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Friday 29 January 2016

Luke 5:17-26: Healing in front of OFSTED

I'm late posting today - I had a breakfast meeting this morning, and other stuff, and, well, it'll happen from time to time. Apologies all round.

I know, it's not good to be late when OFSTED have called, but that's me. Fortunately Jesus wasn't so dilatory.

Why an I talking about OFSTED? Because the religious equivalent have turned up, and are following Jesus around. This is nothing to worry about, as I'm sure they said, taking their places with their clipboards. You just carry on as normal. In fact, you could call it a compliment - it's certainly a sign that Jesus has come to the notice of the establishment, and those responsible for maintaining standards in religious education need to know what sort of stuff this new preacher is saying.

All was going well, as Jesus taught the crowds.. He was indoors today, and the house was crammed, with people looking in through the doors and windows to hear. A bunch of friends arrived late, because they were carrying a companion, ill for some considerable time with some dreadful condition that had left him paralysed.

It would have been hard enough for an individual to elbow his way through the crowd, let alone a group of people carrying a stretcher. So they improvised. Up on to the roof, make a hole - just a small one - lower the stretcher through ... left a bit .. steady!

There! Right in front of Jesus' nose. Job done.

Except...what did he just say? Your sins are forgiven?? Well, very nice, but that's not top of his list of urgent needs right now, is it?

And then an argument broke out with the inspectors. Sorry, you can't say that. We're going to have to put that down as blasphemy. We'll be making a full report. This entire ministry will have to be put in special measures.

The friends' hearts sank. No healing, just an argument. Isn't that typical!

But wait a minute, Jesus has a trump card to play. "Don't you believe I can forgive sins? Would a miracle help?"

What OFSTED didn't realise was that the miracle was the easy part. Forgiving sins - that was going to be painful.

Thursday 28 January 2016

Luke 5:12-16: The untouchables

On his travels through the villages of Galilee, it can't have been long before Jesus came up against the untouchables.

Lepers.

Not necessarily people with what we would now know as leprosy, but any disfiguring skin complaint may have been infectious and deadly, so the rules were that people had to leave their homes and live apart, in case of contagion.

Such isolation must have been desperate, but nobody wanted to help, because of the fear of the disease.
When the man comes upon Jesus, he says "If you are willing, you could heal me and make me clean." What do you suppose he meant by that?
"I know you could do it in theory, but you won't want to."

What a strange mixture of faith and despair!

Jesus didn't hesitate for a second. he reached out and touched the man - perhaps the first touch from a non-leper that he's had in years. The touch brought as much healing as the miracle. It undid the despair and the sense of uncleanness at a stroke. 

Instructions followed. The man needed to do the right thing - to go to his priest and be certified clean. That was the way to be readmitted into the community.

But unsurprisingly the man wasn't listening. Too excited to hear Jesus saying "Don't tell anyone," he makes it his business to tell absolutely everyone!

So Jesus' popularity is ramped up another level. He's definitely trending now, he might even have gone viral. Now he has to go back out into the desert to get some peace and quiet.

Luke makes it clear that Jesus did this regularly. He needed to get away from the crowds, he needed to pray. Like a diver coming up for air, he could only keep going so long without refreshing himself in God's presence.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Luke 5:1-11: Hiring some help

Jesus is struggling to ensure that everyone who wants to listen to him can actually hear, so he has now moved on from his synagogue preaching system and is trying the open air. One day he hit on the idea of going down to the water's edge at the Lake. It's clear that he needs to recruit some assistance, or else become a victim of his own success.

He asks nicely of the fishermen who were moored up, and they let him sit in one of their boats, and push it out a little from shore. This way, he had can get some distance between himself and his hearers, without being crowded to death all the time, and everybody can hear.

While he was talking, an idea began to form in his mind. When the sermon is over for the day, he turned to Simon, who was with him in the boat, and suggests that they nip out and catch a few fish.

Simon Peter isn't keen - it was a bad night last night, and it's much harder to catch in the daytime, because the fish see the nets coming and have a chance to dodge. But Jesus doesn't seem to want to take no for an answer, and eventually Simon gives in, and away they go. Doubtless he was only humouring this ignorant carpenter, who knew as much about fishing as Peter knew about how to mortice and tenon a joint.

But suddenly the roles of expert and novice are reversed, because Jesus works a little miracle. Just a tiny one - not as big and special as a healing or an exorcism, but enough to fill some fishing nets to bursting point. Simon and his mates have never seen a catch like it - they'd be fishing for a week to catch this many, and now Jesus has done it without even snapping his fingers.

Simon Peter jumps quite unexpectedly to the right conclusion. This is a real man of God in front of him, and by comparison, he's a worthless sinner. He calls him "Lord," not "rabbi."

It is the word he'd use if he was talking to God, but we can't suppose that Peter has immediately worked out that Jesus is the Messiah - you'd also say this word if you were talking to a nobleman.

One thing's for certain though - Peter know's he's outranked, and he just wants to be left alone. He feels he doesn't belong in the presence of this greatness.

Jesus is thinking otherwise. Let's go fishing for people!

And not a backward glance, nor a second thought is wasted by those fishermen who can't believe their good fortune - to have been chosen by someone so powerful!

Chosen and called.
Befriended and included.
Welcomed and valued.
My heart swells with gratitude to think that I can follow the fishermen in following my Lord.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Luke 4:38-44: No rest for miracle workers

It had been a busy day, and no doubt Jesus was glad to get an invitation to dinner in the evening. Maybe Peter's mother in law had a reputation as a good cook, and he was looking forward to a pleasant meal and relaxing conversation. Also, Jesus had his eye on Peter - he thought the noisy fisherman had leadership potential.

Unfortunately, the mother in law turned out to be poorly. The meal plans were somewhat scuppered.

Or were they? Jesus demonstrated that he could rebuke illness, as well as evil spirits, and after the family begged him to help, he healed the lady with a word. The poor soul didn't get any rest, she resumed her duties in the kitchen immediately.

Jesus didn't get any rest either. There was a banging on the door as they were clearing the last morsels from their plates, and outside was a noisy gang of neighbours, each propping up a sick or elderly friend or relative. They'd heard.

Somebody had slipped away from the meal and gone around saying, "You'll never believe what's just happened!" He was wrong there - they did believe it, all of them.

Jesus was kept busy into the night healing all kinds of illnesses and afflictions. More demons came roaring, and were sent away silenced and powerless. Tears of joy ran down every face, and voices were lifted in acclamation.

When at least Peter and the family fell into bed, no doubt they slept deeply and late. Jesus, though, was up early - out o the house and away to a secluded place before anyone could rustle up any more sick people for him to attend to.

When at last the excited townsfolk tracked him down, he told them he was moving on. He'd changed his plans. Every town and village was going to have a chance to hear him now - not Capernaum every week.

Word was spreading. Galilee would never be the same again.

Monday 25 January 2016

Luke 4:31-37: Opposition comes along, and Jesus blats it!

Thrown out of Nazareth, Jesus returned to his adopted home at Capernaum. He hung out at the synagogue, and ended up preaching the sermon every week. He seemed to be going down well.

There was something different about the way he spoke. Rabbis at the time were very cautious - they didn't want to go out on a limb and say "This is how it is." So usually they would say "On the one hand this, on the other hand that," or "Rabbi so and so says this, but Rabbi such and such says that."

Yes, but what do you say? What do you say to me, rabbi? I've come to listen, what are you going to tell me to do?

Jesus seemed free of the usual hang ups, because Luke tells us that he taught with authority. People were amazed. They found it exciting, stimulating, mind-expanding.

And then one day, there was trouble. Spiritual opposition of an unruly kind. Some sort of demon or evil spirit had seized control of a man's mouth, and began shouting at Jesus.

Things like this happen rarely these days, but they do happen. I remember once a troubled teenager wove his way to the front of my church, seized the chalice full of communion wine and hurled it against the wall. He then fell asleep. Afterwards, he claimed he remembered nothing about it.

When it happened to Jesus, he cut the man short. "Be quiet! Come out of the man." The demon obeyed the instruction forthwith, and the man was unharmed. The level of amazement in the room promptly increased exponentially. This Jesus didn't just teach with authority, creatures in the spiritual realm obeyed his authority as well!

It wasn't the preaching, it as this miracle that made news about Jesus go viral. Perhaps Jesus was exasperated about that as I would have been. All those weeks of careful teaching, all those important lessons he was building up in people's minds - forgotten in a flash because something startling had happened.

People were watching him now. But not perhaps for the reasons he intended.

Friday 22 January 2016

Luke 4:22-30: Turning sour already?

Yesterday there was a great fanfare. The trumpets were blowing, Jesus was proclaiming his manifesto and it all seemed to be going down very well. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. Whispering to each other they asked "Isn't this young Jesus, Joseph the carpenter's son? Where did he learn to speak like this?"

They thought they knew him. They thought they had got the measure of him. He was a tradesman, someone you'd call on if you needed a door fixed, or a new table and chairs. They weren't expecting political reform, health care and prisoner release schemes.

So they were sceptical, and Jesus could sense it.

Who does he think he is? Telling us what to do? He's a carpenter. We pay him to fix wood, not repair souls.

They'd heard he'd started doing miracles up in Capernaum, where he'd set up home. Thinks he's too good for us, does he? Well he's not doing any miracles round here!

So Jesus reminds them of two uncomfortable stories from their past. God sent a prophet, not to a good Jewish family for shelter, but to a despised Gentile widow in Zarephath. He did miracles for her, while people in Israel starved. Then there was another story about a foreign general, who was cured of leprosy while good Jewish boys stayed ill.

I'm afraid this went down about as well as a speech advocating immigration at a UKIP conference. Worse in fact. I can't imagine the good folk of UKIP decided that a lynching was in order. But Jesus was hustled out of the synagogue and they made for a cliff, intending to push him over.

What happened next sounds like a miracle. Sounds like something a Jedi might do. There they were, angry crowd, shouting and jostling, storming their way to the cliff's edge. But Jesus calmly passes through the mob, and walks away, leaving them wondering where he had disappeared to.

Jesus goes where he wills. He can't be forced any more. Only followed.


Thursday 21 January 2016

Luke 4:14-21: Manifesto

Now, finally, it is time to begin.

This is the moment when the Prologue ends, and the main Act begins. Now, at last, Jesus is ready to embark on his public ministry. Home he comes from his ordeal in the desert, and next weekend, he trots along to synagogue, just as he always used to.

In my church we have a rota that decides who is going to read from the scriptures each week. Maybe they did in Jesus' synagogue, and maybe it was his turn. Or maybe the rabbi saw Joseph's Son back from his journeys, and thought that folks would like to hear his voice again. However it happened, Jesus got the opportunity to read the Scriptures and to speak.

They didn't give you the whole Bible, just one scroll. So Jesus just had Isaiah's writings to choose from. When I've finished reading Luke, I'm going to read Isaiah, a little section every day. I wonder which passage I might have chosen, if I'd been Jesus on this occasion?

The part that Jesus chose sounds autobiographical. Often the prophets talk about what God is doing to them, how his Spirit is giving them words to say, or deeds to do. Here and now, Jesus takes this words on his lips, and they sound like they were written for him. He has come, so he tells the neighbours he grew up with, with good news for poor people, freedom for oppressed people, healing for sick people.

Today, says Jesus, these words are coming true in your hearing.

To his spellbound audience, Jesus announces that he has come to show that God has a smiling face.

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Luke 4:1-13 The sound of silence

The first thing you notice when you're in the Israeli desert is how quiet it is.

There are virtually no plants, therefore no animals eating them, and making scurrying noises, no birds overhead trying to eat the animals. It's uncannily silent.

The day I went there (which was almost exactly 19 years ago) there was hardly even a breeze, and the still sky was virtually cloudless and looked like translucent blue glass.

By contrast, the pale sand looks almost grey, and the landscape looks as though you're viewing it in black and white. Sitting there in silence for a while, your mind begins to listen to the sounds of your own body, your breathing and heartbeat, the rushing of your blood through your head. Being a modern westerner used to background noise, I soon become restive.

I wonder how Jesus coped. Nothing to do all day. Nothing to see. Not even mealtimes to break the monotony.

After the triumphant scenes of his baptism, he was led out by the Holy Spirit to this empty, empty place and dumped there, with nothing to do but think.

No wonder his ancient enemy took the opportunity to mess with his mind. Three temptations were hurled at him. Hungry? Then turn a stone into bread. Go on - you can do it.

"No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.'"

Thirsty for power then? I can solve that for you. I can put everything under your feet. A simple price: just worship me.

“The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

Are you sure you're safe? Why don't you put it to the test? Jump! See if God catches you!

"You must not test the Lord your God."

Jesus stood firm. He didn't abuse his power for his own ends, he didn't use it to force people to obey him, he didn't try to force God to show he loved him.

All power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Unless you're Jesus, that is.

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Luke 3:21-38: Who do you think you are?

Other gospel writers make much of Jesus' baptism. Luke slides it in as an afterthought. Having already told us that John had been arrested, he backtracks, mentioning in passing that Jesus had turned up one day and got himself baptised by the hairy shirted shouter, and then hurries on to Jesus' family tree.

God has just spoken, saying "You are my dearly loved son, and you bring me great joy."



That's Jesus' heavenly ancestry, but Luke also wants to show us his earthly forbears. This takes the long way round, but ends up in the same place "...the son of God."

Adam was the son of God, Jesus is the Son of God.

Humanity 2.0. That's pretty clear, isn't it? After a long and largely unsuccessful experiment, God has brought out a better model. But unlike the business way of doing things, where customers of the old version have to gnash their teeth, splash out on a new model and throw the old one into a drawer, God's plans for the Mark One version of the human race include a full upgrade.

John the Baptist made it clear: the original version of humanity is grubby and flawed. He urged people to accept a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins. But the new improved Jesus version will bring along a baptism of fire with the Holy Spirit. Sounds as though he envisaged the new operating system having a deal of pain, along with the gain.

We'll need to watch Jesus carefully, and see how straightforward the upgrade path is going to be.

Monday 18 January 2016

10 Commandments: Do not lie

Yesterday was the second in our series on the 10 Commandments, as we looked together at No. 9: Do not Lie. Based on J.John's book, Just 10, this series is designed to help us with our daily lives, the times spent on our frontline.
 I said less this week, and instead we spent time in small groups, discussing the issues raised by this ancient but bang up to date commandment.


Introduction 

As we go out onto our frontlines, we want to go out in God's name, representing Jesus in all that we do and say. And the point of this series on the 10 commandments is to help us to be distinctive, to be a breath of fresh air to those around us.

Do not lie 

We live in a society of truth decay. And it's rotting not just our mouths, but our personal lives and relationships.

Why do we tell lies? 

One of the reasons we tell lies is that we don't want to take responsibility for the things we do. The disease of BSE is widespread – Blame Someone Else. It really shows the state of our hearts.
James 3:7-12
When we think about the way that politicians, newspapers and advertisers tell us things that aren't true, but are what they think we need to hear, the way God conducts himself is in stark contrast.
God is the one who is always true. He never lies. He is never unfaithful. God never acts out of character. He not only speaks truth, he is truth. So consider Jesus. A man who practised what he preached, who lived truthfully and spoke of a faithful, trustworthy God who proved himself to be true in his own life by raising him from the dead.
Not only is God invariably true, everything that we do or say, think or hear happens before him. Nothing is hidden from his sight.
On the cross, Jesus paid the price for our lies and untruth. He took responsibility for the sins we tried to dodge owning up to. And because of his death, resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can be offered a new start: forgiveness, transformation and the power to live a different life.
In this new life things have got to be different.
Ephesians 4:29,31
Colossians 3:8-9
We are called to be truthful in our speech, to be aware of just how powerful our words are, and to try and tame the tongue. So I've got a few tips to help us.

Avoid lies 

We need to be on our guard all the time to resist that very human tendency to cover up and not take responsibility. Adam and Eve knew they were naked. That's a metaphor for the shame we all feel – we all want to cover up aspects of ourselves, we all want to present the best possible face to the world. But not by lying.

Avoid gossip 

Part of bearing false witness is gossiping. The book of Proverbs talks about gossip being like delicious food, like choice morsels. Tempting, appetising though it is, we have to be different. The truthful people of God should never take pleasure in someone else's misfortune, nor spread rumour behind someone's back. If we are tempted to pass on gossip, we need to ask, “Am I prepared to put my name to this?” If we are concerned about something we hear, we need to go straight to the person concerned. Muck spreaders belong on farms, not in churches.

Be encouragers 

There's a modern day proverb which puts it nicely: “Lord, may my words be sweet and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them.”

Be true to your word 

Jesus encourages us to let our yes be yesm ,and our no, no. We should say what we mean and mean what we say, and be careful before making promises and commitments we might struggle to keep. Whatever else people may say about us, at least let them not be able to say we are hypocrites.

Be a listener 

One of the best ways of avoiding lies is not to say anything. Practise listening instead, be someone who can be trusted with important truth.

Be accountable 

We must have relationships where we have a commitment to openness and honesty. We need to find people who we can share weaknesses with and who will ask us the difficult questions and to whom we have promised to tell the truth.

 Before God let us pledge ourselves to faithfulness in all the different ways we speak.

Then we split into groups to discuss the following three questions:


  1. In what ways does our society encourage us to lie? 
  2. How can we resist the temptation to lie, especially on our frontline? 
  3. What can we do as a body, to help us individually to keep this commandment?


Afterwards, we collected feedback from the groups which Judith turned into this wonderful mindmap.

Luke 3:7-20: The Baptist's Cry

What was John the Baptist actually like?

What would you think if you met him?

He must have had some charisma or magnetism, because his words are grating and off-putting. He insults those who have bothered to come and listen to him, calling them a viper's brood, mocking them for running away from trouble, undercutting their confidence in God's promises to them (And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.)

Bewildered and afraid, the crowd ask for guidance, and suddenly John changes tack. He gives them simple practical advice. Stuff they can do.

Clever tactics. Scare people to death, then reassure them. Soon he had them eating out of his hand. So much so, that inevitably they started wondering if he was the Messiah.

But John acts quickly to squash that rumour. You think I'm special? You ain't seen nothing yet.

His fearless speech causes trouble with Herod the Great's lesser son, Herod Antipas. He was a playboy prince, with power, too much time on his hands, and too little sense of a goal worth achieving. But he wasn't going to be insulted by anybody. So he locked John away.

The voice crying in the wilderness was censored.

Friday 15 January 2016

Luke 3:1-6: Zap! Suddenly John's grown up.

Time has moved on. At the end of chapter 2, Jesus was 12, but it is "now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius." After this and a careful list of dating evidence (careful, see?) Luke tells us that "A message from God came to John son of Zechariah." That's how my preferred translation, the New Living Translation, puts it. Others say "The word of God came to John." Those are the words that we find so often in the Old Testament prophets: "The word of the Lord came to Isaiah, to Jeremiah, to Ezekiel etc"

Back then it seemed a pretty common place occurrence, but after Malachi, the last of the prophets, it stopped happening. All that happened from 400 BC until now happened without God's word coming clearly and specifically to one individual. 400 years of silence.

But now, prophets are back.

John sets to work, tramping the countryside up and down the course of the river Jordan, and calling people to undergo a baptism - to come and be immersed in the river as a sign they want to change their ways and receive forgiveness for their wrongdoings.

This is new. No one has told Jews to do this before, not quite like this. Some religious groups practised ritual washing, like the Essenes from Qumran (who wrote the Dead sea Scrolls). At other times a stylised bath was used to mark a transition to becoming a God-follower (a Gentile who wanted to followed Jewish observances). But ordinary Jews had never been told to do this. They were circumcised, they were sons of Abraham. That was enough.

Why?

Luke answers in terms used by Isaiah - this is a getting ready. This is building the runway - creating a level road amidst the lumps and bumps of a desert land. And on this runway, dressed in his high-vis jacket (made of camel hair) John the Baptist stands, holding those strange, reflective table tennis bats that guide a plane in to land. Because a plane is coming - a massive jumbo jet of God's salvation, and we need to get ready for it, and be prepared to jump on board.

Thursday 14 January 2016

Luke 2:41-52: Jesus gets into trouble

How did Luke find out all the stuff that he recorded? Obviously he heard the teachings of Jesus, which were passed on by all the disciples and the later Christians, but how did he learn all this intimate stuff about Jesus' birth and early years?

We don't know for certain, but experts strongly suspect that he interviewed Mary. Today we hear something that sounds just like something your mother may have said to you "Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere."

Of course these days, children have much less chance to wander off by themselves and get lost. We are all far too aware of the dangers for that. Jesus would have enjoyed more freedom. On a rare trip to Jerusalem, he would have spent days with his extended family and friends, perhaps only seeing his parents in the evening when they broke their journey at some overnight resting place.

Galilean Jews made the long trip to Jerusalem only occasionally. At Passover certainly, once a year, but perhaps no more often than that. So Jesus would have regarded this as a holiday. So would the rest of his family. Their guard would be down, fun would be had, celebrations enjoyed. Perhaps this was Jesus' Bar Mitzvah year - even more special.

Whatever the reason, when they started for home, Jesus stayed behind in the Temple. It wasn't until the evening halt that Mary and Joseph missed him. After an anxious night they turned round and headed back to Jerusalem. Arriving late, they couldn't find him before having to spend another, even more anxious night without him. Every parent's nightmare.

I can remember one holiday on the beach, losing sight of my son. I found him after 5 minutes - hardly a disaster - but the memory stays with me. Imagine 48 hours having gone by, and still no sign of him.

Exhausted, desperate, sick with worry, Jesus' parents stumbled into the Temple. Had they finally decided to pray for help? Or maybe they hoped that someone there would have seen him, or be willing to put up a "Lost Boy" poster.

It took a while to find someone important. Apparently they were all in a meeting and not to be disturbed. Joseph would have waited, but Mary, driven by her mother's imperative, walked straight in.

And there he was.

He was the reason for the meeting. A great theology debate was in session, and a 12 year old boy was calling the shots. Mary scolded the boy, apologised to the elders, and hustled him out. And Jesus gave the original wide-eyed innocent stare: "But why did you need to search? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?"

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Luke 2:21-40: Er... careful, that's my baby!

At a christening, everybody wants to hold the baby. At Jesus' circumcision, which was a lot more painful for him than a good old C of E christening, the same was true. Mary and Joseph had no sooner walked into the Temple with their little bundle of joy, than he was being fawned over by two elderly and saintly individuals.

Simeon and Anna gladden my heart. Two faithful people, who never gave up on God's promises, though they both had to wait very nearly a lifetime, were there to see the beginning of the fulfilment of God's word.

God had whispered in Simeon's ear that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah, and God whispered to him again on that fateful day.

Mary and Joseph knew what they had to do - every firstborn child, if it was a boy, belonged to God. It's alright - you were allowed to keep him, but you had to "buy him back" first. Every Jewish mother would have thought back to the story of Hannah (1 Samuel 1) and hoped that their son would be as famous as Samuel. All except Mary, that is, who already knew that hers would be famouser still. She and Joseph turned up with the poor people's payment - two birds - to watch their son circumcised and dedicated to the Lord.

But first, God's whispers brought Simeon hurrying up. He reached a hand to delay Mary as the young couple moved through the crowd to find a priest, and with their permission took Jesus into his arms.

I guess tears were in his eyes. How lucky he was to have been given this moment. But as he handed the baby back, the tears started for a different reason. He saw a glimpse of the pain that Mary would have to bear, and warned her that being Messiah's mother would hurt.

Before Mary could do more of her careful pondering, Anna bustled over to excitedly tell anyone who would listen how special this baby was.

How nice it must have been for Mary and Joseph to have been made welcome by two old, wise faces. Going into the huge Temple would have been an intimidating experience, but these two new friends must have put them at their ease.

I love watching elderly people in my church doing the exact same thing when a couple nervously bring their child for baptism. I'm so glad I don't need to remind them to do this important job, and I'm so glad they make the effort. Who knows what each baby will become? How precious each one is to the Lord!
How important it is that we make them all feel at home.

Tuesday 12 January 2016

10 Commandments: Do no Covet

This week we started a new series on the 10 commandments. What follows is more or less what I said as I preached the first sermon, preceded by an introduction that attempts to explain why we are studying the 10 Commandments at this time.
We're basing the series on J. John's book, Just 10

Why study the 10 Commandments?

In the Great Commission, Jesus told his disciples to: “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
That's our task.
How are we going to do it?
We sit here in the church, and usually we think about our immediate neighbourhood, our parish, and wish that more of the people who lived in these houses round about would join us here in church. And we try to invite them to things. Sometimes they come, like to the Carol Service, or Searching for Faith. But not many of them keep coming, and we might feel frustrated, or dispirited.
Occasionally we think about people further away – in the wider world, and we do some things, we give some money, we pray for people working overseas, or for the Street Pastors or Future Hope in Hertford, who reach out further than our immediate circle.

But if that's all we ever think of, it's very hard for us to actually ever do much. Because some of us don't even live in this neighbourhood, and some of us who do, don't spend much time here – most of our waking hours we're out at work. And what's the point is saying to a work colleague, “would you like to come to my church?” They might come as a one off, but there's no way they could ever belong to this church, is there? So we're beginning to think differently. You'll have heard me talk this last year or so about our frontline. Because there is somewhere that is neither the parish nor the wider world, where we have our greatest impact on pother people – and that's our frontline. And what we're trying to do is to think how we can be as effective as possible for God on our frontline.
Last August, we had a discussion service in which we thought about all this, and now we're acting on something that came out of that service. One little group said, “What about the 10 commandments?” 

And I'm very glad they did, because I firmly believe that we have our greatest influence with people, not just by what we say, but by who we are, and the way we do things. If we're people who live life God's way, we're going to be a little bit different, a little bit special. Perhaps we'll be a friend in need, or a listening ear, or someone who can be trusted to do the right thing by our colleagues, or friends, our acquaintances. So as we look through the 10 commandments, we will notice how they are not the world's way of doing things. And we'll notice as well, that although they may be hard, they are worth it, because they add up to a better way of living.

We're going to study them in reverse order, so today it's Commandment number 10:

Do not Covet

The National Lottery prize this week reached a new record: £60 million. The website tells me that if you had won, you would be able to say 'Hello' to a fortune to better Adele, who is worth £50M. You would also be able to ace Andy Murray who is worth £48M and drive much further than Rory McIlroy who is worth £38M.


And yet, 90% of those who win a jackpot keep playing. That's the power of covetousness.
According to Oxfam, the richest 1% of the world's population now own as much as the other 99%.
And they keep on getting richer. Very very few ever seem to say, “I think I'm rich enough.”

What's wrong with coveting?

Essentially, we are letting things, not God be the centre of our hearts and our minds and our wills.
When we become Christians we admit that God is our heavenly Father and that he knows what is best for us. By making him our Lord we accept that he is the wisest judge of what is good for us. But coveting takes our lives away from his rule, saying not “He knows best,” but “I know best.”

Coveting leads to other sins.

If we start thinking that we would like things we haven't got, it won't be long before we are tempted to lie or to steal or to be unfaithful in order to get what we want.

Coveting also prevents us being generous. It stops us from loving our neighbour because it makes us put self first. Jesus saidIt is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Better to be outward-looking than inward-looking.
Better to be generous than to be selfish.
It's hard to imagine how you can have a sharing and caring community of people where coveting is the rule of life. It will corrode a church.

Finally, coveting cheats us of contentment.
Let's not forget that the 10 commandments aren't hoops that God sadistically expects us to jump through – they are actually for our own good.
If we give in to coveting, we will never be satisfied. It's like trying to walk to the horizon, or looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It can never be reached.
Jesus said, “Don't store up treasure on earth, store it in heaven – it'll never get moth-eaten, or go rusty, or be stolen by thieves. And where your treasure is, there will your heart be.”

How do we change? 

The trouble with coveting is that it's everywhere. It's thoroughly approved by society and it's easy to do.
No one can tell when you covet – it's the invisible sin.
You can even do it in church while pretending to listen to a sermon(!)
We need to realise that while there are good desires, there are also bad ones. We need also to realise that the society that we live in shapes our desires and wants to encourage us to covet.
But the source of the problem is not advertising, or the media; it is our own hearts. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.
Perhaps I can suggest that during the next week we evaluate ourselves and try to answer the following questions.
  1. What are my main desires?
  2. Are they good or bad?
  3. To what extent do they control how I live, how I relate to others and how I spend my money?
  4. Do I really believe that having these desires granted would give me contentment?
  5. What are my priorities?
  6. What should they be?
It's a new year. It's a good time to take a look at yourself, and see if God suggests that something needs to change.

We must realign our desires

When a plane drifts off course the pilot will carefully change direction to get the aircraft back on its true course.
We need to do something similar with our lives.
Let’s practice reminding ourselves again and again that our true purpose is to know God through Christ and our only lasting joy is to be found there.
Whenever the temptation to desire something that is not ours to have comes upon us, we need to remind ourselves that Jesus alone gives a real peace of mind.
To those who come to him Jesus makes a wonderful promise. 'So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well'
If you serve Jesus you can have your cake and eat it.
If you don't serve Jesus you will find that you neither have the cake nor get to eat it.

We must keep our hearts in shape 

But it is not enough to do this only once.
You do not stay fit by running one race; you need to keep your fitness by exercise.
This is true here.


Let me give you some tips.

First, acquire an attitude of gratitude

Learn to thank God for what he has given you. The Apostle Paul said, 'I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstances'
He was in prison when he said this, but he was able to rejoice in his difficult circumstances.
It is sometimes trite and simplistic to say 'count your blessings'. Nevertheless the idea of listing the ways we have been blessed is one that is very valuable.
Now doing this may be an act of the will; it may be something that we have to force ourselves to do. But as we do it is very likely that our hearts will follow.
We need to practice being grateful.

Second, be a wise steward

It is often a temptation to look out for more when we are unable to look after what we have already.
Linked with this should come the healthy realisation that the more we have we been given the greater that we are responsible for.

Third, focus on relationships, not things

'Better to be poor and reverence the Lord than to be rich and in trouble.’ ‘Better to eat vegetables with people you love than to eat the finest meat where there is hate' (Two Proverbs from the Bible).
Relationships have a lasting value.
God desires for us to have good relationship not only with him but also with each other.
The call is to love people and use things; so often we do it the other way about: love things and use people.
If someone looked at your lifestyle, at your time, at your bank statement, what would they show about the value you put on relationships?

Finally, be a giver

The best antidote to coveting is a brutal one: it is to be freely generous with what we have already. The best remedy for covetousness is to be someone who gives away generously, whether money or possessions.
Jesus talked a great deal about giving.
The weed of covetousness finds it hard to become rooted in the soil of a generous heart.


We all have a choice.
We can covet - and we will find we have cheated ourselves.
Or, we can let Christ live in us and clean us - and we can be contented; both in this life and in the life to come.

Luke 2:8-20: The Messiah is in our midst

Yesterday, the man who fell to earth died. Today, there's a fanfare to welcome someone who came for very different reasons - not to save his homeworld, but to save his adopted home. David Bowie's character, Thomas Jerome Newton, was told, "you're only welcome if it's beneficial to us." What sort of welcome will the Son of God receive?

It looks like sudden change of strategy. Beginning in obscurity: a baby born far from home, squashed into a corner of a strange house. Now, the heavenly spotlights are turned on, and amazed and frightened shepherds were the first to know about this momentous occurrence.

Shepherds weren't usually the brightest bulbs in the packet. If you were an oldest son, you would inherit the farm. if you were the second, or the third, you might become a shepherd - maybe looking after your older brother's livestock, or earning a pittance looking after somebody else's.

There were certain times of year when shepherding was a 24 hour occupation - lambing time, for instance. In this country, shepherds used to kip down in little huts on wheels, which could be towed to the field where the sheep were. That would have been luxury, probably, for the shepherds in today's story. But while they took it in turns to sleep. and helped out the ewes who had trouble giving birth, and wondered what to do with the weak younger twin lamb that had been rejected by her mother, something happened.

It had never happened before, and has never happened since.

No wise and earnest prophet of old ever had a vision like this. Even Ezekiel, who specialised in the most psychedelic of visions, would have been jealous. The heavenly PA is switched on, angelic music blares out, and an unmistakeable message booms across the lonely fields.

"Today, the Saviour has been born. Yes, the Messiah himself! In David's town, David's greater son is now among us. Go and see for yourselves, he's sleeping in a feeding trough!"

The shepherds run to see, and to tell. Mary sits quietly, reflecting carefully on all that the shepherd's story contained. For me, there is an echo of that word again - carefully. Luke is writing carefully, the magi were told to go and search carefully, Mary thinks carefully. No, the word isn't in the original text, but it has sprung so clearly to mind.

Take care. The Messiah is in our midst.

Monday 11 January 2016

Luke 2:1-7: The second miracle baby

Luke has begun his story with two miraculous pregnancies, and the second has been flagged as more important than the first. The parent(s) were more enthusiastic, it is more miraculous (no father!) and while one is going to be a prophet when he grows up the other is, well, destined for greater things. What was it that Gabriel said?

"He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"

Oh yes, that. Just imagine being the mother of that. It's bad enough these days, knowing whether you're going to have a boy or a girl. Imagine if ultrascans could be that sophisticated?
"This one's going to be an engineer."
"Mrs Smith, I'm sorry to have to tell you but your daughter is going to be an alcoholic."

I'm not sure I'd want that pressure before the birth. It's bad enough worrying about the futures after they've been born!

And of course, to add to the pressure,  there's the political turbulence. What sort of world are these boys going to grow up in? One where the Empire can demand you leave home for weeks just because the Emperor wants to count you all.

And for Mary, there would have been another dimension. She was now "obviously pregnant." Why's that a problem? Well, she and Joseph have just got married, and it's perfectly clear to anyone who can do the maths, that the baby was conceived out of wedlock. These days, teenage pregnancy raises frowns and tuts - back then, women could be stoned as adulterers. Maybe that's why Joseph decided to take Mary with him. Apparently only Joseph had to travel to his home town, no stricture was put on Mary, but he felt it was better to take her away from the disapproving gaze of the neighbours. Better for her own safety.

Things aren't going so smoothly for this second miracle baby. And it gets worse when Mary goes into labour. No proper place to stay. Why? We can only guess, and it probably wasn't as bad as having to give birth in a stable. That's a layer of legend that we've added to the Christmas story. Joseph would have sought out family members to stay with, and normally every house would have a guest room, but for some reason that wasn't available for them. Maybe other visitors had got there first. So Mary, Joseph and the baby were bedded down in the main family room, which would have had animals at one end, people at the other. Hence the manger.

Back to the words of Gabriel. Read them again. "very great...David's throne...everlasting kingdom..." And swing the camera lens back to the small, two roomed house, already accommodating an extra family in the guest room, and the extra lodgers having to make use of the animals' space to make their baby comfortable.

What is God playing at?

Friday 8 January 2016

Luke 1:67-80: Sing, Zechariah, sing!

I love Zecariah's song. His enforced nine months of silence is broken with a beautiful outpouring. I only wish we knew the tune, then I'd be humming it all day.

His song has three verses. In the first verse, he simply bursts forth with praises and delight - thank you God - you are saving us!
In the second, he looks back over all that God has done in Israel's past, and praises him for it, for the sacred covenant that means that little Israel will survive the worst her enemies can throw at her, and remain free to serve God without fear.
Then in the third verse he gets personal, and with a swelling fatherly pride looks down at his son and sees someone who will tell his people how to find this long awaited salvation, someone who will watch the sky and raise a shout: "Look the dawn is coming! The night is over!" Darkness is about to be defeated, and John will lift his voice and call people to stand and face the marvellous light.

Thursday 7 January 2016

Luke 1:57-66 - The first miracle baby is born

I can still remember the fuss there was in the news when the first "test tube baby" was born in this country. I remember her name was Louise Brown, and she is now a wife and mother herself.

It seemed like a miracle - how excited the media were, at this new triumph for science. Dr Robert Edwards, who pioneered the IVF treatment with his colleague Patrick Steptoe, was awarded a Nobel Prize. (Steptoe missed out, having died before the prize was awarded).

So I imagine there was similar excitement at the birth of little John. His first big public moment was his circumcision ceremony, which took place when he was 8 days old, and no doubt the whole community turned out to witness it.

This was the day that baby boys received their name, and everyone would have been expecting him to be called Zechariah, after his father. But Elizabeth said "No, we're calling him John."

John?? That's not a family name! Why John?
Hmm... better check with the Dad - oh wait a minute, he can't speak.

They start trying to do sign language with him (I don't know why - there was nothing wrong with his ears!) and eventually he gets them to give him a tablet to write on.

And finally, as Zechariah demonstrated his belated obedience to the word of God given him by the angel, his speech impediment is removed, and he begins to use his new found speech in praise of God.

And of course, everyone began talking about it - what an auspicious sign! Who do you think this baby is going to turn out to be?

Tune in tomorrow, when Zechariah at last gets to tell his story.

Wednesday 6 January 2016

1:39-46: Mary visits Elizabeth

Have you ever wondered what Mary's parents thought about her pregnancy? Unless they believed her protestations (which Joseph didn't) they would be assuming that she had misbehaved. Even if they believed her, their neighbours wouldn't. Pre-marital sex was more than frowned on - it was a major sin. Adulterers were stoned, and although technically Mary was not an adulterer (since she wasn't yet married to Joseph, only betrothed) if Joseph denied the child was his then everyone would assume Mary had broken the social norms. She would probably have been shunned, and there would have been calls for her to be punished.

So she takes the hint that Gabriel gave her, and goes to check on her cousin Elizabeth. The two women have a joyful meeting. At last Mary is with someone she can trust, someone who will understand her situation. Well done, Gabriel - you may not have handled Zechariah well, but you got it spot on with these two.

Luke now quotes a song, and puts it into Mary's mouth. I like to think of this as the fruit of all the long conversations these two women had, so it is as much Elizabeth's song as it is Mary's. Together they worked out what they thought their miracle babies meant for Israel and for the world.

God is doing something new, and he is breaking apart the established order of things. He isn't using the rich and powerful to get things done, instead he's chosen the humble and meek. Without this, Mary would have lived her life in complete obscurity, but now every generation will called her blessed.

The two sent their minds back over the long list of promises that God had made to his people, and in the events they had witnessed, and the children they were carrying, they saw those promises being fulfilled. And it's lovely that they do it in song - so much more memorable and more emotionally charged than plain words.

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Luke 1:26-38: Mary says yes

And so to Nazareth. A bit of a dump. long way from Jerusalem, up in the northern enclave of Galilee. The Jews up there were rural, a bit backward, but faithful and orthodox, unlike the half-blood Samaritans between them and Jerusalem down south. Galilee had some important towns - the Romans were building a big new shiny port at Sepphoris for instance - but Nazareth was poor. So poor in fact, that many people lived in caves, not even building houses for themselves. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

But there was a teenage girl there with a pure heart. Gabriel found her, and told her that she had found the Lord's favour. Then he dropped a many-layered bombshell:
1. You're going to have a baby
2. He's going to be famous
3. He's actually going to take David's throne (ie. be the Messiah)
4. He's going to reign for all time.

Gabriel could have done with some lessons in diplomacy. At least he could have waited for Mary to assimilate the first shock, before hitting her with the rest. It's been 400 years since Malachi the prophet, the last time Israel heard the authentic voice of God. And now up pops an angel, telling Mary that every longing of Israel is going to be fulfilled in one little package, to be delivered in 9 months' time.

Mary asks a practical question, and Gabriel responds with news of another miracle - old Elizabeth is pregnant too! And he underlines how holy Mary's baby will be.

Are you ready to be overshadowed by the power of the Most High, Mary? I'll need to hurry you - can I have your answer?

Old Zechariah couldn't move fast enough. He couldn't switch his mind from despair to hope straight away, and Gabriel got impatient with him. Mary's young brain is more agile. Yes, she says. If the Lord has said it, bring it on.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Or in this case, be pregnant with him.

Monday 4 January 2016

Luke 1:5-25: A priest, a messenger, and big, big trouble

Here's a story that's familiar. An old man who yearns for a son, but is childless. A godly man. A man whose prayers are about to be answered.

What's his name? Abraham? No, we've had him before. This time it's Zechariah, who, like me, is a priest. Unlike me, he only had to do his priestly duties once in a while, when his name came up on the rota. But today, he'll be wishing he'd done a swap with a colleague.

Why? Because 9 times out of 10, 999 out of a 1000, when you lead worship of God, nothing happens. Well, nothing extraordinary.

But not today.

Today, there was a great crowd standing outside praying, and Zechariah enters the sanctuary to burn incense to the Lord. The great crowd were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for him to reappear, and when he did, he could no longer speak. Frantically gesticulating, he managed to make them understand that he'd had some kind of vision while he was in there. (Pretty impressive impromptu sign language!)

But more than that, he couldn't convey. So he went home, to make his wife pregnant. (Was that anything to do with the act that he'd stopped talking?)

Now to study the bit I've missed out. The secret bit. The bit that only Zechariah and Gabriel witnessed. What struck me as I read it?

Only this. What sort of priest is it, that gets a message of great joy, and tremendous good news, and reacts with disbelief?

An old one. A tired one, who's fed up of waiting, and hoping, and believing that a better day will come. It hasn't come for him and his wife, it hasn't come for the people of Israel. What is the point of praying any longer?

But today is a good day for Zechariah, for Israel, and for the world. He may have lost faith, but God hasn't. He's preparing the way, he's opening the door for a baby to be born who will give Zechariah back his mojo, give Israel a new prophet, and give the world someone who will prepare the way for its saviour.

Today is a good day. Make no mistake. It will take Zechariah some time to realise it, but in the end he will. And for us, we meet the first of many who will sing God's praises as his new dawn breaks on the world.

Friday 1 January 2016

Luke 1:1-4. Hey, Theophilus

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm starting a daily journey through Luke's gospel, by reading the first 4 verses today. I remember somebody once comparing the gospel of Luke to one of those large coffee table books you get for Christmas. It looks great when you unwrap it, but it's too heavy to read in bed. Not a very flattering comparison, and I think Luke deserves much better, but it was the introduction that led to this idea.

Was the gospel written for a rich, Roman audience? People with time on their hands to sit and think about new ideas? And was Theophilus, this "God-lover", the sort of person who would appreciate a carefully researched biography on the latest person that the chattering classes would love to talk about? Was Luke aiming for the conspiracy theory market?

"The truth about Jesus of Nazareth. Did he really rise from the dead? We speak to the people who knew him best, and uncover the shocking story of the man behind the Messiah."

Ah well, if I ever want to give up the vicaring, maybe there's a job for me writing publisher's blurb.

So what do I think? Let me cut through the holiday mode waffle and let these words impact me.

Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honourable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

Two things strike me - first, this is written for someone outside the Jewish belief system. Luke adopts a journalistic, educated style that is different from Mark's instant reportage, or Matthew's lengthy list of fulfilled prophecies, or John's abstract philosophising. And second, the repeated word careful, or carefully. I need to bear that word in mind. Luke is writing with care. He cares about his subject, and he's taking care to be honest and accurate.

I'm not sure if that pun works in Greek - let me just go away and look it up. [Gets commentary from the shelf]

No it doesn't. It means, accurately, diligently. Not, with loving care. Never mind - it's till a helpful idea to me. Luke cares about what he's written, and he's written it with care.

Theophilus, my dear sir, you can trust me.


I'll be posting a new thought every weekday this year (more or less). This means that you've got three days to digest this first one, before we really get cracking!