Dealing with the 'bad guys'

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. – Luke 6.27-31

I don’t think anyone could doubt that we live in a tribalist, sectarian, divided, disunified world where debate and discussion is riddled with hatred and rancour and vitriol and where everyone if ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

Sadly Christians are right there in the middle of it. We can hate with the best of them. We can fight and scrap and insult our way to victorious ‘debate.’

But what does Jesus say about these kind of things?

Love your enemies?

Do good to people who hate you?

Bless people when they curse you?

Pray for those who spitefully use you?

If someone slaps you on the cheek turn the other?

If your enemy ask for you cloak give him your shirt as well?

Give to those who ask of you?

If someone takes your stuff don’t ask for it back?

Treat them the way you want to be treated?

What?? Is that any way to win a fight? If I do that they are going to take advantage of me. Nobody can expect me to act like that.

I look at that and it really goes against my fleshly grain. If I am insulted I want to insult. If somebody does me wrong I want to get them back. I don’t want to pray for people who use me. I certainly don’t want to help people who are my enemies.

But how can I get by ‘love your enemies?’ There is it is black and white (or red and white depending on your Bible J ).

In these days of social media fuelled hatred and antagonism we surely needed reminded of God’s word.

Follow Me

And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. – Luke 5.27-28

Levi, a hated tax collector, was sitting at his table collecting taxes for Rome and making sure He got His own corrupt cut of the taxes. Jesu called other men of other trades but this man was the least well thought of and most despised of all the Jews who served Rome and their puppets in the Temple.

As He sat there Jesus walked up and simple said ‘follow Me.’

And Levi rose up and followed Jesus.

I know there is a lot more to it than this simple little picture, but isn’t that a great notion of serving God? What is all Christians simply followed Jesus? What if we followed Jesus in the way we treat people? How about how we dealt with our enemies? What if we followed Jesus in the places we go and things we watch and words we listen to and how we respond to jokes?

What is we just followed Jesus? Do you think we’d make a difference in this world od madness around us?

How do we do with ‘I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back?’ 

Prophecy fulfilled

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? – Luke 4.17-22

People didn’t quite know what think about Jesus. There was definitely something about Him, but I don’t think folks quite knew what it was. He had become a teacher in the synagogue. One Sabbath He went to preach in the synagogue in Nazareth, as was his wont. He got up, picked up the scroll, and said ‘open your Bibles to Isaiah 61. (I know, I know, He didn’t really do that J )

When He first started reading His hearers would have recognised it as one of the most clearly Messianic passages in the scriptures. It was a prophecy of something the Messiah would one day say.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.
God has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor

God has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted

God has sent Me to preach deliverance to the captives

God has sent Me to give sight to the blind

God has sent Me to give liberty to the hurting

God has sent Me to preach the acceptable year of the Lord

Then he walked over, handed the scroll to the synagogue minister, and sat down.

You could have head a pin drop. Everyone just looked in amazement.

Then He said, today this scripture has been fulfilled.

The people were stunned because of the authority with which He spoke. Messiah was here, though they would not cop on to it yet.

His message is a blessing. This is what the coming of Messiah means – liberty, salvation, deliverance, healing, and hope. That is the message that we have today for a lost and broken world that offers none of those things. We have the authority of God’s word behind because Jesus sais when He commissioned His disciples that He was passing His authority on to them. The is hope for us and hope for the world because Messiah has come.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. – Luke 3.21-22

It took me a long time to understand how important the whole concept of the Trinity really is. I knew it, I believed it, I accepted that each had their role, but it was only a few years ago that I heard a series of messages that really made me think.

Here, at Jesus’ baptism we see hear the Father speak from heaven we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and we see Jesus in the river being baptised. The Father’s words are ‘this is my beloved Son in whom I am well please.’

The concept I had not considered before was that God, as a Tri-une God, is a God Who is in fellowship. (I hope I am not advocating a heresy in ignorance here. I am sure I will hear about if I am) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perfect unity, but there are in some way their own, and here we see them in a fellowship that goes back before time.

If I am right, and fellowship is so important that God is a God in fellowship, shouldn’t we take fellowship important as well? The Bible is full of examples of unity and manifesting unity in fellowship. God fellowships with Himself, He desires fellowship with us, and He wants us to enjoy fellowship with each other.

And Jesus grew

Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.  – Luke 2.51-52

I remember the first time this verse ever made an impact on me. We were at a teacher training seminar and the speaker was Les Ollila. He used this verse to express the importance of teaching our children or our students or whoever in four basic areas of life.

The application goes wider because I think these areas of growth are areas that we all need to grow in. As we teach our children we need to make sure that we instruct then mentally, we need to do all we can to make sure that they develop physically; we need to attend to their spiritual and their social development. It is a matter of balance. If they were important for Jesus they are important for our kids as well.

But don’t we all need to balance those four areas of our lives as well. Even as we start to age don’t we need to take care that we continue grow mentally? Isn’t it vital that we take care of our bodies even as they begin to wear down? We certainly can’t stop growing spiritually as we age. And, last, but not least, we need to always work on our social skills and not let age be an excuse to become jerks.

We need to focus on godly, Christ centred wisdom and realise that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and always draw close to the Lord and keep on loving others. There is no time to get neglectful in any of these areas.

My Father's business

So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. – Luke 2.45-50

This is a fascinating story. Jesus and His family had been in Jerusalem with a lot of other people for an annual feast. It was the kind of thing where children off together to be with friends and relatives and cousins. When they left everyone was sure that Jesus was with someone else. I don’t know how it took a whole day to realise it, but eventually Mary and Joseph realised that Jesus was missing.

So what could they do but go back to Jerusalem? So back they went and eventually they found Jesus sitting among the teachers. Everyone who was there was amazed at Jesus’ questions and His answers.

Mary of course was at the end of her rope. ‘Why have you done this to your father and me? We were terrified.’

Jesus reply was simple. ‘You have known all along that I had to do my real Father’s business.’ I guess Mary and Joseph were so used to their life that they had somehow forgotten or not thought about why Jesus came. He was just their son and they were worried about them.

I love the next verse. We read that despite the fact that He was the Son of God He picked up and went home with Mary and Joseph. He submitted to their human authority.

We know from Paul’s words to the Philippian church that Jesus became a man and took on the form of a servant. He could have ignored Mary and Joseph and gone on about His work, but He submitted to their authority. I think this gives us a great image of how important submission to authority really is and why we must practice it today. Sometimes we need to just swallow our pride and do what is right.

Prayer and fasting

Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. – Luke 2.36-37

Anna was another dear old saint. It is hard to tell from the way this is worded, and scholars differ, but needless to say she had been serving in the Temple a long, long time.

It is her service that impresses me. Her ministry was fasting and praying. Only fasting and praying? Is that all she did? People were doing all kinds of works and this old lady gets praised because she fasted and prayed and she got to see the arrival of the Redeemer?

I think rather than see things that we way we ought to see what an important ministry fasting and praying is. Later, when Jesus is grown up and in His ministry He will tell His disciples that certain things can only be accomplished by prayer and fasting.

It is amazing how busy we get in life and family and business and just general busyness. This wonderful old saint decided that the most important thing she could do was fast and pray. That certainly is not a ministry for everyone, or nothing practical would get done, but I think we can recognise that there is plenty of room for fasting and prayer in our lives today.

Simeon and Anna: two of my Bible heroes as I get older.

I have seen your salvation

"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation – Luke 2.29-30

Simeon and Anna are two people who bless me greatly. They were not related, as far as I know, but they were both older people who lived and worked the Temple. They were both faithful in their service. Simeon was a just and devout man who was waiting for the coming of Messiah. He was full of the Holy Spirit and God had told him that He would not die without seeing Messiah.

He is an old man know, surely he wondered at times if this promise was going to be fulfilled.

But now the day had come. The infant Messiah had come to the Temple. Salvation had arrived and Simeon could die in peace.

I love Simeon’s tenacity. He had a promise of God in his life and He stayed faithful. He is a challenge to me as I strive to faithfully wait on God to fulfil His promises. Just as sure as He came the first time He is coming again one day. May I be as faithful as Simeon as I await His return.

Those who heard it marvelled

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marvelled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.  – Luke 2.16-18

This scene of the shepherds has stuck in my mind ever since we attended a live nativity recreation at a church someplace in Ohio many years ago. As we walked through the streets of ‘Bethlehem’ three men in rough looking homes came rushing through the ‘streets’ shouting at everyone and sometimes grabbing people and trying to turn them around and saying ‘come, you have to see this! We have seen the Messiah and He is right here in Bethlehem! Messiah has come as a baby and He is here! Come and see!’

I think they got part of the sense of excitement that must have coursed through the streets of Bethlehem that night. The shepherds had seen and heard the angels, they had been to worship the infant Messiah, and now they wanted everyone to know what they had seen.

Those of us who are Christians today have met the Messiah. We have seen all that He has done for us. The challenge is to ask ourselves if people respond to us the same way that people responded to the shepherds. Do people marvel at our words? Are our words so clear and our lives so impactful that our testimonies cause marvel in the hearts of people who know us?

So people marvel at Christ in us?

On earth, peace

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" – Luke 2.14

Luke 1 finished up talking about walking in the way of peace. That notion of peace is one I think we all appreciate and desire. We live in a world that is crying ‘peace, peace’ but there is no peace. I am reminded of Longfellow’s words when he wrote ‘there is no peace on earth I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will toward men.’

While we may not have a major war or conflict going on in the world at the moment we also cannot say there is anything like peace in this world. Death and destruction are all around us. Violence is everywhere. Peace and goodwill seem far from possible.

Until Jesus comes back there is never going to be real peace between. There will always be wars and fighting and contention. People are always going to want what they want and will fight for it and people are always going to fight to protect what is theirs.

But, there is an inner peace that the world can’t provide. There is the peace that exists on our hearts even when there is no peace on earth. It is the peace that Jesus offered when He said ‘My peace I leave with you.’ The message that Messiah brought was peace with God and peace in our hearts. It is the peace that passes all understanding.

That’s the peace the angels announced, but we can be assured that one day, when Christ comes to reign, there will be true peace not only in our hearts, but also among men. 

Good tidings

Good tidings

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." – Luke 2.10-12

I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to be those shepherds in their fields on that night. Suddenly, out of nowhere a group of angels appear. The shepherds must have been terrified. This was certainly nothing as they sat there around the campfire.

The first thing they heard was ‘Don’t be afraid!’ That’s a good thing because I am sure that was an issue, I am sure they were afraid.

But then the find out why they need not fear. The angels were bringing ‘good tidings of great joy.’ They brought those good tidings of great joy for all people. The news was not just for the shepherds, not just for the Jews, but for everyone!

And what was the news? ‘Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour!’

The shepherds knew what that meant because they rushed to Bethlehem to see the miracle. The Saviour, the Messiah, was here, and He was here for all people. God had brought His offer of eternal salvation to all people. Unto those shepherds a child was born, but we rejoice because He was also given unto us!

Knowledge of salvation

To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace."  - Luke 1.77-79

John the Baptist was going to have some kind of impact. ‘What kind of child is this?’ was going to be a major player in introducing the gospel to the world.

I like that he was called to give ‘knowledge of salvation.’ That salvation came by the remission of sins through the tender mercy of God brought by the Dayspring from on high to give light to those in darkness and the shadow of death and to guide our feet in the way of peace.

That’s quite a mouthful and there is a lot there that we could dig into. Mercy and light and peace are amazing things all worthy of our study.

But today I want to focus on the very beginning of the passage where it speaks of the knowledge of salvation. The knowledge of salvation is something I don’t think about very often, but the more I do the more I see how vital a real knowledge of salvation is. Why?

Because if we never get a grasp on a true knowledge of salvation we are always to be weak in our service for Him and we are going to live lives of doubting and fear. If we don’t know we are saved how can we serve? If am constantly wondering if I have done enough to lose my salvation how can I keep going?

It was the fact that I had no knowledge of salvation that led to my salvation. I was a Bible study and saw 1 John 5.13 – ‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.’ ‘That you may know…’ is key to our salvation being real.  

In holiness and righteousness

Serve the Lord in holiness and righteousness

That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. – Luke 1.71-75

There is another way that we, being delivered from our enemies, ought to be serving the Lord. We ought to serve, not only without fear, but in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives.

It is not enough for us just to serve. Anyone can go through the motions of serving and even do a decent job at it. Things can get done and we can even look like successes even when we serve out of the flesh. A lot of things carry on that way and look good enough on the outside.

But that’s not the kind of service we need to strive for. God wants us to serve Him, but to serve with the right heart and the right character. Our walk and our service for the Lord must be marked by a holy behaviour and a righteous walk. We can’t serve God and live like the world – well, actually, we can do both in a sense. It will, however, be a work that makes us look good and in which the glory does not go to Him.

How many of us can honestly say that our lives are marked by holiness and righteousness, especially ‘all the days of our lives?’

Serving the Lord without fear

That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. – Luke 1.71-75

John the Baptist was a prophet sent by God to do a new work and prepare the world for the coming of Messiah. His message was going to bold and clear. His preaching was to give God’s people of several things. One of those was that we can ‘serve the Lord’ without fear.

Now that doesn’t mean, of course, that nothing bad was going to happen. It meant that we could face all that came our way, good or bad with the peace that God will go through it with us. We may very well face trouble and opposition but we don’t have to fear eternal consequences.

We can serve without fear because Jesus promises ‘lo, I am with you always even to the ends of the earth.’ Even when it seems like we are all alone we can trust that He is there and we need not be afraid.

Serving God might be intimidating, but it ought never be fearsome.

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' – Isaiah 41.10

The hand of God was on him

And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, "What kind of child will this be?" And the hand of the Lord was with him. – Luke 1.66

The birth of John is fascinating. The angel told Zacharias that he and his wife Elisabeth were going to have a son, even though she was barren. The angel told Zacharias that his son was going to named John.

That was confusing; there were no Johns in the family. Zacharias was going to call his son Zacharias. When he said that the angel told Zacharias that he would not speak again till the baby was born.

The people were amazed at all this. ‘What kind of child will this be?’

I think that is a question we all might ask when we have children or grandchildren come into the family. When that precious child arrives I think we all wonder what kind of child this is going to be. How will this child turn out?

We then read the answer – ‘the hand of the Lord was with him.’

Obviously we are not all going to be John the Baptist, but in a Christian home we can look forward to watching the hand of God on our children. Clearly, our children are going to have free will and make their own choices, but our prayer from the very beginning ought to be that the hand of the Lord would be on these children as the grow and then we need to all we can do through living guidance and godly instruction to see them walk as guided by the hand of the Lord.  

See the children in your lives today and pray that they will be guided by the hand of God and then do all you can to give them godly direction.

Magnify the Lord

And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.  – Luke 1.46-49

Mary is pretty sharp for such a young woman. If she were here today we would probably refer to her as a girl. What she heard from the angel surely must have made her anxious at best. I would guess she was still terrified.

After her cousin Elisabeth approached her and honoured her Mary could have felt
proud. This was a much older cousin honouring her!

Watch where her focus goes – ‘My soul magnifies (exalts, lifts up) the Lord! I can rejoice in Him. He had chosen to use me despite my lowly status.’

And then – ‘He who is mighty has done great things for me!’

Her attitude is a challenge to us all. There is nothing in us that is worthy of being lifted up or magnified. All my best attempts fall too far short, every time. So let God be magnified in our lives for the great things that He has done for us. He is the mighty One. He is the holy One. He has gone great things for us. What else can we do but glorify Him?

The mother of my Lord

And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord." – Luke 1.41-45

This family encounter between Mary and Elisabeth intrigues me. It doesn’t only involve these two women, but it involves their unborn children John and Jesus.

When Mary greeted Elisabeth John ‘leaped in her womb.’ Somehow John knew that the Lord was there and Elisabeth sensed it.

But look at her next words – ‘why am I so blessed that my Lord would come to me?’

Did you catch that? Elisabeth recognised the baby in the womb as her Lord! She put her faith in a Lord who had not even been born. She had decided to follow Jesus before He was even here.

We know what Jesus did. We know the whole story. We know what He taught, we know the works He wrought, we know the price He paid and for ransom He bought. We sing ‘I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,’ but have we really? Is He really the Lord of our lives?

Far too often our goals and ambitions and desires and wants and our flesh are the lords of our lives.

Elisabeth knew that the baby was her Lord, will we acknowledge the risen Saviour as ours?

According to your word

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. – Luke 1.38

Mary must have been overwhelmed after the angel’s pronouncement. There must have been a million thoughts running through her head. ‘What does this mean?’ ‘How am I going to do this?’ ‘What are my parents and friends going to think?’ What will Joseph say?’

She said ‘let it be according to your word. I am the servant of the Lord.’ Mary knew that the words the angel spoke were from God.

The woman amazes me. How would I respond to a similar call on my own life?

This kind of remind me of Jesus in the garden saying ‘Lord, if it is your will let this cup pass from me, but if not, let your will be done.’

We are not always going to find the road easy. We may have to do things we would rather not do. But we should always be willing to do what God says. We need to remember that we are servants of the ultimate Servant and then live our lives according to His word.

How can this be?

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. – Luke 1.34-37

Mary was pretty practical for a very young woman. When told she was going to have a son her first question was the obvious one – ‘how is this going to happen?’ She was young and a virgin. She had never had sex with anyone. How in the world was she going to have a baby? This was impossible!

Impossible is right. A virgin cannot have a child. No way no how.

But God specialises in the impossible. What is impossible with man is possible with God. With God nothing is impossible.

God could say ‘let there be light’ and there was light. God could part the Red Sea. God can heal the sick and raise the dead and make the blind man see and calm the storms.

And God can give a virgin a baby.

With a God who can do all that is anything too hard for Him to do to us? Can He pay that bill? Can He heal? Can He carry you through that illness? Can He provide for that need when you see no way to do it?

Jesus

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. – Luke 1.31-33

‘You Mary, are going to have a Son, and you will call Him Jesus.’

There is no way Mary could have comprehended this statement. Her son would ‘be great and called the Son of the Highest and he would sit on the throne of David and reign over the house of Jacob, and the kingdom He established would never end.’

Another gospel says that the angel defines the name be what the son would do – ‘He will save His people from their sins.’

From the time of the first announcement to Zechariah it was obvious something huge was about to happen to the world. Mary may not have known it at the time, but the angel was telling her that she was going to give birth to the long awaited Messiah.

He would be called. Mary may have had a hint, but could not have grasped all that meant. He would save His people from their sins. Most Jews would think of Messiah as their deliverer from the oppression of Rome. They could not have really comprehended that He was going to provide salvation for a much more serious oppressor. He was to deliver from the oppression of sin.

Rome was temporary, like any other oppressive power. But sin lasts forever. Jesus didn’t just deliver the people of His day, He still delivers today. Thank God for Mary and her part in God’s plan.

Fear not

To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. – Luke 1.27-30

I can’t even imagine this scene as it played out. Out in Nowheresville an angle appeared to speak to the ultimate Nobody. A young woman named Mary was the Nobody and Nazareth was the Nowheresville. Mary might have been as young as 14-15 and she was the promised future bride of a man named Joseph. In case there is any doubt the Luke makes it clear that that we know she is a virgin.

Mary is sitting in Nazareth minding her own business and probably thinking of her upcoming wedding.

Out of nowhere an angel appears to her – that must have been a shock in itself – but then he spoke. ‘Hail Mary, you are highly favoured, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.’

Of course she was troubled. What could all this mean? Can you imagine your 14 year old daughter or granddaughter or niece being in this situation?

Then came great words of comfort – ‘fear not Mary.’

Those words ‘fear not’ are words that God gives us over and over in His word. ‘Fear not for I am with…fear not, neither be afraid’ are regular reminders in God’s word.

None of knows what the future holds – none of knows what today holds, but we can take comfort in those wonderful words ‘fear not’ for we too have found God’s favour in our salvation.  

To make ready a people

But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. – Luke 1.13-17

I have always found John the Baptist an intriguing character. He is in sense the last Old Testament prophet and in one sense the first New Testament preacher. He was a bit of a wild man? He lived the desert and ate locust beans and honey and clothing himself roughly.

Long before all that though, we are privileged to see the prophecy that the angel gave to John’s dad. The angel told Zachariah ‘your son will be named John. He will be full of joy and gladness. Many will rejoice in his birth. He will be great in God’s eyes…he will be full of the Holy Ghost even in the womb.’ All that was wonderful but then the angel said ‘many of the children of Israel will turn to God.’

That is surely enough. What great news for a priest to hear. It is the finish of this section though that is a real blessing – ‘he will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’

John was coming to prepare the world for the long awaited Messiah. He was the promised ‘spirit of Elijah’ These were the words that closed the Old Testament in the book of Malachi.

God used normal people like Zacharias and Elisabeth to do great things. He still does today.

Zacharias and Elisabeth

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. – Luke 1.5-6

Dr Luke was one of the followers of Christ. As we read in Acts he set out to carefully record all that Jesus ‘did and said.’ His gospel is very clear and precise. We get a lot of details we don’t get in other gospels. Some historians think that Luke and Acts were written as evidence in Paul’s trial.

Interestingly, the first people we hear about is a priest named Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth. This just seems to come from nowhere. We are given their family heritage then told ‘they were both righteous before God, they were walking blamelessly in all the commands and ordinances of God.’

These were special people with a special task. They were chosen by God to parent the man who would prepare the world for the coming of Messiah. At the moment they were getting older with no real hope of getting pregnant.

But an angel appears and tells them that they are going to have a baby named John. That name is a whole other story, but the key here is the character of the parents. They did right and obeyed God and God did the impossible for them by giving them a son. Not just any son, but one who would change the world.

Thank God for the faithfulness of the lesser known people of the Bible.

They went out

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. – Mark 18.19-20

…and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.

We have a glimpse of the beginning of the book of Acts here. The disciples finally got their act together and were together when Jesus told them to go into the world and preach the gospel. He was then carried away into heaven. Finally, for the first time maybe since their calling, they just obeyed. They went out and preached the gospel.

Not only that, they went out and they preached everywhere they went. When we read Jesus’ last words on earth that is really what we should all be doing. The charge to the disciples is just as alive today as it was when Jesus gave it. The charge was clear. ‘Go into all the world.’ ‘You will be witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.’ Obviously, these 12 could not accomplish all of that so the charge falls on all of us.

Part of the reason they could go and part of the reason we can go is in the next line – the Lord was working with them. He will work with us.

These guys did as Jesus said. How are you and I doing? 

They still didn't believe

And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. – Mark 16.10-14

These disciples were something else. All through their ministry we see then doubting or questioning Jesus. They never seem to really ‘cop on’ to what was going on. They had a whole wrong perspective about what Jesus’ ministry was all about. Then, when He went to the cross as He said He would, they all forsook Him.

Now the women came back from the tomb to say that they had seen the risen Jesus. They didn’t believe it. They saw the two men who had met Jesus on the road, and still they did not believe.

How could they still not believe after all than time? How could they persist in not believing?

Huh? How can we even think that? At least how can I even think of being critical of these guys? How many times have you and I not had to believe Jesus despite all of the evidence? We’ve read His word and we’ve seen Him work and STILL we don’t believe! The question we ought to ask ourselves is not ‘how could they not believe?’ but ‘how can WE not believe?

Torn in two

And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.  – Mark 15.37-38

Before Jesus there was a clear delineation between the Jews and the rest of the world. There were many Gentiles who were ‘saved’ before Jesus. All they had to do was to put their faith in God. But the Jews were still God’s chosen people and many of them were proud of that. Jews and Gentiles did not get along. Jews had a very low of Gentiles. The Jews thought God was theirs and theirs alone.

But something happened at the cross that would change things forever. There was a curtain in the Temple separating the area the Gentiles could go from the area Jews could go. At the time of the crucifixion that curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. God tore down the ‘middle wall of partition’ and because of that, in Christ there would be no Jew or Gentile, male nor female, slave or free. All would be one in Christ.

This torn curtain is a great visual image of this wonderful truth. The gospel was for the whole world. Everyone needs to hear it. Those of us who are saved become a part of God’s family. We are one in Him so there is no room for fighting or squabbling or division.

Here is how Paul puts in his letter to the Ephesians:

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Fellowcitizens is how the King James translates the word. When the veil was torn all of our earthly citizenships became meaningless. The only citizenship that really matters is one we all share in heaven.

Sleeping Peter

And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. – Mark 14.37-38

Imagine yourself being outside of a quiet garden on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is late evening. It has been a long day. You have just come from supper with Jesus. The Master has been speaking about betrayal. Judas has left the supper.  Jesus has told you that before dawn the next day you were going to betray Him.

And now Jesus has told you that He is going to get alone and pray. This is nothing new, He does that all the time. He asked you and the other disciples to stand guard and watch for trouble, and for you to pray as well.

So you settle in to ‘watch and pray.’ It’s dark, it’s late, you’re tired. The fire is crackling, you have had a bit of a chat, and then things calm down. As time goes by who find yourself getting drowsy. It’s hard to keep your eyes open. Your head keeps nodding. ‘I’ve got to stay awa…’

‘Peter, Simon!’

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you hear ‘couldn’t even keep watch for one single hour?’

‘Your spirit was willing, but your flesh was weak.’

As I read this I can certainly feel for Peter. I don’t sleep well so I can really understand how it must have felt to be dozing off. It happened to me all the time when I sit down and take it easy during the day. Watching the telly or reading or whatever can get me in the same kind of lazy and lethargic attitude no matter how much I want to stay awake.

But is goes much further than that. Jesus’ statement that ‘’the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ That really describes a lot about doing things for God. I really want to trust God for my future completely. I really want to pray more. I really want to be a bolder witness. I really want to love more. I really want to do more for the poor. My spirit really, really wants to do those things.

I really do.

But my stinking flesh is weak. Laziness and self-centredness and pride all get in the way. A lot of times I just fall back on the comfort zone that is my flesh. That is the easy default.

Lord, you are my strength. Give me the strength to overcome the weakness and frailty of my flesh. I do want to do right, give me the power to do it in my daily practice.  

Betrayed Him

And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.  – Mark 14.10-11

The whole story of the 12 apostles and the inclusion of Judas has always intrigued me. 12 men, normal men, men with frailties and weaknesses and flaws and doubts were chosen to oversee the birth of the church and the spread of God’s word and the carrying of the gospel.

But one of them was not what it seemed. He was the treasurer, the purse-keeper, so there must have been a special amount of trust in him. To Judas was given the charge of the monies. He travelled with the rest from the very start. He has seen the healing and the feedings and the exorcisms and the calming of the sea. He had sat around the fire and heard the stories and the parables and the lessons of the Teacher.

None of these guys really got it – they all ran away when Jesus was arrested. Peter even denied Jesus.

But Judas betrayed Jesus. The conspirators approached the purse-keeper with a bribe. ‘Show us who He is and we will good money. And Judas began to consider how he was going to betray Jesus.

Betrayal is hard. It must be even harder when you know you are going to be betrayed. Jesus knew that, and still chose to serve the betrayer by washing his feet, and then sat down to sup with him.

Loving is not always easy. Love is risky. We don’t know the end result. Sometimes we pour our hearts and love and emotion and time into someone only to be betrayed. It is easy to say ‘I’m not going to do that again, I am tired of being hurt.’ That’s not what Jesus did though. Judas was worth the risk. And because He was betrayed he understand the pain that betrayal brings.

The widow's mite

And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. – Mark 12.42-44

Nobody seems to want to talk about giving at church. We pastors can almost feel apologetic when the topic comes up.

The thing is though that Jesus talked a lot about giving. Giving was not meant to be a burden, but a way to see God bless our faith. It was a sign of gratitude for what God has done.

Jesus talks here about people brining the offerings for the Temple. The rich were gladly dumping money in the box to prove how spiritual they were. I reckon they were feeling pretty good about themselves.

Then along came this poor widow. She fished in her bag and all she could come up with was two mites, about a farthing, or a 1/4^th of a cent, a little over a euro in today’s money.

Surely, that is just a pittance. What could that matter in the light of what they were doing in that magnificent Temple. But when Jesus saw what had happened His called His followers to Him and pointed out the widow’s two mites were more than all the great gifts of the Pharisees. It did not hurt them to give, but the widow gave all she had.

God is not concerned about amounts, He doesn’t need our money. He doesn’t want us to give to pay His bills. We give to show our gratitude to God, to meet the needs of the poor, and to meet the needs of those who preach the gospel so they can give themselves to it.

God wants hearts like this widow, he wants us to give out of our lack and even our poverty to get our eyes off of our wallets and on to His ability to provide. Giving is worship because it is evidence that I trust Him.

Lord, make me to see giving the way this precious widow did, and then watch you meet my needs.

The greatest commandment

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. – Mark 12.28-31

The wedding of Harry and Meghan took place in Windsor recently, just in case you hadn’t heard, to great fanfare and celebration and world-wide attention.

One thing really stuck out this time, something that normally would not stand out. It was the sermon by the Anglican bishop who officiated. Although theologically all over the place at one point he mentioned 1 John 4.8 – ‘anybody who does not love does not know God, because God is love.’ He may have missed the mark on a couple of things, but he nailed that. If we can’t love we don’t love God – full stop.

Jesus set that down when the Pharisees tried to trick him with questions. They always fought over the Law and its fine points and what the most important law was so the tried to drag Jesus into the debate.

‘What is the most important commandment teacher?’

Here it is summarised – ‘love God and love others.’

The guy had no answer but, ‘well yeah, you are right Jesus.’

We do need to be people of love. In the recent abortion vote Christians and others said #loveboth . That was easy when all it meant was a mark on a ballot. We have to ask ourselves if we are still willing help when that young woman finds herself scared and desperate and alone. We will love enough to be there in the crisis? We will care enough to let her know that we are there? We can still save lives if we love – and that should be our trademark.