St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Colossians 1:1-20

The Worship Audio will be available at a later time. Thank you for your patience!

A Nation of Divisions

Good afternoon. It's good to be with you in worship and I want to thank Rev. Kim

and the rest of the ministry staff here at St. Timothy's for the invitation to speak this Sunday. I am blessed to have some long-time friends in this congregation, back from the time when I was a student at Knox College, over 30 years ago. I am also grateful to have known In Kee for many years and I have looked to him as a mentor and model for ministry. I bring you greetings from the General Assembly Office of the PCC where I started my new position as the Principal Clerk in July of last year. Before coming to Toronto, I was a minister in Vancouver for 6 ½ years

and before that, in Calgary for 22 ½ years.

How many of you watched the hockey game last night? The Leafs won I guess that's something of a rarity in the playoffs for the Maple Leafs, but hey, hope springs eternal, right? Maybe this is the year!!! It's a funny thing about hockey. It used to be the quintessential Canadian thing. If you didn't know anything about Canada, you still knew that it was cold here and that Canadians were good at hockey. Hockey is what makes us Canadian, eh? But when's the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup? Don't worry, it wasn't Toronto! It was Montreal in 1993, 30 years ago! But Toronto doesn't have to go all the way back to 1967 to remember a championship. The Raptors won the NBA title only a few years ago in 2019. These days, especially in places like Toronto, there are probably just as many basketball courts as there are hockey rinks, maybe more, especially given the cost of playing hockey compared to basketball or soccer. We the North, isn't a hockey slogan, it's a basketball one!

But like the playoffs, there are still times when hockey unites us like no other sport. Every 4 years at the Winter Olympics the entire country goes nuts for hockey. Except for the last two winter Olympics when NHL players didn't play for Canada. Do you even know who won the men's hockey gold in Beijing and Pyeong Chang? Finland and Russia who cares! But no Canadian will ever forget 2010 in Vancouver when Sydney Crosby scored the overtime winner against the US for the gold medal!

So, there are times when we as a country can get united behind something, but those moments seem increasingly fleeting.

In terms of our nationality, more often we seem these days to be a nation of divisions. English-French, East-West, liberal-conservative, and the Covid pandemic, which initially brought out the best in most Canadians ended up far too often only exacerbating our differences. Our assumptions about our culture, about what core convictions unite us, are fading. Things fall apart, the center cannot hold. Maybe you might know that that last sentence is from a poem called The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. Yeats wrote that poem at the end of the First World War, the Great War as they called it. It was a war that tore apart the assumptions of modernity, that human progress would continue to evolve, ever upward, ever better. But instead, millions of people ended up dying horrible deaths on the battlefields of Europe. Yeats captured that sense of despair and despondency so poignantly in that phrase, things fall apart, the center cannot hold.

The center cannot hold

The center cannot hold. I think that this captures what seems to be so hard about a lot of things these days. There doesn't seem to be a center that holds things together. The values we once took for granted, those things that used to define our identity as a nation, as a people, as a culture, they no longer do. Think about some of those things, family, marriage, gender issues, the roles that people inhabited, there no longer seems to be a center, a core. People used to be united in the sense that the idea of Canada was a good thing. But these days not everyone's so sure.

Ask an indigenous person, those who are survivors of residential schools, whether they think Canada is such a good thing. The nuclear family used to be something that people agreed was a good and desirable thing. But we are learning that for a lot of people, single people, divorced people, single parent families, same sex people, the nuclear family was never what everyone made it out to be. And now it's just one way of being a family of many ways.

All these things that used to unite people, that used to form our core, our center, now just form more things for people to argue about, to be polarized around. They now exist at our margins, and I wonder what now exists at our center, at the core, what is there that unites us? Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.

This is the anxiety that underlies much of our public discussion, whether it be about issues like Covid, immigration, economics, colonialism, sexuality, liberals vs. conservatives, republicans vs. democrats, there is such polarization that the center just can't seem to hold. Yeats ends the first stanza of his poem with these words, the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. Doesn't that sound a lot like today? John Toews, a Mennonite Brethren professor in a sermon he wrote over 25 years ago, spoke of the difference between two types of worlds, centripetal and centrifugal. A centripetal world is one that has a dominant center, the core is strong and defined. The center keeps things in place, keeps things from flying apart, like the sun's gravity which keeps the orbit of the earth constant and stable. A centrifugal world is one in which there is no center and forces push everything toward the edges. Toews argued that in the late 60's the center began to give way, and then collapsed. While he wrote of the culture of the U.S., this analysis would apply to our context as well. We moved away from a centripetal world to a centrifugal world, a world that has no center.[1]

And this is true of religion as well. Most of you might be too young to remember, but there was a time, not too long ago, when faith played a central role in shaping our cultural context.  Some of you might be old enough to remember when the Lord's Prayer was recited to begin each school day. But in 1988 the Lord's Prayer was removed from all Ontario public schools.  Some of you and your children will have no memory of prayer ever being part of your public school experience. You may also remember when stores were closed on Sundays, except Kim's Convenience, and most people, whether they really believed it or not, still held an affiliation with a particular religious tradition, mostly Christian. But today, not only does the Christian faith play less and less a public role, the faith itself seems conflicted about what the center should be. The polarization we see in the broader culture is reflected as well in the church.

In Him All Things Hold Together

The passage we read from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Colossian church needs to be required reading for our centrifugal world today. In a culture and in a church that seems to be living in a time when things fall apart and where the center cannot hold, the words of scripture point us to a different truth.

Paul points us to Jesus,

who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

In him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers,

all things have been created through him and for him. 

He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Did you hear that?  In him, in Jesus, all things hold together. In a world where things fall apart and the center cannot hold, in Jesus, all things hold together. The center, for the Christian, and for the world in which we live, isn't a set of values, it isn't reciting a prayer or sharing a cultural background, the center is a person, it is the person of Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God,

in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

As I said earlier, Yeats wrote his poem at the end of the World War I, but the anxiety and fear embodied in the idea of things falling apart and the center not holding isn't only tied to one time and place. The phrase, things fall apart, the center cannot hold, was used more by commentators following the election of Donald Trump back in 2016 than it had been in the 30 years prior. Can you image what they'll say if he wins again in 2024? And when Paul was writing to the Christians in Colossae, in what is today modern Turkey, the same fears and anxieties were present. Confused and afraid of the pressures they faced from those who insisted on human tradition and philosophy and the primacy of the elemental spirits of the universe,

they turned to things like angel worship and dwelling on visions. Whatever the source of our lack of center might be, the answer throughout the centuries has been the same, Jesus Christ.

So what is it about Jesus that makes him the center, what is it about Jesus that in him all things hold together?  What is it about Jesus that isn't just what the world can say with better music and richer coffee?

Paul lays it out pretty clearly.

God has rescued us from the power of darkness

and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things,

whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

You see, things fall apart because we can't hold it together, no matter how hard we try. Sooner or later the center will not hold because what we base it on isn't lasting. The central problem of the human condition, the reason why there are and will always be things like wars and corruption and megalomaniacs is that we are a sinful people, we live in darkness, we are faced with a problem that no matter how hard we try, we are powerless to solve. And the central hope of the human condition is the fact that in Jesus Christ, God has made our redemption possible, God has moved us from darkness into the light, God has made possible for all the forgiveness of sins. In Jesus Christ, God was pleased to reconcile himself to all things and God has made peace with us through the blood of his cross.

Our Center

This is not stuff you will find on a Starbucks cup. Human philosophy will tell us that we can work out our own salvation but if the problem in inherent in us, if we ourselves are the problem,

then we can't be the solution, it has to come from somewhere else, it has to come from God.  If we as the church and if we as the people of God, as disciples of Jesus, if we are seeking a center in life, if we are wanting something that will hold us together, we will only find it in Jesus Christ. The words of C.S. Lewis ring so true. Christianity, if true, is infinitely important. If false is of no importance. What it cannot be is moderately important. There is only one center and it's not a legalism, not a doctrine or a dogma, it's a person, it's the Son of the Living God, in whom all things hold together.

To hold Christ at our center means that we will live in ways and embody things that the world will not understand or even accept. If our center, if our core is deeply rooted in Jesus Christ, if our center is held together in the knowledge that in Jesus we have redemption and forgiveness, in him we have been rescued from the power of darkness and been transferred to the light of his kingdom, if in Jesus we know that God has reconciled us to himself and that we are made to be at peace with God, if our center, if our core is strong and certain, we can be so much more gracious and generous at our edges. When we lack a strong center,

when we don't have a core that's rooted in anything lasting, we try to protect the margins. We feel that we can't afford to lose the margins because if we do, then we risk losing everything. That's what leads to the polarization of our culture today. If you lack a center, you fight like mad to preserve the margins. You defend the peripherals because you are afraid of what might happen if you get exposed. There's no room for grace when there's nothing at the center.

At the Margins

How many of you have watched the Netflix series, Beef? At first I thought it was a cooking show about Korean chefs, but it's actually a dark comedy about two main characters, a Korean man named Danny and a Vietnamese woman named Amy, whose initial road rage incident turns into a series long beef with each other that leads to tragic consequences. I won't tell you much more in case you haven't seen it and want to, but I warn you, don't watch it with your parents or if you have sensitive ears. What I can say is that I think one of the central issues in the show is the lack of a defined, healthy center for both main characters. Both Amy and Danny have huge unresolved issues in their lives that leave them undefined, unhealthy, even empty, at their core, at their center. That emptiness manifests itself in their refusal to let go of their beef against the each other, even when it turns nasty, crazy and violent. They won't let go, they can't lose, because they know that if they lose out there, out at their margins, there's nothing left to fall back on, nothing at their center, no room for grace.

Some of us might be feeling the same way. We're rigid at our edges, at the margins, where most of our daily interactions with others take place. And when there's conflict, disagreement, polarization, we won't back down, we don't think we can afford to. Maybe it's because we don't know what would be left if we did. Maybe it's because we're not so sure what's at our center, at our core.

But if we will be deeply rooted in Jesus our Lord and Saviour at our center, our interactions with others at the margins might be very different. We could be a people of forgiveness and mercy, a people of compassion and grace, we could be a people who love our enemies, turn the other cheek, we will do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and even if they don't do unto us what we would want, we will still do to them what we know we should. We won't need to seek only to win, no matter what the cost, because we know that there is a greater prize which has already been won for us.

People with a strong center have lots of room for grace.

Deeply Rooted

The center will hold because it is rooted in someone other than ourselves. The center will hold because our own vulnerabilities and weaknesses will not leave us afraid to risk. For the church, for Christians, to impact and shape our culture, our society, our nation, we need to be a people whose center is deeply rooted in Christ our Lord.

The church continues to have difficult conversations around challenging issues, as we should, but we can only have these conversations if we are first certain of our core, of our center. If we are not united at our core in preaching Jesus, if we are not united in proclaiming his Lordship in the life of the church, if we aren't united in knowing that the primary message of the gospel is about redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace with God through Jesus Christ, then all the conversations we need to have at our margins will be misguided and characterized by fear and divisiveness. If we don't preach Jesus and his gospel as a church, if Jesus isn't at our core, there's nothing we can say to our culture that it can't get elsewhere. If you can get the same truth from the Globe and Mail or the New York Times as you can get in scripture, then what's the point of it all? This centrifugal world of ours needs communities for whom Jesus is the center, who will be deeply rooted in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. In a world and in a country and culture that too often feels like its unmoored, uncentered, the world needs churches and Christians for whom Jesus is our center, people who are strong at our core so that we can be generous and gracious at our margins, who will proclaim reconciliation and love, forgiveness of sin, in the name and by the person of Jesus Christ, who will redeem us from the power of darkness and bring us into his beloved kingdom.

May this congregation, St. Timothy PC, continue to be a blessing to so many people. And may you be willing to journey with others, even and especially with those with whom you don't always agree. Thanks be to God for you, this faithful congregation of God's people. And may you be a people for whom Jesus is your center, the one in whom all things hold together.

And to God be all the glory, now and forevermore, Amen!

Citations

[1] John E. Toews, Moving from Centrifugal to Centripetal.  directionjournal.org

The post In Whom All Things Hold Together appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

John 20:19-31

Why Follow

This is what Jesus said to the disciples.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

What a positive statement about those who believe in Jesus! You will do the works Jesus did and even greater works than what Jesus did. Doing what Jesus did was pretty big shoes to fill. And yet Jesus said we would do greater works than what he did.

When you read the gospels, you don't see a positive image about the disciples. You often encounter the incapability of Jesus' disciples. The image you get about the disciples is not the ones equipped with a powerful potential. The image you get is weak, self-centred, and unbelieving disciples. They simply didn't get what Jesus was telling them. I don't know why they followed Jesus.

You see that in today's passage too.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews (John 20:19)

You see the disciples filled with fear. They were trembling in fear behind the locked door. This was right after Mary Magdalene told them that she had seen the Lord.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord'; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:18)

And yet, they didn't quite believe what Mary said to them. They were frozen with fear. They were timid, passive, and fearful. Even after hearing what Mary said

Thomas was not that different from other disciples. When Jesus appeared to the disciples, Thomas wasn't there unfortunately. They told Thomas that they saw the risen Lord.

We have seen the Lord. (John 20:25)

That was the exact words Mary used to tell the disciples and they didn't believe. Thomas did the same thing as the disciples did. He didn't believe. It wasn't that Thomas was asking for more than what the disciples experienced. He just wanted to see Jesus himself. So, the nickname, doubting Thomas is a kind of unfair statement for Thomas. But Thomas did the same thing as the disciples did. He didn't believe what his friends told him.

You see weak, blinded, and unbelieving disciples. Even though Jesus said many times  while he was with them that he would be crucified and he would rise again from the dead. But nobody believed this mysterious and wonderful truth.

I send you

YET, JESUS BELIEVED IN THEM.

Jesus trusted them. Even though many times, Jesus was frustrated with them, he still believed them. Once he was so frustrated that he said this.

Jesus answered, You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.' (Matthew 17:17)

Jesus was quite frustrated with the disciples and yet he believed in them. It is one thing to be frustrated and another thing to give up on them. Jesus never gave up on them.

To unbelieving disciples, Jesus appeared and said this.

Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. (John 20:21)

As God sent Jesus to this world, now Jesus is sending them to do what Jesus did and more. Indeed, the disciples did greater things than what Jesus did. Jesus did wonderful miracles, supernatural healings, and taught unfathomable truths. And yet, his influence was limited in the Jewish land. He did three years of ministry basically within the boundary of the Jewish land. Judah, Galilee, and a few gentile places – that was about it. People could have been totally impressed by Jesus and that could be the end of it. They could easily forget what Jesus did and what he taught and the world could move on.

Who made Jesus so powerful and influential generation after generation? It was the disciples. They were the first ones who started this movement. They were not any special breed. They were like us. They were not super heroes. They were ordinary people like us.

But they were able to do unimaginable things. I believe that that is the power of resurrection. The power of resurrection did not end in raising Jesus from the dead. It spread. It spread to revive everything it touches.

The power of resurrection brings dead things come alive. It brings light to the darkness. It brings alive the dead spirit within us.

Through the Spirit

This is what Jesus did when he appeared to the disciples again.

Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.' (John 20:21, 22)

Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit. Now through the Spirit, the power of resurrection continued. It is not about seeing the evidence of the body of the risen Jesus any more. Yes, the first disciples had to do that. But not anymore.

Even for Thomas, he didn't have to. He demanded the physical evidence of the risen Jesus.

This was what he said.

Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe. (John 20:25)

Thomas heard his friends saying, We have seen the Lord. And yet, that was not enough for him. He had to see the evidence.

So Jesus came and showed him as he showed him to other disciples.

Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. (John 20:27)

Then Jesus said,

Do not doubt but believe. (John 20:27)

Thomas did not even have to put his finger in the nailed hands. Right after hearing Do not doubt but believe , he said simply,

My Lord and my God! (John 20:28)

Even though Thomas demanded physical evidence of the resurrection, he didn't have to have it. What Jesus said was enough. Do not doubt but believe. The power of resurrection worked through the Spirit. This is the turning point. No more people will believe in the resurrection by seeing the risen Lord but by the powerful witnesses of those who have seen the Lord.

Forgiveness

We don't have the privilege any more to see the physical evidence of the risen Jesus. Jesus would not appear again and again to show physical evidence. What is important is not the physical evidence. What is important is the power of resurrection that works through the witnesses of the believers.

This was what Jesus said.

Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. (John 20:29)

That statement was like a prophecy. That was what happened. When the disciples witnessed Jesus to people, they believed. The power of resurrection worked through their witnesses.

We have no choice but to depend on the first witnesses. But somehow their witnesses were powerful enough to turn people around. That is the power of resurrection.

We just finished the study of four gospels. Each gospel was the witness of the writer. The power of resurrection worked through their witnesses.

Once you receive the power of resurrection, you will do greater works than what Jesus did. You will come alive. You will overcome challenges you face. You will defeat the darkness and bring the light.

This is the authority Jesus gave to the disciples.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. (John 20:23)

You are given the authority to forgive the sins of others. As Jesus forgave your sins, go and forgive the sins of others. Free them from their bondage. Don't hold grudge against them. With the big heart, embrace them.

That was the only thing the risen Jesus told them to do. He died on the cross to forgive us. Forgiveness is that hard. But that is what we must do. We can do that through the power of resurrection.

The post The Power of Resurrection appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Matthew 28:1-10

Dawning

Matthew chapter 28 describes the scene of the resurrection.

Listen to the first verse.

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. (Matthew 28:1)

These words catch my eyes.

After the sabbath

The first day of the week

Dawning

The first creation ended with the Sabbath. Now there is a new beginning. The first day of the week was dawning. It is the language of a new beginning.

The resurrection is the new beginning. That's why Luke started another book, called the Acts of the Apostles. The resurrection of Jesus started a new movement. He recorded what this new movement looked like. All four gospel writers experienced the resurrection and that prompted them to write their gospel. And they all believed that Jesus' resurrection opened a new era, a new beginning, and a new world.

So Mark started with this.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

John started with this.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

They all experienced the new beginning in Jesus' resurrection. They experienced the resurrection. They saw it, heard it, and felt it. What they used to know maybe theoretically, now they experienced it. Until then, death controlled their lives. Now they realized that death was not the end anymore. They saw that in Jesus' resurrection. This gave them a new hope and their life changed.

When we believe that there is resurrection, we can start a new life. We can look at our lives differently.

Angel told the women this.

He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him. This is my message for you.' (Matthew 28:7)

On the way, they met Jesus and Jesus told the women this.

Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. (Matthew 28:10)

The angel and Jesus both emphasized Galilee. Go there. I would be there. Why Galiliee? That was where Jesus began his ministry. Jesus wanted the disciples to start again from where he started his ministry.

Jesus' ministry did not end at his death. Jesus' ministry started again with his resurrection. But this time, it will be done not by Jesus. But the disciples would carry out the ministry. But Jesus promised that he would be with them.

That's why at the end of this chapter which is the end of the book, Matthew ended his gospel with this.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'(Matthew 28:18-20)

Every Sunday

We come together on Sunday. Do you know why? To celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. And with that celebration, our week begins. So to us, Sunday is the beginning of our week.

St. Paul had a new beginning of his life after he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. That's why he said this.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When you know that death is not the end, you can start a new life. You will have a new beginning.

Jesus had done all he had to do. Then he died. On Sabbath, he rested. And on Sunday, he rose from the dead and brought a new beginning, new creation, and new life. The old has gone and the new has come.

Every Sunday, we can begin a new life. That should be our life pattern. We might have failed during the week. We might have ruined our life for that week. We might have gone astray.

But on Sunday, we can start a new life. That is what the spirit of resurrection is all about. We fall and we rise again. We fail and we try again. That is what resurrection is.

Boast in Your Suffering

Death cannot end our new beginning. Death cannot be the period of our life. We won't let death be the period. We always connect the next sentence with the and or but . I have finished the race AND the crown of glory is waiting for me. I have failed BUT I will try again because God gives me another opportunity.

The resurrection is not just about the physical death. The resurrection is our life attitude. When you believe in the resurrection, your life attitude will be renewed.

You won't be scared of losing everything. Because you know that it will be filled up again. It will be filled up more abundantly. It is so filled up that it will flow over. You cannot but be positive about your life. Even failure will only help you.

This is what St. Paul said.

we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope (Romans 5:3, 4)

Even suffering will not end our life. Suffering will only help to produce hope within us. That's why he said he boasted in his sufferings.

Our weaknesses are the same.

Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Even his weaknesses could not make him weak. Because you have the spirit of resurrection within you.

The Children of Resurrection

I want to show you what it is like for the people who have the spirit of resurrection.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

My friends, you are sons and daughters of resurrection. Nothing will be able to destroy you. Nothing will be able to crush you down. Nothing will be able to drive you to despair.

Whenever you fall, rise again. Whenever you fail, try again.

You are the children of resurrection.

The post Resurrection: The New Beginning appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Matthew 27:11-26

He Was Silent

When I read today's passage, two words come to my mind.

SILENCE and NOISE

There is a silence of Jesus and a noise of people

The only thing Jesus said was this.

You say so. (Matthew 27:11)

This was when Pilate asked Jesus whether he was the King of the Jews.

That was it. After that, Jesus didn't say anything. Until Pilate handed him over to be crucified, he said nothing. He was completely silent.

When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not say anything.

when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. (Matthew 27:12)

He did not defend himself. He was silent.

Pilate was frustrated and told Jesus this.

Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you? (Matthew 27:13)

He wanted to break Jesus' silence and make him say something. Say something to defend himself. But Jesus did not say a word.

Total silence!

he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. (Matthew 27:14)

Pilate was amazed because Jesus was different from all the people he experienced. They all begged him to save their lives. But Jesus was silent.

It was not that Jesus had nothing to say. He had so much to say. He was a teacher. He taught so many great truths. When you read the Gospels, it was mostly Jesus who spoke.

But not this time. Jesus knew when it was a time to speak and when it was a time to be silent.

The Wisdom of Ecclesiastes

That is the wisdom of Ecclesiastes.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6-7)

Jesus knew that it was a time to be silent

Why was he silent? Because he knew that it was no use. Jewish leaders already made up their minds to kill him. No matter what Jesus said, no matter what Pilate tried to do, they would push through their agenda and they would get it. Jesus knew that.

They were so determined. They believed that they were doing God's will. When people think what they are doing is God's will, no one can stop them.

Hear what they said.

Then the people as a whole answered, His blood be on us and on our children!' (Matthew 27:25)

Very determined. Their determination could be felt in their voices.

Barabbas! Barabbas!

Crucify Jesus! Crucify Jesus !

Pilate was not naive. He was a very polished politician. He knew people very well. He clearly knew that Jesus was innocent.

For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. (Matthew 27:18)

He almost defended Jesus. The more he tried to defend Jesus, the more violently people reacted.

But they shouted all the more, Let him be crucified!'(Matthew 27:23)

Loud Noise!

Unfortunately, Pilate listened to the noise. Instead of hearing the voice deep within him, he gave his ear to the noise.

His true desire was to release Jesus because he didn't want to kill an innocent man. Three times, he tried.

Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?' (Matthew 27:17)

Which of the two do you want me to release for you?' And they said, Barabbas.' (Matthew 27:21)

Why, what evil has he done?' (Matthew 27:23)

He tried.

Also, his wife had a dream and told Pilate not to do anything with this man, Jesus.

Pilate knew what was the right thing to do. But he chose to listen to the noise. When you hear the noises, you end up doing what you don't want to do. That's why you can never be fully committed. You can never fully engage in your life if you follow the noises around you.

That was exactly what Pilate did.

he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.'(Matthew 27:24)

He neglected his responsibility, sitting on the judgment seat. He ran away from his responsibility.

In Silence

Noises are here. (Pointing to your head)

Not here (Pointing to your heart)

You hear the noises because you fear. You hear them because they are just there. Following noises, you can never live a life of commitment.

Don't listen to the noises around you. Noises will impose themselves upon you, whether you like them or not. They force you to hear them. They are the voices of fear.

Jesus was silent. Not only because it was useless to speak. He was listening to the silence. He wanted to hear what was deep within his heart. He wanted to hear God because God speaks in silence.

In silence, we hear our true voice, our true desire. In that sense, silence is not absence but a presence, a very strong presence. It's not running away. It is engaging in it. In today's Scripture, Jesus was very much present even though he was silent.

In silence, we hear God very clearly. We silence our greed, our fear, our ambition, our worries and we listen to God. In silence, we become very clear about what we want to do with our lives. In silence, we can imagine the world God dreams of. In silence, we channel our energies.

When there is so much noise around you, you cannot really hear what you have to hear. Go seek silence! Silence should be the essential part of your life rhythm. Without silence, your life will be all over the place, in all directions. Your life will be very chaotic.

I love silence. Minimum one hour, I spend time in silence. I love it so much that I would like to do that whenever I have the opportunity other than the one hour I set aside. It is different from prayer.

In silence, my fear is calmed down. I become very focused. I listen better. I get reenergized. In silence, everything comes alive. There is a power of silence.

Let Us Be Silent And Listen

Jesus was in a very hostile environment. Lots of noises. Lots of emotions. Anger, shouting, yelling, and cursing. And yet Jesus was very silent. He was not shaken.

That is the strength. How can you be silent in turmoil? He had confidence in himself and in God.

People are shouting to tell the world how great they are. People are shouting to the world to hear them. People are shouting to get what they want.

But let us be silent. Let us listen to the silence. To deepen your understanding of how your life is meant to be, you need to be silent. To really hear your heart's desire, you need to be silent.

In silence, treasures of life are revealed. In silence, you see who you really are. It can be scary to see who you really are. But don't be. Because, in silence, you will be also able to hear the grace of God that embraces you. In silence, Jesus embraced God's grace. This grace allowed him the strength to take up the cross. In silence, Jesus prepared himself for the cross.

Don't be drowned in this noisy world. Go to your sacred place and sacred time. And just be present in silence.

Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish philosopher and mathematician said,

Speech is of time, Silence is of eternity.

In your silence, savour the eternity.

In your silence, you will know that the only thing you need is God. And that is enough.

Listen to what Teresa of Avila said. I heard this in my own silence.

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing frighten you.

Those who cling to God will lack nothing.

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing frighten you.

God alone is enough.

The post Silence and Noises appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

John 11:1-45

Grace and Miracles

Life is full of miracles. Miracles are not just supernatural events. Miracles are events where you experience God's grace.

Sun rises in the morning. Babies are born. As you lie down, you get a good sleep. People learn to cope with unbearable suffering. People overcome incredible challenges to live happy lives. These are all miracles we see. We all experience God's grace.

If you don't believe in miracles, you miss a big part of your life.

Why do people choose to serve instead of being served? Why do people choose to love instead of hating? Why do people choose to forgive instead of staying angry? They are all miracles to me. They do that because they see God's grace in their lives. Experiencing miracles and experiencing God's grace: They go together.

Last 7 weeks, we did a series of Knowing Christ from the 4 Gospels. It was a long journey for me. At first, I was very uncertain about this series. I was thinking about this series from last year but I didn't have a clear picture until the week before the series began. And just a week before, slowly all my studies started coming into shape one by one. It was all God's grace.

Last Tuesday, after the series was over for the KSM, we had a take out lunch from Mandarin. I was drained. I got my food and there was a fortune cookie on my table. I don't know who put it there. I opened it and it said this.

Your sparkling eyes shed a healing light on those you meet.

I was so glad to hear that. It rejuvenated me. It was almost like God's comforting words. To me, it was a miracle.

When you start seeing life as a miracle, you see a lot of good things happening in your life. Life is not all that bad, you realize. You can see the unlimited possibility of your life. You will feel that life is a dynamic experience. You can see life is a full of grace.

Look around you. I see a teenager who overcomes insurmountable challenges of emotional changes. I see a single mother who doesn't give up but fights to survive with her children. I see old people who do not give up on living a meaningful life in spite of their frail bodies. Life is full of grace and full of miracles.

Characterizing Life

Believing in Jesus Christ means believing in miracles. John used 7 miracles to compose his Gospel. Through these miracles, John described who Jesus was. Interestingly, John doesn't use the word, dunamis which means power. From that word, the word dynamite came from. Often, the Gospels used dunamis for miracles. Mark used 10 times. Matthew used 13 times. Luke used 15 times. But John never used it.

But John used, instead, Seimeion for miracles. It means sign. Sign points to something. Sign itself is not what is important. What it points to is what is important. These 7 miracles all pointed to Jesus.

He fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish and this miracle pointed to Jesus being the bread of life. He healed the born blind man which we reflected on last week. This miracle pointed to Jesus being the light of the world. Today, Jesus raised Lazarus who was dead. This miracle pointed to Jesus being the resurrection and the life.

So believing in Jesus means believing in miracles. Miracles characterized Jesus' life. I pray that miracles characterize your life.

Martha entered into a new world in today's story. She saw that life was a dynamic experience. Until then, Martha's life was pretty predictable. She lived her life, doing same things over again. But on that day, her life changed. She saw miracles. She experienced God's grace. Miracles and God's grace characterized her life from then on.

It all began with her faith.

Jesus said this to Martha.

I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25, 26

This was what Martha said.

She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'(John 11:27)

Through her faith, she experienced something she never experienced before. When you have faith, you will see wonderful things in your life.

The Greatest Miracle

Before Nathanael met Jesus, he was pretty pessimistic about life. Philip first met Jesus and was quite inspired and told Nathanael about Jesus. And this was what Nathanael said to Philip.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (John 1:46)

Can anything good come out of my life? That is the attitude many people live with.

What happened to Nathanael after he met Jesus? He changed. He believed that yes, good things could come from Nazareth. Good things could come from his life.

This was what Jesus said to Nathanael.

Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. (John 1:51)

Today's miracle is the greatest miracle of the seven miracles in John. It is the last miracle of 7 and the ultimate miracle. Yes, overcoming death is the greatest miracle.

Life and Death

Death is the biggest problem we all have to deal with. Death is the biggest challenge we have to face. We all die and yet it is hard to accept it. We can never be comfortable with death.

Death causes so much pain and sorrow. When we face death of the loved ones, we become so emotional. When we face our own death, it is so hard to accept it. It is not easy to experience the loss of people whom you love.

These days, I do more funerals than weddings. It is always hard to do a funeral because there is so much emotion. We can see that in today's passage. Today's passage is filled with emotion. We don't see this kind of emotional scenes in all other gospels but today's passage is filled with deep emotion.

Even Jesus wept.

Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

It is the shortest verse in the bible. But it has so much meaning in it. Death was hard to take, even for Jesus. Jesus had compassion for all those who suffered the pain of death.

Death nakedly exposes our weaknesses. It makes us feel totally powerless. It doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how much you know. It doesn't matter how good you are. When death hits you, everything becomes nothing.

Steve Jobs died a billionaire at the age of 56. But it doesn't matter whether you die a billionaire or without a penny. Death is death. So fear of death is the greatest fear. Because death makes everything meaningless.

Jesus showed us the greatest miracle and left this word to us.

I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25, 26)

When we believe in this miracle, we will be empowered to live a victorious life.

This is what St. Paul said.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?'

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

Life is more powerful than death. Life will win in the end. Life will live on but death will die. That is what I believe. And to me, that is the ultimate miracle.

The post Life Is Full of Miracles appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

The post John 1 (Jesus in the Gospels) appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

John 9:1-41

But Now I See

Salvation is seeing. It is very much being able to see. Through Jesus, our eyes are open. Now we can see hope in despair. Healing in sickness. Life in death.

In today's Scripture, the born blind man was healed by Jesus and he was able to see.

This was what he said.

One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25)

We are familiar with this phrase.

I was blind but now I see.

We heard that in our favourite hymn, Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

What happened to the man in today's story was more than a physical healing. At first, he didn't really know who healed him. He simply said, the man called Jesus healed me. The Pharisees kept asking him who healed him. And he said he was a prophet. Then finally after he was kicked out from the community, Jesus came to him. When he met Jesus again, he finally realized that he was a very special person and he got the full picture of Jesus. So, he called him Lord and worshipped him. His physical eyes were open but he could see more than what he could see with his eyes.

Seeing is a Process

Seeing – Yes, that is salvation. We recognize that we were blind but now we can see. That is what spiritual life is all about. This happens not just once but it happens every day.

You were blind but now you see – This happens every day.

It is like peeling one shell after another from your eyes. What you can see becomes bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper. You see more pure things and more beautiful things as you peel each shell from your eyes. Life becomes exciting. You get to know God more and more intimately.

When I look back, I realize how blind I was. You don't know that when you go through it. Only much later, when you look back, you realize how blinded you were.

Seeing is a process. We don't see it all at once. We see it gradually. At first we see only a partial picture and then we get to see a bigger picture.

This is what St. Paul said in his famous chapter on love.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus came to give us the light. As we get to know Jesus, his light will shine on us. Our darkness will be removed and we will be able to see things more clearly.

Your Eyes Can Deceive You

Seeing is not what you do with your eyes. Seeing with our eyes is very limited and what we can see with our eyes can be very distorted too.

This is what Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker.

Do not trust your eyes because your eyes can deceive you.

Stephen Covey who wrote the famous book, The 7 habits of highly effective people , said,

We think we see the world as it is when in fact we see the world as we are.

We can see that very clearly in the Pharisees in today's story. They refused to see that the blind man was healed. They even brought his parents and heard from them but they could not see that this man was truly healed.

So being able to see is not that simple. It is very much a spiritual process. That means it has a lot to do with the condition of your heart.

What do you see all the time? Do you see only negative things? When your heart is filled with negativity, you will see negative things. And these negative things that you see will make you a more negative person. It is a very bad cycle.

When you are an angry person, you will see easily things that frustrate you. And what you see will make you more angry.

I live in downtown. I see all kinds of people. There is this guy I see often. Whenever I see him, I see him walking up and down the street yelling and swearing. He is always angry. His anger consumed him.

So seeing has a lot to do with the condition of your heart. When what we see changes, then our life changes.

Come and See

Don't let your heart be filled with darkness, you will not be able to see what is bright and hopeful.

This was what John said in the prologue of his book.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome (understand, see) it. (John 1:5)

So, in the Gospel John, Jesus kept saying this phrase.

Come and See.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, What are you looking for?' They said to him, Rabbi' (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying?' He said to them, Come and see.'(John 1:38, 39)

When you come to Jesus, what you can see changes. Your perspective in life changes. You see beautiful things around you. You see beautiful flowers and you hear birds chirping.

I see trees of green, red roses too.

I see them bloom for me and you.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights

Life is very much about what you see.

Do you see hope in your life?

Do you see beauty in people?

Do you see grace in this harsh world?

So, as I said, salvation is seeing. What we see determines the quality of our life.

Blinded by Darkness

The problem is we think we see when in fact, we don't see it. We think we know it all. That itself is blindness. Our arrogance makes us blind.

This was what Jesus said in today's story.

Jesus said, I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.' (John 9:39)

What Jesus is saying is this. If you don't see but have humble desire to want to see, God will open your eyes so that you may be able to see. But if you think you see and don't have any desire to see more, you will become blind.

Our prejudices, our fear, our worries, our laziness will blind our eyes. Our arrogance, self-centredness, and stubbornness will blind our eyes. These things bring darkness to your heart and this darkness will blind you. Don't let the darkness rule in your heart, you won't be able to see the light.

Albert Schweitzer said,

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

Don't let darkness kill the light inside of you. Come to Jesus and let the light of Jesus shine in your heart. You will see the brighter side of your life. You will be enlightened.

The post Salvation Is Seeing appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

The post Luke (Jesus in the Gospels) appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Romans 5:1-11

Rootless

The Bible provides an image of the kind of people we should be:

They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. (Psalm 1:3)

What a beautiful image of life. The word that comes to mind for me is rooted . People who bear fruit and prosper have strong roots and are firmly planted.

Life today often seems to be the opposite. It seems rootless. So many things are out of our control. So many changes happen around us. So many things happen to us. We don't know what to root ourselves in.

St. Paul

Today's passage is written by St. Paul. As a young man, he rooted himself deep in his Jewish identity. This is what he says about his previous life:

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6)

He rooted himself in the law. Being a righteous person was very important to him. For him, being righteous was to be blameless under the law. This righteousness was based on what he did. It was based on his effort.

I realize that ultimately, this is how we live. Righteousness means right living, right standing, having a justified existence. After our basic needs are met, we want to know that we are living a life worth living. We are up at night because we are filled with worries about what we need to do. We feel pressure to be better parents, children and income earners. Even when we are still, we don't feel rest because our minds are active and our hearts are restless. We believe that our existence will be justified based on what we do and the effort we put in. We try to root ourselves in what we believe will give us right standing in life.

When Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, his whole belief system crumbled. Somehow, he realized that everything he had built his life on was wrong. When you realize that everything you've built your life on is wrong, that is not easy to deal with. It takes a long and difficult period of readjustment and reformulation. For three years, Paul went to Arabia.

And then he spent 10 years in Tarsus, his hometown. We don't know exactly what he was doing. There is nothing written about these years. For me, he was reformulating his whole belief system. A new belief system that he would live out in his ministry to come. He eventually articulated this belief system in Romans.

St. Paul realized that he had rooted himself in the wrong thing. He rooted himself in his own effort. His own righteousness. But that was so small and insignificant to what he discovered – the love of God for him in Christ. He discovered the righteousness of God. Righteousness is God's desire and work to save us. It is what God does. What God did was love him even when he was weak, when he was a sinner, and even when he was an enemy of God. Paul saw God's loving desire and will for him even when he did not deserve it and was even opposed to God's will.

God’s promise

He turned back to the example of Abraham. God made this promise to Abraham:

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3)

Somehow, Abraham heard this promise from God. He believed that God had a loving will for him and his future. He believed that God's promise would be fulfilled because of God's faithfulness and love. He trusted the promise and good intention of God. He rooted himself in the promise of God. It was this trust that made him a righteous person.

Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become the father of many nations, according to what was said, So shall your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore it was reckoned to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:18-22)

The very core of Christian belief is that God's loving desire for us saves us. It is to root ourselves not on our own efforts, but in the love that God has for us. It is faith and trust in God's promise and good will for us. This is what St. Paul discovered.

Believe in God’s Love

When we were in Los Angeles last week, we had a front seat view of my kids. They would play and bicker, play and bicker – the whole week! The way they spoke to each other made me cringe. It was like a mirror reflected onto me. I could see some of my worst tendencies reflected in the way they behaved. It made me feel so guilty and inadequate. In these kinds of moments, it is so hard to believe that my worth as a father is not dependent on what I do or how I am.

It is so hard to believe in God's promise and loving intention for my children when I fear the road they are on due to the bad tendencies they are inheriting from me. Faith is difficult. Trusting in God's promise is the difficult daily spiritual discipline we need to take on. Every day, we need to root ourselves in God's love for us, even when we feel we don't deserve it. We need to be honest about our shortcomings, our sins and our fears. We need to be humble and confess these things. But we need to focus more on God's love for us and the promise God makes to bring good will to our lives.

A few years ago, one of our young people shared his experience with me. He had applied for a special program in university but didn't get in. He wanted to get into this because it would help his career and also let him earn money that would alleviate the financial burden on his parents. It was a very competitive program, and he didn't get in. He felt so disappointed and so sorry to his parents. He expected great disappointment from his parents and approached them warily. But much to his surprise, they said it was okay. That affirmation lifted a huge burden off his heart. He was so grateful and humble for the grace he was shown. He had tears as he shared this story with me.

When we believe in God's love for us, we enter the world of grace. Grace lifts the burden from our hearts. It makes us humble. It makes us thankful. Grace empowers us and transforms us. It gives us power for life. St. Paul says this:

And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Grace changes how we respond to difficult situations. We cannot control difficult situations that are thrown at us. But when difficulties hit us, they do not destroy us. Rather, we are able to endure them. Endurance builds character in us. Character produces hope. This hope will not let us down, because it is rooted in God's love for us. When we are rooted in God's love and promise for us, nothing can destroy us. We become strong and confident people.

While we were in LA, we took our kids to the California Science Centre. There was an exhibit on the COVID-19 pandemic. As I looked at the pictures and read about it, memories and feelings of the past few years came back. There was one picture in particular of empty freeways in Los Angeles the day after the pandemic was declared. For reasons I couldn't articulate, I started to get tears in my eyes. I couldn't describe what these feelings were.

Yesterday marked three years since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The pandemic uprooted many people's sense of security and stability. We have not recovered from it. All around us, we see fear, mistrust, anger, and loss of empathy. People have lost belief that institutions, governments and even other people are for them and looking out for them. People feel alone, lost and rootless. People are anxious, mistrustful and fearful.

Yes, I see all of that around me. I see all of this every day when I read the news. My heart is broken by the dysfunction and brokenness I see. But I refuse to fall into despair and lose hope. I refuse to do so because I still believe in a God who loves us and desires good for this world.

Faith and Grace

Faith has ethical implications. Faith is our refusal to accept permanent cynicism. Faith is our subversive, countercultural movement that says there is another possibility to what we see. Hope is not a fairy tale. I have seen people who are rooted in their faith that God loves them and this world.

They may not be shouting from rooftops, but with quiet humility they live their lives with compassion and faith. When they face challenges, they do not give up but they endure with faith. They do not become petty, or react to the environment around them, but they remain gentle, compassionate, and empathetic. They do not fall into despair but remain hopeful. These people are rooted in the promise of God. This faith gives me hope.

Grace is the place where we rest in God's promise. Grace gives us hope for the future. Grace also changes how we see our past. I didn'...

The post Matthew Part 2 (Jesus in the Gospels) appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.