Why Jonah? Why Nineveh?

God called Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah chose instead to run away. It leads me to the question of why God chose Jonah in the first place. Who was this guy? He was a prophet. So we need a little context here.

Two of the varieties of literature in the Old Testament are the "Historic Books" and the "Prophetic Books". The books of Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are generally considered the "Historic Books". Isaiah through Malachi (I leave you to look up all those great names), are the "Prophetic Books".

To make it interesting, there is a lot of prophecy recorded in the Historic Books and there is history given us in the Prophetic Books. In some cases, there seems to be practically duplication of a historic reference from a Historic Book to a Prophetic Book (Jeremiah). In other cases, there is no Historic reference at all to the Prophetic Book so it is unclear when they lived (Obadiah).

Jonah offers us a bit of both. In the Historic Books, Second Kings 14: 23-25, places Jonah in the historic context of the nation of Israel, “ 23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 25 He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.”

In the Prophetic Book under Jonah's name however, there is NO reference to any of this. If we did not have this brief piece in Second Kings, there is little context in Jonah to place him in the history of the Old Testament.

And our confidence is high that this is the same Jonah, because of his father. Where as we mark people by family name, I am Peter Hofstra-"Hofstra" marks my family-in the record keeping of the Bible, individuals are further identified by who their father was, so Jonah son of Amittai is roughly equivalent to Peter Hofstra.

The significance of this is that God did not simply pick on “some guy” to go preach to the Ninevites. God selected a prophet, the prophet from "Gath Hepher", according to 2 Kings. The Nineveh assignment is rather unique. Second Kings makes no reference to it in regards to Jonah. Other prophets (Isaiah in particular) preach God's word to and against other nations, but that is in context to the Jews.

Why Nineveh? According to Biblical records, Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian Empire. So? Well, the Assyrians are the ones who destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This is just speculation on my part, but this could be a prophecy that shows the Assyrians “getting right” with God before they become the instruments of God’s judgment upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel. A prophet of God (despite his disobedience on the first call to go) was dispatched to them.

While that may be interesting background material, the key to the story is not in who they were or where they were located. The key to this story is the covenant of God to all humanity. Obey and be blessed, perform evil and there will be consequences. Repent and be forgiven. That’s what Jesus taught.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Gospels: Ever Wonder Why We Have Four?

There are four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. One might consider them the Beatles of the New Testament. That said, somebody who knows the reference might ask, “So who is Ringo?” But the drummer of the Beatles, as happens too often for drummers, gets short shrift. But I am not here to talk about the Beatles.

I am here to talk about Matthew and Luke. In each of them, Jesus talks about Jonah as a sign for the people. More than just a sign, he is an expression of Jesus’ frustration. In the face of all the signs and wonders that Jesus accomplished in the presence of the people, they kept asking for more. Many demanding these signs were not people of faith, seeing their faith expressed in the power of God through Jesus. They were the opponents, the disbelievers, the ones looking for a bit of Godly flair in this self-proclaimed Son of Man.

But where it gets interesting is that Matthew and Luke do not record precisely the same things. As I hope I have made clear, we are preaching on Jonah in the month of April. Both gospel writers share Jesus and the reference to Jonah, but not in identical terms. What I mean is that Matthew specifically references the three days of Jonah in the belly of the fish as a narrative prophecy of Jesus’ three days in the belly of the earth (there is a previous post that talks about the different kinds of prophecy) where Luke does not.

Why would Matthew mention this Easter parallel while Luke would not? What does it say about the inspiration of Scripture? That is important because it implicates God in the sharing of the Scriptures that we have. These are two passages that are either referencing the same incident, but with different details, or, if one wants to push the issue, two different moments when Jesus mentions Jonah. So, the Matthew moment and the Luke moment. If it is important to keep the stories straight. If it is important that it might be implicated that there is ‘error’ in Scripture with the divergent Gospel accounts in reference to Jonah.

Or it may go to the root of our theology of inspiration, how we think about God in regards to the writing of the Bible. I believe that Matthew and Luke speak to the eyewitness accounts of Jesus from two different points of view. Two people seeing the same thing but not remembering identical details. That may be troublesome in a court case, but I, for one, do not see it as troublesome in the Word of God. God’s inspiration is the presence of the Holy Spirit upon the authors of Scripture.

Thus Luke and Matthew are not in competition with one another. Rather, they are complementary to one another. There are many accounts across the gospels that are in distinction to one another. Only two carry aspects (different from one another) of the Christmas event. Only three provide for us the narrative of the Lord’s Supper. John implies that narrative and adds the story of Jesus’ washing the feet of the disciples. The gospels provide different amount of detail to the temptation of Jesus by Satan.

I do understand there is an "amalgamation" gospel, one that joins together the events of all four into a single narrative. It sounds like an interesting read, but it is not the Bible. God has provided us with four points of view on the life and times of Jesus. Read them as four people relaying their accounts of our Savior. They are not identical because people, much less their memories, are not identical. God has gifted us with these four.

They are complementary. Each of the four, traditionally Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--but the authors choose not to self-identify in the texts--each provides us their witness of Christ. They enrich one another. When digging in to a deep understanding of the gospel, one layer of reading is to note where those distinctions take place. A second layer is to see where those four individual voices speak distinctly (not differently) from one another. How much more then can we learn about our Savior?

Peace,

Pastor Peter

The Idol of Knowledge ("the Google", otherwise known as the Search Engine)

So what got me started on this was a verse out of Jonah 2, part of our Scripture for Sunday’s Worship. Specifically, Jonah 2:8, where Jonah prays, “Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty.”

It led me to notice a pattern of behavior that was in need of theological consideration and correction. (Theology-thinking about God; so consideration in light of thinking about God). It was not much, just a little humorous mental shorthand. I use Google Drive for my church writing, which makes it an easy hop to the Google search engine when I have an item to follow up.

The mental shorthand in question was a thought process of referring to Google as ‘the god of knowledge’. Yes, definitely a small "g” god. But still. It comes out of classical mythology, where the gods (again, small "g”) had their portfolios of powers and responsibilities. To the ancient Greeks, the god of knowledge was Athena.

So, there is a theory of the transcendent out there that talks about humanity creating their deities in their own image. I think there is a lot of truth in that, that it is very possible to draw lines from the culture of a given time and place and the ‘pantheon’ that governs its religious experience.

Where I diverge with this kind of thinking is where it comes back to my own faith. Creating God in our own image, it has been applied to my Lord, whom I believe is revealed (in historic terms) as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But what I believe is that my Lord exists (and pre-exists) humanity, is the creative agent of all, and is the reason of my faith and salvation. That is an EXTREME shorthand of what I believe. But, it means God created me, not the other way around.

That tweaks my understanding of the theory of humanity creating their gods in their own image. Humanity has this sense of the divine from their own creation by my Lord. This spiritual echo, if you will, is what humanity is drawing upon to create their own gods.

But the Bible is pretty clear on what those other gods are. Idols. Creations of wood and stone and metal. They continue to exist, creations of advertising, data, and emotional manipulation. So, a ‘god’ of knowledge, that needs some theological consideration. An ‘idol’ of knowledge? Something created by human hands? That fits. Naming it? The Google, the Idol of Knowledge, that comes from the work of another idol of today, the Idol of Brand Recognition.

Depending on your “faith”, your Idol of Knowledge might be the Yahoo, the Bing, or the DuckDuckGo, to name but a few. If this human creation has not reached the level of deification, we generally call it “the search engine”.

When it’s a tool, a useful tool, it does as it ought for us humans. But as with all things, I want to be careful to keep it in its place. So the Idol of Knowledge becomes a personal shorthand. The God of all Creation, that is where true power lies.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

The Soul Dump: Prayer in Times of Crisis

Jonah 2 is a prayer from the belly of the ‘big fish’ (to use the Hebrew). It was prayed in the fish but obviously recorded after the fact. There being an “after the fact”, survival from being swallowed whole, gives us this unique perspective on prayer.

From verse 3 onward, we have Jonah’s reconstruction of the prayer. He is able to reconstruct his thought processes, is able to bring a certain poetic sensibility to it according to the ways of Hebrew literature, he is able to walk us through what he was praying.

But it’s verses one and two that really interest me today, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” It is the two verbs of what Jonah did that are of my greatest focus. He “called” and he “cried”, these are his activities of prayer. He called out in his distress. He cried out in the belly of “Sheol”.

One thing we need to understand in the Bible is the progress of revelation. In this case, the understanding of the afterlife. In the time of Jesus, we understand that heaven and hell are the “up and down” elevators after death. That understanding emerges from the salvation that Jesus has gained for us on the cross. We see this understanding emerging in the Old Testament, as we see so much emerging to be fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.

In the Old Testament, the realm of death is referred to as “Sheol”. It is not so clearly defined beyond that. Defining it is not so important as understanding where Jonah found himself. In the belly of the fish, in the belly of “Sheol”, in the belly of death.

I do not imagine that his cries and calls were as articulate as the rest of Jonah 2 might have us believe. Which I believe is how it should be.

Sometimes prayer is a mass of inarticulate, panic-filled content that transcends description as word or even thought. I can imagine being so overwhelmed that, in my reaction, God is not even on my radar, and there is nothing but the inarticulate, panic-filled content. I am not even sure Jonah had God on his radar inside this creature. It may not have been until after that he was able to put his mental faculties back together enough to realize that God saved him.

That is the takeaway. In the title, I called it a “soul dump”. Call it an extreme emotional reaction to extreme, even overwhelming circumstances. We may not be able to see it, but God is there. We may not be able to express it, but God knows, hears, responds, and loves us. In the aftermath of the crisis, it might feel like we are ‘retconning’ our reactions, rewriting our memories to include God in the mix. Or feeling guilty that we did not have ‘enough faith’ to remember God ‘when it counted’.

But God is there. An extreme “soul dump” is not the end of prayer, but the beginning. When we cannot pray, the Spirit prays on our behalf. God knows our needs before we ask. But in the asking, we please God, we come into God’s power, we align ourselves with God’s strength, we open ourselves to receive God’s love. We find relief.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Retcons in the Bible?

 What is "a retcon" or "to retcon"? According to the Idol of Knowledge (the Google), it is to “‘revise retrospectively’, typically by introducing a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events. It is typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency. The Idol of Knowledge is referencing the Oxford dictionary, not the Wikipedia.

Retcon is short for ‘retroactive continuity’, essentially changing the continuity of what came before. It is a word that I have read relative to changes in the 'history' portrayed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Where is this going? Matthew 12:40, where Jesus says, “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster (see yesterday for more on that), so for three days and three nights, the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.”

This fits the portion of the definition that says “introducing a new piece of information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events”. Jesus is citing the narrative of Jonah as prophetic anticipation of what will happen to him.

As a person of faith, I think that is so awesome. It draws together what happened to Jonah with what will happen to Jesus. Questions of fish aside, to read the prayer that Jonah shares from his time in the fish, it reads as the prayer of someone convinced of death as punishment for their sins now rescued by God. Which is what Jesus accomplished.

Doubters might seize on the ‘account for an inconsistency’ part of the definition of ‘retcon’, trying to read into Jesus’ words an imposition of his own experience on that of Jonah. Doubters are going to doubt.

But I will say that this passage does stretch my presuppositions of prophetic connections between Jesus as the Messiah in the Old Testament. I believe there is 'direct' prophecy, as when the Magi were told that the king of the Jews was to be born in Bethlehem by Herod’s scribes and experts.

There is 'indirect' prophecy, such as when not one of Jesus’ bones was broken at his crucifixion (bone breaking was done to accelerate death, like when they were trying to get bodies down from their crosses before the Sabbath sundown). I say indirect because it is from Psalm 34:20, a piece of Godly praise. It serves also as an 'echo' prophecy, no bones broken on Jesus at the time of the Passover, echoing the requirement in the law of Moses that the Passover lamb should have none of its bones broken.

But Jonah and Jesus, this is 'narrative' prophecy. That which happened to Jonah prophecies to what will happen to Jesus.

So maybe better to understand an apparent retcon as prophetic fulfillment. Or we might want to argue with God about that.

Hmmm. After due consideration.

Prophetic Fulfillment.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Fish and Whales and Sea Monsters, oh my.

What swallowed Jonah? A fish says the book of Jonah. But is there a fish that can swallow a human, only to regurgitate them? The common image is that this was a whale. A whale with an extended stomach area in which Jonah would find driftwood and other bits and pieces to survive the three days. Sorry, that is more the story of Monstro, the whale in Pinocchio.

Now, in Matthew 12, the wording for the "maritime biological specimen" of Jonah is translated as “sea monster”, at least in the NRSV. Does that imply something out of Job? The Leviathan or the Behemoth? Or something else? Like the Kraken that ate Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise? Or is it something else? Something ‘prehistoric’ that lasted into the Biblical era? A Mediterranean version of Nessie?

Does it matter? To read some of the debates in some of the more nerdy biblical discussion groups, one would think it carried the weight of debating the actuality of Jesus’ resurrection.

 When I asked the idol of knowledge, the Google, most of the links leaned into the Hebrew translation. What swallowed Jonah? In Hebrew, a “big fish”. One article, citing the Greek that the gospels use as well as the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, transliterate the word as ‘ketos’, sea serpent. The implication is that, whatever it was, this sea serpent Jesus mentioned was known to his audience.

But seriously, does it matter? Perhaps some clarity to that question. Does our understanding of the Bible and its authority rest on this question? Is it a sea serpent? Really? is there no such thing? Therefore the Bible has doubts to be considered. Extinct? Undiscovered? Still out there?

Now, Jesus did not elaborate on the sea serpent. His focus was very different. The Leaders were demanding a sign. Jesus gave them the sign of Jonah, all but dead for three days in the belly of the "maritime biological specimen", the sign that hearkened another three days spent in the tomb, underground, in Jesus’ own death, before His resurrection. There should be our focus, especially in this Easter Season. That is the exegesis that matters.

And I agree with that. But what if it was a sea serpent? That could be really cool, right?

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Easter, Does The Sheen Begin to Dull?

It is almost a week since the Resurrection. Is it still as exciting to us? Has it faded back into the ebb and flow of daily living? Are we at a point where our concerns are more about throwing away the leftovers of our Easter feasting, over and against continuing to meditate on the rising again of our Savior? I get the part about leftovers. There have been Easters when I have counted the days, weighing in my mind the 'prayerful' notion that the Lord will preserve hard boiled eggs painted to honor Jesus for just one more round of egg salad...

Depending on the school calendar, this might be the last day of spring break (for us, Easter was the last day of our spring break). Easter seems a natural benchmark for spring break. Passover can also influence the timing, depending on the needs of the teaching and/or student populations.

On the Church Calendar, we are in the Easter Season. We use the very creative title for Sundays after Easter as “Sunday after Easter” up until Pentecost. Which makes sense for us. When Jesus came back, he hung out for ten days until Ascension (next Thursday), then told the disciples to chill for another 40 days. Until Jesus returned, fulfilling his promise from John, returning in the person of the Holy Spirit. Then all heaven broke loose and the church’s one foundation (Jesus Christ our Lord) was built upon to where we are today.

But I would invite you to take a moment to reflect. He is Risen. He is Risen indeed. The calendar might continue to move, but the grace of the moment never changes. 

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Jonah and Jesus, Perfect Together

For Easter this year, we drew on the gospel of Matthew for the telling. For the remainder of the month of April, we are turning to the prophet Jonah. There was a time when many biblical references were generally understood in the Popular Culture. Nowadays, that popular knowledge has dwindled.

For example, I spoke of Ecclesiastes 3 a couple days ago. I felt it best to provide the specific references to the popular song drawn from those words. At one time, I might have assumed that people knew what I was talking about. I can’t anymore.

Jonah may be one of the few Biblical references that still hangs on in the Popular Culture. It may be. That is because it is pretty unique. Dude was swallowed whole by a fish, spat out by the same, and lived to tell the tale.

Jesus talks about Jonah. This comes to us in Matthew 12:

“38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ 39But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. 41The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!”  There is an Easter link between Jesus and Jonah, three days and three days. Want to know more? Jonah is a short, four chapter book in the Old Testament. One we will be looking at more closely through the rest of April. Come and see, come and listen. 

Peace,

Pastor Peter

A Torn Curtain

It is all about Easter. This is the single defining event of the Christian faith. Where do we even begin to consider all the possibilities? In the temple? This was the defining location of faith in the time of Jesus.  

In the temple of the Lord, the design is one of ever more holiness. There is an outer court where Gentiles were permitted, an inner court where they were not, only Jews of good standing. Inside, there was the holy place. Then there was the center, the Holy of Holies. This place was so holy that, according to the Law of Moses, the High Priest was only permitted to enter once a year to make Atonement for the people. And this only after special preparations on his part.

Made most popular in the first Indiana Jones movie, this is the location of the Ark of the Covenant. It was separated from the rest of the temple and from all eyes by a specially woven curtain (except for once a year, as mentioned).

At the moment of Jesus’ death, the gospel records that this curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The holiest place was now exposed to the world, done ‘spontaneously’, at the command of God. With the death of Jesus, the final sacrifice had been made. That the sacrificial system that defined temple life, built around this carefully segregated Holy of Holies, was now fundamentally changed.

The promise is that the home of God is among mortals. In Jesus, this promise has been accomplished for each and every one of us. 

Peace,

Pastor Peter

A Time to Pray…

Tomorrow is our time to pray as a church. We set aside 10am on Wednesdays for this time to gather as a people of faith. We began this practice during Lent. I am glad that we have a consensus to continue this time of prayer beyond our Lenten beginnings. It recognizes, I believe, the deeper need that comes in our talking to God.

When thinking about time, my mind turned to Ecclesiastes 3. It begins “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...” before providing a powerful and poetic list of things that we take time for. It was done as a popular song by the group, The Byrds, entitled “Turn! Turn1 Turn!” The song is available on Spotify.

But in the list, one thing is not there. A time to pray.

The callous minded might make the argument that this then downplays the need and importance of prayer, of communicating with God. 

I would suggest something else. I would suggest that prayer has a deeper importance than scheduling time for it. I would go so far as to suggest that every event laid out ‘in its time’ in Ecclesiastes 3 and in life, for people of faith, has prayer as integral to its faithful success.

It could be a prayer before, after, or during the event. This is based in a theology, a framework of thinking about God, that seeks constant communication with the Almighty. It is a practice that requires a lifetime of practice. It is one that might begin tomorrow at 10am. If you are free and able, you are invited to join us at the church in Perth Amboy. If not, join us in spirit as you are able.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Two Sabbaths: A Contrast

This is the story of the first Sabbath: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

God hallowing the Sabbath led to its importance being enshrined in the Top Ten legal requirements of the Law of Moses: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work dash you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.”

According to Exodus 31:14, to intentionally break (profane) Sabbath was a capital offense. To accidently break (work) on the Sabbath was grounds from exile from the community. God tells the people “You shall keep my sabbaths, for this a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.”

How often did Jesus heal and do other things on the Sabbath to which the leadership objected? It was a reminder that Sabbath was made for humanity and not humanity for the Sabbath. I wonder if Jesus did it sometimes just to annoy them.

Now, about another Sabbath… The bible records that Jesus was dead for three days. This is NOT 72 hours as our Popular Culture would measure time. Day one was those few hours on Good Friday, the day of his death (he was dead before sundown). Day three was the first day of the week, where in the early morning the women came down and Mary Magdalene was the first to see him.

Day Two was the Sabbath, in particular, the Passover Sabbath. This is the day that the Lord blessed and hallowed and Jesus, the Son of God, was dead through this entire day.  This is the day the people were commanded to keep holy, on pain of death. And Jesus, the Son of God, was dead through this entire day. This is the day that is a sign of the covenant between God and the people through all their generations, this Sabbath that the people are to keep. Jesus was dead through the day that is the sign of the covenant between God and ourselves. This is the day that Jesus would repeatedly come into conflict with the leaders over, as Jesus redeemed the true nature of this day of the Lord as a day of Healing and Celebration. And it is the one full day of the cycle where Jesus is dead.

His words on the cross were “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” His death extended through a complete cycle of the day the Lord had blessed and hallowed, the day the Lord commanded to be holy, the day important to the very lives of the people, the day that marked God’s covenant with the people, the day Jesus repeatedly redeemed and renewed, the day that illustrates a full and complete separation, the day of the Lord where the life of Jesus was forsaken.

Until he rose again.

Pastor Peter

On Killing Jesus…

Church tradition lists today as Maundy Thursday, the day on which the Lord instituted the Last Supper. Where Jesus, in a physical act of memorial, of calling upon the Spirit, spoke to the disciples of his body being broken and his blood being spilled on their behalf.

Ever wonder what it took to kill Jesus?

From God’s perspective, God so loved the world that God gave God’s only begotten Son (in a plan set down from before creation).

From Jesus’ perspective, it takes on many aspects. As it came out at Jesus’ trial, he recognized its limited duration, that the temple (of his body) would be destroyed and raised again in three days. He feared what was coming, as taken from the Garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, but thy will be done.” He inspired, as by his words during the Last Supper.  

From the position of the leadership, the chief priests and the scribes, there was jealousy, fear for the nation, some sincere (if mistaken) intent, to deal with a man of power who challenged their power, their legitimacy, who might rile the Romans up into a bloody suppression, who was "speaking" blasphemy. And one of plausible deniability, because they had no authority to actually kill someone. That power was in the hands of the Romans.

From the position of Pilate, serving as executioner for the leadership, realizing it “was from jealousy”, finding nothing in Jesus on his own examination, warned by his wife to have nothing to do with this man… For him, death was a matter of political expediency, keep the locals happy, shut up the crowd, diffuse the feelings of religious fervor built into the celebration of the Passover.

I wonder if Pilate had been briefed on the political symbolism of the Passover, which marked the liberation of the people of Israel from their oppressive slavery under the Egyptians? To consider the easy replacement of “Egyptian” with “Roman”. Were there orders to "keep them happy" with wide latitude of interpretion.

From the position of the crowds, deluded by the lies of their leadership into calling for Jesus’ blood? At the beginning of the week, at the Triumphal Entry, cynics look for a conspiracy to promote Jesus’ kingship. Want a conspiracy? It can be found here in whipping up the public sentiment against Jesus.

From our perspective, we have the story told to us in the gospels, which includes the next steps. The resurrection, the time with the disciples, the ascension, the giving of the Spirit, and the establishment of the church. How should we understand his death? That it was voluntary? That it was the ultimate show of weakness in the eyes of humanity that, in turn, revealed the ultimate show of power from the divine? That all we have suffered found its parallel in Jesus' suffering, that he is the one who can truly say, "I know what you are going through?"

We have the grace of hindsight. We know that at his death, he would return once again. But there is strength and faith and grace to be gained in opening our spirits to feel and to weep and to mourn at all that went into killing our Lord. Don't skip over it. Walk with our Jesus in his most trying moments. It will do two things, in my estimation.

First, it will made the sweet joy of the resurrection all the more powerful.

Second, it will make the reality of Jesus' presence in our darkest moments even more powerful. We will know more powerfully how He walks with us in the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death if we have taken these moments to walk with Him in his journey there.

Peace,
Pastor Peter 

Paying Attention to the "Visuals"

What is our image of Palm Sunday? Of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry? I mean the actual event. It is actually  described in very few verses in the extended narrative. The largest section in Matthew is about disciples going to get the royal donkey. Because that’s what it was. Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was the mark of a king in the time of Jesus. Our image might be more of Jesus riding a stallion, but that’s where our Popular Culture has changed the metaphor.

 In the American Western, for example, the hero does not ride a donkey.

 But here is another piece of the ‘visual’ we are given. In church, we pass out the palms (or their fronds) as reminders of the palm branches that the people were waving as they cried out “Hosanna”. But here’s the thing, the biblical description is not so much of the flag…er…palm waving, another extrapolation of how we do things in the Popular Culture versus the time of Jesus.

 The visual is of the people laying their cloaks down on the ground. And not just their cloaks, but they cut down the palm branches and laid them in the road as well. The Royal Mount, the king’s donkey, was bearing someone too important for its hooves to pass over the dirt. From the journey up to the City, through its streets, and to the temple, the visual is more comparable to ‘rolling out the red carpet’ for this most important dignitary.

 Cynics might call the Triumphal Entry an archaic predecessor of the ‘flash mob’, a supposedly spontaneous event actually orchestrated on social media. Undercutting the message of Jesus is any way, shape, or form is a popular endeavor in this age. Or this could be Jesus, recognized by the people for who he was, the Messiah, the Son of David, the one to fulfill the prophecy that there would be an heir of David to reign forever.

 Pastor Peter

A Service of Healing and Letting Go

Through Lent, we have added a time of prayer into our church calendar. Each Wednesday morning at 10am, we have gathered in the sanctuary for this time of sharing and communication with God. The most enduring piece has been our time in silent prayer. Minutes of actual silence before God, something that can make people nervous in a worshipful situation. We are a people who like background noise, a soundtrack.

As I finished writing this opening soundtrack, I realized the truth of that statement as I pause to find some background music on Spotify.

But on these Wednesdays, we have also added other considerations of prayer. This past Wednesday, we used a praise hymn as the language and focus on simply praising the Lords’ Name. Prayer where we are not actually asking for anything. That is not the usual approach. On an earlier Wednesday, we included a liturgy of healing, a more concentrated approach to the “Concerns” side of our Joys and Concerns.

This Wednesday, we are providing opportunities for people to come to the Lord with their big concerns, to release those concerns, to achieve healing or resolution or forgiveness. But it is not simply in words, but in a physical manner.

People will be asked to write down their concerns, those things they wish to offer to the Lord, to be offered up to our God. We will have a liturgy of healing and forgiveness as part of our prayer time. The conclusion will be people, on departing, putting those written prayers into a burn bowl (outside the sanctuary), in a symbolic manner of offering them to the Lord.

There is a recurring line in the Law of Moses about burnt sacrifices, that they offered an aroma pleasing to the Lord. While we believe that our Lord Jesus is the final and fulfilling sacrifice, the power of the sensations of offering these needs to the Lord in a deliberate, physical manner, is an opportunity to see our spirits moved.

Our Season of Prayer is not coming to an end with this Wednesday. We will continue to meet after Holy Week, Wednesday mornings at 10am, in the sanctuary.

I fully realize that 10am is not the most convenient time for some in regards to a prayer meeting. If there are those who are interested, but cannot make this time, please reach out and we will make other arrangements.

Pastor Peter

Reading the Story of Holy Week

Holy Week constitutes one quarter of the Gospel of Matthew, 8 chapters, 21-28. It is an ideal opportunity for devotional reading, a chapter a day. And you are invited to do so this week.

Today would be a longer passage, complete Matthew 21 and read Matthew 22. The Triumphal Entry is done in the first 17 verses of Matthew 21.

Monday: Matthew 21:18-22 to the end.

Tuesday: Matthew 23

Wednesday: Matthew 24

Thursday: Matthew 25

Friday: Matthew 26

Saturday: Matthew 27

Easter Sunday: Matthew 28

And here is an added bit for our devotional consideration. Take each section of each chapter into the context of Palm Sunday, of the Triumphal Entry. Something like this,

“Jesus entered into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, and the people hailed him as King with “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” and then read what comes next.

As a shorthand, maybe “Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a king” and…

So, for example, to continue our reading in chapter 21, there are four other distinct sections. So,

“Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a king and”…(21:18-22) Jesus cursed the fig tree.

“Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a king and”…(21:23-27) the Leadership challenged his authority in the temple.

“Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a king and”…(21:28-32) he told the parable of two sons.

“Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a king and”…(21:33-46) he told the parable of the wicked tenants.

Later pieces in the gospel will take on a different spin, “Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a king and” instituted the Last Supper; foretold the denial of Peter; spoke of the destruction of the temple; was arrested, tried, and executed.

Consider what Jesus has done for us as our King throughout the events of Holy Week. If nothing else, it will push our thinking, push our faith.

Pastor Peter

Palm Sunday Scripture and Sermon April 2, 2023

Our Passage for this Sunday was Matthew 21: 1-17

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, ⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” ⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” ¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹²Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” ¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry ¹⁶and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” ¹⁷He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Sermon for Worship on the Lord's Day

Matthew has 28 chapters. Notice where the story of the Triumphal Entry, the story of Palm Sunday falls. In chapter 21. Fully one quarter of the entire gospel falls into what we know as “Holy Week”. If you get the week day blurbs, you will have seen a comparison of Easter and Christmas in time it is celebrated in the culture and amount of space in the gospels. Holy Week covers a HUGE amount of space in the gospels, compared to Christmas.

If we follow the story as outlined in Matthew, Palm Sunday has four big movements (although each gets a progressively shorter amount of print). The first is the big movement of the day. Jesus commands his disciples to get the colt and its mother on which he rides up to Jerusalem where the people shout, lay down their cloaks and palm leaves, and generally pronounce the coming of the King. The second is that Jesus then goes to the temple, and, in the expression of divine power, chases out the sellers and money changers, building on the authority that this popular uprising is providing to him. The third movement is revealed in reaction, by the chief priests and the scribes. Jesus was healing and the children are singled out as praising His name, “Hosanna to the son of David”. Which brings to us the final movement, the confrontation over this praise being offered. The chief priests demand, “Do you hear what they are saying?” 

So what does Jesus do in response? He quotes the Old Testament at them. Not only are these children doing something wonderful, but something preordained by God. From Psalm 8, where the first two verses read, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted, by the mouth of babes and infants, that hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and avenger. When I look at they heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the start which thou hast established; what is humanity that thou are mindful of them, and the offspring of humanity that thou does care for them?”

I had to go look this up in my trusty study bible. What is Jesus quoting back at the chief priests and the scribes? What is Jesus taking from the Word of God, the Word that these chief priests and scribes presume as the foundation of their faith, and rubbing their noses in? It is triumph! Everything the people, the children, are chanting is true! And what are the leaders of the temple going to do about it? Within the week, they are going to put Jesus to death.

But that is the divided nature of Holy Week. On the one hand, all that is good and wonderful, prophetically laid down about God throughout the Old Testament, as in Psalm 8, as Matthew especially focuses on, is fulfilled in Jesus. Passages that are written to God the Father (as we know him) are so often reintegrated with Jesus, as the Son of God, the Second person of the Trinity. God is wonderful. God has a plan. Jesus is that plan. His name is wonderful. 

Herein is the conflict. The crowds have total buy in. They see in Jesus all the triumph of God. His ministry of healing, teaching, preaching, miracle working, it is the total package of that which God can accomplish. However, the leadership of the people, the chief priests and the scribes, they do not have buy in. As a matter of fact, they have open hostility and opposition to Jesus. It has been on their minds to arrest and remove Jesus from the picture. 

Why? For a number of reasons according to the text. One huge reason is jealousy. Jesus plain old makes them look bad. Every time they show up, its to complain about his not following the Sabbath, it is to challenge him on his teachings, it is to protect their own power against this popular interloper. Perhaps the most famous of these interactions in when they tried to trap Jesus in a no-win situation. “Is it lawful to pay our taxes?” 

The way they saw it, this was a lose-lose situation. Either Jesus says “Yes” in which the people will then see Jesus as supporting the Roman occupiers, who pay for their occupation on the backs of the people by these crippling taxes. Or Jesus says “No”, in which they may then report him to the authorities for inciting sedition against the Roman authorities. Jesus’ response? Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s. Minds blown.

He does the same thing again this morning. “Do you hear what the children are saying?” they complain. And Jesus replies, Have you not read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’? What is Jesus saying? Jesus is looking at the chief priests and scribes and telling them the children are fulfilling what God said through King David. So it is not so much a question of “Do you hear what the children are saying” but “in the voices of these children, don’t you people understand the Bible is being fulfilled?”

But there is another strand of thinking in the opposition of the chief priests and the scribes. It is not simply jealousy. It is fear. They are afraid of what the Romans will do if Jesus is left unchecked. They see the crowds. What is Jesus finally accused of? Being the King of the Jews, an unapproved expression of political independence. There is a king, Herod, but he is king because the Romans say he is king. If they say differently, he is gone. Jesus is a threat to what political control they still maintain.

What these chief priests and scribes, what the entire leadership, what they people themselves do not understand is that God is playing a bigger game than one of simple politics and who is in charge in the earthly realm. By Friday, the people singing out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” , they are going to be screaming “CRUCIFY HIM!” 

Where my understanding of this has always focused is on Jesus refusing to step into their expectations for him. What did the people expect? King David returned, greatest warrior king, restorer of the Golden Age; it is something akin to Great Britain and the legend of King Arthur, that he will return once more in the moment of their greatest need. The return of one from the line of King David to sit on David’s throne forever. That is what is happening, but not in the way the people envision. 

Jesus has not come to kick out the Romans and restore the Kingdom of Israel on earth. He is not the warrior against their oppressors. They come in, proclaiming him the new king and he does not march on in majesty to behave as the king is supposed to. But that is where my thought processes came to an end. I did not make the connection. 

God’s victory in Jesus is something more than against the Romans. Because as horrible as the Romans could be, as powerful as they were, they could only kill you in the end (granted they were masters at making you suffer on the way). Jesus’ victory is not over the natural, but over the supernatural. Jesus’ victory is over death itself. Jesus’ victory is over sin. Jesus’ victory is over the devil. Jesus’ victory is not to liberate the people in the land of Israel from Roman rule. Jesus’ victory is to liberate all of humanity from the rule of Satan.

That was the message that got lost in this week, somewhere between Jesus’ triumphal entry and his arrest and trial. Now, if Jesus was going to play things out as the military liberator of the people, a liberator displaying unquestioned powers of God to victory, I am certain that the chief priests and the scribes would have jumped on the bandwagon as soon as they saw where the winds of the Lord were blowing. But that was not God’s plan and they were just as quick to manipulate the people’s affections against Jesus to kill off the perceived threat. 

Which was God’s plan all along. Showing us the conquest of death, something far more than simply the conquest of the Romans. 

The Triumphal Entry that we celebrate on Palm Sunday, in earthly terms, takes us down a path of pain, of tragedy, of the miscarriage of justice, and of painful, torturous death. In the City of Jerusalem, there is a road called the Via Delarossa, the Way of Tears. It is the traditional route where, each year, the final journey of Jesus is marked. This is the basis for the ‘stations of the cross’ that can be found in many Roman Catholic churches, each step of the final journey that Jesus took to Golgotha, to his crucifixion. 

But the Triumphal Entry that we celebrate this Palm Sunday, in cosmic terms, takes us to a path of victory. The language of the Apostle’s Creed tells us that Jesus ‘descended into hell’. Another way to consider that is Jesus took the battle to Satan. In the language of sin and death, the bible portrays Satan being in charge in the moment. It is language we see in the temptations of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. In one such temptation, Satan offers Jesus the world if Jesus will but bow down and worship the devil. As if the devil had such power.

The earthly expectation was that Jesus would lead the people of Israel to triumph against the occupation of Rome. The cosmic expectation is that Jesus would march in triumph against Satan, over the powers of hell and death itself, and bring salvation to the world. In the earthly chronicle of events, Jesus lost his life when he was crucified. In the cosmic chronicle, Jesus crossed over from life to death, marched up to death’s stronghold, kicked down the gates, and conquered it once more in the name of God. For us. For our salvation. To fulfill God’s plan.

To the chief priests and the scribes, to the people whose messianic expectations for Jesus were dashed when he died on the cross, Jesus’ end was rather anticlimactic. Even three days later, they were prepared to lay down the tale of a conspiracy of the disciples to steal the body. To always have an ‘official’ version to contradict the ‘nonsense’ of Jesus rising from the dead. But ultimately, that was not to be.

One of the most telling passages for me, in relation to what begins here on Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week occurs in the Book of Acts.

Now by the time that the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, it as been almost two months since the events of Holy Week. The news of Jesus’ resurrection is off the front page. It no longer leads in the blurbs that pop on Facebook or other social media. It is yesterday’s news. How much more time passes before the disciples, now filled with the Spirit, begin to make their presence known once more among the chief priests and scribes in the Temple? Say another month or two? Or more?

          Peter and John are pulled in before the Sanhedrin, the Ruling Council. And we get a glimpse of their debates. It has been months, but the Teaching of Jesus is back. What are they going to do about it? 

Here is there reaction, from Acts 5, 33 When (the Sanhedrin) heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill (Peter and John) 34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 35Then he said to them, ‘Fellow-Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. 36For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. 37After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!’

If Jesus were just a guy, like one of the myriad other ‘prophetic’ types who have shown up, once he’s dead, his followers will scatter. No big deal, a flash in the pan. But, if Jesus is not ‘just a guy’, but actually of God, as he kept saying, what could they hope to do to restrain the power of God?

 I wonder how many of those Ruling Council members were there, in the Temple, on that day. They saw the crowds, they heard their shouts of triumph, they saw Jesus riding into the temple on the back of the donkey and now, with his disciples before them, remembered. I wonder how many of them were there to witness the mayhem that Jesus brought with him that day? That from this entrance, he went on to purify the temple, to cast out those there to make money off the worship of God, to return his Father’s house to its original purpose. How angry were they at the time? How ready were they to kill him on the spot? Now, with the disciples before them, did they remember? 

Or when they observed not simply the crowds, but the children themselves crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David”. Were they shocked and appalled that Jesus was engaging in this terrifying behavior of driving out the moneychangers, and the children were cheering? Is that what they wanted the children to learn? They came at Jesus with that, and he answered them in the joyful language of Psalm. To paraphrase, Oh Lord Our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? So majestic that the children will sing your praises. Do they remember those events now that his movement has not died out now that Jesus is gone? 

Do we? There is tragedy and there is triumph being celebrated on this Palm Sunday. This begins our journey with Jesus to the cross, to the tomb, and ultimately to new life. This is the promise of our faith, the promise we are going to celebrate next with the Lord’s Supper. But as we depart from this place today, I am going to issue a challenge.

Matthew 21, our passage today, marks the beginning of Holy Week. Between now and next Sunday, I am going to commend to you the rest of Matthew. Works out to roughly a chapter a day. As you read the parables that take place here, the discussions, the other pieces of Jesus’ ministry as Matthew reports them to us, keep this day in mind. Each thing Jesus does, each is done in the shadow of the triumph of this day, in his full knowledge that by week’s end, he will die. It is done in the knowledge of the cosmic victory, but in the breaking of the people’s human expectation. 

Let this Easter be a renewal as we embrace once again what Jesus has done for us.  Amen.