Matthew 3:1-13 and John 11:1-48
from December 5, 2010
We have a new puppy in our house. She’s cute as a button and proving herself much smarter than me. No matter the barricade we’ve made to keep her on the linoleum in the kitchen, she’s found a way to escape. With her little nose and using every muscle in her little, four-pound body, she’s found a way around, to pull herself above so she has a clear path to freedom.
She shows extreme determination, she is very focused and intent. She is on a mission and nothing is going to stop her. She is clearing a path to freedom.
John the Baptist comes out of the wilderness preaching. He’s telling the people to clear a path to freedom in their lives.
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| Wilderness Canadian Style! |
John the Baptist is telling the people to set aside the heaviness of the past. Prepare the way for the Messiah. The anointed One. God’s Kingdom of Heaven is coming.
God’s Reign is coming.
But we read this passage with Resurrection eyes. As people who have experienced Christ’s ministry, death and resurrection. Because for us, God’s reign is here!
Christ did come. Christ taught. Christ rose to new life. Death could not defeat him. Christ lives! The Spirit of Christ is with us, among us.
We know God’s reign is here!! But…are we connected enough to God to see God’s Glory and allow ourselves to experience God’s glory. Are we still on that clear path that John the Baptist came out of the Wilderness, preaching out, as intent as a little puppy seeking freedom. Are we on a clear path that connects us with God, upon where we are always aware of God’s Glory?
What can be roadblocks for us on our path To God or prevent us from even getting on the path, are doubts and fears.
A young woman wanted to be a nurse. All through her childhood and teenage years this was what she desired. But her father told her she wasn’t smart enough.
She was likely smart enough to become a good nurse. But somewhere along the way, she believed her father’s negative voice that became her inner voice. When she hit a hard time, those negative voices came back to her and she gave into them. She dropped out of nursing school.
God gives to each of us a purpose, an intention. God multi-gifts each of us. God wants only goodness for us and to flourish. If we keep our eyes on God’s glory and God’s desires for goodness for us, we’ll get there.
We’re going to look at a Scripture story where Jesus remains focused on God’s purpose of glory for him.
Shauna’s going to come up again to read the story of Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead in John’s Gospel. It’s the passage that our study group looked at on Tues. night.
Jesus is on this positive, up-beat, full-of-hope mission to raise Lazarus from the dead. He sees God’s glory and wants others to experience that. But along the way, along this path towards resurrection, he’s stopped by voices of doubt.
As Shauna reads, look for who those voices of doubt are.
In Verse 9, what image does Jesus use that he is choosing to stay in God and not in doubt?
(“Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.”)
Who are the Voices of doubt?
- Martha and Mary.
- Thomas in v. 16. Delightfully, sarcastic. Doubting Thomas. Disciples say to Jesus earlier – do you really want to go to Judea – this is where people have threatened to stone you. And Jesus gives them a response – that he’s going to choose to walk in the light of God, not the darkness of fear. Thomas’ doesn’t really hear him….says sarcastic, joking way….OK, let’s all go so we can get killed.
We can have voices of doubt and fear in our life. Sometimes they come from within, sometimes they come from outside of us. Fearful voices that only speak of doubt and impending doom.
As we studied John 11 last Tuesday night. People noticed that any time there was a doubting voice. – there was a pause in the story. Jesus had to stop. Reflect.
Happens to us, too, doesn’t it?
I love Jesus’ response to Martha in verse 40: “if you believe, you will see God’s Glory.” So apt. We need to hold on to belief and in that, we will continue to see God’s glory upon glory. We can do that because God’s Kingdom is at hand, as Jesus came to tell us. We need eyes to see it.
And then the most beautiful thing happens at the end: Jesus says a prayer. And as our Tuesday night group has been studying, it’s a prayer to make manifest. Jesus prays by thanking God for already having caused Lazarus to rise from the dead. “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I know that you always hear me.
Jesus was on an intentional, up-beat mission to witness to God’s Glory and no voice of doubt was going to deter him from his intention.
But going back to John the Baptist, he’s saying: God’s reign is coming. And these people went down to the river to be baptized and chose to believe. If any one had reason to fall into gloom and doom and doubt and not believe, they did.
The average life span in Christ’s time was 20 to 25 years of age. They had to marry at age 13 or 14 to make sure they had children to carry on. Most children didn’t make it past infancy.
Wow, how things have changed. Average life span in Canada is 81 years of age
Things have really changed. We can say that The Reign of God is here and God’s Reign is coming again. We see God’s Glory. If things have got this good , then of course, they can get better. We need to believe that.
If you believe, Jesus says to Martha, Jesus says to us “You will see God’s Glory.”
We know there is doubt and fear out there. We need to deal with that fear within us and outside of us and hold on to God’s glory. We’ve got to that 81 average years of living because many people and many generations believed that good health was possible, well-being was possible and that there is enough for all.
More than a week ago we went through an incident where a public official leading an administration bent on austerity in our health system managed to get himself a ¾ of a million dollar payout over a cookie.
Doubters and fear mongers will tell us there is not enough for all. Not enough to go around. But God tells us, Christ tells us to keep our eyes on God’s glory. There is abundance, there is enough for all.
Our life is so very bountiful compared to those people who gathered with John the Baptist at the river. They believed in the coming of God’s Kingdom. They believed life would get better and better. And they were right. So may we believe…
1 comment:
OK Thanks.
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