So after our two week break for Easter, we are coming back into the book of Acts. We’ve spent a lot of time more in liturgical settings with doing readings out loud, prayers out loud and spending time in traditions that have been with the church for two thousand years. We only start to scratch the surface of the kinds of traditions and rituals that the church has been doing. There is an entire season that leads up to Easter normally called Lent, and part of Lent is things like Ash Wednesday, Passion Sunday, Holy Thursday and the list goes on. The church for two thousand years has built their calendars and their lives around traditions that consistently put Christ at the centre of their lives. Christianity comes from Jewish traditions who had even more rituals, practices and traditions that they practiced on a regular basis. Feasts, sacrifices, prayers and the list went on. Their entire lives were build around the reality that God was their God and they were his people.

One of these prayers, which you have probably heard is called a ‘Shema’ prayer and it’s a prayer that Jews would say over and over again

“Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, The Lord is One.”

Christians would have something similar and they had a prayer that they would say in repition

“One God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ”

There are many techniques and practices that Christians practice and many ways in which Christians learn to meditate and focus on the divine. Now back in the days when Acts was written, there was one type of Jewish meditation which became well known and practiced frequently. It was a sustained contemplation of the great vision of the first chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel where he sees something like a great chariot, with whirling wheels and flashing lights. There is a full description of the vision that includes four-faced angels who carry a chariot while sparkling and glowing, rainbows, jewels and thrones. The point on meditating on this vision for Jews was to see if by devout prayer, fasting and holiness one might come to share in the climax of this vision in Ezekiel 1

Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Now people who studied day in and day out in the scriptures longed deeply to share in this kind of vision. They would use this kind of vision as prayer in hopes that someday they would be able to see the same glory, God’s face on his throne, even if such a sight would hurl them to the ground.

The reason I tell you this, is because we are in Acts 9. Acts 9 might be the most famous passage in Acts because we are at the road to Damascus, or Saul’s conversion. Two times in our readings before we have heard mention of this Saul guy. He was the one that people were laying their coats down in front of during the stoning of Stephen and he was mentioned about that he was leading the persecution of the Christians around. So Luke was setting us up, he was letting us know that this was the ultimate enemy of the church. Saul was the one to be afraid of, this was the one that was willing to use any force necessary to stop this false teaching from getting any further.

There is plenty more about Saul that we wouldn’t know just yet about him from reading, but I think are important for us to know to get a better understanding of exactly what Saul was doing, the kind of person he was and why he was persecuting Christians everywhere. Saul came from a part of Judaism with a very deep devotion to God and his law, he was a Pharisee. So remember when we talk about Pharisees, we talked about this last year a bit, we can’t characterize them as the bad guys, they were the good guys. They were the ones that kept the law, that did what they were supposed to do. He was from Tarsus which was known to be an intellectual place and he studied under great Jewish scholars and rabbis of his time. Saul was the cream of the crop and he loved God deeply. His entire life was in devotion to him and he never stopped serving him day in and day out.

So let’s take a quick primer on what we’ve just been through. The gospel is spreading. It has reached Judea, Samaria (Simon the Magician), and the Ethiopian (the ends of the earth) which we talked about the week before Palm Sunday. So Jesus words have now come true. This gospel is moving fast. But along with this good news that is spreading is all this persecution and so many people trying to put it out. We have the Pharisees killing Stephen and screaming at the top of his lungs and we have people running around spreading this news about Jesus. The most powerful people are taking serious measures to put an end to all the nonsense. Luke is being sure to give us both sides of this story and fill us in on the successes and failures of the gospel spreading. So we have come to the main event. The leader of the persecution. Saul of Tarsus. The very person who was the cause of many of the sufferings of all these Christians. So let’s read at the beginning of Acts 9.

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Meditation like we just talked about would have been taught and practiced often. It’s very possible that even on this trip to Damascus that he was trying to envision this glory vision from Ezekial. The miraculous happens. The vision happens. Except that it wasn’t just God, it was Jesus. When he finally gets to see God’s glory like in Ezekiel, he sees Jesus. When something like this happens to you, your world gets turned upside down. Jesus changes everything. All this time he thought he was serving God, but it turns out he was persecuting Him. You can only imagine what this would do to you.

I remember when I read my first book on foreign aid companies. It was called the Road to Hell. It was a major criticism about the entire aid industry and how maybe wealthy countries were doing more harm than good by being there and bringing food. The stats were convincing and the stories were moving. The whole book did a number on me. All of sudden, some of the only things that I thought were good in the world and actually helping the world become a better place were actually making it worse. Nothing was safe, there was no good I or anyone could do. It was like my world was taken from right under me and I needed to start from scratch and really re-evaluate why I did the things I did and if I had really thought about them. It shifted my direction of thinking so much that the trajectory of my life changed with it. I cut out certain kinds of missions trips and I started investing my time and energy into helping locally run organizations. I started seeing the value in my individual relationships with the poor and not expecting some organization to do it for me. The list went on. I’ve had lots of these moments which makes me reconsider my past entirely. Even though my life I believe was always had good motives, I still come to grips with the reality that I was wrong, I was misinformed, I was missing something, I need to make some drastic changes. It’s odd how one moment, one realization can all of sudden bring a flood of new meaning to past events and to future ones.

Q: How about you? Have you ever had a Saul moment, where something registered with you and all of sudden you realized everything must change or has changed?

For Saul this moment was seeing Jesus. We have to keep in mind that Saul has probably seen Jesus before, he would have seen him with his followers and teachers around and would have known all about him. He just never made the connection. He never realized Jesus was God. As soon as that realization hit him. Everything changed. His entire life, all his prayers, all his memorized scripture, all his traditions all of sudden came to life and came with new meaning. Jesus was the answer to everything and he was working against it. He realized he was God’s enemy.

If you thought this gospel spreading to the ends of the earth was miraculous. How about spreading to the gospels enemies? The greatest enemy? This gospel is so powerful that it seems to be uncontrollable. We are beyond the ends of the earth and now reading the very hearts of those who opposed this gospel by killing people that believed it. Luke puts this story in just at the right time to remind us that nothing is about to get in the way. The very things that we thought were going to get in the way were going to become the things that furthered this good news forward.

Luke also is carrying on the theme quite strongly here, that this has nothing to do with people doing the right thing. Sure we know now that Saul writes half the New Testament, but to start the story off Luke just lays it bare. He was the enemy, he was the one to be feared. The reason he has now started following Jesus is not because he did the right thing, it’s because God stepped in and ordered his path. It’s not even like Saul was sitting in his chariot like the Ethiopian reading his Bible and seeking God to do the right thing. He was on his way to persecute and capture Christians. Nothing, and I mean nothing, that Saul did caused this event to happen. So, this is not a story that we can use to create some sort of formula to how people get converted or to what is the norm for salvation, but we see this as Luke placing this part of the story right here to show us something. That this is God’s story. Not Saul’s, Stephen’s, Peters – God’s. God showed up to him. He wasn’t even asking for it. Saul didn’t even know who it was at first. This was all God, from the beginning to the end. Saul was just a pawn in God’s master plan.

There is lots that we could spend our time in with just this little story. Like the fact that Jesus says why are you persecuting me? This question is packed full of theology that Saul will just start to begin to unpack here. He is persecuting Jesus because his followers are the body of Christ. Why are Christians considered followers of the Way? We could spend hours talking about what this meant. But we’ll just leave it for now, and keep moving on with this story.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

It’s interesting to note here that when the Lord speaks to Ananias, his response is “Here I am Lord.” This is a typical response to God throughout the scriptures. This was someone who knew God’s voice and was listening for it. When the Lord spoke to Saul, Saul’s first questions was “who is this?.” He was about to find out, but he had yet to make the connection that Jesus was Lord. There have been people that have said that Ananias is one of the forgotten great heroes of the church. Think about how messed up this story is. Ananias has no illusions. He knew exactly who this Saul guy is, and now he’s close by and he’s supposed to go lay his hands on him? This all sounds like a horribly bad idea. This was going to get him killed. But he does it anyway. The story continues to unfold and it continues to be lead by God and God only. God came to Saul. God came to Ananias and he’s getting this good news out no matter what, and he’s doing it in the most unique ways. I can’t help but think God has a sense of humour with a last line like that as well, “I’ll show him.” So now let’s go into the rest of this story without too many more stops.

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;
and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.
And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

So we are starting to see God’s mission unfolding. We’ve hit pretty much all the stops and it is now being spread through a very intelligent and zealous man named Saul. As I read through Acts, I can’t help but keep asking myself why all this is happening. Why do people care enough to go and kill Saul? Why did Saul care enough to persecute and kill Christians? Why is this so revolutionary that it’s literally turning people’s worlds upside down?

We don’t really live lives where a story like this makes sense. I don’t think any of us really care about anything that much. Which is why it’s constantly necessary to drag ourselves back into the context of this time to understand what people are feeling, and what they are pushing back against. The people that wanted to kill Saul are not bad people. They were good, upstanding God-fearing people. They believed that God alone was God, and they believed that he had given them his Law and that their entire lives should be summed up by fearing God and this law. God was king. God is sovereign. God cares about us and he is on our side. God is coming one day to free us from oppression, put our enemies under our feet and give us eternal life. We can barely imagine these people whose entire lives are consumed by these realities. This is the story of Hebrew Scriptures which they lived and breathed and memorized and hoped for.

Then Jesus shows up. He starts saying he’s the hope. He’s what they’ve been waiting for. Their entire lives now make sense because he is there. But he dies, so it’s a little unexpected, because the hope isn’t supposed to die, he’s supposed to win. But then his followers start saying he came back to life and he calls his disciples to start spreading this news to everyone. People are believing it by the droves and slowly the body of Christ, the church, becomes larger and larger and making converts from the most unlikely of places. The entire church is left with this mission to spread the kingdom of God everywhere and declare Jesus’ lordship over all of creation. As Newbigin puts it:

The concern for mission is nothing less than this: the kingdom of God, the sovereign rule of the Father of Jesus over all humankind and over all creation. Mission.. is the proclamation of the kingdom, the presence of the kingdom and the prevenience of the kingdom. By proclaiming the reign of God over all things the church acts out its faith that the Father of Jesus is indeed ruler of all. The church, by inviting all humankind to share in the mystery of the presence of the kingdom hidden in its life through its union with the crucified and risen life of Jesus, acts out the love of Jesus that took him to the cross. By obediently following where the Spirit leads, often in ways neither planned, known, nor understood, the church acts out the hope that it is given by
the presence of the Spirit who is the living foretaste of the kingdom.

The Church is bound to challenge in the name of the one Lord all the powers, ideologies, myths, assumptions, and worldviews which do not acknowledge him as Lord. If that involves conflict, trouble, and rejection, then we have the example of Jesus before us and his reminder that a servant is not greater than his master.”
- Leslie Newbigin

When Saul finally makes the connection that Jesus is his hope fulfilled, he starts to take all that zeal and all that passion and starts to live out the truth of this new Lord. As Newbigin states above, Saul is about to partake on a journey that is going to involve trouble, rejection, torture, pain and eventually death. When you say Jesus is the Son of God or that Jesus is Lord is challenges everything that doesn’t say he is Lord.

Q: Do we challenge powers, ideologies, myths, assumptions and worldviews that don’t acknowledge Jesus as Lord?

My assumption to this question is that we don’t.  We can look at the fact that we are all pretty comfortable, we are all pretty peaceful, and we never really challenge anything at all.  We barely know what it means to do that and we don’t like to exert much effort to do so.  The result?  Peace.  We are peaceful right now because we allow things to go along in the direction they are heading without ever challenging them.

“we take in the harsh truth that there was and still is a political cost to the incarnation of God’s peaceable love” – Common Prayer Intro

This story ends with Saul getting sent back to where he came from – Tarsus. He’s about to face into his own people. The people that he was raised with, his family, his friends, he is going back to them. Odds are that we probably just read a few years of Saul travelling around this little bit and preaching and proclaiming Jesus just in these last few paragraphs. This most likely happened all over the course of a couple years. We’ll get to see how that unfolds as we make our way slowly through Acts. In the meantime, the church that exists so far is enjoying peace. Finally, peace. The church is growing and being built up and there is peace, that can be either a good thing, or it can mean what it means for us today – a bad thing. I thought this would be a good place to leave it today. So go in peace.

We all met 15 minutes before sunrise at the local beach.  We had a big campfire roaring as people showed up.  After the liturgy we went back to our space and had a pancake breakfast.

You can read the Good Friday Liturgy here.

[Reading - John 20]
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Mag’dalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him, “Teacher.”. Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Mag’dalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her

[Song - Jesus]
I will sing a song to you
And you will shake the ground for me
And the birds and bees and old fruit trees
Will spit out songs like gushing streams
And Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground do dirty
I will sing a song for to you
And you will stomp your feet for me
And the bears and bees and banana trees
Will play kazoos and tambourines
And Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
With soldiers and thieves and a sword in his side
And we will be joy and we will be right
Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty

[John 20]
The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples and said, Peace be with you!
Then were they glad when they saw the Lord.

[Prayer]
It was a long three days
It came as a surprise
We went back to fishing, back to our normal lives
We didn’t wait, we gave up
But you didn’t give up
You came to us instead
You came to us while we were still fishing
Still sinning

We really didn’t think this was going to happen
But now that it did
Now that you are standing here in front of us
The holes in your hand, the look on Mary’s face
It’s starting to make sense
You died so we didn’t have to
We die, so we don’t have to
You hung on that cross, in such a shameful way
So broken, so distraught that God forsake you
We felt forsaken too
We believe, help us in our unbelief

You lived the life that Israel couldn’t
You died the death that Israel wouldn’t
All these prophets words started to come back to us
You were the suffering servant
You were the broken Saviour
This is what we’ve been waiting for

This is Abraham’s promise being fulfilled
Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, David…
You were the light to the nations, you blessed the nations
You freed Israel from the law
You freed us from it as well

We welcome your death
Because this morning, even death doesn’t stay
Teach us how to die
So that we may live
Teach us how to live
So that we may die
We accept your gift
Your sacrifice
Your presence
Thank-you

Thank-you for everything
Creation
Your Patience
Your Direction
Your Way
Your Death
Your Grace
We rejoice in your ressurecction
We accept your new way of life
Give us strength to keep on this new life
You’ve turned back news into good news
Now we will turn this good news into real life

You have risen
We choose to follow you
Be here with us
Amen

[Communion]

[Song - In Christ Alone]
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

[Reading - 1 Cor 15]
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you–unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them–though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Here is our Good Friday Liturgy from 2012.  Each section was read by a different member of our community including children from gr. 5 and up.

The Resurrection Sunday liturgy can be found here.

[Introduction]
Before we start, remember, Sunday service starts at 6:45 at Canatara beach at the Bandshell. Bring toppings for Pancakes as we will come back here after to eat.

As for the children today, we are requesting that they are on their best behaviour. For those that can read, we would love it if they would follow along with the liturgy in your hands. For those that can colour, there is a children’s liturgy of colouring pages that they can colour. If things aren’t working well then we would just ask that you would bring them to the other room, where the Easter story is playing by Veggie Tales. We have no one specific to watch them today, so if necessary just make sure your own children are taken care of or partner with someone you see that doesn’t have a kid.

This morning we are gathering together to recognize the death of our Lord Jesus. It is a solemn occasion. It’s the kind of time where we come together to mourn. To help shape our service this morning we will be using the five stages of grief to guide us through the reality of what it means for Jesus to be put to death. What it means for God, what is means for us, and what it means for the world. The liturgy will be full of readings, scripture verses, video clips, silence and prayers. We printed it out for you to follow along so you can see back with what has been said and look forward. So follow along, let your mind wander, and allow yourself to be overtaken by what we are reading, saying and doing together. Let’s begin.

[Reading - Mark 15:1-39]
At dawn’s first light, the high priests, with the religious leaders and scholars, arranged a conference with the entire Jewish Council. After tying Jesus securely, they took him out and presented him to Pilate.
Pilate asked him, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”
He answered, “If you say so.” The high priests let loose a barrage of accusations.
Pilate asked again, “Aren’t you going to answer anything? That’s quite a list of accusations.” Still, he said nothing. Pilate was impressed, really impressed.
It was a custom at the Feast to release a prisoner, anyone the people asked for. There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. As the crowd came up and began to present its petition for him to release a prisoner, Pilate anticipated them: “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” Pilate knew by this time that it was through sheer spite that the high priests had turned Jesus over to him.
But the high priests by then had worked up the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. Pilate came back, “So what do I do with this man you call King of the Jews?”
They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”
Pilate objected, “But for what crime?”
But they yelled all the louder, “Nail him to a cross!”
Pilate gave the crowd what it wanted, set Barabbas free and turned Jesus over for whipping and crucifixion.
The soldiers took Jesus into the palace (called Praetorium) and called together the entire brigade. They dressed him up in purple and put a crown plaited from a thornbush on his head. Then they began their mockery: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” They banged on his head with a club, spit on him, and knelt down in mock worship. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they marched out to nail him to the cross.

Denial

[Prayer]
We have gone another year and things are doing well.
We can still wake up, most of our loved ones are still alive.
We can make it to work, we can earn our money and buy our things.
We can save for our future, our retirement and our dreams.
We know what needs to be done, and we are motivated enough to do it.
We have a sense of our worth and our capacity to perform.
We are feeling fine.

We care about our children, and their futures and their success.
We get them into good schools and help them with their homework.
We get pregnant and eat the right foods, do the right exercises and take the right classes.
We enjoy our successes with small parties and quick vacations and nights out
We attend church gatherings downtown when we are up to it.
We read our bible when we can make time.
We say prayers with our kids before they go to sleep.
We are feeling fine.

We have got a handle on our brokenness.
We don’t lavish it around, we keep it private, almost hidden.
We have stopped from most ways of destruction – at least the obvious ones
We are smiling, we are successful and our futures are bright.
We are doing way better than most.
We are feeling fine.

[Reading]
As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”

[Song: Chariot]
Swing, like a chariot
At the trumpet call
When we’re all unsaved,
Swing like a wrecking ball
Like the heart of god
What a mystery
Filled with the wedding feast
For the snakes and bees
With the angel teeth, swing
Come and carry us
Come and marry us
To the blushing circus king
And dance like elephants as he comes to us
Through a fiery golden ring

With a violin and a song to sing
As he brings for us our wings
Now he’s one of us
Plays the tambourine
Breaks the bread for us
And sings
Will you wait for us
Will you stay for us
Will you grace us everything
You’re a wrecking ball
With a heart of gold
People wait for it, swing
Like a chariot
Swing it low for us
Come and carry us away

So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending

Fire come and carry us
Make us shine or make us rust
Tell us that you care for us
We need to hear a word for us
Let your body stand with us
Or let our rags be turned to dust
Chariot you swing for us
We think that you can carry all of us

So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending

Anger

[Reading - John 18: 1-11]
Jesus, having prayed this prayer, left with his disciples and crossed over the brook Kidron at a place where there was a garden. He and his disciples entered it.
Judas, his betrayer, knew the place because Jesus and his disciples went there often. So Judas led the way to the garden, and the Roman soldiers and police sent by the high priests and Pharisees followed. They arrived there with lanterns and torches and swords. Jesus, knowing by now everything that was coming down on him, went out and met them. He said, “Who are you after?”
They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
He said, “That’s me.” The soldiers recoiled, totally taken aback. Judas, his betrayer, stood out like a sore thumb.
Jesus asked again, “Who are you after?”
They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
“I told you,” said Jesus, “that’s me. I’m the one. So if it’s me you’re after, let these others go.” (This validated the words in his prayer, “I didn’t lose one of those you gave.”)
Just then Simon Peter, who was carrying a sword, pulled it from its sheath and struck the Chief Priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. Malchus was the servant’s name.
Jesus ordered Peter, “Put back your sword. Do you think for a minute I’m not going to drink this cup the Father gave me?”

[Video]

[Prayer]
This really is all your fault.
We were following you, remember? You ended up on the cross, not us.
You storm into the temple, flip tables, lip off the powerful ones, it was inevitable.
There was multiple attempts to try and disagree with you, but you were unconvinced.
Death, Beatings, Mocked – You had it coming.

Now you tell us to follow you into that kind of death?
Are you kidding me. No way. I don’t want to die. Remember what we just said?
We like our lives, things are fine, we are content, our children are happy.
We are successful, we have enough money and we are happy going after more.
Give it all away, look like those poor unmotivated people in the world?
No thanks. I’d rather stick to your words about responsibility and your blessings.

No wonder Peter grabbed his sword out, he was just worried about his own skin.
No wonder he denied you, he doesn’t want the same fate as you.
We are in the same boat, and it’s upsetting that you would even ask us to do the same.
We don’t want to join, because you lost, you died and we don’t want to lose.
This direction isn’t good for us, it’s going to turn our children into outright losers.
So no, we won’t follow you there, it’s too upsetting.
We aren’t choosing failure.

[Response - Song - What is not to love]
What looks like failure is success
And what looks like poverty is riches
When what is true looks more like a knife
It looks like you’re killing me
But you’re saving my life

But I give myself to what looks like love
And I sell myself for what feels like love
And I pay to get what is not love
And all just because I see things upside down

What looks like weakness can do anything
And what looks like foolishness is understanding
When what is powerful has not come to fight
It looks like you’re going to war
But you lay down your life

What looks like torture is a time to rejoice
What sounds like thunder is a comforting voice
When what is beautiful looks broken and crushed
And I say I don’t know you
But you say it’s finished
When what is beautiful looks broken and crushed
And I say I don’t know you
But you say it’s finished

Bargaining

[Prayer]
Here’s an idea.
How about instead of all this death stuff, we live good lives.
We will show up to church, have bible studies and pray daily.
We will give 11% to the church, stop swearing and won’t drink much
We won’t be ashamed of your gospel, we will tell people at the right times
We will raise our kids in Sunday school and be nice to the smelly kids
We will follow the Bible as our moral codebook, guiding our paths straight
We will work on being loving, graceful and forgiving

We just want to live by the basic rules.
We reap what we sow right?
So we’ll just sew some good seed.
We’ll clean up all the bad things that we do, so bad things won’t happen to us.
We’ll keep our end of the bargain, if you keep yours.
Deal?

[Reading - A Good Man is Hard To Find]

Alone with The Misfit, the grandmother found that she had lost her voice. There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun. There was nothing around her but woods. She wanted to tell him that he must pray. She opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out. Finally she found herself saying, “Jesus. Jesus,” meaning, Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing.
“Yes’m, The Misfit said as if he agreed. “Jesus shown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had the papers on me. Of course,” he said, “they never shown me my papers. That’s why I sign myself now. I said long ago, you get you a signature and sign everything you do and keep a copy of it. Then you’ll know what you done and you can hold up the crime to the punishment and see do they match and in the end you’ll have something to prove you ain’t been treated right. I call myself The Misfit,” he said, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.”
There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report. “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?”
“Jesus!” the old lady cried. “You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!”
“Lady,” The Misfit said, looking beyond her far into the woods, “there never was a body that give the undertaker a tip.”
There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, “Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!” as if her heart would break.
“Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,” The Misfit continued, “and He shouldn’t have done it. He shown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,” he said and his voice had become almost a snarl.
“Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,” the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.
“I wasn’t there so I can’t say He didn’t,” The Misfit said. “I wisht I had of been there,” he said, hitting the ground with his fist. “It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady,” he said in a high voice, “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.” His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children !” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest. Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them.
Hiram and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky.
Without his glasses, The Misfit’s eyes were red-rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking. “Take her off and thow her where you thown the others,” he said, picking up the cat that was rubbing itself against his leg.
“She was a talker, wasn’t she?” Bobby Lee said, sliding down the ditch with a yodel.
“She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”
“Some fun!” Bobby Lee said.
“Shut up, Bobby Lee,” The Misfit said. “It’s no real pleasure in life.”

[Reading Mark 12: 41-44]
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

[Song: Mumblin Word]

They led him to Pilate’s bar
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They led him to Pilate’s bar
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They led him to Pilate’s bar
But he never said a mumblin’ word
Not a word, not a word, not a word

They all cried, “Crucify!”
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They all cried, “Crucify!”
Not a word, not a word, not a word
They all cried, “Crucify!”
But he never said a mumblin’ word
Not a word, not a word, not a word

We nailed him on to a tree
Not a word, not a word, not a word
We nailed him on to a tree
Not a word, not a word, not a word
We nailed him on to a tree
But he never said a mumblin’ word
Not a word, not a word, not a word

Depression

[Prayer]
It didn’t work.
The bargain didn’t play out.
We were good and bad things happened.
They were bad and good things happened.
It’s almost as if you take pleasure in blessing the wicked.
They don’t love you, and yet it seems like you favour them.
How does that make any sense?

We probably won’t make a big deal out of it.
Just wish you would have done what we thought.
We held up our end.
It’s a little unsettling to know that this is all unpredictable
We don’t like that there isn’t a formula to follow
or a simple cause and effect
We suck.
We don’t deserve any of this. Why are we here anyway?
Life isn’t worth it. There is no way to make any sense of what’s happening.
So we might as well give up.
It’s like you’ve abandoned everything, and left us to our own confused wanderings
Why? Why God? Why is life like this? Why are you like this?
It’s enough to put someone over the edge.

[Reading - Psalm 41:1-11]
A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
“Where is this God of yours?”

These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?

Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
“Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
“Where is this God of yours?”

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?

[Song - Were you there?]

Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree

Were you there when they pierced him in his side
Were you there when they pierced him in his side
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they pierced him in his side

Were you there when the sun refused to shine
Were you there when the sun refused to shine
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when the sun refused to shine

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb

Acceptance

[Prayer]
God, Look upon us with mercy.
Our Lord was content to be hung on the cross for us
Our Lord was beaten in the hands of wicked men
Our Lord was silent in the face of mockers
Our Lord was hanging there, for us, for them, for me, for everyone
Have mercy on us Lord

You created us.
You sustain us even now.
Your sacrifice was for us.
Your mystery engages us
Your love baffles us
Your grace empowers us
Your mercy reminds us
that you are God, and we are your creation

This was never about us
This was never about what we could do, or how we could be successful
This wasn’t about us getting it right, or believing the right things
Somehow you dying became all about us
And all about what we could get and where we could go
This was about you all along, your love and who you are.
Forgive us for not seeing that
Or Living it

We are only starting to understand what you did on that day 2000 years ago
We don’t even know what that means for us now
Our efforts are lost and empty and have gotten us nowhere
But the story of you dying is still there, timeless, haunting
We see it, we believe it, but that’s all we know to do

You died, but we need you here, with us.
Come back, come soon.
We acknowledge your dreadful absence and insist on your presence
Come back, come soon, come here.

[Isaiah 53:4-10]
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

[Response - Silence]

[Communion - Good Wine]

People were invited to come up to the front with rocks they were given at the beginning of the service.  They were to put their rocks at the foot of the cross in the middle of the room representing their sins that were responsible for Jesus’ death.

At this point, following the elements and Eucharist readings as the wine was poured into the glass he dumped the glass all over the rocks in the middle of the room and proceeded to dump the expensive bottle of wine all over the rocks.

[Reading - End of Crucifixion Story]

There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.
The soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning “Skull Hill.” They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn’t take it. And they nailed him to the cross. They divided up his clothes and threw dice to see who would get them.
They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was printed on a poster. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
The high priests, along with the religion scholars, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—but he can’t save himself! Messiah, is he? King of Israel? Then let him climb down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then!” Even the men crucified alongside him joined in the mockery.
At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard him said, “Listen, he’s calling for Elijah.” Someone ran off, soaked a sponge in sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
But Jesus, with a loud cry, gave his last breath. At that moment the Temple curtain ripped right down the middle. When the Roman captain standing guard in front of him saw that he had quit breathing, he said, “This has to be the Son of God!”

Go in the uneasy peace of this Good Friday

So we are still in the book of Acts, we’ve been here since October and we are only still in chapter eight. As we go through Acts we are starting to see the story unfold in a way where the good news is moving from Judea, to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Last week we read the story of Philip going to Samaria and how he was received there, we also got the side story of Simon the magician and how he responded to the good news. Now we are moving along. John and Peter have come, checked in on the new Christians in Samaria and everything seems to be going well, and now they are heading back to Jerusalem, and along the way they are embodying the good news. So then Luke keeps following Philip a bit longer.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.

The story begins with Philip getting some instructions from an angel. He is told to go south, down a desert road. Now Gaza was destroyed over a hundred years earlier. So this is a strange direction for him to head, but he does it anyway. So on his way, he didn’t even make it to the road, he runs into an unlikely character. This is probably one of the more interesting characters we will run into in Acts. He is a wealthy Ethiopian eunuch. We can assume right away that because he is Ethiopian, that he is black. Luke’s audience would be fascinated with this Ethiopian. It is a culture that they don’t know very well and that brings a sense of awe when they think of them. Why? Well, the odyssey speaks of the “far-off Ethiopians…the furthermost of men.” Ethiopians are people from an exotic land, the edge of the world. They are people that are from the very ends of the earth. Does this kind of description remind you of anything? Remember, last week, we talked about how Jesus’ words are creating a structure for Luke to tell his story. He is showing Jesus’ words come true.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

We are here now. The ends of the earth. You can almost taste the story going in this direction now. And to top it all off, this guy wasn’t just from the ends of the earth. He was also a eunuch. This means his private parts had been cut off. Why is this important? Well Judaism had a specific view on eunuchs, and a lot of it was inspired by a verse in Deuteronomy 23.

No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.

So not only did this guy represent people that were at the ends of the earth and all the types of people that they couldn’t even comprehend. He also represents the very people that have been ostracized and kept away from God because of their very identity. Not only would they have been kept out of the temple, but they also couldn’t participate in the very tradition that made someone a Jew, a follower of God. Anyone think of what that is? That’s right. Circumcision. You can’t get circumcised if there is nothing to circumcise. And to top it all off, this guy was powerful. He was an important official in charge of money for the Queen of Ethopia. So here we have a powerful guy from the ends of the earth, who under any normal circumstances could not be part of the people of God. Then, if who he was wasn’t weird enough, what he was doing was even stranger. He was coming back from Jerusalem where he was worshipping. So we know he wouldn’t have worshiped like the Jews would have had normally, because he wouldn’t have been allowed into the temple. He may have been allowed in the outer courts where the Gentiles were. But that’s about it. And he was reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. So again it’s emphasized that he is wealthy because he can read.

So this is probably the strangest of strange characters that we could be running into right now. But really it all fits perfectly into where we know this story is going. Luke has set it up beautifully. He shows us literally the most unlikely of characters to show up on the road at this time reading from Isaiah. So as we read, keep in mind all the qualities about him.

The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

So we have prodding again here telling Philip what to do and where to go. Philip runs to the chariot. I like that. He runs. He hears the eunuch reading. This means of course that he was reading out loud, like you would back in these days. And we find out exactly what he is reading. It’s Isaiah 53 and he needed help understanding what he was reading. The eunuch already had an understanding of the Jewish story of God and his people but he didn’t understand what this was about. This gives us a brief look into how people would have been reading the prophets at this time. They would have read Isaiah very differently that we read it now. You see we read Isaiah as a book of prophecy, a book that was telling the Jews that their messiah was coming and was going to save the world. We don’t understand most of it still, but we see it as this book of weird poetry that is pointing to Jesus. Rather people in this time didn’t read it exactly like that. N.T. Wright puts it like this.

“Rather, he was meditating deeply on the fate of Israel in exile, and on the promises and purposes of God which remained constant despite Israel’s failure to be the light to the nations, or even to walk in the light herself. Gradually a picture took shape in his praying, meditating mind: the figure of a Servant, one who would complete Israel’s task, who would come to where Israel was, to do for Israel and the whole world what neither could do for themselves, to bear in his own body the shame and reproach for the nations and of God’s people, and to die under the weight of the world’s wickedness. Only so, he perceived, could the promises be fulfilled. Isaiah was writing a kind of job description: This is what we want! A Servant who will accomplish God’s will, and rescue Israel and the world!”

- N.T. Wright.

The eunuch by reading Isaiah was entering into this narrative and desiring the same things. He thought, maybe that Isaiah was that prophet, or maybe that this prophet had already come? So who is he talking about? Philip has this wonderful opportunity to use the exact passage that he was reading to show him how the longings of Israel find their fulfillment in the story of Jesus. So he tells them the good news.

I wonder if this is weird for us to hear stories like this? Do we even have stories anymore of people like this? Can we translate this into our context at all anymore? I’m not sure if we can. After all, how often is it the case that we run into someone asking questions about the fulfillment they are asking for, and we know the answer is Jesus, does that even happen anymore?

Q: Do you have a story where this was the case for you? Where you were able to tell the good news of Jesus to someone who was already seeking?

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This is an interesting moment in this story. Remember that as a eunuch, the ritual to become part of the Jewish faith was impossible for him, there was all sorts of things that came in the way of him belonging to the family of God. So when he starts to hear the story of Jesus and he sees some water, he jumps at the opportunity. What could possibly stop him? No wonder he was so excited. Joining into a faith that he once was excluded from he is now embraced with open arms. No wonder he was so excited. Imagine feeling like your purpose was tied up into a religion or a life that you could never actually be part of.

All right, so this is the end of this story. The story is short, so I wanted to go through the story and at least lay out for you some basic things so that we can understand the context better and what is happening. Generally when speaking about a passage, I have a dozen books that I go through to better understand what is happening. All of them pointed to the greater story in which this story is a part and how it symbolizes something greater. However, this week, some of the readings I found online pointed towards the idea that this passage is a great lesson in evangelism. So I thought we would spend some time in the idea of evangelism this morning, if this story has anything helpful to add to out thoughts on it and where to go from there. I started getting the idea that some people use this verse or section of verses to teach about how to evangelise to people. Which got me thinking more about this story a bit more and what is happening here.

I think one of the key characteristics about this story is a lesson in evangelism, but probably not the way we would expect. Constantly what this story seems to point out and allude to is how God is prodding Philip to do one thing after another. Philip only asks one question in the entire story, and God is telling him everything else. Where to go, when to go, what to do. It is the angel that tells him to go down that road, then he is told to go to the carriage. It is almost as if Luke needs to continually remind us that it isn’t Philip here that is causing all this to happen, but it is God. God’s plan is going forward whether Philip likes it or not, and Philip is given the opportunity to join in.

This is where I struggle quite a bit with understanding my upbringing, reading the scriptures and now how I see the world. You see. Sometimes I start to think evangelism is this weird made up thing that Christians have done to somehow motivate them to do the right thing or care about people. It is this forced habit that you just have to talk to people about the “Lord” and make sure that they get saved so that they don’t go to hell.

How this story talks about evangelism is God needing to get this good news out to the whole world and so he starts spreading it and using people that want to join in on the fun to do it.

How we see evangelism now is that all our friends are going to go to hell unless we tell them to say a prayer and accept Jesus into their hearts.

Lately I wonder if evangelism starts to look different as time goes on from Acts and as we start to understand our faith differently. We don’t live in a world now where evangelism like Philip and the Ethiopian went through is a normal occurrence, or even close to that experience. Besides, Luke was trying to show us something by placing that story in that time. So to use this as a step by step evangelism tool, might not be the wisest way to look at this story. But people do it anyway. I found this article entitled Lesson in Personal Evangelism: Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8, and it gives us four steps to successful personal evangelism. 1. Listen to the Holy Spirit, 2. Move out of your Comfort Zone, 3. Be prepared to evangelize, 4. Positive Results. The desire to see this as lessons in evangelism is there, but I think they might be taking out the wrong lessons. For the last year or so, almost every Friday night, there is a few people that setup on the corner less than a block away to “evangelise.” They yell about God’s judgment and wrath and where the world is going if they don’t repent and follow Jesus. He hands out tracts, argues people on the street and he is relentless in his desire to save the masses. And somehow, hearing stories about salvation, and stories like this, gives them the drive they need to go on the streets and make converts. But I’m not sure if it is about evangelism, I’m not even sure many of us, if any, “evangelize” in the regular sense of the word anymore.

Q: Is this story a story of evangelism? Do you evangelize? Why? Why not?

So if this is a lesson,I wonder what that teaches us about it? I’d like to suggest that maybe we think along the lines of this parable in Mark

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

I wonder if this is a better way to see evangelism, that God is up to a whole lot in the world and we have the option to join in with him when the time is right. This whole story with Philip was dictated by the moves of God and he was just available, present and ready to move when the time is right. Maybe instead of gearing ourselves up and then constantly failing and feeling bad about it because we aren’t “saving people” we spend that energy to be the kind of person who God uses to share his good news through.

“Luke plants this story at the heart of the moment when the gospel is starting to go out into the wider world, to make it abundantly clear that wherever yo go, whatever culture you come to, whatever situation of human need, sin, exclusion, or oppression you may find, the message of Jesus as the one in whom all the promises of God find their “yes” is there to meet that need.”

So unfortunately, I am not going to extract a four step process out of this story so we can all be sent out of here as better Philips in the world, ready to evangelise and save all your friends. However, I do hope we see this story for what it is. A story that shows that God is up to a plan that is way bigger than we can wrap our heads around. A story that symbolizes God’s salvation reaching to the very ends of the earth and to the very people who were once kept outside of his story. God’s story reaches them. It reaches everyone and it will reach everyone and you have the opportunity to join in. You don’t need to convert people to believing your set of beliefs, you need to live as if your beliefs are real. Live the kind of life that is sharing the good news around you through the actions in your life. This is the ultimate form of evangelism, and it is through that life that God’s good news will continue to go forward.

I’ll end with a quote about Saint Patrick, since yesterday was his day, and what he discovered in his church planting and evangelism efforts.

The supreme key to reaching the West again is the key that Patrick discovered – involuntarily but providentially. The gulf between church people and unchurched people is vast, but if we pay the price to understand them, we will usually know what to say and what to do; if they know and feel we understand them, by the tens of millions they will risk opening their hearts to the God who understands them. – George Hunter III

As we start to unfold this story of the first Christians we are picking up on some important themes, and not only that, we are starting to see that everything is connected. Everything from Genesis 1 to the law and the prophets and into the gospel stories and message is tied into this story. Without understanding the whole story, there is no way to make sense of any of these stories in Acts.

One of the great arts of Christian theology is to know how to tell the story: the story of the Old Testament, the story of Jesus as both the climax of the Old Testament and the foundation of all that was to come (not, in other words, a random collection of useful preaching material with some extraordinary and “saving” events tacked on the end), and the story of the church from the first days until now. . . . Sometimes a story is the only way of telling the truth (110). – N.T Wright

Last week we talked about the stoning of Stephen and how before he was stoned went on a sixty verse sermon about the pattern of rejecting God’s messengers. The irony of the entire speech is that God was speaking through him, and he was also rejected and put to death. With hands covering ears and screaming at the top of their lungs, they refused to change when the truth hit them and tried to stop the new true story from going forward. Then this is what Luke tells us what happens.

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

So remember we had seven people who were top quality that were chosen to take care of the widows and make sure that the gospel was actually reaching the marginalized in their areas. We heard the story of one of them last week, Stephen, and how that all unfolded. Then Luke goes into the story of another one of these seven guys. This one’s name is Phillip.

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

Remember, to understand what is happening in Acts, we have to understand the entire story. An important part of this story is the gospels and the words that Jesus said in the gospels and especially at the beginning of Acts. One of the last things that Jesus says to his disciples is this.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus’ words here is basically a pattern for the entire book of Acts. So if you don’t think you remember anything from this series, at least remember Acts 1:8, because Luke takes this as foreshadowing and as he shows the church growing and changing he follows this pattern. When they say Judea, they mean all areas north of Jerusalem, and when they say Samaria, they mean all areas south of Jerusalem. So far in the first seven verses of Acts we have been stuck in Jerusalem, north of Jerusalem. But now, as the Christians start to scatter and bring this good news elsewhere, we are starting to see south of Jerusalem hear about what is happening. This isn’t just a geographical split of North and South, but it’s also very much an ideological split. But to understand we need a quick history lesson.

“It began with the break-up of the monarchy in the tenth century BC when ten tribes defected, making Samaria their capital, and only two tribes remained loyal to Jerusalem. It became steadily worse when Samaria was captured by Assyria in 722BC, thousands of its inhabitants were deported, and the country was re-populated with foreigners. In the sixth century when the the Jews returned to their land, they refused to help of the Samaritans in the rebuilding of the Temple. Not till the fourth century did the Samaritan schism harden, with the building of their rival temple on Mount Gerisim and their repudiation of all OT scripture except the Pentateuch. The Samaritans were despised by the Jews as hybrids in both race and religion, as both heretics and schismatics.” (John Stott)

We know from reading Luke in Acts and his gospel, especially Luke’s gospel, that Jesus has a soft spot for Samaritans. This wasn’t the case for everyone else. In fact it was the opposite. Jews hated Samaritans. As John puts it, they don’t associate with Samritans. While Jesus seemed to have done his best to break down that hate with stories about the good Samaritan, he didn’t get very far, because Jews in general don’t trust them, don’t like them and want nothing to do with them. So I’m sure that when Jesus said that they were going to witness in Samaria, that they pushed that to the back of their heads because they would never do that, never be found there. But here we are, the words of Jesus ring true and Phillip, for whatever reason, a reason we aren’t told about, finds himself in Samaria, and turns out that he’s a hit. The people love him. Spirits were leaving bodies, people who were lame were being healed. He seems to have got their attention. The story continues.

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Samaria already has had some action lately. There was a guy there who was a magician of sorts, and he also amazed the people of Samaria. Luke tells us that “he boasted that he was someone great.” Luke then goes on to tells us that Phillip showed up, he didn’t boast about himself, but rather he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Luke is contrasting these two people because he wants to show us how the kingdom of God is different. It isn’t about boasting about yourself, rather its about boasting and proclaiming something that is happening despite yourself. Simon gets followers and shows his greatness. Phillip points everyone to follow Jesus and the Kingdom of God, he doesn’t make this about himself at all. Simon see this power (seemingly greater than his own), along with everyone else, and believed and was baptized. Luke though, doesn’t want us to forget that he kept following Philip everywhere and couldn’t get enough of the signs and miracles that he saw. He is a miracle jumper of sorts it seems. Let’s keep reading.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Now it becomes a bit obvious that Jews don’t like Samaritans. In no other case do people find out about Jesus and the church sends the disciples themselves to see if this was true. But sure enough, Peter and John has to show up to make sure that this was actually the case and that it wasn’t just fake. They still don’t trust Samaritans. It’s even more interesting that John would show up. Let me jog your memory a little but about how the disciples and John especially acted toward them last time. This is Luke 9.

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.

So you send the guy who was quick to call fire down from heaven on these people to make sure that this was real. If he is convinced then we can trust it. I’m sure he was chomping at the bit to be able to go back there as well, to see these folks who once rejected Jesus and he wanted to destroy come to believe and be baptised. Then from here, once Peter and John see that this was real, they lay hands on them and the Holy Spirit shows up and continues it’s work. So Jesus words are ringing true. The Holy Spirit is coming on these people, they are receiving power and the message is going from Judea to Samaria. This is all despite the feelings of hatred toward these people. All their religious histories and past are slowly falling by the wayside as this good news of Jesus is transcending culture, race and religion. Jews would be sitting around telling stories about his for a long time. For the first time in a thousand years they are on the same page with people. They are back to worshiping the same God, and are believing the same good news. This is massive! It’s one thing to see 3000 Jews believe in Jesus. It’s a whole other thing to see Samaritans believe. They are the enemy and now they are our friend. Maybe this good news is actually good news? Maybe the Samaritans can actually participate with us in this? Then the story starts to get interesting.

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Simon wants in on the action. Whatever happened to all these other people, did not happen to Simon. He was upset, or maybe he just saw a business opportunity? He didn’t want to miss out it seems. He believes, he got dunked in some water. But now, he wants the real stuff. The power part. The Spirit part. You know the part that will give him the kind of followers that Phillip was getting. The kind that would make him great. Peter, our classic hothead, snaps. “You and your money can go to hell.” OK, so let’s just talk about this for a bit.

Q: Why did Peter snap here? Why was it so offensive what Simon said?

Peter has this captivating ability to see in someone’s character something that transcends the question. He can see what drives people. One of the most interesting things that I have found about Acts thus far is the view on money and how it intersects with the faith. There is an overwhelming amount of rebuking going on when people use their money poorly, or view money in the wrong way. Ananias and his wife Sapphira died because of how they viewed and treated money. It’s not just how they treat money though. It’s how money is allowed to be talked about and used within the kingdom of God. You’ll notice that no one here ever cares about how Caesar is spending their money or how governments are spending money or how non-believers are spending money. What they care about, and what the early church seems to have all sorts of guards up against, is how Christians interact with their money.

I was at a seed starting class in Waterloo this weekend, and one of the things that kept coming up over and over again was how important it was that everything was right. The soil needed a certain amount of moisture, temperature needed to be right, needed to be transferred at the right time and the list went on. The beginning stages of plants are so crucial for their development that anything that went wrong would set the whole thing off track. I see the early church sort of in the same way. The reason why Peter is so harsh here is because this is the very beginning and every thing matters. If you let a little but of dysfunction, idolatry or mis-directed desires then it could set the whole thing out of whack, especially when it comes to greed and money with humans.

I’m sure this can stem back to Jesus’ words on money and God. You can’t serve both. They are mutually exclusive. The early church believed this deeply and Luke tells the story in such a way to remind us over and over again that these two worlds cannot overlap. They are different. You cannot try to make excuses and say that you can, or that it is different now. If you serve God, you cannot serve money. If you serve God, you have to look at money entirely different. If you serve God, then you control money, not the other way around. This is why we see people selling their things and then using that money to take care of one another. Serving God means you care about people, you care about the kingdom, not care to have more money and make more money and be more powerful.

Remember at the beginning, when Luke tells us that Simon boasted in himself and Phillip proclaimed the kingdom of God? Well it turns out that Simon really didn’t change at all here. Sure he believed and he even got baptised. His heart hadn’t changed. He had no way of grasping that the good news was not good news of power or of saving your butt. He had been operating from a certain perspective and tried to fit this good news into that one. So the idea of a gift did not fit. He wouldn’t do anything for free, or at least if he wouldn’t do it if he wasn’t getting an ego boost and some more followers. So he thought everyone was like this. So he’ll give them what they want, so he can get what he wants. The problem is, they want nothing to do with it. He didn’t want the gift of the Spirit like everyone else. He wanted the power to lay hands on people and have the spirit come upon them. This was still a grab for power. He didn’t get it.

Then to top it off, after Peter rebukes him, what really concerned Simon isn’t so much that he couldn’t receive God’s pardon and receive the Spirit, but only that he could escape God’s judgment. He still only cares about himself, and there is no room for this in the church. If you are here, just because you don’t want to go to hell, or you want to be right and everyone else wrong, or you don’t want bad things to happen to you….you are hear for the wrong reasons. This isn’t what the kingdom of God is about.

This was a gospel that is worth dying for as we just saw through Stephen. To treat this as merely a commodity to be bought and sold is to not understand anything what is happening. We tend to do this with all sorts of things. It’s probably thanks to some of our capitalist upbringing. But we have learned, like Simon, to turn everything into a commodity. We think everything has a dollar value and we have very little understanding of gifts or being motivated by anything rather than money.

After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

So the story ends with Peter and John going from town to town “preaching the gospel.”  The last thing I wanted to bring attention to, because I think it’s important to note as we move deeper into Acts is some of the wording that is being used. There is a word here that is used that when it gets translated to English means “good news” or “gospel”. The word is

εὐαγγελίζω – euaggelizō – yü-än-ge-lē’-zō  (link)

So when you hear the phrase throughout the Bible “preach the gospel” the word in the Greek is euaggelizō. Now the problem is, that in Greek, there isn’t another word that is thrown in there that gives us another meaning. So what English translators did, to best explain what is going on here, is translate this word to mean “preach the gospel” but really what this word when said as a verb doesn’t mean preach, it is just a word that is a verb form of the word good news. It would be better translated as “gospelize the gospel.” I remember when I first heard about this word in Greek class at Tyndale. It blew my mind. It not so much that this was a bad translation, but in how we view the phrase today we always default that to meaning “preach” which always mean speak about it, talk about it, proclaim it loudly. Still, almost every weekend, we have street preachers down here on the corners downtown Sarnia “preaching the gospel.”

But this isn’t what it means. It doesn’t mean to talk about it. It means to make the good news into a verb. Gospelize the gospel. Make the gospel alive. Live the gospel. So when Peter and John head back to Jerusalem and the text says that they were “preaching the gospel” we can read that as “gospelizing the gospel.” They weren’t just going into towns and getting asked to preach sermons, they were living out the reality of the good news to everyone around them. So now, for the rest of your time reading Acts and even the Bible, when you see the phrase “preach the gospel,” you can understand what it really means, and what it meant to them.

The role of the Christian now to “preach the gospel” now has entirely new meaning. It doesn’t mean to preach. It doesn’t mean to speak it to everyone, shove it in their face and constantly talk about it. What it does mean though is to live out the good news as if its a verb. The gospel is living and active. It can be made into a verb, and the only way it becomes good news is if it is lived out through us. That is it. It is not just news that you tell someone about. It’s news that you show off through your life. Dan Oudshoorn recommends we call it “embodied proclamation” so that we don’t forget that there is also a verbal component.

Q: What should good news/gospel look like as a verb in our lives?

As the gospel starts to flow into new cities and amongst people that they never thought would get it there is this constant reminder that the gospel is specific. This new way of living is specific and there is no way to get around that fact. If you aren’t willing to die. If you aren’t willing to stop holding onto your money. If you aren’t willing to give up control. Then you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Simon, the magician, tried to control God. He wanted power to administer the gifts, not the gifts themselves. As a magician, he was constantly attempting to control divine powers through techniques and formulas. You can’t control God. His spirit shows up when you want it to. You can create the right environments, you can’t pray for it to happen, it just happens, and there is nothing you can do besides accept the free gift. Any attempt to control or stop it only seems to make it bigger. There is no formula.

But the church is ruthless in its demands. Not just anyone can walk in there and control it. This is working on God’s timing and God’s style. Simon was successful, he could get crowds, it would have been easy for the disciples to pass along the gift to pas around the Spirit and get this movement a real boost. Remember, they are looking to grow this right now, they are trying to get this message out there. Simon could have been a big part of that. But they choose not to. They aren’t looking for success, they recognize that preaching the gospel isn’t about getting crowds and getting people saved. It is about living a specific way. It is about living a life of repentance. A life that make good news actually good news to you and the rest of the world. So friends may we preach the gospel, live the gospel, gospelize the gospel wherever we go.

We hear the story of the wind at Pentecost,
Holy wind that dismantles what was,
Holy wind that evokes what is to be,
Holy wind that overrides barriers and causes communication,
Holy wind that signals your rule even among us.

We are dazzled, but then – reverting to type -
We wonder how to harness the wind,
how to manage the wind by our technology,
how to turn the wind to our usefulness,
how to make ourselves managers of the wind

Partly we do not believe such as odd tale
because we are not religious freaks;
Partly we resist such a story,
because it surges beyond our categories;
Partly we had imagined you to be more ordered
and reliable than that.

So we listen, depart, and return to our ordered existence:
we depart with only a little curiosity
But not yielding;
we return to how it was before,
unconvinced but wistful, slightly praying for wind,
craving for newness,
wishing to have it all available to us.
We pray toward the wind and wait, unconvinced but wistful.

Walter Brueggemann Prayers for a Privileged People

As we work our way through Acts we are starting to get a hold on what was going on with the very first Christians. This is a well articulated story of how this news of Jesus dying and rising again has spread to the entire world. It started with Jesus telling his closest friends, to the group of disciples to three thousand people and then it never looks back. This news is just too good to contain it and it starts to spread. But with this good news comes all sorts of complications. Such as that this very good news also seems to mean bad news for a lot of other people. It’s bad news for anyone who is in power. It’s bad news for anyone who abuses those who are weak. It’s bad news for anyone who thought salvation was through keeping the law. So Acts becomes this storybook of how good news spreads and all the problems that good news seems to cause.

So last week with Joe, we saw how this good news wasn’t translating as far as it should of. We saw that some people were being favoured over others. Some Jews were more important than others and weren’t being taken care of in the same way. The good news said that the oppressed were being freed and the poor were blessed, this wasn’t the case with everyone. Seeing this as a problem ahead of time, they decided that they would choose certain men, men that were known to live out the values of the Kingdom and be wise, and give them the responsibility to make sure that the widows were being taken care of. Isn’t it so interesting that the first job delegated from the twelve disciples was to take the seven best men they could find and make them responsible for living out the good news?

One of these men, his name was Stephen. And this is who we will talk about this morning. So let’s jump right into the middle of Acts 6 and find out who this Stephen character is.

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

So here we go again. The first Christians stirring up all sorts of trouble with the established religious authorities of their day. Now remember from a few weeks ago we talked about these religious leaders and the kind of authority they had in their context. The Sanhedrin was the highest ruling body in Judaism that day. It was powerful. It was known. It was the equivalent to our supreme court today. They are the ones that can choose to put someone to death. So Stephen is dragged to these men and put on trial. These are the same people that Jesus would have had run ins with and would have eventually put him to death. It’s the same powerful people that are trying to control this situation, not let word get out and manipulate others into getting the results that they want. Stephen, being a man of grace and power, was not making this easy. He was doing signs and wonders, drawing attention to himself and this other guy that they already killed and they needed to squash it immediately. So this is the scene that Luke sets up for us leading into chapter seven.

We need to keep in mind here that Luke is an ultimate story teller. He fuses imagery and history into this beautiful flow of story that tells a lot more than just the surface words. Acts 7 is pretty long so I bolded some lines that I thought were important and wanted to focus on so we can pull a few specifics out of this speech by Stephen.

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’

“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’

“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.

“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things?’

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Sorry that was so long. Well I’m not that sorry, if anyone should be sorry it should be Stephen. He was only asked one question, “Are these charges true?” Instead of just giving a simple yes or no, he goes on this rampage and starts storytelling. Now we need to keep in mind that the people that he was talking to were Jews. They knew the Torah, they knew God’s story inside and out. None of this was new. It was all the same characters and same stories. So Stephen is preaching to the choir here.

However, if we thought that you could only look at stories one way, or that you could hear a story once and then know all you needed to know, then we wouldn’t be Christian. Christian and Judaic history prides itself on it’s diverse past of seeing the story differently as to highlight different points. Remember when we studied the parable of the prodigal son and then slowly as the sermon went on we became to see the story entirely different, so much so that calling it the prodigal son would no longer do it justice, we wanted to call it the parable of the loving father and his two sons? Sure we can read the story one way and see that it’s about forgiveness and coming back to God. Or we can read the prodigal son and see themes of grace, bitterness, glory, retribution theology, jealousy, salvation and partying.

This is what Stephen did. His listeners knew the story, but they didn’t know the story like this. Stephen retold this story with an entirely different lens that highlighted and pointed to certain things that would give the story they all knew brand new meaning.

Q: Do you see what the angle is that Stephen is taking when he retells the story this way? What kind of lens is Stephen looking at this through?

Stephen’s retelling is through the lens of God fulfilling his promise and his people rejecting his messengers. If we go back and look at the parts that I bolded (so I pretty much gave you the answer), then you can see very specific points that Stephen is trying to highlight. It’s the story of God sending a prophet and God’s people rejecting the prophet. What Stephen is doing here is creating a fundamental critique of of power and the people of God and how they refuse to listen to the prophets of God. When you tell a story with a different perspective all sorts of new truth comes out.

We tend to hate to see the world through any other perspective but our own. We think that the way we see things is the way it is and everyone else is wrong. Remember when the whole Janet Jackson fiasco happened at the Super Bowl? Moby, a well-known artists said this

“a lot of time Christians seem to have their priorities all wrong – they seem to be concerned about things that shouldn’t merit that much attention – take for example the superbowl incident with Janet Jackson. I hear people say that they are more offended with the direction our culture has taken. And I’m like, well why not be offended by the super bowl? Why not be offended by the crass commercialism – that buying a new car is going to provide you with happiness and salvation? Why not be offended by the notion that grown men who beat the s— out of each other get paid $15 million a year, while schoolteachers in the inner-city get paid $24,000 a year? That’s offensive. If we are going to start talking about things that are offensive, a bare breast is at the bottom of the list. – Moby”

We tend to look at stories and history from the perspective that helps us the most. What Moby points out above is that Christians have understood their faith and morals with a specific slant. Janet Jackson revealing her breast on stage is massively offensive and how dare you be subjected to that kind of horrific display of depravity. What Moby states here is that there is plenty more ways to look at the Janet Jackson incident. There is lots of different perspectives to understand this story. There is a lot more going on here that you could be offended at. Yet many of us are unable to look at the situation any differently and just hate the fact that their kids saw a breast on stage.

This perspective dodging happens with all sorts of things. Morals is just the beginning. Ask any right wing republican if the government should allow a Mosque to be built close to the site of 9.11. Those opposed to the mosque being built next to ground zero are unable to see the world from any other perspective. At one hearing where the decision was being made, a women said
“it would be a terrible mistake to destroy a 154 year old building in order to build a monument to terrorism”
Really? A mosque is a symbol and its only meaning is that of terrorism? Not a worship place for a God that we once called our own for a religious community that is as old as our own?

What we see here is actually a classic example of story after story of someones perspective being challenged and then their response after. It is usually anger, bitterness and rage. Perspective is all a lot of people have. The way they see the world is solid truth and they need to control that and keep proving it over and over again to themselves and their kids. For instance, there was a conflict this week with a friend that was an employee. So I went to the store to help try and resolve a conflict with her and the boss. The boss was convinced in her mind that her employee had stolen things from her. She had an entire story made up in her mind about how her employee had stolen all these things. She knew that her employee had done all these things because one time she saw her daughters plastic sunglasses fall from the scarf of this employee. I’ve never seen anything quite like it actually.

When I tried to simply point out that she was jumping to massive conclusions and making assumptions with no real proof she got even angrier, made more accusations and got more petty. As the conversation moved along and the other perspective was laid out on the table, it only served to agitate because this boss already decided on what was the absolute truth in this situation was. At no point did she want to hear another perspective or understand it from a different side especially one that would paint in any sort of light that she was the crazy or wrong one. Anyone who was telling her any different was instantly her enemy. We eventually got asked to leave the store as she stormed off in a rage because we would dare state that the thefts that she claims happen, didn’t happen. It was all quite weird. We weren’t really sure how to handle it. The same sort of situation sort of happened with Stephen. He retells the story of God to these people who know the story off by heart, but he offers a different perspective.

Stephen criticizes the temple setup, and the sacrificial system and the law that the held on so tightly too. But really what caused the break down was that Stephen faced right into a story that people were comfortable with and disrupted it. Not only that, he flipped the story on their heads. He showed time after time how God sent a message through prophets and no one listened. Then he tells them that they haven’t changed, they are still like that. They still aren’t listening and they are missing out on what God has for them.

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

These folks are angry! Gnashing of teeth? That’s the same language that the Bible uses for what Hell was going to be like. Can you picture it now? The top law makers and judges in the country all with their hands over their ears yelling at the top of their voices. It’s all quite childish, but this happens all the time. I saw it happen first hand this week with this boss and employee, but I think it happens in more subtle ways in our own lives.

Q: In what times do you put up walls against hearing things from a different perspective?

If there is one thing that we can learn from this story, it is that we need to learn the art of embracing and listening to other people’s perspectives. Even if it is offensive and hurtful and flies in the face of everything that you have ever believed and thought. This is a difficult place to be in, but the alternative isn’t that nice either. God speaks through difference. He speaks through contrast. Just look at the offensive stories Jesus tells. Whores and thieves, party boys and Samaritans are the major players all through the gospels as the good examples and the way to live in the Kingdom of God. This is a mind altering understanding of how the world works. If there is one thing that we have repeated over and over again at theStory it is that we need to look at things differently. We need embrace other people’s stories as legitimate as our own. The hard parables and the messages of the Bible we dive into head first because we see value in being challenged. The rules of dialogue that we have on our walls behind us are a reminder that we dialogue, we listen, we talk, we learn, we educate others. It’s all part of how people grow and how the kingdom grows. We listen and embrace other perspectives.

Stephen didn’t have the luxury of dialogue. What he had to say was so offensive and angered so many people that it was this point when the entire church started to become persecuted.

And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

I think that one of the places that Christians will find themselves in a lot, is facing head first into stubborn people. Christians speak truth, face into oppressive systems, expose unhealthy directions – Christians throughout history have been on the front lines of social change.

Back when I was a kid, there was always this story going around about these masked men who came storming into a church one Sunday with guns. They yelled at the top of their lungs that anyone who wasn’t willing to die right now for Jesus to leave. A number of people scurried out of the room. We heap guilt on people that we need to be willing to stand up to gun men and claim out loud your faith in Jesus. This is the best way we know how to explain standing up for our faith and being persecuted. The best part of this story though is after they scared away all these so called Christians, they ripped off their masks and said “allright, now we can worship with the true Christians.”

There is this odd understanding in today’s western world of persecution and opposition. On my Ghana trip, I was having conversations with Canadians who were feeling persecuted by the government because it was left leaning at times and they were allowing Muslims to pray in schools but they weren’t allowed to call Christmas Christmas. Persecution somehow now means that if someone opposes you, you are being persecuted. But here we are staring at the life of the first Christian martyr ever, and we get a very different picture of what was happening. Stephen was martyred because he stood up for justice and faced into the corrupt power systems of his day. When you face into power and expose them for what they are. You get killed. Christians like us don’t get killed because our words and our lives go along with the power systems, we don’t face into them. We think they are normal, should be expected and we just go on living out our lives. This is why we don’t get killed.

Luke tells this story in a very specific way. This is why I highlighted what I did in the verse. The language of angels is used a lot. At first we read that Stephen had the face of an angel and we see that as meaning with a halo and bright and angelic. But really, after reading to this point. We can see that angel in this context doesn’t mean our regular understanding of angels. An angel in this point is someone who is telling the truth about what God is doing and is going to do. Stephen keeps referring to an angel who God’s people rejected. An angel through a bush, an angel on a mountain, and God’s people kept rejecting him. Luke says Stephen face was like an angel. Luke is telling this story in such a way that we see the same story unfolding in the same way. God’s people are rejecting yet another one of God’s prophets. Stephen’s version of the story is that God kept coming back to his people, kept sending prophets to them and God’s people kept rejecting it, and continued to refuse to see the world any differently. Then Stephen lives out this story in the same way that he tells it. Through their anger they fulfill the inevitable end that they would become just like everyone else with how they respond to God’s call. Within moments, the guy whose face was like an angel lay dead on the road.

So we end today on kind of a downer. Stephen is dead and Saul is running around killing anyone else that is saying these things. He’s trying to squash this news before anything else gets out of hand. So let’s pray together and then we will eat.

A prayer based on Acts 7.

Merciful God,
We need a new perspective
We need to accept that our perspective might be wrong
We need the courage to see live through the eyes and ears of the other

Compassionate Father,
Give us love for those who aren’t like us
Remove our hands from our ears and silent our voices
Take the stone out of our hands

Loving Saviour,
We repent for the times we did the wrong thing
We repent for the times when we did nothing
We repent for the times we don’t care

Righteous Judge,
Give the angels in our midst courage and strength
Let us not kill, ignore or disregard them
Give us willingness to live like angels

Amen.