The Son of God and the Devil

First Sunday In Lent

Luke 4: 1-13

The Devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’ If you are the Son of God, the Devil said. The title "Son of God" means Emperor, and the title "Son of Man" means anti-emperor, or no one important. In Luke's Gospel we find a reverse genealogy which ends with Jesus as the Son of Adam and Son of God. Jesus in fact is the real Emperor, who unlike Tiberius Cesar walks every everywhere he goes, does not carry a sword, loves his enemies and dies shamefully on a cross.

Jesus has an issue with these false emperors.

The Devil, Satan, the accuser, is the real spiritual power behind the Emperors and all Empires. Think of the Empires of the present and the past and see how they possess the power to compel belief--that power comes from Satan. Empires like the Third Reich, The British Empire, and the Soviet Union.

In order to make it clear to this Emperor Candidate, who stands before him, how things really work, The Devil tests Jesus. It was believed at the time, and even into present day, like in North Korea, that Kings and Emperors possess magical powers. The would weave gold threads into their clothing and wear golden crowns or laurel leaves dipped in gold. When they rode about in their chariots or on their horses in their golden attire they would glow and everyone would gaze upon them in amazement.

The Devil wants Jesus to make a command, and turn the stone into bread. Why take advice from the Devil? Jesus never says, "I command you..." Jesus says "Follow me." He doesn't add blessing and cursing to the end of everything he says, like it does in the Torah. Jesus doesn't compel or corerse people into following him by using fear. Jesus uses the Truth and says, "Follow me." We follow Jesus because he is right. His Empire endures forever because it is based on the power of Truth and Love and not on fear and coresion.

With no more power than the power of the Truth Jesus stands against the Devil who is filled with the power of Fear.

Jesus is Lord over all of us, not with threatening power or fear, but with Truth and Love.

It is possible to be a church based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone, without the need of fear or scape goating. The world needs it so much.

How Deeply We Should Repent

ASH WEDNESDAY

Genesis 2: 4b-9, 15-17

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-- 7then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground,a and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 19So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your sentence,

and blameless when you pass judgment.

5 Indeed, I was born guilty,

a sinner when my mother conceived me.

6 You desire truth in the inward being;

therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and right spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your holy spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain in me a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;

if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,

19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Romans 8: 18-25

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For In hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

John 9: 1-7

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, 7saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

Wednesday Nights are education nights at Peace Lutheran. Over the past few weeks the Adult Education Class has been studying the Al Gore documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Pastor Mark began the sermon with a handout, a graph showing the amount of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere in parts per million (ppm) over the past 400, 0oo years and projected into the year 2100. The carbon dioxide research was conducted by drilling core samples of the Antarctica Ice.

Currently the CO2 level of our atmosphere is above 350,000 ppm, the highest ever recorded in the last 4o0,000 years. Remember that the human race, homosapien, first appeared on the earth 150,000 years ago. We are seeing the disappearance of the ice field over Greenland, Antarctica is losing Ice Shelves. The planet is already changing and we scarcely know what kind of planet we will have.

If the ice shelves melt we will lose populated coast lands, we will experience higher temperatures. The oceans will change; the will lose their salinity and aquatic life will die. If the Gulf Stream cools down most of Europe will freeze. The Oceans will become more acidic and shell fish won't be able to form shells; they will die, and so will the plankton. In short there will be a mass extinction.

The last time this planet endured a mass extinction, the dinosaurs died off. Paleontologists and Geologists tell us that this was a good thing in the fact that it paved the way for us. It took the planet 10,000,000 years to recover from the last mass extinction.

We are creating a very different world for our children and grandchildren. They will be able to watch movies about what kind of Eden this world once was and then suffer through it for 10 million years. God commanded us to take care of this world and to be good stewards of it. Certainly this is something to repent of. Repent means to turn around. Rather than focusing on our individual sins and really turn around and begin to take care of this planet.

What can we start doing right now? Recycle paper, buy recycled paper, and do these things in our own home and not just here at Peace Lutheran. We can car pool, have meetings during daylight hours. We can eat local produce and produce that is in season. Your meal travels 1,500 miles to land on your plate.

In the Gospel tonight we heard of man who was born blind and he was healed, literally, he was created blind and re-created with sight. The image in the Old Testament is that God created the earth and then rested from creation and now we can do what we want with the earth. In the New Testament it is clear that God's creating power never ceases. God's power to create is still happening. If we see God as the Father, the head of household, the head of the Universe, then we will see that we are setting God's house on on fire. This is truly what stewardship is; to take care of God's house.

Senator John McCain from Arizona started a bill a few years ago to address the enviromental issues. It was a basic bill, nothing too dramatic, but he received a lot of resistance from lobyists and the bill was killed in the Senate. McCain said he heard the voices of the Special Interest Groups and his fellow Senators, but he never heard the voices of the people. We all like sheep have gone astray, each gone his own way.

We have to pay attention in the year 2007, because the earth doesn't have time to wait. The leadership, if you can call it that, in Washington doesn't care. It is time for repentance. It is time for us to lead. We should start a parade for the enviroment and then let the people in the Beltway take the lead.

The Reality of Christ

Transfiguration Sunday

Feburary 18, 2007

Luke 9: 28-36 [37-43]

What is real? How do we know what is real? Physical things are real to us because we see them and touch them. Thanks to Sir Francis Bacon the physical world is more to us than the invisible world. To the ancients the invisible world was real. Light is real because of the light we preceive the physical world.

There is something more real--even more real than light--and that something is the Glory of God. Once you have seen the Glory of God the the average everyday level is dissappointing and shabby. The Glory of God is inexplainably, astoundingly joyous and real. The disciple reaction to seeing the Glory of God is not a possitive one. They are terrified and they tried to make meaning of what they were seeing. We like, like they, want to deterimine for ourselves what is important to understand. We do this a lot in religion. We tell God that we will make you into our religion we will build you shrines (tents/dwellings) for God. The Glory of God as seen in the Transfiguration is so real that that it does not need our meanings, our shrine, nor our worship.

Peter wants the "good old time religion" and make it up themselves. Peter, James and John confronted a reality so clear and large that it enveloped them. They could not make it up, they could not confine it and give it meaning. God inclosed them into His Glory and then gave them a message. This is my Son, the Chosen, listen to him. Listen or hear in the Greek means "Obey!" Jesus is the reality that is beyond the Law and the Prophets.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians that the law is fine but it does not reveal the Glory of God.

Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that of what as being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16 -->but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

If we are a Gospel based church, even if we dare to say it, it will be not because we say it is so, but because it comes from God. The veil is lifted and the Truth is revealed.

The stuff we humans do to make meaning of the Truth is religion. It is not a religion that determines Truth from falseness, because of what we Christians do has the question of truth and falseness. The standard of Truth is the Glory of God shining through Jesus Christ. It deeply impacts us in ways that makes us tell stories.

My friend and fellow missionary who is a pastor in Chicago was driving in the dark in the third world. His daughter, about the age 9, was sleeping next to him when suddenly he heard a voice say "Stop!" He answered what? Again the voice said, "Stop!" not in a angry or loud voice, just clear and authoritative. He stopped the car only to discover that the bridge he was about to drive over was gone. Don't think this story is made up. Call him and he will tell you. He will also tell you that it wasn't for his sake that God told him to stop but for his daughter's.

This is a reality that is more real than the physical world that we can see and touch. Paul says in Romans that Faith comes from hearing. We hear the Truth of God's Glory through Jesus Christ.

Blessings and Shame

Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

Pastor Mark's sermon

Luke 6:17-26

There wasn't church last Sunday because of the bad weather. The sermons were backing up in my head and they had to come out somehow. I know, I thought, I will preach two sermons. What is better than one sermon? Two sermons. But then I remembered that we are having the congregational meeting right after the service so I could preach another sermon there.

Let's recapitulate all that has happened. Two Sunday's ago we heard how Jesus was kicked out of the Synagogue because the Galileans did not like the message they heard. Jesus' ministry got off to a bad start. Then from the Gospel from last Sunday as we heard in the children's sermon,

Jesus' ministry had a good second start with the great catch of fish. The fish represent people, all kinds of people, all who are in the reign of darkness or death are caught and brought into the kingdom of light.

Now Jesus is preaching a sermon similar to the sermon on the mount, but he is not on a mountain, but a level place. He preaches about blessings/honors and woe/shame.

Blessings and Woes Then he looked up at his disciples and said:‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. ‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

There are many references to money, riches and food. Is there a theme here? If we are counting on material possessions for identity then that is all we will be. Money will comfort us. The poor have nothing else but God to rely on for comfort and hope--God is all you have if you are poor.

I have heard something called the Gospel of wealth. It is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When Jesus arrives the lies give away, the lies of materialistic wealth and power--mammon. The lies of being possessed by possessions of being unable to share what the gifts God has given them.

1 Corinthians 15

Then comes the end,when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.

The word destroyed seems very harsh to us. We think of cities being leveled with bombs and weapons. Another way to translate this is canceled out or deposed. The authorities of this world are canceled/deposed when Christ's authority moves in. The Roman emperor was the Son of god, Jesus is the true Son of God. The state becomes the god in this world. Look at the preamble to the Constitution, it seems that the state is to serve. The real reason Paul was a threat to the Roman Empire is that he was preaching that the true Son of God was not the son of god, the emperor. The real Son of God is who the Empire crucified, the Roman Emperor is the impostor.

The Emperor thinks he is God. He brings death and destruction with his power. When a state believes it is God there will be destruction in the name of the State/God. The real God gives life in the presence of death and includes all those who are excluded. We have to be able to identify when the State has become a god.

When I was in Chicago I went to a Chiropractor and she was able to see what was wrong with a person just by the way he or she walked or how much energy he or she had. She knew just were to press the persons back to correct the problem. We too should be able to see through the Gospel's eyes what is wrong with the world--where the lies are.

Jesus is Lord! This demands that we become aware of the all the false gods and we will be alert to where the real God is. We will be able to see the real God.

Fishing story

Church was canceled today

Because I didn't hear a sermon today, I thought I would try writting one myself.

The text:Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

The gender inclusive language misses out on the play on words that Luke uses. Rather than being fishing men, you will be fishing for men. Men here means people. Of course today even that language invokes images that miss the point as well. Today we still use idioms of fishing for dating. Not what Jesus had in mind at all.

Jesus wants them to draw humanity in toward Jesus. To live lives that make people wonder and will follow them to Jesus.

They caught more fish that day than they could manage. Too many to pickle, too many to sell, too many for their nets, too many for their boats. There was profit with Jesus around. But they left all of that to follow Jesus.

Jesus calls us to follow him everyday. This is a scary message. Are we to leave our work places and follow him? Well, they never stop fishing. We see later in the Gospels that they still fished. The image that really grabs me here is leaving their drenched boats, torn nets and caught fish to walk with Jesus.

"Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Isn't that the truth! We see Jesus' greatness and our own weakness and we are ashamed. Jesus doesn't care about all that we have done wrong or anything that we are ashamed of. He wants us to follow him; He wants us near him--Grace defined.

Jesus may ask us to do things that seem futile at first, but then we will be surprised at how well it worked out. Many times we too do not want Jesus near us, but Jesus is always calling us to move toward him and in turn lead others to him.