Stop doubting and start believing. Stop fearing start sharing peace.

Stop doubting and start believing. Stop fearing start sharing peace.

The interaction between Jesus and Thomas is one of the most known stories of the New Testament Still today most people will use the phrase “doubting Thomas” to describe someone whether the are Christians or not.

Yet the story we heard today begins at a different point – the disciples locked in a room fearing. Fearing the Jews.

This morning I want us to reflect on both of these aspects of the story fearing and doubting.  Emotions and actions that are countered by Jesus’ presence in which sharing peace and witnessing in faith supplant the fearing and doubting and so become the appropriate response.

To begin with we will look through the window into the room where the disciples had locked themselves and think about the story as it was told by John.  We will then look into the window of our own lives at the fearing and doubting that continue to plague us in our faith.

As we engage this story we will also contemplate the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, the meaning of the peace he declares and the response peace sharing and witnessing in faith.

The community of Christians that John was writing his gospel for was very different from us.  It was around 60 years since the event of Jesus’ death and resurrection had occurred.  A few generations had passed and followers of Jesus had experienced a difficult time.

Right from the outset there was tension with the Temple authorities.  The first followers of Jesus as the Christ came from within Jewish community and it was only in the decades that followed that gentiles began to become followers of Christ as well.  This tension was continuing to be played out in John’s time as Christianity had been emerging from being a sect within Judaism to a religion in its own right.

Alongside, this in the mid-60s and then again in the late 80s and early 90s two Roman Emperor’s, Nero and then Domitian, specifically targeted the Christians.

The imagery of the disciples locked in the room for fear of the Jews is a story that would have had a great deal of meaning for the persecuted Christians in John’s community: fearing possibly the Jews and the Romans.  The disciples were in hiding and the community that John wrote for may have well felt a connection to the kind of fear the disciples felt.

Despite having heard the news of the resurrection the disciples continued to be afraid.  They may have thought that their lives, like Jesus’ life, was at risk.  The reality is their lives probably were at risk but Jesus’ resurrection was a sign that the worst that could be done could not hold God’s loves back.

And so it is that despite the fear and the locked doors Jesus comes and stands among his disciples and declares “Peace be with you” – “Shalom”. 2000 years on I think it is sometimes hard to capture the significance Jesus’ words carry.  As Jesus declares “Shalom” there are undertones of the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur and there overtones of the promised peace that God desires for all peoples.  Peace with God and peace with one another – stop fearing for here in Christ’s presence there is peace.

Fear can be a powerful motivating force for any of us.  Though we do not meet this day behind locked doors, we meet in a building set aside for Christian worship with the doors flung wide open in welcome we can and do lock the doors of our faith.  We can be fearful that beyond this building or even with one another sharing our faith might not be such a good thing.

Consider some of these fears we might have in being open about our faith.

We might fear ridicule and persecution due to our association with particular people who claim to be Christians, or because the history within our church, or simply because there are those out there who want to undermine us.

I have to admit when I hear that Donald Trump is being supported by American Evangelicals I fear for the Church and am reticent to own my faith.  Trump’s politics is built on fear and hate and violence none of which reflects the Christ that I have come to know in the gospels. 

I know that within the church, not just the Catholic Church, there has been an abominable history of child abuse.  It is part of every denomination and I have been personally attacked for continuing to be a Christian because of the atrocities committed by those who follow Christ.

In many Christian circles the rejection of scientific understandings and research is simply embarrassing and peddling ignorance simply feeds the militant atheists who attack the church.

The news cycle feeds us with continued information about terrorists who attack Christians and so we might also feel a personal sense of fear around this issue as well.

Because of these issues, among others, we might fear being socially ostracised as followers of Jesus or fear our ability to defend or articulate or faith adequately in the face of an onslaught of questions.

It is easier for us to lock our faith inside than be open about it and declare and defend our faith when called upon to.  Yet, this decision can allow the ignorance and misinformation about Jesus and his followers to continue.

The resurrected Christ comes into our midst through the power of the Holy Spirit, just as he did so long ago, and speaks into our fearing and says to us Peace be with you, Shalom!  This is a word of hope and comfort and affirmation we need to hear as well.  We need to hear it as much as the first disciples needed to hear it, as much as John’s community, stop fearing – peace be with you.

Each week as a congregation we take the time to share the peace but I often wonder whether we are really able to convey the depth of the peace being offered by God and the peace each one of us needs.  Peace which quells our sense of guilt over things that gave gone awry in our lives; peace that stills our anxious hearts over the worries which beset us; peace that builds bridges between us when we find it difficult to get on with one another; peace that gives us hope beyond the suffering in this world; peace in a coming kingdom what we cannot see but only glimpse. Peace, shalom! Peace that comes down from heaven and helps us transcend our fears.

Stop fearing – know Christ’s peace. 

This brings me to the second movement in the story, it is that well know interaction with Thomas – stop doubting and start believing.  The end of John’s gospel is clear: John records his gospel that people might believe that Jesus is the son of God but in this moment Thomas simply did not believe that Jesus had risen from among the dead.  He did not believe the testimony of the other disciples.

His doubting came from the lack of personal experience and encounter. How often do any of us say something along these lines, “Unless I see it for myself I won’t believe it.”

Thomas’s doubting and ours springs from within us:

·         doubting because we have not seen

·         doubting because we were not there

·         doubting because we have no experience

·         doubting because we do not understand

I have often preaching that our doubting is a good thing because doubts can lead us to questions and lead us to grow in our faith and understanding.  This conviction remains true – doubting can lead us to grow but when we look at this passage the response to doubting is not knowing or understanding but believing.

We are not told whether Thomas actually touched Jesus and had such a tangible and earthy experience of Jesus’ but Thomas responds with a confession of faith.

“My Lord and my God.”

Thomas confessing of Jesus as Lord and God transcends the moment and in some way retains something of the mystery of believing.  Believing is not about knowing everything or being able to prove it. It is simply what it claims it is: ‘belief’ which is defined as “an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.”

Believing may involve placing our trust in something that is otherworldly, that is not provable, but it does not have to be completely blind or ignorant either.

The notion of believing can sit comfortably alongside the notion of continuing to grow and even doubt.  Rather in believing in Jesus our lives and our questions bceome shaped around the one in whom we believe.

To be a confessing people, to say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God”, is not to make some ambit claim at knowing everything but is to place our trust and focus in life in something beyond the parameters of our personal experiences.

We, like Thomas, may struggle with the lack of personal encounter, or understanding, or proof, yet the peace of God comes among us and we can move from doubting to believing.

Finally, after declaring the peace to the disciples Jesus breathes on them with the Holy Spirit and sends them into the world. 

This sending of the disciples is I believe about sending them to be bearers of the ‘shalom’ he has shared with them.  The disciples become apostles, sent into the world, to be about the business of peace sharing.

Sharing peace between peoples who find themselves estranged from God, estranged from community and estranged from each other.  To do so would mean transcending their fears and doubts and it means the same for us.

When we consider the world around us and the division and pain that continue to abide in the world the work of peace sharing is before us.  Peace sharing within the difficulties and brokenness of our own families.  Peace sharing between communities separated by race or religion.  Peace sharing between communities dominated by fear, doubt and hate. Peace sharing so that we might live as one humanity loving one another.

What dominates us? Fearing and doubting or God’s peace and our belief.

Having shared the peace here together, at the end of the service we will be sent out, to go about our daily lives sharing this peace of God with others.  May God give you strength to transcend the locked rooms of your fears and doubts and declare the ‘shalom’ of God through your words and actions. 

A Preference for Bunnies

The disciples arrived at the tomb and they saw and believed yet they still did not understand. They were puzzled to pieces.

On Easter Day it is very easy for us to race to celebrating the incomprehensible event of Jesus resurrection without pausing to reflect on just how perplexing the event is.

Maybe, this is a reflection of our culture which pursues happiness above all else.

Maybe, this is why I would say to you on this day that it would appear to me that Easter Bunnies and Chocolate goodies appear to have won.  we live in a culture that has a preference for bunnies.

We prefer the instant gratification of a chocolate hit over the confusion of an empty tomb.

Even in my short time in ministry, a mere 16 years, the ascendancy of the alternate story has infiltrated and saturated the Easter holiday.  This week as I asked people about the meaning of Easter the answer that came back was about chocolates, relaxation and family time.

To be blunt I do not think I can compete with this message ambiguous as it may be.

In Coles on Thursday every employee was wearing rabbit ears.  As two people dressed in bunny suits wandered past I asked the guy at the checkout whether he was enjoying his bunny ears and he said under his breath no.  Then quickly said I better say yes just in case my boss is listening.

When I shared what I did he told me he would be going to church on Good Friday – it was a family tradition.  They don’t go on Easter Sunday, just Friday, and he really couldn't make any sense out of why they went given they don’t go to church any other time.  He said it was bit like Christmas.  He was puzzled to pieces.  None of it really made sense.

It left me asking myself, ‘why do we bother coming here on Easter Day?’  Why aren't

we at home spending time with family or eating chocolate or more likely both?

You see we come and we stand before the empty tomb and I think for many of us we are as puzzled as the disciples: we are puzzled to pieces.

We come; I come, with all the pressing questions of life and its meaning.

Why am I here?

What is life all about?

Is there a purpose?

What happens when I die?

What happens when those I love die?

Is there a heaven?

Is there a hell?

Why is there is suffering in my life?

Why is there is suffering in the world?

Why do people hate?

Why do I hate?

Where is God in all of this?

Why is the tomb empty?

If Jesus is raised why don’t people believe it?

The questions seem unending and the search for answers takes us beyond simplicity.

The disciples believed but they did not understand.

Are we the same?

We believe but we do not understand!

And if we believe what do we believe.

The empty tomb, the church, the scriptures, faith are places of mystery as we encounter the divine.

As a theologian I explore these questions all the time. It is part of my role to seek out the questions and to see out the answers.

This morning I piled some of the books that I have read about this God and this good news we share, as you can see I too am in over my head!

I don’t have all the answers: I stand with Peter and Mary and the other disciple.  I stand with you who come with your questions and with hopes and with your faith and with your doubt.  I too am puzzled to pieces.

So what can I say on this day that for most people is about relaxation, family and chocolate – none of which I offer.

I asked my family what to say today and I want thank Lucy who suggested I talk about the shape of the tomb.  It is from that yawning opening that we experience the fullness of mystery and grace as we bring all of our questions.

Lucy suggested a talk about one issue, but after some consideration I have three points to make.

The first which Lucy reminded me of is that the shape of the opening, from whence the stone was rolled, is a circle.  She reminded that a few weeks ago that I pointed out the circle, which is on this Celtic cross that I wear, is a reminder of eternal love.

The opening of the tomb she said is a reminder of God’s unending love.  It is as simple and as complex as that.  With all of our belief and not understanding, with all our questions and puzzlement, God loves us steadfastly and forevermore.

Secondly, the tomb is a hollow space it is empty but once it did contain something.  A few weeks ago I watched an episode of Shaun Micallef’s show Stairway to Heaven.  He was sitting in a cave with a Hindu holy man – a guru, in the Himalayas.  When they spoke about the cave the holy man likened it to a womb, a place of security and safety.  A place I would argue from which new life springs forth.

As I considered this insight and wondered at standing before the cave in which Jesus body lay, and I remembered Jesus words to Nicodemus, I could not help but think that this empty tomb, was the womb from which God brought forth new life.

Birth, re-birth, new birth, is about hope for the future.  As we stand with all of our questions and puzzlement the empty womb represents God’s desire for new life in us and says to us there are other ways to live.

And finally it was the metaphor of the mouth that came to me as I imagine myself before this empty tomb, this cave, this womb.  Jesus was laid in a tomb which was pretty much a cave and each cave has its mouth.

A mouth opened calling out – maybe in joy, may be in hope, maybe in surprise.  But it is Mary’s encounter with Jesus in the garden which is most telling.  Mary in her confusion, in her belief but not understanding, does not recognise Jesus. 

But then he calls her by name.  In that intensely personal moment of revelation Jesus speaks her name and so as I stand before that open cave mouth, as each of you stand there as well, I wonder can we hear Jesus calling our names as well.

You see I don’t have all the answers; what we believe from Christian to the next seems to change.  And, we all have our own questions.  The disciples believed but did not understand yet as puzzled as they were the open and empty tomb spoke to them and it speaks to us with all of our questions.

God’s love is unending.

God is bringing to birth something new.

And God is calling us by name.

Can you hear it?  Can you hear God speaking your name?

Emmaus: What are you focused on?

One of the things that I find most surprising about the journey to Emmaus is the inability of the disciples to recognise Jesus.  With this reality in mind I want to do something a little different and show you a short video.

The Awareness Test

Now it is not exactly the same sort of scenario as Jesus walking with the disciples to Emmaus but what is interesting in this little experiment is to reflect on the issues associated with whether or not we can see something or not, and more specifically how we experience Jesus.

With this in mind I want to explore a few issues raised by the story for us.

The first is to do with where our attention is focussed.

The second is to do with Jesus presence with us.

And the third is connected with how we come to perceive that presence.

So to the first point; in the story from St Luke the disciple’s were lost in their grief and mourning and the shattering of their world had become an all consuming reality.  When Jesus met them on the road they conveyed to the unknown stranger the events that had unfolded.  So consumed were they by the events that they could barely believe that this stranger did not know what had occurred.

Like when we watched the Awareness Test their attention was focussed on something specific on their particular experience of what had occurred and how it had impacted on them.

As people who are walking through the journey of our lives day by day our attention is focussed in particular ways on particular things – important things no doubt but things that can blind us to who is journeying with us.

For me this is a twofold issue.  First to reflect on what kinds of things are we focussed on and second who told us that those were the most important things.

Thinking about our own lives: maybe it is our work that so consumes us, or our desire to be a good parent, or an issue going on in our relationship with our spouse, maybe it is concerns about repaying our house loan or worries about our health or our sense of grief and loss over a loved one.  In fact most of us would know and no doubt some of us have experienced times in our lives that we are so focussed on something going on that we begin to simply miss what is occurring before our eyes in other parts of our life.

Whatever you are focussed on the second part of the issue is how we came to focussed on that particular thing.  In the video for example we were told to count the passes – someone told us to look in a particular direction.  Who has told us to be focussed in a particular direction? Or what incidents and experiences have determined the central issues for us?  This bears some reflection.

It can be argued, that the sense of loss that was distracting the disciples was entirely appropriate. So whilst I would say that the things which take our attention are not unimportant, they do matter, these distractions of life can obscure our sense and experience of Jesus who walks with us.

So we all have issues that if not keep we awake at night certainly occupy our thinking.  What the reading does is to encourage us to think that in the midst of our daily walk what might surprise us is that just as Jesus came alongside the disciples so too Jesus comes alongside us.

The disciples were completely oblivious to Jesus identity until after he broke the bread.  The hope that this gives to all of us is that in midst of these issues which take up our time and worry and detach us from Jesus presence as if we were alone facing the world is that Jesus is not absent from us but it is precisely in these times of distraction and isolation that he journeys with us.

Jesus is there with us as we grieve at the pain and loss of death, Jesus is there as we try to make sense of why we bother going to work to face the daily grind, Jesus is there as we go to ever increasing number of doctors and specialist appointments, Jesus is there as we struggle with family relationships, Jesus is walking beside us in all of these situations.  This is the promise of our faith.

Having said this Jesus presence is not simply about us having some nice feel good experience even though these words bring us comfort.  Jesus presence with us is about teaching and challenge and change for there are times that Jesus is alongside us in ways that may be unexpected and even uncomfortable.

As Jesus says in Matthew 25 “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”  Jesus is alongside us and we meet Jesus not simply as some sort of detached internal spiritual experience but in real people in real need!

This brings me to my third point.  When the disciples stop to refresh and renew themselves for the evening Jesus agrees to break bread with them.  It is in this breaking of the bread that the disciple’s eyes are opened to his identity.

The connection with the sharing of bread and wine that we do on this day is clear and is often spelt out for us in the words repeated in the communion prayer asking that Jesus ‘make yourself know to us in the breaking of the bread’.  In the video we watched what was required was for someone to actually ask a question of us.

Actually seeing Jesus presence required an action by Jesus which helped them see that he had been with them the whole time and to find value in his presence on every step pf the journey – it’s that hindsight thing.

Now for me this becomes a metaphor for what occurs in our gathered Sunday worship service when we listen for Jesus teaching us through the Scriptures and then the bread is broken in our midst.  It is in this time of coming together that we can begin to reflect on how Jesus has been with us in the days that have passed and consider what this might mean for us in the days ahead. Coming to church, and coming every week, is important.

Ultimately the experience for the disciples of Jesus appearance to them is not just about them and what they get out of it.  Jesus leaves the disciples and they go back to the others to share their news.  They were energised by Jesus appearance to them, energised to go and share the good news.  To follow him and in doing so to share his ministry; a ministry which Jesus had described in Luke 4 in this way

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

            because he has anointed me

            to bring good news to the poor.

            He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

            and recovery of sight to the blind,

            to let the oppressed go free,

            to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Encountering the risen Jesus invites our response.  Our experience of him changes us.  The story of Jesus appearance on the road to Emmaus is certainly a challenging one – it reminds us that whilst Jesus may be alongside us sometimes it takes some pretty direct action for us to see that.  But having met with the risen Jesus we too can be encouraged and inspired in our journey to keep our hearts and minds open to his constant presence with us inviting us to grow as we follow him. And more than that we contemplate how we meet Jesus in others and how through our lives and the questions we raise we bring Jesus to others.

Hiding in locked rooms!

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.””

As we listen again to the stories of the resurrection experiences in these days following Easter, you and I are confronted by questions about what we as people can believe and what we can trust in.

Essentially, the same was true for the disciples.  Whilst John does not record it in his account of the resurrection Luke tells us that when the first witnesses told the disciples that Jesus had been raised from the dead they thought that the women were telling idle tales!

So, the disciples not trusting in the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, told to them by the women huddled in a locked room, we are told, ‘for fear of the Jews’, or to be more accurate the Temple authorities. 

This image of Jesus earthly followers huddled in a locked room denying the witness that had already been given them concerning Jesus’ resurrection should challenge every congregation as to whether we are being like the disciples - gathering in locked rooms.

As we gather on this day despite the fact the doors are open, and we are free to come and go, is it possible that for some of us our experience is exactly this: an experience that is closed off from the world around us. Are we locked in?

In coming into this space for worship do we cloister our religious experience? 

Do we shut it inside?  What are we doing in this uncomfortable hour of piety as we struggle with the notion that Jesus rose from the dead?  Can we believe that he rose again or even more outlandish that he is God?!

Do we close off this hour because we are not sure how to make connections between what is spoken here and what occurs day by day: at school, in our family, in our work place and in social settings; on ANZAC day and during Earth hours, in economic downturns and the boom times?

Do we hide away because we fear being open about our faith: are we worried about being labelled a bible basher; a do gooder; a moral prig?

Do we hide away because we fear being told we are nutters that science outstrips religion in terms of truth and knowledge?

Or have we been so socially conditioned by our culture, which wants our spirituality to remain a ‘private matter’, that we feel we cannot cross those socially accepted boundaries of 21^st century Australia?

Maybe one of these descriptions is true of you, maybe not, but if you can hear some echoes of the truth of your faith being locked up and huddled then at worst, all you are doing is reflecting the behaviour of those disciples who received the very first witness to the resurrection.

And here is the good news.  Despite the fact that the disciples locked themselves away in disbelieving fear, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Now when Jesus says “Peace be with you” this is a loaded term – it is both liturgical jargon and the common greeting “Shalom”.  Set in the context of John’s gospel and the emphasis of Jesus’ high priesthood, Jesus words mean far more than “hi, how are you guys going” and have far greater depth than the standard answer for every Miss Universe entrant “What do you want most?”:  “World peace!”

Jesus’ words of greeting are the affirmation that the work that God set out to do in and through him has been fulfilled.  Humanity has been forgiven, the creation has been reconciled with God, forgiveness, love and mercy abound for all.

The miracle is not simply that Jesus is alive but that in him God has renewed all things and opened up the possibility of a new future for all people.  This is the hope of the resurrection and Jesus’ words to his disciple invite them into an active participation in this future as he sends them out in the Fathers name.

“Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any they are retained.”

From being huddled and hidden, afraid and anxious, Jesus commissions the disciples to carry news of the forgiveness and new life to others.

I believe that this needs to be reiterated again and again that the core message that the disciples go not to judge but to forgive and pronounce new life to others.

So, if this is the experience of the disciples who locked themselves in a room what about we who in the 21^st century cloister our faith behind the security blanket of the walls of the church.

The reality is that we do not have the same capacity to wait upon the confirmation of what we are invited to believe about Jesus. The resurrection appearance by Jesus among us is unlikely in that corporeal sense the disciples saw it. 

The disciples were able to rely on their own sense of sight and touch and hearing when Jesus appeared among them as the resurrected Lord – this is not going to happen in the same way for us.  We cannot rely on the same sensory experience to affirm us in our faith – but this doesn’t mean that Jesus is absent from us or that we cannot experience Jesus presence in our lives.

Remembering the experience of the disciples it was precisely at their point of denial of the resurrection and their hopelessness in feeling that Jesus was absent that Jesus came among them.

So, as we gather here week by week I wonder what you expectations are.  Do you come expecting that you will encounter the presence of the risen and returning Jesus?

I personally do not believe that I or anyone else can make Jesus any more or less present by what I do as a worship leader, but the symbolism seen in our worship expresses just this trust and hope that through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus is with us.

Lighting a Christ Candle does not make Jesus present, it simply reminds us of our hope that Jesus is here with us and is with us at all times. 

The building itself, whilst technically not holier than other places, is a sacred space in which our attention is focussed on God’s love and Jesus concern for us.

The readings and the preaching declare the good news, as we listen, not simply for entertaining and encouraging stories, but for the living Word of God, Jesus, to speak to us.

The bread and wine of communion bring to our hearts and minds Jesus acts for us but are also real food for our journey and bring about real transformation in our lives.

Even in each other we can acknowledge the presence of Jesus who has drawn us together into community. Looking at each other we see Jesus presence is here!

Being in this space with one another, whether we may treat it as a locked room or not, the possibilities open up and the potential is there that Jesus’ presence with us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will become manifest to us in real and life changing ways.

So, just as the disciples encountered the risen Jesus in their huddling in that room, so too in our coming together Jesus can break into our midst, even in spite of our attempts to domesticate and institutionalise our religious experience and keep it private. 

In such encounters with Jesus we are changed and, we too, are sent with good news into the world.  This is why the gathering in or call to worship is mirrored by a sending out as we are commissioned to go from this place to live as God’s people declaring the good news in word and action – bring God’s healing and forgiveness into the lives of others.

As you look around the faces of those gathered here with you, and think upon your own experiences of the risen Jesus, I encourage you to find hope in Jesus presence with us as a community and to remain open to where and to whom Jesus might be sending us to share the good news. 

And remember this good news that we who have not seen and believe are truly blessed: let us rejoice in this blessing!

Easter: A letter to Jesus.

Dear Jesus

I heard that you were raised from the dead. 

Like anyone I find this hard to believe.  I mean it is supposed to be good news that you came back to life, but it is really hard to get my head around.  Not because it is such a fantastical tale, I don’t need scientific or historical proof, but because I really don’t see what difference it has made. People are still living with all their illusions and chasing their own dreams.

I mean it’s all very exciting to read the story about the women going to the tomb and finding it empty and then the disciple’s running back to confirm what the women had told them.  But even that’s a problem.  It’s so typical that the men didn't believe the women straight up.

And then you spoke to Mary.  You said her name.  How important was that for you... to say her name?  When you call any of us by name you open our eyes.  You open our eyes to your presence and your love for the world. That’s what you did for Mary, you opened her eyes and you affirmed her existence.

But Jesus even when our eyes are opened and we make claims about believing that you and your love for the world matter things just seem to keep going on the same.  I mean think about this whole Easter season for just a moment.

I was watching the news the other night and there was a story about Good Friday.  Phil Wilmington showed pictures of kids collecting chocolate Easter Eggs on Good Friday and said maybe we all needed “A place in the heart where joy and innocence hold sway over the trouble of the world.” And that maybe we could learn something from these kids.

But I kept wondering as I watched the kids running around filling their bags with chocolate about the issue of child labour and even reports of child slavery associated with the picking of cocoa beans in Africa.  I read something by Tim Costello the other day who said that there can be no guarantee that chocolate in our Easter Eggs wasn't picked by children.  How can we use one group of children in this way to make our children happy?  Shouldn't Phil Wilmington and Chanel 9 bring us a real news story about this?  But no I suppose we don’t want to hear anything that upsets us or interrupts our joys.  We only want to hear the so called good news stories.

So what do I do about Easter eggs Jesus?  Do I give my kids chocolate?  I don’t want them to miss out whilst everyone else has a good time?  I know I can buy fair-trade chocolate but even if I do then I begin to worry about the levels of obesity and diabetes in our culture, no doubt contributed to by the gluttony of our Easter celebrations.  Is this what it means to have my eyes opened to your death and resurrection?  To contemplate the things which are above as Paul suggests to the Colossians? 

When I contemplate the things which are above I always remember how you taught us to pray “on earth as it is in heaven”.  If things were on earth as in heaven I am sure no child would be exploited for the benefit of my kids. 

So I wonder Jesus what I should do?  Should I give out Easter Eggs at church, should I give them to my children?  It’s not as if you emerged from the tomb to speak with Mary wearing rabbit ears and carrying a basketful of chocolate.

Do you see what I am getting at Jesus?  I want to believe you died and rose for us but what I see around me is so confusing.

I mean it’s not just the kids who benefit from the exploitation of others.  On Hungry Beast the other night they did an expose about Apple.  No, not the apple that we think Adam and Eve ate, but Apple the computer company, the one run by Steve Jobs.

In the story it described how in 2010, 10 workers from the Foxcomm plant in China committed suicide. Now, as you know, Foxcomm supplies Apple.  I did a little further investigating and discovered that Foxcomm workers were working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week – that’s a 72 hour week.  That’s nearly double what is expected in Australia and we complain about our work hours! Thankfully their hours have now been reduced to 60 hours per week but they still only get about 50 cents per hour.  

I wonder who had made my iPhone, my iMac and my iPod.  How are they living now?  Are they even living?  

But the thing is without the exploitation who could afford the products?  Hungry Beast quoted a report which suggested if iPads were built by American workers they would retail for nearly $15 000.  Can we really live without our cheap technology?

Do you see what I am saying Jesus?  You came back from the dead but I really struggle to see how your resurrection has brought new life and hope for all people, not just from some privileged few.  I mean it was just like that back in your day too.  The rich lived off the exploitation and work of others.

Is what your resurrection means that I too can see the inequalities and inequities that you could always see and that I care?

Maybe this is what Archbishop Phillip Aspinall meant when he declared that we live in a “Kingdom of nothingness!”  I saw that in the Chanel 9 report by Phil Wilmington as well.  I thought that maybe the Archbishop was being a little too glass half empty, if you know what I mean, but maybe he is right.  Yet it is so hard to accept all this negativity about the world.  As long as I don’t look too deeply into the world I can just go on living this good life and not being concerned by what I am not exposed too, how our lifestyles are built on the suffering of others.

As long as no one mentions all this bad stuff I can almost imagine that we are living your prayer “on earth as in heaven”, I mean my life is pretty great.

But to do this is to treat you like the buddy Jesus statue all smiling and happy and giving us all the thumbs up, as if nothing was wrong.  You know, I have an action figure of you Jesus.   You are just that marketable that people have made plastic Jesus action figures of you – mine was made in China. (That’s a worry!)

A friend gave me the action figure and I have never opened it.  It sits on my desk and reminds me that for many of us we like to see you around but prefer to leave you securely in the packaging, a poseable figure with arms and gliding action trapped so that you can’t do either.  And more important so we don’t have to take you too seriously either.  

But what if I were to break the wrapping and take you out, would you simply be a toy for me to play with, a toy made by some underpaid worker in China.  Is all that we have done with the news of your resurrection given you a gliding action and poseable arms?

Jesus, you know wars still rage, despite decades of ANZAC Days and Remembrance Days, which are meant to remind us of the horror and futility of war, not celebrate it. Why, Jesus, why don’t we learn Jesus?  Life is really confusing, I mean I have just scrapped the surface of a few issues there are so many others.  Jesus I see all these confusing things and I long for hope.  Hope that is bigger than the problems we seemed to have continued to create since you wandered up to Mary in the garden and said her name.

When you lived among us I know that you went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with you.  But despite the fact that God was with you, you were put to death.  This does give me hope that you God are with us in our struggles and maybe that is why you appeared again after you rose from the dead, not to give us the thumbs up and say everything’s OK, but to let us know that there is no where that we can go that you haven’t been.  You Jesus who are God even travelled into death.

Is this real hope?  No doubt, for when we die we can trust you are there, but what about hope in this life as well?  For those first disciples and early Christian communities following you seemed to transform their lives and bring hope to people.  Maybe in a way what those early disciples did was resurrect the lives of other people – just as you had done: doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.

Jesus, maybe this is the hope your resurrection gives me that you care enough to say my name, like Mary’s, and you to teach me to pray “on earth as in heaven”.  This has given me something to work towards so that life has more meaning than being simply a “Kingdom of nothingness”. Each time I see peace achieved in people’s lives, healing, love, compassion, empathy, justice achieved are these not signs of the hope of your resurrection which remind me that each day that unfolds is another gift created by God.

This is the hope I long to embrace, a hope that encourages me to live everyday as if this is the day that Lord has made, to be glad and rejoice in it, by living a life with eyes opened to what you see in world and still to have hope for the world.  To have hope because you loved it enough to be a part of it.  To have hope because if I look hard enough I can still see those signs of your presence and peace in it.  To have hope because I know that I am not alone but you are standing with me and that I am a part of that great communion of saints that spans both life and death.  You gave us each other as believers to be the church, which continues in its own strange way to share your love with the world and maybe, just maybe, to bring hope and resurrection to those who suffer.

Can you understand what I am saying Jesus?  I want that hope as I look on the confusion of the world.  Jesus, I heard that you were raised from the dead. I want to believe, help my unbelief! Amen.

Turning over the Temple Tables

I wonder what image comes to mind when you hear the words, “Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.”

In John’s gospel, this story is located at the very beginning of Jesus ministry and has a stronger sense of violence about.  Jesus makes a whip of cords to drive out the animals.

It is understandable that the image might be built up in your mind of some kind of rampaging righteous hero who total disrupts the activities in the whole temple forecourt and is challenged by no one.

The Biblical scholar Douglas Hare questions this kind of image suggesting that this notion of Jesus interrupting the activities of the temple may be more than a little fanciful given the size of the temple forecourt where the market was said to be.   It was simply too large an area for a single man to take control of.

Moreover, the presence of temple authorities, guards and possibly even Roman soldiers nearby raise significant doubts about how extensive Jesus actions may have been.  This is not to suggest that Jesus did not engage in these actions but that the images we may have of the event are probably overstated.  The fact Jesus was not arrested on the spot might be an indicator that Jesus’ action, whilst significant did not entirely disrupt the temple operations.

The importance of the event for the gospel writers is not the extent of Jesus’ actions but the symbolism contained within them.

They are a challenge to some of the aspects of the temple system, its secularisation, and the corruption of institutions which potentially disadvantage even more the marginalised groups within the community.

In terms of symbolism the turning over the money changers tables seems to raise issues about the connection between the temple and Rome and the way this relationship was being handled.

As for the dove sellers chairs this may be Jesus making way for a different approach and understanding to religious practice and how God was to be understood.

It struck me as I was considering the symbolism of this event to wonder what it might have meant for your everyday kind of devout but ordinary Jewish person.  To us the old phrase the man on the street.

I would suggest that if you weren’t a follower of Jesus and neither a particular fan of the religious authorities Jesus actions were disruptive and confronting and made your life difficult.  In the practice of their faith the average person knew they could not use Roman coins in the temple, the needed to use the temple currency, and if they wished to make a sacrifice of thanksgiving or purification or atonement they would need some doves.

Jesus’ action interrupts the everyday life of the average person and asks serious questions of how they understand their relationship with God and the community they are part of.

The symbolism of this action of Jesus whilst having specific meaning in the moment in time when it happened is also transferred into our present reality.  Like most of Jesus actions there is a specific context and meaning but the scriptures also operate to make them parables of truth for us.

What this means is that just as Jesus presence in the temple raised issue for the average Jew on the street so too Jesus actions are a parable of God’s confrontation with our lives as well.

As I dwelt on this week I considered quite a long list of issues in which Jesus might be said to be confronting us in our religious, our social and our political practices.

Given today is Palm Sunday I have chosen to highlight just two of these issues that I have grappled with this week.  One for each hand, one for each palm as it were:

On the one hand there is the whole Easter chocolate extravaganza that we have in Australia.  I read a report on the IBIS World website predicting that that this year Australians will spend $190 million on chocolate this Easter: that’s around $9 of chocolate for every person in Australia!

Anyone can look at The Australian Bureau of Statistics website and be reminded about the growing number of children and adults overweight and suffering diabetes and question whether our Easter chocolate splurge is warranted.  In general most kids that I hear talking about Easter are counting the days until they get their chocolate. Is this really generosity? Does it really help people in their faith?

Added to this issue, there is of course the issue that much of the chocolate sold comes from sources where children are used to pick the cocoa, sometimes in conditions that we would consider slavery.  Each year I follow the anti-slavery and anti-child labour campaigns like STOP THE TRAFFIK to see what progress we are making in these areas.  As much as these issues are coming more into the public’s mind the changes at the checkout are not as significant as we might hope.

Now I believe Easter should be a celebration and that generosity is a good thing.  We usually have a couple of Fair Trade eggs in our house and I have given them out to congregation members in the past.  But what happens when our celebration and generosity get misdirected? 

This is exactly the kind of social and systemic norm Jesus challenges as he turns over the tables.  It is not that celebration and generosity are wrong but when the unintended consequences are revealed maybe, just maybe, Jesus would encourage us to think again on how to engage in celebration and generosity and possibly more importantly to whom our generosity should flow.

So that’s one thing for us to think about this week as we prepare our hearts, our souls and our children to celebrate Easter.

On the other hand a second issue I would raise is the way we approach our faith.  At some point in the period between the beginning of the Enlightenment and now we have been taught to believe that “faith is a private matter” something not for the lounge room but rather in the privacy of the more hidden spaces of our lives.

The question raised by Jesus in the Temple forecourt was both political and religious.  How are you practicing your faith?  How are you engaging in the rituals and the conversation and how is that shaping your day to day lives?

As I consider the hidden, private nature of faith – a faith forced into the shadows I believe we have as Christians lost both some of our basic disciples and stunted our growth.  If we do not converse, how to do we grow? If we do not engage, how do we share God’s love?

If we simply look at the specific context of what Jesus was doing in the Temple on that day we can be left floundering in our own mediocre approach to our relationship with God.  Jesus challenge to the way the Jewish faith was being lived out can easily be converted to being a challenge to how we are living our faith out.

In both examples, in the two hands, I would suggest Jesus is continuing to push us in our understanding of ourselves and God.

The reason the specific context is so important is because Jesus confrontation at the Temple is a step in a bigger journey through which we see God moving towards the world in love and reconciling all things to himself.  As we may find these moments of confrontation uncomfortable the good news is that Jesus has made all things new including our errors and misdirection.  As people who hear this message of good news we are invited to share in that message by considering again how we might live as followers of Jesus now.

So I would invite all of you during the week as you look at your two hands to bring them together and clasp as you pray and consider how we can celebrate and be generous and how we can live our faith more openly and therefore make our lives an example of God’s love for others. 

Judas: faithfulness to turning away

Gazing across the table Judas watched in fascination as Jesus stripped off his outer robe. Taking a towel he wrapped it around his waist.


Judas wondered what he was up to now. No doubt there will be another lesson here.

There was always a lesson with Jesus - another thing to learn, another mysterious statement, another parable. Everything with him was, well, so deliberate, as if everything hinged on the next word which came out of his mouth. It was always life and death and it had become so confusing for Judas, so dangerous.

As Jesus took the bowl and towel Judas was reminded of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus shouldn’t have spoken to her. It was just wrong. It was unclean and Jesus had kept drawing the disciples in and spiralling them down, down, down into his well of intrigue and mystery.

Something had to be done; someone had to bring some common sense to the situation. Surely not everything the Pharisees and Scribes said was wrong; they were the leaders after all... people chosen by God.

Judas knew the Temple authorities wanted to bring Jesus in for questioning; it had been playing on his mind and weighing on his heart. Was this the right time for Jesus to rise as the Messiah? Maybe if the authorities listened to Jesus, listened properly, they would see sense and back his claim to be the Messiah.

Judas believed in Jesus claim, he would not have kept following if he didn’t. But the stakes were all askew; the risk of losing Jesus into some unpopular obscurity was growing. Maybe, just maybe if they questioned Jesus, they would see sense and follow Jesus too. Then the Romans would really know the power of God – wasn’t this what the scriptures promised the Messiah would do, restore Israel.

But who would let the authorities know where Jesus was? How could the situation be brought to a head? How could Jesus be forced to play his cards more openly and be the Messiah they all wanted him to be?

Judas pondered these questions as Jesus began to wash John’s feet.

John was Jesus favourite, the most loved of the disciples. Yes Peter was their leader, but John and Jesus there just seemed to be a special bond.

Judas caught himself thinking I wish I was that close to Jesus. He remembered the day that Jesus had invited him to be a disciple, to follow, to join, to learn. He had felt special that day and many times since, but he had also grown to feel he was not part of the inner circle.

So often he didn’t quite get what Jesus was on about that’s why Judas had been siphoning away some of the funds, just in case things went south. After all Jesus’ attitude at Lazarus home when Mary wasted that perfume on his feet was simply irresponsible. Jesus had rebuked Judas criticism of the waste.

But Judas wasn’t the only one who struggled with Jesus actions. As he surveyed the others around the table Judas remembered how imperfect they were as well. Even James and John jockeyed for power, as if they were not favourites already. As for Peter he was always questioning what Jesus was up to – once Jesus had even called him Satan.

Just as this thought struck him across the room Peter began arguing with Jesus, again. Peter didn’t want Jesus washing his feet. Judas tried to concentrate as Jesus words about what he was doing seeped into Peter but as always his words seemed elusive, more images and ideas than concrete reality. What did he mean that ‘not all of you are clean’?

The Messiah was supposed to be leading them into power not grovelling at their feet. It just felt wrong.

Jesus moved around the room and came to Judas feet. Tired of being confused Judas stretched out submitting to Jesus’ humble act and let him wash his feet. It was normally the task of a slave but Jesus had kept going on and on about serving others. As Jesus dried off Judas’ feet with the towel around his waist, Judas felt a sense of relief, a release even. It was more than having the grime of the day washed off. Maybe it was simply that the awkwardness of the act was over, but Judas felt as a weight had been lifted.

Finally, Jesus settled again, washing so many feet took time and they were hungry. He kept speaking; he was always speaking, always teaching, but in these last few days even more so as if things were coming to a head.

Judas recalled that the disciples had tried to warn him off a return to Jerusalem but Jesus wouldn’t listen and even now he was speaking in riddles about his demise.

‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’

What did that mean? They had all broken bread with Jesus, they were all his companions!

To Judas, Jesus seemed particularly agitated this night and lying as close as he was to Jesus, just beyond John, he could almost feel Jesus troubles weighing on him as well, he felt like reaching out and taking Jesus hand... a sign of support maybe or reassurance. Judas wondered what the others would think about him doing this so he held back and waited.

Jesus had gone quiet and the disciples cast glances at each other. Judas too looked at the faces of the others.

He could sense their emotions: fear, expectation, curiosity, trepidation and more than a little confusion, but something else too, love. They were an intimate group, they had become close friends on the road together and they looked to Jesus to lead.

Judas had looked to Jesus too; he still wanted to, he wanted to believe in Jesus. He looked at Jesus across the table and their eyes locked for just a moment, a moment which seemed to unfold into eternity for Judas. It was as if he was standing naked before Jesus and Jesus could see his soul.

Judas knew he couldn’t hide his doubts or fears from Jesus, he knew at that moment that Jesus had seen Judas struggle with how to bring things to a head, of how Judas had become more and more confused and disillusioned with Jesus as the Messiah that wasn’t taking God’s people to the glory that he expected. The moment was but a glance but Judas felt as if it were a lifetime, so he dragged his eyes away and cast them down.

A wash of pain seemed to come over Jesus face as Judas looked down and he declared, “Very truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

Around him Judas more felt than saw the disciples looking at one another, suspicion and fear growing in the room to an almost palpable level. Judas fixed his stare at the bread in front of Jesus, it was better than looking into anyone’s eyes.

Peter was gesturing at John, who then leaned back into Jesus chest. John whispered a question but because Judas was close he heard the question too. “Lord who is it?”

As Judas continued to fix his gaze on that bread in front of Jesus, Judas wondered too, wondered if the others had heard the question, wondered who was going to hand Jesus over to the authorities, wondered what would happen if Jesus was handed over.

Secretly this is what Judas had wanted wasn’t it – someone to hand Jesus over so things would come to a head, so that God’s will would be done – that the Messiah would shine for all the world to see.

Jesus replied, “It is the one to whom I give the piece of bread when I have dipped it into the dish.”

Judas who had been gazing at the bread watched as Jesus hand took the bread from the plate and dipped it into the bowl. Who? Who will take on this dreadful responsibility?

And Jesus reached out his hand offering the bread to Judas. Judas thought to himself, the Lord has broken bread for me, we are companions, I must take this bread and I must eat.

As Judas felt the touch of Jesus hand as he was receiving the bread Jesus said under his breath “Do quickly what you are going to do.” There was pain and fear in Jesus words, but trust as well, hope and acceptance as if things were fait accompli.

At that moment Judas knew it was he who had to go against Jesus, he had to go and let the authorities know where Jesus was, he would change the course of what it meant to be faithful by being faithful and obedient to Jesus words to do quickly what he was going to do: to turn away. Surely Jesus knew what he was doing sending him out in such a way.

With a new hope in his heart that Jesus would be the Messiah he had always dreamed Jesus would be Judas left the room and went out into the night. But despite the fullness of the moon and Judas illusory hope a blackness descended around him, a fear and trepidation, which he wore like a cloak as he scurried towards the temple – faithful he believed to Jesus words he would “do quickly” what he was going to do –this dark and terrible thing to betray Jesus.

"Silence" and God's love

I have just finished reading "Silence" by Shusaku Endo. Put simply it is an excellent novel exploring the silence of God in the face of suffering and the nature of grace.

Whilst there are numerous themes to consider the one that seems most pertinent to me is the question of God's silence.

In the novel the Jesuit Priest conitnually comments on the silence of God in the face of suffering and I was struck by the candid honesty of his struggle.

In a church such as the Uniting Church in Australia which speaks of dsicerning God's will confessing that we hear silence from God can be difficult as it may indicate a lack of faith.

In a culture such as the Australian culture which touts atheism and in which my children are taught to beleive in Easter Bunny at school by their peers speaking of the silence of God may be seen as undermining an already shakey faith.

In a world where there continues to be great suffering through social, economic, political and natural movements admitting the silence of God may seem fatal.

Yet the silence from God can be almost palpable, a tangible reminder of our human frailty and need for answers.

For me the services in the week ahead are an opportunity once again to throw ourselves on the mercy of God and in our longing to hear his voice recall how Jesus prayed in the garden "not my will but yours". To recollect how on the cross Jesus experienced the agony of Godlessness "why have your forsaken me". To remember that in the face of the finality of death Jesus came and stood among his disciples and said "peace be with you".

It is remembering that God's silence is broken and we discover again God's loving concern for our world.

Don't rush ahead!

We in the West live in an impatient culture, a culture in which we can have anything and have it now. Why wait for the hot cross buns, they have been in the shops for months? Why delay on the Easter eggs, its only chocolate after all?

This weekend it would be easy to want to rush ahead like the disciple who leaves Peter in his wake on Easter morning but to do so we may be left wondering what to do with the empty tomb when we get there.

The services of Easter weekend invite us to swim againist the stream of our culture and take the time to reflect deeply on who this God is who would share in a human life and allow that life to be taken away, just as ours ends. What kind of God is this whose power and glory are seen in a condemned man hanging on a cross?

Rather than rush ahead and skip Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday enter in to this time to know the fullness of God's grace.