In preparing for preaching this Sunday on John 9:1-41, I discovered something which I had never seen before – with thanks to the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary on John, written by Gail. R O’Day, and that is in relation to sin. If I have seen it before and never took it in, or forgot it (somehow) then my apologies to MK.

It seems, at least according to a particular reading of John’s Gospel, that sin it not a moral category – not a result of a lax in morals, but is rather a theological category – and what’s more, sin is generally couched in relationship to Jesus. It appears that sin is defined not by what one does (moral) but almost exclusively by how one relates to Jesus, and more to the point, by whether one believes that God is present in Jesus.

If we take John 9 as a point in case. A man who is born blind (disciples explore theodicy by placing a blame vs result notion on sin – as was tradition) is healed by Jesus, and through his journey of discipleship and awakening Christology; firstly he is a man who healed him, then he is a prophet, the he is his master, and then he is from God and does God’s will; he comes to sight – both physical and spiritual. Then we have the Pharisees who profess to sin, but through exposure to and disbelief in Jesus through this miracle, find themselves in darkness and sin. Sin only occurs in response to Jesus. If the Pharisees had not been given the opportunity to see, then they would not be blind – v41 Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin (ie. had not been exposed to Jesus). But now that you say, “We see”, you sin remains. Sin is a conscious decision not to believe in Jesus, rather than a physical decision based on a moral super code, of which the failure to uphold said code is death – excepting for the fact that Jesus died in lieu of our need to pay….

The Johannine understanding of sin opens up to a very different understanding of the salvific function of Jesus’ death. Salvation from sin is primarily a result of Jesus’ life, not his death, because it is the very life of Jesus as God’s Son and incarnate Word that makes it possible for people to move from sin to external life. Sin is fundamentally about one’s relationship with God, and for the Fourth evangelist, the decisive measure of one’s relationship with God is one’s faith in Jesus. From the Johannine perspective, it is not the Christian community’s responsibility, just as it was not the Pharisees’, to judge anyone’s sins, because the determination of sin rests with God and Jesus, and the individual and is determined by faith, not actions. John’s Gospel is therefore the most radical example of salvation by grace, than anywhere else in the New Testament.

How much would the expression of Christian community change is this was the predominant understanding of sin and salvation, rather than the present dominant death and atonement theology?

I’m still wrestling with this idea….what is your impression?

Today I join with the Australian Prime Minister and the present Government of Australia in saying Sorry to the 'Stolen Generation' and their families.
In Vanuatu culture, an expression of sorrow - saying sorry - means that you are standing in solidarity with that person - it is not an admission of blame, or guilt, but rather - I feel your pain, and know that if things could be changed by me, I would - but I can't - so I'll stand with you in the pain, and be sorry.

I am sorry.

The following is an excerpt from last Sunday's Sermon. The Text was Matthew 4:1-11

Why did the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted? Could he not have been tempted at home, or in the local synagogue, or sitting in a little café in Jerusalem, drinking a macchiato with is mates? What is it about the Wilderness that is so significant in the Judeo-Christian [the history of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament] tradition? What can we learn, and how does a wilderness experience continue to form us?

When reflecting on the notion of Wilderness, the first thought that developed was the great reverberating narrative of the Hebrew bible – The Exodus - the great escape from Egypt which culminated in a 40 year sojourn in the wilderness. Those of you who are familiar with the story, know that it took all of about 5 minutes for the people to start thinking that perhaps they were better off with the Egyptians than they were in the wilderness. There they lacked security, they lacked comfort, they lacked food, and they lacked identity. They were not longer sure about who they were, or what they were on about. Deuteronomy 8:2 tells us the reason God send the nation into the wilderness situation, it reads: “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.” And we know from reading the story that the Israelites failed to keep all of God’s commandments in their wilderness experience, whilst Jesus kept them all. I remember reading or hearing once that “It only took 4 weeks to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but it took God 40 years to get Egypt out of the Israelites.”

In the Book of the Prophet Hosea, we read again about the Wilderness. In Chapter 2, we read an inditement against the nation Israel from the Lord, via the Prophet. Here the nation is likened to an unfaithful wife, who the Lord needs to woo back to the relationship, back to the covenant that had commenced their relationship. In verse 14 we read:

¹⁴ “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Bring her into the wilderness
And speak kindly to her.
¹⁵ “Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

²³ “I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion,
And I will say to those who were not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

The people had become full of themselves – they had let ego rule the day – considering what is best for me, not what is best for the community. They had ignored the fine details of the covenant; sure they worshipped God in the temple on the Sabbath – but where was the compassion and the mercy shown towards their neighbour, the widow, the refugee? God sought to take them back to the wilderness – to reconnect with them, to remind them of who they were without all the distractions. In the same way that God took the Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness to get the Egyptian influence out of them, God continues to desire that his people retreat to the wilderness to remember.

In the wilderness you go without. You do not take everything and the kitchen sink when you go camping - when you retreat to the wilderness you leave things behind. You travel light. You strip yourselves of the things that distract you, and have held you back.

Sometimes in our lives, we go through a period where it seems like we have lost all that we held dear. Whether it be a person who has died, or a job that was lost, or a long held belief – we can enter a time where it seems as though God is distant – a period of wandering in the wilderness. You may find this ironic, but for me – my first couple of years at College were very much a wilderness time for me. The long held beliefs of childhood – of my early years of being a Christian had to be left behind, so I could grow, develop and be formed into something else. I was in a period of wilderness, where what I knew was no longer there and it felt like I had nothing that I knew – like I was clutching at straws – like God was somehow distant. Do you know what I mean? Do you remember a time in your life when you have felt something similar? It was a hard, but it was a period in your life that God was able to use to develop you as a disciple, as a human being, as a member of God’s kingdom. These are our wilderness experiences.

On Wednesday last week – Ash Wednesday – we began the season of Lent, which is the forty days before Easter. Lent is a season of preparation of your mind and body for the Easter period. Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. It is the season for looking at who you are, and where you are. It is an opportunity for refocussing on God, and God’s desire for your life and the life of your community.

Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for a baptism that would occur en-mass on Easter Sunday. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.[1] Traditionally people have given something up for the season of lent. Something that perhaps has taken control a bit in their lives, something that perhaps is taking time and focus away from the things of God, perhaps something which by giving it up, can help not only yourself but others. A friend of mine, last year gave up his computer for the season of Lent – it almost killed him – which just shows the power it had in his life, and this year a colleague has given up the use of his car for the 40 days of lent – choosing to use his legs, or his bike or public transport to travel around. He is giving up his dependency on fossil fuels, his freedom to act on whim and drive his car, and he is doing a small bit for the environment.

Traditionally, the season of Lent is about reflection, soul-searching and repentance – but it is also about release from what had held you captive, and freedom to be as God created you to be. The wilderness tends not to be a destination, but rather a stage on our journey – a place that we may find ourselves in a number of times, but a place we can move through on our way to someplace else. For the Israelites after the wilderness came the Promised Land, and for Jesus after the wilderness came Angels who waited upon him. In this wilderness time, in preparation for Easter and in this season of Lent – is there something in your life that needs to be released? Is there something from which you need freedom? Bring it before the Lord this Lent.

If you are coming to the induction service tomorrow (3rd February) then do not read on. However, now that I have locked the sermon away (baring a move of the Spirit) I thought I'd post it, and open it up to comment (he says with knees knocking). So, here it is - please receive it in the spirit it was intended.

Text: Luke 4:16-30

When I was in high school back in the dim darkness of last century, I decided to study History as part of my final few subjects of years 11 and 12 SACE. I do not know that I could have told you there and then, why I wanted to study history – perhaps it was because it was seen as easy as opposed to your pure Maths and Sciences – it was not – perhaps it was because of the classic Split Enz song, History Never Repeats – which incidentally, it seems that it does – however, for whatever reason in those final years of high school I became, a fan of history. I was very fortunate in my decision, because our history teacher in year 11 offered our class the opportunity to collectively decide what particular epoch of history we studied. He gave us a number of historical eras from which to choose, each accompanied by a piece of oration – a quote from an important speech or declaration, which defined the age. Amongst other times, we were offered Medieval Europe and the Dark Ages, including the Kings, Queens and many battles of England, the French or Russian Revolutions, either of the World Wars, or the Cold War Arms Race. I distinctly recall hearing my teacher quote from the various kings and queens of England, France and Russia, and a few political leaders around World War 1 – but then when he came to those events that occurred during the dawn of audio technology, he let the voices of the era speak for themselves.

We heard Winston Churchill in his opening speech as Prime Minister tell the House of Commons, that he had “nothing to offer them but blood, toil, tears and sweat” and then later the same year we heard him say, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many, to so few.” We heard John F. Kennedy in his inauguration speech request of his fellow Americans, that they “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” We then heard a snippet from Martin Luther King Jnr’s unforgettable speech, “I have a Dream.” Our imaginations were stirred by these very familiar words, spoken by the people who possibly wrote them, but at the very least loaded them with their accepted meaning and inaugurated themselves into a future direction and impetus. Their words are remembered as being great, as age definitive and has having a profound influence on not only their time and their context, but on future generations who were inspired by their words to take up the call.

The words that we heard this morning from the Gospel of Luke have followed a similar course down through history. Some scholars have called Jesus first recorded sermon in Luke’s Gospel as being where he launches his campaign, announces his manifesto, inaugurates God’s mission with humanity.

So in Luke’s account we find Jesus, who was of course a good Jewish boy from Nazareth, back home in his local synagogue on the Sabbath – as it seems, was his tradition to do. Before his home coming, so to speak, Jesus had been teaching in the synagogues of the Galilee, where people were praising him highly for his mighty words and deeds. The Synagogue comes to order – the women on one side of the divide – the mechitzah the visual barrier separating the sexes, and the men on the other. At once, the assembly quieten down their chatter, as the attendant opens the case which houses the sacred scrolls. Seeing as though it is his home town synagogue, we can imagine that perhaps Jesus’ Father Joseph is there, with his brothers – and on the other side of the divide Mary, and Jesus sisters. The attendant, who perhaps remembered Jesus as one of Joseph’s carpentering sons, or perhaps now knows of his preaching in the Galilee, hands him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

Now, like the words of Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jnr and JFK in our time, the words of the prophet Isaiah, particularly the words that Jesus chose to read, would have been remembered and celebrated by the people. Luke remembers Jesus as reading from both Isaiah 61:1 and 58:6 as we know them now. Of course, when Jesus read these texts, they were not divided neatly like we have them, and if we had more time this morning, perhaps we could explore the verses that Jesus chose not to read, and their implications. Nevertheless, Luke says that Jesus, having been offered the scroll of the prophet Isaiah from the attendant stood and read, : “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, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Or, a better translation of the Greek in verse 19 would read, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Jesus then rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. And then, waiting for the teaching as was customary, all the eyes of the assembly turned upon Jesus, and he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Now, I do not know about you – but I would suspect that if you had been in that synagogue on that fateful Sabbath to hear those word spoken aloud, you would have been sporting some serious goose bumps. Hearing Martin Luther King Jnr’s “I have a Dream” speech in preparation for this sermon brought a tear to my eye and a goose bumps to the back of my neck, but can you imagine the impact that hearing these words from the Prophet Isaiah, spoken by Jesus of Nazareth would have had?

It was in preparation for this sermon, reflecting over my call into ministry, my time spent at college, and my previous ministries that I came to realise the profound impact that these verses from Luke’s Gospel have had on the shape of my ministries. It seems fitting that inaugurating something new, Jesus looked back, because today as I was inducted into your community to journey with you as a minister, I looked back to where this all began for me. As I spoke about last time I was with you back in August last year, my call to ministry began on a cold winter’s night over in the lounge room of the church house, where I was asked to commit myself to loving a bunch of strange people – and trust me, they were very strange – and it is great to see so many of them here today... The DDP was good news to me as I am sure it was to those others here who have been a part of the journey, it released me from my cultural captivity, it gave me the gift of sight, and set me free. And yet, having survived the DDP I still entered my college formation years with a fairly naive idea of what ministry was actually all about. But over the last 6 years of action and reflection I have come to appreciate just how much ministry is entirely Holy Spirit enabled, it is all about bringing good news to the poor, fighting for the release of those held captive by injustice, empowering the blind to see, and setting the oppressed free. But more than that, it has been verse 19 and its scriptural connections that have formed me, my gifts for ministry and have ultimately brought me back here today.

Verse 19 reads, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Or more precisely, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Most biblical scholars agree that this text, quoted from the prophet Isaiah, is a direct illusion to the Year of Jubilee, as detailed in the laws of Leviticus 25. Succinctly put, the idea of the Lord’s Jubilee was to be a re levelling of the playing field. Using the perfect number 7, the Lord’s number, The Jubilee Year was to be proclaimed every seventh cycle of seven years, so with seven times seven being [pause] 49, so the Jubilee was to be decreed in the 50^th year. At that time it, was to be proclaimed by the sounding of trumpets, and all of God’s creation was to experience release and renewal. The Earth was to be left fallow, no sowing, and no reaping – the farmland was to be released from its burden of supply– a touch of environmental theology from Leviticus. Another big facet of the Jubilee Year was that lands which had been sold were to be returned to their original owners, people who had been sold into slavery – which was a viable option to clear a family debt – were to be released, and all debts – financial of otherwise were forgiven. The people who had become rich, and the people who had become poor, were made equals in the ideals of the Jubilee Year. This was God’s plan for keeping the earth and its people viable – the land, the people, and the financial burdens of society were given release. It is unfortunate, therefore that there is no evidence to suggest that the Lord’s year of acceptance – the Year of Jubilee was ever celebrated by the people. Do you remember the Jubilee campaign of the late 90s, which developed into the Make Poverty History campaign? This is where it all started – Leviticus 25, and it is something that Jesus announced at the commencement of his earthly ministry as being a priority.

However, there is also a sense of irony to be had in the wording and alternative meaning to verse 19, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Because as we read on in Luke Chapter 4, we see that what is acceptable to the Lord, tends not to be acceptable to God’s creation. After Jesus had sat down, and had told the gathered assembly that “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing” they were impressed. They were probably very excited that finally something good – a prophet – was coming out of Nazareth. They heard his words as being gracious, and were amazed with him. A local boy done good.

Then Jesus reminded them of the unique history that Israel has in regard to its prophets and its ability to hear from them and head their warnings. He tells them about how the Prophets Elijah and Elisha sent by God to the people of Israel, were then sent by the same God of the people to those on the outer – those who were not perceived to be part of God’s Kingdom. Perhaps when they heard these things, they could see their grasp at fame and notoriety slipping through their clutches. No one is going to follow this prophet who is preaching God’s acceptance to outsiders, to Gentiles. The people in the synagogue, after hearing Jesus first recorded sermon in Luke’s Gospel – his Holy Spirit filled vision for his ministry, the mission of God on earth – after hearing this, they were filled with rage and took him out to throw him off a cliff. The very one who came proclaiming the Lord’s acceptance, was treated with the polar opposite by those who knew him best. Just like the Year of Jubilee, which seems to have never been accepted by God’s people – so too, Jesus of Nazareth – the human manifestation of God’s acceptance was rejected. Those of you, who are familiar with the Gospel Story, know that this trend of rejection continued, right until his death on the cross. The message of the Lord’s acceptance was met with rejection.

One of the things that drew me to, and excites me about the potential of ministry here with you, the community at Mount Barker Church of Christ is your Mission Statement. I am not going to ask you all to recite it here, but it reads:

By the Grace of God and with the Guidance and Power of the Holy Spirit, we seek to be an open and inclusive community, desiring that all should know and grow in relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

And it was the part, “we seek to be an open and inclusive community” that spoke to me about the Lord’s acceptance. Often groups tend to define themselves by who they are not – by clearly stating who does not belong, who is not welcome – like the world does to Jesus, and like we as humanity do to each other – but here in the community of the Mount Barker Church of Christ you have written it into your mission statement, as something you aim to achieve, that you will seek to be an open and inclusive community – accepting people for who they are, modelling the grace that we have received from the Lord towards others – and that enlivens me.

On behalf of Casey and myself, I would like to thank you for calling, welcoming and accepting us into your community. We really look forward to the many opportunities that shall arise, such as at the shared lunch here today, where we can spend time getting to know each other, and sharing in our life’s journey together. In particular I look forward to joining you in your ministry and mission to the community of Mount Barker and beyond. Your vision for a cafe/op shop and men’s shed shows that you are a community who are on a journey to fulfil your mission statement in your local context, and I hope and pray that I can enable and empower you to continue this calling.

Jesus proclaimed “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, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” My prayer for this new beginning, and for my joining with you in ministry, is that we can continue to mirror the proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth, that has echoed down these past 2000 years, and will continue to change lives long after the memory of Churchill and Kennedy have faded.

Let’s Pray.

Creator God,

We give you thanks for the opportunity to come and worship you. We ask that you go before us in all that we do, and remind us of the call you place on all our lives, to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with you, our God.

Amen.