Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

–Acts 4:8-13 (NIV)

On this feast day honoring the confession of St. Peter, what a remarkable scene Luke reports here! We see the poor, unschooled (read ignorant), unimportant fisherman, Peter, stand up in front of the top religious and political movers and shakers of his day (the Sanhedrin) to tell them they have made a terrible mistake in how they dealt with Jesus. In no uncertain terms Peter tells the most powerful men in ancient Jewish society that they are wrong in their thinking about Jesus. He tells them that Jesus is Lord and they are not. He tells them that only in Jesus will we have any real hope (not deluded wishful thinking) to have our exile from God permanently ended.

That message went over about as well in Peter’s day as it does in ours.

The scene above is even more remarkable if we know a bit about Peter’s history. Here we have good old brash and petulant Peter, a man after my own heart. He has a history of going from hero to goat with Jesus in under five seconds. He wears his feelings on his sleeve. He has a track record of inserting foot in mouth at the drop of a hat. For example, at the Last Supper, after Jesus tells his disciples that they will all desert him in the next few hours, Peter proclaims boldly that he will never desert or deny his Lord. In the safety of being removed from the actual event of Jesus’ arrest, bravado reigns freely in Peter’s mind and corresponding words. But just hours later, Peter not only deserts his Lord, he also denies him three times–to a lowly servant girl no less, the lowest of the low in ancient Jewish society–and runs away “weeping bitterly” over his complete breakdown of integrity and courage.

We can understand all this and can appreciate how Peter must have felt because we have all had our courage and faith fail at a critical moment. We can appreciate Peter’s predicament because in many ways we are Peter. That is one dimension of the plight of the human condition. But in today’s story we see this same man step up to address the most powerful men of Israel (with the exception of their Roman occupiers) with boldness and courage.

What is going on here? Where is the sniveling coward that ran away from Jesus as fast as he could, all the while “weeping bitterly”?

The answer, of course, is the amazing love and grace of Jesus. You can read about how Jesus forgave and restored Peter here. It is enough to melt even the hardest heart and we see in today’s passage the wondrous and transformative effect this had on Peter. No longer is he a coward. No longer does he worry about offending people by speaking the truth in love to them. No, Peter gets it–finally. He is now willing to deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Jesus, just as Jesus had demanded he do.

But Peter wasn’t willing to do this (or perhaps couldn’t) until after he had experienced the life-changing love and forgiveness of Jesus.

In forgiving and commissioning Peter to be one of his shepherds, Jesus healed and transformed his bumbling and broken disciple. Jesus’ grace, love, and forgiveness of Peter turned Peter into the kind of man God created him to be and never again would Peter fail or disappoint his Lord, at least as far as the extant records tell us. Indeed, the NT tells us that Peter suffered much for his Lord and tradition has it that he was eventually crucified upside down for the sake of Jesus, insisting that he was not worthy to die in the exact position that his Master had.

What a wondrous and hopeful story of how Jesus can heal and equip us to do his work!

The same love, grace, and forgiveness that Jesus offered to Peter (and which Peter accepted, a critically important piece to the story) is available to you today. Is there a dark skeleton in your closet that you dare not tell anyone about, even your nearest and dearest, because you consider it to be so awful? Do you think that you are simply not forgivable because of who you are or what you have done? If you labor under these terrible burdens, take heart and hope. Read and consider carefully the story of Jesus and Peter. Understand there is nothing in this world that you can do or be that puts you irrevocably outside of God’s love for you in Jesus. There is nothing other than your own stubborn refusal to accept the love, grace, and forgiveness God offers you in Christ. Nothing.

Is that way too cool or what?

Simply do as Peter did. Talk and listen to Jesus. Hear what he has to say to you. Ask him if it really is possible for you to forgive him and expect to hear “yes” for an answer. Ask him to take from you the terrible guilt and burdens you bear so that you might be equipped to love and serve him as he calls you to do. If you come to him with faith and a sincere and humble heart, you will not be disappointed. Billions of folks have done this and like them you will find that you have a newfound courage and power that is not yours to live your life in joyful and obedient service to this God who loves you madly and wants you to experience life as he intended for you when he created you.

And if you mess things up along the way, don’t worry in excess (and maybe not at all). You won’t get it right all the time. In fact, if you are like many of us, you may get it wrong more often than not. But the story of Jesus and Peter encapsulates the Good News of the wondrous love and power of the Gospel to heal and transform lives, yours included.

All you have to do is to respond to Jesus like Peter did. Like Peter, you must accept the complete and total forgiveness Jesus offers you, and believe he really does have the power to heal and transform you. Afterwards, you must finally take seriously his command to deny yourself (the part of you that wants to be God instead of giving that role and function to the real God), take up your cross every day (trust Jesus enough to do the things he calls you to do, even if they seem impossible), and follow this insanely wonderful God who loves you and wants you to be with him now and for all eternity.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

–Ephesians 4.1-7, 11-16 (NIV)

On Friday we saw that the Church is a visible manifestation of God’s saving grace. Jews and Gentiles, the two groups once hostile toward one another, are now reconciled through the cross of Christ and brought together to form Christ’s Body, the Church. Today, Paul continues to flesh out the ramifications of this. Specifically, he tells us how the Church can and should manifest God’s wisdom, a wisdom that we cannot penetrate without the help of the Holy Spirit.

The first thing we notice when reading today’s passage is the emphasis on mutual love and service. In effect, Paul is telling us this: We all have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Our exile from God and alienation between one another is over if we will reorient ourselves with the Spirit’s help to look out for one another and not just ourselves.

This is why our understanding of the hopelessness of the human condition is so important. This is why we need to understand as best we can what God did for us in Christ because when we do, we realize we are no better than anyone else. We realize our needs and wants are no more important than the needs and wants of others. We understand that we can do nothing on our own to satisfy God’s holy righteousness.

When by the help of the Spirit we receive grace to understand this, we are ready to demonstrate our faith in Christ by loving our fellow humans, not only in the Church but also those who are outside of it. As I have demonstrated in previous reflections, the biblical notion of love is not some kind of sappy sentiment. Biblical and godly love always desires the best for the beloved and always manifests itself in action on behalf of the beloved.

So here we see Paul talking about the Church as a model for the world to see, a model the demonstrates God’s wisdom for fallen humanity. We realize the incomparable gift of life that God has given us in Christ. This realization, made possible by the help of the Spirit living in us, works to slowly but surely destroy our sinful pride and transform us into the humans God created us to be. God’s wisdom and grace are therefore demonstrated in how folks in the Church love and treat one another. Paul fleshes this out more thoroughly in 1 Corinthians 12 but we also see it expressed quite clearly in today’s passage.

So what does this mean for us as individual Christians? First and foremost it should be readily apparent that the Christian life is meant to be lived corporately, not just individually. That comes across unmistakably in today’s passage. While you can certainly find God in nature or at home or during a quiet walk on the beach, your faith will not be sustained nor manifested completely if that is as far as you are willing to go. As Paul reminds us here, God intends for your faith to be made manifest, in part, in and through his Church so that he can use us to make his wisdom manifest to the world.

“Look at my Body, the Church, when it is faithful to me,” Jesus seems to be saying through Paul. “You will see how I intended you to live when I created you. Pay attention to its dynamics when the Church is faithful (and learn about the perils and pitfalls when it is not) because in those faithful dynamics you will find the secret to living a happy life, irrespective of other circumstances.”

Second, Paul is very concerned about the content that forms the basis for our beliefs, i.e., Paul is concerned that we believe correctly. His emphasis on our one faith, one Lord, one hope, one baptism, and one body cannot happen if members of Christ’s Body, the Church, are free to believe whatever they choose. No, our faith must be rooted in the teachings of the Apostles, the Apostolic Faith once delivered to the saints. We must all learn it so that we can help each other grow in that faith aided by the Holy Spirit living in and through us. And where do we learn this “faith once delivered to the saints”?

Yep. You guessed it. We learn it primarily through Scripture.

This, of course, means those of us who want to grow in our relationship with the Lord and who take our faith seriously must be engaged in Bible study together as well as individually. Since we are all fallible and prone to error, Paul seems to be reminding us that God will use us to help hold each other accountable for what we think and believe in matters of the faith to keep us safe from the Evil One and help prevent us from falling away from our saving faith through wrong teaching, whether that teaching is done unintentionally or with malice. The “Gold Standard” we use to determine what is correct or in error is of course the Apostolic teachings found in the NT.

This doesn’t always play well to our 21st century American ears. We don’t like to be told what to do or how to think, and in some areas of our lives that is perfectly fine and acceptable. But as Paul reminds us here and elsewhere, we do not have the luxury to “think for ourselves” when it comes to the Christian faith. I am not talking about adopting a blind faith or suggesting that it is wrong to have legitimate questions about biblical teachings. Nor am I suggesting that we will not or should not have doubts because we will likely have all of the above.

Rather, what I am suggesting is this. If we wish to really do God’s will and manifest his wisdom, in part through the Church, to broken and hurting world that desperately needs to hear the Good News, we must be humble enough to submit to teachings of the Apostles found in Scripture after we have had our questions answered. This, of course, requires that those who answer our questions have a firm and accurate understanding of the Apostolic Faith so that they can answer our questions and help us confront our doubts based on God’s Truth found in Scripture. That is why Paul acknowledges that Christ gives his Church teachers and pastors to serve in this role. This, perhaps, is one of the best reasons for all of us to read and study the Bible regularly, both corporately and individually.

What about you? How have you reacted to what I’ve just written? How you answer will give you keen insight into your willingness to enter into the kind of life-giving relationship God created you to have. It is mapped out for you in Scripture and you have God’s very promise to help you discover and hold firmly to his Truth. But you cannot and will not be able to do it on your own. No, you must be humble enough to admit that you are profoundly broken and cannot possibly fix yourself. You must be humble enough and wise enough to turn to the One who can help you and fix you. You will find him in the pages of Scripture, especially in the NT and you will find him at work in his Body, the Church, when its members remember who they are and Whose they are. And when that happens, you will not only find real hope and joy, but the world will get a preview of coming attractions and God’s wondrous wisdom made manifest to us right here and now.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

–Ephesians 3.2-11 (NIV)

I have written extensively about how God has moved decisively in Jesus Christ to make it possible for our exile and alienation from him to be ended forever, something the Bible calls “salvation.” But there is another dimension of salvation that is rarely discussed, but which Paul talks about in the passage above. What is that other manifestation of salvation? It is the creation and existence of the Church!

In chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul has talked about what God’s love in Christ means for individuals. Here he goes on to talk about one way in which the promise of God’s salvation is made manifest for all the world to see. Since all people, Jews and Gentiles, have been reconciled to God through through the blood of Christ, it is now possible for former enemies to be reconciled to one another and gather together as the Church of Christ. Paul reminds the Ephesians (as he also reminded the Church at Rome) that they are living proof of this since both Jew and Gentile made up the Church there. Elsewhere, Paul calls the Church the Body of Christ with Christ being its head. It is living proof of the reconciliatory effects of the cross of Christ and is available for all the world to see as proof positive of the truth and efficacy of the Gospel.

“But wait,” you say, “I don’t see Jews and Gentiles worshiping together. And besides that, more often than not I see church people acting badly.” True enough. But this begs the fundamental issue that Paul raises here. We don’t see Jew and Gentile worshiping together primarily because of their choice not to do so. We see church folks acting badly because we are all terribly broken creatures, not because of anything God has done.

No, in fact, through the blood of Christ, God has made it possible for the reconciliation Paul talks about here to happen. God does not force us to do one thing or the other because he loves us and has blessed us with free will, and real love never imposes itself on the beloved. So it is entirely unsporting for us to blame God for our own foibles, foibles that prevent the true will of God from being made manifest, both within the Church and outside of it.

Besides, the various criticisms leveled against people in the Church behaving badly is terribly one-sided. What critics often fail to acknowledge is the wonderful good that the Church has done over the ages. In this country, for example, you don’t have to look very far to see that many hospitals and schools have Christian origins. At its best, the Church has always been concerned about the welfare of the poor and oppressed and has moved to alleviate suffering and poverty by establishing schools to advance education and hospitals to advance healing. There are many other examples as well, but you get the point.

Moreover, those who refuse to be part of the Church because some in the Church behave badly are really setting themselves up in haughty judgment over their fellow humans. Implicit in the statement, “I don’t go to church because it is inhabited by a bunch of hypocrites” or similar statements is the notion that the critics are somehow better than the rest of humanity.

Really.

To tell you the truth, I used to say this kind of baloney when I was a young man. Only later by the grace of God did I realize that I was, um, just like everybody else.

I hate it when that happens.

In fact, I don’t know anyone who has not been hypocritical or cynical or deceitful or [name your favorite sin here that you loathe in others]. Even the best of us have been afflicted by these maladies from time to time. It is much easier, and far more sinfully judgmental, to be an armchair quarterback and criticize folks in the church than it is to enter the fray and allow Christ to use you as his leaven to help raise up his Body, the Church.

Instead of criticizing the Church, roll up your sleeves and ask Jesus to show you how he would use you to help build up his Body. It’s infinitely more frustrating than being an armchair quarterback but in the end it is infinitely more rewarding because you are helping the Lord make manifest his great love for all people and are living proof of what happens to those of us who take seriously his great act of love on the cross to end our exile and alienation from him.

This is why there is no such thing as an isolate Christian. If we are to call ourselves “Christian” we had better be prepared to gather with other Christians to worship the Lord and to live our lives together to make manifest his great love for his broken and hurting people, both Jew and Gentile.

The Church, broken as she is, stands as a living testimony to the love of God for us in Christ. He doesn’t call perfect people, he calls broken people and loves us despite ourselves. He does not forsake us even when we forsake him, either individually or corporately. And when those of us who choose to be part of Christ’s Body humble ourselves and allow his Holy Spirit to work in and through us, both individually and corporately, exciting and wonderful things happen. And when they do, the world gets to see what it is missing when it chooses to remain hostile to God.

If you are one who calls himself “Christian,” are you living your life separate and apart from Christ’s Body or are you humble enough to let him use you as a part of his Body to testify to the world God’s great love for it through your faithful actions? If you are, I can’t think of any ongoing endeavor that can bring you more satisfaction and fulfillment than that, even as you endeavor to do so in the midst of your own brokenness and others’. But remember, you don’t have to endeavor alone.  You have God’s promise to give you his Holy Spirit to equip you for the work in Christ’s Church (and outside of it) he calls you to do.

If you are not part of the Church, today’s passage should serve as a challenge and wake-up call for you to examine your faith and your motives. It also serves to remind you that you are missing out on some real fun, the joy of doing God’s will and work here and now and to be his light to a broken and hurting people who live in darkness. Christ calls us to discipleship but he calls us to be disciples together so that when we are faithful we will bring his Name honor and glory.

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

–Mark 1.32-39 (NIV)

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

–Ephesians 2.1, 3-5

In today’s Gospel lesson, Mark describes a scene to which we can almost all instinctively relate. He tells us that folks have caught wind of Jesus’ remarkable healing power and they are scrambling to find him. “Everyone is looking for you!” the apostles exclaim. And why not? Who wouldn’t be seeking a miracle worker to heal them of their physical and psychological brokenness? I mean, duh!

But notice the context of the story. After a busy day of healing folks of all that ailed them, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to recharge his batteries in prayer (are you paying attention?). And when his disciples find him and tell him that “everybody” is looking for him, Jesus’ response surprises us. If he came to proclaim the Good News as he says, then we would expect him to be eager to return to the crowd. After all, if they are looking for him, we would expect them to be eager to hear his message. Instead, he tells the disciples that they need to go elsewhere. In other words, Jesus wants to avoid those looking for him.

What’s going on here?

While it is always a dangerous thing to claim to know the inner thoughts and motivations of someone else, fortunately the text (and context) give us some valuable clues. Apparently Jesus thought he had bigger fish to fry than healing folks of their various illnesses. He tells us that he came to preach the Good News. But isn’t getting healed of your illness good news? I bet if you ask anyone with a serious illness, they would tell you it is.

But Jesus evidently understood that physical and psychological healing, while a good and desirable thing, isn’t the end game because our bodies are mortal. Every one of the folks that Jesus healed and even raised from the dead eventually died (or died again). Death is the end game for our mortal bodies and none of us will escape it, unless the Second Coming occurs in our lifetime.

No, Jesus seems to be telling us to get our priorities straight. As Paul tells us in today’s excerpt from Ephesians, Jesus came to end our exile from God so that we could live with him and enjoy life as God intended forever. Our life span, long as it may seem at times, especially in bad times or times of suffering, are but a drop in the bucket in the comprehensive ocean of eternity and Jesus understood this clearly as the text indicates here.

Jesus seems to be saying to us, “Look. I know that you want to be healed and I want to heal you. But that can’t be the basis for a real relationship with me. No relationship can be based on what one party can do for the other. Besides, you are only looking at your immediate situation. You need to expand your horizons and look to see what constitutes real life!”

And we can readily appreciate this dynamic, can’t we? How often do we see folks kiss up to the rich and famous in hopes of riding on their popularity coattails or in hopes of getting something from them that they want. This happens in the political arena all the time. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it certainly does not constitute the basis for forming any real relationship. If you are a rich and/or famous and/or powerful individual, you will naturally be leery of people’s motives when they approach you. What do they really want? What about you attracts them? Is it you or your position? Would they want to be your friends if you weren’t famous or in a position of power to help them get what they want? Of course, only time will make clear people’s real intentions and motives, but the point remains valid nevertheless.

Jesus wants us to come to him because he can give us life, real life. He has no desire to form a relationship that is parasitic in nature. That just cannot work. But when we understand what he has really done for us on the cross, when we really wrap our minds around the dire straights we are in when left to our own devices, it changes everything. We start to see God’s great love for us in Christ and our hearts are both humbled and filled with thanksgiving. We understand instinctively that God loves us even when we were thoroughly unlovable and has acted decisively in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus to establish the conditions that make possible the end of our exile from him. What God demands of us is to recognize him as God, not ourselves, and that’s no small task for us because we are so profoundly broken.

Are you looking for Jesus? If you are not, it’s likely because you don’t believe he can do anything for you. If you are, is it because of what he can do for you right here and now? Or by God’s grace have you been let in on the joke and understand the ramifications of the human condition? How you respond will contribute significantly to the kind of relationship you will (or will not) enjoy with the God who loves you, the God who created you to love and enjoy him forever. That’s the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with you.

Give Jesus a real chance, if you have not done so already. Resist the temptation to look at him as some sort of cosmic Santa Claus and look at him instead as the Lord of life who is eager and willing to give you the precious gift of a life-giving relationship with him, the kind of relationship that will sustain you through thick and thin during your mortal life and bless you with unspeakable joy and fulfillment as you live in his direct Presence forever.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

–Ephesians 1.17-21 (NIV)

Hope is an essential attribute for living. Without it we would soon shrivel up and die. The question isn’t, “Should we hope?” but rather, “For what should we hope? What is the basis for real hope?” because like it or not, we all put our hope in something or someone.

Too often, however, we spend most of our time whistling through the graveyard in terms of what we tend to put our hope and trust in. We lose our job and we hope and pray for new work. We lose our mate and we hope and pray for new company. We lose our health and we hope and pray for its return or at least for a good prognosis. When the New Year rolls around we hope for a better one than the last. At least for people in the Western world, when we lose the things that matter most to us (or don’t have them in the first place), namely relationships and a sense of belonging, we tend to put our hope in things. We buy new toys or pursue riches, or power, or security, hoping desperately that in them we will find meaning and purpose.

But of course we know better. Yes, we need material things to sustain us (food, drink, shelter, etc., and the money needed to obtain them) but material things can never bring us real hope or satisfy our deepest desires to love and be loved by someone. Money, power, and security have never been able to raise anybody from the dead.

So why do we pursue so vigorously that which can never ultimately satisfy? There are lots of reasons but one reason that the Bible consistently identifies is our human pride. We don’t want anyone, God included, telling us what to do our how to live our lives. No, we want to play God, even though we can’t. But hey? Why spoil the fun with the truth?

But there is a better way to gain real hope and Paul points us to it in today’s passage. First, Paul reminds us that real hope, hope that will not disappoint in any circumstance, is not of our own making; rather, it is one of God’s gracious gifts to us. As he reminded us in a previous verse, we cannot possibly have real hope without it being given to us by God’s Holy Spirit living in us (cf. Ephesians 1.14; Romans 5.5)

Second, real hope, the kind that can and will sustain us through anything life can throw at us, has an objective basis for its existence. That basis is Jesus Christ. Real hope is given to us by God and has Jesus at its very center. It can and does sustain us because it is powered by God himself who raised Jesus from the dead and can bring things into existence out of nothing by his very word. Real hope is not something we wait for in the next world. If it is to have any value at all it must be available to us here and now because we live in a good but terribly broken world and we ourselves are profoundly broken.

Real hope reminds us that God is in charge, despite the times when it looks like he is not. How do we know this? Because the power of God raised Jesus from the dead and points us to the promise of New Creation. It reminds us that God has the power to redeem and heal.

Real hope helps us persevere through our many and myriad difficulties. It sustains us because it reminds us that not only do we have a God powerful enough to deliver us from our afflictions, we also have a God who loves us passionately and has moved decisively in human history to end our exile from him. In this life we will only experience that end to our exile in an imperfect way, but it is enough to remind us to keep our eyes on the prize because we know a better day is coming, an eternal day in which there will be nothing to test our hope. Real hope reminds us that life is about having a relationship with God, not mortal existence.

It is this kind of hope that sustained Paul. Listen to him talking about his work to the Corinthians.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many (2 Corinthians 1.8-11, NIV).

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything (2 Corinthians 6.3-10, NIV)

Notice carefully that Paul does not wring his hands and wonder why bad things happen to him. Instead, he focuses on the power given him by God to sustain him in his work. There is a joy in his letters that defies logic–if we see the good life as having lots of things and being trouble-free. But if we see life as having a real and deep relationship with God, Paul’s description above of his work and the difficulties he faced makes perfect sense.

Hope is one of the keys to living a happy and meaningful life, but the key is to put your hope on the right thing. Scripture makes it clear that God is able to sustain us in any and every situation. He is worthy of our hope because he is God and he always delivers on his promises.

Do you have real hope or are you whistling through the graveyard? If you are a whistler, ask Jesus to come into your life and show you a better way. You have the testimony of countless Christians that you will not be disappointed if you do.

How did Christ fulfill the righteousness of baptism? Without a doubt according to the demands of human nature: people need to be baptized, for according to carnal nature they are all sinners. [Jesus] fulfilled also the righteousness of being born and growing, of eating and drinking, of sleeping and relaxing. He also fulfilled the righteousness of experiencing temptation, fear, flight, and sadness, as well as suffering, death, and resurrection: that is, according to the requirement of the human nature he took upon himself, he fulfilled all these acts of righteousness.

—Anonymous, Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily 4

[At Jesus’ baptism] then we have the Trinity presented in a clear way: the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Holy Spirit in the dove. This ineffable Divinity, abiding ever in itself, making all things new, creating, creating anew, sending, recalling, judging, delivering, this Trinity, I say, we know to be at once indescribable and inseparable.

—Augustine, Sermon 2.1-2

Below I republish the sermon I delivered last year on the Feast of our Lord’s baptism. Sermon delivered the first Sunday after the Epiphany, January 10, 2010.

Lectionary texts: Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the Human Condition?

Today we celebrate the feast of our Lord’s baptism and I want to remind you this morning why it is important that we remember both our Lord’s baptism and our own. The biblical narrative is a narrative about a people in exile and what God is doing about it. From the time of the Fall to this very day we humans have suffered the consequences for our sins and the separation it causes. God created us to have a relationship with him and each other but time and again we refuse his gracious offer and the result is separation, alienation, and exile. Sometimes our sin causes us to be literally exiled as when God’s called out people suffered exile in Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Other times our sin has devastating consequences for us and our relationships. If we have lived long enough, we can empathize with the pain that David felt when confronted about his adulterous affair with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25) or relate to Peter as he wept bitterly after hearing the cock crow (Matthew 26:75). We can relate to these stories because they are our own, perhaps not in the specific details but certainly in the separation, brokenness, and exile they cause.

And to make matters worse, we often delude ourselves into thinking we can fix ourselves and our problems. I was talking to a person the other night and he told me how glad he was 2009 was over because it was a terrible year for him. I could relate to that. He then said how glad he was that 2010 was here because he could have a fresh start, as if the coming of a new year would solve all his problems and hurts. But that isn’t likely, is it? How often have we tried to start afresh at the beginning of the year only to have December 31st roll around to find us exhausted and worn down by defeat? No, if we are really honest with ourselves, we will admit that our attempts at self-help are generally futile and we remain mired in our sin and brokenness.

By now I am sure some of your are saying, “My, Fr. Kevin, what an uplifting sermon for the new year! You sure know how to lift our spirits on this cold morning!” Thank you. I try to please. Talking about our sin and our inability to fix ourselves is never pleasant. But until we acknowledge that this is our human condition, and that we are incapable of fixing it by ourselves, we are not ready to hear the wondrous Good News that is in today’s Scripture lessons.

Where is God’s Grace?

For you see, while the history of God’s called out people has been one of brokenness, rebellion, and exile, the Good News is that God has done and is doing something about it to bring our exile to an end. From the poignant story we read in Genesis 3 about God searching for his fallen creatures hiding from him in the Garden to his call to Abraham to his Presence with his sinful and rebellious people during their forty years of wandering in the desert to today’s beautiful passage in Isaiah, to our Gospel and Epistle lessons that point to the reality of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of his people, we are reminded that God loves us, warts and all, and promises to redeem us.

Imagine that you are a Jew living in forced exile in Babylon. The unthinkable has happened to you. Jerusalem and God’s Temple, the very place of his dwelling, are lying in ruins. God has apparently utterly forsaken and abandoned you. You are suffering exile because of your sins and the sins of your people. Or if that little scenario doesn’t work for you, get even more personal. Think of the sin you have committed that you dare not let anybody else know about, the very thing that convinces you that there is no hope for you, that God could not possibly love you because you have done what you have done. And now close your eyes and listen once again to these gracious words from Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord, he who created you, he who formed you: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). Don’t be afraid. I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine! Imagine the Creator of this vast universe saying this just to you. Awesome. Simply awesome. These words were not written to sinless saints but to people in exile, people just like you and me. This is the wondrous love of God and the reason we Christians have hope. God loves us passionately despite who we are and has promised to end our exile from him!

But our story does not end here because if it did, we really would not have much hope. No, the good news gets better, because we see God’s story of salvation continuing to unfold in today’s Gospel lesson. In it we see Jesus being anointed for his work as Savior of the world. We see him getting ready to fulfill his mission to save us from permanent exile and separation from God. Luke tells us that as Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit came on him in the form of a dove and that he heard a voice from heaven affirming who he was and in effect telling him to get to work.

As we listen to this story of Jesus’ baptism we remember our own. We remember Whose we are. We remember that our old sinful selves were buried with Christ by baptism. We remember that because we have been buried with him in baptism, we will also be raised with him so that we might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4-6). We remember that our baptism is a visible sign to us that God’s gracious promise of redemption is true, that he is working to end our exile and the separation our sin has caused. We remember that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever. Forever! And as Paul reminds us, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing. Not hardship or distress or peril, not even death. Not even that sin we just thought about and don’t want anybody to find out about, the one which we are sure God cannot or will not forgive. There is nothing conditional here, nothing so heinous in our past or present to exclude us from the promise. Our baptism reminds us that our salvation is not about us or who we are but rather all about God and his gracious love for us in Jesus Christ.

This is why we must stop and remember our baptism because it is an outward and visible sign of God’s great love for us. It reminds us that God wants us to have life as he intended for us to have. And this is why we stop and remember our Lord’s baptism because it reminds us of all that God has done for us by taking on our flesh and dying for us so that we could have life with him forever.

We also remember that in giving us his Holy Spirit God has been true to his promise to be with us as we walk through the waters and fire of life. Our baptism does not make us immune from all that can go wrong in this sinful and broken world. Rather, our baptism reminds us that we do not have to go through this life alone. We have the very power of God working in us, transforming us and helping us to overcome all our hurts and failures. We remember that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters whom he redeemed at a terrible price and with whom he promises to walk forever.

Where is the Application?

So how can we best honor our Lord’s baptism? As Christ received his vocation at his baptism, so we who are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and claimed by Christ forever receive ours. In the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ the problem of sin and the alienation it causes has been taken care of once and for all. When Christ comes again, our long exile will be ended forever. This is God’s free gift offered to each of us and ours for the taking if we accept it by faith.

In response, we should celebrate Christ’s great gift of life to us by living holy lives, lives that are full of grace, humility, patience, service, and love. We can live holy lives because we have God’s very Spirit living in us and giving us power to live as his holy and redeemed people. He reminds us that God has transcended even our worst sins and still loves us. That allows us to be patient with others and to love and serve them despite their warts because we know that they are just like us. We also live holy lives because we have been given a wondrous gift and want to share it with others. We want to be Christ’s light to others.

Living holy lives does not mean we live mistake-free lives or are immune to failure or frustration. Being transformed into Christ’s own image is often slow, painful, and sometimes convoluted. Nevertheless, we are being transformed into the fullness of Christ because God’s promises are true and we can trust that his Spirit lives in us and helps us in our weakness. As Augustine reminds us, we are not to give up while our healing is going on. We must remember how much Jesus loved us when there was little to love at all. And then Augustine asks us to imagine what Jesus will finally do for us when he finishes healing us through the power of his Holy Spirit, considering that he died for us when we were still warped and ugly.

Summary

In closing, I want to read an excerpt from one of the early Church Fathers, Gregory of Nazianzus, that beautifully summarizes why it is so appropriate for us to celebrate our Lord’s baptism by living holy lives.

Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him. Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his Godhead.

Let us do honor to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of human beings, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all humanity, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received—though not in its fullness—a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever.

Remember your baptism. Remember Whose you are. Remember what God has done for you and is doing for you. Remember that you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and are marked as Christ’s own forever. Remember that you can use his light and power so that he can use you to be his light to a broken and hurting world that so desperately needs to see it. That’s good news, folks, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sunday marks the celebration of our Lord’s baptism. I share this beautiful piece by Gregory of Nazianzus because it is beautiful and because it helps remind those of us who call ourselves, “Christian,” why Jesus’ baptism is significant to us.

Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him. John is baptizing when Jesus draws near. He who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water. The Baptizer protests. The greatest of all born of woman [John] [is] in the presence of the firstborn of all creation.

Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his Godhead.

Let us do honor to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of human beings, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all humanity, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received—though not in its fullness—a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever.

—Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 39

Are you standing beside Christ so that you can draw on his Power to be his radiant light? This doesn’t mean you have to be famous or do something spectacular. It means you have to do what God in Christ is calling you to do. How are you being Christ’s light shining in the world?