Pastor's Message

As Much as Things Change, They Seem to Stay the Same…

When Jesus preached and taught on this earth, his audience, the lost sheep of Israel, the chosen people of God, were deeply divided into sects. Each sect interpreted the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in a different way. They were divided as to which books were divinely inspired, the life of faith, free will and how one should live every day. These sects included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes and Zealots.
The Sadducees were the priestly class. Their sect included the High Priest, and the Priests and Levites who served in the Jerusalem Temple. They believed that only the books of Moses or the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) were inspired by the Holy Spirit (the Cannon). All other books of the Old Testament were not relevant to the faith and life of the people. They believed that each human being has free will and can act to serve God or not serve God. They interpreted the Torah very literally. They followed the Levitical purity laws to the letter. They did not believe in the existence of a spiritual world which included angels and demons. They did not believe in either resurrection of the dead or a future life, or judgment and reward and punishment, inasmuch as they believed that the soul perished with the body. In addition to the law and the prophets, there existed a whole oral tradition passed down from generation to generation which supplemented and interpreted the written scriptures.  The Sadducees completely rejected this oral tradition.
The sect called the Pharisees accepted the Torah and the Prophets as inspired. They placed on equal footing with the written Scriptures the oral tradition which supplemented and interpreted the written scriptures. On the issue of free will, they held sat firmly on the fence. They believed it was completely impossible for mankind to have a completely free will however, the sovereignty of God, or God’s control of the world, could never completely cancel out the will of a man or a woman. They believed in the existence of a spiritual world, with a developed hierarchy of angels and devils. They believed in the immortality of the soul, that there was life after death and in reward and retribution (punishment) after death.  They were champions of human equality. Their emphasis was on ethics (living in accordance with rules and precepts) rather than theological (thinking about God).
The Essenes were a group of very strict and zealous Jews. Like the Sadducees, the Essenes were strict adherents to the Torah, most especially the purity laws. They often lived in communities and held property in common. They worshipped daily and studied the scriptures. They took solemn oaths of piety and obedience. Sacrifices were offered in their communities on holy days and sacred seasons. Marriage was not condemned in principal but was avoided. They attributed all that happened to fate.  The name “Zealot” was perfect for them. They had a great zeal for God. They believed that they owed their allegiance to God alone; therefore they refused to pay taxes to or obey the Roman occupiers. They held a fierce loyalty to Jewish traditions. They were opposed to using the Greek language in Palestine. They believed the coming time of salvation was at hand. They actually fought against the Romans for the purpose of liberating the Holy land and perhaps ushering the time of promised salvation.                    
The members of these religious sects regularly accused Jesus of associating with a whole group of people who were identified as sinners and tax collectors (See Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:14-17; and Luke 5:27-32). The tax collectors were Jews who went to work for the Roman occupiers. Members of this group may have collected taxes for Rome, served as civil servants and/or filled a police-like function. They were also people who engaged in sinful practices such as prostitution, thievery and general malefactors. Then there were the people who were born of  Jewish parents, whose males were circumcised on the eighth day, who could not read and write and had to rely on others to teach them God’s laws and the message spoken by the prophets. They were farmers, merchants, day laborers, beggars, blind, deaf, mute, paralyzed, lame, leprous, possessed, poor, rich, prominent, lowly, hungry, thirsty, naked, and sick.
There were also non-Jews. These included Roman soldiers, Roman merchants and Roman civil servants.   There was even a group of people called Samaritans, who believed that they too had the Torah and were waiting for the Messiah; they traced their origins back to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).  The Jews disagreed with the Samaritans; they saw them as unclean foreigners worse than all other gentiles because they dared to infer they were also God’s people. In addition to the Romans, you had all manner of people native to the area who fit in no other class. The Romans worshipped the Emperor and whole panoply of gods and deities. The local people also believed in their gods and deities. Numerology, horoscope and star gazing were also really popular.  
It was into this mix of people that Jesus preached and taught, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ unfolded. The tragedy is that the prejudices, biases and differences in the understanding of the Holy Scriptures, the oral tradition, free will, fate and ethical living of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots prevented them from hearing Jesus’ message. In fact, their prejudices, biases and differences caused them to be antagonists and to constantly attack Jesus. They peppered him with questions, including whether it was proper for Jews to pay taxes to Caesar, about the reality of the resurrection and the propriety of healing on the Sabbath. They brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus so that he might judge her. They asked these questions not for the sake of growing in their knowledge of God’s grace, or their faith in God; rather they asked these questions to discredit Jesus and trap him so that he would be undone and arrested by the authorities. The prejudices, biases and differences in interpretation of the scriptures of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots hardened their hearts, so that when the Gospel was preached and proclaimed, it bounced off in the same way that the seed cast by the sower bounced off hardened ground and was eaten by the birds of the air.
Some of the Jewish people heard Jesus’ message and began to follow him. However, Jesus’ teachings actually turned them off and they began to turn away (John 6:25-71). They were like the shallow soil upon which the Gospel seed was planted; it sprouted quickly and grew, however, once the roots hit the stones beneath the soil, the roots rotted and the plant withered and died. These people at first gladly heard the Gospel and believed; however, when they were challenged by Jesus’ preaching and teaching, their joy turned to gloom and disbelief.  Still others were so preoccupied with the worries of life; they failed to see Jesus at all. They were like soil upon which the Gospel seed fell that was infested with thorns, weeds and thistles. The weeds chocked out the seed. The cares and woes of life and pursuit of riches choked out the Gospel.
However, there were those who heard the Gospel message and responded to it. They were like the good soil.  The Gospel seed fell upon them and they bore fruit. Faith grew in them. A Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well. She poured Jesus a glass of water. He revealed His divinity to her and she and others in her village became believers. A Roman Centurion asked Jesus to heal a trusted servant and Jesus obliged him.  There were women who brought little children to Jesus hoping He would bless them (Mark 10:13-16; Matthew 19:13-15; Luke 18:15-17). Some brought blind people to Jesus hoping He would give them sight (Mark 8:20-14), a paralytic they hoped He would free from paralysis, and the deaf and the dumb hoping Jesus would give them hearing and speech. Lepers came and asked Jesus to heal them. A man brought his son, possessed by a demon, to Jesus (Mark 9:14-29). He asked Jesus if He could help his son. Jesus replied that everything is possible for one who believed. The boy’s father replied, “I believe, help my unbelief”. Jesus cast the demon out and restored the boy to his father. Jesus made that father’s faith grow by leaps and bounds. A woman came to Jesus, was burdened with sin. She knelt at his feet and washed His feet with her tears of sorrow and contrition, dried them with her hair, anointed them with perfume and kissed them. She walked away justified. All these people came to Jesus with humble and contrite hearts. They came to Jesus with no allusions. There was no help for them other than to appeal to Jesus. They called Him Son of David, the Messiah, they called Him Lord. They knew that no one else could help them. They had faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus nurtured and grew their faith.  Jesus planted seeds of faith in His disciples as they followed Him from town to town.
Like the Gospel seed, Jesus Himself was planted in the ground, a tomb to be exact, following His death on the cross for our sins. Jesus was crucified by the Romans at the insistence of the Jewish sects who got together with one of His disciples to plot against Jesus.  The seed sown in the ground produced new life. Jesus was resurrected by God to new life.  Jesus gave the disciples and the church a gift, the Holy Spirit, so that when the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments are administered, the Holy Spirit enters into our lives and faith is nurtured and grown.
For some 2,000 years, first the Apostles, then the church, has scattered the Gospel seed throughout the world. The Gospel seed is spread within the church. However, the church is deeply divided over many things. There is tension and strife concerning the nature and authority of the Old and the New Testament; the Scriptures. Some say that the Bible is partly composed of legend and myth and allegory; therefore, the job of theology and the church is not to take the Bible literally, rather it is to discern what is myth, legend and allegory and to discern the truths that lay behind the text. Some question the sayings of Jesus found in the New Testament. They believe that they must discern whether Jesus said all that was attributed to Him, or whether the church put these words in Jesus’ mouth. There is genuine debate about whether Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead.  Some believe that Jesus arose in the hearts of the disciples. Some Christians, like the Essenes, form groups which hold property in common and live very rigorous lives filled with hard work and devotion. They take the Bible very literally and try to conform their lives. Some of these groups forbid marriage, others do not. Some Christians are absolutely fixated on the end of this world. Their ministry is geared to helping contemplate the end of things. We differ doctrinally from denomination to denomination. We take positions with respect to the meaning of Baptism, original sin, and Holy Communion. Some denominations interpret the scriptures to require adult believer Baptisms. Other denominations, including ours, baptize infants, children, youth, and adults of every age, based upon our own unique understanding of Baptism and original sin. Some Christians believe that Jesus is truly present in the sacrament of Holy Communion, others say that the Eucharist is a remembrance of Jesus life, death and resurrection; that He is not present in the meal. Debate has raged with respect to salvation and whether human works are a part of salvation.
So much time has passed from the beginning of the world to the year 2007 AD, and in many ways, so many things have changed. The greatest event since the very beginning was the coming of Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago. However, Jesus is not truly a new thing; after all, He was there at the beginning (John 1:1-5), and His coming was predicted in the very beginning (Genesis 3:15). The particulars of His coming was refined and sharpened through the rest of the Old Testament scriptures. However, many things have not changed. Like the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots, we in the church are divided over how we interpret scripture, the afterlife and judgment. A danger exists in that our preoccupation with the differences in interpretation and doctrine can take our focus off the very reason for our being, our Lord Jesus Christ.
As I ponder the history of God’s people from Adam to today, it is absolutely bewildering. When I consider all the issues that divide us as Christians and cause us to judge one another, my heart  absolutely sinks. When I consider the debate which rages within the ELCIC about how scripture should be interpreted, I want to cry.  I become overwhelmed when I let my mind ponder all of these things.  Yet I always find shelter in these mental storms. I find shelter in the Gospel. I find shelter in the accounts of the healing of the blind, deaf and the lame, and the demon-possessed.  They are my mentors. They encourage me always to remember the words of King David:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:17
God wants me to come to Him with a heart that is humbled, that does not rely on reason and strength. God wants me to mourn the state of my own life. He wants me to confess that I am spiritually blind, and deaf and unable to speak. He wants me to be aware of the burden of my sin and the need for relief. Then I can be good soil. Then I can pray:
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:9-12
God’s Holy Spirit comes to us in the Word and the Sacrament, and changes us. Through the work of the Spirit in our lives, God gives us possibilities.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. Psalm 51:13
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Psalm 51:15
The whole purpose of the Gospel is for people to come to see ourselves in God’s mirror and not to like what we see and then to turn to Jesus Christ and be healed. Then Jesus becomes our Shepherd and His Rod (the Law and the Prophets) and His staff (the Gospel) will lead us from this life into the next.
Amen.

-Pastor Ed 

© Grace Lutheran Church Kelowna 2006
Grace Lutheran Church is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada