The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Matthew.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom ofGod.” (Matthew 5:13-20)

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I was in a town in Belgium called Diest, on a number of occasions  as I stopped, with my friends, on the way to Dunkirk to board the ferry across the Channel, to come home, and one thing that I remember is that the streets in that town were very dark, with street lamps very rare.

The brightest lights came from signs in the windows of the bars.

I remember a comedian once describing Belgium as a country illuminated with one forty watt bulb.

I knew what he meant!

The thing was that you were drawn to the lighted windows of the bars, out of the dark, and into the light inside.

I have known Christians – people who professed to be Christians who had no light in them.

Had no enjoyment in them.

Dark, like those Belgian streets.

And I don’t mean people who were undergoing trials, sickness, or other hardship, I mean people whose lives seemed to me to be normal, but they had no warmth, no light, no joy, in them.

And that doesn’t only apply to everyday people: Oliver Wendell Holmes, once said, ” I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.”

And I must say that the preachers I heard as a child didn’t seem to have much humour in them. They had the right words, the projection of their voices, the correct intonation,  but not a smile, or a sense of the joy of being close to Jesus.

And their sermons were designed to make you feel guilty, and uncomfortable.

We should be like a beacon, like a lighted window on a dark street, welcoming and professing the joy we find in knowing Jesus.

Like someone once said, if you are not enjoying, it you aren’t doing it right.

If you are not a happy Christian, you may not be practicing your faith right.

But the point is that we don’t shine because of some native luminosity within us,  but that we reflect the light of Christ in us.  

And what we do, and what we are, should point people toward our Father who is in Heaven.

I have met, and so have you, people who have real hardship in their lives, or have suffered great loss, and yet you wouldn’t know it from their demeanor.

They have a love and a light about them that uplifts you just to be near them.

It isn’t that they have a magic formula.

 It isn’t that they are on medication.

It isn’t that they have mastered some trick that helps them see beyond.

It is because they have Christ in their lives, and that light shines through the hard stuff. 

What may help them, is realizing that  Christ  walks with  us. That we are not alone on our journey.

.And we just can’t help sharing the light. .

We all know people like that.

And you are drawn to them. Because love shines out of them.

You know what I mean?

And it isn’t about obeying the law. Or about being so good. Or being a stickler for what’s the right thing to do.

And that brings me to something Jesus says today, that seems contradictory.  Seems to go against what Jesus, and Paul have both,  taught.

In Romans 10: 4, Paul tells us that “Christ is the end of the law.”

It has been a great part of Paul’s ministry that once we belong to Christ we don’t need the law.

We have the law written on our hearts, if you like, and we just act right. 

Can’t help it.

Jesus said the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

The law was made for people, not people for the law.

But Jesus is saying here today in Matthew’s Gospel,  that whoever breaks the least of these commandments or teaches others to do so, will be called the least in the kingdom of God, whereas those who obey them, ( the commandments that is ) and  teaches others to obey them, will be called great in the kingdom of God.

And yet Jesus, himself,  broke the law, didn’t he?  He healed the sick on the Sabbath, for example, annoying the Pharisees.

So what do we make of this?

This seeming contradiction?

Some people have been so puzzled by this that they think  Matthew has Jesus extolling the law to make his Gospel more appealing to the Jews, since Matthew’s gospel is the most Jewish of the Gospels.

William Barclay sees things differently.

He tells us that the Jews thought of the law in four different ways.

First, ‘the law’ means the Ten commandments.

Secondly, the term ‘the law’ also means the first five books of the Bible.

Thirdly, they used the phrase ‘The Law and the Prophets’ for the whole of Scripture

Finally, the Oral or Scribal Law.

This last was the most common meaning of the Law, during Jesus’ time and this is the form of the law which Jesus and Paul condemned.

In the Old Testament, there aren’t that many rules and regulations, mostly there are broad principles which we can think about and use in life.

The Ten Commandments for example, have these great principles, which are there to guide us..

But to later Jews these principles did not seem enough. And since the commandments came from God, you could use them to come up with a rule and regulation for every issue that you might face in life.

For example, the Sabbath must be kept holy. Quite simply you should not work on the Sabbath.

But what was work?

How was work defined?

The carrying of a burden is work, according to the Scribal law . 

But what constitutes a burden?

Food that weighs as much as a dried fig, milk enough for one swallow, honey enough to put on a wound, ink enough to write two letters of the alphabet, and so on.

Burdens!.

You get the picture.

The Pharisees were among those who had worked out these rules, and lived their lives trying to adhere to them.

Scribal law had been oral law for  centuries, but eventually  a summary of the law  was made, and written down, and is known as the Mishnah,  which contains sixty three tractates on the various subjects of the law,  and which in English comes to eight hundred pages.

Later, commentaries were written to explain the Mishnah, which became known as the Talmud.

The Jerusalem Talmud comprises twelve printed volumes, the Babylonian Talmud comprises sixty printed volumes.

So there were thousands of legalistic rules and regulations to be heeded.

This was the kind of law Jesus and Paul both condemned.

Reverence for God and a respect for others, is to come out of love of God, and not from love of the law.

You can see that trying to live a life that is entirely blameless, would be impossible. In fact it was said that if one person could live through a day without breaking the law at all, then the world would end.

You can live your life by trying to satisfy “The law of God ”  and as we have seen, that law can be expanded exponentially, or, we can show our gratitude for the love of God.

That is the message Jesus brought.

And to those who asked him which law was the greatest, he answered, ” Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

“And Love your neighbour as yourself.”

That’s it.

Two laws.

Period.

An everyday real life example of what Jesus was preaching,  that love is more important than the law – and that Christ should shine out of us in such a way that people know we are Christians, happened like this:

A lady at a church I attended liked to organize events. In fact it was a skill she had, and had taken upon herself. And she was good at it.

At one event she had asked for volunteers to help and a young woman new to the church, was one of the volunteers.

The event was an outside barbecue, and when it was over the chairs and tables had to be brought back into the church.

The new young lady volunteer brought a chair in and not knowing where they went, stood it against the wall and turned round to bring more.

The organizer saw where the young woman had placed the chair, and said,” Not there stupid!”

It was so important to the organizer that the chairs  be in the right place – you might say according to the “law” – her law – that love and understanding went out the window,

That young woman attended for a little while longer, then left the church.

Now you might say that she shouldn’t have been so easily offended.

Or you might say that if that was the kind of Christian that church was producing, she didn’t want to belong to it.

In everything we do, and say, without knowing it, we show the world what kind of Christian we are.

The light of Christ within us, should shine on the person who is ahead of us in the check-out line, with a lot of stuff, buying lottery tickets, cashing in coupons and who then takes up more time by searching in her purse for every little bit of change she can find. 

The light of Christ within us should shine on the person who takes the last parking spot, the one we thought was ours.

The light of Christ within us should shine – even down the phone line –  to the person who is calling for the umpteenth time to ask if we want our heating ducts cleaned.  I must admit I have a hard time with that one myself.

Our light needs to shine on the person whose dog poops on our lawn.

Our Light……you get the picture……

………….and it’s not always easy.

But it is possible..

I was talking to a young woman once who was being given a rough time by her ex-husband, recently divorced. 

She told me she was still terribly angry at him, and that anger burned inside of her and  kept her awake at nights.

What should she do?

I said, “Pray for him.”

No way was she going to do that!

I pointed out that anger is physically and mentally damaging, and the only way I knew to rid oneself of such anger is to pray for the perpetrator.

Pray that God will move in his heart, will make him aware of his cruel actions.

Pray that God will guide him into a better way of acting, pray for his soul.

That, would be showing love for an enemy – wishing God’s love and guidance for them.

It may hard to understand, but when you have a light reflecting  God’s love for you, it can’t selective. 

Because when you think about it, a light that is placed on a hill can be seen by everyone.

Good or bad.

Amen

                             Not every Sunday has to have a Hellfire sermon so here is one from the past,  to show the light side of being a Christian.

Intro by the minister: Here we are in Holy Humor Sunday, and we have been treated to a fine show again by our young people and their teachers, for which you and I sincerely thank them.

It is so good to have young people here in the church.

And old people too of course.

So thinking of what I might say, I pondered what I have seen and heard over the years, and much humour can be found in churches, and clergy, some intentional and some accidental.

I knew a clergyman in this diocese who told me he didn’t like to wear his clerical collar when he wasn’t on duty, because he said he had been accosted too many times by people who wanted to argue with him.

I can see that but there are occasions when you might think it would be advantageous to wear a clerical collar.

When I served two churches, I sometimes had to drive fast to get from one to the other.

And I was stopped once, between churches  in a radar trap. The policeman looked at me, and  seeing  my collar, asked,’ Are you a priest?”  I said, “Yes”, thinking that he would let me go without a ticket, and he said, ” Then you should know better.”

I heard about a Roman Catholic priest, wearing clerical garb, riding on the subway, when a man, disheveled, smeared lipstick on his face, smelling of beer, came and sat beside him

The man took out a newspaper and began to read it, belching every so often, to the priest’s disgust.

The  man put his paper aside for a moment and turning to the priest, asked him,  with his beery breath, ” Father, do you know what causes arthritis?”

The priest looked at the man, and said, ” Yes, I do know. It’s caused by loose living, with cheap wicked women, too much alcohol, and too little regard for your fellow man! “

” Well I’ll be damned, ” said the man, and went back to his paper.

The priest thinking what he had said, and thinking he may have been a bit too hard on the man, nudged him, and apologised, and said, ” I’m very sorry I didn’t mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?”

The man said, “I don’t have it father. I was just reading the pope does.”

So as you can see, you may not want to wear a collar and draw attention to yourself, in some situations.

But there are other things that happen in the life of a priest, that can be disconcerting.

You have to be there for everyone, if you can, in rain or shine, at a bedside, or a graveside, or in a hospital emergency department..

I heard about a young minister, who was new to the area, and was called out to do a graveside service for an indigent man, in a cemetery some way out in the country.

He set out in good time, but took a couple of wrong turns on the way and was about an hour late when he finally got there.

The deceased had  been a homeless man, with no relatives, and really no mourners had been expected, and there was no-one there when the minister arrived.

The hearse was gone, and he saw the grave, still open, with a backhoe next to the open hole, and two workers sitting some way off having lunch.

He went to the open grave and saw that the vault lid had already been put in place.

Feeling bad for the deceased, and guilty that he was so late, he decided to  give it his best, even with no-one else there.

So feeling it appropriate under the circumstances, he gave an impassioned sermon, and eulogy combined,  and  after a final blessing turned to leave.

As he passed the two men sitting there with their lunches, he heard one man say to the other, ”  Well, I have been putting in septic tanks for twenty years and I have never seen anything like that.” 

Now you might not have any sympathy for a clergy in such a situation, but there are dangers lurking everywhere, even in the most innocuous circumstances.

A minister was visiting an elderly member of his flock, sitting on the couch, when he noticed  a large bowl of peanuts on the table.

” Oh,” he said, pointing at the bowl, ” Do you mind if I have some?”

“Of course, ” she said, ” Help yourself.”

They chatted for an hour, and as he stood up to leave, realised he had eaten all the peanuts, so he said, ” I am so sorry, I have eaten all the peanuts and I only intended to have a few. “

“That’s alright, ” she said, ” Ever since I lost my teeth, all I can do is suck the chocolate off them.”

But, back home, where we belong, in the church on Sunday morning, a priest is challenged  to deliver a sermon, that is not too long, and not too short, has some serious stuff and a little  humour, has quotes from the bible  but not so much as to appear showing off, and you  realise you are putting yourself out there each week, and so, we do like some feedback, even if it isn’t all complimentary.

A new minister in a church preached her first sermon and was standing at the door, greeting people as they left.

Most people were very gracious and told her they enjoyed the sermon, but there was one man in line, who said, ” That was very dull and boring sermon, pastor.”

Then the same man came up in the line again, somehow, and said, ” You obviously didn’t do much preparation for the sermon this morning.”

Then a third time, there he was again, and this time, shaking hands with the minister  said, ” You really blew it this time pastor. Had nothing to say at all.”

This was a  bit too much, so the minister went over to a deacon standing by and asked him about the man.

The deacon, said, ” Oh don’t let that guy bother you. He’s a little slow. All he does is go around repeating whatever he hears other people  saying.”

Finally I am aware that some ministers won’t do a wedding if the couple don’t attend the church, and some won’t baptize a child if the parents don’t attend the church, but sometimes, even those among us who are more accepting, get asked for some sort of  service that we feel is a little over the top.

For instance, a man by the name of Muldoon, lived in the country, just him and his pet dog, which he had had since it was a puppy,  which he loved so much.

The day came when the little dog passed away and Muldoon was heartbroken.

He went to the nearest church, and asked the priest , “Father would you please do a funeral  service for my little dog?

“No way, ” said the priest, ” We can’t do services for animals in the church. But there are some Baptists down the road. Who knows what they believe. Maybe they will do it for you.”

” I’ll go right away, Father,” said Muldoon, “. Do  you think five thousand dollars is enough to donate to them for the service?” 

Father Patrick exclaimed, “Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus! Why did you not tell me the dog was a Catholic?”

So there you have it. And I am sure there are some among you who have more stories, that you wish to share.                            ——————————————————-

This is still Epiphany, you know, where we earlier heard the story of the Three Wise men. But there was another slightly different Wise Men Story, in a movie called, The Life of Brian? 

I seem to remember it began with the Wise Men arriving at the stable.  They enter and are greeted by a very rude, coarse, woman.  She tells the visitors that the baby is named Brian, and she takes the gifts, but is not pleased with all of them.

As they leave, she bellows, ‘Next time, don’t bother with the Myrrh”

As they step into the street, they see another stable, just down the road.

There is a heavenly light around that stable, and there are shepherds looking in at the child. 

They recognize the child they have come to see, go back inside, retrieve the gifts, and head for the real Messiah.

I guess the point of the story is that kings will bow down before Jesus, echoing the prophecy of Isaiah, and Matthew also wants us to know that Jesus came for us Gentiles – the three Wise Men are Gentiles, of course –

And their homage also echoes Isaiah’s words, ‘Nations and kings will come to  the light of your dawning day.”

And the homage paid by the Magi validates the kingship of Jesus the babe.

Queen Eizabeth has passed, but  latterly we had seen her as a queen but also a grandmother, , and showing her age after all the stresses that she had to endure, but I remember seeing her on television, a slightly built, beautiful young woman, and the Archbishop of Canterbury placing the crown on her head.

That was at the coronation, the crowning, but she was already queen.

Didn’t they used to shout, when a monarch died,” The king is dead; long live the king.”? Or in Elizabeth’s  case, ‘Long live the Queen.’

The heir automatically becomes the monarch  when the monarch dies.

The wise men weren’t needed to say who Jesus was,  although Matthew

uses the story for that reason: he already was king.

They merely recognised him.

But  the story of Jesus’ life is about not being recognised isn’t it?    

The disciples couldn’t see the kingship of Jesus, even though they lived with him daily for three years. 

Some people saw him as a troublemaker; others as a potential military  leader; others again, saw Him as a teacher, a holy man, a prophet. 

Perhaps just a couple of the religious leaders  secretly recognised him for who he was.  They knew but condemned him nevertheless. That is the

unforgivable sin, isn’t it?

We can be forgiven for not knowing  – for being blind –  but it is  a certain unforgivable kind of evil, which recognizes and still tries to destroy pure love.

Mostly I think we go through life, like Mr. Magoo, bumping into Jesus without knowing it.

There is the story of the young woman who had the reputation of always depending on the wrong man, and who had never given a thought  to God, and once more deserted, and penniless, and not knowing which way to turn, found herself in a small village church.

Where she found God.

She didn’t know how she got there. She only knew the peace and strength that came when once she recognised Jesus. 

He had always been there, but that day she saw Him for the first time.

And after that, once she had learned to recognize him, she found Christ everywhere. 

There is a story of a strong, abrasive man (argue too strongly with him and he would knock you down) who ridiculed as  ‘Cissies ‘ those men who went to church.

He went through his life meeting every challenge head on and fists up  He thought he could handle anything and anyone. He had no need of God. 

But at death’s door, when he was staring into the abyss, he cried out like a child, ” I’m frightened! Jesus save me! ” 

Jesus had always been there. He just hadn’t seen him. Didn’t need to?

Someone  prayed with him and Jesus took him by the hand and led him home, and he found peace at last. 

There are those who just don’t know about Jesus, and there are those who deny his very existence.

I officiated at  a funeral once for a man who had been stricken with a terrible disease, He had cried out, “I don’t believe in God. Look what he has done to me.” and died proclaiming there was no God.

But if he had been able to look, he would have seen Christ in those who had cared for him; in those who had been present with him through his last few weeks of life and in those who promised to care for his orphaned children.

Maybe God didn’t give him what he wanted when he wanted it, but God was there, doing what God does, working through His people.   

Sometimes we can’t see Him for looking. 

Like the farmer’s son who was sent out to find kindling. He came back empty-handed. “There is no wood, father,” he said.  His father took him outside and pointed at the forest almost on their door-step.

Sometimes the trees get in the way of the wood, don’t they?  

We can find Jesus in the Eucharist. We can find Jesus in our prayers. We can find Jesus in the Holy Gospels. 

Yes.

But look around. At each other, and you will also see him.

You will find him in the person who leans over and welcomes you the first time you come to church.  You will find him in the face of a child playing on a pew.

You will find him in the helping hand that comes from that person across the aisle. When you need her.

That’s one more good thing to come out of ‘passing the peace.’  Before that happened. it was possible to come to church each Sunday and never even know the person in the opposite pew.

Peace is what church is about, isn’t it?

It’s where we can show we have forgotten old arguments; it’s where we can see each other up close; it’s where we can find that as we hope Christ lives in us, he also lives in them. 

The Three Wise Men came, acknowledged the child, and left.   We are invited right in. We don’t have to leave. We belong!

We share in singing His praises, we share in his kingdom, and we share a meal with him,

You know, the Eucharist is a holy and solemn event.  It’s where we touch Christ. It’s very moving.

But on another level, it is simply eating and drinking with Him, and with each other.

We can find Christ there, at the communion rail, but also in each other.

In `each other’ is a bit hard to take sometimes.   We can touch Christ in the Eucharist, but in old Mr. Grumpy?  And that stuck-up looking lady with the hat? And the surly man in the black overalls who comes to check the furnace?  

Come on!

How do I find God in them?

But if He is in me, then why not in them?

During the second world war, Allied soldiers in Italy, as they wearily trudged forward, saw a wayside shrine, with a figure of Jesus in it. 

The figure had been damaged by shellfire and the hands and feet were missing.

Someone had written on a piece of cardboard, propped up against the wall of the shrine,” You will have to be my hands and feet now.”

Me?

Really?

Yes, everyone who read that message was potentially co-opted as Christ in this world.

When I kneel at the communion rail and receive the wafer, and ask that God  live in me, I must also expect Him to live in the persons kneeling near me.

And I should look for him in them.

“Dear Jesus, help me find you in them.”

You may know some people in whom it is hard to see Christ.

You might say it’s easier to see the devil in them. Some of them!

But if we keep looking for the  devil in them, that’s who we will find. 

You know, the Nazis made Jews dress in ridiculous -looking clothes, and shaved their heads, to make them look less like a neighbour, less human, so it would be easier to persecute  them.

Intentionally.

As Christians, we are asked to do the opposite.  We are asked to look beyond the outer shell, beyond the nose rings, and weird hair, and jeans with the crotch down around the knees, and beyond the short temper, and irritating ways, and to find Jesus.

Intentionally.

I know that’s what most of us in my church – look for Christ in the other person.

Each year, I am more than amazed, and more pleased at the culture of my church.

It can work for anyone.

If you don’t know what all goes in your church,  in your name, and by your representatives, then make a point of reading the reports in the Vestry booklet, and you will be amazed, although I believe you all know what goes on, because nearly everyone is a part of what is going on, for which I give thanks.

We look forward to another blessed year, witnessing to Christ in our own church community.

Amen.

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John

John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 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.”

They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).(John 1:29-42)

                                      —————————————

“We have found the Messiah.”   This is Andrew telling his brother Peter about Jesus.

“We have found the Messiah!!” 

He might have said, “We have found the One who is chosen to lead us from slavery into freedom. We have found The One who is to bring light to this dark world. The One in whom all sin can be forgiven.”

“The Messiah, the Christ, the Chosen One.”

I wonder if you remember when you found Christ. It may not have been a scintillating revelation. It may have been a gradual awareness, a gradual realisation, or a sudden realisation – an Epiphany, in fact.

Or after a particularly hard time, it may have been a realisation that during that time, someone had been there with you, and that someone was Jesus.

Cast your mind back. When did you first find Christ?

Actually, though,  I don’t think we find  Jesus.

He finds us.

Were you ever lost as a child?  Can you remember  the feeling: the dread feeling when you look around, perhaps after playing in the toy department of the store, and your mom is not there?

It’s horrible.

And your heart pumping, fighting back tears, you wander around in a daze, until finally you hear her voice, out of nowhere, “There you are!”

And you are found.

What a joy.

What a relief.

Imagine then, for an adult, how heartwarming it must be to be found.

But first, we have to realise we are lost. And that is the problem. Many people don’t even know they are lost.

I was thinking back over some aspects of my life the other day, and I remembered some decisions I had made, some directions I had taken, as a young man.

I remembered how I had been sure at the time that what I was doing was right.

I was so sure.

Or maybe I didn’t care!

Now looking back, I wonder how I could have been so naive. How could I have been so stupid.

Really!

I was like that child, playing in the toy department, and not knowing I was lost.

Until one day, after I had made so many wrong decisions that I came to a dead end, and it was obvious even to me that I was lost –   knew I was lost –  with my heart pumping, and fighting back tears,  he found me. 

And he had been looking for me for a long time.

Do you have a recollection like that? And if so, do you remember the great feeling, afterward?

A minister was walking down a hospital hallway when a man came running out of a room, and with a great smile on his face, he shouted, “She is going to make it.”

The minister didn’t know who ‘she’ was, nor who this madly joyous man was. It didn’t matter, the man just had to tell someone.

Andrew had to tell his brother Peter, that he had found the Messiah.

He just had to tell him.

And bring him to meet Jesus.

“Andrew was good at bringing people to Jesus wasn’t he?  There are only three times in the Gospels when Andrew is the centre of the stage. There is this incident here where he brings his brother to Jesus. There is the incident in John 6, verses 6-9, when he brings to Jesus the little boy with the five loaves and two fishes. Then there is the incident in John 12, 22 where he brings the enquiring Greeks into the presence of Jesus.

“It was Andrew’s great joy to bring others to Jesus. He stands as the man  whose one desire was to share the glory. He is the man with the missionary heart.

“Having  himself found the friendship of Jesus, he spent all his life introducing others to that friendship. He could not keep Jesus to himself. ”  [1]

He had  to share his joy, in finding Jesus. 

How many people do you know who find gladness in knowing Jesus? 

Do you?

And do you show it? 

I remember hearing this true account, some time ago. The writer was just about to get into his car in the car park, when he heard someone blowing their horn.

Loud!

He saw a man in a car, his face distorted with  fury, his hand hard on his car horn.

It seemed that someone else had just driven into the parking spot that man thought he was going to use. And wanted to vent at someone.

The writer said that he looked at the other car, and saw a man get out. He was big and bulky, and he naturally wondered what was going to happen.

Was there going to be a fight?

The first man took his hand off the horn, got out of his car, and just stood there.

The big guy went toward him, and stuck out his hand.

“Hi,” he said, with a  smile, ” My name’s Bill Matthews, how can I help you?”

The other guy’s face relaxed. Suddenly!  He forced a smile back.

” Sorry,” he said, ” I guess I was a bit out of line.”

The other guy said, “Oh don’t worry about it, we all get irritated some time. Here’s my card. If you ever want insurance, give me a call.”

It would be nice, wouldn’t it if in a similar situation, one person  could say something like, “Hi, my name’s so and so. I am a Christian. Here is my card. Call me if you ever want a ride to church.”

Or something!

With the love of Jesus shining from their face.

You know,  God uses us to help him with all sorts of people. It may not be the ones obviously in need. It may be the wrong time  

But they just might be – in need..

They just might have been directed by God, towards you.

Or me.

And when that happens, if the gladness that I feel in  knowing Jesus, and the need to tell others about him, doesn’t come through, then something needs fixing.  

I am going to have to pray about it.

Pray, that when He sends someone needing help my way, I can be there for them. And that something is showing through.

How about you?

Do you feel that joy in Christ? And if you do, do you think you show it?

We show it  in church, don’t we?  But what about out there  with people who don’t know us?  

And here’s the kicker: if I am not showing a gladness in Christ,  then it raises the question:  Is there something wrong with my spirituality, or with my relationship with Jesus?

And if there is, it needs praying about.

But you know, I am also reminded of a story about a family which once upon a time moved into a new house.

It was a very nice house with a lot more room than in their old house. However, it was also strange and when it came time to go to bed, the three children were very sleepy but  they didn’t like their rooms because they were unfamiliar and they didn’t like the house because it was not their old house and they didn’t like anything because they were so tired.

Then they woke up and were frightened and angry. Their parents hadn’t come to the room to tuck them in again before they fell asleep. 

Now they woke up frightened and angry.

So they stormed down stairs and discovered that both their parents had fallen asleep in the front room, their mother on the couch and their father on an easy chair.

The kids were shocked and dismayed. What good were parents who grew so tired when they moved to a new house that they forgot their kids and just fell asleep.

So they woke their mommy up and shouted at her. “Why did you go to sleep on us mommy?”

“ Because I’m human,” she said, “and I get tired. Even Jesus got tired.”

“Yeah!”  said the kids, “ but he wasn’t our mommy!”

People want us to be perfect, don’t they? Especially our children, and we want to be perfect don’t we?  But we aren’t.  And we can’t be.

We are human.

There is no magic formula that puts a never-wavering smile on your face, or gives you the patience of a saint.

Even some of the saints didn’t have the patience of a  saint.

But when you know you have touched Christ, give thanks, and be joyful, and tell about it.

Share the joy.

When your cup runneth over, let it spill onto someone who needs it. 

When we can pour blessings on people rather than our disdain, then we will know, that like Andrew, we have found the Christ.

Or  rather,  he has found us. 

Amen.

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[1] The Daily Study Bible, William Barclay, G.R.Welch Co. Ltd. Burlington, Ont. Rev Ed.1975