Veterans Day 2014

FDR said, "Dec. 7, 1941, A day that will live in infamy." Japan had just attacked Pearl Harbor and sunk most of the American Pacific Fleet. We were plunged into WWII. The peace after the war to end all wars had ended.

With that attack America entered a war to be fought on two fronts; the creme of our youth was to be sacrificed and what became known as America's Greatest Generation took center stage.

Eventually the Armistice Day honoring the veterans of WWI became Veteran's Day to honor all the veterans of America's Wars. That is all the military veterans.

There were and are other veterans of war. Men and women who did their part to turn out the guns and weapons used to defeat the enemy. My dad, Paul D. Saxman, was one such veteran. He worked at the East Pittsburgh Plant of Westinghouse and tried several times to enlist; he wanted to be on the front lines. He was rejected because he was married with 3 children and because Westinghouse was an integral part of the industrial war machine that was to ultimately win the war.

Dad's rejection was painful. He saw his friends leaving, he didn't know the importance of his work and so he felt useless toward the war effort. As I remember he participated in every project there was to fight the enemy. In a funny sort of way dad was afraid his buddies would think he was 4F; no one would ever think he dodged his duty.

I don't want this to be thought of as a sour grapes post. I served 4 years in the USAF and I am proud to be called a veteran. My hat if off to those who serve, those who serve and survive as well as those who serve and populate burial sites throughout the world. These men and women are the real hero's for today.

But those who stay home because their duty requires them too - they are also hero's. Not everyone can or should carry a weapon, sometime what you do in the factory or the field is the most heroic thing you can do.

So on this Veteran's Day let's remember all the Veterans of war and continually pray for peace.

Suffering

1 Peter 2:18-3:9

Sometimes Life (people) isn’t Fair

I told the Bible study that I read these passages as a parable; that is Peter took the everyday and used it as a common example to speak about a spiritual truth. In this passage Peter takes the condition of House Servants and the condition of Wives  and uses those conditions to teach Christians how they should react when life, when individuals, aren’t fair.

Out of this he talks about suffering injustice as a Christian and being a Christian married to a non-Christian, specifically to a man. For him, both parables teach us how Christians are to live and how our living can be a tool of evangelism.

Sometimes, because of the people over us, life isn’t fair – it is absolutely unjust. Sometimes you get fired or laid off or in the case of the house servants of Peter’s day, beaten, when you have done a good job and followed the boss’s instructions to the letter.

Sometimes you are in a marriage in which the one partner is overly demanding to the point of being abusive. You keep the marriage covenant but she or he always wants more – you are caught in a bind of never being able to please.

The question is how do you as a Christian live under such conditions?

Let me begin with a caveat; physical and verbal spouse abuse, or abuse of servants or children is never acceptable. If you are being made afraid for your safety or if you are being dehumanized as a person, you need to get out of that situation. Fear is never an answer.

Peter says to the slave who can’t run, or to the person who feels they must stay in the job:

1.       Make sure you are doing what is right. You haven’t a leg to stand on if your boss is ticked because you messed up.

2.       If you are doing right and the boss continues to abuse you, consider Jesus. Here was one who went about doing good; he healed the sick, drove out demons, fed the hungry and gave sight to the blind – yet he was abused. If you remember he even paid his taxes. But the more he did right, the more he obeyed the Law, the worse it became for him – so bad that they nailed him to the tree; he suffered the most painful abuse possible.

3.       His response was to pray for his tormentors; he even healed their children and invited them to know God as he knew God – in response to his abuse he offered healing and peace.

4.       God honored Jesus and used his response to suffering as the ransom for us – through the suffering of Jesus, we have been given the keys to heaven. Peter says that the suffering of Jesus, how he handled rejection and injustice is a model for each of us who bear his name.

It is obvious that we are not Jesus; we do not live in his society, his culture – but we can use his model.

1.       He kept God and God’s love for all people uppermost in his life. His full time was spent living out that love; his healing and teaching found its power in God’s love.

2.       When he was abused he did not abuse in return. Both verbally and physically he “turned the other cheek.”  When others went to defend him he ordered them to put up their sword.

3.       He did not hide his differences. Some of Jesus greatest teachings came about in defending himself against the Scribes and Pharisees. Best examples would be the parables of Luke 15, parables of grace. He stood his ground.

4.       Jesus understood himself to be God’s Sacrifice for sin; you are not. And yet there is a suffering that brings redemption – a suffering that looks evil in the eye and says do what you will, you cannot separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. The knowledge of this comes through prayer, fasting and a serious study of scripture.

Then Peter speaks to the wife, not in fear of her life, not being abused as we count abuse today; but also not being valued as a child of God or an equal in the covenant of marriage. To her Peter says:

1.       Your method of dress may make you a beautiful object of desire, but you will continue to be an object.

2.       Rather than win your husband through sensuality, let your spirit, your gentleness in the Lord shine through. In place of resentment, let your husband come to recognize your desire to please him and your love of the Lord. Your words and actions are not to mimic his; rather you are to speak words of grace and peace.  You are to live out your love for God.

3.       Perhaps, through the way you speak, through the Spirit that shines through your modesty and your genuine desire to please him, the actions of your prayers;  your husband may also be won to the Lord.

And echoing Paul, Peter addresses the husband and reminds them that in Christ his wife and he are one; that she too is a recipient of the living hope of the inheritance of eternity. He says that the husband who seeks to draw closer to Christ will do so through the way he honors his wife.

And then to the Servants, to the Wives and to the Husbands, to the Church, Peter says:

                Finally, all of you have unity of spirit, sympathy. Love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called – that you might inherit a blessing.

May we bring such blessings to our worksite, our marriage and our Church.

Amen

               

Called to be Light in Darkness

Isaiah 9:1-4; Matthew 4: 12-23

 

Galilee, Galilee of the Nations. If I close my eyes I can see Galilee; the mount of beatitudes, the lake, placid and plied by boats carrying tourists, Capernaum with its ruined synagogue and a house that may have been Peter’s Mother in law’s , a ruined pier used by Romans and maybe by the disciples of Jesus.

“Matthew records that Jesus "withdrew" to Galilee to begin His public ministry there after He heard that John had been delivered up" (Mt. 4:12). Matthew’s typically matter-of-fact style veils the truly remarkable character of Jesus’ withdrawal. Matthew has been presenting Jesus as the Messiah, the Seed of Abraham and Son of David (1:1, 16), Immanuel (1:23), the King of the Jews (2:2), God’s Son (2:15; 3:17; 4:3, 6), the One who baptizes with the Spirit and fire (3:11ff.) — in sum, as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament types and prophecies.

Yet, this Messiah spends a large part of His life in Galilee, Galilee of the Gentiles (4:15). The area known as Galilee was part of the land conquered under the leadership of Joshua, and was given to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. In the 8th century B.C., the land was invaded by the Assyrians, many of the inhabitants were taken into exile, and the region was repopulated with Gentiles. Despite an attempt in the second century B.C. to forcibly circumcise and convert the populace, it remained a religiously and ethnically mixed province. It was here that Jesus chose to concentrate at the beginning of His public ministry.

In what sense is Jesus’ withdrawal into Galilee the fulfillment of a prophecy about the deliverance of Israel from Assyria? In order to understand this connection, we need to recall the context in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus’ withdrawal took place immediately after His temptation (4:1-11). Jesus, the Last Adam and the True Israel, was victorious in His conflict with Satan. The temptation was the beginning of Jesus’ campaign to conquer the enemy of His people, to deliver them from the slavery that God had justly imposed upon them because of their sins. Thus, His withdrawal to Galilee follows on His triumph over the oppressor. Having dealt an initial defeat to Satan, Jesus went into Galilee to announce His victory, and the coming fullness of the kingdom. Jesus’ conquest of Satan was the reality of which the Lord’s conquest of Assyria was the dim shadow.  (Biblical Horizons 1991)”

Galilee – the Galilee of 2014 is anything but the placid place of tourists, rather it is a Palestinian state in the condition of an undeclared war with Israel. It is a place of where the term terrorist and patriot are interchanged. It is a place where American Tourists are loved and our government hated. It is place of hatred and peace, of a coming darkness threatening to destroy the Light of Jesus Christ.

Amazing isn’t it how conditions do not change.  “Jesus went into Galilee to announce His victory, and the coming fullness of the kingdom. Jesus’ conquest of Satan was the reality of which the Lord’s conquest of Assyria was the dim shadow.  (Biblical Horizons 1991)”

It is into this context that Matthew places the call of the Disciples, a call that resonates in the hearts of followers of Christ. Jesus, victor, comes to the area in which John has been arrested and proclaims victory over evil, the entrance of the Kingdom and the role of his ministry with his disciples. To be a disciple of Jesus means to invade the stronghold of Satan and bring light to a people darkened by evil.

There is a story told about a young writer. He had written his first book and was on a tour to present the book and talk with crowds about it. His first appearance was to be in a large auditorium. He came and took his seat on the podium and after his introduction got up to speak. It was then he realized there was only one person in the audience, a woman who was sitting in the back row; so he invited her to come up front and take a seat closer to him. Her response was, “No thanks, I might want to leave early.” I doubt that he sold her any books.

Not so with the call of Jesus. Jesus calls Pete, Andrew, James and John and calls them to an immediate ministry that does not have the option of leaving early. They are enlisting for the duration, and they are enlisting to invade the lair of the enemy. There are stories throughout scripture of those who wanted to hold the option of backing out when they wanted to; Jesus universally says to them, “thanks but no thanks.”

To be a disciple means to follow and to follow through what we consider good or bad! Do you remember the story of Gideon? That took place in the area of Galilee. Remember the Midianites were oppressing the Israelites and God called Gideon to raise an army to fight the Midianites. So he did. You will remember God culled that army and then gave them torches and trumpets for weapons. And the text says God defeated the Midianites. The message being that “with God all things are possible;” without God “we are a nosy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

So Jesus calls, Peter, Andrew, James and John – small businessmen, making their living as fishermen; married and settled. As he calls them and they leave everything behind, they sell out to follow Jesus and he begins to teach them how they are to be light in the middle of darkness.

Mt.4:23  “Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. He announced the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people.” And then Matthew says: “People brought to him all those who had various kinds of diseases, those in pain, those possessed by demons, those with epilepsy, and those who were paralyzed and he healed them.”

It is no wonder the telling of good news begins with repentance – we, the messengers need to change our hearts; we are the ones who must be healed first – our world is not to be made up of them and us; we are not enemies but each a child of the living God and each lost. Jesus has called you to change your heart and be light in the darkness.

How appropriate are the stories of the “Good Samaritan” and the “Woman taken in Adultery” Jesus smashes our concepts of righteousness and demands we see beneath the surface to the greater wrongs of a polarized society so that we can minister to the needs of the person.

The anthem is quite correct; God has called us to be a welcoming place.

So you and I, like Gideon’s army are to take our torches and bugles and gain victory through the hand of God. Our torches and bugles consist of the love of God and the radical belief of God’s love for the whole world. We come to identify with the lost and lonely. To heal the sick and be one with those imprisoned. We come to offer ourselves to the God of mercy and bring to that God those who have lived in the darkness of sin and oppression.

That sounds so good and noble. But Peter, Andrew, John and James understood that they were the successors of the Baptist and if evil destroyed him they too would face the wrath of the status quo opposition. As you follow Jesus understand that he is not calling you to lives of ease and pleasure, but to battle and there will be casualties.

But there is a greater promise – you are part of the incoming Kingdom of God, in your repentance and new life of love, the world of darkness becomes aware of the power of God and what it means to live in the Kingdom.

You – age doesn’t matter – you are called to be Light in Darkness, you – age has no bearing, you are called to model the Kingdom of God for those who are lost. We are to be in ministry where ever we are and with whom we are.

 

We are called to Light in Darkness.  Our closing hymn is “I want to walk as a Child of the Light” may these words be your prayer:

 

amen