Tag: Jesus

Ash Wednesday: Trap, Truth & Transformation


Psalm 51:1-18
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
John 8:1-11

This print is going to be the focus of my reflection today. It was painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565 and now hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in London. It is entitled ‘Christ and the Women Taken in Adultery.’ This Gospel story has been painted by many others but none quite like Bruegel. The most striking feature is the different shades of grey. The greys represent the human response to sin; to point out the hypocrisy and the virtue of mercy that this Gospel story highlights so well.

The woman has literally been dragged from an adulterer’s bed and brought to the feet of Jesus. This is THE TRAP. The Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus using a woman’s public shame.

Her offence was punishable by death according to the law of Moses. The stakes are even higher for her. She is not looking at the crowd; but she is not looking directly down either. Her left ear is slightly cocked towards the crowd; maybe listening to what people are saying to her or about her.

We have all been trapped by sin. Maybe even publicly. Jesus came to free us from our shame by showing mercy. This is The Truth.

Jesus’s silence and response exposes the hypocrisy of the crowd, causing them to leave. The crowd, according to Bruegel, are showing the human reaction to being confronted with sin. The men closer to the front are much more exposed, a lighter grey than those at the back. Some are turning away, wanting to stay hidden, unexposed. The truth hurts much of the time!

The two men on the right are very exposed but notice their hands. One has his hands hidden under his cloak and the other’s hands are darker than the rest of his body. Their faces and mouths might say one thing yet their hands are telling another story. What is true? Our mouths and our hands need to match.

Every person in this picture except for Jesus is a sinner. Fortunately, this is not the end of the story for any of us. At the centre of this picture and in the most amount of light is Jesus. He is kneeling and writing in Dutch. Jesus is the best lit and most exposed person in this picture.

In this story Jesus is not who does the exposing but the scribes and Pharisees. He cares for this woman, protects her from death and puts her on a new path. The Truth is that we are loved and forgiven.

Finally, The Transformation (vv. 10-11): The shift from condemnation to grace (“Neither do I condemn thee”) and the command for a new life (“Go and sin no more”).

Many people fear being ‘found out’ whether for having done something wrong or by not being the person they present to the world. Some people have a view of God as being out to get them or expose them for their sins. God is the angry Father just waiting for a mistake to be made. Jesus does not condemn her as the crowd did. She does not get off the hook either as she is told to ‘Go and sin no more.’ She had some work to do.

Tom Wright says this about her forgiveness: “If she has been forgiven, if she’s been rescued from imminent death she must live by that forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the same as tolerance. Being forgiven doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t matter. On the contrary: forgiveness means that sin does matter but that God is choosing to set it aside.”

The same is true for us, if we have been forgiven then we must live by that forgiveness. We can all have this and do it. A clean heart and a new and right spirit. But we have to do some work first. Ash Wednesday is a time to reflect and pursue forgiveness of our sins. As Christians, the bigger issue is that we let things interfere in our relationship with Christ. It might seem small or insignificant but if we do not tend to these things or issues they can blow up at an exponential rate.

Ash Wednesday offers the chance to sit down in the ashes in some form of repentance to address our sin and brokenness. Sit down before you fall down. As we have seen from both the Gospel and the Psalms sin gets exposed. Sometimes rather publicly.

To come to a place of repentance is no small feat and is not for the faint of heart. It takes real courage to review ourselves and our actions, to acknowledge where and when we have been wrong, and been sinful. Repentance literally means to turn in the other direction and commit to change. It is only through Christ and being in Christ that death and sin are defeated.

Use this season of Lent to trade them in for the generous mercy and steadfast love that God has for you.

Sunday before Lent: Eyes & Ears

The Transfiguration by Feofan Grek

15/2/26

Exodus 24:12-18
Matthew 17:1-9

We are entering the last week of the Epiphany season as this coming Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Over the past few weeks we have talked about Epiphany. As a reminder, an epiphany is a moment of awakening or coming to new knowledge. Sometimes they are dramatic affairs and other times they are quiet and we simply know that something has changed.

Matthew 17 describes one of the greatest epiphanies ever; the Transfiguration of Jesus before Peter, James, and John. It is complete with blinding light, clouds, a heavenly voice, and appearances by Old Testament prophets Moses and Elijah.
The event was so mind-boggling that many people dismissed it as a cleverly invented tale. This tale appears in Mark & Luke as well as Matthew so we know it is an important event.

Close your eyes just for a moment.

I would like you to consider: what does Jesus look like to you?

What colour is his hair, his eyes, teeth – crooked or straight? Ears – big or small? Tall or short? Hands – rough or smooth?

Create a picture of what you think He looks like.

Matthew’s Gospel presents a very human Jesus. He was born, he had parents who travelled with him to Egypt; Jesus had a childhood. He eats, drinks, sleeps, goes to a wedding, goes sailing, meets up with friends. He travels, he cries, he gets angry, he wants to be alone. All very normal and human activities.

Jesus also heals people, exercises demons, calls people to follow him and does supernatural things. As he teaches and preaches, the crowds are growing and the Pharisees are starting to close ranks. Then we have the Transfiguration. If there were hints that Jesus was something more than strictly human, here we have it.

The Transfiguration is the luminous story of a mystical encounter, not only between God and God’s Beloved but also between those at the centre of the story and those who watch. Those at the centre are Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Those who watch are Peter, James and John. And then, of course, there are all of us watching all of them.

I want to focus on the watching, the listening and the closeness to God that happens in this story.

Peter, James and John are invited to accompany Jesus up the mountain where he physically changes his appearance before them. The description is that of a heavenly being, dressed in white. We see a similar description of Jesus, the Son of Man, in Revelation.

These three probably had a better understanding of who Jesus was, beyond being only human, than any of the others. Right before the Transfiguration occurs, Jesus asks Peter ‘who do you say I am?’ and Peter replies ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’. Jesus blesses Peter for this answer.

Once this acknowledgment takes place, Jesus begins to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, to suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests and the elders, and on the third day rise again.

While this admission made no complete sense to Peter, James and John, they have already decided who Jesus is. He is the Messiah. They had stayed close to Jesus throughout his ministry being the first disciples called. They stayed with Jesus through to the end; even Peter who denied three times never really leaves Jesus.

If we want to see who Jesus is, if we want to listen to Him – we need to stay close to him.

Go back for another moment to your mental picture of Jesus. How far away is he from you? Three inches, three feet, across the room, a speck in the distance?

Where we place Jesus in our thinking and in our lives says something about how close we are to him. If we want to see his face then we need to stay close. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your ears on Jesus too.

For the second time, the disciples hear a voice from the cloud saying ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased. They first heard this at Jesus’ baptism; but this time there is an addendum, ‘listen to him’.

If we want to hear Him; then we need to stay close to Him. Jesus does speak but we are not always ready to listen to his voice. People sometimes tell me that they don’t think they have ever heard from God or had any encounter with him.

I am always curious to know how people position themselves to hear from God. Closeness to God is a thread that runs through both the Old & New Testaments.

There is an intimacy to a relationship with God; we see this as he takes aside certain people – Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John for particular purposes. Sometimes we have to be taken out of our circumstances and situations to meet with God.

The Exodus story has Moses taken up to spend an extended amount of time in God’s presence: forty days and forty nights. Moses is given instructions for the building of the ark of the Covenant and laws and commandments for the people of Israel whom he was called to lead.

Moses reappears in the Transfiguration story as representing the Old Testament law that is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament God is hidden because he is too glorious to be seen by his people. They could not survive in all that glory.

I saw someone at the airport this past week after a few months. I knew she had left her job and was not well that last time I saw her. On Thursday I could not believe that change in her – she looked fantastic, different. Her opening line to me was ‘Sue, I found God again’ and she shared the most amazing story about her return to church after many years. She was recently baptised, is attending an Alpha Course and knows that she is in the process of being healed. She has been transformed, transfigured by meeting the risen Jesus.

It is through Jesus that we can stand in the glory of God, that we can be transformed. The God that is hidden in the Old Testament is revealed and exposed in the person of Jesus in the New.

It is in the Transfiguration that we are reminded of greatness and otherness of Jesus and of God which is helpful as we head into Lent. We need reminding that Jesus is more than our thoughts or images of Him.

I think that many Christians try to reduce him down, make him fit into our lives, constrain him to our view of the world. We easily dismiss Him when he doesn’t do or act how we want him to.

On Transfiguration Sunday we come to the end of another liturgical season. We have spent time with the people who experienced Epiphany (the wise men, Mary & Joseph, Simeon & Anna). We now prepare for the long darkness of Lent. We do not yet know what mountains and valleys lie ahead. We cannot predict how God will speak, and in what guise Jesus might appear.

We can trust in this: whether on the brightest mountain, or in the darkest valley, Jesus is with us. Even as he blazes with holy light, his hand remains warm and solid on our shoulders. Even when we’re on our knees in the wilderness, he whispers, “Do not be afraid.”
So listen to the ordinary. Scan the horizon. Keep listening. Keep looking. It is good for us to be here.

2nd before Lent: Worry?! What me?

8/2/26

2nd Sunday Before Lent 

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Matthew 6:25-34

Sometimes when I walk through the churchyard I think about all of the deceased who are resting in peace around us. I wonder about their worries and how they have now all come to an end. Nothing like a little chastening from the great beyond to give perspective to the current worries! 

A considerable worry is the way that people are being treated across the world. Today is ‘Racial Justice Sunday’ which marks the 32nd anniversary of the racially-motivated murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south-east London. This is to be a time for all churches to remember, reflect and respond to the importance of racial justice, and an opportunity to give thanks for the gift of human diversity and commit to ending racial discrimination. I am worried I haven’t done anything about this and have not paid very much attention to this real and pressing need in our society.    

We live in a worried world and we always have; probably much more worried now than we have ever known. What can we do to combat our worldly worries? Hopefully this morning there are a few useful suggestions. 

How many of you worry about things that don’t ever happen? I think a lot of people tend to worry about things that won’t ever happen. Could not possibly happen – but it might. So worry about it! Let’s throw that on the pile too! 

The Old Testament reading for today is Genesis chapter 1 & 2 which tells the story of creation. I deliberately chose Genesis to help us take a grander view of the world. Whatever we make of the Genesis account of creation, we are given a view of God that is huge. 

God the creator of everything who made something out of nothing, brought order to chaos, called things into being and they were. God saw that everything he did was good. The big things like the wind and water, light and darkness, sea and sky right down to seeds to birds to the things that creep along the ground. God took his time to do all these things.

Seven times in the creation story we are told we come from a God who sees. God steps back from his work and he looks, he notices each tiny piece. We also come from a God who creates new things. On each of the six days in creation, God made something new. 

He still does today! We wake up every day and there are new things in the world. The snowdrops and daffodils, the tiny buds on the trees. Nothing goes unnoticed. God’s mercies are new every morning. God is also big enough to take on our worries, our cares. Cast your cares on him.

As Christians we need to continually learn and re-learn to trust in the providence of God. Jesus uses the birds of the air and the lilies of the field as an example. Birds and lilies cannot provide for themselves. Birds neither sow nor reap. Lilies cannot toil nor spin but are beautifully made. We are of more value to God than these.

Matthew 6 will hopefully soothe our worried souls. This is part of the wider Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is addressing a crowd of people for whom worry was evidently a part of life too. Jesus is speaking to the practical needs of food, drink, clothing and housing. Very real issues to an impoverished crowd. Very real issues to many people today.

Jesus is trying to give his listeners some perspective on their worries by giving them a bigger picture of life. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? We are of value to God; more than the birds are and he looks after them.

If we can believe in our great value to God, it frees us from much worry. I’m not sure many things compare to the challenge of ceasing to worry. Maybe one reason why it is hard to stop worrying is because we have so many prime opportunities to practise. Yet we will never overcome worry by eliminating reasons to worry. It does free up time and space to get on with living.

One of my Grandmothers was of Mennonite German descent and she had a saying that loosely and more politely translated from low-German to English was: ‘don’t wee before the water comes.’ What she meant is that we are not to get anxious before there is something to get anxious about.

Jesus would tell us that when these situations arise, and they will, we are to go to him. Jesus sums up the futility of worry in verses 25 & 26; we cannot add a minute to our life by worrying. The paradox is that there will always be something to worry about.  

Simply put, worry is not particularly helpful. Even when we seem to worry about ‘important things’; even when we worry in the name of love it will accomplish nothing. 

Well then, what are we supposed to do?! It seems that we need to change our perspective by seeking the kingdom of God. How do you do that? A starting point may be to learn to turn our worry effort into prayer. Have a conversation with God; that is what prayer effectively is. He already knows what we need. Prayer is the way to access those needs, to build a relationship with the one who created us. 

Is it possible to reframe our worries into hopeful waiting by seeking the kingdom of God? I hope so! There are endless things to worry about, no question. Worrying will not eliminate the things we worry about. It will not add any hours to our lives. Seeking God and his kingdom, remembering we are part of something bigger that also waits to be free gives hope. This will add eternity to our lives and that is well worth waiting for. 

I am going to end with a poem by American poet Mary Oliver… 

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And I gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.

Epiphany 2: Who are you really?

Vaccaro, Andrea; The Infant Christ with the Infant Saint John the Baptist; The Bowes Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-infant-christ-with-the-infant-saint-john-the-baptist-45149

2nd Sunday of Epiphany
18/1/26

Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42

In the Epiphany season we are encouraged to look, see and find afresh. The wise men saw a star, followed it and found Jesus, King Herod saw a threat and tried to eliminate it.

In John’s Gospel this morning, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him – two days in a row! John called those around to look and see the Lamb of God. The Christian life is a continual cycle of looking, seeing and finding. It is part of what we are called to do.

It is rather fitting that the first recorded question Jesus asks his disciples is ‘what are you looking for?’ I think it is still a relevant question for us today too. In terms of your faith, what are you looking for? In those deep places within, what are the desires and drives of your faith?

As we move into a new year what are you hoping for, expecting, asking for, looking for in your Christian life? Anything? Nothing? Same Same? Something? Do you know? It is worth giving some time this week to ponder the question as though Jesus was sitting in front of you and asking ‘what are you looking for out of your faith?’

It is not an easy question. Fear not if it has thrown you already! The disciples gave a rather lame answer to Jesus. The best they could come up with was ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ As though Jesus was asking them if they had lost their keys or a jumper. Jesus’ question is much deeper than that. The disciples had just heard John the Baptist’s exclamation of ‘here is the Lamb of God!’ and had started to follow Jesus; at least physically follow Jesus if not yet spiritually.

‘Who are you really?’ is more likely the question the first disciples was trying to ask. The disciples, as followers of Judaism, would have been waiting for the Messiah.

The reading from Isaiah this morning is among the oldest and best known parts of the Old Testament. There are 4 passages in Isaiah known as the Servant Songs. These Songs introduce and share the profound idea of salvation through suffering. This was not how people thought about suffering or salvation at that time. If you suffered you had done something wrong; think the Book of Job.

The identity of the servant is revealed gradually from song to song but it is still concealed. In Isaiah 49, the servant speaks for the first time in his own voice and in a very individual way. He has been chosen by God to carry on the mission of Israel where Israel had failed.

The mission was to restore the people of God (the Jews). God is going to give the servant as a light to the nations, that salvation may reach to the end of the earth. This means to everyone – not only the Jews.

If the disciples recalled any of these passages, it would have been an overwhelming experience and would most certainly require something of them. Jesus’ answer also required something of the disciples as it was an invitation to ‘come and see’.

So they went and saw where Jesus was staying and spent the whole day with him. What a day that would have been! The disciples obviously saw something that day that changed them forever. If the answer to ‘what are you looking for?’ ends up being ‘come and see’, will you be willing to go and see?

What about this year?

How about you as a person? Are you looking for more life? Time? Money? Health? Belonging? Certainty? Affirmation? Consolation?

Jesus’ invitation to come and see is an invitation to leave our comfortable places, an invitation to challenge what we think we know and change our perspectives. Come and see is an approach to life that is expansive, dynamic and exposes us to new experiences and ideas. When Jesus offers this invitation it is to be fully seen and fully loved by the one who created us.

Like all invitations that come to us, we have the option to turn it down. To stay where we are and not see anything new. We have a choice of what we look for, what we prioritise.

When Jesus looks at us, He sees our deepest desires, hungers, curiosities, needs and wants. He saw it in those first disciples and called out to them. Jesus is still calling us now. As followers of Jesus we are to take the braver path, the follow where He is leading us.


Baptism of Christ

11/1/2026
Isaiah 42:1-9
Matthew 3:13-end

Happy New Year! Christmas is officially over. It is not just because Easter Creme Eggs have appeared in the shops! I find the transition from Christmas to Epiphany a bit jarring. One minute, we’re gazing at a swaddled baby. Next, we’re whizzing past a toddler, an array of gift-bearing Magi, a young family fleeing to Egypt, a twelve-year-old boy in a temple, and a mother, pondering all these things in her heart. And today we are standing on the banks of the Jordan River, waiting in line with Jesus watching John the Baptist baptise people who believed his message.

Epiphany starts with the visitation of the Wise Men to Joseph, Mary and Jesus. The significance is that this visit sent the clear message that Jesus came for everyone – not only the Jewish people. The revelation, this epiphany, was a life changing event for them and for us.

Over the next few weeks we will look at the epiphany moments of significant Biblical characters. Today we look at Jesus’ baptism.

Three of the four Gospels recounts the baptism of Jesus with varying degrees of detail. Matthew 3 begins with John calling for repentance with urgency and harshness; accusing the religious elite of being a brood of vipers and hypocrites before Jesus appears.

Mark has a shortened version of Matthew.

Luke has an even shorter version with no mention of John doing his baptism.

John’s gospel alludes to Jesus’ baptism but rather strongly alludes to it.

Up to this point, John has been calling people to prepare themselves to meet the Messiah when he comes. This involved confession and repentance of sin through the water of baptism. This was also a temporary measure and John knows it. When Jesus arrived at the river that day, the baton was passed.

Jesus was not being baptised for repentance or salvation; he was being baptised into ministry. See the picture for a moment – the crowd of people having confessed their sins and then standing in the river to be baptised. Then Jesus comes along after they’ve made their confession.

Jesus and John standing in the Jordan. Jesus is baptised; he was drenched in the same waters where they had confessed their sins. This is all about symbolism but do you see Jesus almost wearing the sins they had confessed in those waters?

In the waters of baptism our sin is washed away through the work of the Holy Spirit – this is the baptism that Jesus offers us. The crowd who were listening to John that day were full of expectation. They had heard John preaching about a baptism of repentance, probably not easy to listen to. John had previously referred to his listeners as a brood of vipers!

He was not preaching a message of fluff and ‘just be a good person’, or ‘as long as you don’t hurt anyone else’. John was preparing them not for salvation but for repentance, he was preparing them to encounter Jesus, the only one who could bring them salvation.

Sin is significant. It has a significant impact on your life and those around you.

Beth Moore: I believe they (the people being baptised that day) were quite specific confessing their sins. In all likelihood they were crying out these confessions, maybe even wailing them. They may have been weeping over their sins. Then came Christ. We know He was not coming to be baptised unto repentance. He was the spotless Lamb of God. Complete perfection. The only One who had no confession to do that day in those waters. He came for John to baptise Him.

There is power in the water of baptism. Do we live like there is? What an amazing privilege it is to be baptised. We never have to feel insignificant again. We are called by name into the deep waters of baptism where He is always with us. He took on our sin and paid the price for us.

After Jesus was baptised, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. The voice of God ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ This little glimpse of heaven! Jesus was about to be taken into the wilderness for his 40 days of temptation. I would like to believe that the sound of that voice stayed with him.

The voice that called down from heaven is the same voice that calls our name. He is with us when we pass through the waters and the rivers and in the deep waters of baptism, we are significant; and we should be expectant.

Happy New Year!