Author: Mark Mong

44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.  Matthew 13:44-46

We have a store in the local mall, where a person can buy, sell, or trade movies, video games, comic books and many other things.  You can purchase a new DVD, yes, they still make and sell those.  You can trade in a well-played and finished game for another.  You can sell your old comic books for cash, yes, they still deal with cash.  But in this store, one can find just about anything and for the right price take it home.

Perhaps then, we can understand what is transpiring in our two parables about the Kingdom of heaven.  Both parables contain a person finding something of great value, a treasure, or a pearl, and in their desire to “have” the item, they sell everything they have in order to buy the item.  These parables describe a trading, the treasure for the money, just like buying a new movie, or trading in an old game, or selling your old Gameboy.  One person gives up something, the money or the property and gains the treasure or pearl.  The other person gives up the treasure or pearl to gain the prize.  But both parables describe a transaction or trading and paying a high price, they sold everything to gain the treasure because it was worth it.

Perhaps one of the main ideas for disciples to learn from these parables is the breaking from the old to obtain the new.  Everything is sold to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.  Now, this does not mean that it can be bought or sold, we know faith is how we enter and obtain the Kingdom of Heaven.  But the point is instead that to gain the Kingdom of Heaven, by faith, one must make a complete break with the old: everything old for the Kingdom of Heaven.  We break from the previous life and the previous lifestyles and the previous attitudes, and the previous goals to receive the new life, the new lifestyle, the new attitude, and the new goals.  Everything goes because the Kingdom of Heaven now comes.  God breaks the old life, to give us, by faith, the Kingdom of Heaven.

But when the Kingdom of Heaven breaks into our world and God breaks us from the old, many great conflicts begin over and within us.  The first is the desire for possessions.  We just simply want more stuff and someone in our community is selling it to us.  Advertisements are in every aspect of our line of sight.  Buy this coffee.  Buy this car.  Buy this phone.  And we become ensnared by the race with our neighbors over who can have more and have it before someone else gets it.  To make a break with this desire, God replaces the desire for more stuff with the desire to let go of our earthly possessions and share them in love.  God makes this great break in our lives, which is quite simply giving sacrificially, instead of taking greedily; and we struggle daily to do it.

The second great struggle within us, when God breaks-in our lives is our desire for fame and admiration.  We want to be known and to be admired.  Whether on stage as a performer, or on TV as an actor or actress, or having the highest gamer score or the most followers on social media, Human beings have an endless thirst to be known and to be admired by as many others as possible.  But what we see in the Kingdom of Heaven is Jesus leaving the throne to ascend a cross, and this Crucified Jesus breaks-into our worlds.  Instead of seeking honor and glory, we can take the least dignified places and be content with the less reputable situations.  Instead of wanting a throne, we can carry our cross. God makes this break in our lives, which is quite simply seeking the Glory of God instead of the glory of “me;” and we struggle daily to do it.

But I find to be the greatest struggle of all is when God breaks-into our families.  We must remember first that we are to love and to love even our enemies, this includes our families.  But when God takes hold of us, our families lose their hold over us.  God becomes the priority not the advancement of the family name, reputation, and success.  This also means that we are free from the difficult and unchosen relationships that families bring: failing parents, special needs children, broken marriages.  We can still love them, but not because we “have to”, but because we “can” and the freely given love will always be greater and more complete than a forced love.  But God makes this break in our lives, which is quite simply the Family of God instead of the family of “____;” and we struggle daily to do it.

Friends, not one of us is without these and more great conflicts as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We all struggle with loving God and each other instead of possessions, fame, and family.  But the point of the parables of the treasure and pearls is that God is the one who makes the break between the old and the new.  The Kingdom of Heaven comes, the kingdoms of sinful people go.  The Gospel is that through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we can trade one for the other because God has assaulted those kingdoms and overcome them.  The daily challenge then becomes living into this break.  As if the hold on us of our possessions, our fame and our families is broken, and the Kingdom of Heaven has invaded.  The challenge of discipleship is trading in the old life for Jesus’ new one.  Buy, sell, or Trade?  Faith and obedience say Trade!  Amen. 

24He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Matthew 13:24-30

I know some flowers by sight, but others I need help with.  This becomes very problematic when I am weeding my flower beds for the first time every Spring.  All the plants are beginning to grow, including the weeds.  I want to keep the flowers and I want to pull the weeds.  The problem is I cannot always tell which is which.  I have to ask someone who knows better than I what is a flower and what is a weed.  But at times I mistakenly pull a flower while grabbing a weed and when the weed is growing amid the flower, I pull out both.  Keeping the weeds away from the flowers is not always easy.

Perhaps then this is why Jesus cautions his disciples about weeding out people instead of weeds.  They ask Jesus, do you want us to go and gather them?  And he responds with No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.  You try and pull weeds and you get flowers instead; you try and pull the weed growing in the middle of the flowers and you get both, the same happens with people.  The moment you try and exclude an unbeliever and you will exclude the believer also.  The moment you try to remove the enemy among the brothers and sisters is the time you remove everybody; and we cannot run the risk of harming a brother or sister.

The difficult lesson is that the church has both wheat and weeds or children of God and children of the evil one in it.  We have in our worship services and in our membership both people of faith and people of rebellion.  At times we think we can tell which is which, but what we can never do is to remove the problem makers and keep the siblings in faith.  We will always damage the good to remove the bad.  We will always cause trauma in our fellow believers by removing the unbelievers; and we must never do anything to harm our siblings in Christ.

Does this mean that the Church will always be this way?  No, Christ promises a time when the grain and weeds will be separated, it just isn’t now, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.  At Christ’s return, the Angels are commanded to separate the believers from non-believers, one to blessing and the other to destruction.  But the point is that today is not harvest day.  It will come, and soon, but as long as we are waiting for the Judgement Day, that day is not to-day.

So, what day is to-day?  Let both of them grow together until the harvest.  Up until harvest time the farmer does everything to nurture the growth of the grain, even if the weeds grow instead.  One can till the soil, one can administer fertilizer, and one can irrigate the fields.  But the task is to plant and grow, not to harvest.  Until Judgment Day, the church’s task is to plant and grow, not to separate.  That time will come, but to-day is about planting and growing: to till the soil of the human heart with love, to administer to the barren mind the fertilizer of hope, and to irrigate the deserted soul with the water of faith.  But it’s growing time, not harvest time, and both grain and weeds can grow, both believers and unbelievers together.

But to only grow instead of judge takes patience on the part of Christ’s people.  Patience to “put up” with people.  Patience to suffer the slings and arrows of difficult and even adversarial people.  Patience to plant God’s Word of love in a hateful heart.  Patience to spread hope over a mind filled with conspiracies and suspicions.  Patience to water faith over a soul unable to trust and depend.  But it will take patience to plant and grow.  But the gospel is not that we must achieve patience, who could do that?  The gospel is that through the grace of Jesus Christ, we can receive his patience as a free gift.  This means that we can put up with each other: to till, to fertilize and to irrigate people, both challenging and easy because it is the patience of Jesus Christ living in us.  This means that until Christ returns, let us nurture instead of judge.  Let us plant and grow instead of judge and pull.  Amen. 

¹⁸ ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³ But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’ Matthew 13: 18-23

Everybody will take medication in their life.  From the over-the-counter pain medication to the prescription only heart medication, we all will in the span of our lives take medication for problems big and small.  But, while the medication may be the same for each person, the results vary greatly depending on the metabolism of the consumer.  Some patients cannot tolerate high level pain medication.  Some patients cannot tolerate oral antibiotics.  Some patients cannot tolerate chemotherapy.  Even in some patients a medication will not be effective or work at all.  The medication might be the same, but the results vary depending on the person taking them.

Perhaps then, we can understand the parable of the soils.  The one seed is the same, but the results of sowing that seed vary depending on the soil.  But Jesus is really trying to explain how he can preach and teach the same Word of God to many people, but the consequences of that Word vary depending on the receptivity of the hearer.  The same medication with varied results.  The same seed with varied growth.  The same Word of the Kingdom of God with varied acceptance and understanding, which continues today, the same Word of God, with different reception and comprehension.  In the parable, we have three negative results and three positive results.

The first negative result is when the Word of God is preached but not understood, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.  Rather ironically, the difficulty in this situation is understanding the word “understanding.”  I have many things I don’t understand, but I invest in the process of learning.  I think the difficulty when it comes to Word of God is the motivation to stay ignorant.  The problem is not wanting to understand, not the difficulty in understanding.  I don’t want to know; versus I have a difficult time knowing; and the Word of God produces nothing.

Next we have when the Word of God is preached and accepted, but without true commitment, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. Troubles and persecutions test one’s commitment to understanding and following the Word of God.  They require a root or commitment to continue despite the difficulties.  Many struggle with trials and difficult experiences and they shrivel up and quit following Christ under them because faith requires a life-long commitment in good times and bad times; and the Word of God produces nothing.

The last result is when the Word of God is preached but a love of pleasure and possessions prevents any change, as for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. Weeds steal energy and resources from the crops.  The cares of the world and the lure of wealth, choke out our understanding and steal the obedience from the Word of God.  We pursue comfort and wealth instead of faith and obedience, and the Word of God produces nothing.

But, while this parable invests more concern into the ways the Word of God can be stolen from the human heart, scorched by trials, and choked by temptations, it still possesses positive results.  The Word falls into good soil or good human hearts and produces good results, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’  The Word of God is heard, understood and it grows into the fruit of the Spirit.  Not each person may be the same, we have one with a hundredfold and another with sixty, but the Word grows results regardless.  The critical moment appears to be if a person hears, understands, and obeys the Word given.

Which are you?  Do you care to understand the Word, or do you expend energy avoiding having to learn it?  Do you have a life-long commitment to understanding and obeying the Word, or do the difficult moments scorch your discipleship and you leave?  Do you have some worldly temptation, some pleasure or possession that chokes the Word of God and you seek after them?  Or does the Word of God grow in your heart?  Do you hear, understand, and obey?  Which are you?  Each of our hearts is a field, which God has planted the Word into.  You are responsible for what kind of soil it is; rocky, shallow, thorny, or fertile.  Perhaps now is the time to grow, perhaps now is the time to hear, perhaps now is the time to be open to understanding and obeying God’s Word.  Amen.

13 When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, ‘I will surely bless you and multiply you.’ 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. 16 Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute. 17 In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. 19 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.  Hebrews 6:13-20

My wife’s family has a cottage on a lake in New Hampshire.  At one time many years ago, they had a long, wooden dock further out on the lake to sunbathe, read and swim off.  In the winter months, the dock rests on shore with the individual pieces tied to trees.  This I found is a good thing, because during the recent rains, the level of the lake rose and being tied to a tree ensured that the dock pieces did not float off.  The water covered the dock for a time, but being tethered to the trees ensured they did not disappear during the torrential rains.

Just as the dock was tethered to a tree, so too does the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews describe the church being anchored or tethered in the soul, we have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain.  The docks were tethered to a tree to prevent floating off, Christ’s disciples are tethered to a sure and steadfast anchor in the soul, not to a tree but to the heavenly temple behind the curtain.  Since Christ is there as our High Priest, we are tethered or anchored in a place that is unmovable and when the hurricanes of life flood us, we can remain sure and certain, even when overwhelmed.

But to keep hope amid difficulty is an impossible achievement for anxious and fearful people.  To this end God gives his people clarity even in “muddy” situations, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath.  An oath is used by people to bring certainty and reliability in situations that are fragile and doubtful.  One swears by a greater power to bring security upon an insecure situation.  God, being the greatest power, invokes Himself, to bring stability into an unstable situation for his children.  This stability which God provides and injects into our human experiences, rests on the unchangeable nature of God.  Since no greater power exists, no entity can force or alter God’s purpose.  Therefore, God provides assurance to His people, that is cannot be destroyed or removed.  This does not mean that the daily struggles which we face, and which those not in the church also do, but it also means that those struggles which are unique to the Church of Jesus Christ are not to be avoided, but to be endured. 

Being tethered to Jesus Christ does not mean the removal of struggles and tests, but it means the security and certainty to persevere through them.  This means that when challenge or persecution strikes the Church, and they will, the Church waits patiently for God to fulfill God’s Promises and Oaths.  We don’t quit the Church to alleviate our difficulties or leave the Church to avoid persecutions or resign our Baptismal Vows to seek an easier and more comfortable lifestyle; to be anchored to Christ, means that Hurricanes will blow, but even when we are overcome, we remain secure, tethered to Jesus Christ; and we carry on.

The good news of the Gospel, dear friends, is not the impossible command to wait patiently, as if we were under our own power able to do so.  The good news of the Gospel is not just that God gives us unconquerable promises and oaths, but we have been given in Jesus Christ the Human capacity to wait patiently.  Patience is not a virtue we must achieve, but a Divine gift we can receive.  In Christ, we can wait.  We can wait through the next Pandemic, the next Political Revolution, the current seasons of Persecutions, both physical and social, and whatever “Hurricanes” will fall upon us.  We can endure in patience because in Christ we are tethered to an unmovable anchor, but we also share in the very patience of Christ.  Let us then, wait through the storms in life, anchored in Christ, given refuge both safe and secure.  Amen. 

6 Therefore let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith towards God, ² instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. ³ And we will do this, if God permits. ⁴ For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. ⁷ Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. ⁸ But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.  Hebrews 6:1-8

Building a house is an often long and tortuous process, that often has many steps that must be done on order to complete.  The first steps of digging and laying the foundation must be done before you can begin to build the framework.  The framework must be completed before you can install the roof and walls.  The roof and walls must be done before you can install windows, doors, plumbing and wiring.  Lastly, you install flooring, siding, drywall.  Would you spend your entire time laying the foundation and never get to the framework and then to the roof or walls?  Not if you want to stay in business.  The goal is to finish the house, and that means moving through the steps, to complete the project.

The Author of the letter to Hebrews was also in construction work.  But he was not building a house but a church or assembly of people.  His struggles lie in the group of people that had at one time learned the basics of faith and action but were struggling to press on in the process of learning and following Christ.  Perhaps this explains why he wrote, therefore let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation.  The process of building a church of people, not necessarily an institution, requires completing steps in order, but you never spend your entire time building a foundation.  Once it has been laid, you move on to the next steps.  The congregation was tired and apathetic and instead of moving past the beginning stages of life together, they were regressing.  So, he writes to move on past the foundation stage to the next, to move on to completion or maturity.

In our journeys of discipleship are we pressing on in the process or are we regressing?  Are we stuck at the foundation laying or moving on and through the next steps of growth?  He lists the foundation elements: repentance from dead works and faith towards God,instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement.  But they serve only as the foundation of the church, to be the support and grounding of God’s people, but once laid, the people need to press on to action.  Proper knowing always leads to proper acting, and here is our great struggle.  The entire goal for which the Father sent the Son and Spirit into the world is to create a people built on the foundation of Christ.  But we get stuck on the foundation instead of pressing on.  We become mired in the basics instead of living into and living from those basics into “right” actions.  We end up being an unfinished house with a foundation but nothing else: with good theology, if we have any at all, but no righteousness.

But the specific situation the author is writing to is not that the people are not progressing or stuck, they are regressing, they are wanting to go back and leaving Christ entirely.  The Author offers a warning to them, and us, for it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened … and then have fallen away since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. Once a person has left Christ completely, who could forgive their sins and re-create them?  One would need another Christ to bring them back to the first Christ.  Perhaps this serves as a warning, to take responsibility for our following Christ.  Not to fall or move away, but to press forward in following Christ. 

I think we all become tired in our discipleship.  Whether our burdens and experiences weigh heavy on our spirits, or our circumstances and situations seem impossible to overcome or resolve, our journeys following Jesus can exhaust us.  Friends rejoice, you are among the many disciples across the ages and globe who struggle following Jesus.  But what must never happen is our exhaustion and weakness cause us to quit.  God’s work upon us takes time, it takes training in discipline, and it requires the diligence of faith.  We must never stop at the basics but press forward to “right” actions.  We must never go back and leave Christ entirely but press forward to the finished building.  Our journeys will be at times sweat and hardship, but through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we can become the finished building, the body of Christ.  Amen. 

2 Corinthians 12:7b-10

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. ⁸ Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, ⁹ but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

I have always enjoyed the festivals where various Hot Air Balloon teams gathered to sail the skies.  I was able to see the many different shapes and colors flying through the sky in majesty and wonder.  But I was more fascinated by how the balloons were inflated to be able to fly.  A simple basket with sandbags and ropes tied to stakes were all that kept the balloon on the ground.  The operator filled the canvas with hot air heated by a gas jet and up the balloon went and when the air cooled the balloon would come down.  Both the gas jet and the weight of the sandbags were how one could control the movements of the hot air balloon.

The reason for the ropes and stakes were to keep the balloon on the ground until ready to depart, Paul speaks of something similar for the purpose of keeping him grounded in his work, therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.  The thorn in the flesh was specifically given to Paul to keep him on the ground to keep his ego or pride humble as he serves.  One can easily become inflated or boastful in one’s work and one’s achievements; Christ gave Paul something to keep him from succumbing to pride and to keep him humble.  We do not know specifically what it was, but we know it was present. 

I wonder if it is the same with us?  We also serve Christ, we have been equipped with spiritual gifts: wisdom in governing, charisma in preaching, compassion in serving, intelligence in teaching.  What if we all have also been equipped with thorns in our flesh?  It certainly feels at times that we don’t have a thorn in flesh, we feel we might have the entire rose bush.  But, how come we never look at our thorns in the flesh as also serving an important purpose, to keep us humble, to keep us from pride?  We might have our positive gifts to empower us to at times miraculous works, but we might also have our struggles to keep us grounded, to keep us humble.

Perhaps human nature wants to alleviate our struggles and our difficulties.  Paul certainly did, three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me.  I wonder how many of us have prayed, and maybe even more than three times for our thorns to leave us.  We seem to possess something in our nature that appreciates strength and success and disvalues suffering and weakness.  We want God’s positive gifts and ask for an abundance of them, we balk when it comes to the thorns in the flesh which also serve God’s purposes, to keep us grounded and humble.

Curiously, Jesus responds to Paul’s prayers with the answer no one wants to hear, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that the Creator is sufficient for every creature.  The power and strength of God is given to every creature to provide for daily existence.  Anyone can become strong because God gives them strength.  God is sufficient for everyone.  The challenge lies in staying grounded.  One taste of God’s power and we can become tempted to become gods in pride, not needed God any longer.  We are given God’s power, but God’s power is made complete in our weaknesses, not strengths.

My friends, we all have been blessed with spiritual gifts, but we also have been blessed with thorns in the flesh to keep us grounded and humble.  The challenge of daily discipleship is our perception of those thorns as blessings instead of curses and stop asking that they be removed.  God’s grace is sufficient for anyone, but God’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses or thorns.  Perhaps faith then does not seek our sufferings, that would be masochistic.  But faith does accept our thorns as teachers, training us for the Kingdom of God.  Therefore, let us every day be content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.  Amen.

Matthew 8:5-13

⁵ When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him ⁶ and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.’ ⁷ And he said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ ⁸ The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ ¹⁰ When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹ I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹² while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹³ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed in that hour.

When you first enter any branch of the military, you enter at the lowest rank possible.  Everyone has a higher rank than you and that means that anyone can give you an order and you must follow them.  Whether the drill sergeant orders you to dig a hole and then an hour later to fill it back in, you do so.  The sergeant has authority over you, and you must obey without question if you want a future in the military and have a strong aversion to pounding rocks in Ft. Leavenworth.

In the same way as soldiers obeying the orders of a higher ranking officer, the centurion in Matthew’s Gospel knows all about authority, I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’   As a centurion, he has a general give him orders and he obeys.  As a centurion, he has officers and soldiers below him and he gives orders, and they obey.  As a centurion, he recognizes the greater authority of God in Jesus Christ, and he yields. 

Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.  Knowing his place as a Gentile but also a soldier, he recognizes and acknowledges that Jesus has authority to heal but also a personal sense of inadequacy of having the Jewish Messiah or King in his house would be an insult to Jesus.  So, a Word of authority is all that his servant and his servant’s condition needs to be healed because the Centurion obeys and the paralysis will obey also.  He recognizes the greater authority of God in Jesus Christ and believes that even the paralysis will yield to this greater power.

Do we?  Yield that is to the greater power of God in Jesus Christ.  Faith might include having a proper understanding of God and oneself.  Faith might include trusting God by placing yourself into God’s hands.  But the greater part of faith is the faith of the centurion: to acknowledge the greater power of God and to submit to Christ Jesus.  Do we have faith like this?  Perhaps in some small ways and in some small matters we do, but we are yet to have faith like the centurion, to acknowledge Jesus by complete obedience and self-surrender.  Perhaps this is why Jesus says, truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.  Jesus was amazed to find one who believes so completely to acknowledge Him.  We might be sorely tempted to think this is Jewish problem, after all Jesus says Israel, but one only needs to look within to see that this is a Human problem.

Because our temptation is power.  We spend our entire lives trying to hoard, procure and defend whatever power we can come across, and in pride we do not and perhaps cannot admit to ourselves that anyone, including Christ is greater.  Perhaps we balk at taking orders, preferring to give them.  Perhaps we desire to self-rule in independence from the power of God.  Perhaps we trust instead in other less greater powers in our world: money, politics, fame, and pleasure.  When it comes to our faith, we do not acknowledge or submit to the highest power, the power of God in Jesus Christ, we cling to our unbelief.

This is why the Word of God became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, to be the perfect human in place of us flawed humans.  To surrender and to acknowledge completely the Father’s greater power and will in his body on the cross.  To forgive us our moments of falling short of the centurion’s faith, and to create a new heart within us that clearly sees the power of God greater than any other.  This means hope for us friends.  Hope that our guilt and failures can be taken away and we can become new.  But new in the sense of acknowledging and submitting to the greater power of God in Jesus Christ.  We can stop fighting against God and we can start acknowledging Jesus is Lord.  Amen. 

Luke 12:22-31

²²He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you — you of little faith! ²⁹And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

We had a time when your television was only able to project a single image onto your screen, first in black and white and then in color.  Then the manufacturers invented a television which could have two split screens, so you could watch two shows simultaneously.  Now, technology has evolved to the point where you can watch two shows on your television, while watching a show on your phone, tablet, and computer all simultaneously.  I have heard of rabid sports watchers and rabid gamblers who do so, to monitor their fantasy football teams and/or their favorite soccer teams.  But we have gone from the point of watching a single show to watching as many as you have devices to show them, and broadband internet to stream them.

In our text from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is teaching his disciples about having not a split television screen but having a split or divided focus, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.  The Greek word for worry in a quite literal sense means divided or split in attention and emotions; torn between focusing on God and focusing on our necessities.  We split our attentions and devotions from God being the priority to worrying and becoming anxious about the lesser things: food, clothing, and shelter.  Instead of focusing on God, we focus instead on the basic elements of existence, and we worry. 

But Jesus reminds his disciples that life is both basic elements like food and clothing but also greater elements like faith and obedience unto God. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Most certainly, life requires the necessities, but also the greater possibilities.  And if God tends to all the necessities of lesser creatures, (lesser only because they lack the Image of God), then how much more will God tend to the greater creatures.  We have great value in the heart and will of God, how much greater will be the providence of God?  We should not worry about the less important things, still important, but instead focus solely on the greater things.

But Jesus also reminds his disciples that worry doesn’t add anything to life, and can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? If we cannot do the small things, then neither can we do the large things.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything, but it means that as creatures we have limits, we simply cannot do what the Creator can do, nor should we try.  We should not worry about the things that we have no power or control over.  We should instead trust the one who does and do what we can do.

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you — you of little faith!   These verses remind us that God does provide for all of creation, and as God’s covenant partners, how much more does God clothe and provide for us?  Perhaps the problem is not the greatness of our God, but the smallness of our faith.  We just have trust issues that God will keep his word and provide, and he can and wants to do.  Instead, we focus our attentions and devotions like the split-screen on God and the basics.  Instead of focusing on what God has already given, we instead stew over what we lack.  And we worry instead of trust.

Perhaps the solutions for our worries and anxieties are the removal of the second split screen and focusing solely on God: strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”  We don’t need to split our attention, energy, and devotion from some on God’s Kingdom and some on our daily things.  Instead, we can focus and strive for God’s Kingdom and the daily things will be added also.  Not the lesser but the greater.  Not trying to do the impossible but focusing on our possibilities.  Not having little faith in God and much in our own ability to scrounge or buy.  Not splitting our screens but focusing everything that we have and everything that we are onto the Kingdom of God, and all that other stuff can come as it will, because God promised.  Strive for the Kingdom “First,” and all the rest will come. 

Luke 24:28-35  ²⁸ As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ ³³ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴ They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 

I remember as a young boy camping with my Boy Scout Troop in many tents and cabins.  We cooked our meals on fires and used those fires to keep warm in the winter months.  Every morning we had to stir the fire and add more wood to cook our breakfast or heat the room.  The fire would inevitably die down and we would have to blow air on the coals, add more wood and perhaps even use a match to re-light the fire.  We also had many challenges trying to do this.  Trying to light a fire in the rain, or having damp wood, or having expired matches led to many a cold and foodless day. 

If you can imagine trying to stir up a fire, you can understand the disciples from the Walk to Emmaus, when they describe walking with Jesus as a burning fire, they said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’  Jesus may have not been reviving a fire to cook breakfast or heat a tent or cabin, but Jesus most certainly was stirring up the flames of faith and understanding in the disciples’ hearts.  Through his talking and explaining the scriptures, Jesus blew fresh air, added more wood, and used a fresh match to bring their faith burning strong in their hearts.

Can he not do the same to you, to us?  Jesus is still talking to human hearts and explaining the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit that lives in our hearts.  Jesus is still blowing fresh air, adding more wood, and using a lighter to bring our faith to life, burning strong in our hearts.  Even in times of difficulty, Jesus is capable of sustaining and reviving our faith when it goes out.  Cleopas and the other disciple had no faith and understanding on that first Easter Sunday, we have days and seasons where we have no faith or understanding, but Jesus talks and explains and through his Word, and they believe and so do we.   

But while Jesus’ Word is what revives our faith to burn brightly, the disciples only really recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread.  In an Instant Replay of the Last Supper, when he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. The same is with us.  We can listen and explain the Word of God in Scripture and Sermon and find our hearts afire, but only when we gather around the Lord’s Table to participate in the Lord’s Supper do we recognize Jesus.  The disciples burned with the Word and recognized through the Breaking of Bread; the same lies with us.  Our hearts burn with the Word, but we recognize Jesus only through the Lord’s Supper.

Is your faith burning?  Is your heart recognizing?  Most certainly, we will have moments and seasons where the answer is yes and yes.  But we also have days and times where the answer is uncertain, or even no.  The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus bears the responsibility for the fire in your heart.  If He could light Cleopas and the Other disciple, he can light yours.  Even when the rain of trial soaks your heart, Jesus can blow fresh air and re-kindle your faith.  Even when your heart is frozen and hard from trauma and brokenness, Jesus can melt and soften your heart to re-fuel your faith.  Even when sin and death has extinguished the spark of faith, Jesus gives you his heart and believes for and instead of you; and your faith is re-lit.  Jesus can and does revive your faith, and reveals Himself to you.

Friends, the only reason the church in every time and place comes to faith in God is through the saving work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Through Word and Table, The Spirit of Jesus Christ blows, fuels, and sparks any human heart to faith and understanding in God.  In your faith is waning, if your understanding and recognition is lacking, then hear and remember that the Spirit of Jesus can take cold and dead hearts and bring them to faith and understanding.  So once again hear the good news of the Easter Message and believe in God, believe in Jesus Christ.  Through the Spirit, you can burn in faith for God.  Through the Spirit, you can burn in faith and recognize Jesus.  Now burn with faith and see. Amen. 

Mark 6:30-44 ³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. ³² And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. ³³ Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ³⁵ When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.’ ³⁷ But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him, ‘Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?’ ³⁸ And he said to them, ‘How many loaves have you? Go and see.’ When they had found out, they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ ³⁹ Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And all ate and were filled; ⁴³ and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. ⁴⁴ Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men. 

I went to the grocery store on my usual day and my usual time to pick up the groceries my family and I needed for the week.  One of the items on my “to buy” list was a dozen eggs.  Much to my surprise, I arrived in the dairy aisle of my grocery store and approached the refrigerated case where the eggs were supposed to be, and I found the shelves almost empty.  The store only had a few containers of eggs to purchase, and the price had increased drastically.  I did not buy any eggs.  I did not need 48 of them and I was not paying ten dollars to buy them.  Turns out the egg farms had lost most of their egg-laying chickens and the country was in a shortage.  Eggs were just scarce, even though many people wanted to buy and eat them. 

If you can imagine a scarcity of eggs, you can imagine the scarcity of having a crowd of 5000 men, not including women and children in a deserted place, and all of them needing to eat.  Food was scarce enough in a large crowd for everyone to eat and be satisfied but add in the wilderness where the local wildlife has barely enough to survive on, and you truly have scarcity.  It might not be eggs, but the people needed food to eat and there was none.

This is why the disciples ask Jesus to send away the crowd.  This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.  They knew that everyone needed to eat, and food was scarce.  Is there some selfishness in the disciples, knowing that the few loaves of bread and fish were needed for them, and they had no intention of sharing?  Whatever the motivation, the crowd needed to eat, and food was scarce.  Send them away so they can eat, the disciples ask of Jesus. 

But Jesus flips the script, he not only does not send them away, but he also commands the disciples to feed them.  Talk about on the job training.  The disciples are about to get a crash course not in plumbing a sink or installing a dryer, but a crash course in the abundance of God.  But, but, but the disciples respond, we would need 200 denarii or about 200 days of wages to pay for enough bread for everyone?

Here is perhaps where we find ourselves in this story.  How many times have we seen the enormity of our needs and our problems and thought to ourselves we don’t have enough?  How many times have we seen the size of the scarcity of resources and tell ourselves and Jesus, we don’t have enough?  For smaller churches this is the great struggle with church life together; not enough people, not enough money, not enough officers, not enough time, not enough energy, not enough commitment, not enough….  We are exactly like these disciples, we don’t have enough of anything to fight for justice, feed the hungry or visit the sick, we would need 200 denarii for that.

What do you have? Jesus asks this of his disciples, then and now.  Five loaves of bread and few fish.  What do we have?  We do have a core group of people committed to following Jesus Christ, which is a blessing.  We do have a pool of money, which is a blessing.  We do have a pool of time, which is a blessing.  We have a pool of energy, which is a blessing.  We do have people with the gifts and skills to lead, love and serve, which is a blessing.  What would it look like instead of seeing the 200 denarii we don’t have; we start looking at the 5 loaves and few fish we do have?

Because in the hands of Jesus Christ, the little that we do have is not only always enough, but in His hands, plenty will be leftover.  The few loaves and fish feed the over 5000 people with baskets leftover aplenty.  In the hands of the Great Shepherd, God will always provide daily bread for all those in need.  In the Kingdom of God, the idea or reality of scarcity does not exist; because the life God gives in Jesus’ Kingdom is one of abundance, one of always having more than enough even when what is at hand is not much.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, while we live in a world where communities at times face the scarcity of resources, even eggs; in the Kingdom of God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord, God always provides for His people, and what resources they do have, will always be more than enough.  Instead of worrying about what we don’t have, we can begin looking and seeing what we do have and finding that in the hands of Christ, we will always have enough, we will always be satisfied, and we will always have plenty leftover for all those outside our churches.  For that the Church has always said Thanks be to God.  May it be so.