Mark 5:21-43.                     Laughable or astonishing??                                            28/6/15

²¹ When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”⁴⁰ But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Here today we have another most astonishing display from this Jesus that we follow. Again surely we are left in absolute awe of this One who can do the impossible, without a blink of the eye. Yet what do we find, people, then and today do and say when Jesus says and does things which are out of the box and doesn’t conform to the current thinking of this world? They laugh at him.

Sadly today all around us we have people laugh off Jesus’ miracles and talk of the significance of him and his death and resurrection. They readily scoff at any talk about Jesus being more than a great teacher or example for us to follow. Our society today is hell-bent on ridiculing Jesus and his importance for life and salvation.

Even though they all know deep down there is a God over all, their rebellion is such that they deny his existence and laugh off any talk of him. . More and more there is this utter contempt and  rejection of this one who can and does make a huge difference to life and death. In our arrogance we want to be subject to no one – free to do as we please.

This last week we have seen further evidence of this obscene push to rid God and his Word from influence in our western world. Homosexual marriage is now a right in America and so Australia will follow very soon. More and more humanism is pushing God and his influence out of life. Evolution, abortion and now homosexual marriage are the tip of the iceberg.

Like Jairus’ daughter, our society is dying. The impact of all of these decisions is slowly but surely sucking the life out of our western world.  Many people already are losing purpose and hope. Drugs, suicides and all kinds of addictions are symptoms of the destruction that we are bringing on ourselves.

The bigger problem however is the fact that we don’t even want to acknowledge that there is a problem here. Our academic and media are telling us that all of this is a good thing.  So God is no longer even looked to or acknowledged as being relevant or having anything to say in this regard. In fact they laugh and scoff at any mention of him. That being the case the sickness is terminal.

Sadly, even in the church these days, we have many who, may not laugh in the same way, but they are quite ready to down play and even try to accommodate this thinking into the life of the church. The thinking seems to be that we need to be in with the world if we are going to be able to get the Christian message across. The world will only laugh at us if we do not go along with these things.

Along with that we can see what happens when this thinking creeps into the church. More and more as we go along with these things, they become part of life for many even in the church. Here we only need to think of abortion and sex outside of marriage to how this has crept right into the heart of the church. We then change what Scriptures clearly says in order to accommodate this thinking. Then before long we find that sin is no longer focussed on; and the follow on from that, talk of Jesus and his death on the cross are less and less spoken of.

Because the bible and Jesus are no longer adhered to the church is then seen as less and less relevant to life. So as we are seeing, the church too then slowly dies. Because the Bible is no longer held up as God’s Word in its entirety, the church slowly slips away from being what God would have us be. The world can laugh because the church has become an absurdity .

But again here today we are reminded of just how great and powerful this Jesus really is. He can and does bring back to life that which is dead. This is absolutely astonishing! Surely we can and want to stay close to and follow this one who can do all these things for us.

But most importantly of all we know that this Jesus went on to die on the cross so that we can have life with God for all eternity. He himself was raised to life so that we can be sure that there is life beyond death for all who are connected to this Jesus.

So if he has done all of this for us, surely we will take him seriously in everything that he has to say to us. We know that since he created everything he knows what life is all about and what is important. So we will take what he says to us in the Bible seriously, knowing that what is in the Scriptures is all his Word. Everything there is true, right and good for us and for our lives as his people.

So instead of trying to change it to accommodate the thinking of the day, we will stand by what he says and follow it closely even if it doesn’t fit with our own thinking, - even if we are laughed at. God does not tell us to do that which would be bad for us. Instead we know that it is good for us and our relationships with one another and for the good of his kingdom.

Also, surely by now we have come to realize that we as sinful human beings get it wrong again and again; as has happened all the way down through the ages. When we have, in our wisdom, thought we can ignore and change God’s word to suit ourselves, we have come unstuck and have brought nothing but trouble and hardship on ourselves.

Knowing that will make us ever so careful to ensure that we do not move away from his word or change it to suit ourselves. Instead we look to him with complete confidence, knowing that he has the power and wisdom to do the impossible so that we can have life – life in all of its fullness.

When the church has stood in astonishment before the Lord and his Word it has been able to stand strong in the midst of whatever it was facing.

Take Luther and the early Lutheran Church; as it held firmly to God’s Word with full confidence in God, it was able to stand firm and strong in the face of the adversities that it faced from the Roman Catholic Church and the world around it.

This week is the anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession where the Lutherans were asked to make their statement of faith before the Emperor and his attempts to bring all people of faiths together so that he could have a united front against the Muslims who were at the country’s doorstep. In that statement the Lutherans clearly stated what God’s word said with regard to what is important for their faith, and what makes for unity and what they also rejected.

For them there was no downplaying of the truth of God’s word or accepting a unity with the world around them that was attempting to ignore, change and lessen the substance of what God had to say in the Bible. That strong stand brought about many blessings following it.

So we thank God for our Lutheran forefathers and their Augsburg Confession. But now we need to learn from it in our time as we face many attempts for us to water down and even change God’s word in order that we not be out of step with the world around us.

We too can be sure that we have a powerful and awesome God at work today who will sustain us and bring blessing into our world through the power of his word. He can raise up Jairus’ daughter from the dead and he then can surely keep us as we hold fast to him and his word. So in astonishment at our God and who he is and what he has done for us in and through Jesus Christ let us give him all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish

Mark 4:35-41.                    Who is this, Jesus?                                          21/6/15

(35)  That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." {36} Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. {37} A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. {38} Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" {39} He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. {40} He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" {41} They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Yes, that is the question, isn’t it? Who is this Jesus? How significant is he really for our lives? What power does he really have? Now to answer these questions we have two options: we either look to God and his Word, or we look to what we and the world around us thinks.

All too often in regard to our thinking, we and the world around us operate like the disciples in our reading. They were fishermen and so they knew how to handle a boat in all conditions – this was their lake: they trusted in their abilities and so do we. We too sail through life with the idea that everything will or should basically go well for us. She’ll be right, the world is a relatively good place, and we’ll get by. Where it is not we just need to work harder to overcome the problems that arise. We can handle most things and when we can’t then the government had better step in and fix it.

But today it is even worse, because we are so much smarter than people of years gone by. We have a much better education system, and most of us have had the opportunity to be involved in higher studies; so we know how things should work. On top of that we have the technology and the money to get us through life with ease and comfort. So by and large we are quite confident that we can handle most things, or given time, money, and knowledge will overcome them. We’ll be right mate. We’ve got it all under control. God you just stay out on the fringes of our lives.

The trouble is, that the winds and waves of life sometimes dishes out the unexpected, and then we are left floundering. All our experience and knowledge counts for nothing as the troubles, sickness, old age or death threaten to drown us. Even our technology and money can not get us through those situations and we are left helpless and hopeless. Because we have put all of our confidence in ourselves and the things of this world, we are left stranded. The depression, drug abuse and addiction are symptoms of this reality.

What happens when our world comes crashing down around us? We like the disciples then scream out to whoever is within ear-shot; ‘Don’t you care, that we are in trouble?’ We wallow in our situation, and hope that somebody else may then be able to get us out of our mess, and put us back on track. Or at least they can feel helpless along with us. Our world has fallen apart because the things we have trusted in have let us down, and we have got nowhere else to go.

But of course that is not us; is it? Because we have got it all together: We know what we are on about: and so we’ll be right. We are good people; the government continues to give us our handouts; we go to church; and we even believe in Jesus, so we’ll be right.

Well let me assure you, that all of us at some time or other will get to that point where if we look merely to ourselves and the things of this world the troubles of life will hit us hard. Even when we put our trust in our own faith in Jesus, the winds and waves of life will overwhelm us. We too, will only be able to say, along with the rest of the world, ‘Lord don’t you care if we drown?’ ‘God, why have you done this? Why have you …..?’ ‘It is all your fault!’

Here today then we need to hear, what this Jesus did, at that point, and at another telling point in history, so that we can have confidence in the very worst of situations. Here on that lake Jesus simply stood up and rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. With a simple word, Jesus here did, what we with all our knowledge, strength, technology and money cannot do. His simple words controlled the very worst that nature or anything else can throw at us. Yes even the wind and the waves obey him!

 Perhaps this has got something to say to our whole climate change debate as well. But we won’t go in to that here, now, except to say that this is just another symptom of sinful selfish humanity ignoring God and his Word, and that if we turned back to God he has to the power to fix things for us.

But back to the lake, we too, along with the disciples, can only be terrified: ‘Who is this Jesus?’ ‘Who is this one who can even make the wind and the waves obey him?’ Is he just the figment of someone’s imagination; a fairy tale in and old dust-covered book, or is he who he really says he is, and who does have power to even control the wind and the waves? Is he God’s very own Son come into our world to help us out or not?

Here let us also remember that at another point in history this very same Jesus, who did miracle after miracle and yes, even told the wind and waves what to do; he allowed himself to be strung up on the cross, and to die. His power and his love meant that he willingly took on himself all of our sins; all of our failures; all of our being less than perfect: our very rebellion against God himself. He took it all on himself, and there on the cross allowed his Father to punish him for all of our sin, so that we might be forgiven and accepted once again into God’s family. Then he rose again from the dead three days later to be Lord of life and death: and so that we can be sure that we have life and salvation.

“Who is this Jesus?’ Here we have a most staggering thing of all to happen. Here we have God himself allowing himself to be killed so that we might be saved. This truly is a most amazing God of all. He even loved us that much, that he was prepared to take the full brunt of God’s anger against our sin, onto himself, so that we might have forgiveness of sins and the absolute certainty of life and salvation. Here is our saviour who loved us so much that he made sure that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from his love in Christ Jesus.

To top it all off, he gave us baptism, so that each one of us personally can be incorporated into this love that he has for us: his death and resurrection. So that we can know that he has forgiven us and accepted us into his family. Then he also gave us Holy Communion so that week after week we might receive his very body and blood which he shed on the cross for us, so that we can be sure that we do have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, and that our Lord himself goes with us throughout our lives.

“Who is this Jesus, who has done all of this for us? Surely this is a holy and awesome God, who can do all of this? He has immense power. He has absolute control over all things, so that even the winds and the waves obey him. He created all things and he keeps it all going. He has such love that he allows himself to die in our place so that we can have life.  Here surely is one then that we will look up to, worship and follow as that which is all important in life.

However because we have chosen not to obey him and live in that close loving relationship with him, we have brought all kinds of difficulties and evil into our lives. We now have to suffer many and varied hardships, and we cannot blame them onto God. It is because of our sin that these are part of life for all of us. But they continually remind us of the consequences of our turning our backs on God.

But now we have God’s assurance that he will not let them harm us. He will watch over us, and see to it the nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Yes, he will allow difficulties and even disasters to come our way, but he assures us that he is now using them for our good or for the good of others. Even if we should lose everything in earthly terms; even our life; we know that nothing can take away the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation that the Lord Jesus has won for us.

So now there is no need for us to be afraid, when even the most difficult of circumstances comes our way. We know that they cannot destroy us. We now can have faith that God will see us through to being with himself in heaven for all eternity. So we can go forward with a confident and sure hope.

But now, not in ourselves and the things of this world, but in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done for us and continues to do for us. We can trust him in every situation, for we not only know that the wind and the waves obey him, but that he loves us so much that he came into our world to die on the cross for us, so that we may have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation as a guarantee.

So ‘Who is this Jesus? He is God almighty himself: the second person of the Trinity. He is Lord and Saviour! He is our all important one who we can look up to and trust. He is THE One that we truly can rely on in life, and especially when the going gets tough. So let us put our faith in him alone, and then go forward confidently to live and be the people he wants us to be in the midst of this life and all that it throws at us.

To God alone be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish

Genesis 3:8-15.                   The naked truth about sin!                              7/6/15

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman,  and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Where are you? Why are you hiding? The Lord God is calling his people from their hiding places. What has happened that my people don't want to be with me? Why don't they want to be in a close personal relationship with me? Why is it that my churches are near empty and those who claim to be Christians have all kinds of excuses for not coming into my presence?

This is a very interesting follow-up passage to last week’s message from our reading from Isaiah. Here today we get an explanation as to why people do not want to take God seriously. Here we are brought to an insight as to why people do not want to live in a close relationship with the almighty and awesome God. They - we disobey our Lord and so often do not want to face up to the fact that we have messed things up – that we have chosen to go against God and what he has to say to us.

Too often we all want to be on an equal footing with God and be able to do what we want to do. And because of that rebellion we can't or don't want to face this one and only awesome God that he is. Instead we want to hide and avoid the real issues of life. Instead we blame others for our mistakes and yes we even blame God, when in reality it is we ourselves who have messed things up.

There we have the naked truth of the effects of our sin – our disobedience – our ignoring and rebelling. Our weak humanity is left exposed and bare – warts and all. When we look at sinful humanity we are a sorry sight indeed; and we are getting worse. If we are honest with ourselves we see Adam and Eve's disobedience and their actions following it, as very much the same as what is happening in our own lives. Each one of us.

As we look within and around us we see disobedience and rebellion upon disobedience and rebellion toward our Lord and the way that he would have us live and act. We want to live our own lives and do as we please. We too swallow the lies of our modern day serpents who say; Did God really say?  

We are told that money and modern technology can give us all and more than God ever promised. If we can create that illusionary image of a one unified world that is at peace with each other and with nature, then all will be well. If we get enough scientific theories together we will no longer have a need for God. If we spend enough money on health science we will be able to live forever.

Increasingly we are told that if we think positively enough and have enough self-confidence and assurance we will be able to achieve whatever we want. If we have enough rights, help, privileges and opportunities we will be able to do great things. If we have enough leisure time we will be happy.

However even though our world promises us so much and it is made to sound good and rosy, we find at the end of day that we are left standing stark naked. Fully clothed we might be - but the shame and guilt of our disobedience leaves us bare and stripped of all credibility. Instead of glory, peace and wellbeing we find that we are left standing exposed, shameful, guilty and all alone. All our faults, failings and short-comings are glaring at us like neon lights, blinking away so that all can see.

It’s there isn't it? It is there in our own lives, despite all the good intentions and great ideals. It is there in us all, even though we try to hide it behind our busyness, drugs or other addictions. It is there in our hurts, failures and power gone wrong. It is there in our feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, mistrust and uncertainty. It is there when we feel as though we are objects of ridicule and scorn; standing there naked knowing that our shame is exposed, we are guilty and afraid: Afraid because we are exposed for all to see. But most of all we are afraid because we know that we have failed God: we have gone against him and how he would have us live. And we know that he will call us to account.

So now whenever we hear God speak or are reminded of him and his will, we become afraid and want to hide because of our guilt. Despite being sucked in by the cunning words of the serpents of the day we know that we are wrong in heeding their lies. We know we have failed and so often live in fear - fear of our nakedness - fear of facing the Lord Almighty himself.

So we hide. We turn our backs on God and try to avoid the issues of our failure. We busy ourselves and our lives with work and play: we hide ourselves in front of our TV sets, computers, bottles beer and other addictions. We put on false fronts and pretend that we are having a good time. We try and hide, not really knowing how we are going to cope with our nakedness.

Then when we are cornered with the clear facts before us we so often still try to avoid the real issue. When the voice of God catches us out and challenges us, we do as Adam did: we talk of side issues and things of lesser importance; we steer the discussion away from our disobedience: and we make all sorts of excuses.

Then when we are unable to avoid the issue and the facts are stacked up against us, with all the cards on the table, we then all too often are like Adam and try to justify ourselves and put the blame on someone or something else. Yes we even blame God. We blame our Lord for our mistakes and accuse him for the results of our own disobedience.

How warped can we get? Our sin has so twisted our whole approach to life, to God, and even to those closest to us; and to ourselves as well. So there we have gone as low and as far as we can go. We have put ourselves in deep trouble with no way out. We stand naked in the depth our sin and depravity, exposed in all our guilt, rebellion and fear: up to eyeballs in manure and deserve everything that should come our way.

Then the Almighty God steps in to the midst of our sin and mess and pronounces his judgement and punishment. He announces his curse and brings down his judgement of death. The serpent is doomed. Satan is left without a leg to stand on. Punishment is to come.

However, because his love for us, we are spared the curse, even though we deserve the same fate. Sure he goes on to tell us that because of our sin, life here on earth will not be easy. We will suffer the consequences of our sin: troubles and hardships will now be a part of life for us here on this earth and we will die. But he does not curse us, unless of course we continue to turn our backs on him.

               

For us he announces a way out. He gives us hope, life and salvation in the midst of the mess.   His own Son steps into our world and takes all of our nakedness on himself. He comes into our world as one of us and take all our guilt, rebellion and fear on himself and allows himself to be punished on cross in our place. He hung there taking the curse that should have been ours. But at the same time, he crushes the head of Satan and breaks his power over us.

There on the cross we are given the freedom to again live as his people: to again live in that ongoing and living relationship with our Lord forever, with nothing being able to separate us from his love. Except, as we were reminded of in Gospel reading : except if we reject Christ and what he has done for us; unless we chose to go on living in our rebellion and sin.

There through his death on the cross Jesus clothes our nakedness with his righteousness. He dresses us again through the forgiveness of sins with a right relationship with God: A righteousness such that when God looks at us he sees his Son Jesus and our connection with him and accepts us as his very own perfect people. He gives to us His Spirit to lead us and guide us in a new and living way. We are dressed as sons and daughters of God himself: Wrapped, warmed and comforted in his loving acceptance .

What a fantastic thing this is that God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. What joy we can now have because of him. What relief is ours, as all our faults, failings and rebellion is swept aside. No. not swept aside - Jesus taking the punishment instead of us. But now we are free - free to again come into God's presence and worship him. Free to come to church regularly in thanks and praise for all that our Lord has done for us.

So with that,       let us go out and seek to live as God's people once again. Let us seek to live as our Lord would have us. With his help, living, working and playing in a way that pleases this One who has done such great things for us.  Despite our past pathetic performances; despite the naked truth of a past sinful life; let us go out as freed people; as people who have been clothed with Jesus Christ himself - our Lord and saviour.

Yes let us go from here thanking and praising him for the greatness of what he has done to help us out of the mess that we have gotten ourselves into. Let us go from here giving him all glory and honour, now and always.  AMEN

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish