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Hespeler, April 13, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Passion Sunday
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Luke 23:1-12.

After the events that took place on that fateful Friday, both Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas remained in place, ruling over their territories for a few more years.

Pilate continued to terrorize the people of Judea and Samaria until he eventually went too far, ordered a massacre of Samaritans at Mount Gerizim and lost his post. And Herod continued to extract as much money from the Galileans as he could until, eventually, he asked for too much and the Emperor had him exiled.

But for those few years, they both thoroughly enjoyed one aspect of their lives: their ongoing friendship. Whenever they could, they would meet up at one of their many palaces and spend an enjoyable afternoon sipping wine and sharing their memories of that golden day.

A Conversation Between Friends

“You know,” Pilate would often say, “we get along so well these days that I sometimes forget why we hated each other for so long.”

“Yeah, right,” Herod would say with a smile, “I hated you because you ruled over territory that once belonged to my father and should rightfully belong to me, and you hated me because I guess you were jealous of how devilishly handsome I am.”

“Something like that,” Pilate would chuckle.

But the truth of the matter was that they really had hated each other. But all of that had changed one Friday when they had become fast friends. They had bonded over a troublemaker who had been arrested.

Casual Cruelty

Now, condemning and punishing people – whether guilty or not – was never something that either of them had trouble doing. Pilate got a perverse kind of satisfaction out of ordering massacres and even mingling the blood of worshippers with their sacrifices. And Herod had a real cruel streak as well, as he particularly showed in his attacks on Nabataea.

But when cruelty is your favourite hobby, it can get complicated dealing with all of the consequences of your actions all the time. Finding excuses and ways to shift the blame almost becomes a full-time job.

And that was where their friendship really started. When that Jesus of Nazareth showed up before him, Pilate would have been only too happy to torture him to death right away. He had caused a disturbance in his city at a moment when Jerusalem was filled with rowdy pilgrims who might start an insurrection. Of course Pilate wanted him dead!

Passing it on to Herod

But Pilate had been getting performance reviews from the Emperor who was concerned about all of the indiscriminate killing. Apparently he wanted him to tone it down a bit. So, when Pilate found out that Nazareth was actually in Herod Antipas’ territory and that Herod was in town for the festival, he saw a perfect opportunity to let someone else take the fall on this one. And so off Jesus was sent to Herod’s place.

As for Herod, he had actually been wanting to kill Jesus for some time. Some Pharisees had even told Jesus so. So he was definitely on the same wavelength as Pilate. But, he could see that the man was doomed now anyways. So why should he stick his neck out? He chose instead to mock Jesus for a while over all of the reports of miracles and wonders he had heard about, and then just send him back.

Pilate should have been annoyed at that, of course. Herod hadn’t done what he wanted him to do, leaving him once more in the position of possibly catching some heat over his crucifixion quotas.

Passing it onto Jewish Leaders

But of course, this was not the only way that Pilate had for finding someone else to pin this on. The local religious leaders were quite aware of just how difficult Rome could make life for them if there was unrest, especially around the Passover.

So, if Pilate showed signs of not wanting to kill the man, maybe if he even made a ridiculous show of wanting to wash his hands of the whole affair, he knew that he could make them step up and take the blame on themselves. He could manipulate them if he needed to.

But Pilate couldn’t help but find some respect for Herod who had clearly understood what he was doing and yet had not been willing to play his game. He resolved that, as soon is this whole affair was over with, he would call up that fellow and get to know him better. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but there is something a little bit odd in the whole story of the trial, suffering and death of Jesus. There just seems to be a lot of energy being put into laying the blame and deflecting the blame for everything that happened. I mean, the whole story of Herod and Pilate’s unlikely friendship, which is told only in the Gospel of Luke, is really just the most obvious example of people trying to pass the buck back and forth.

Who Killed Jesus

The answer to the question of who killed Jesus is actually quite clear. Based on the historical data, there is one clear answer. He was killed by the Romans. He was executed by crucifixion. Crucifixion at that time was a uniquely Roman method of execution. They wouldn’t even allow anyone else to employ it. We know who did it.

It is also not very hard to understand what the Roman motivation might have been. Jesus had caused a disruption in the temple during the festival of Passover.

And Passover was a festival that always made the Romans very nervous about insurrection. It was a remembrance of the time when God had saved the people of Israel from slavery. The Romans liked slavery. Indeed they were completely dependant on it for everything. They got very trigger-happy whenever people were celebrating that kind of liberation. They clamped down on any disruption during Passover immediately.

So, it is pretty clear who killed Jesus and why. Pilate did it; he maybe didn’t drive the nails into Jesus’ hands himself, but he was in charge. So, you’ve got to wonder why the gospel stories spend so much time trying to chase down other suspects. They tell the whole story as if it is a great whodunit that no one can solve.

Why the Gospels Don’t Emphasise That

Now they may have had some practical reasons for doing this. These gospels were written at a time when the church really couldn’t afford to catch negative attention from the Roman authorities. It was not really a good idea at the time to go around blaming the Romans for murdering their founder. It was helpful to introduce a bit of nuance into the telling.

But I don’t believe that this was just a cynical step taken to escape dangerous imperial attention. These gospel writers were writing for churches who knew very well who had killed Jesus. They understood how the empire worked better than any of us could. But, by playing around with the question of whodunit, I think that the writers were inviting those readers to look deeper – to look beyond the question of blame.

Our Tendency to Lay Blame

Whenever something goes wrong in this world, that seems to be our human reflex. We look around to find somebody to blame. Tragedies happen; they happen all the time. But there is something inside us that makes us think that, if only we can find someone, anyone to heap the fault on, it will somehow magically make the tragedy make sense.

It is faulty reasoning. Identifying someone to blame may sometimes (if done correctly of course) create an opening for justice to be done. It may even create opportunities to avoid similar tragedies in the future. But it doesn’t automatically make anything better. It can sometimes make things worse – especially when our blaming is faulty or too simplistic which it often is when we are desperately looking to lay blame to make ourselves feel better. But it is a very natural human response.

So of course, as the early church reflected on the death of Jesus, they felt that natural human response to find someone to blame. Of course they blamed the Romans, but they also knew that it was dangerous to talk too loudly about that. So they also considered the other possible collaborators – Herod Antipas, Judas (of course), the Jewish leadership and even the Jewish people themselves. So of course, the gospel writers wove all of that speculation into their account of Jesus’ passion.

Looking Beyond Blame

But the writers also knew what they were doing. They understood that blame is never a sufficient response to tragedy. It doesn’t really solve the underlying problems. That is why I believe that they went out of their way to push their readers beyond questions of mere blame.

That must be what Luke is doing by telling his unique story about the unlikely friendship of Pilate and Herod. They are, to be clear, perfect villains. They are the sort of people who would sooner condemn you to death than sneeze at you.

And yet Luke invites us as readers to enter into the speculation. “What if they didn’t do it? What if they didn’t even want to kill him and they each tried to pass the responsibility off to the other?”

The Scandal of Christian Antisemitism

That doesn’t make much sense historically. But what if Luke invited us into that story to show us just how silly it is to put all of your energy into blaming someone.

The whole blame game around the crucifixion has been so destructive throughout Christian history. In particular, the false but far too easy decision to pin it all on the Jews has caused no end of hatred and emnity, culminating in some of the worst atrocities carried out in the name of Christianity including the Spanish Inquisition, European pogroms and ultimately the Holocaust. Blame for the crucifixion has often taken Christians very far from who Jesus has called us to be.

Enemies Becoming Friends

And so maybe Luke told this story about shifting blame between Pilate and Herod to make us look past all of that to see what? To see friendship and specifically a friendship between two most unlikely characters.

What is the message in that? Is it supposed to make us like Herod and Pilate? Surely not. They are still the bad guys. Pilate is still the guy who gives the order that sends Jesus to the cross. They are irredeemable in many ways.

And yet Luke tells of how this all ended in their unlikely friendship. Is there not a message to the church in that? So long as we make the story of the suffering and death of Jesus merely a story about judgement and blame, we will not realize the fullness of its power.

Beyond Judgement

I do know judgement is a part of the Christian understand of Jesus’ death. For many, their only understanding of the meaning of it is that God judged and blamed us for our sins and that Jesus died to take that judgement away.

That is, of course, an accepted theological understanding, but I think that, with this story, Luke is prompting us to consider that there is something else at the heart of what Jesus suffered as well. He is telling us that it is ultimately about turning enemies into friends.

I mean, if the trial, the suffering and the death of Jesus could turn the likes of Herod and Pilate into friends – if it could make a little bit of space for friendship in the hearts of these psychopathic monsters, is it not also possible that Jesus went through all of that to bring the end of all sorts of enmity.

Jesus gives himself ultimately so that we can be friends with God and God can be friends with us. Jesus’ death means that ancient enemies – even the Russians and the Ukranians, even the Palestinians and the Israelis, can set aside generations of hatred and resentment to build friendship. It even means that you might find the opportunity to set aside that grudge, that resentment or even that hatred you’ve been carrying around against somebody forever. That is what the death of Jesus can achieve.

https://youtu.be/XRRIP0Ptx24

Hespeler, April 6, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Fifth Sunday in Lent
Isaiah 43:16-21, Psalm 126,  Philippians 3:4b-14, John 12:1-8

Have you heard the story about the time when Jesus was eating supper at somebody’s house when, all of a sudden, a woman came in and began to anoint Jesus? But then all of the men who were present began to criticize her harshly for doing that. But then Jesus began to defend her. In fact, Jesus defended her so strongly that he suggested that she might be better than any of them. At least he suggested that she had done what they should have done but had failed to do.

Of course you know that story – or at least you do if you are at all familiar with the gospels. That story is told in each of the four gospels in our New Testament.

Or is it?

Here is what you may not have noticed if you haven’t studied the gospels in depth. Yes, that story is told in each of the gospels, but there are details in those tellings that actually make them so distinct that they cannot be the same story.

In Simon’s House

Let me show you what I mean. The story told in Matthew and Mark is virtually the same – as in word-for-word the same for the most part – so we’ll count that as one story.

This story takes place in “Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,” where as Jesus “sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.” (Mark 14:3) The woman is unnamed and the people who are present criticize her for wasting the money when it could have been given to the poor.

The details of this story are important. You anoint kings by pouring oil on their heads and so she sees herself as anointing Jesus as a king. Also the fact that she is unnamed is significant as Jesus calls attention to that when he says that “what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” It is also significant that she does this just before Jesus is killed, as he says, “she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.”

In the Pharisee’s House

But the story in the Gospel of Luke has different details. It takes place much earlier in the ministry of Jesus and in the home of a Pharisee where Jesus is reclining (not sitting) to eat. The woman, still unnamed, anoints Jesus with the same alabaster bottle of ointment, but she anoints his feet, not his head, and only does so after she washes them with her tears and dries them with her hair.

The details make the story quite different. This is not a royal anointing; you anoint the feet of someone as an act of penitence. And the men present criticize her, not because of the expense, but because she is so sinful and should not be touching someone as holy as Jesus. And Jesus praises her and forgives her because she has washed his feet when his hosts have failed to do so.

In Lazarus’ House

And then we come to this story that we read this morning from the Gospel of John. We are back in Bethany and just before Jesus’ arrest, but we’re in a completely different house – the house of Lazarus who Jesus just raised from the dead a chapter ago. And this time, the woman who is doing the anointing, far from being unknown, is a woman who we have already encountered in this book. She is Mary, the sister of Lazarus, the same one who told Jesus off for not coming sooner when her brother was dead.

So, what is going on here? The stories echo each other so perfectly, but the essential details mean that they cannot be the same story of the same events. I see two possible explanations.

Understanding Each Story

It could be that this was something that just happened to Jesus all the time – as in, there were constantly various women who were coming up to Jesus with alabaster jars of costly ointment. That seems a bit odd, but I suppose it is possible.

The other possibility is that these three stories are all based on one original incident, but what has happened is that each of the gospel writers has taken that story and intentionally told it in a slightly different way.

But they would have done this for a reason. You don’t go adapting a sacred story like this one without trying to use it to get your particular message across. Each of these gospel writers, in other words, was trying to use this story to teach us different things about who Jesus was and why he had come.

And if that is what is going on here – and I think that it is – then our job as readers is clear, isn’t it? We need to do our best to understand what each author is trying to get across to us by the way that each story is told. So, let’s it take a deep dive into the story told in the Gospel of John, because there are some really interesting things going on in there. In fact, let us put ourselves into the place of Mary as she prepares to greet her extraordinary guest.

When Lazarus Had Died

When Mary’s brother told her that he had invited Jesus to dinner, her mind immediately went back to the last time she had seen him. It had been at a horrible moment, when Lazarus has just died.

She had just finished watching and feeling utterly helpless as her beloved brother weakened and sickened over several days. Lazarus was not only somebody who she loved dearly. He was also the only source of financial security for his unmarried sisters. And here she was, there was nothing she could do to save him. And then she lost him. He was gone.

Four days after that, Jesus had come. She knew his reputation as a healer. She knew that, if he had come sooner, none of this would have happened. But now, here he was. Too little, too late.

She should have been furious but, honestly, her grief was so great that it was like she could hardly harness the strength to express any emotion whatsoever. When her sister Martha went out to greet Jesus, Mary just stayed back in the house. She wasn’t weeping; she wasn’t doing anything yet. She was just lost.

Martha and Mary

 Martha had done all of the heavy lifting that day. She had been the one to confront Jesus over his tardiness. She was the one who spoke to him of her hope of a resurrection of the dead on the last day, but that that seemed far too remote to give them any comfort now. She was the one to stand there perplexed as Jesus cryptically said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

But Mary, when she was summoned and had to force herself to get up and go out to see him, all she had been able to say was, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And then, finally, with those words, the floodgates broke, and she began to weep like she had never wept in her life.

And then she saw it. Through the veil of her own tears, she looked up to see that he was weeping too. And no, it was not just a few tears tumbling down his cheeks. It was not just a moment’s weakness. He had completely taken onto himself the sorrow that had consumed her entirely in that moment.

For Mary, that moment when he wept as she wept had meant everything. The rest of what happened that day – the opening of the tomb and even when her brother had come forth again – that was just like a dream that flowed from that moment.

Preparing for the Guest

She had not said another word to Jesus since. And when she heard of her brother’s invitation, she knew that she would now finally have her opportunity. She, unlike her sister Martha, was a woman of few words. So, she decided to show him what was in her heart.

She spoke to Martha and asked her if she would take on the work in the kitchen. She would offer hospitality in the form of food. But Mary would take on treating him as the guest of honour that he was.

Martha was expecting, no doubt, that her sister would carry out the traditional duty of washing the visitor’s feet. Mary had a little something extra in mind.

Something Left Over

Remember that, just weeks ago, the sisters had carried out the terrible duty of preparing their own brother’s body for burial. This was something that had always been women’s work and they had done it with extreme care. They had used nothing but the best myrrh and aloes and costly perfumes. But, when they had done, there had been one alabaster jar of precious nard left over. Unbeknownst to her sister, Mary had kept it aside.

She probably should have sold it. It would have fetched 300 denarii – almost a year’s wages – or more. She could have used that kind of money to feed about seven and a half thousand hungry people. (At least the calculus at the feeding of the five thousand was that 25 denarii could feed a thousand).

But something made her feel as if she needed to keep it for Jesus. She was no fool. She could see the opposition rising against him. And she could also see that he was not going to back down just because things were getting dangerous.

Preparing His Body

Women were used to navigating dangerous situations. That was just what life was like for them. She knew just how likely it was that they were going to take him. And if they took him, there was no way that they were going to let him live.

And now, as she prepared to welcome Jesus into their home, she thought that the time had finally come to prepare his body for the now inevitable destruction that awaited it. And so, she took that jar of precious ointment and broke it open over his feet as he lay down upon the dining couch.

What was she doing in her mind? She was certainly acting as the hostess in her brother’s house by washing his feet. But she was also anointing him, not as a king or a priest. For that she would have anointed his head. No, she was anointing him as one already dead and ready for burial. She unbound her hair as a sign of one in mourning and used that hair to wipe the ointment onto his feet.

The Disciples’ Complaint

When they complained to her about the cost of the ointment and what else she could have done with it, it was not as if she didn’t already know. What, did they really think that women couldn’t do math? Well, yeah, actually that’s probably exactly what they thought. But it wasn’t that.

It was that they weren’t all that inclined to spend money to feed the hungry. Hadn’t they even said as much when Jesus had wanted them to feed 5000? They said that it would be ridiculous to spend that kind of money.

No, she was pretty sure that they raised that point as a smokescreen. They wanted something to distract themselves from the realization that she was coming to terms with – that they were about to lose him.

At least, she was pretty sure that was what was happening for most of them. But as for the one called Iscariot, she had good reason to mistrust his motives. Some women just know when they are dealing with a man who is untrustworthy.

Mashing Stories Together

It is an unfortunate habit we have of taking the stories of the Gospels and just sort of mashing the ones that are similar together in our minds. Remember that each gospel writer was telling his own story. Remember that they did not just write these books to report about what had happened. If that was all that these books were for, one would have been enough.

No, each gospel writer was trying to get across the important truths about Jesus that he had discovered. And each did that in the way that they adapted and told the stories. When we harmonize those stories, reducing them to the lowest common denominator so that they are all the same, we run the risk of losing sight of the very important truths that these writers were trying to give us.

https://youtu.be/L9VhlZ1iQvg

March 30, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Fourth Sunday in Lent
Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

In our reading this morning from the Book of Joshua, we meet the children of Israel at what is clearly a key moment of transition. Let’s just take stock for a moment of where they are in their story as a people.

What God Has Done for Them

They have been saved from an enslaved existence by their God. They have been given a new identity – transformed from being the Pharaoh’s workforce to a people who are called by the name of their God.

In addition, their God has given them a law to live by. To put that in terms that we can relate to, they have been given a constitution. And their shared experiences both as they escaped from Egypt and as they struggled together through various trials and tribulations and a few battles during their wilderness wanderings have forged them into a united community with a shared national story.

These are all things that create a sense of nationhood. For us, they are the very things that give us a shared understanding of what it means to be Canadian: a name, a constitution, set of laws and a shared national story.

God has done all of this for them in addition to saving and sustaining them through all this time – the sustenance consisting mostly of the regular provision of food. Manna, as least has they have experienced it, has been heavenly food that they have not had to work for. It has simply been provided.

One More Thing

But in our reading this morning, we are told that God does one more thing for them. It happens once they have crossed the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land. They arrive at a place called Gilgal, and this thing happens that seems to be pivotal and momentous. But I’m not quite sure what it means.

God says, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” But what is this disgrace? The Hebrew word that is used there is חֶרְפַּ֥ת (ḥer-paṯ). It only appears a few times in the Old Testament, and it is translated in various ways. Sometimes it is translated as disgrace, as here. But when it is used actively, it gets translated as abuse, taunting or scorn. It is a word that indicates that somebody is disrespecting you, either by denigrating you or perhaps laughing at you.

About Respect

What this is saying therefore is that, despite all that God has done for the children of Israel, they are still not getting the respect that God feels that they deserve. They are being mocked and taunted by others. And I can imagine it, can’t you? “You’re just a bunch of former slaves that have banded together,” people were saying. “You’re not a real nation.”

And so, as a final gift to them and a cap on their wilderness wandering, God rolls all of that away from them at the place called Gilgal. (And Gilgal, not so coincidently, means “rolling.”)

To put all of this in terms that we can relate to, lets imagine a ridiculous scenario happening to us today as Canadians. We have a shared identity, a shared national story and constitution. We fiercely defend our sovereignty. We don’t pretend that our country is perfect or that we don’t have problems, but we are justly proud of who we are as Canadians.

“Joking” About Our Identity

So, imagine what it would be like if somebody started making jokes about Canadian sovereignty. They might “joke around” by doing things like calling Canada the 51^st state or calling our southern border nothing more than an “artificial line” and our Prime Minister a governor. I know it is hard to imagine anyone doing such a thing (or at least it was a few months ago), but my question is how would you feel about such jokes?

I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t find them very funny. Rather than responding with laughter, Canadians would be much more likely to respond with anger, defiance and even retaliation, right? And all of the protestations that someone might make that they are “just joking,” would certainly not calm down such a reaction. Indeed, as the so-called joking continued, we would no doubt become more and more concerned about where such disrespect might lead.

So maybe, if you reflect on that, you can understand what the children of Israel were feeling at that moment of transition and what God was doing for them. And maybe, just maybe, all of that might make you wonder whether God might just be willing to do a little bit of rolling away for our sake too.

Domination by Empire

The disgrace that the Israelites have suffered is related to their domination by a powerful Egyptian empire. In addition, this passage was probably written down at a time when the people of Judah had just returned from exile in the land of another empire, the Babylonians.

The disgrace is therefore not specifically related to something about Egypt. It is rather something that is common to all empires. They extend their power by denigrating and mocking and disgracing the nations around them. It is often much more effective than exercises of military might.

And that is certainly where empires often start like, for example, when Vladimir Putin’s attacks on Ukraine began in the form of mockery and statements about how they were not a real country and their borders were not real borders.

And I know how we like to say that you shouldn’t listen to such things and that “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.” But there is something about the jibes of empire that make them hard to ignore. There is always a lot of unspoken threat behind them.

A God Who Understands

But in this passage, we learn about a God who understands what it is like to be victimized by powerful empires. He has chosen these people of Israel and saved them from the power of empire. He has made a bunch of slaves into a nation that is free and sovereign. And now he has also removed any stigma of the disgrace that they have suffered.

I don’t know, but all of this does seem to be a message that we could use at this particular moment. We live at a moment in time when the disrespect of one empire and one wannabe authoritarian leader seem to be disrupting us a lot.

And one thing that might do to us that would be unhelpful would be if we got caught up in the hurt that such disrespect might make us feel. Stewing in our bad feelings is likely not going to be very constructive.

So, knowing that God is willing to take away that disgrace for our sake might be a helpful thing. It can help us to get past the emotional response and move on to more practical measures.

Practical Results

And what might those practical measures be? Well, the passage ends by saying this: “they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.” And I can’t help but think that that might have something to do with not allowing any sense of disgrace to overwhelm them. It certainly reminds me of one of the most positive responses among Canadians these days as they choose to live on the things that are produced in their own country as much as they can.

I think that this passage makes it clear that such measures are not just good economic sense. It is a way of banding together as a people to support one another, knowing that our solidarity is a threat to the imperial powers of this world.

You see, that is what they don’t want us to know, that they are not as powerful as they pretend – that they actually depend for their power on everyone feeling inferior and subservient. When we don’t play that game, they lose that power.

Not Easy

That is not to say that it is going to be easy. When the Hebrews ate the produce of the land that year, it started with little more than, “unleavened cakes and roasted grain.” And I know that is traditional Passover food, but the very simplicity of the food is a message. When we choose to support one another first, that may come with a lowering of the standards we may have enjoyed while under empire’s wing.

Like the Israelites who complained, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread,” (Exodus 16:3) we may find ourselves missing many things in times to come. But let us not forget that independence and sovereignty are more valuable than pots of meat.

So, I do see this passage from Joshua speaking to us at this particular moment. And given the somewhat fraught political situation right now, it might be hard to approach this story as anything but Canadians.

Eating the Produce of the Land

But there are other ways to interpret and apply this passage that I would also like you to take away with you today – something to think on at least. The idea of eating “the produce of the land” is something that may apply to your own personal life as well.

It is so easy for any of us to fall into the habit of relying on an outside energy to direct and define our lives. Now, when that external energy is with you in a mutually supportive way – like in a good marriage or in our relationship with a loving God – that can be a very beneficial habit.

But when that energy is dominating and controlling, when it has an Empire energy to it, that is another story. This is what happens with addictions, with high control religious systems and with co-dependant relationships. This is destructive. It causes disgrace in that it keeps us from being the people we have the potential to be.

It is Worthwhile

And this passage is here as a comfort to you if that is what you are dealing with. God stands ready to roll away the disgrace of any empire that rules over your personal life.

And yes, that may not be an easy process. You may need to concentrate on the produce of your own life for a time, develop your independence in some uncomfortable ways. That may even mean that you have to subsist on “unleavened cakes and roasted grain” for a while.

But the work is always worthwhile and, in these words of the Lord to Joshua you have a promise that your God will work with you.

Despite what the powerful of this world often claim, your God is no friend of empire. Your God is at work to free those under the domination of any kind of empire – to free those who have been enslaved in any way and roll away all disgrace.

This story from the Book of Joshua is told of a people at a moment of key transition. And I can’t help but think that we are also living in a time of transition. The world is changing; old alliances are shifting. But do not fear. God will roll away your disgrace at a place called Gilgal.

https://youtu.be/0j-FgJRSvK4

Hespeler, March 16, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Psalm 27, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 13:31-35

Listen up, you church people. Don’t you know that the church is doomed within our society? It has been on the decline for decades now. The church has been aging in its demographics and has failed to attract a new generation.

What’s more, it is increasingly viewed with hostility by society in general which sees it, at best, as irrelevant and, at worst, as toxic and destructive. If trends continue, chances are that they will seek to kill the church by removing things like tax deductible status and faith protections.

Don’t you realize that this is a bad situation? If you were wise, you would just give up now and get out of here before you have to deal with such a defeat.

A Warning We Might Receive

Okay, let me be clear here. I am not saying that. I wouldn’t say that, and I don’t agree with much of it. But I hope you’ll forgive me for voicing to you something that some people would say about the church. If you hang out in certain internet forums, you can read people who say it all the time. If we were to invite such people in, they would definitely be happy to say it to us.

And I just wanted to give you a moment to reflect on what it would be like to hear that. How would you feel about someone who told you that? There is some truth in it, of course, so, if someone said it to you would you take it as a friendly warning and assume that they were just trying to help you come to terms with reality?

Not Really Friendly

Probably not. It certainly doesn’t do that for me. I immediately suspect that they have an agenda. They may have some truth behind what they are saying, but they are definitely couching that truth in self-serving ways. They are not trying to save you but perhaps maybe even trying to hasten your demise.

But, whatever they are trying to do, the real question is how are you going to respond. Do you take their warnings and decide to give up? Or do you reject their warnings and try to fight against whatever truth is in them?

A Fragile Hour

There are problems with both of those responses. The church seems to be in a fragile hour right now. And so, if we were to receive such a warning, we might just overreact by giving everything up or perhaps by becoming so obsessed with survival that we lose sight of everything else and we lose any sense of what we are supposed to be doing. How are we supposed to respond to a warning like that?

Jesus’ Fragile Hour

Well, Jesus got a warning like that one day. The Gospel of Luke begins the story like this: “At that very hour.” And that is, let me tell you, a bit of an odd way to start the story. Because I looked at the passage before that, and there’s absolutely no indication what “hour” we are talking about. Jesus has just been traveling around Galilee teaching and telling parables like he does throughout most of this part of the story. There is no particular hour referred to. So, what is Luke talking about?

Maybe the hour is not related to an external event going on at a specific time. What if it refers to something going on internally. “The hour,” I suspect, just happened to be an hour when Jesus was feeling particularly vulnerable, kind of like what we might be feeling these days in the church.

The Pharisees

And “at that very hour,” we are told that, “some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” Now, does that sound a little bit suspicious to you? The Pharisees are not really the good guys of the New Testament. They are often the ones who oppose Jesus and his message. They argue with him and accuse him of doing the wrong things. In the Gospel of Matthew, there is a whole chapter-long diatribe where Jesus goes on and on about how bad the Pharisees are.

The Pharisees are sometimes portrayed a little more sympathetically in the Gospel of Luke, but still, when they show up like this at this vulnerable hour, we don’t immediately jump to the conclusion that they are there because they mean Jesus well.

They Do Not Lie

But here is the issue. Whatever their intentions, they do not lie to Jesus. “Herod wants to kill you,” is likely the truest thing they say in this gospel. Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee had multiple reasons to kill Jesus.

Jesus was stirring up the populace by teaching people that their first allegiance was to the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of Herod. He was telling fishermen to leave their nets and follow him, which was causing Herod to suffer revenue loss from all of his taxes and fees on fishing. He was feeding people bread and fish in the wilderness, the trade of which Herod was trying to monopolise.

Yes, Herod had all kinds of reasons to be mad at Jesus and, as he had proven in the case of John the Baptist, he was quite capable of killing the people who upset him. Yes, the Pharisees were doubtlessly correct that Herod wanted to see Jesus dead.

Their Motivations

But, even though they were telling the truth, we’ve got to wonder why. Do they want to save Jesus’ life? Or do they just want him to go away so that they don’t have to deal with him. I suspect that it is the latter, don’t you?

In fact, they have probably come because they figure that whatever happens next, it will be a win for them. They wouldn’t really mind if Herod did kill Jesus. They would be pleased to see him go away. But even if neither of those things happen and he refuses to leave, they figure that their warning is going to make him so cautious and paranoid that he will be totally ineffective in his ministry.

It is the oldest trick in the book. They present a danger and expect that Jesus will respond with base animal instincts – with either fight or flight. And they figure that either response benefits them. They can’t lose!

Dealing With Jesus

Ah, but they have forgotten who they are dealing with, haven’t they? They may think they have the perfect way to neutralize Jesus, but they are wrong. It is not smart to bet against Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t respond the way they expect. He doesn’t run and he doesn’t give into fear and paranoia. Instead, he responds with words that I’m going to admit have always puzzled me. “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

 Think about this, they are talking about life and death decisions. They are talking about an enemy who has power to bring to an end everything that Jesus has accomplished. They are trying to provoke that classic animal response of fight or flight. And what does Jesus say?

Today, Tomorrow and the Next Day

“Today, tomorrow, and the next day.” That is the essence of his response. It is so important, that you will notice that he repeats it twice. They are talking about this existential threat, but Jesus talks about what he is doing today, tomorrow and the next day. They think they’re talking about whether it’s time for fight or flight, but Jesus talks about what he’s doing today, tomorrow and the next day.

This is a masterful response for a few reasons. First of all, he understands that they want to put him off of his game. They want him to focus on matters of survival or escape. But he knows he has to hold close to what his mission is. And his mission is all about what he is doing today, tomorrow and the next day. It is about what he is doing right now, and if he hasn’t got that figured out, what does it matter what happens beyond the next day?

Carrying Out His Ministry

And what is Jesus doing today and tomorrow and the next day? He is carrying out his ministry. He is reaching out with healing and care toward those around him who are struggling. He is seeing the needs in the community around him and responding according to the ability that God has given him. He is declaring that, so long as he is he is doing what he has been called to do, he does not need to fear beyond that.

And I think that the church needs to learn from that. Yes, there will always be things going on in the wider world that disturb us. Your country may be in the midst of a trade war. Somebody always seems to be threatening to turn your country into the 51^st state. The church may be feeling irrelevant and threatened. And of course these things are significant and they are having terrible effects on people’s lives.

Focussing on What We have to Do

But while all this is going on around us, we have a way to stop it all from overwhelming us. We just have to focus on what we need to do today and tomorrow and the next day. We can focus on the tasks that Jesus has put before us.

And central to that task is doing what we can to care for those of this world who are marginalized and victimized. It includes giving food to the hungry and clothing to those who need it. It means offering a word of hope and healing to those who find no peace in such a world. We, like Jesus, will find our way through hours of threat and danger by focussing on what we need to do today and tomorrow and the next day.

Herod is Not the Threat

Jesus is also saying something else in his response to the Pharisees. Once he declares that he intends to focus on what God has given him to do today and tomorrow and the next day, he goes on to say this. “I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

What is he saying here? He is declaring that he knows that Herod is actually not a true threat to him. This is not because Herod Antipas is not powerful, he is. This is not because Herod is not a narcissistic, transactional and completely self-interested ruler who is quite capable of killing Jesus on a whim, he is.

Jesus Knows Who Holds His Fate

Herod is a danger to him and perhaps the whole world, but Jesus knows that Herod can ultimately do nothing to him. Why? Because Jesus knows that his fate is not in the hands of Herod, it is in the hands of God. And God has decreed that no prophet needs to fear being killed outside of Jerusalem. And Herod’s territory of Galilee is a long way from Jerusalem.

So, what is Jesus saying? He’s saying that Herod can’t kill him because he’s got to go be killed somewhere else. I’m not scared of you because that guy down there is going to kill me. It is an odd sort of comeback when you think about it. But it is one that I think can help us to deal with our threats.

Our Threats

It is true that there are all kinds of things that seem to threaten us and our continued existence. That actually seems more true today than it has been in a while, and it is true for the church and for us as individual believers.

But what this example of Jesus teaches us is that, when we have a firm sense of our destiny and when we know that that destiny is in the hands of God, we actually don’t need to fear the Herods of this world. The disruptions in the economy or political systems may come and go and we will deal with them of course, but knowing that our destiny is secure and all that we are required to do is remain faithful, gives us a very different perspective on those ups and downs of life.

There are threats and dangers out there; warnings you hear may be true. But Jesus has shown us what to do. Let us remember always what Jesus has called us to do today, tomorrow and the next day and that includes continuing to do the work that we do offering food to those who are hungry and clothing to those families who struggle in these times. And let us never forget who controls the destiny of our personal lives and our church.

Don’t let them scare you.

Join us for some fun & creativity.

Happy Monday!

https://youtu.be/NRXwytL1Gnw

Hespeler, March 9, 2025 © Scott McAndless – First Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16, Romans 10:8b-13, Luke 4:1-13

The story of the temptations of Christ is told in three of our gospels. But only one of the stories, the one we read this morning, ends with a curious note. The Gospel of Luke sums up the tale of the temptations by saying, “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

And I don’t know about you, but every time I read that ending, it has always made me ask one question: when? When is the devil going to return with more temptation? What is the more opportune moment that he is waiting for? The Gospel itself doesn’t seem to answer that question.

After the Devil Departs

It is true that, once the Devil departs from Jesus in the wilderness, he doesn’t appear again in this gospel, at least not in the same form. Satan does appear in the twenty-second chapter, when he is said to enter into Judas, prompting him to betray Jesus (v. 3). But that is not really the same kind of visionary tempting presence, is it?

So, we are left waiting. The tempter is apparently out there, waiting for his moment, but we, the readers, are not told when that might be. This is, I suspect, quite intentional. I believe that the gospel writer is giving a subtle nod to his readers. He is warning us that the opportune time may arrive at any moment. He is telling us to be prepared.

But the evil of this world does have a limited playbook. By telling us the things that Jesus was tempted with in the wilderness, he is also suggesting to us that we will be tempted along the same lines.

Wilderness Temptations

But when? Well, I am pretty sure that the author of this Gospel was probably thinking of the temptations that the church was facing as he was writing this. But that is not the only time to consider. I am sorry to tell you this my friends, but I believe that we are living in one of the opportune times that that gospel writer is referring to.

The temptations that are described in this passage are wilderness temptations. They are temptations that you face when you are not in charge, when you are cut off from the mainstream of society and you are struggling because of it. That’s always what the wilderness represents.

But the Christian Church in the Western world has not spent much time in the wilderness over the past approximately 1700 years. Christianity has been in the mainstream of society; it has largely set the agenda and enjoyed a most-favoured religion status.

Compared to that long history, however, the church is now facing much more of a wilderness time, isn’t it? And in such times, we are facing wilderness temptations.

Feeling Famished

For example, the first temptation that Jesus faces is very relatable today. It came, we are told, because Jesus “was famished.” I think that the church is feeling kind of famished these days. Resources feel scarce. Our churches struggle, for example, to pay bills and balance budgets. And what is the temptation when you feel as if everything is scarce?

“The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to ‘become a loaf of bread.’” The temptation is to focus all of your energy – all of your being – on getting the basic staple food that people need to stay alive. The temptation is to focus only on survival.

Focussing on Survival

Of course, we see this tendency in many churches these days as they cut everything external – all of the mission and the outreach and charitable support – to focus only on maintaining the internal systems.

That is perhaps an understandable temptation, but we need to listen to the response of Jesus. “Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’”

Mere survival, mere taking care of the basic staples of staying alive is never enough for the church. When all we have left as a church is working to keep ourselves alive, we are already dead for all intents and purposes. But giving our energy only to survival is something that we keep falling into.

The Temptation of Power

The second temptation of Christ is also one that is striking many churches in this wilderness time. “Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.’”

Now, I realize that that particular temptation might not seem to be hitting the Presbyterian Church in Canada right now, and it isn’t really. But there are churches that are grappling with it. They have been throwing in their lot with various movements in an effort to gain political power and influence.

Some churches, for example, have been seeking power by tying themselves to extreme political movements. There are nationalist, racist and other similar movements that are eager to use the church to promote their goals. They are eager to partner up with churches as a way to give their message legitimacy.

There are many perks to those Christians who go along with this. In the United States, for example, Christian nationalists have just recently been put into the Vice Presidency, cabinet and special advisory positions. They have a lot of power and I have no doubt that they will use it to promote their understanding of what might make a Christian society.

Comes at a Price

But, as the devil makes clear, in the wilderness such power comes at a price. “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” The price comes with bowing down to worship someone other than God, which, of course, Jesus rejects immediately. I’ll leave it to you to decide who those Christian nationalists who have attained such power might have to worship to keep it.

But it is not just a question of who they must pay homage to. There is also the matter of them going along with the very things that Jesus preached against by blaming the poor for their poverty and giving blessing to the rich. It is about them rejecting the outsider, the immigrant and the refugee that Jesus taught us to love. You have to ask what you can accomplish for the cause of Christ when you must give up the very essence of the gospel to get your power!

As Jesus said elsewhere, “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (Mark 8:36)

Third Temptation

So, you see that the first two temptations are very much ones that are hitting the church at this opportune time. But what about the third one? Here the devil tempts Jesus to throw himself down from the highest point of the temple – essentially attempting suicide.

At the same time, the devil promises him, correctly I assume, that God “will command his angels concerning you, to protect you… On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” So, what does this third temptation have to do with what we are facing in our wilderness times.

Jesus’ answer to the devil, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” is initially confusing. After all, Jesus was constantly berating the disciples for having little faith – for not trusting in God to save them when they were in a storm or worried about God not giving them food or clothing. He constantly taught them to step out in faith and expect God to meet their needs.

So how is that different from what the devil is proposing? Well, one key difference is that the devil is telling Jesus to make a spectacle out of trusting in God. The temple in Jerusalem was the most public site in all of Judea, constantly bustling with thousands of people. So what the devil proposes would have made a very public splash (no pun intended).

Making it About Us

But even more than that, it was a demonstration that would have been all about Jesus himself. If God were to save Jesus while he was attempting this kind of terrible suicide, God, whose grace knows no bounds, might do that, but it would only be in order to save him. There would be no greater purpose – no spreading of the good news, no feeding of the hungry or clothing of the naked.

And I think that that temptation to make it all about ourselves is definitely one that we are dealing with in these wilderness days. When we are feeling as if our church, our denomination, our congregation or traditional ways of doing things are at risk, we are tempted to spend whatever faith or energy or commitment we have on making sure that those things survive.

Jesus’ Commitment

Remember that Jesus’ commitment in this world is to the spread and the establishment of the kingdom of God, not the survival of your denomination. Remember that Jesus wants people to hear and experience the power of the good news in their lives, but he cares much less about whether people hear about how Presbyterian polity works. He is committed to the church of Jesus Christ, but that is not the same thing as being committed to your congregation.

Now, if your congregation and polity and denomination are actively participating in making the kingdom of God real in people’s lives, Jesus will be only too happy to bless them. But too often, I suspect, we get that turned around. We demand that Jesus save our churches so that, if we have a little bit of money and energy left over, we may consider doing something for the sake of the kingdom.

We make it all about ourselves and what we think we need. If there is one lesson we need to take away from the wilderness story today, I think it is this.

Buildings

How often have I heard stories about churches holding onto their buildings – their beautiful buildings that they love – and pouring everything into them, while any sense of mission and ministry or even of purpose (apart from maintaining a building) falls away?

A building is a tool. It can be beautiful. It can be something that enables outreach and ministry. But it can also be something that constrains or limits our ministry. Maintaining a building has never been the purpose or goal of the church. But often we test the Lord our God by demanding that God save our building, making it all about ourselves and what we think we need.

Things We Value More

And, of course, it is not just buildings. We make it all about ourselves when we are unwilling to let go of our pride – when we are unwilling to rejoice in what God might be doing in another church. We also test God when we value things like our independence, our name, our time of worship and being open each Sunday morning so much that we allow those things to become a stumbling block that prevent us from working with other congregations.

That could become a major problem as far as I can see because, in these wilderness times, Jesus is calling us to work in closer partnership with one another. The more we make it all about ourselves and saving what is important and precious to us, the harder it will be for others to work alongside us.

It is an Opportune Time

Don’t you find these gospel stories amazing? This one is not just a story about something that happened once at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The final word about the devil waiting for an opportune time is a warning to all of us that the opportune time is nearer than we think.

But if we are in an opportune time, do not fear. You can resist the temptation to prioritize survival above all else, to seek power at all costs and to make it all about ourselves. Jesus has shown us how. We resist, like he did by harnessing the Scriptures, by remembering what our true meaning and purpose are and by remaining faithful in an opportune time.

Join us on March 7th at St. Mary's of the Visitation.