Seasons. An Advent and Lent Podcast By Willow Park Church

43 At once, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd, with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the legal experts, and the elders. 44 The betrayer had given them a coded sign: ‘The one I kiss – that’s him! Seize him and take him away safely.’

45 He came up to Jesus at once. ‘Rabbi!’ he said, and kissed him.

46 The crowd laid hands on him and seized him.

Jesus at Gethsemane

Today we begin the stations of the cross.

We will be doing an adaptation of his last 18 hours before his death, starting with his betrayal on Maunday Thursday to his burial at sunset on Good Friday.

32 They came to a place called Gethsemane.

‘Stay here,’ said Jesus to the disciples, ‘while I pray.’

33 He took Peter, James and John with him, and became quite overcome and deeply distressed.

34 ‘ “My soul is disturbed within me”, he said, ‘right to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.’

35 He went a little further, and fell on the ground and prayed that, if possible, the moment might pass from him.

36 ‘Abba, father,’ he said, ‘all things are possible for you! Take this cup away from me! But – not what I want, but what you want.’

37 He returned and found them sleeping.

‘Are you asleep, Simon?’ he said to Peter. ‘Couldn’t you keep watch for a single hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you won’t come into the time of trouble. The spirit is eager, but the body is weak.’

39 Once more he went off and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again, when he returned, he found them asleep, because their eyes were very heavy. They had no words to answer him. 41 But the third time he came, he said to them, ‘All right – sleep as much as you like now. Have a good rest. The job is done, the time has come – and look! The son of man is betrayed into the clutches of sinners. 42 Get up, let’s be on our way. Here comes the man who’s going to betray me.’

Our mediations on the Man of Sorrows begin as we see the Humanity of Jesus pressed to the breaking point in Gethsemane – an Aramaic word that means oil press.

Here in the garden of the oil press, the anointed Messiah is under such pressure that he says “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”

This kind of language from Jesus shocks us.

At Gethsemane, we don't encounter a Jesus who is unflappable and impassable,a Jesus who knows what it is to be under horrible pressure.

At Gethsemane, we see a Jesus who pleads for the cup of death to be taken away from him three times.

At Gethsemane, we see two natures of Christ in one person. First human nature pleads, “remove this cup from me,” But the divine nature adds, “yet not what I want but what you want.”

To read the gospel with unflinching honesty prevents us from denying the full humanity of Christ.

Too many Christians have a hard time believing that Christ was fully human.

People think that God is masquerading in human disguise.

But at Gethsemane, we see the full humanity of Christ on display as he recoils from suffering and death.

at Gethsemane, we are reminded that the Jesus who walked on water also sat at the well of Sychar weary from walking.

As we read a few days ago in Philippians, the apostle Paul describes it like this: “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to, but emptied himself.”

This willing descent into suffering and death becomes a source of our salvation.

By his wounds, we are healed.

As we continue our Lenten journey, we must recognize the royal sacrifice that Jesus made and how he demonstrates to us how we should live our lives as he lived his.

Jesus demonstrates that his kingdom is a kingdom that lays down royal rights rather than claiming more power and pride. When we live a life of humility, we do so in the footsteps of the creator of the universe.

One of the most remarkable things about the Bible is that we find the narrative told from the perspective of the poor, the oppressed, the enslaved, the conquered, the occupied, the defeated in it; this is what makes it prophetic.

We know that the winners typically write history; this is true — except in the case of the Bible, it’s the opposite!

This is the subversive genius of the Hebrew prophets. They wrote from a bottom-up perspective.

Every story is told from the vantage point of the underclass.

But what happens if we lose sight of the prophetically subversive vantage point of the Bible?

What happens if those on top in this world read themselves into the story, not as imperial Kings of Egypt, Babylon, and Rome, but as the Israelites?

That’s when you get the bizarre phenomenon of the elite and entitled reading themselves into the story as the slaves and the hurting, and they end up using the Bible to endorse their dominance as God’s will.

This is Roman Christianity after Constantine. This is Christendom on crusade.

This is making the Bible dance a jig for our own amusement.

As Jesus preached the arrival of the kingdom of God, he would frequently emphasize the revolutionary character of God’s reign by saying things like, “the last will be first and the first last.”

As we hear this wonderful poem about the provocative nature of the kingdom of God, we see Jesus laying down his royal rights and taking on the nature of a servant.

Confirming that the story of the Bible is to be written from the perspective of the unappreciated and unacknowledged.

Imagine this: An influential, charismatic figure arrives on the world scene and amasses a great following by announcing the arrival of a new world arrangement where those at the bottom are to be promoted and those on top are to have their lifestyle “restructured.” How do people receive this?

Now think about Jesus announcing the arrival of God’s kingdom with the proclamation of his counterintuitive Beatitudes. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” how was that received? Well, it depends on who is hearing it. The poor Galilean peasant would hear it as good news (gospel), while the Roman in his villa would hear it with deep suspicion.

As we listen to this again, look at the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us.

How does it change our perspective knowing that Jesus lay down his rightful place in heaven to come and die so that we may take on the image of Christ?

And as we take on the image of Christ, what does that look like for you and me?

Dear Gravity: I Hope This Letter Finds You Well. 

Today is Wednesday the 30th of March, the 29th day of Lent.

Today’s reading comes from Matthew 7:7-12

12 ‘So whatever you want people to do to you, do just that to them. Yes; this is what the law and the prophets are all about.’

We are called to live our lives in expressed acknowledgement and utter dependence upon God.

We are to act like and see ourselves and behave as those that are utterly dependent upon God.

Because it’s too easy to say we believe in God, yet at the same time, live as if he didn’t.

We live in a time where we have produced a society and completely tries to live apart from God.

We have pushed God to the periphery.

Certainly, in North America, we have a basic belief that God is involved on some sort of level in our lives, but as for our complete dependence on him? That is not how most North Americans live.

But what is God gracious with?

Previously, in Chapter 6, we understand that God is not calling us to store up treasures here on earth, so we can ascertain that God is not expressly saying that he wants to give us all sorts of treasures of this world.

What we look for to bring comfort in this world is things that we can gain independently. Fame, fortune and power.

Well, after Easter Sunday, when the disciples met the resurrected Jesus in the upper room, their perspective on what they would be asking for had changed dramatically.

Prior to the death of Jesus, the “ask, seek, knock” of the disciples would be see the reign of God come with power take hold of the roman army.

What Jesus is promising if you ask, seek and knock is the presence of God residing in our hearts, minds and souls.

Ask, and Jesus will stay with you.

Seek, and Jesus will be found by you

Knock and Jesus will come to the door.

Do Not Worry 

Today's reading in the Sermon on the Mount shows us how much our Father in heaven cares for us.

Has it ever struck you what a basically happy person Jesus was?

Yes, according to the prophesies, we know that he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. We know the scene in Gethsemane where he is wrestling with his Father. We understand that the world's darkness and sadness descended upon him on the cross. We know he wept at the tomb of Lazarus.

But these are exceptions, the dark patches painted onto the bright background.

As we read a passage like this, we can see the brightness of Jesus shining through.

He had watched the birds wheeling around, high up on the currents of the air in the Galilean hills, simply enjoying being alive.

Jesus had figured out that the birds never really seemed to do the humans' work, yet mostly stayed alive and well.

He had seen the thousands of different kinds of flowers growing in the fertile Galilee soil and had held his breath at their fragile beauty. Jesus knew that these lilies would be better-taken care of than someone in the care of Solomon with all his resources.

Jesus had a robust and lively sense of his Father's goodness, the creator of the world.

His whole Spirituality is many a mile from those teachers who insisted that the present world is filled with shadows and gloom and vanity, and that true philosophy consists in escaping it.

His teaching grew out of his experience.

When he told his followers not to worry about tomorrow, we must assume he led by example.

Jesus wasn't looking ahead anxiously, even though he would be justified.

Jesus seemed to have the skill of living entirely in the present, giving attention to the needs and beauty that lay before him, celebrating the goodness of God here and now.

And he wanted his followers to do the same.

When Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat, or drink, or wear, he doesn't mean that these things don't matter. He is not saying to wear the rattiest clothing and eat and drink as little as possible.

Far from it! Jesus likes to party as much as anyone.

The point of this is priorities.

Put the world first, and you'll find it gets moth-eaten in your hands. But put God first, and you'll get the world thrown in.

Living totally without worry sounds, to many people, as impossible as living totally without breathing. Some people are so hooked on worry that if they haven't got anything to worry about, they worry that they have forgotten something to worry about in the first place.

Here, at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, is an invitation that surprisingly few people try to take up—the invitation not to worry.

Today we are starting our week in the Lord's prayer.

Prayer has become a lot of different things over the history of the church, and indeed it has become a lot of other things in our personal lives.

I clearly remember my first times praying in Front of people some 30 years ago and not wanting to slip up. I tried my hardest to get the words just right so that 1. I wouldn't make a fool of myself, and 2. I might look good.

I also remember the not-so-distant past when I have thought roughly the same thought.

As simple as it is, we can complicate prayer far more than need be.

Today, in the sermon on the mount, we are reminded how simple prayer not only can be but how simple prayer must be.

Our father wants us to talk to him, and he has done everything to make talking with him as easy as possible.

Sometimes we need to go back to the Lord's prayer and remember what prayer is all about.

Everything we need in a prayer list is right here in this passage.

We will hear each section of the Lord's prayer as we reflect, including an expanded prayer. After praying, take a few moments to sit with the Lord's prayer section. Perhaps write out a thought or pray aloud to your father in heaven.

After we get through this exercise, we will take a moment to hear what God wants to speak to us in response.

Our Father, Holy Father, Abba Father, in the heavens,

Hallowed, holy, sacred be your name.

From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same,

The name of the Lord is to be praised.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts,

The whole earth is full of your glory.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty,

Who was and is and is to come.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

On earth, as it is in heaven.

Thy government come, thy politics be done,

On earth, as it is in heaven.

Thy reign and rule come, thy plans and purposes be done,

On earth, as it is in heaven.

May we be in anticipation of the age to come.

May we embody the reign of Christ here and now.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

Provide for the poor among us.

As we seek first your kingdom and your justice,

May all we need be provided for us.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Transform us by the Holy Spirit into a forgiving community of forgiven sinners.

Lead us not into trouble, trial, tribulation or temptation.

Be mindful of our frame, we are just dust,

We can only take so much.

Lead us out of the wilderness into the promised land that flows with milk and honey,

Lead us out of the badlands into resurrection country.

Deliver us from evil and the evil one.

Save us from satan, the accuser and adversary.

So that every tongue that rises against us in accusation you will condemn.

So that every fiery dart of the wicked one is extinguished by the shield of faith.

So that as we submit to you and resist the devil, the devil flees.

So that as we draw near to Jesus Christ lifted up,

His cross becomes for us the center, the very core of love expressed in forgiveness, the only true hope of the world;

And the devil, who become the false ruler of the fallen world,

Is driven out from among us.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.

Amen.

Today is Sunday the 27th of March, the 26th day of Lent.

Today’s reading comes from Matthew 5: 43-48

43 ‘You heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I tell you: love your enemies! Pray for people who persecute you! 45 That way, you’ll be children of your father in heaven! After all, he makes his sun rise on bad and good alike, and sends rain both on the upright and on the unjust. 46 Look at it like this: if you love those who love you, do you expect a special reward? Even tax-collectors do that, don’t they? 47 And if you only greet your own family, what’s so special about that? Even Gentiles do that, don’t they? 48 Well then: you must be perfect, just as your heavenly father is perfect.’

Today we arrive at the most extraordinary passage in the Sermon on the Mount.

If you have assumed that the sermon on the mount is little more than a collection of religious cliches, I hope that today we can lay that thinking to rest.

What we see in this passage is amazing, and if need be, life-changing teaching.

Jesus begins in this passage like he has 5 times before in the sermon on the Mount.

He begins by saying that you have heard it said to love your neighbour and hate your enemies.

Without saying the word hate, we have been brought up in a world that encourages us to love those that are similar to us, and distance ourselves from those that are different. We as Christians would never use the word hate, but there is a line in western culture of “us and them”

The most simplistic and comfortable way of looking at the world is through a lease of good and bad and good and evil. Most likely we place ourselves in the good category and others in the other category.

Today’s reading is calling us to love those that we don’t understand.

As we lead up to lent, we will soon see the greatest demonstration of loving enemies. When Jesus hung on the cross he prayed for the people that placed him on that cross: “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Before we hear this passage again let's ask God to reveal to us who we need to show his love to. Perhaps it's just someone down the street who believes a different religion than us, or a different set of morals, or beliefs.  Ask God how you can show his love

Today's reading comes from Matthew 5: 13-16

Salt and Light

13 'You're the salt of the earth! But if the salt becomes tasteless, how is it going to get salty again? It's no good for anything. You might as well throw it out and walk all over it.

14 'You're the light of the world! A city can't be hidden if it's on top of a hill. 15 People don't light a lamp and put it under a bucket; they put it on a lampstand. Then it gives light to everybody in the house. 16 That's how you must shine your light in front of people! Then they will see what wonderful things you do, and they'll give glory to your father in heaven.

As we hear Jesus speak to us about being the salt and the light, he speaks to us about our identity in this world.

Who are we? We are salt and light.

As salt, we are both a seasoning and a preservative for our world.

If you need a bit of flavour in your food, you add a bit of salt to add flavour.

In Jesus' times, there was no refrigeration to preserve food, so salt was also used as a preservative to keep food and help it last.

Jesus is sprinkling us into this world to add the flavour of Christ and God's love.

We are also a preservative to uphold the integrity of what it means to be Christlike and demonstrate who Jesus is and preserve his image for the world to see.

Jesus also calls us to be the light of the world.

Interestingly, Jesus calls us the light of the world because in John 8, he calls himself the light of the world.

It works like this: we are to be a mirror reflection of the light of Jesus in the world for the sake of the world. We are indeed following Jesus and so we are walking in that light but that light is not for us alone.

As light, we are reflecting the light of God's love into a world growing dark because of tribalism, rage, and despair. We are called to reflect something different in the world God loves.

The pollution of perpetual rage has left people in a place of bitterness, cynicism, and despair, which is an awful state of existence. We who follow Jesus are the hopeful hope-bringers who shine the hope of the gospel into the darkness of despair.

Music: Salt of The Sound and Simon Wester (Used with Permission) 

Jesus began his sermon with words that seem to contradict each other and a message that is backwards from the way we tend to see things in our world.

Many years ago there was a movie made about the first Test pilot to break the sound barrier.

No plane had ever flown faster than the speed of sound.

Many people didn't believe it was possible.

Some thought that the plane would disintegrate under the forces that would be generated.

Eventually, in the movie, various pilots took their planes over the magic figure of 735 mph, only to have the planes disintegrate with the huge vibrations, or to crash.

The controls, it seemed, refused to work properly once the plane had come to the sound barrier.

Finally, at the climax of the movie, another test pilot figured out what to do. Seemed that when the plane broke the sound barrier the controls began to work backwards. Pulling the stick to make the plane bring its nose up send it downwards instead. Greatly daring, he flew to the same speed. But the critical moment, instead of pulling the stick back he pushed it forwards. That would normally send the plane into a dive, but his hunch had been correct. The nose came up, and the plane flew on, fast and free, faster than anyone had travelled before.

This story is not historically accurate. Chuck Yeager, the first human to move faster than the speed of sound in real life, was often asked whether he has done it the way it was shown in the movie, but instead, it wasn't like that.

However, the story gives a graphic illustration of what Jesus is doing in these apparently simple words. He is taking the controls and making them work backwards.

The only explanation seems to be that Jesus is taking God's people through the sound barrier - taking them somewhere they've never been before.

People often say what a wonderful teaching the Beatitudes is, and if only people would obey it the world would be a better place. But if we think that Jesus is just telling us how to act or behave, we will miss what is really going on. These blessings, the wonderful news that he is announcing, are not saying try hard to live like this. They are saying that people who already are like this are in good shape. They are in the hands of God.

Jesus is not suggesting that these are simply timeless truths. He is saying that mourners often go uncomforted, the meek don't inherit the earth, those who long for justice frequently take that long into the grave.

This is an announcement, not just a philosophical analysis of the world. It's about something that is starting to happen, not just a general truth of life. It is Gospel: Good news, not good advice.

Let's listen one more time, but this time let's hear the beatitudes shared with a bit more description.

Blessed are those who are poor at being spiritual,

Blessed are the depressed who mourn and grieve,

Blessed are the gentle and trusting, who are not grasping and clutching,

Blessed are those who ache for the world to be made right,

Blessed are those who give mercy,

Blessed are those who have a clean window in their soul,

Blessed are the bridge-builders in a war-torn world,

Blessed are those who are mocked and misunderstood for the right reasons,