aSacredRebel

fulfilled

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-21, NRSV)

Have you ever known someone that left town, your hometown, and then many years later they came back and started acting differently or saying things that you couldn’t believe?

Imagine how those in the temple at Nazareth felt about Jesus that day. He read the passage from the prophet Isaiah, about bringing good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and that the blind will receive their sight. That the Lord’s favor has come, and it has come through me!

They knew Jesus and had grown up with him. how could this be?

We have a hard time allowing God to be God if we keep trying to fit Him into our box. Which means He can change people and use them to do His will. Even those we think it isn’t possible for Him to use.

I mean really for every person that you think God can’t use, there is one person who thinks you are the one God can’t use.

Allow God to fulfill His promises as He chooses and don’t try to put Him in your box.

life is light

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgments are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
(Psalm 36:5-9, NRSV)

God has prepared a wonderful feast and rich drink for all of us who find shelter under His wings.

We will have life abundantly and through His light, we will see light.

He has given us abundant life and set us apart.

So live in the life of His light and in the light of His love!

Remember

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:1-8, NRSV)

This passage is about putting ourselves in the place of the other.

Remember those who are:

in prison

being tortured

married

Act like you are also in prison with them, being tortured with them, and keep all marriages undefiled.

Remember all people and look out for them.

Relation

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:21-33, NRSV)

I always cringe at this passage.

Wives be subject to your husbands…

So many people have been held in relationships where this sentence has been used to keep women locked in a sentence that was perpetuated by a “loving” relationship. But you see that is what we get when we proof text or look for what we want from the Bible without looking at all of the rest of it. (And yes we all do this.)

You see this one sentence says that women need to be subject to their husbands. But the whole passage says that both partners in the marriage have an equal part to play. That both must be willing to give. It is not a master-slave, or leader-follower or another other non-equal types of relationship. Both have duties to the relationship it is not one sided or a 50-50 relationship. It is 100%-100%.

Live in relation as God intended. No one over another, but all of us working together to live in the life God intended for all of us!

a helper

08_gn02_18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:18-25, NRSV)

I am always struck by this passage of the daunting task that Adam had of naming all the animals.

God created every creature and brought them before Adam and whatever he called it, that is what it was.

So why was a cow a cow and not a pig? Or why was a pig a pig and not a horse?

But none of these animals was found to be a helper for Adam. None of them was a suitable companion for Adam in his keeping of the garden.

So God created a helper. Someone who is not below or above Adam, but a companion. God created each of us a companion for this life.

We all have a helper, and we are equal, not above or below, but a companion. Help the one that God has blessed you with, and help them grow closer to God.

open?

Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’” (Luke 5:33-39, NRSV)

You can not fast while the guest of honor is with you. Nor can you put new fabric on old as a patch or new wine in old wineskins…

Does any of this make sense to us?

Some of it might, but it may not as well.

You see if you cut new fabric and use it to patch old fabric garments when you wash the garment the new piece will shrink differently than the rest of the garment and cause further damage then there was before.

And if you place new fermenting wine in old non-elastic (or already stretched) wineskins, they will burst.

We can not always be looking at how to keep the old, but must be open to the moving of the Spirit and the coming and inbreaking of the Kingdom.

Because change is not just something that you get from a vending machine and God is not a cosmic vending machine shelling out what we want.

We must be ready to move and change with the inbreaking of the Kingdom.

Are you open to what God has in store for us?

gifts

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:1-12, NRSV)

I do not want you to be uninformed about spiritual gifts!

I don’t think any of us want to be uninformed about gifts. Don’t we all like getting gifts?

But really these are not necessarily gifts for us.

The gifts we receive from the Spirit are gifts to help show forth God’s love to the world. To allow God to use us to spread His mercy and love and grace to a world that needs to see it.

We get a gift to help the body, which we are all a part of, and each of us has a part to play. None more important than another. All parts are needed and there is no small job.

So use your gift to build up the body, and show His light to the world!

water to wine

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11, NRSV)

Six stone jars. Why six?

Maybe because there are six days to labor and six days on which we need to be purified. As the Seventh day is for rest because that is what the Lord did on the seventh day.

And why water into wine in the jars used for purification.

Well, what is purification? Merriam-Webster Online defines purification as “the act or an instance of purifying or of being purified.” Ok, so what does purifying mean? Again according to Merriam-Webster Online purifying is “to remove dirty or harmful substances from (something), or to free (someone) from guilt or evil thoughts.”

So the jars are used for ritual cleansing. And Jesus has the servants fill them with water, that He then turns into wine. The jars used to cleanse are filled with wine. A link to the last supper, where the wine becomes the new covenant poured out for all people, where the wine, as His blood, cleanses us and makes us pure to stand in the presence of God.

Here Jesus’ first sign is a link to the New Creation we become in the covenant of His blood poured out for all of us.

Cleansed of all that can harm us, or make us dirty. Ritually purified!

Water to Wine!

yet

Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Who can utter the mighty doings of the LORD, or declare all his praise? Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times. Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them; that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage. Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly. Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wonderful works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, so that he might make known his mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry; he led them through the deep as through a desert. So he saved them from the hand of the foe, and delivered them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. Then they believed his words; they sang his praise. (Psalm 106:1-12, NRSV)

Happy are those who observe justice who do righteousness all the time!

So I guess that leaves all of us out!

How many of us are righteous all the time? I know of only 1 “person” who was righteous all the time. He also didn’t judge. But none of us are Jesus…

But we like the ancestors of old have sinned and committed iniquity and done wicked things. We are not always good, nor do we always do righteous things.

Yet God saved them out of Egypt for His name’s sake, and He will save us too!

They were delivered by His word and we can be too!

So that you may know that you have

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:6-13, NRSV)

The water and the blood testify and so does the Spirit. All of these testify that Jesus is the only Son of God and because of Him we have eternal life.

Whoever has the Son has life, eternal life. Whoever believes in the name of the Son of God has eternal life. Not will get. Or may acquire. You have eternal life.

John wrote these things so that you may know that you have eternal life. You are living eternally now with Jesus!

So go and proclaim that all may have eternal life. If they but believe in the name of Jesus!