in the church in Corinth will not necessarily occur in churches today, but the principles of Paul’s teachings still apply to our own unpredictable experiences.
How fitting it is that we would use this scripture on a Sunday when we will be sharing in communion. The scripture says, “All ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. We will all be eating from the common loaf and drinking from the cups all filled from the same source. They and we eat and drink from the same spiritual rock and that rock is Jesus Christ.
Sharing in the Spirit of Christ does not automatically save us from temptation and it does not deliver us from falling back into sin. As our scripture states, “the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” Communing with other Christians and participating actively in Christian worship helps to fortify us to resist temptation and that fortification helps us to avoid falling back into sinful patterns of behavior, but it is not a get out of jail free card. We need to be on guard so that when we leave church we do not leave behind our Christian behavior, but rather live out our faith and obedience to God everyday of our lives.
A couple of weeks ago, when church was canceled due to the snowy and icy roads, you all missed out on a sermon based on the scripture from Luke about the temptation of Jesus by Satan for 40-days. This happened right after Jesus had been baptized in the River Jordan by his cousin John the Baptist. Since our Epistle lesson today also deals with temptation, I want to share with you a little bit of what I had prepared based on that gospel.
You might expect that Jesus would have gone directly into teaching and performing miraculous signs and healings after being baptized. After all immediately following his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke from heaven, claiming and proclaiming that this Jesus was his Son and with him he was well pleased. That is not what happened though, Jesus was moved by the Spirit to go out to the desert and for more than six weeks he was tempted and tormented by the devil. During that whole time Jesus fasted, and though he was physically weakened he became spiritually strengthened.
When Satan sees and hears that we are trying to become God’s children and work for God in this world, than there is nothing that he, Satan, would like to do more than to stop that work. The temptations that the Israelites faced in the desert, the temptations that Jesus faced in the desert, the temptations that the early Christians faced in Corinth, and the temptations that we face today, all of these temptations are the same things. They are all issues of the devil trying to prevent Christians from advancing in their walk of faith. They are Satan’s attempts to prevent the word of God from being spread and prevent more people from being brought into the family of God. These battles against temptation are how we may end up bent and stooped from our spiritual struggles.
Here is the good news, all of these temptations that we can read about in Exodus, in the gospels, and in Paul’s letters to his churches, they can all serve as examples for us. As our Epistle lesson states, “they were written down to instruct us”. There is an extra warning here for those of us that may be sitting here or standing here thinking, “Yea, those poor other folks that don’t see what is hitting them.” “If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” This might be a slightly more subtle way of saying, “Before you point out the speck in your brothers or sisters eye, pull the log out of your own.” As long as we are living in the flesh we are tempted to sin and because of our human side, we will most likely step into it from time to time, but we are not in this alone. We have our Christian family, and God himself on our side and he will help us out of whatever mess we step-in.
That brings me to the second part of the Good News for this morning. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. If you are tempted to cheat on your spouse. If you are tempted to cheat on your taxes. If you are tempted to abuse drugs or alcohol. If you are tempted to skip school or work. If you are tempted in any way, you are not the first or the only person to be tempted that way. Even Jesus was tempted and he had to struggle with that when he was tired and hungry, just as we are tempted when we are in a weakened state. Remember this God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength. The world does not have control over your spirit. God’s power is greater than any of the temptations and lies that the devil will throw at you. Jesus set a perfect example for us as he withstood the temptations of the devil. He had the free will to choose to give into the temptations of Satan if he wanted to. His flesh was weakened and he could have accepted the lies that Satan was spitting at him. If he had we would all have been lost, but Jesus showed us the way to resist any temptation. Test the messages that the world is throwing at you against the Word of God. If those worldly messages do not agree with the teachings of the Bible, than rebuke the world and deny Satan his victory by answering with the Words of God found throughout the scriptures. Those messages from God will provide the way out so that you can endure the testing and then you will be strengthened by God. If that method was good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough for you and me!