Author: Scott McAndless

Watch Sermon Video Here:

https://youtu.be/eBEq0DBpx98

Hespeler, March 29, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Matthew 21:1-11, Philippians 2:5-11

Christian tradition decided a long time ago that the first Gospel in the New Testament was written by a man named Matthew. This has made the Gospel particularly important to the church because it assumed that this was the same Matthew who was counted as one of the twelve disciples.

That meant that this Gospel was written by an eyewitness – someone who was there and saw almost all of it for himself. It certainly made it much more important than the Gospels of Mark or Luke, which were seen more as second-hand accounts.

Tradition and Text

But I want to stress that tradition is not the same thing as biblical text. The Gospel in the original manuscript was written anonymously, and the title, “According to Matthew,” was only added later.

Today, those who study the gospels generally agree that this Gospel was not written by somebody who was there. It is generally dated to about 90 AD, after the original Matthew would have died. It also never claims to be an eyewitness account and shows many indications that it was not written by someone who was there.

Copied from a Source

The most important indicator is that Matthew (and I am going to continue to call him Matthew because it’s the only name we have) copied many of his stories from one of his sources, which was the Gospel of Mark. Whole long passages are word-for-word the same. That can only be explained by somebody copying somebody else’s work. And why would you copy the story if you were there yourself?

Why, even the story of how Jesus called Levi to be his disciple is copied straight out of the Gospel of Mark with only one significant change: Matthew changes the name of the disciple from Matthew to Levi. According to tradition, this is supposed to be the author’s own story! So why wouldn’t he tell it in his own words?

So, the scholarly conclusion is that Matthew, whoever he was, wasn’t there. That doesn’t take anything away from the magnificence of this Gospel. Matthew did not need to have been there to do an amazing job of pulling together his sources and knowledge to write one of the most amazing pieces of literature in the ancient world.

The Desire to Be There

But man, you can tell from the way he wrote that he would have liked to have been there. He is always drawing from his sources to give extra details and pack them with as much meaning as possible. And I get that, don’t you? Wouldn’t you have loved to be there too?

Take the events that we celebrate this Sunday. Who among us wouldn’t want to have been in the throngs that turned out to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem? That’s why we still re-enact it year after year, to find all of the depths of what it was like to be there.

Matthew tried to do that too. As he wrote, he did his best to immerse himself in the scene. I think it must have gone something like this.

Mark’s Palm Sunday Story

Matthew looked down at the scroll of what would someday come to be called the Gospel of Mark. It was unwound on the table before him. He had drawn from it again and again as he wrote his gospel up until this point. But now, the book was building up to the great climax of its story as Jesus arrived in Jerusalem before Passover.

As Matthew read through the account, he was captivated by the description of how Jesus had obtained a colt and rode it into town to the wild acclaim of the people.

Now, Matthew knew that the choice of a ride was not an accident. The particular beast had been chosen quite intentionally. Mark, the gospel writer, had gone out of his way to include that detail because he knew that it meant something. Jesus himself had likely made the choice because he too knew that a colt would make an important symbolic statement.

Making the Reference Clear

But Matthew was worried. He was afraid that his readers might not be as smart as he was. (This is, of course, an irrational fear that many writers suffer from.) His readers might not pick up right away that the colt was a reference to a particular scripture – a prophecy in the Book of Zechariah.

And so, Matthew decided, as he had done so many times before in his writing, that he needed to include the quote. This was not as easily done as you might think. He could not just Google the Book of Zechariah and then copy and paste. He could not even reach for a bound copy of what we would call the “Old Testament” on his shelf.

Finding a Copy

Any scroll was rare and expensive. Matthew had already blown most of his budget for this Gospel by commissioning someone to painstakingly copy out the Gospel of Mark by hand. So he could hardly afford a scroll of Zechariah. There were no public libraries. Even in synagogues, scrolls of the minor prophets were rare.

Matthew headed out to visit all of his wealthy and learned friends until he found one who had a precious copy of the Greek translation of the Book of Zechariah. Then he had to scroll through it (and this was in the days when scrolling was not just done with fingertips!) until he finally found the right passage.

He took out his tablet and carefully scratched the verses into the wax with a stylus: “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

A Problem

As he returned home, he kept mulling those words over in his mind. Matthew was certain – as many early Christians were certain – that just about everything that Jesus did, he did to fulfill the scriptures. That meant that the words of Zechariah predicted that, one day, Jesus would come and ride into Jerusalem just as Zechariah had said. So, if Matthew wanted to know exactly what it was like to be there, he could just read the description of the prophet.

But, as he looked down at the words he had scratched into the tablet, there was a problem. The prophet had said that Messiah would come riding, “humble and mounted on a donkey, / and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” How could that be, he wondered.

Hebrew Poetry

Ancient Prophets gave their oracles in poetry. And in Hebrew poetry, the lines don’t end in rhyming sounds. It was more like rhyming meanings. In one line, you would say something one way, and then in the next, you would say the same thing just using different words.

Matthew was a very smart man, but he probably didn’t speak Hebrew. And nobody had ever explained to him how ancient Hebrew poetry worked. So, when he read that verse, he didn’t realize that Zechariah had been writing in poetry and talking about the same donkey in both lines.

So, as far as Matthew could see, the prophecy said that the Messiah had to ride in on the backs of two beasts. And Matthew knew that the Old Testament was a reliable source for the events of the life of Jesus.

Fixing the Contradiction

There seemed to be a contradiction in his sources! Mark had clearly described Jesus riding in on the back of one donkey, but Matthew had just learned that there must have been two.

So what did Matthew do? Well, actually, it was the easiest problem to fix. Just because Mark had only mentioned one animal didn’t mean that there couldn’t have been more. So, when he sat down again to continue his Gospel, he just “corrected” Mark’s little omission.

He expanded Jesus’ instructions to the disciples when he sent them to get his ride. Surely Jesus must have actually said, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.” And so that is what he wrote in his papyrus scroll.

Corrected Version

And then, when the disciples return, Matthew corrected Mark’s story to say, “The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.”

And, in between the instructions and the result, just so no one would miss the point he was making, Matthew wrote in these words: “This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, / Look, your king is coming to you, / humble and mounted on a donkey, / and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

Did Matthew realize how much trouble he would cause for readers with his little correction? Did he anticipate that people would find the image of Jesus riding on the backs of two beasts at once so ridiculous that their imaginations refused to picture it altogether?

Not Seeing Matthew’s Picture

The triumphal entry into Jerusalem is one of those stock images in Christian art. People have been painting and drawing it for centuries. But if you go through that history, you will not find images that depict Jesus riding on two animals.

What are we supposed to do with the fact that the Gospel of Matthew insists that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of two donkeys? The reaction of the church over the years has been to ignore it or pretend that the detail is not there.

Some English translations have even obscured what the Gospel says, like, for example, the King James Version that translates the verse like this, “And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.” That kind of obscures the fact that the original text says that Jesus was sitting on both animals.

Respecting the Writer

But I respect the writer of the gospel too much to pretend that he didn’t write what I know he wrote. If you are going to accept the whole of Scripture as being inspired by God, then you have to accept all of it, even the parts that seem to be based on a mistake, right?

It was a misunderstanding of the Old Testament text that led Matthew to tell it the way that he did. But if so, and if it was inspired, that simply means that it was God’s will for Matthew to make this mistake and so tell the story this way. God, after all, can inspire scripture in any way that God wants!

Finding the Message

And that means that there is a message waiting for us in this odd detail in Matthew’s story. What then are we supposed to learn by imagining Jesus straddling his legs over the backs of two beasts like a circus performer?

The message, to be sure, is that Jesus’ coming is a fulfilment of scripture. Matthew makes that explicit. But there is surely more to it than that.

Young and Old Together

I think it means something that Matthew insists that Jesus didn’t just ride the parent, but also the child. Surely there is a message for the church in that.

Sometimes we think that it should be enough to take care of the traditions of our foremothers and forefathers. Riding in on the back of our longstanding Presbyterian traditions alone should be enough to get people to turn out in droves and cheer us on in our mission.

But Matthew here reminds us that there has to be a role for a new generation, a younger donkey. We must be open to new ways of being. And that younger generation must not merely be there to spectate and cheer us on, but be allowed to carry this enterprise in new directions – maybe even down a few Jerusalem side streets. We need to respect the baby donkey enough to let it carry Jesus into the world in its own way.

Personal Message

And what personal message might there be for you in this odd part of the gospel story? Well, let me ask you. Which beast are you riding on your spiritual journey? Are you riding on the back of the steady, reliable forms of your faith that you have always counted on? Or are you perhaps always jumping on the back of the young donkey and riding after every new and trending idea and practice?

Most people tend to go in one direction or the other. Many of us believe that tradition should triumph over all, while others will get so lost chasing after the latest thing that they forget where they came from.

But what does Jesus, interpreted for us by Matthew, have to say to that? What if he is saying that the best way to proceed is to stretch your legs over both the donkey and her colt? What if that includes respecting the spiritual journeys of others and being willing to learn from them too?

Following Jesus

We enter into Jerusalem today with Jesus, “humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The road that lies before us will not be all palm branches and cheers. Following in the way of Jesus will include rejection, betrayal and taking up your cross to follow him.

But we will follow. We will gratefully climb onto the back of both beasts because we know what lies beyond the cross and the grave. But, for that, you’ll have to stay tuned, as we continue the story next week.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/e25OvV4HPTw

Hespeler, March 22, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 130, Romans 8:6-11, John 11:1-45

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, Southern Iran. Or at least, it set me down in the middle of what was left of it. And there really wasn’t much left of it.

As I walked around the place, I saw that it was full of rubble, burned schoolbooks and clothing. I also saw the burnt-out casings of the three Tomahawk missiles that had struck the place.

But what I saw most of all were the bones – bones that I do not want to describe because I cannot remember them without feeling sick.

Despite all my revulsion, the Lord led me around all of them and made me look at them. For somewhere between 168 and 180 people had died there. Most of them had been young girls. So, yes, there were very many bones lying in that place, and they were very dry.

A Question About International Affairs

And the Lord said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” And I knew that that was a very difficult question, because it was not just a question about those poor girls.

It was a question about the state of international relations, which had functioned in a certain way ever since the end of the Second World War.

It was a system that had never been perfect, and had hardly prevented the worst of atrocities. Nevertheless, it had provided a rules-based order. There had been rules about how war was conducted and, if they weren’t always followed, at least everyone pretended to follow them, and that made things more predictable.

A Broken Order

But I knew that this blast had happened on the first day of a war that had not been declared and for which no one had even given a reason – at least not a reason that they hadn’t contradicted with another reason the next day. So, the question about the bones was also a question about whether there was a way back to a predictable world order. Or had everything simply fallen apart permanently?

Humanity and AI

But, more than that, it was a question about humanity. I knew, you see, that this school had not been struck by accident; it had been a deliberately chosen target.

How the target had been chosen, though, especially troubled me. Apparently, a huge database of dangerous military targets had been fed into targeting system created by Palantir, which was powered by Claude. Claude is the Artificial Intelligence made by Anthropic.

So, it seems that an AI chatbot sorted through all of these potential targets and selected the elementary school as a high priority. This was likely because the school had been on land that had been part of a military facility about a decade ago.

So, as I stood on those ruins, I could not help but wonder whether, if human beings had bothered to check the chatbot’s recommendations, they would have noticed that its intelligence was out of date.

Any Way Back?

So, the question of whether these bones could live was also a question about whether there was any way back from the world that we are building, or whether we will simply hand everything over to Artificial Intelligence, including the power of life and death.

So, as I stood there in the ruins of that place, I knew that I could not answer the question. And so, I turned to the Lord in despair and said, “O Lord God, I hope you know because I certainly don’t.”

Rushing to the End

The story of Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones is one of those stories that I think we hurry through too quickly. It is like what we do every year at Easter. No one wants to spend their time thinking of all the sadness and sorrow of Good Friday; we are in a rush to get to the victory of Easter.

In the same way, we read this story of Ezekiel, and we want to rush to the end and start singing about Dem Dry Bones, and how “The foot bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected to the knee bone, The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,” and so on.

But, just like Easter means nothing without Good Friday, this story of Ezekiel loses all of its meaning if we don’t spend some time in that disturbing valley filled with dead dry bones before we start singing about raising them bones up.

Ezekiel’s Mood

And the valley of bones that Ezekiel saw was not just any valley of bones. I’m not sure how much of it was something that he actually saw and how much of it was a vision. It probably doesn’t matter. Whatever he experienced, Ezekiel was seeing it because he was totally dispirited by recent historical events.

Ezekiel was depressed, and probably clinically depressed, because of the devastating defeat of the people of Judah by the armies of Babylon. The Babylonians had literally slaughtered the Judeans in huge numbers and left their bodies to rot in a particular valley. The bones that Ezekiel saw (whether in a vision or reality) were the bones of his countrymen. It was a devastating sight.

And so, the question that came to him, the question of whether the bones could live, was not just a question about the possibility of resurrection for the dead. It was a question about the possibility of there being a future for his people.

Spending Time in the Valley

And, for me, that means that you have to spend some time in a valley full of bones before you can really understand what Ezekiel’s vision is about. And the most recent valley of bones that I have had to deal with is that elementary girl’s school in Iran. What happened there has shaken so many of the things that I had assumed about this world and how it is supposed to work.

But that is hardly the only example of such disturbing events. For you, maybe, the valley of bones is found on the plains of Gaza, where nobody knows how many children have died in the famine and bombing campaign over the last few years. Or we could talk about the valley of bones that is Ukraine. We could talk about the streets of Minneapolis.

There are many signs around us that something is going on in this world that is disturbing and frightening, and it makes us wonder whether we will be able to find ourselves a way back to a world that makes sense anymore.

About Feelings

This is mostly about feelings and not logic. It was not as if Ezekiel had done an analysis of the political situation in the ancient Near East and come to the rational conclusion that the Babylonian Government had committed a violation of the rules-based order. He had had a look at recent events and it made him feel as if his world was falling apart.

We can disagree about matters of national and international policy. We can argue that this government or that government has only done what they had to do. I’m sure we could all make some reasonable points on such questions. But the valley of bones is not about such reasonable arguments. It is about what the events make us feel. And as I talk to a lot of people today, they are all feeling a lot like Ezekiel.

Prophetic Speech

But here is the hope in this story. Ezekiel did not leave that valley that day an emotional basket case. And why not? Because once God had taken him into that valley, God gave Ezekiel something to do. “Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’”

Speaking the word of the Lord is the job of prophets. They are called to go into any situation – whether it be a bombed-out classroom or an abandoned battlefield – and declare the truth about it.

People (and especially powerful people) hated the prophets because they never sugar-coated the truths they proclaimed. They certainly didn’t use diplomatic language. To speak the word of the Lord was to speak the kind of truth that people didn’t want to hear.

Speaking the Word of the Lord

And I do believe that God is calling on faithful disciples to speak the word of the Lord in the same way today. That may mean speaking honestly about the foolishness of certain international policies rather than being sycophants who tell their leaders how brilliant they are. That may mean calling out things like racism, genocide and authoritarianism when they are undeniably present.

Speaking such a word is never easy, but Ezekiel’s vision makes it clear that there is no way out of the valley of bones until we dare to do that. It is only after he has the courage to prophesy to the bones – to prophesy to the truth of the situation – that something finally happens.

New Possibilities and Strength

“So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.” So you see, once we are willing to speak the truth about the situation, it becomes possible to start to rebuild, to set up a new skeletal framework on which we can build a better world.

“I looked,” Ezekiel goes on, “and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.” The flesh and the sinews (which are connected to the muscles) speak to the possibility of action. You have strength within you, God is showing Ezekiel, to act for peace, and hope and a more just world.

The Breath

Yet, despite this, Ezekiel notes that there is still something missing. “But there was no breath in them.” Breath, in Ancient Hebrew, is the same word as wind. It is also the same word as spirit. Breath, in ancient thinking, was the one thing that made the difference between life and death. When God creates Adam, for example, God first shapes him and then breathes life into him.

But breath, which is also spirit, means much more than that. It is whatever gives our life meaning and purpose. And, in many ways, I think that it is the lack of such spirit that is killing us today.

All of the discouraging events that are taking place – our own personal valleys of bones – seem to be constantly giving us all the message that we have no agency. We are simply pawns in the big game being played by the presidents and oligarchs. We need a new spirit to blow through us.

“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.”

Valley of Bones Events

The world is a disturbing place these days. That is a message that I constantly get when I talk to people. And there are certain events that I would call “valley of bones events” that seem to get through to us and bring that home to us in powerful ways. The bombing of an elementary school did that for me recently.

And do you know what the people who think they are in charge want you to do when you feel like that? They want you to be cynical. They want you to give up and go along with what they say has to happen to keep you safe.

But the wind of God is there. It is ready to be summoned from the four corners of the earth and blow into the hearts of God’s people. That is the job of the prophets among us – those who are empowered by God to speak the truth to the situation in which we find ourselves.

We don’t have to give in to the cynicism and powerlessness of the present age. That is the good news that we can all find, even if it feels as if we have stumbled into a valley full of bones on our way to finding it.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/tZTqg-274UQ

Hespeler March 15, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Fourth Sunday in Lent
1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41

Did the blind man hear it when the disciples started talking about him to Jesus? They say that if you lose one of your senses, the remaining ones become sharper and more sensitive to compensate. So, I imagine his hearing was quite good.

He must have heard the disciples say, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” It was a question about him, but they did not have the nerve to speak to him directly. I have always found it much more wounding to overhear someone say something bad about you behind your back. Wouldn’t you all just prefer that they say it to your face?

What the Question Meant

And note that their question had nothing to do with anything that was under his control. They did not raise any concerns because he had blocked their way on the sidewalk or had dared to ask them if they had any spare change. The question was provoked by his mere existence. Why did this man exist with his disability?

What’s more, it was not even really a why question. They were not asking Jesus why this man was blind; they knew why he was blind. He was blind because somebody had sinned.

That was obvious to them. Somebody had done something that meant that this man deserved to go through his entire life never seeing the light of day, never seeing the beauty of a sunset, never seeing the smile on a loved one’s face.

They were certain of that. The only question in their minds was who had sinned and made it so that his affliction was deserved. And they had narrowed down the suspect list to two.

He’d Heard It Before

Yes, I am pretty sure he heard them. He immediately understood all of the assumptions that they were making, because they were hardly the first. He heard this kind of question all the time – so often that there were days when he almost wished his hearing wasn’t so good.

How do I know that he heard it all the time? Well, I am not blind, nor do I suffer from any other visible disability. I’m not sure that I would call my hearing excellent; it is probably not as good as it used to be. But even I have heard enough people making those very assumptions to know that it would have surrounded him constantly.

How We Ask Today

Now, today you don’t really hear people use the kind of religious language that the disciples use here; I don’t hear people speculating literally about “who sinned.” But I know very well that when people see any tragedy – whether it be a disability or a trauma or an injustice – they immediately jump to questions that mean the same thing.

You hear about a woman assaulted or raped, and people ask, “What was she wearing?” Or, “What was she doing there?” Are they not essentially asking who sinned that this terrible thing happened? And are they not implying, at least in part, that it was the victim who sinned?

And, once you realize that, you begin to hear that question everywhere. We’ve heard it many times this year already. “Why did she move her car forward?” “Why did he bring a legally permitted and licenced handgun to a protest?” “Why did the people of Gaza elect a Hamas government that came to power before many of them were born?” “Why did those schoolgirls in Iran live under a dictatorship for so long?”

Social Issues

The same assumptions are often brought to the discussion of social issues such as poverty or lack of shelter. It is always easier for people to talk about these problems in terms of the faults or shortcomings of the poor than it is to talk about the structural issues in society that perpetuate such problems.

We don’t ask questions about who is profiting from the crisis or why wealth has moved upward so radically in recent decades. We ask questions that assume that the poor are lazy or lacking in initiative. Who sinned? Not the rich! It must be the poor who sinned!

Hurtful Questions

Such questions are often very hurtful because they send a message to those who have suffered a tragedy that they somehow deserve the terrible thing that have happened to them. It is an additional attack against someone who has already been wounded. And it is especially hurtful when the question centres on something about the person that is beyond their control, as is the case of the blind man.

It can also deny the dignity of people who have suffered. Take the blind man for example. The disciples’ question reduced the man to nothing more than his disability. His very existence became a tragedy. Are they not suggesting that the world would be a better (or at least a less troubling) place if he did not exist?

When all you see is someone’s disability, you miss all of the things that make them a rich and full person. The blind man had an inner life, deep thoughts and passions. He had people he loved and people who loved him. To reduce him to a moral problem cruelly stripped him of the value of his human being.

Not to Be Cruel

I don’t really think that people do this because they are trying to be cruel. They do it because they are afraid. When they see sickness, tragedy or disability, they must come to terms with the simple truth that terrible things happen in the world all the time.

When people see that, it reminds them that such terrible things could happen to them or to the people that they love. That is terrifying. And so, people need some way to reassure themselves that they are safe, that tragedy does not happen arbitrarily. The world seems a safer place if there is some moral logic to it.

Blaming the victim, figuring out who sinned so that the tragedy is a deserved thing, gives us that feeling of safety. If bad things happen because people sin, then I can be safe if I don’t sin. And, yes, of course, that feeling is false; it is based on a lie. But people have been comforting themselves with lies since forever.

Internalized Question

So yes, the blind man heard them. What’s more, he had heard the question formulated in various ways so often that he had internalized it. He too spent way too much time wondering what he had done to deserve the darkness that he lived in. And to the extent that he had internalized it, the darkness had spread beyond his eyes to affect his very soul. But that was all about to change in dramatic fashion.

He heard the disciples’ question, but surely he could hear Jesus’ response as well. And if what the disciples said was just more of what he heard all the time, he definitely perked up his ears to what Jesus said. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”

The Rest of the Story

And I actually don’t want to go any further than that in our reading today. I know that Jesus’ opening words are usually overshadowed by what comes next. The story after that quickly becomes a miracle story, and everyone loves a good miracle story.

This one especially has all kinds of memorable details. Who can forget the image of Jesus playing in mud made with his own spit? It is a callback to the story of God making adam in the Book of Genesis out of the mud. It is such a hands-on image of Jesus’ healing ministry – like literally hands-on.

And sure, the miracle is also such a wonderful parable of the key point of this chapter, that Jesus has come to be the light of the world. And we can rejoice in the light that came into that blind man’s life – not just into his eyes but into his entire soul.

The Healing Before the Healing

But before we move on to all of that, let’s talk about the healing Jesus performed for that man before he knelt down and started playing in the dirt.

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus said. With just a few words, Jesus tore apart the message this man had heard all his life. No, his disability was not something that he deserved. His blindness was not a curse. And he was more, much more, than his disability.

And this is not just Jesus’ message for that man. It is for all of us. He is giving us all the message that terrible things do happen in this world, and we may never know why. That is a hard and perhaps frightening truth, but we do ourselves no favours by refusing to face up to it.

Jesus’ Message to the Victims

Even more important, Jesus is telling us that our common reflex of blaming the victims for their tragedies is not only wrong, it also is cruel and as destructive to ourselves as it is to the victims.

This becomes plain as Jesus continues. “He was born blind,” Jesus declares, “so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Now this one is a bit trickier because people sometimes misunderstand it.

Sometimes people take that to mean that, if you have suffered in some way, it is because God has wilfully afflicted you in order to bring some good out of it. But I don’t accept that. The God I know through Jesus does not willingly afflict anyone with anything. God weeps at anyone’s suffering. That’s the God revealed to us through the crucified Christ.

 No, what this is saying is that sometimes tragedy will happen. We may never know why. Perhaps God knows, but if so, I doubt we have the capacity to understand such reasoning on a godly level.

Don’t Make the Struggle Worse

 Because of this, I would strongly encourage you, when you are struggling with some tragedy, that you do not cause yourself pain by agonizing over the question of why God let this happen to you and what you are supposed to do in order to bring something good out of it.

If you have been hurt, you have been hurt. I will not pile on top of that any obligation to figure out why. I will not ask you to manufacture some positive spin on it. Tragedy is tragedy. Whatever you feel about it is only your natural and very human reaction, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Seeing His Value and Worth

So, if Jesus is not saying that God willfully afflicts people with terrible experiences, what is he saying? He is looking at this blind man and not defining him by his disability. He is looking at him and seeing him as a human being who has value and worth because he is a child of God.

In other words, it doesn’t matter what you have suffered. It doesn’t matter what lack others see in you. It doesn’t matter what shortcomings you see in yourself. God’s works can be revealed in you.

Revealing God’s Works in Him

And, yes, I am very aware that God’s works were revealed in that particular blind man with the healing of whatever was wrong with his eyes. But if you think that is the only way, then you are not reading this story right.

God’s works were revealed in the light that came into his soul and not just his eyes. They were revealed in the testimony he went on to give to the community. They were shown in the extraordinary wisdom and courage he demonstrated while doing it. The potential for all of that was already in that man before Jesus ever put mud on his eyes. He already had the potential to reveal God’s works before Jesus came along.

Revealing God’s Works in Us

 And it is important that we keep that in mind because we may not always receive the kind of healing we crave most. Jesus never promises that. But all of us have within us that same potential. That is why Jesus went on to say, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”

And, as I said, I’m sure that the blind man had great hearing and that he heard that too. And hearing that had as much to do with how he revealed God’s work as did the application of mud to his eyes.

So, I guess that only leaves us with one question. The blind man heard it, and he did something about it. What about you? Do you hear what Jesus is saying? And what are you going to do about it? How will you make sure that God’s works are revealed in you?

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/5aP_fEEKxl4

Hespeler, March 8, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Third Sunday in Lent
Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, John 4:5-42

The story that we read this morning from the Book of Exodus is not just a story about something that happened a long time ago in a world very different from our own. It is a story that the people of Israel told over and over again throughout their history. That is why there are so many variations on the theme of the people complaining in the wilderness in the Bible – including two different versions of the story of the water that flowed from the rock.

They didn’t just tell these stories in the aftermath of experiences of Egyptian slavery; they continued to tell them and retell them in different ways because they recognized that it was a continual challenge to live as free people. They told them as a reminder that the temptation to sell themselves back to those who would exploit them would always be there.

Not Just Egyptian Pharaohs

And don’t forget that such exploiters do not come only in the form of Egyptian pharaohs. These stories also warn about the danger of submitting to autocratic rule by your own elected or hereditary leaders. They are warnings against religious and spiritual leaders who control every aspect of the lives of their flock.

And, if the people who first told these stories were still telling them today, they would definitely tell them as warnings against handing the control of your life over to billionaire tech lords and their companies or to artificial intelligence chatbots. They would tell them as warnings against seeking to create a safe society by means of constant surveillance.

Ongoing Relevance

These are not just ancient stories focused on situations that have nothing to do with us if we have never been lost in a desert. They remain very important and relevant stories, perhaps more today than ever, given the temptations we face to abandon our freedom for the sake of security and convenience today.

So, let’s take a look at the story of the Wadi Rephidim to see where it speaks to us about the temptations of modern living as people of faith.

The Hard Part About Freedom

Moses had very quickly learned that it was one thing to obtain freedom for people, but quite another to help them to live out that freedom. When people are oppressed or enslaved, they readily recognize their enslavers and how they are being exploited for their labour. They see how it is sucking the life out of them.

But they don’t always recognize that there are many things that they take for granted in their bondage. Say what you will about oppression, but it does offer people a certain structure to their lives. They know what they have to do and when they have to do it. There is a comfort in that.

Enslavers and exploiters can be incredibly cruel in their methods of extracting every last bit of work from people. But in their pursuit of that, they generally recognize that people need a certain level of nutrition in order to perform, and they will provide that.

Complaining

So, while Moses had persuaded the people to follow him into freedom, he had found himself dealing with a people who complained ever since. They complained because he could not provide them with the kind of stability and predictability that they had known in Egypt.

And he was getting tired of it. No matter where he led them or what he found for them, it was never good enough. Whatever God offered them in their freedom, it seemed that their taskmasters had been able to give them better before. And so one day God inspired Moses with a brilliant idea.

Moses in Midian

They were travelling, in those days, through the desert around Midian. And remember that Moses had spent many years in that region. After he had murdered a man and fled from Egypt, Moses had come as a refugee to the land of Midian.

There, he had been taken in by the local priest, a man named Reuel in some of the stories and Jethro in others. Jethro had even given him one of his prized daughters, Zipporah. He had also given Moses charge over his sheep.

As chief shepherd to the priest of Midian, Moses had ranged far and wide in the wilderness over many years. And in those years, he saw many wonders and had deep spiritual experiences in desolate places. He once saw a bush that burned, but that was not consumed in the fire; but, that is another story for another day.

Local Knowledge

The chief job of shepherds is to find water and pasturage for their flocks, and that is not easy in such places. There is little rain for much of the year, and so a shepherd has to know the location of every well and spring and learn the secrets of such places. And so, Moses had sought out such specialized knowledge from his father-in-law and from others who had lived there for many generations. That is how he came to know about the spring at the Wadi Rephidim.

The elder had led Moses there and watched him with amusement as Moses tried to make sense of the strange landscape. It was clearly a wadi, which is the word in that part of the world for a riverbed that is sometimes full of water but often not. The land was green enough that there was plenty of fodder in and among the rocks. The flock bleated gladly and quickly set to grazing.

Hidden Source

But the thing that puzzled Moses was that there was no water source to explain the existence of this wadi. How would he be able to water his sheep? As he surveyed the place, all he could see was a ground littered with rocks of various size.

As Moses looked up at him with bewilderment, the elder merely laughed and led him to one particular rock. It didn’t really look all that different from any of the others, but the elder pointed at this one and told Moses to remember which one it was and memorize its exact shape.

Then the man took his shepherd’s staff and raised it up above his head before striking the rock with a mighty blow. To Moses’ wonder and amazement, the staff did not just bounce off the rock. It broke it apart and, as the pieces of rock fell away, water began to flow freely. The sheep all rushed forward and began to drink greedily.

Blocked Spring

What was the explanation for this wonder? It is simply this. The water in a spring can be very rich in calcium, magnesium and other minerals. This is especially true when it flows through chalk or limestone.

And when the water flows in a certain way, the deposits of these minerals tend to build up around the springhead. They can even build up to the point where the flow slows and then even stops altogether. Any ignorant passerby, seeing such a spring, would assume there was no water, but those who have lived in those lands for generations and who have had the knowledge passed down to them, just as it was now being passed on to Moses, know exactly what to do.

An Inspired Idea

As Moses travelled with the restive children of Israel, who had wanted to be free, but who clearly did not understand the cost of living free, he felt his frustration grow. One night, after having spent a day fielding endless complaints, he had a brilliant idea. In fact, it was so brilliant that he knew it was inspired.

They were within a day’s journey of the Wadi Rephidim. He suddenly felt quite certain that God was telling him exactly what the next stop on their journey needed to be.

Grumbling at the Wadi

As they arrived at the wadi, Moses heard the people’s grumbling start immediately. “What is this! This is supposed to be an oasis, but there is no water? Remember how we never ran out of water in Egypt.” Yes, they always came back to the idea that things were so much better in Egypt.

Remembering his own first reaction so many years ago, Moses had totally expected theirs. But rather than the frustration that usually overtook him when the people started complaining, this time he felt something different. Indeed, he struggled to contain his glee and present a stern countenance.

He let them go at it for a while – allowing their resentment and regret grow as the whiners and grumblers wound each other up. Once the chorus of discontent had reached a fever pitch, he finally decided that the time for the object lesson had come.

The Demonstration

“Alright, alright,” he called out, “I get it. Let the elders of the people come with me, and I will show you what God thinks about your grumbling!”

Moses had resolved to make a show of it. No more words were necessary. He just made sure that all the elders had a good view as he made his way unerringly to the one rock where he knew he needed to stand. And you can bet that he raised his staff high and delivered a mighty blow to just the right spot.

As the water began to flow, he grinned uncontrollably at the shouts of amazement.

Miracle Stories?

We tend to treat the stories of the people complaining in the wilderness as straightforward miracle tales in our tradition. God’s provision for the wandering nation of Israel during those years is thought of as a series of wonders that happened once under the most extraordinary of circumstances, never to be repeated.

That effectively turns these stories into tales that have little to do with us, who, as we go through our ordinary lives, do not expect to have such wonders performed on our behalf.

Natural Desert Phenomena

But these desert stories do contain elements that are a natural part of desert life in that part of the world. There is a substance, produced by the secretions of tamarisk trees, that is white and flaky and can be eaten by nomads. That sounds an awful lot like manna.

And the stories about the Israelite camps being filled with quail that the people gathered and ate until they were full. Believe it or not, that actually happens in the Sinai desert, where huge flocks of migrating quail become so exhausted on their flights that, when they pause, nomads can gather them at will.

And, yes, there are rocks from which streams of water will flow, at least if you can find the right rock and hit it in just the right way.

Natural or Supernatural?

And when you learn all of that, you realize that these stories are stories of God’s provision for God’s people, but that that provision may be more natural than supernatural. And that makes me suspect that the point of these stories is not simply to demonstrate how awesome and powerful God has been in the past. They are to teach us about relying upon God today.

So, with all of that in mind, what was Moses trying to teach the people of Israel by letting them worry and complain and then putting on such a dramatic display at the rock? I think he was trying to teach them about the dangers of putting your trust in the powerful oppressors of this world to provide your needs.

They Say We Need Them

That is the argument that the powerful and the wealthy make all the time. They tell us that they are the only ones who can give us what we need. Only they can create employment. Only they can keep us safe. We must rely on them to create our communication networks, our “public” forums and put all the information at our fingertips.

And we can have all of that, they tell us, for the low, low price of giving up all of our privacy and allowing them to set the agenda of our entire economy and political system so that they can get richer and maintain their power. They beckon us, in other words, with the promise of Egypt – the promise of safety and security at the cost of our freedom.

God’s Resources

And so, what does the dramatic demonstration with the staff at the rock say to that? It is Moses reminding us all that God has placed depths of resources all around us. There are cool streams of running water just below the surface.

And we don’t need the tyrants of Egypt to release those resources for us. We may need to reconnect with the traditions of our ancestors to find them. They have memories that will show us how those resources can be release. We may need to find the strength that is in the community of free people to release them. But they are there.

The resources of this world do not belong to the mighty Pharaohs of Egypt. They belong to God, and God gives them to the free people of this earth. That was the message that Moses was communicating loud and clear with the mighty crash of a staff against that rock.

Watch sermon video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csEgweIF_ug

March 1, 2026, © Scott McAndless – Communion, Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis 12:1-4, Psalm 121, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, John 3:1-17

Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night. That is the first thing that we are told about him after his introduction as a Pharisee and a Jewish leader.

And I know that people have traditionally read a particular meaning into that. Most every commentary and interpretation of this passage I have read assumes that Nick came under the cover of darkness because he didn’t want anyone to know of his interest in Jesus or his teaching. They invite us to imagine him hiding his face behind his cloak and looking over his shoulder, deathly afraid that someone might see him.

I Don’t Agree

But I don’t agree. I don’t think that the gospel writer is saying that Nick was frightened or embarrassed to be seen with Jesus. (You don’t mind if I call him Nick, do you? We’re going to be talking about him a lot.) Nick has no particular reason to be embarrassed at this point in the story. No, the meaning of his nocturnal visit is simpler than that. It has a symbolic meaning and is related to one of the most important ideas in this gospel – the idea of the darkness and the light.

The Gospel is telling us that Nick is in the darkness. He may think that he understands the truth, but he does not. He is on the wrong track. And Jesus is about to correct him. Indeed, Nick is so much in the dark that he will not be able to understand the truth when Jesus lays it right out in front of him.

Contrast with Story in Next Chapter

Next week we will read from the next chapter of this Gospel in which Jesus will have a similar conversation with someone else: a woman at a well. That encounter will take place at the brightest time of day, which is a clear symbol to us that she is much closer to the truth and more open to the truths Jesus declares.

But Nick? Nick comes at night. Nick may have studied and taught the scripture. He may have been given an honoured position as leader of his people, but he is in the dark when it comes to understanding who Jesus is, and what his coming is all about.

Are We Like Nick?

And that is something that we all need to pay close attention to today. Because there is a danger, a very real danger, that we may be like Nick. We, too, may be coming to Jesus here today in the night. We, too, may be lost in confusion concerning what Jesus is all about.

In particular, I myself may be in the most danger. For I, among us all, am most like Nick. I have studied the scriptures and have presumed, like him, to teach others about them. I have dared to take a position leading God’s people. This story is prompting me to ask, “Am I coming to Jesus in the night as well?”

An Opening Statement

Nick comes to Jesus at night with what is obviously a well-thought-out opening statement. “Rabbi,” he says, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”

That opening statement shows us exactly what is important to Nick on this night. He is obsessed with the question of authority. He has been trying to work out whether Jesus has the authority to teach what he has been teaching and do what he has been doing. He is seeking confirmation that Jesus has indeed come from God.

Now, to be clear, that is a valid concern. Of course, it matters that Jesus has come from God. It matters that Nick has decided he believes that, and it matters what we believe about Jesus too.

Wrong Priorities

But Nick has come at night. Have I made that point clear to you yet? And that means that he is not coming with the right priorities in mind. Yes, it matters what you believe about Jesus, but Nick has missed a crucial step.

And so, Jesus cuts him off. He doesn’t respond at all to the concerns that Nick is raising. Instead he changes the subject. Why does he do that? Well, obviously, because Nick has come at night.

He is fumbling around in the darkness and doesn’t even know what he is dealing with. He thinks that what really matters is questions of authority and where Jesus’ teaching comes from. But Jesus wants to let him know that something else comes first. That is why Jesus interrupts him.

Born from Above

“Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus says, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Jesus is telling him what matters, what comes first. But Nicodemus is so much in the dark that he totally misunderstands what Jesus is saying.

This Gospel was written in Greek. And the Greek word that Jesus uses there is ἄνωθεν, which means “from above.” Jesus clearly means that someone needs to have a new birth that comes from God, from heaven above.

A Misunderstanding

But did I mention that Nick came to Jesus at night? He is so totally in the dark that he can’t understand the plain meaning of what Jesus says. Rather than understanding that Jesus is telling him that he needs to change his entire life with a new orientation that comes from God, he becomes obsessed with the question of how. He wants to know what he has to do to obtain this new beginning.

Now, the word that Jesus used, the word ἄνωθεν, also had a secondary meaning. It could also mean “anew,” in the sense that we might say that someone was made over from top to bottom. And so, Nick, floundering around in the dark, completely misunderstands Jesus’ meaning and assumes that he is saying that he needs to be born again.”

And that is why his comeback is to say that what Jesus is suggesting is simply impossible. It can’t be done. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” And so Nick misses the point. He concentrates on the method of obtaining entrance into the kingdom and discovers that he can’t do it.

Two Problems

And so, Nick represents the two main stumbling blocks that, to this very day, get in the way of those of us who are in the darkness. The first problem we have is that we become concerned with questions of correct belief about Jesus, and the second is that we get sidetracked by questions of how we obtain that birth from above.

When we come to Jesus at night, we will get sidetracked by arguments over what we believe about Jesus. Is Jesus the Son of God? What was the nature of his birth, his life, his resurrection? How do we define the relationship between the Father and the Son? These are, of course, all important questions. But they are also questions that we will never understand completely or logically. We will never all conceive of the answers in perfect unison.

Believing the Right Things

But, in the darkness, we make the mistake of thinking that believing all the right things about Jesus in the right ways is what it means to believe in Jesus. But it does not. When we reduce faith to a question of accepting a number of intellectual propositions, we only end up arguing, like Nicodemus, over questions of where Jesus came from and how. We will never arrive that way at the birth from above.

And I believe that that is exactly what the church has been getting wrong almost from the beginning. We have become obsessed with the questions of what we are supposed to believe.

Battles Over the Trinity

In the third century and especially the fourth, the church literally split itself in two over the question of what people believed about the nature of the relationship between the Father and the Son and how to reconcile that to Greek Philosophy.

And I mean that literally. There would be riots in the streets of Alexandria over the question of whether the Father and the Son shared the same substance or had a similar substance.

And again, to be clear, it does matter what the relationship is between Jesus and God. It matters to our salvation. But do you know what matters more than that? It matters that you experience God in Jesus Christ and that that changes your life. You can have all the “correct” formulations of the nature of the Trinity in the world, it will not matter unless you have that encounter with God first, and you have it through Jesus.

Divisions

But what have we done again and again throughout the history of the church? We have divided and condemned fellow believers over questions of correct belief. You name it, we have condemned people over it: the date of Easter, what actually happens during communion, when and how to baptize, how scripture is inspired and how the church should be governed.

That is by no means an exhaustive list. We have argued over the correct belief about just about everything in the life of the church. That is what you do when you come to Jesus at night. You fumble around in the dark over things that you will can never entirely grasp hold of.

Perhaps we think that if only we can come up with the list of all the correct things that you are supposed to give your intellectual assent to, that will be the thing that brings us out of the dark and into the light of day. It does not work like that. You can believe all the right things intellectually. That alone will not give you access to the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus is saying to Nick at night.

The Question of How

So, what will? And how is it to be done? That is the next question that Nick turns to. If what is needed is birth from above, he wants to know how.

And the church, lost in the night, has often obsessed over the same question. We have not been quite as ridiculous about it as Nick. We have not tried to put people back into their mothers’ wombs to come out again, but we have piled on certain expectations of what you are supposed to do.

The church, floundering around in the night, has said that you have to be baptised just right, receive the sacraments in the right way, confess just right, give the right testimony in church, or say the right prayer with the right kind of sincerity. And the list of requirements that we have piled on people goes on and on.

Getting First Things First

Now, such actions matter – of course they do. They are natural and important parts of a balanced Christian life. But Jesus is telling Nick at night that it is not the doing of these things alone that gives the birth from above. In fact, they really accomplish nothing if you don’t get first things first.

So, we all have the same tendency as Nick does when he comes to Jesus at night. We give priority to the wrong things. We make it all about correct belief and correct methods to get us into God’s kingdom. But those are all secondary things. It is all about being born from above.

Jesus Makes it Simple

And how does that happen? We, in our darkness and in the night, want to make it so complicated like Nick. But Jesus makes it simple. He tells Nick and us what it is all about. It works, he says, just like the bronze serpent worked in the desert. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

In that story, when the Israelites were dying in the darkness of the wilderness, they were saved by the bronze serpent. And what did they have to do to be saved? Did they have to adopt particular intellectual beliefs about the serpent? No. Did they have to go through particular rituals or prayers? No.

They simply had to look upon the serpent with trust. That is all. Simple trust is all that Jesus asked for too. “That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Coming in the Day

You see, because we come at night, because we have given in to the darkness and the suspicion that goes with it, we miss the simple truth. The one thing that Jesus really wants to know from us is simply this: Will you trust me?

So will you come to Jesus in the light of day? Will you lay aside the ways of the night and come with open trust? This is the promise he gives to all, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him – everyone who looks upon him with simple trust – may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world – And certainly not so that we would be torn apart one from another with our arguments – but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/jdC3AdwTihc

Hespeler February 15, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Transfiguration Sunday
Exodus 24:12-18, Psalm 99, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9

Six days ago, Peter had made an extraordinary confession and declared that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Jesus had praised Peter for his insight and understanding. And he had even given him a promise. “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here,” (and yes, Peter was sure that Jesus was talking especially about him). “There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (v. 28)

But ever since Jesus had been so depressing, talking about nothing but suffering, death and such things. Peter had tried to talk him out of his funk. I mean, sure, he understood that life was hard and the work they were doing was draining, but that was no reason to get so negative. But Jesus wouldn’t hear of it. He told Peter off for daring to rebuke him. (v. 22-23)

A Long Six Days

In short, it had been a long six days. Peter was getting so impatient. He had been promised that he would see a new kingdom coming. And sure, the full coming of such a kingdom might take some time, but could he not be given some glimpse, some indication that he had not been wrong to put his faith in Jesus.

And so, when, on the sixth day, Jesus pulled him and James and John aside from the others, Peter couldn’t help but feel as if this was finally it. Surely Jesus was going to reward them for their faithfulness with some glimpse of what the kingdom was like.

A Tough Climb

But all that Jesus did was point to a high mountain on the horizon. It soared about two kilometres above sea level and, though it was now well into spring, it was still topped with some snow. “What do you say we head up there?” he suggested

They had brought no provisions with them. Their well-worn sandals offered little protection for their feet and were constantly filled with sand and gravel as they scrabbled up the slope. And the higher they went, the colder the winds blew. They wrapped their cloaks as tightly around them as they could and struggled to keep up with the pace Jesus had set.

What Was the Point?

Peter couldn’t help but grumble along with his stomach. What was the point of putting them through such a difficult ordeal? He appreciated that Jesus wanted to give them a special experience that would be denied to the others. But did it have to be so hard? Couldn’t they have just gone off a bit into the bushes or something?

Jesus did not explain why. He just encouraged the three of them to try to keep up as he went on ahead. By the time they had finally reached the summit, they were all exhausted and starving. They shivered in the cold air and panted as if there were not enough oxygen.

When the white mist began to form before his eyes, Peter honestly didn’t know if a cloud had come down from the heavens to kiss the mountaintop or if he was about to pass out.

A Story Told Thrice

The story of the transfiguration is told in three of our four gospels, and the three accounts are virtually identical. I mean, for the most part, they are word-for-word the same. Which, if I can be completely honest for a moment here, can be kind of annoying for Christian preachers who follow the lectionary, which tells us to preach on the story using one of the three basically identical passages every single year.

As a result, we tend to obsess over the smallest variations between the three stories. So, this morning, we read Matthew’s version. And there is one tiny difference in Matthew’s account that I believe contains a very important message for us today. It goes to the question of what actually happened on that mountain.

Mark and Luke’s Vagueness

Now clearly, all three gospel writers see what happened on that mountain as real and significant. All three disciples experienced something that was mind-blowing up there. But Mark and Luke are vague about the material reality of that experience.

They talk only about what the three saw, felt and heard. That leaves open the possibility that they were observing physical reality. In other words, Jesus’ appearance was physically changed. Moses and Elijah were standing there, and you could have touched them. A voice boomed from heaven at a particular volume and frequency.

So, as Mark and Luke tell it, if a film crew were there that day, it is possible that they could have captured all of that. And that would definitely be the most amazing documentary to hit the theatres in all time. Why, it would be even bigger than “Melania!” That is all possible, at least the way the other two evangelists tell it. Though, of course, it is also possible that they are describing a mystical experience rather than a physical one.

Matthew’s Difference

But Matthew describes the experience differently. On the way down the mountain slope, Matthew tells us that Jesus warned the three men, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

So Matthew intentionally removes the ambiguity for us. He tells us, in no uncertain terms, that it was a vision. And so, I have to ask the question: what does that change?

First of all, let me say that it doesn’t mean that their experience was not real or that it did not come from God. Visions are real, people have them and they can make enormous differences in this world, either for good or for ill.

Vision Limitations

Visions can also be shared, as happens in this story. Presumably, each of these three men have individual and unique experiences, but they are in such physical and spiritual alignment in this moment that there is also a commonality to their experience.

But there is one limit on such visions. They cannot be objectively verified. Matthew is effectively telling us that, if a film crew had been there that day, they would only have been able to capture the ecstasy of the individuals. There would have been no footage of Elijah or Moses, no audio of the heavenly voice.

How to Evaluate Such Experiences

I realize, of course, that some will dismiss any vision as having no validity. You can’t prove anything to scientists with a vision – even a shared vision – because there is no data to be verified. That is true. And we do need to be careful not to claim too much for a vision or other spiritual experience

But that does not mean that such spiritual experiences are meaningless or worthless. There is no question that what Peter, James and John experienced on that mountain meant a great deal to them and they descended from that mountain as changed men who had seen confirmation of what they believed about Jesus.

Other people, those who weren’t there on the mountain, might well be moved by hearing the accounts and even choose to believe the truths that the three took away. But it is always harder for the people who were not there, and that is perhaps one reason why Jesus cautions them not to share the vision. Perhaps the others will not be ready to believe just based on the experience of the three.

Why There?

And that leads me to the question that really bothers me about this whole story. Why did this experience have to happen in such a difficult and inaccessible place? And why did it have to be limited to those three? If Jesus really wanted to show the disciples who he was, then why not just book a nice room in a hotel with room service and bring everyone in and let them experience it for themselves?

It happens on the top of a mountain, and I know that mountain tops have long been seen as places for such things to happen. As long as there have been humans, we have built sanctuaries and temples on mountain tops. That includes all of the temples and high places of Ancient Israel. Moses also had significant experiences on Mount Sinai and other mountains.

Where is God?

But is it just a question of spiritual geography? Is God spatially closer to us when we go up because we are getting closer to God’s heavenly abode? No, I don’t see it that way.

God is everywhere after all. We speak of God up in heaven, I know, but we don’t mean it literally. We know that “up there” is merely the edge of the atmosphere and then open space. There is no place on earth where you are closer to or farther away from God than you are right now.

So, the climb up that mountain that day represents something else. It is about the disciples arriving at that state of mind where they are open to the presence of God that is always there. And that is not something that comes easily to most humans.

Human Limitations

We humans have this way about us. We are constantly distracted. We are distracted by all the things we have to do, all the things we have to worry about or fear. So our mind – constantly on the move as it is – gets in the way of us experiencing that presence of God.

But it is not just our mind; it is also the body that houses our mind. Our body is constantly interrupting our quest for God with its appetites, demands and needs. We spend the great bulk of our time, attention and energy making sure that our bodies and the bodies of the people we love are okay. This is something that is a good and necessary part of our human nature.

But, with all of those things going on, how can the presence of God break through to us? And how will we be able to detect that presence in the midst of the chorus of demands that surrounds us all the time?

Preparing for the Vision

That is why visions and other spiritual experiences are so rare. It is not because God is absent. It is because we are distracted. And so, Jesus says to Peter, James and John, “Come, let us climb that extremely difficult mountain over there.”

What did that arduous climb do for them? It exhausted their bodies. It forced them into a state where they had to ignore all hunger and desire. It reduced them to the point where they could only give thought to the most basic of survival functions – getting sufficient oxygen from the thin air into their lungs.

What Jesus was doing was getting them to the place where their human minds were prepared to receive the vision of “the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” That is why it was on the mountain and away from the others.

Visions for Those Who Don’t Climb

And I believe that that is something that still happens. It certainly happens literally, I know, for those who test their bodies and endurance by climbing mountains. Many do report profound spiritual experiences on the peaks that they conquer.

I realize that not all of us will become mountain climbers. So don’t worry. I am not saying that you will never experience the power and presence of God without taking up mountaineering. But I do believe that the mountain-climbing in this passage is a metaphor for the kind of work that we have to do to prepare ourselves for such experiences.

Learning How to Prepare

Learning how to prepare your body and mind to experience God’s presence is something that we can all do, but it generally does not happen unless we work at it.

Those who take up meditation and contemplation, for example, will have such experiences. But it almost certainly won’t happen the first time they attempt it. It can take years and years of practice before you learn to quiet the demands of your mind and body enough for the voice of God to break through.

There are ways that you can learn to do this, and I have provided some pages at the back that you are welcome to take and study. You will not be surprised that many of them include getting your body to a state, much like you might find yourself after climbing a mountain, where all you are thinking about is your next breath. Then you just let even that concern go away.

Seeking the Vision

I do not doubt that, once they came to the top of that mountain, Peter, James and John did experience the presence of God in a powerful way. I also agree with Matthew that it was a vision.

It was a special and unique experience; every spiritual experience is. But that does not mean that it was not the kind of experience that you also can seek and find in this world, whether on the top of some mountain or in the silence of your own meditations.

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For resources on Christian Meditation, follow this link: https://thechristianmeditator.com/

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/k9v9ZzXGcpk

Hespeler, February 8, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 58:1-12, Psalm 112:1-10, 1 Corinthians 2:1-16, Matthew 5:13-20

Does this sound like a good idea to you? “Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!” That, according to our reading this morning from the Book of Isaiah, is what God said to the prophet. But it has never really seemed all that wise to me.

I am a human like everybody else. When I see what is going on in the world, I feel things, and I feel them deeply. I get angry when I see people gunned down in the streets for protesting in non-violent ways. I am upset to see even children rounded up treated like criminals for merely existing.

Economic Challenges

I am outraged to see families and seniors evicted from their homes because someone has calculated that getting them out means that they can charge more rent and boost their income. I am angry when I see large grocery chains manipulating the supply chain and collaborating to underpay their suppliers and overcharge their customers.

And I am certainly upset to hear stories about employers replacing their workers with artificial intelligence, especially when I see how it cuts off opportunities for young people to get their lives going. I am upset at the international tensions that are being raised to the boiling point, especially when it is caused by leaders who are acting like impulsive children.

I’d Better Hold Back!

I feel all of that and more. But, like a good and responsible preacher, when I approach the sermon-writing task and prepare to step into the pulpit, what do I say to myself? “Now hold on a minute there, Scott. You’ve got to hold back. You can’t just go in there and start shouting out all that stuff.

“What if there are people in the congregation who don’t see those things quite like you do? What is more, you surely don’t understand all the complexities of these difficult issues? What if you are wrong, or someone out there might be offended by your opinion? You can’t go in there and start sounding off like a trumpet!”

Wisdom

And you know what? There is a lot of wisdom in the inner voice that says all of that. The trumpet blast will turn some people off. And so, it is just a whole lot easier to just go in and say, “Let us pray and pray earnestly for those who are oppressed,” while never naming the oppressors. “Let us pray for those who can’t pay their bills,” but let’s not mention those who are making massive profits on their backs. “Let’s pray for the peacemakers,” but we had better not name those who are getting rich selling the weapons.

It is just safe and wise to hold back. And if we can just channel all the things that I am feeling and that other people are feeling into private devotion – if I can just tell us all to concentrate on personal, spiritual well-being and pretend that that alone can heal the world, well, then we can feel as if we have done something without making any waves.

God’s Message to the Prophet

So, as I prepare a sermon for this Sunday, I take the prudent course of telling myself to just hold back. And then I open up the Book of Isaiah, and what do I read? “Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!”

God said that to a prophet who was looking at a very similar situation. I won’t go into all the details about the historical circumstances around the time of this prophecy. I’ll just say that the scholars do have a pretty good idea of what was going on in Judah at the time. They were facing many of the same problems that we are.

Crops had failed, and food inflation was out of control. There was a lack of housing. A debt crisis had pushed multitudes into slavery. And, yes, there were even some hostile neighbours to the south who were making it impossible for them to trade.

So, I can’t help but feel as if the prophet was having many of the same feelings that I have been having when the message from God came: “Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.”

Prophet Unleashed

That is a dangerous thing to say to someone who has strong feelings about what is going on. God is unleashing the prophet here, letting him know that all his own thoughts and feelings about what’s going on are valid. In other words, God doesn’t need to give him the rest of the script for this prophecy. All he has to do is let out what he already knows.

He notes that the people are complaining to God. “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” They have been taking the “hold back” approach. Rather than talk frankly about all the problems they have been facing, they have been turning to spiritual practices.

Thoughts and Prayer

Fasting is one of the oldest spiritual practices. You go without food for a certain amount of time as a way of showing your God that you are spiritually devoted. Fasting is usually accompanied by prayer, asking God to do something about what’s wrong with the world.

But the prophet announces that God is mad with them for their devotion. That is why God won’t answer their prayers. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean that God doesn’t want our prayers and worship? That God hates our spiritual devotion? No.

It is a bit like what has happened with the whole “thoughts and prayers” meme in our society. As you may have noticed, many people have grown increasingly angry with politicians, celebrities and other leaders who offer their “thoughts and prayers” in the aftermath of some tragedy.

What’s Wrong with Prayer?

Why do people criticize that? It is a good thing to keep victims in mind and pray for those who are suffering. It is just that people have noticed that saying such things has become a substitute for having difficult discussions about policies and procedures that may contribute to the tragedies. It is a way of holding back from challenging those who are contributing to our problems, or doing anything that might make a difference.

People have begun to see through that. That is why they react negatively to any leader who says anything about “thoughts and prayers.” Well, it seems as if God and God’s prophet are having the same reaction to the prayers of the people of Judah. They are losing patience because people are substituting prayer and fasting for doing anything about the causes of the problems they are dealing with.

Prayer as a Substitute

There is a place for praying when things go wrong in this world. It is a way of reaching out and supporting people when they are struggling and there is nothing that we can do to help them. It can also be therapeutic. When we are feeling overburdened by all the problems we see around us, prayer can be a way of asking God to meet us so that we don’t have to carry those burdens alone.

But when such prayer becomes a substitute for action that is within our ability, I do believe that God loses patience with us. When you pray for a family that is struggling, and you could offer them support, but you don’t, why would God hear your prayers? When you pray for the hungry while sitting on a surplus of food, don’t you think God might find that a bit annoying?

And the same would apply when we pray for a social or economic situation that is hurting people, but that our actions are supporting or that our silence is enabling.

Using Devotion as an Excuse

And so, the prophet, acting under God’s direct inspiration, is unleashed. And he stands up to challenge the people about how they are living.

“Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers… Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.” He is definitely not holding back here, is he?

Here, he is not just accusing them of substituting prayer and fasting for actually doing anything. He is saying that they are using their spiritual devotion as an excuse for abusing others. We don’t really know how they are doing this, but I imagine them making their workers feel guilty for demanding things like fair wages and reasonable workloads. They are telling their workers that, because they are doing the important work of fasting and interceding for the nation, their workers are just going to have to put up with long hours and no pay to cover for them.

It makes me wonder what prophets might say to the modern church if they weren’t holding back. Would they criticize the church for all the energy we put into maintaining our own privileges and existence while failing to speak up against the injustice that unfolds around us?

A Call and a Promise

The prophet goes on. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

But most of all, the prophet promises that, if they make this shift from devotion to action, God will respond. “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’”

Will God Just Fix Things?

Now, I think it is important to understand what is being promised here. Is the prophet saying that God hasn’t been answering their prayer because of some of these bad things that they are doing? Is God promising that, if they just make some changes, God will start to listen and fix everything?

No, it is not as simple as that. The prophet is saying that all they are doing is actually creating the crises that they are praying for God to stop.

Their mistreatment of their workers – the very people who harvest their crops – is driving the food shortages that are causing the inflation. Why would the workers produce more food, after all, when they see that it does not keep their children from starving?

Driving the Problems

Their greed is driving the housing crisis by demanding such high returns from their real estate investments that no one can pay the rent. It is also forcing ever more people into slavery to the point that there are no free men left who can serve in the army and defend the nation. It is no wonder, therefore, that the foreign enemies that surround them are taking advantage.

In other words, God is saying that they are actively causing the problems that they are asking God to solve! Is it any wonder that God has lost patience with their prayer and fasting?

But how many people did the prophet offend by saying such things? How much wiser would he have been to just hold back? How much easier to encourage the people to concentrate on spiritual devotion instead? So surely, I am extremely wise to keep on reminding myself to just hold back every time I start working on my sermons.

But I am warning you. God has not stopped speaking to God’s people. And to those whom God has called to warn them, the first message will continue to be, “Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.”

God will call me and others to use our minds and intellects to look at the world that surrounds us. God will teach us to not hold back when we see that our actions are actively contributing to the problems that we are asking God to solve.

Watch Sermon Video Here:

https://youtu.be/_xnDCPgTHIw

Hespeler, February 1, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Micah 6:1-8, Psalm 15, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Matthew 5:1-12

This is an interesting time be a Christian preacher. There is so much going on in the world that is distressing, and much of it is deeply political in nature. We can talk about international politics that affect us deeply, such as the tensions in NATO over Greenland and questions of Canadian sovereignty.

And then there are the politics that may not affect us personally but that are still deeply disturbing. An outstanding example of that over the past little while has been the rising tension and violence in Minnesota and other parts of the United States over immigration matters.

As I watch these and other similar political developments, I, like most anyone else, have strong personal reactions. I go through feelings of shock, sorrow, anger and outrage. To deny those feelings would be to be inauthentic. So, the question becomes how I can be an authentic preacher in such times?

No Expert

I am not a political commentator. Nor should I be. It is not my job to tell people what party to vote for, and the church needs to be a place where we accept different political opinions.

What is more, I am no expert in politics or international laws and treaties. I do not have any special knowledge of immigrants, refugees or how their cases and claims should be handled. So, who am I to tell you what to think about such matters? If you want to understand those things, you should listen to those who have studied the issues, not me.

But what do I do when those who do claim to be experts on those matters step into my area of expertise? What if, for example, the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (commonly known as ICE) starts to tell us how to interpret the Bible?

Last month, ICE, which has been given a huge budgetary increase and a mandate to hire thousands upon thousands of officers, put out a recruiting video. Except it wasn’t just a recruiting video. It was a biblical commentary.

A Recruitment Video

The video showed images of ICE agents at work. Decked out in combat uniforms and employing all manner of high-tech equipment from helicopters to night-vision goggles. They are brandishing both lethal and less-lethal weapons.

Such images of ICE at work are themselves nothing new. They may be disturbing, but anyone who has been paying attention has seen them before. What caught my attention were the words – the only words – that were part of the ad.

They appeared in Gothic letters (and yes, there was a message in the font choice – there is an association with certain political ideologies). The words that appeared over the montage were taken directly from the English Standard Bible Translation of our reading this morning: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Now, as I said, those are the only words in the whole ad other than the contact information at the end. So, you may wonder why I would call it a commentary. How can you comment on a text without, you know, commenting? But, as we all know, a picture can be worth a thousand words. The pictures that accompany these words speak volumes.

Aggression and Violence as Solutions

They are all images that convey aggression and hostility. No actual violence is shown, of course, but the potential for it seems present in every frame. And the aggressors are clearly the ones who are being called “peacemakers” in the video.

The soundtrack of the video is a particularly dark cover of the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” And that idea that there are bad people out there who want to take over the world seems to be the only justification for the aggression and violence of the so-called peacemakers. Their aggression is the only thing that can counter the evil of everybody else who wants to rule the world.

Enemies

So, all of this amounts to a clear commentary on this one verse from the Gospel of Matthew. It is telling us, in no uncertain terms, what Jesus meant when he spoke of peacemakers.

And what he meant, clearly, is that the world is full of people who want to rule the world to destroy it. These are the enemies; they are other. They are different from us. Given that this is a celebration of the work of ICE, they are overwhelmingly immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and members of various minority communities.

And if that is the situation, then clearly there can only be one response. Such enemies and the danger to peace that they pose can only be defeated by overwhelming violence and repression. Therefore, a peacemaker is someone who engages in that kind of violence.

This interpretation is also saying that Jesus said that people who carry out such violence are blessed. They are endowed with special divine favour.

Sons of God

It also strangely implies that they are men. As I said, this ad uses the English Standard Version. And the ESV is the only major version that translates the final part as “sons of God.” They do this, as is explained in the preface to the translation, for dogmatic and not grammatical reasons.

The word in the original context of the Gospel of Matthew means children. Even the King James Bible translated it that way over 400 years ago. But the makers of this ad chose an outlier translation for a reason. They are also declaring that the kind of peacemaking they are talking about is a masculine endeavour. It is something done by big burly men.

And because of that, the purpose of peacemaking is to use all that violence to protect vulnerable and feminine women, most particularly represented by their boss, the Secretary of Homeland Security.

That is quite a lot of content to pack into a short video, but it is all there. And I don’t think that the makers and those who approved the ad would disagree with me that that is the message that they are trying to get across.

Is That What Jesus Meant?

But the question is, is that a good interpretation of the verse? Is that what Jesus really meant when he said it? Finally, all my years of training pay off, and I have something relevant to say! First time for everything. I don’t know if I can handle the pressure!

So, is that what Jesus meant when he spoke of peacemakers? Was he talking about people who use violence to eliminate those who are different and who disagree with you? Can you achieve peace by silencing dissent and suppressing those who resist? It may seem as if that can result in a state where there is no conflict. If that is not peace, then what is?

Pax Romana

Such an idea of peace certainly did exist in the time of Jesus. They called it the Pax Romana, or the Roman Peace, and it had been established by none other than Caesar Augustus.

Augustus had sent his legions all over the world, and using the latest in military tech, they had destroyed anyone who disagreed with him. And when no one can oppose what you want to do, there aren’t any wars. Augustus proclaimed that he had established universal peace, the Pax Romana. He even built himself a massive peace prize, which he called the Altar of Peace in Rome.

And that was the world that Jesus lived in – a world under the Roman Peace. In that world, anyone who opposed what Rome wanted to do or withheld what Rome wanted to take was brutally eliminated. So Jesus knew such a concept of peacemaking. He could have embraced it. But is that what he is referring to in this verse?

What Jesus Was Talking About

The answer, quite simply, is no. The peacemaking that Jesus was talking about was not something that could be achieved through the violent defeat of those who threaten the tranquillity that you want.

We see that in the very word that Jesus used. The word is εἰρηνοποιοί, and it has a dual meaning. It is as much about doing peaceful things as it is about bringing about a peaceful outcome. And that means that you can’t make peace without being peaceful – at least, not the kind of peace that Jesus is talking about.

This becomes clear when you see the same word used in the Letter to the Ephesians. There the writer declares that Jesus himself is our peace and that he made peace (that is the same word) by breaking down the dividing wall and bringing people together with God in a new humanity. Most importantly, it states that Jesus made this peace by sacrificing himself on the cross. (Ephesians 2:14-16)

So, the kind of peace that Jesus is talking about can only be made by bringing people together, not by exclusion or segregation. And it can’t be made by acts of war, but only by acts of peace. It cannot be made by insisting that everyone do things your way, but by acts of self-sacrifice and mercy.

A Bad Commentary

So, let me speak today with clarity and from my own area of expertise and declare that this biblical commentary made by American Immigration and Customs Enforcement is just plain wrong. Let me further suggest that federal agencies should avoid trying to interpret the Bible. It seems to me that such efforts will not only lead us to bad interpretations, but also to some pretty dark places!

But I can hear their objections from here – maybe even some of yours as well. The objection is that, if that is what Jesus means, well, Jesus must be wrong. The objection is that you can’t make peace without knocking a few heads together because that is just how it works in the real world.

Objection to the Passage

That is, in fact, the objection that is always made to just about everything that Jesus says in this entire passage that we read from the gospel this morning. None of it is practical; none of it seems like it would work in the real world.

The poor in spirit seem neither happy nor blessed because of their situation. The meek hardly seem to be poised to inherit the earth. On the contrary, the aggressive and violent seem to be actively taking it over right now.

And when people actually hunger and thirst for righteousness sake – when they stand up for someone who is being harassed or arrested because their skin is darker or because they are different – what happens. We’ve seen it. They are not blessed. They get shot down in the street.

Rejecting the Wisdom of the World

What Jesus says in this whole passage is contrary to all of the wisdom of this world. So, if you want to reject what he says, you are not going to be alone. I fully expect that the world will continue to try and make peace by violently attacking those who would oppose it.

But, for my part, I will continue to believe that those who try to create peace on earth using the weapons of war may be able to create, for a short while, a bit of space where they get to do whatever they want and no one dares to challenge them. And I will continue to acknowledge that the strong and wealthy will inherit the earth (or so they will think) by their exercise of power.

But I will know that they will ultimately fail. Their peace is never a lasting peace because Jesus was right. You can’t make peace that way.

Jesus came to announce a different way of doing things – a different kind of kingdom. And maybe if we could just get past denouncing his approach and declaring that it could never work, we could get the kind of peace that can last because it is the kind of peace that transforms the whole world from the inside out.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/YhLxMd6LKSs

Hespeler, January 25, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 4-9, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23

Last week, as you know, I came to you with some pretty stunning news. Somehow, and amazingly, the Apostle Paul had reached out to us down through the centuries and, together with a guy named Sosthenes, had sent us a card to celebrate our first anniversary.

I know you were all as blown away by that as I was. I thought that it was just going to be a one-time event. I mean, surely Paul wouldn’t employ his time-travelling Post Office to write to us again, would he?

Well, I’m sure you know the answer to that question because we all read it together this morning, didn’t we? We continued to read through Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and you surely noticed how directly it was addressed to us where we are today, starting the second year of our journey as a congregation together.

Problems Addressed

After his opening words of celebration for how far they have come together and encouragement for the future, Paul turns, in our reading this morning, to some of the problems and struggles that still lie before him. And he begins with the one that troubles him most – the trouble they are having being united.

A woman in the congregation, no doubt a local leader whom he greatly respects, has sent messengers to him, he says. “For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters,” he writes.

The problem, you see, is that certain things set them apart from one another. In fact, for all intents and purposes, it seems as if they all came from different churches. “What I mean,” Paul says, “is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’”

Belonging

Note the wording there. It is all about where they belong and to whom they belong. Belonging is one of the most essential building blocks of your identity. You primarily know who you are because you know where you belong.

Belonging is all about the places where you feel at home. It is about the people you feel like you can be yourself with. It is also about those things that you care about enough to support and defend.

That is why, whenever people talk about their identity, they speak of things like their family, their hometown, their nationality and the people they spend time with. And if a church is a strong and healthy community, people typically find a key part of their identity in their church.

Where They Find Their Identity

But these folks in Corinth, Paul tells us, are finding their identity in something other than their church. They speak of different teachers who were there at different times – Paul, Apollos and Cephas – and finding their identity in them. Now, all of these teachers, including Paul, had been there in the past. They made a big impression for a while, and then they moved on.

So, when these believers speak of “belonging” to these teachers, what they are essentially saying is that they find their Christian identity in those past eras.

In addition, some of them are saying that they belong to Christ. And that may be an attempt on their part to ground their identity in an ongoing reality as Christ continued to be with the church. But the fact that the people saying this are creating yet another faction within the church rather than bringing everyone together indicates that they are not living that identity out in helpful ways.

Quarrelling

Now, there are some ways in which I do not recognize us and our situation in this part of Paul’s letter. He speaks about people quarrelling in the church and says that this is so disturbing that Chloe has gone out of her way to bring it to his attention. Well, I am glad to say that I have not seen any of that sort of quarrel in our congregation.

Do we disagree sometimes or see things from different points of view? Absolutely. And that kind of disagreement is normal and healthy. It would actually be a bad sign if we didn’t have any of that. But where we have disagreed, we have been committed to working those matters out peaceably and in a spirit of harmony.

So, Paul wouldn’t chew us out for quarrelling. But he would be concerned about how we see ourselves and our belonging in the church. I am sure that he would appeal to us by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of us be in agreement and that there be no divisions among us, but that we be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.

Our Belonging

So, ask yourself how you think of your belonging in the church. Because of our amalgamation, I know that it can be easy to fall into the thinking of ourselves in those terms – I belonged to Knox, I belonged to St. Andrew’s. Even more important, it is tempting to think of others in those terms – they belonged to St. Andrew’s, or they belonged to Knox.

We may also struggle to acknowledge newcomers – those who have come in the last year or so. If they don’t have that connection of belonging to the past, we may not be sure how they can belong.

I realize, of course, that that history is important and knowing where we belonged can help us understand how we react to things now. But belonging that is primarily anchored in past realities is not going to help us to embrace the identity that God is giving to us now.

And it is at this point that I think it is fitting to throw in a now famous quote from a world leader: “Nostalgia is not a strategy.” That may certainly be true in global politics right now, but it is always been true of the church.

Baptism

So, our belonging is an important part of our identity that Paul is drawing our attention to today. Immediately after discussing belonging, Paul appears to change the subject and begin talking about baptism.

“I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,” he writes, “so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.” And I know that it’s a little bit funny that he then immediately corrects himself and admits that he did also baptize the household of Stephanas. Then ultimately, he confesses that he doesn’t really remember who he baptized.

But the question is, why does that even matter? What does that have to do with their issues around identity? Well, it turns out, a whole lot. We might miss this because, as you know, it is a common practice in the Presbyterian Church to baptize people as infants. As a result of that, I imagine, many of you here today don’t actually remember your baptisms.

Key Moments in Your Life

That was not the case for the church in Corinth. It was a new church, which meant that, for the great majority of them (except perhaps of some infants in the household of Stephanas), the memories of their baptisms were very fresh. They had chosen for themselves to be baptized, and it marked a very significant turning point in their lives. And those kinds of life changing experiences are generally pivotal for somebody’s sense of identity.

We, as modern Christians in the Presbyterian tradition, may not have had that particular experience in the church. But we have had other similar experiences. The church has been given a great privilege in our society to be associated with so many life-changing moments.

Think of all the experiences you have had that transformed your life that were associated with the church. Your profession of faith, your wedding, the baptism of your children, the funeral of a loved one. Perhaps a clergy person or chaplain was there with you when someone you loved passed away. There is no denying how life-changing such experiences can be, and many of them happened for us within the church.

In addition, you probably have had moments, however fleeting, in the life of the church when you felt the closer presence of God or when some deep truth finally made sense to you. There have been moments of profound joy and of deep sorrow. There have been times when someone was there for you when you needed it most.

Those are all experiences that can set or change the course of our lives. As such, they really do make us who we are. And I know that many of you have had those experiences in church. I have too. And I know that they are essential to your identity.

Why Paul Is Glad Not to Baptize Them

So why, then, does Paul say that he is glad to have not been there for such pivotal moments in the lives of the people in Corinth? Is he trying to downplay the importance of such moments for their sense of identity? Of course not.

Rather, he is saying that such experiences are so important that you cannot tie them to a particular place or person. They transcend the particular circumstances that you were in when you had them. And so, you need to set them free from being tied to particular places and people.

God is not limited to particular places or people. That experience you had of God in the church or that particular commitment you made or that feeling you expressed was a gift that God gave to you to transform you. You carry that experience or that commitment with you wherever you may go.

Your baptism was not effective because it was performed by Paul. The quality of your marriage is not guaranteed because it happened in this church or that church. You did not receive comfort for your grief because of where you mourned.

All of those things changed your life because God was there for you in that moment and because God has not abandoned you since and never will. That is why Paul declares, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.”

The Letter to Us Continues

So, it turns out that it is not just the opening passage of this letter that we read last week that has been written for our church today. As we continue into the opening chapter, I can hear Paul speaking to us across the centuries. He is encouraging us to think in constructive ways about our identity.

We do not forget, of course, where we have found belonging in the past. And we certainly do not let go of those significant moments where God has been there for us and that have set the course of our lives. But I believe that God is today encouraging us to ground our identity in something new.

May God truly bind us together in Christ today. Let us find our belonging in the people whom God has given us right now. And let us never stop expecting that Christ will invite us to new experiences of God’s presence. Christ will place before us new opportunities to choose to follow in God’s path.

We are God’s people. That is our identity. Other things may come and go. We do not need to fear that we have lost ourselves so long as we remember that.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/Q0Ag0xTGTYw

Hespeler, January 18, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Anniversary Sunday
Isaiah 49:1-7, Psalm 40:1-11, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-42 (see also Acts 18:1-17)

One year ago, as you all know, we embarked on a strange new journey together. We took two Presbyterian congregations with different histories and different self-understandings, and we brought them together. And I know that there are two ways of looking at what we did.

Sameness or Change

One way to look at it is as an exercise in sameness. We can see it as one congregation that has just continued to do what it has always done and to be what it has always been, with the addition of some new people on one hand. And on the other, a congregation continuing to do and be what it has always done and been in a new place with some other people.

But the other way to look at it is as an exercise in change – to see it as the two former congregations ceasing to exist as they were to become a new thing together.

The reality, of course, is that it is a bit of a mix of both of those things. We obviously have not given up on all of our old traditions and ministries over the past year. In many ways, we have been doing our best to maintain and even enhance some of them. We have also not yet let go of some old identity markers such as names and structures.

Leading with Change

There is a lot of comfort in keeping things the same as much as possible. And, as the old proverb goes, we don’t really want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. We don’t want to let go of what was working and what was vital to our churches.

Nevertheless, I don’t think it is helpful to understand what we did last year as an exercise in sameness. The change we have engaged in has to be more important than any continuity that we have brought along with us.

For as much as we may have loved how we were as separate congregations before a year ago, the reality is that what we were doing was not working as well as it once did. The reality is that the church is going to have to change if it is going to remain relevant and meaningful in the future.

That is why we must see this as an opportunity, given to us by God, to reinvent ourselves. It’s why we called what happened last year a marriage. That is why we call today our first anniversary.

Paul in Corinth

And that is what makes our reading this morning from the First Letter to the Corinthians so meaningful. The church in Corinth was a church that had been founded by the Apostle Paul. He just showed up one day preaching Jesus to them. A number of people responded and formed a church together.

And then Paul left, moving on to his next project. But the new church in Corinth had some problems after he left. And so, some time later, Paul heard about their struggles, and he sent them a card – this First Letter to the Corinthians – to help them sort some of this stuff out.

Now, we don’t actually know how long after he had left that Paul wrote this letter, but I’m just going to say that it was exactly one year later. I’m going to say that he sent it for their first anniversary because, you know what, I think that what Paul wrote to them may be exactly what we need to hear today.

Paul and Sosthenes

For example, let me start with the opening line of the letter. Actually, I have already misrepresented it to you because I said it was a letter from Paul to the church, but it was not. The letter actually starts by identifying the writers: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes.”

So actually, it isn’t a card from Paul; it is a card from Paul and Sosthenes. And we might say, “So what?” We don’t know who Sosthenes was, and he is not even mentioned again in the letter. Well, we might not know who he was, but the Corinthians did. And the naming of this man at the top of this letter spoke volumes to them about how they had come to be a new church together.

Acts 18

Sosthenes’ story is told in the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Acts. There we are told that, when Paul first came to Corinth, he actually caused them a fair bit of trouble. He showed up in the synagogue and started preaching about Jesus.

Now, the Synagogue in Corinth had many Jews in it. But they also had several Gentiles who weren’t considered acceptable by the Jews, but they hung around because they found the Jewish idea of God intriguing. They also offered generous financial support.

Well, when Paul came along, he preached that even Gentiles could be acceptable to God because of Jesus. Not surprisingly, the Gentiles in the synagogue found that message very interesting. They began to leave the synagogue because of Paul. And they took their money with them.

Turmoil in the Synagogue

And do you know what the best way is to upset any religious institution? You disrupt their revenue stream! The synagogue erupted into anger and violence. Then Paul left and set up a new Jesus club in the home of a Gentile believer named Titius Justus that was right next door to the synagogue.

Things got worse for the synagogue when Crispus, a Jew and the elected leader of the synagogue, also left to join the movement next door.

That is when Sosthenes came into the story. He was elected the new synagogue leader. And he obviously tried to calm things down. He tried to find ways for the synagogue to peacefully coexist with their new neighbours. His success was limited, but Paul’s little club grew over the next six months.

Roman Tribunal

But eventually, some of the Jews who really hated Paul couldn’t take it any longer. They got organized and kidnapped Paul as if he were a Venezuelan dictator and dragged him before the local Roman tribunal, accusing him of violating Jewish law and tradition.

And what did the Roman official do? He did not care one bit about Jewish matters! He just told them to work it out among themselves. But, when Sosthenes stepped forward once again to try and do that, everyone started to beat him up while the official looked on and didn’t stop them.

And yes, that is often what happens. We attack those who try to make peace because they show up the intolerance that is in us. As a result, when Paul left town, apparently so did Sosthenes. I mean, would you stick around after they treated you like that?

Why Does Sosthenes Sign?

But now, on what I’ve decided is their first anniversary, Paul sends this anniversary card to the church. What does it mean to them, do you suppose, when he asks Sosthenes to sign the card too?

Well, it certainly reminds them of just how chaotic and troubling their origin was. And maybe that is his intent. And I do believe that there is some wisdom in that for us. On this, our first anniversary, perhaps we too should give some thought about our own origins.

Our amalgamation was not, I am glad to say, marred by any violence. It was quite the opposite and felt very harmonious in the congregation. But it was also not ideal in some ways. It was rather rushed and there were some external authorities – some Roman officials and synagogue leaders – who I know caused people some grief and sparked some anger.

I think that Paul is writing us today to remind us of some of that turmoil. But he is doing it in a very particular way. He is drawing our attention to Sosthenes.

Paul Reminds Us

In Corinth, Sosthenes was someone who, for a time at least, was an opponent of the new church. He was part of the group of people who tried to resist Paul by lodging a formal complaint before the tribunal. He also suffered because of his resistance.

So, what is Sosthenes’ signature on the card saying? It is Paul’s way of reminding them of how far they have come since their tumultuous beginnings. He is letting them know that Sosthenes, the one-time resister, is now a fellow believer, part of the church and is a companion to Paul.

What is the anniversary card from Paul and Sosthenes saying to us today? It is reminding us of how far we have come together. It is reminding us that we have been able to put aside so much that distinguished us from each other in the past to become one together.

We are Sosthenes

We are all Sosthenes today. We may have had our doubts and our struggles. There were conflicting emotions that we brought into this thing and concern about the work that would be involved, but we marvel today at how far God has brought us. And we thank God for where God has called us to be.

Now, none of that means that we are done or that we don’t have struggles ahead of us. There is still a lot of work to be done. We need to work at embracing our new identity. I think that we still have not quite got our minds around the notion that we are no longer a church whose ministry is defined by one location. We have work to do on the best long-term use of our property in Preston. There is a whole lot of change that still needs to be processed.

Prepared for the Future

But Paul is writing to us about that as well. Remember that the reason why Paul wrote this card to the Corinthians was that he knew that they were facing some difficult challenges. So, what he writes to them is very significant.

“You are not lacking in any gift,” he writes to them, “as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Given all the trouble that the Corinthian church was having, this is quite a statement for Paul to make. But he really means it. God has given to them all the gifts that they need and will give them all the strengths that they need to meet the challenges that are ahead.

And, if Paul could say that to the troubled Corinthians, how much more would he say it to us? And how true it is of us? How much have seen it in the last year?

Gifts

That word, “gifts,” is a key word in the New Testament. It doesn’t mean what we usually mean when we use the word. It is not talking about material gifts, but things that are much more valuable. These are the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to individuals.

These gifts include various abilities, talents and traits that God uses to build up the church. In this very letter, Paul will speak of gifts such as wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, powerful deeds, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:8-10) But this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, and there are many other ways that the Spirit equips individual believers.

And have we ever seen that in the past year! So many of you have stepped forward to share your gifts and abilities. We have discovered depths of talents and traits in so many of you, and you have contributed so much towards building this church over the past year.

Treasures to Discover

But Paul here reminds us that there are so many other treasures that are yet to be discovered. He reminds us of God’s promise to the church that God will provide what we need when we need it through the people that God calls to be part of our church. This is the promise that we must trust in. This is what we must remind ourselves of whenever we feel discouraged by all that still needs to be done or by how long change seems to be taking.

On our anniversary today, therefore, Paul and Sosthenes are sending us a beautiful card. The words inside are a blessing upon all of us. “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”