Sermon of Sunday 28 March 2010 Fruitful or Fruitless Mark 11.12-26

Mark 11.12-26

It’s called the graveyard train the 9 pm from Dublin to Cork
getting in at 20 minutes past midnight.
A great consolation is a cup of tea and slice of cake from the tea bar
but sometimes when you make your way through the swaying carriages
it’s shut and barred. No tea tonight. How disappointing

Imagine how it was for Jesus, hungry, seeing a fig tree in the distance,
wondering if there are any edible buds underneath the leaves,
going to see and finding only leaves.
We share his disappointment
but we may indeed gasp at what he does next.
He proclaims a curse on the tree
(14) ‘May no-one ever eat fruit from you again’

That may seem harsh and unfair to us,
it doesn’t seem to match with ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ does it?
But the Bible is not telling us to curse Irish Rail.
The clue to what is going on is seen in what we read next
when Jesus finds that the Temple is unfruitful also.

Jesus’ disappointment over a barren tree is as nothing
to his reaction to a temple barren of true worship of a living and holy God.
What happens to the tree is a picture of what will happen to the temple --
If it is fruitless it will be destroyed.
And it was destroyed and the people scattered 40 years later

When Jesus entered the temple, he came into the Court of the Gentiles,
the only place where non Jews were allowed to enter and to worship.
But worship had become impossible;
the court had been turned into a bazaar area,
with buyers and sellers and stalls everywhere.
Birds and animals for sacrifice were sold there,
and foreign money had to be changed into the only acceptable currency
one without the hated figures of the Roman emperors and heathen gods.

No doubt they justified it as a service to the worshippers,
but how could anyone pray in all the noise and the mess?
To make matters worse, this court was used as a short-cut
by merchants bringing goods from the Mount of Olives to the city itself.
Jesus’ words and actions in the temple were strong and deserved
for what was no longer a house of prayer but a den of thieves.

Do you see the link with the fig tree?
The temple had the outer foliage of ceremony
but not the inner fruit of a life right with God, fruitful in God.
The temple was Israel’s heart beat and its guide:
the quality of a community’s worship says volumes
about the true state of that community.
But no matter whatever fine religious words
where there is no faith and no fruit
we need not expect not blessing but cursing,
not forgiveness but condemnation, not salvation but destruction

It has been remarked that 15 years ago it would have been unthinkable
for a rugby match to be played in Limerick on Good Friday
let alone have the pubs open on a day regarded as holy by most people
but we are in a different time now.

You may be expecting me to condemn people
who want to do these things on Good Friday
but I will gladly disappoint you.
The thing to think about is not how awful it is that Good Friday is being eroded
but how barren is Christian life and witness in this country
that the things of God are not more compelling and vital.
the tree has leaves but no fruit.

The reasons for this are not hard to find.
An obvious one is the whole sorry scandal over clerical abuse
which taints all churches
and it does no good to blame secularism as the Pope seems to be doing.
The roots of that scandal are not in people going along with worldly values
but in things being done in secret and without questioning.
We need to see this whole long sorry process which discredits Christianity
as a chastening by God which has to go on until all the bad stuff is dealt with.
As John Stott has put it:
if the meat is bad don’t blame the meat, ask where was the salt to preserve it?
If the room is dark, don’t blame the dark, ask where is the light?

The reasons for the erosion of Good Friday
and so much else that we treasure
go deeper and further back than that one appalling issue.
Christianity is being marginalised because our witness has failed,
the temple has been cluttered up and our lives have been fruitless:
we have had the leaves of religion but not the fruit of lives rooted in Christ.

When next day the disciples exclaim about the withered fig tree,
Jesus goes on to give the conditions for fruitfulness
towards God FAITH, towards each other FORGIVENESS

‘Have faith in God’ = literally ‘Have faith of God’
Have faith that is intimately linked, rooted in God
a faith that is not racking up our hopes as far as we think they can go
but the sort of faith that is described in John 15
as abiding / dwelling / remaining in Christ
as a vine branch is intimately linked to the stock of the vine
and draws its nourishment and fruitfulness from the vine.
John 15.7 has Jesus putting it like this:
‘if you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.’

Jesus is not saying here in Mark 11
that we can pray in faith for anything we like.
It has been well said we can only move the mountains God wants moved,
not those that we want moved, independently of what God wants.
It is much more a matter of ’thinking God’s thoughts after him’
praying as Jesus did in Gethsemane for his father’s will to be done.
That sort of prayer of faith, abiding in Christ, will always be answered.

What mountains of difficulty loom up before you and me?
A compulsive habit that you cannot break?
A problem person that you find hard to love?
A sense of negativity and defeat and barrenness
about God moving in your life and in the world today?
God can move that mountain
as you think his thoughts after him and remain in close contact with him.

But as well as FAITH towards God, one other thing is vital for fruitfulness
We need in our attitudes towards each other FORGIVENESS.
25 ‘And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,
forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’

I was saying the other day at William Montgomery’s ordination
that we should not to keep a record of other people’s wrongs
and no record either of our own rights:
that’s the attitude of religious self righteous people
counting up the wrongs others have done and the right things they have done
but anyone who is truly in touch with God, deeply rooted into Jesus
will deal graciously with other people’s wrongs, offering forgiveness.
Jesus is saying, if you want to be real and fruitful in your prayers
then forgive, or at least offer forgiveness from your heart
They may indeed remain hard and unyielding but none the less
you go on praying in a forgiving spirit about that person.

We can all notice the dreadful effect of this winter on the gardens,
so much blasted by the frost.
If faith is the rooting that makes our lives fruitful,
then surely the spirit that offers forgiveness
is like the balmy atmosphere which promotes growth and fruit.
and an unforgiving attitude is like a cold life threatening east wind?

‘Unforgiveness is a bitter root that poisons our souls.
It spreads discontent in our hearts and sours our outlook.
While we harbour it we cannot enjoy peace of mind
nor sense the fullness of God’s love.
We victimise ourselves and spoil our Father’s purpose for us.
Just as one cannot put anything into a clenched fist
God cannot place anything into a hardened heart.’ (J Pearce)

We begin a week today
where we especially remember the climax of Jesus’ earthly life.
I hope you see that it goes beyond
shouts of hosanna and the waving of branches on Palm Sunday
These are solemn things:
the judgement on a tree without fruit
followed by judgement
on a house of prayer become a den of thieves.
And Jesus is going to die in a few days time
to fulfil the just punishment we deserve.
But he offers us the way to a fruitful life
in the rooting of faith and the warm breath of forgiveness
Let’s remain in him and in him bear much fruit.

Abide in Christ and remaining in him bear much fruit.

Saturday 20 March 2010 Sermon/Charge at ordination of William Montgomery Acts 2.36-47

Acts 2.36-47

Sharon remarked that in her diary
it says that today 20 March is the first day of spring.
Whatever the weather this year
isn’t that appropriate for this occasion?
Spring is all about new beginnings and new growth
and I pray that these words of mine will help you, William
and help us all think about what is needed for a church to grow.

Or rather, what is needed for churches not so much to ‘grow’
as to ‘flourish and mature’ i
Not all growth is good.
A couple of years ago we had a jungle in part of the church grounds in Cork.
There was growth all right, decades of growth of wild sycamores and brambles
and how much money and effort it cost to cut it all down.

We are delighted to have the problem today of not enough seats.
It is so refreshing for those of us who worship usually
with 20 or 30 or 40 people
But, William, you strike me as a realist
and you know that not every service in Cahir or Fermoy
will not be as well attended as this one.
I know you won’t get depressed about that
and I urge everyone here please don’t be seduced by the idol of a big church.
Please do not worship the idea of being a big church
in place of worshiping the God who loves us, big or small.

Arguably one of the worst things in Christian life in Ireland
has been the existence of huge churches
where people hide in the crowds
and everybody seems to be Christian
but not so many take discipleship seriously.

What you are coming to, William and Sharon
are small but flourishing and maturing fellowships.
I have been struck in my visits, as have all the visiting preachers
by the warmth in Fermoy and Cahir, the sense of intimacy and friendship
which flourishes in a small group and is lost in a crowd.
I want us to look today at the the flourishing and maturing
of the early church in Acts 2. 36-47.
A short reading but packed full of detail to inspire and challenge.
It is not that we have to seek to copy slavishly every aspect of what they did
but we certainly need the spirit of their life and worship together.

We can sum it up like this:

CHURCHES FLOURISH AND MATURE WHERE
GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED
PEOPLE PRAY
PEOPLE LOVE EACH OTHER.
AND GOD’S LOVE AND PRESENCE IS KNOWN
AMONG HIS REPENTANT PEOPLE

CHURCHES FLOURISH AND MATURE WHERE
GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching

Here was a church growing with the Word of God being taught clearly.

I wonder if people noticed a few minutes ago
when William was answering his questions
how often the Word of God was mentioned.
That reflects the heart beat of the Presbyterian church
that the central emphasis in worship is on
reading the Bible and on preaching and responding to the Word of God

Is it not significant that we read here that the early Christians
devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching?

Just a few minutes ago also the Presbytery laid hands on William
to ordain him to the ministry of word and sacrament.
What was that about?
Simply this,
everyone here who believes in Jesus Christ
does so because some else told them about Jesus
and someone else told that someone else and so on
all the way back to the days of the New Testament
and the Lord Jesus appointing his apostles to spread his message.

This is not the time and place to go into the big debate
as to true ‘apostolic succession’ who has authority to lead the church.
William’s ordination recognises that there is a chain of communication
and there is a prime duty upon church leaders in every age
to preserve the apostolic teaching
because rather like the game of ‘Chinese whispers‘
the message can so easily get changed and corrupted in the handing on.

So the important question is not
who has laid hands on to ordain this minister
or even who the at precisely happens when the hands are laid on
but the question is, does this minister teach faithfully the apostles’ teaching
and another important question is
are the people willing to learn from the apostolic teaching?
Are we willing to learn more about Jesus and how to follow him?

This does not mean that preachers always get it right
or that learning always has to be done by listening to someone at the front.
But it does mean that where the Bible is neglected,
the life of the church suffers, there is no more flourishing and maturing
and where the church starts to wither, the wider community suffers
because the good news of Jesus is no longer told
or not so clearly told as it could be and should be.
As somebody said long ago but so rightly
not to know the scriptures is not to know Christ truly.

I know William you have a desire not simply to preach the word
but to apply God’s word that it may be relevant to people’s lives
so that they are not just hearing a good sermon
or going to an interesting bible study group
but they are really engaging with God’s word
being blessed by it, changed by it, challenged by it..
Let us all then keep praying that
William may do what he has been ordained to do
to preach and apply God’s word

CHURCHES FLOURISH AND MATURE WHERE
GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED
PEOPLE PRAY
and William needs our help to preach and apply the word of God.
We read also in Acts of a church flourishing and maturing through prayer.
People prayed:

This passage does not tell us what they prayed
but we may guess from other places in the Bible that they prayed
- for themselves to become more like Jesus
- for each other to have help and hope from Jesus and grow more like him
- for the apostles to make the message clear
- for God’s presence to continue to be known among them in awesome power
- for people to become aware of their need to repent and be reconciled to God.

William, you are privileged to come to fellowships in Fermoy and Cahir
that value prayer
where in Sunday morning worship,
it won’t be left to the minister to say the prayers
but they will be glad to join in and share openly in prayer.
And on Sunday evenings and other times they will gather for prayer
and they will welcome you into your homes to pray with them
and you will at other times be much in prayer for them.

It is now 30 years since I knelt for ordination in a service like this.
At that time I knew that prayer was important.
Thirty years on I will say prayer is not important it is vital.
In the opening words of a classic book on prayer
‘Prayer is the breath of the soul.’
and no individual Christian ordained or not,
can flourish and mature without prayer
And no fellowship can flourish and mature without prayer.

Make time, William, for your personal time of prayer with God.
Make time to pray with Sharon.
That can all too easily be forgotten in the rush of life
(as this preacher must confess).

People of Fermoy and Cahir pray for them
and friends from all over Ireland
keep them and these churches in your prayers.

CHURCHES FLOURISH AND MATURE WHERE
GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED
PEOPLE PRAY
PEOPLE LOVE EACH OTHER.

All the prayers in the world will be as nothing without love
We see this in vv 44-45
in the way they shared their possessions, so generous and practical.
We see this in 46 in their meeting together every day
in temple prayers and in each other’s homes
expressing their love for each other
breaking bread together and eating with glad and generous hearts.
That includes what we would call the Lord’s Supper
and in ordinary meals together.
they were a community more than an institution,
a family more than a formality.

One of the main problems of church today is of seeing it as an institution
an impersonal organisation, which has a function but not much fun.
Banks or post offices for example are institutions.
You go in every now and the to put money in or take money out.
You do your business and then you leave.
The only person you will speak to is behind the glass.
If you meet a friend in the queue, that’s a bonus but that’s not why you came.

Were many of us raised unknowingly
with that view of church as an institution?
It had a function but not much fun.
We went on Sundays, or occasionally on weekdays,
we did our business with God as best we knew how
but we didn’t really experience the church as church should be:
a community, a fellowship, a family.

Do we still wonder why a younger generation stays away from church?
They couldn’t care a button about institutions
but they love fun and they are rightly hungry for community
a community of welcome, acceptance and perseverance
a community of love.

William, they are not perfect in Fermoy and Cahir
that is why they need a minister
but they have a sense of fun and welcome
and concern for each other.

Let me share with you two negatives as you seek to encourage them in love.

One is not to keep score of wrongs -
(reference 1 Corinthians 13.5 love keeps no record of wrongs))
The time will come when they will annoy you, disappoint you
and you will annoy them and disappoint them.
Don’t keep score of their or your wrongs - that’s part of love.

And do not keep score of your right things
reference here the Pharisee in Luke 18.11
he was so pleased with himself,
he thanked God for all the right things he had done
but God was not impressed.

Which brings me to my last point.

CHURCHES FLOURISH AND MATURE WHERE
GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED
PEOPLE PRAY
AND PEOPLE LOVE EACH OTHER.
AND GOD’S LOVE AND PRESENCE IS KNOWN
AMONG HIS REPENTANT PEOPLE

It was the repentant tax collector who was accepted by God
and God loves his penitent people.

I wonder were we struck in the reading by the sense of God in the early church:
v 43 ‘Everyone was filled with awe,
and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.’
God had visited their city. He was in their midst and they knew it.
Don’t you long for such a sense of God among us?
A sense of the nearness of God.
A sense of awe and praise,
a sense of the love of God poured out in the Holy Spirit
earthed out in glad acceptance of each other and generosity to each other.

How does that happen?

It comes about as we respond to what Peter said at v 38
The people hearing about Jesus’ death and resurrection
were cut to the heart, deeply moved about their sinfulness
and they asked “What shall we do?"
38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ‘

William was ordained today as a minister of word and sacrament.
Lets pray for him as he prepares at some point to baptise people
and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Lets pray that every time he carries out those sacraments
that along with the outer sign there is for minister and people
a sense of repentance of brokeness and openness to God.


Sometimes we get distracted by debates about the sacraments
what’s the right way to baptise, to keep the Lord’s Supper.
I think the real question is about repentance.
Have we and are we still repenting?

Baptism happens to us once reminding us
that Christ died for our sins once for all
but repentance should be the ongoing reality.
You only need to be baptised once but you need to be repentant always.

It has been a curse on Irish society
that so many have had the outer form of baptism
and so few have had the inner reality of ongoing repentance.

God loves the repentant, those who are humbled because they realise their sin
those who want to let him back to be Lord in their lives,
but God has no time for those who could wave a baptismal certificate at him
but in their hearts have nothing to do with him.

When you and I William stand at judgement
and give account of our ministries -
when any Christian stands at judgement
God’s question will not be
did we get the ceremonies and practice right
but were we right with him
were we daily repentant longing to become more and more like Jesus?

CHURCHES FLOURISH AND MATURE WHERE
GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED
PEOPLE PRAY
AND PEOPLE LOVE EACH OTHER.
AND GOD’S LOVE AND PRESENCE IS KNOWN
AMONG HIS REPENTANT PEOPLE
People who have put Christ in the place of self in their lives
and keep putting him there.

May this first day of spring be the first day of a new season for these churches
and for the communities that they serve.

Sermon of Sunday 21 March 2010 With Jesus on the mountain top Mark 9.1-10

Mark 9.1-10

Do you like mountain tops?
I don’t like climbing them, but I do like being there on a fine day
when you can look out and round and down
and see things from a fresh perspective.
It’s good for us to climb mountains
good for our bodies and minds
good for our bodies to be stretched
good for our minds to concentrate on keeping our steps
or to enjoy the views
and stop worrying about what’s happening at home or at work
and good for our spirits too if we meet with Jesus
as did Peter James and John
and others before them in the Bible

The Bible has many mountain top experiences
where God comes close
and we can with a little effort find a ‘mountain top’
a quiet place, out of the traffic, to meet with God.

It was not the first time for Moses and Elijah figure on mountain tops
Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19)
as the mountain shook and the lightning flashed
smoke and cloud swirled around
and the people were afraid to come near
Elijah confronted the prophets of the pagan god Baal (1 Kings 18)
on the top of Mount Carmel where the Lord sent fire from heaven
and after that in a time of depression (1 Kings 19)
he met with God in a new way at Mount Sinai
not in earthquake wind and fire
as when the Law was given to Moses
but with a ‘still small voice’.

Moses and Elijah are also key people in the Old Testament.
Moses led the people out of slavery as far as the promised land.
Elijah is promised in the book of Malachi the last book of the O.T.
as one who will return in advance of the coming of the Lord. (4.5-6)
Now Peter James and John see these key people talking with Jesus
and it is a transfigured Jesus, dressed in dazzling white
it is still their friend Jesus but they are seeing him as never before.
In fact they are seeing him as he truly is
and as all who believe in him will one day see him
the Son of God in shining glory
they were gazing 'on the beauty of the Lord’ (Psalm 27.4)

What do we learn then from this mountain top
with these Old Testament figures?

One thing is surely not to despise the Old Testament nor ignore it.
Too many people think it is unimportant or too difficult
and all we need is the New Testament
But what this mountain top conversation shows us
is that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament.
These great figures of the Old Testament are not ignored
Jesus is seen speaking with them
but it is clear that Jesus is greater than them.
It was Jesus clothing that was changed.
Moses was God’s friend
he could speak with God as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33.11)
but Jesus is God’s own dear son
Elijah was a great prophet, he suffered much for the word of the Lord
but Jesus is God’s dear son
as the voice from the cloud clearly says
echoing the words of God at Jesus baptism.
‘This is my Son whom I love. Listen to him’

What more important message could we ever have
than the call to listen to Jesus, God’s Son whom he loves?
Peter got it completely wrong, in his fear
and we would have been no different;
it was not a time for making booths or doing anything,
it was a time for listening to Jesus and only to Jesus.

That is the important thing to check for in any deep spiritual experience
any time you think you have been to the mountain top:
did the experience, ecstasy, exhilaration
bring you closer to Jesus Christ?
Were you moved to listen to him?
Were you confronted with the cross?
For as we saw last week
Jesus was focused on Jerusalem, he set his face to go there to die.
If we have a spiritual experience
that doesn’t confront us with the crucified and risen Lord, be very careful of it

It’s good to be on the mountain top.
Even that long walk with Jesus up the mountain
would already have been doing the disciples good
sending the blood through their bodies
refreshing tired minds
And then this strange meeting, their friend dressed in dazzling whiite
this glimpse of what would be
even after the dark times that lay ahead first.

I don’t think Presbyterians have enough mountain tops,
we need a bit more exhilaration and excitement in our worship.
Do we have enough sense of wonder or even holy fear
in meeting with God?
I want us to have more times on the mountain
(maybe quite literally we should go out for hill walks together)
but let them be mountain tops where it is Christ we meet with
for no one else can save us.
Not Moses, not Elijah, not the Virgin Mary, not the Prophet Mohammed,
not any visionary experience or ecstasy.
The key thing, the true, the saving experience
is to meet Jesus as God’s own dear Son
and to be listening to him

I cannot create a mountain top for you
I cannot guarantee that if you climb Carrantuohil
you will have a profound spiritual experience
but let me suggest some opportunities which we can create
in which God may graciously meet us.

One is what is known as a ‘quiet time’
a time of personal prayer and bible study,
a time also just to be quiet before God.

Perhaps in the early morning as was Jesus own custom
or whenever is your best, most alert time of day
when you have both time and space.
If we get into a pattern of being so tired and busy
that we make no time especially for God
should we wonder if we have no mountain tops?

Another is as simple as what we are doing now:
gathering together in worship on the Lord’s Day.
It is not enough to develop our personal prayer times:
we all need each other, in regular fellowship.
Is it not significant that Jesus took three friends with him,
not just one, surely so that they could share with each other afterwards
and check out what this amazing event really meant?

There are many of course who feel they can worship God
as much on the golf course as in church.
The fresh air, the scenery put them in a good and reflective mood
they have space, they don’t have all sorts of awkward people
that you might bump into in church,
coughing and shifting around on hard benches
and spoiling one’s spiritual mood.
That’s a tempting scenario but it is plain wrong.

Let me put the question even brutally:
in the day of trouble,
in bereavement, in redundancy, in a torn relationship
where would you rather go for help?
You are much more likely to find help
hearing others sing God’s praise, or sharing in prayer or a bible reading
or even a sermon
than in getting a hole in one or admiring the primroses in the rough.

Lets even go on the attack on this.
You remember the atheists’ advertising campaign in England:
They suggested
‘There probably is no God so stop worrying and enjoy yourself.’
But how do you enjoy yourself when things are going wrong
and you have excluded God?
You’ve lost your job, you’re struggling with serious illness
you feel alone, isolated, excluded
and somebody says
‘There probably is no God so stop worrying and enjoy yourself.’
How stupid is that?

We gather here today to affirm as we sang earlier
that there is a God and in all our worries we may enjoy his love

You are my anchor,
my light and my salvation.
You are my refuge, my heart will not fear.
Though my foes surround me on every hand,
they will stumble and fall
while in grace I stand.
In my day of trouble,
you hide me and set me above
to sing this song of love.

One thing I will ask of you,
this will I pray:
to dwell in your house, O Lord, every day;
to gaze upon your lovely face,
and rest in the Father’s embrace.

(Stuart Townend)

A song for the mountain top and the valley

May God in all his fullness, Father Son and Holy Spirit
come to you and be at home in your life

Sermon of Sunday 14 March 2010 Journeying with Jesus Luke 9.51-62

Journeying with Jesus Luke 9.51-62

My favourite season is spring.
It follows our cold, wet, dark, winter.
Signs of new life springing up:
flowers, buds on the trees, slightly warmer, longer days.

I also like the spring because my birthday, 50 something years ago
was in March
and also my spiritual birthday 40 years ago or so.

As a teenager, I was searching for the meaning of life.
I went to our minister's class for new communicants
to be prepared to receive the Lord's Supper.
I don't remember much of what I was taught
but I do remember the minister saying:
'Make Jesus the centre of your life.'
and I decided to follow him.

Some weeks later, I realised I had a new peace and confidence in my life.
I came to see that this was the love of Jesus.
He was real. He is real.
So my journey of faith started 40 years ago in the spring.

I had come to know the peace of Jesus
but like most teenagers I suppose I thought I knew many things
and didn't need to learn more.
The journey of faith since then has been about learning many many things:
both the great truths that Jesus died and rose again
and also why he died - that
'There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in.'

But I also had to learn and am still learning that
although I was converted -
Jesus was the centre of my life -
there was still a lot in me that need to be converted.

Sometimes we are a bit stupid about life as a Christian.
Just because we have committed to Jesus doesn’t mean
despite what the song says
that life is always wonderful now.

Perhaps we have looked at a Christian struggling
and proudly despised and condemned them:
what kind of Christians could they be?
Or maybe we have had to face up to our own continuing sin,
something has happened to show up
our continuing greed or insecurity or pride or short temper
and then we have been tempted to wonder:
am I a Christian at all?.

Becoming a Christian does not solve all your problems
any more than getting married, wonderful as that is,
means you have a trouble free life.

Just think in the Old Testament about eg the life of Moses.
how sinful were the redeemed people of the Lord - freed but foolish.
complaining, criticising, giving way to fear, getting into idolatry.
Why did God still bother with them? But he did.
Why does God still bother with us? But he does.

I was reading recently in 1 Peter 2.11
'to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul'.
Peter was a realist.
He knew that being converted did not mean you had become a perfect person
but that you were called to be a perfect person
You are called to victory in the war against your soul
and that is costly

As we approach Easter, a season that gives us so much comfort and hope,
we need to remember that our hope and peace
do not come in fact from spring flowers and longer days
That which brings us hope and strength was at the greatest cost for him.
And the journey we make following Jesus is not without cost to us.


We see this in the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem in our reading
We read in Luke 9.51 that
‘Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.’ He set his face to go.
He decided nothing would stop him, nothing would distract him.
Maybe in this Lenten season we should set ourselves a task
to read in one of the gospels about Jesus’ resolute journey towards Jerusalem:
all the distractions and disappointments and difficulties,
not just the struggle in Gethsemane and the pain on Calvary
but so much suffering before that.

Jesus WAS REJECTED Luke 9.51-53

The Samaritans, about whom Jesus was so positive in his own teaching
did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem
The Samaritans didn’t agree that Jerusalem was the centre for worship,
so they wanted nothing to do with someone set to go to Jerusalem.
There was also a sore history of centuries of hatred
between Jews and Samaritans.
Like Protestants and Catholics in this land they had so much in common
that they were driven to hate even more.

How did Jesus feel about this rejection?
It had nothing to do with him.
He had not committed crimes against the Samaritans.
He taught that they should be loved as neighbours.
But when the Samaritans looked at him they saw only a hated Jew
stereotyped him and dismissed him.

At the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Cork City Hall last weekend
there was a Christian stand offering prayer for healing in Jesus’ name.
It is striking to be there and see how many people pass by
and some as soon as they see the word ‘Christian’ react negatively.
You can see by their expression that they want nothing of that
And you just want to run after them and implore them:
give Jesus a chance, don’t reject him, he has the answer.
Or how often have people in this culture rejected
this or other ‘Protestant’ churches
simply because of the back history of this land?
They have rejected us and written us off because of stereotypes
because almost of a reflex reaction to the name of the church
And not because they have truly engaged with the message of Jesus
which we seek to offer.
Doesn’t that make you frustrated?

But we need to think about how Jesus coped with rejection.
He didn’t complain, he didn’t condemn.
In fact, he rebuked those who would condemn.

Jesus REBUKED INSENSITIVE SECTARIAN FOLLOWERS

Whatever sadness he felt being misunderstand and blocked out by prejudice.
Jesus did not return hate for hate.
Instead he rebuked his angry disciples, he told them off
for wanting to call down fire from heaven.

How sad that even his close friends still had ungodly reactions.
Had they not yet learned that they were to love their enemies
that to answer hate with hate only brings more hate?

An interesting example recently in England:
an atheist protester has been found guilty of religious harassment
for leaving offensive leaflets in the prayer room at Liverpool airport.
An airport chaplain found them
and was so upset she complained to the police.
But to use the law in this way is to take up a double edged weapon.
If it’s wrong to offend Christians and Muslims with your leaflets
then is it not also wrong to offend atheists with Christian leaflets?
Both Christian and atheist commentators have remarked on this case
that we are in danger of losing the right to free speech
and we need to learn to cope with being offended.
It is perhaps relevant that this atheist claims to have been abused
in a religious school in Dublin.
Having been hurt by religious people he attacks religious people
The question is how can the cycle of wrong provoking wrong be broken.
By stopping his disciples in their angry prayer
Jesus took a step to break the cycle of hatred between Jews and Samaritans
We need to be wise and aware when wrong is done to us
not to make things worse by doing more wrong ourselves.
If we follow Jesus, we are to treat those who do us wrong as Jesus would,
with the Spirit that he gives us, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of grace and peace.

It is not that we agree with ideas and practices which go against the Bible
but that we learn from the Bible, from the character of Christ himself
a way of relating graciously to those we disagree with.
It was tragically sad and wrong that Jesus was denied passage
through a Samaritan village
but that was in no way to justify vicious retaliation.
Jesus rebuked and still rebukes a religion fuelled by hate and anger.

Jesus REQUIRED FULL COMMITMENT

Finally today, we read of insincere or mixed up people
who thought they would like to be disciples
but Jesus put plainly before them how much that will cost.
He warned one man there may be no roof over his head.
He told another to put the needs of the living over the dead
and another not to let even the demands of family
make him waver from following.

We are not told how these people then responded to such plain talk.
Maybe they got over their distractions
and followed him on the resolute road to Jerusalem
or maybe they said: ‘too difficult, too demanding’.

When we share the good news of Jesus today,
there are a variety of reactions.
Some will say ‘Yes, I’ll follow Jesus too’’ which is wonderful,
but others say different things, many of which really mean ‘No‘
‘That’s true for you.‘ ‘Everybody has to believe something’
‘I must think about that some time.‘

Wouldn’t it be more straight forward if people just said ‘No’?
Did not Jesus find it very sad that people said ‘No’
and people said ‘Maybe’ but really meant ‘No’?

We have seen what he felt about his followers’
harsh attitude to the Samaritans.
How did he feel about saying ‘Yes, I’ll follow you, but …’
How did he feel about his disciples squabbling earlier in this chapter
about the who would be greatest.
How did he feel about this half hearted approach to commitment?

No wonder Jesus ‘set his face’ resolutely to go to Jerusalem.
How much grace he showed in face of rejection?
How much gentle authority against the cry for revenge?
How much patience to continue when so many would fall away?

And how does Jesus regard us on our wavering journey?
The point of what I am trying to say is not that we leave smugly
saying what sad Samaritans, or bigoted disciples or half-hearted enquirers
but that we search our hearts
about how we may have instinctively rejected Jesus
or have dealt badly with rejection ourselves
by returning hate for hate, fire for fire.
Or have made half hearted, shallow commitments to follow.

OUR JOURNEY:
WILL WE CHANGE? WILL WE KEEP GOING?
In these weeks coming up to Easter,
let us face up to our continuing sin
whether it be greed, or pride, or bitterness cherished against another person
or saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus with our lips but living out ‘No’ in our lives.
In these weeks coming up to Easter,
let us resolve to follow Jesus more closely,
to cope with rejection and disappointment,
with difficulty and suffering, even with disputes with other Christians.
But let us never ever give up,
as we remember that Jesus went on a hard journey for us
and he never gave up.

Father God we thank you
for the determination of Jesus,
how he set his face as a flint
to go to Jerusalem to die for us.
May we, his weak and wavering disciples,
be firm and resolute -
to do what lies before us.
to overcome difficulties
and to persevere in spite of failures.
When we meet rejection,
When we are tempted to return wrong for wrong,
When we are distracted and disheartened
and ready to give up,
please fill us with fresh courage and determination
to follow Jesus and become more like him

May the Holy Spirit help you
to keep walking the resolute road of suffering after Jesus.
May you know the joy of eternal spring time in heaven,
the joy that Jesus reached after enduring pain
the joy set before us ...