I’m working on an idea of blogging about God’s blessing – but I came across some notes of a talk I gave the week before Covid lockdowns came at the student group at our previous church. It was on one of my favourite Psalms – Psalm 103 – and is an invitation to drink deeply from the fountain of God’s love.  So here is the Psalm and then my talk – you’ll notice that after each section I had the Psalm read. It is so weird to look back on that world – and think we have been through a version of the pattern I spoke about since then. Hopefully it will encourage you to go back to the Psalm and pray through it for your life this week.

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
⁶ The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all the oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.
¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Praise the Lord, you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    who obey his word.
²¹ Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
    you his servants who do his will.
²² Praise the Lord, all his works
    everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, my soul.

PsAlm 103

Life can be exhausting. 

Maybe today wherever you are, you are just plain tired.  Maybe though it is worse. Life can throw disasters at us.  Life can turn us upside down. But in the midst of that we can trust that God knows what he is doing. 

Psalm 103 is a Psalm written at a point when life has come back together, when God has brought about a rescue, a deliverance.  And as such it gives us words to praise God – even if we ourselves might be yet still in the pit. 

Psalms are written at three different stages:
Orientation
Disorientation
Reorientation
(footnote: Walter Bruggemann is probably the most notable scholar to popularize this scheme)

This is the movement of life with God – both on a cosmic scale and on an individual scale.  On a cosmic scale it is the story of creation, fall and redemption – but that big story shapes our stories.  There are times when life is stable, and we know what we believe and we know who we are – some Psalms seem to be written in such stability – perhaps those that express wisdom and confidence in God’s word – 1, 19, 119. 

There are other times when life goes upside down, when we don’t understand anything any more – literally the pit was death, the place of death and destruction, the grave – but it can be used of any time of utter disorientation and confusion.  Maybe moving to university felt like this. Rather than being in place where we are orientated to our surroundings, and understand life, we are in place of utter disorientation – and we cannot cope at all.  Many, many Psalms express these kind of feelings – we call them the ‘lament Psalms’ – and one, Psalm 88 never leaves this place.

This is the Pit the Psalmist sings about – maybe it is a pit caused by sin, your own, or someone else’s – maybe it is a pit caused by your stupidity, or someone else’s.  Perhaps it is a sickness or sorrow. 

Then there is the moment when you come out of the pit – perhaps a new sense of God’s forgiveness, perhaps a new sense of direction and purpose, perhaps a new sense of freedom from a particular struggle.  Psalm 103 is written in one of these moments.  They are times of re-orientation – of being back on stable ground – but somehow changed because of everything you have been through.  You once more feel stable and secure – but life looks and feels different.  Salvation never simply brings us back to the same place – it brings us on and forwards in our lives.

So listen to the words of the Psalm. Read Psalm 103

We will break the Psalm up into 4 sections – first v1-5

The LORD crowns you with his love

Firstly we need to recognise that “the LORD” could be misleading – to us it sounds like a title, but for the ancient Israelite those words are actually the personal name of God – after a while considered too holy to be pronounced – but our best guess is Yahweh.  The name revealed to Moses at the burning bush back when God first rescued his people out of Egypt.

This section is intensely personal – praise Yahweh, O my soul, all my innermost being praise his holy name.  We’ll unpack more on the name in the next section, but for now focus on all-consuming nature of this praise.  Everything in David sings God’s praises, and then he is reminding himself of all that God has done.  “Don’t forget” he says.

At the moment of rescue, it seems crazy to say ‘Don’t forget’ – how could we, we think.  But we all do – we all so easily slip away from what God has done.  But that rescue is all encompassing – all his benefits, all your sins forgiven, all your diseases healed… 

Remember this is a song from one lifted out of the pit, to encourage those still in the pit that there is hope.  Right now we don’t see all disease healed – but we do know that one day they will be.  One day all sickness will be gone – and this Psalm celebrates that reality.  God redeems us out of the pit of destruction, and crowns us with love and compassion – he weaves us a wreath of his love and his compassion – his steadfast love that never fails, and his compassion that treats us with tenderness and care. 

He satisfies our desires with good things – not necessarily the good things we want, but the good things he knows we need and should long for.  Long term his project is redirecting our desires.  Too often we do not know what we should really want, but he will satisfy us with every good thing – and he renews our youth as an eagle’s – he gives us the strength to keep going in our walk with him.

Praise the LORD O my soul.

Read – Psalm 103

Then we come to v6-12

Yahweh loves and forgives us beyond measure

V6 is a fundamental statement about God in the OT – he does what is right, and he establishes justice for the oppressed.  If you asked an Israelite how he knew that he would say “the Exodus” – and that is exactly where the Psalm goes – v7 reminds the reader of how God rescued his people out of Egypt.  V8 might then strike you as odd – how does this connect to the Exodus.  But v8 is a direct quote from Exodus 34:6-7.  They take us back to the next stage in the foundational rescue of Israel. 

Remember, God rescued Israel out of Egypt and led them to Sinai, where he gave them the law – a law of righteousness, a law of justice.  But remember too that while Moses was receiving the details for how God would live among his people, the Israelites chose to make a golden calf – an idol.  They chose to reject the living God for an image.  This is the essence of sin.  One OT scholar likens it to someone who commits adultery on their wedding night. 

God declared his intention to wipe Israel out – but Moses interceded, and God relented – read Exodus 32-34 to get the background.  Moses wants more.  Moses wants to see God and his glory.  And he gets to glimpse the trailing edge of God’s glory – but cannot see God’s face – yet he does hear God’s glory as God proclaims his name: Yahweh, Yahweh – compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 

This is who God is – compassionate – the word relates to womb – it speaks of the love of a mother for her children – an intimate tender word.  Gracious – speaks of the favour of a king extended to a subject – it speaks of God’s favour to underserving people.  Slow to anger – literally ‘long nosed’ – it takes a long time for God to be aroused to anger.  And rich in steadfast love.  God has plenty of love for all – it never runs out.

This is what Yahweh means.  When you see capital letters think these words.  Think compassion, think grace, think patience, think love.  Remember that he will not always accuse.  That his anger does not last for ever. 

He does not treat us as our sins deserve.  Our sins deserve hell. Sin is cosmic treason, sin is cosmic betrayal, sin is cosmic adultery, choosing to spend our lives with loves that will not satisfy.  We don’t get what our sins deserve.  He loves us. 

For those who fear him. At first sight this sounds out of place – doesn’t perfect love drive out fear?  But the Bible has a concept ‘fear of Yahweh’ – which is not the same as terror, or being afraid – Exodus 20 – “do not be afraid, the fear of him will keep you from sinning” – it is fear in the sense of awe and respect for something immeasurably greater. 

It is the fear as you look down from a steep ridge – not necessarily terror at the idea of falling, but a healthy respect for the mountain.  The sense of awe at waves pounding the shore.  We have so few human relationships where this has not been perverted that it is hard for us to see the reality at times.  But this sense of God’s awesome holiness is vital to a proper relationship with him.  He is utterly good – but he is not tame, he is not at our beck and call – with CS Lewis’ Aslan, ‘he is not a tame lion’ – he is not safe, but he is utterly and totally good.

And for those who know this reality their sin is gone.  V10 our sins, our iniquities, v12, our transgressions – these are the 3 words the OT has for sin – ideas of missing the mark, rebelling against a king and stepping over the line which all convey more of the seriousness of sin.  Yet all of these are gone. 

David didn’t know how.  He had sacrifices that pointed to how – but he didn’t see Jesus, David’s greatest son, stepping on to the cross – arms stretched wide for the whole human race.  In that act sin is dealt with and sin is gone.  All of sin.  The hymn writer put it well – ‘my sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought – my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more, praise the LORD, praise the LORD O my soul’

Pause

Read Psalm 103

Yahweh remembers you are dust: 13-18

Yahweh has compassion as a father on his children.  He knows how we are formed; he knows our whole make up.  He knows we are dust.  We are transient and weak – and God knows us in that.  He does not expect us to be superhumans.  We do not need to do everything.  We cannot do everything.

We need to hear these verses over and over again until they get under our skin.  We need to know we are dust. We need to know that the creator of the universe knows that reality and he has compassion on us. 

He has compassion on you.  He knows your struggles. He knows your weaknesses.  He hears your cries at night.  He knows you – in all your strength and in all your weakness.  He knows and understands what makes you tick. 

He knows that one day you will be gone.  That is true of uni life – one day you will leave Southampton university – and your network of friendships and ties will loosen.  Some will remain, and hold you – others will fade away.  It is true of life on this earth.  One day we will be gone.  When we first moved to the area and I started working based up at the hospital we lived outside Southampton and I drove in each day, parked by the outdoor sports centre and walked through the cemetery – the ultimate proof that life fades and ends. 

Yet from everlasting to everlasting Yahweh’s love is with those who fear him – his righteousness – the righteousness that seeks to put the world to rights – is with those who fear him and their children’s children. 

For the Israelite hearing this it would be a reminder that the hope of a family line was in Yahweh and fearing him.  For us it reminds us that as we live here at Southampton we need to live with eternity in view.  We are dust and we live in a world of dust.  No matter how impressive that dust can seem. 

It is important to work hard now, to put our efforts into our degree, and into the implications of what we study – to develop a Christian mind – but we do not do that to get success in the world’s terms – rather we do it as part of our service to our compassionate creator. 

As we do that we keep his covenant, we remember to obey his precepts. 

Or remember his precepts in order to obey him

keeping covenant is not about perfection – but about direction

it is about remembering 1 John – the commandment is to believe and to love.  We don’t keep God’s commands in order to keep in his love – rather we remain in his love in order to keep his commands.  We remember his commands so that we might seek to put them into practice.  This is what people who fear Yahweh do.  We keep his covenant by remembering Jesus rescue for us, and by continually repenting of our sin and turning back to Jesus.

And as we do that we come back always to the compassionate father who remembers that we are dust.

Pause

Read Psalm 103

Nothing can stop Yahweh’s love – he rules over all: 19-22

Finally – and very briefly – nothing can stop Yahweh’s love.  This call to praise reminds us that Yahweh is king and rules over all.  There is nothing that can stop his love.  We are loved by the King. 

Who am I that the highest King, should welcome me?  That is the wonder of the gospel.

And that is why we praise. Not because God needs it, but because we do.

We worship because we were made for this.  We were made to know God and enjoy him forever.

And so we join the angels in heaven, we join the saints who have gone before us, in wonder and adoration at the God who is king over all creation, yet chooses to lavish his love on sinners like me, and like you.  Who chooses to bring us in to his life.  To remove our sins, as far as east is from the west.  The God who knows the depths of hearts, yet loves us the same.

Pause Read Psalm 103

Fear is the “mind-killer” – or so the hero of cult sci-fi classic Dune is told to remember. In the case of Saul – and potentially in our case we could say much the same. Perhaps even more seriously that fear, because it is a mind-killer, is also a soul-slayer.

Fear comes repeatedly in Saul’s story. We wonder about Saul’s character early on in his appearance. He and his servant are looking for his father’s donkeys, and it seems to be the servant who knows what to do, and where to go. After Saul is privately anointed as King by Samuel he disappears, and hides among the baggage. There are stories of people dragged to thrones and bishops chairs, showing reluctance to become leaders of men. But still we wonder. Is Saul one of these, or is there something more holding him back?

Saul is told by Samuel to do whatever his hand finds to do at Gibeah. But the first two stories of military attacks at Gibeah turn out to be the work of Jonathan, who shows a large amount of bravery and courage – which his father happily claims the credit for (1 Samuel 13:4). In the second half of chapter 13 Saul faces an army disappearing, an enemy mustering, and a late to arrive prophet – and so he carries out the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel – he lacks the courage to wait, the courage to obey.

In chapter 15 Saul again fails to carry out Samuel’s instructions – and Samuel’s words are intriguing in response:

17And Samuel said,  ^t“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?  ^uWhy did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 

Saul was supposed to execute God’s judgement on the Amalekites – and the spoil from the victory was not to be taken by the people. Saul ignores this and takes the best of the spoil for himself and his people. Samuel is not impressed. But his opening words are striking. Saul is said to be ‘insignificant’ or ‘little’ in his own eyes – even though God has made him king over Israel. And then comes Samuel’s questions as to why Saul has not obeyed God’s voice. The dialogue continues, and a little further on we get this explanation from Saul:

24Saul said to Samuel ^ac“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” 

Saul finally admits his sin, and explains it by the fact that he feared the people – and so he obeyed their voice – the ESV helpfully shows us that this is the same phrase used for the obedience he should have had to God – but in fact, rather than listening to God’s voice, his listens to the voice of the people. He does this because he is afraid.

I think this is linked to being ‘small in his own eyes’. I don’t think Saul here has properly grasped what it is to be God’s anointed. There is a right humility we all need, but there is an also a right sense of our own significance. We are made, we are created by God, for a reason. We are, Paul tells us, his workmanship – created with good deeds to do. None of us are junk. None of us are insignificant in God’s eyes. So we shouldn’t be in our own eyes either. When we view ourselves as insignificant it will be easy to also fear people in a way that leads us to listen to them more than God.

Saul’s fear here leads him to disobey God’s commands, and moves him away from a humble dependance on God’s direction to a self protective self reliance. This means that, in the story told in chapters 18 and following of 1 Samuel, Saul’s fear takes a darker turn. Saul fears David’s success. He fears David’s popularity. His fear becomes jealousy, jealousy of what he could have had, but never did, because he gave way at every turn to fear.

Saul’s fear blinds him to what he could be for David. He could, like Jonathan, recognise David’s anointed, and plan an orderly succession. But he chose to cling to what he has, fearful – and aggressive because of his fear.

We tend to think of fear as a reaction that is beyond our control. As a child afraid of the thunder, so we can’t help our fear. There is some truth to that with some of our fears. But there are other fears that we need to do something about. We need to face up to fear and take steps to move beyond the fear. We cannot live for ever avoiding our fears. The danger is that a life where we give way to fear quickly becomes a life where we control others because we fear what happens if we allow them to thrive.

Ultimately the fear of people, and the craving for their approval is crippling. Jesus speaks to the Pharisees in John 5 and says these words:

 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Jesus – John 5:44

There is only one place we should go for approval and affirmation. We long for others to applaud us, and we fear the silence and rejection when they do not. The word “glory” in 1 Samuel is related to the word for weight. It contains the idea of significance and of value. Jesus in John 5:44 tells us that the only place where real value and significance can be truly found is in God.

When we see the approval of people we change ourselves to fit their narrative and we miss out on what God intends for us. When we seek to find value and significance in God we find that he has made us intrinsically valuable, gifted for service to him and his world. When we trust in Christ we are united to him, and we are beloved in him. We have the value to God that Christ has to him. We see that value shown supremely in the lengths to which God in Christ was prepared to go to bring us back to him, when we were utterly lost in our own fears and self-centredness.

The God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the God who is continually giving himself. Each person of the Trinity for the other, and that giving spills over into creation. God’s goodness is a giving of himself for us. So in seeking our meaning and significance in him, we are not seeking meaning and significance in a fallible human who will use us, rather we are seeking meaning and significance in the God who designed us as we are, making us to reflect his image in who he has made us to be.

And thus we are given the basic tools to live a life free from fear of people, trusting in the One who made us to show us our significance and value in his eyes. As we reflect on the narrative of 1 Samuel we are shown how not to be like Saul, but instead to be something like his son Jonathan, who lived knowing that God could save, even by a few, and knowing that it was better to lay down his life for God’s King, than to try and cling on to his life to make himself king.

In this post I want to reflect more on the reality described in 1 Samuel that Saul received the empowering of the Holy Spirit for his kingship – but there was no seeming evidence of God’s transformation of his character. Instead he ended up a bitter man ruled by jealousy seeking the death of the one who was supposed to rule.

The sad reality this reflects is also seen in other lives in Scripture. Think of Samson for example. There are repeated times he is empowered by the Spirit of God, but his life shows no signs of moral transformation. I talked about this briefly in the sermon – but had lots of reflections that came to mind as I did so, that didn’t really fit in a sermon, but might be good to think about.

We might then ask if this is purely an Old Testament phenomena. Doesn’t the promise of God’s Spirit in us mean that if a Christian experiences the power of the Spirit does that mean they won’t act in the same way as a Samson or Saul. While I do think the experience of the Spirit for New Testament believers is a deeper one than in the OT, I think also that we see in the NT that there are those in the early church who experience God’s gifts and power, but don’t let it change their hearts – Ananias and Sapphira for example – and quite possibly a number of the Corinthian church – a church that Paul sees as gifted beyond parallel, yet flawed in so many different areas, including massive moral failures.

The sad reality is that this lack of change in the heart can lead into all sorts of different kinds of sin. Sometimes in ‘obvious’ moral failure, sometimes in hidden character traits that never go uncorrected, and sometimes in outright abuse and corruption of others. In this post I’m not offering answers in how to stop such things, and nor am I offering a practical survival guide. Instead I’m offering some thoughts that give us a way of thinking through surviving in such a world.

It is easy to see all kinds of problems with high profile gifted leaders in our world today. Just off the top of my head I can list any number of high profile moral failures and abusive figures who have been respected church leaders or thinkers.

Among those who seek to sit under the authority of the Bible:
The gifted preacher who left his wife for a relationship with a man
The apologist who turned out to be using his position and travels for self gratifying encounters with women
The creative church planter, impeccable in theology, reminding us of the relational elements in church life, who turned out to be bullying and overbearing
The leader of a large church, influential in his network, with powerful friends, whose leadership was based around fear, and had a strange physical element to it – and his ministry was part of a larger issue with a ‘culture of fear’
The lawyer who spoken for “Christian values” in society, but beat boys and young men in his shed, and went on to carry his abusive behaviour in an African country after those associated with his ministry covered up the violence.

There are those connected with wider streams of Christian thought – Neo-orthodox, peace churches in the Anabaptist tradition, Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic:
One of the most influential theologians of the 20th century who it seems had a long standing affair with his secretary and helper
The theologian of ‘peace’ whose relationships with some women were utterly abusive
The monk like figure whose deep spirituality won respect from those in high places yet used his position to ruin young lives.
The priest who founded a organisation to help the disabled abusing women who trusted him

The list goes on, and on, and on… If we widened the search through church history we would see time again this link of extraordinary giftedness – and yet utter immorality (at best) and violent abuse (at worse). When I was young I thought this issue was because of wrong theology. That if the theology was corrected the behaviour would be. Then the first thing on that list above happened. The list above includes people from every section of the church. No theology protects against immorality and abuse.

Not only that, but experiences of God’s power at work do not mean the person empowered becomes holy or godly. All the people in that list have made vital contributions to the work of the church over the years. People enormously helped by their ministries. And yet they have a dark side. A very dark side. What is God doing? In many cases it seems that his giftedness and empowering has just given them more scope to sin.

There are no easy answers to that on a large scale – but I think the answers must have something to do with the way in which God does not override our personalities, but works with us, giving us freedom and wanting us to respond to him in that freedom. Given that freedom, the failure, sin and abuse of leaders is a opportunity for us to examine our hearts to see where we are vulnerable to sin, and where we are complicit in allowing wrongdoing to take place – the problem with a number of the abusive situations we can think of is not simply the wrongdoer themselves, but those around the wrongdoer who by silence and passivity allow abuse to continue.

That is why the Bible abounds with warnings to not let our hearts become hard, and to allow God to transform us by his Spirit as well as to empower us. Saul in the Bible was empowered by God, but he did not allow God to transform him. He remained fearful throughout his life. When confronted by God’s warnings he made excuses for his wrong.

The Bible also gives us examples of how to respond to leaders who act like this. Jonathan in the story of David, Jonathan and Saul, speaks to confront his father and protect David. He doesn’t like the reality of what his father has become, but neither does he shrink away from the reality. He doesn’t shrug it off as a “that’s just his way”. He deals with it.

Later in the story other characters give us examples of how not to deal with things. David hears of the rape of Tamar his daughter, by his son Anmon and does nothing. Absalom hears and does nothing immediately, but plots and executes revenge. There are characters in the story whose actions we never quite know the motives of – we never learn whether Ziba or Mephibosheth is telling the truth when David has to flee the city and then comes back.

The murky stories of the Bible reflect the sort of world we live in and are called to be faithful disciples in. The reality is that great gifting and powerful demonstrations of the Spirit’s work through an individual guarantee nothing about that person’s standing before God and trustworthiness.

The Bible contains many different examples of this sort of story and every situation is different. Each situation needs to be evaluated in its merits. As we read Saul’s story sometimes his behaviour can function as a warning to us not to grow cold to the Spirit’s voice lest we fall into some kind of self indulgence. At other times his example and the story of his life gives us a warning to us not to be silent in situations where we see others misusing power and abusing others.

Sometimes we can speak like Jonathan, and later Nathan, truth to power. Sometimes we might have just to run and get ourselves out as David did from Saul. Sometimes we might find something in a situation that tempts us to behave in a similar way. If so we need to be honest and find a trusted friend or counselor to help us deal with it, and ensure that we don’t fall into immorality or walk into patterns of abuse.

The sheer variety of wrong situations, and different patterns of wrong behaviour involved should give us pause when we find one of these situations coming close to us. The fundamental thing we need to remember from so many of these stories is that giftedness does not lead to character – in us, or in others.

So don’t be deceived by the ability of a leader into thinking that they must be doing God’s will. Don’t be deceived by ability in your own life, or success in ministry into thinking you must be doing God’s will. Do the hard work of seeking God’s ways, and seeking his character. Don’t break the trust of others, don’t look down on others, but show real love that is willing to give of ourselves to see others grow. Love that, with Jonathan in Saul and David’s story, is willing to give up first place for God’s purposes.

Jude is an often overlooked letter, but I think his final verses have real wisdom for us here:

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

jude 17-23

The scoffers remind us of those who are open about changing the teaching of our churches away from the Bible to something more appealing to our own self indulgence. The answer to that is to build ourselves up in the faith, to pray in the Holy Spirit and to keep ourselves in God’s love as we wait for Christ’s final mercy to us.

Then comes the instructions on how to help others. To be merciful to those who doubt. In this age, with the list I gave earlier of leaders who have walked away or been abusive, it is easy to doubt God’s goodness. We need to help others and show mercy. Others need to be snatched away from fire, out of difficult situations, and given safe places. Others need our mercy and help – but also our caution. It may be we are helping someone, but recognise the pull of a temptation as we do. That the very act of helping leads to a desire that could be wrong – is that to take advantage of a vulnerable person? Is it to join them in some activity, perhaps that we once enjoyed ourselves? Is it to form some kind of alliance in reaction against an evil where we become just like what we have reacted against? Jude isn’t necessarily thinking of all these things – but I think his questions can lead us to legitimately ask more.

We began with Saul, and it is worth reading 1 Samuel to see his tragic tale told. To reflect on the disintegration of the personality that fears people so deeply and refuses to repent. To reflect on the personality that leads to seeking destruction and ruin for those he is jealous of. To make sure that we are not taking the first steps on the way to such behaviours. To make sure that we are helping those who are the victim of such behaviours. To make sure that we are not enabling such behaviours.

In the end of all of these thoughts lead us back to the end of Jude’s letter. Our only hope in life and death is that we belong to Christ, and our only hope to avoid shipwrecking our lives is Christ.

²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude 24-25

In the last post I put up my sermon on this passage. In this post, and ones to come, I’m putting up spin offs, that there either wasn’t time to cover, or didn’t fit with the main points of the passage.

In this post I will consider the idea that the text portrays David and Jonathan’s relationship as one involving sexual attraction/activity. I wouldn’t necessarily choose to do this – but a quick Google of David and Jonathan will reveal that this is an idea seriously advanced by biblical scholars, and then used in current debates on sexuality.

Those who argue this typically pick up on one or more of three features of the text: the language of love and delight, the physical contact, and the language of covenant. There are also occasions when David and Jonathan are just listed by people making the argument for some kind of biblical support for same sex sexual activity as likely same sex partners in scripture – and so it is that makes me think it is important to dig into texts like this to see what they really say, to make sure we are not using Scripture simply for our own ends.

I did not raise this in the sermon because it would take too much time, and would divert attention away from the main points of the text. I think I would only ever preach it in a sermon if I knew lots of people in the congregation would see it this way – or if it featured prominently in some news discussion of church debates. Instead I outlined the nature of the relationship in a positive manner, that I think shows the way in which none of the three things above need to imply any kind of sexual activity – and this is the way I will outline the relationship in this post.

The first key passage is this:

18 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. ² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. ³ And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

1 Sam 18:1-4

Here we first need to remind ourselves of the immediate context – so in my sermon I talked about David and Goliath, and the victory won in that context by David because he trusted in God. I then told the congregation about 1 Samuel 14 – and in particular these verses:

⁶ Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

. . . if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands. . .

¹³ Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him.

¹⁴ In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. ¹⁵ Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.

1 Samuel 14:6-15

Compare that to 1 Samuel 17:

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

1 Samuel 17:45-47

Notice the language both of them use about Yahweh’s saving, and the way in which both know that the battle belongs to Yahweh. Both are brave warriors willing to defy the odds because of their trust in Yahweh. No wonder then, that they become “one in spirit”. This phrase means something like “joined together”, and its most common use in the historical books is to do with conspiracy – conspirators are said to be “joined together” because they have a united aim. David and Jonathan have a united trust in Yahweh that means they see the world the same way.

This incidentally makes us wonder why Jonathan did not fight Goliath. I can think of three reasons, but the text does not tell us – the first was that Goliath was just too big even for Jonathan to face, and so Jonathan did not come forward, the second was that Saul and/or his council of war did not permit Jonathan to fight and the third is that Jonathan deliberately stepped back because he knew that his family had been decisively rejected from the kingship. In any case, what the passage in chapter 18 makes clear is that David and Jonathan see the world the same way, and have the same basic faith in Yahweh.

The next word we need to examine is covenant. In the ancient Near Eastern context this word is often used of relationships between kings and their vassals, and in the Bible the language is used of God and the people. God delivers his people, and gives his blessing while in turn they are to love him with complete loyalty. In the historical books various character make covenants with each other which we likely call ‘treaties’ or something similar (e.g. Abraham and Abimelech in Genesis 21). It is not until Malachi that marriage is described in covenantal terms (the woman is described literally as ‘wife of your covenant’, and the purpose of the marriage is described as ‘godly offspring’) – so it seems unlikely we are expected to link covenant with marriage in 1 Samuel. For David and Jonathan to make a covenant is to declare loyalty to each other in a situation where natural circumstances would make them sworn enemies). In the context of covenant the language of love is mostly to do with complete loyalty – and in the story of Jonathan and David we see more of what this looks like as the narrative progresses.

Jonathan’s loyal love leads to him removing his robe, tunic and weapons and gives them to David. The word here translated tunic is the same word used of Saul’s armour in the previous chapter. Jonathan is removing the robe that is likely associated with his position as crown prince, and giving his weapons to David. It seems to be an implicit acknowledgement of what he later says openly – that he knows David will be king after him, and he is happy with that. I think that then the delight Jonathan is said to have in David in chapter 19 relates to this pleasure that David is God’s anointed king.

None of this requires, or seems to indicate anything, sexual. The only other physical description used is their farewell kisses in chapter 20 – which are fairly typical greetings in Scripture – the word is used of greetings between men and men, women and men, greetings within family – as is typical in many cultures today. Reading in a UK or USA culture it may seem odd, but in many other places of the word such kisses are common place – indeed Paul instructs one of his churches to “greet one another with a holy kiss.”

A related question also raised by some thinkers concerns whether the concept of two men making a covenant can speak to a covenanted relationship in the context of blessing same sex relationships today. It seems to me that we would have to be quite careful about transferring this idea without first thinking of the particular context of David and Jonathan’s relationship.

David is God’s anointed king, and the covenant between them encompasses Jonathan’s loyalty to David, and in return David’s commitment to Jonathan’s family. In context today one could think of two friends who promise to support each others ministry and family life – but that is quite a long way from same sex relationship blessing services.

The final text used to suggest a sexual relationship is actually in 2 Samuel where David describes Jonathan’s love as better than that of women. It doesn’t seem to me that this demands a sexual interpretation. In the context of this story I think David is reflecting both on the selfless loyalty of Jonathan and the united outlook of Jonathan and David – a kind of friendship and support that it doesn’t seem like David had with any of his wives. The language is poetic to emphasize the special nature of his friendship with Jonathan, but doesn’t imply anything more.

This friendship of David and Jonathan then, is more or less irrelevant to the question of what the Bible has to say about same sex sexual relations today. Instead this study of David and Jonathan has lots to say about same sex (and opposite sex) friendship. It encourages us to think about how we can be true friends to others. Are we the sort of people who encourage others to stand in God’s strength? Are we committed to a loyal love that seeks the best for the other – and that reflects God’s kindness and mercy. One of the joys of serving together in Christian ministry and mission is the forming of such friendships where we look together to Christ, and seek to encourage and help each other. In those contexts I think it would do us much good to encourage other people by telling them about the good that we see in them, and the ways in which they have helped us.

As I pointed out in the sermon the friendship between David and Jonathan also encourages us to look at how they fulfilled their promises to one another.

Jonathan, at great risk to his own life, protects David’s life from Saul – he is a voice speaking up for his friend? Is that us? Speaking up for others when wrong is done?

David, when he comes to the throne looks for a way to show kindness to Jonathan’s family – and brings Mephibosheth to the king’s table. He keeps his promise. Such promise keeping reminds us of the one who no longer calls us servants, but friends – and who shows his loyalty and steadfast love to the cross.

This Sunday I preached, as part of our church series, on 1 Samuel 18-20. I thought I’d put my sermon up here, and then in another couple of posts delve a bit deeper into questions the passage raises – or questions that the passage relates to, and why I took a particular approach. So here goes with the sermon:

If we were living David’s life, we might not appreciate the twist that it takes in today’s passages. Two weeks ago David was anointed as God’s chosen King. Last week we heard how he defeated Goliath. But the final outcome from this week’s chapters is that he is on the run for his life, from a jealous king.

That in itself is part of the Bible’s realism.  God being with his people, God saving his people, God giving his people a job to do – none of those things guarantees a smooth ride. And I guess that rings true in experience – we all know the reality of going from seeing God at work to seeing things seemingly fall apart quickly.

But in the midst of the confusion of these chapters, and in their gruesome realities how do we make sense of these chapters for us today? For the whole Bible contains encouragement for us, that we might have hope in God. And warning for us, that we might stay loyal to God. How do these chapters work in that for us?

To see the teaching of this passage most clearly, we need to set this story in the context of the whole Bible. And then to see how these chapters work together in that. We need to understand that as God’s chosen King, David’s reign points to David’s promised Son – Jesus.

The kingdom belongs to David – he is God’s chosen King, who has demonstrated it in winning the victory for Israel – but he is not yet crowned, and the throne is occupied by an enemy whose rule is not good for his people. 

Israel lives between the time of the King’s choosing, and his final enthronement – and so do we. David will eventually be promised a Son whose rule will never end, and whose kingdom will last forever. Jesus came in fulfillment of that promise and by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension was seen to be God’s King, whose rule will last forever – but we do not yet see that rule working out in the world as we will one day.  So we need to work out how to live now in the light of what is to come – and that will make a difference to our lives. 

And with that big picture framework in place we turn to the overview of these chapters (overview on slide):

18:1-5 David and Jonathan’s love: David’s success

18:6-16 David and Saul’s envy: David’s success

18:17-30 David and Michal’s love: David’s success

19:1-17 Saul’s death threats: Jonathan and Michal save David

19:18-24 Saul’s death threats: God’s Spirit saves

20:1-23 David and Jonathan – protection promised

20:24-42 Jonathan and Saul, Jonathan and David – clarity, shame and peace

There is so much we could focus on in these chapters, in particular you can really see how God uses a whole range of circumstances and situations to keep David safe in the midst of seeming chaos – and take encouragement that the same God is ours in the midst of our life challenges – I’d really encourage you to read through on your own and think about that.

Through this story we see two reactions to God’s anointed King which are a warning and encouragement to us:

The first is the way of Saul, which stands as a stark warning to us that grasping hold of what we have will mean we lose our life.

Look at 18:5-9 with me: 

Saul sends David on mission after successful mission – and all Israel are impressed – including Saul’s army commanders. Then the women sing of Israel’s victory – and they get the order wrong. You see they give the climax of the song, and the bigger number to David – yes, Saul has slain thousands – but David a multitude more – and Saul is angry. He is jealous of David’s success Saul has been rejected as God’s king by Samuel – and he knows his kingdom will be given to another. 

Look down at verses 10-16

Saul knows someone is coming who will one day rule. Once upon a time God’s Spirit had powerfully come upon Saul and given him power to rule Israel and to defeat their enemies. But now a “troubling mood” (which is one way to translate the phrase ‘evil spirit’, given that the word often translated ‘evil’ can also be translated ‘troubling’ and ‘spirit’ can also mean ‘mood’) has been sent on him by God – part of God’s judgement on Saul’s rejection of him. David’s playing usually helps these moods, but now that David has been revealed as a successful commander Saul’s mood is just made worse.

We are told in 12-16 that Saul is afraid – because God is with David, and giving David success. Saul wants to cling to his kingdom, but sees David having everything he once had. The scene is tragic. And Saul stands as a warning to us all – A warning in relation to understanding the life of the Spirit. 

Perhaps a good warning at Pentecost when we think about the work of the Spirit. Saul, and many OT figures, show us that it is possible to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, but not be transformed by the Spirit – because the Spirit empowers for God’s purposes and plans, and leaves individuals responsible for using that empowerment in their own transformation.

Which means it is possible to achieve things for God without necessarily allowing God’s Spirit to change us – which means two traps to avoid for us:

First don’t fall into the trap of thinking a Christian leader is necessarily a godly example simply because they have crowds flocking to hear them – still need to be accountable.

Second: don’t fall into the trap of thinking that doing good things for God means your relationship with God is in a good place – must individually be seeking God and asking what it means for him to be Lord. 

Then also Saul stands as a warning of the danger of wrong fear. In 1 Samuel 15:24, Saul says that he disobeyed because he was afraid of the people. And now in ch 18 he is afraid. Afraid of the people, and afraid of David. Why is he is afraid? Why this fear?  Perhaps because thinks the worst thing that could happen is that he loses his position and status. His concern is with people and what they think.

A vivid contrast with David’s life where David fears God first. 

And you might think I’m being unfair – could we really expect Saul to welcome David with open arms? Well I think we could – I think Saul had the chance to show true repentance and save himself, if not his kingdom. And the reason I think that is that we see a second reaction to God’s choice of King here – and that reaction is Jonathan – who potentially has most to lose from David’s rise. 

Jonathan’s example shows us that those who rightly respond to God’s chosen king should be marked by covenant love – loyal love, and kindness or steadfast love.

First we need to makes sure we understand a key word in this passage. There are three times in 1 Samuel that we are told that Jonathan and David made a covenant – and so we need to understand what that means. Essentially it is a more serious form of promise. In the ancient world kings and vassals would make these sort of agreements – and God makes covenants with his people throughout the Bible. 

Those covenants are marked by God’s steadfast love for his people – and their loyal love in response. 

In each of the three covenants in 1 Samuel between David and Jonathan there is a slightly different emphasis. In this first description of covenant the emphasis is on Jonathan’s loyal love to David. 

Look at what Jonathan does 18:1-4. The phrase “one in spirit with David” means that they saw things the same way – it can be used of people who are in a conspiracy together – which is what Saul sees. But here it means that David and Jonathan saw things the same way. Jonathan, in fact delights in David – A warrior like him, who trusts God

Read 1 Samuel 14, and then 17 – and you see first Jonathan, then David winning the battle because they know that it is God who fights for them. Look here at v4 – Jonathan takes off his robe – likely the robe that shows he is the crown prince – the robe that shows his status. Then he takes off his tunic – which can be translated as armour – Saul gives David his when David is going to fight Goliath, and here Jonathan gives David his sword, bow and belt. Jonathan here shows vividly in symbolic fashion that he is giving priority to David, and that he is willingly giving David first place. 

Because he recognises who David is – God’s chosen King. Are our lives marked by this loyal love to God’s King, and therefore loyal love to others? 

Jonathan carries this on, as we saw in the overview of the chapter, to speak up for David before his father – and Saul promises on oath that David will not be put to death. Saul does not keep this vow – soon he seeks to kill David again. this time it seems that Jonathan is ignorant, because we then reach our second reading which contains the second covenant making time– Look at chapter 20.

David approaches Jonathan because Saul is still trying to kill him. And he wants to find out if it is true or not. So once more David and Jonathan make a covenant – this time it is David who initiates the covenant language in v8 – invoking the covenant that they have already made, and asking that Jonathan treat him with kindness. This second covenant making emphasizes ‘kindness’. This kindness is not simply “be nice to me” – it is a really significant word in the OT – often translated steadfast love – and supremely describes God’s unfailing love for Israel – a love that uses a position of security or power to benefit others – freely and willingly. Here Jonathan shows ‘kindness’ in using his position as Saul’s son to keep David safe.

Jonathan tells David his plan, and poignantly says “may the Lord be with you as he was with my father” – in other words, that God would look after David when David is King – and then Jonathan asks that David in turn would show Jonathan and his family kindness like God’s kindness.  Jonathan knows that David will be king after him, and that if he behaves like other kings one of his first acts will be to wipe out Saul’s family. So he asks David not to do that – and David promises to be loyal to Jonathan’s family.

In the rest of the chapter Jonathan carries out his plan and Saul tries to kill Jonathan when Jonathan defends David – read 28-34 – look at v34 Jonathan is angry. Some of us might be angry because Saul had tried to kill us. But Jonathan is angry because his father is treating David shamefully. His concern is David. 

If you are paying close attention you will have spotted two covenants, but the third is actually outside our passage, in 23:16-18 when David is on the run from Saul, and Jonathan helps David find strength in God – he reassures David of God’s plan – and promises that he will be second to David. Explicitly saying that is the marker of Jonathan’s covenant. 

They renew the covenant promises one final time. They never see each other again, as far as we know. Jonathan never gets to be second to David. He dies with his father. It could be seen as tragic. Yet Jonathan has given his life in service to David, to God’s anointed King. Without Jonathan David would have died. 

This is friendship – but more than friendship – this is covenant loyal love. A love that puts the other first. This is the way of John the Baptist in the gospels who says “he must increase, and I must decrease”. It is the way of the Spirit who shines the light on Jesus, and not himself. 

And as we conclude, without giving away too much for the future David keeps his promise. When David is established as king in Jerusalem he looks for one of Jonathan’s family who he can show covenant love to – and Mephibosheth is brought to the table of the king – a beneficiary of the covenant promises made by his father and David. 

That covenant love and kindness are a pale anticipation of the covenant love and kindness shown to us by the Lord Jesus on the cross. So as we come to the table now we remember that love and kindness shown to us. We remember the mercy shown to us, and we come with open hands to receive the gift God has for us.

As we come to communion today remember Saul – stop clinging on to your life, to your fears and to your reputation. Instead open your hand to receive. Lay down your ambitions and desires and come with nothing to receive from the kindness of the king – and then go, and show that kindness and loyal love to those you meet and interact with this week. 

In many ways it seems that John could have finished his gospel at chapter 20. He didn’t have to tell us this story – indeed some have wondered if this was added by some in John’s circle after John’s death (perhaps the very end of the chapter hints at this?). But, ultimately, this chapter ties together all four gospels in a way that makes it not just a fitting end to John’s gospel, but to all four gospels considered together. 

It begins with Peter, and 6 other disciples, deciding that they will go fishing in Galilee – Jesus’s appearances don’t seem to be necessarily going anywhere, we might say, and so they may as well get on with what they know. They are going back to the beginning, to the place where they first met Jesus. As the story unfolds this is true in more ways than one. Just as in Luke 5 when Luke tells us of Peter’s encounter with Jesus, so here, they fish all night and catch nothing.

And so Jesus asks them if they have any fish: “children, do you have any fish?” – and you can almost hear the exasperated tones of the disciples giving back the curt “no”.  And then Jesus tells them to cast their nets on the right hand side of the boat, where they will find some. They obey and their nets are full to bursting. John recognises it is Jesus, tells Peter, who characteristically leaps into the water to meet Jesus.

They bring their fish to Jesus – who already has fish cooking for their breakfast. Jesus doesn’t need their fish. And yet he chooses to give them fish. This is the third appearance of John’s gospel. And it sets the scene for the encounter to come. 

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

John 21:15-19

I love this conversation. If I could be in a time machine I’d love to be walking by that lake, starting from that fire. Here Jesus deliberately takes Peter back to that other fire. To the place where he said three times that he didn’t even know Jesus. 

Three times Peter is asked “do you love me?” The first is a comparative – “more than these?” As someone who deals with writers and editors that sentence is crying out for clarity – these what? Is Jesus gesturing to the disciples? Or to the fishing boats? Either way Peter replies with a yes – and the knowledge that Jesus knows he s love. Each time he affirms his love.

You see Peter can’t get away from the reality that here is one man who will never let us down. There are no skeletons in Jesus’s cupboard. Jesus has a group of young men hanging round him and he never abuses them. Jesus hangs out with women of all backgrounds and always treats them as precious daughters of God, to be respected and cherished. 

Jesus knew how to laugh for sure, and he could certainly lay into those who used religion as a tool for power. But Jesus never used religion like that.. And if we hear of people using religion like that, and worse still if we experience people using religion like that in the midst of all that we are to come back to Jesus. Sit with Peter. Listen to the master.

Hear him ask “do you love me”. Hear him give Peter a fresh charge to look after his sheep. Entrusting this charge to Peter. No recrimination. No cold shoulder. Just gentle proving questions, inviting Peter back in. Jesus doesn’t stand with the other disciples saying “Peter, he’s a lovely man, but maybe he’s not quite sharp enough for teaching right now?”

No, Peter is invited back in, right into the heart of those trusted. But hear too Peter ‘s pain at the third time of asking: do you love me? “Yes, yes you know all things, you know that I love you.” Imagine the tears Peter is choking back as he says that, remembering that fire where he denied him. But then Jesus makes a strange kind of comforting promise – one day Peter will be led off to die, and Peter will go through with it. He will do what is needed. He has, or he will have exactly what it takes to do Jesus’s will. Christ is enough, and so the one who is in Christ has and is enough. The call to us as to Peter is clear. “Follow me.”

²⁰ Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
²² Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” ²³ Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

John 21:20-23

Then we have this final conversation. Peter asks about John. What about him? Jesus reply is essentially: mind your own business, and focus on your own following of me.  In The Horse and His Boy – one of the CS Lewis Narnia chronicles, two of the characters come face to face with Aslan, the Christ figure and have the experience of him saying something very similar. When Shasta finally meets Aslan, he pours out his sorrows to Aslan:

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. and then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the Tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since had had anything to eat.

“I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.

“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta.

“There was only one lion.” said the Voice.

“What on earth do you mean? I’ve just told you there were at least two lions the first night, and -”

“There was only one, but he was swift of foot.”

“How do you know?”

“I was the lion.”

And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you as you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”

“It was I.”

“But what for?”

“Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.”

CS Lewis: The Horse and His Boy

Like Shasta in the story, and like Peter on the beach we need to come to the Voice. We need to sit and listen for our story told to us. We open his Word, we read Peter’s encounter with Jesus, and through that encounter we too can encounter the Risen Christ. We too can hear him ask us the probing questions we need to hear. 

Do I really love this Jesus? And if I do, am I ready to follow him? Not to worry about anyone else’s journey. Not to model myself on anyone else, but to follow the example of those who truly look to Jesus for their quest. Am I ready to hear him speaking my story to me? Am I ready to follow him on his terms? 

And as I do that, I know that he is the one who has had my story all along. In all the twists and turns, and yes, even in those moments when I have denied him because of my fears, he has been there all along. He is the one who is moving things in the direction they need to go. He is the one who continually calls me back to him. He is the one who is enough for all I need. 

I love the rest of the conversation in The Horse and His Boy too much to leave it out – so read it and ponder, and let it lead you to Jesus, who is himself – all we need, and as the one who is enough he is all we need to have all we need for what we do as we follow him.

“Who are you?” asked Shasta.

“Myself,” said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again “Myself,” loud and clear and gay: and then the third time “Myself,” whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all around you as if the leaves rustled with it.

Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too.

The mist was turning from black to grey and from grey to white. This must have begun to happen some time ago, but while he had been talking to the Thing he had not been noticing anything else. Now, the whiteness around him became a shining whiteness; his eyes began to blink. Somewhere ahead he heard birds singing. He knew the night was over at last. He could see the mane and ears and head of his horse quite clearly now. A golden light fell on them from the left. He thought it was the sun.

He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than a horse, a Lion. The horse did not seem to be afraid of it or else could not see it. It was from the lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible or more beautiful.

Luckily Shasta had lived all of his life too far south in Calormen to have heard the tales that were whispered in Tashbaan about a dreadful Narnian demon that appeared in the form of a lion. And of course he knew none of the true stories about Aslan, the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-over-sea, the King above all High Kings in Narnia. But after one glance at the Lion’s face he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn’t say anything but then he didn’t want to say anything, and he knew he needn’t say anything.

The High King above all kings stooped towards him. Its mane, and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all around him. It touched his forehead with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes met. Then instantly the pale brightness of the mist and the fiery brightness of the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling glory and gathered themselves up and disappeared. He was alone with horse on a grassy hillside under a blue sky. And there were birds singing.

CS Lewis: The Horse and His Boy

We come to the next words of Jesus in John’s gospel. It is evening time. The disciples are all together in one place, but behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish leaders.

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

John 20:19-23

Jesus comes with a message of peace. We’ve seen this before in Luke’s account. The disciples are overjoyed when they see Jesus. Then John tells us about Jesus’s sending of his disciples and empowering of them. 

Jesus says “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you”. The rest of John’s gospel gives us a good idea of what that means. Jesus comes from the Father, to show us what the God who no one has seen looks like. John 1 tells us that he comes from the Father, full of grace and truth. He comes to make God known to us. In the rest of John’s gospel we see what that is like. 

Jesus brings healing, he brings life, he explains who he is, and what God is like. That is what the Father sent him to do. That is what Jesus sends his disciples to do. Jesus’s disciples are to show Jesus to people who haven’t seen him. They are to tell what he is like, they are to bring his peace and healing to a broken world. 

That is the commission. It covers telling others, it covers helping others in natural and supernatural ways, and it covers confronting those who are holding others back from hearing the good news and experiencing the love of God. Christians can end up complicating that, and having anguished debates about priority of those different things.

Yet Jesus’s calling is more straightforward than that – it is to get on with showing him to a world that needs him so desperately. That will likely mean involvement in all sorts of different things, with each of us playing our role according to the gifts God has given us and the situations he has placed us in. 

This commission may seem a tall order. How can we possibly show Christ to others? How can we live like this? So Jesus breathes on his disciples and says “receive the Holy Spirit”. This is a kind of anticipation of what they will receive at Pentecost. They will receive the Spirit to enable them to show Jesus to the world. 

Disciples today receive the Spirit to show Jesus to the world. Jesus’s next words are a little more tricky to get to the bottom of. What does it mean, for example, that if the disciples forgive anyone’s sins then that person is forgiven. Those words have been used to justify a hierarchy of priests and a church with power to forgive – or to leave unforgiven. Yet it seems unlikely that Jesus is here instituting the beginning of an elaborate priesthood.  

But it does sound like he is giving them the power to do what only God can do. Only God can forgive sins in a general sense – we can all forgive those who sin against us, but we cannot forgive sins that have nothing to do with us. Why does Jesus put it like this? Perhaps he is highlighting that in going out with the message of Jesus the disciples are giving people the means by which they can be forgiven? Perhaps he is saying that disciples can declare God’s forgiveness over people?  

Perhaps because disciples are the only way people will see Jesus, the welcome the disciples give is a welcome that displays Jesus’s welcome. Not that disciples can pick and choose whose sins to forgive. But maybe their welcome of those who come in repentance to Jesus acts as the visible sign that Jesus has forgiven those people? That seems the most likely interpretation of Jesus’s words, and reminds those of us who trust in Jesus of the huge responsibility on us to show Jesus in a visible and tangible way to those around, and not to cause them to stumble.

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

John 20:24-27

One of the 12 is missing – and goes down in history as ‘doubting’ Thomas. Which seems slightly unfair – how many of us would have believed in his shoes? 

The term ‘doubting’ is also not quite right. It is more straightforward in the Greek – we could literally translate ‘do not be unbelieving but believe’. Doubt is a separate issue that has to do with uncertainties about what we believe. Thomas’s position here is more straightforward, it is simply that he does not believe Jesus had risen, and that he needs to see in order to believe. But when he does receive the evidence he needs his response is immediate – and he doesn’t actually need to touch Jesus’s scars. 

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:28-29

Thomas’s reaction is instant ‘my lord, and my God’. Not only does recognise Jesus is risen, he also confesses that Jesus is his Lord, and his God. The question that leaves us with is: will we? Jesus pronounces a blessing on those of us who do believe without seeing. It isn;t that we take a leap in the dark, but rather that we assess the evidence that convinced sceptics like Thomas and make up our minds about Jesus.

For us all though, there comes a time when we need to evaluate the evidence we have and choose what we make of it. Will we believe the eyewitnesses? Will we trust their testimony? Or will we not?

If we do then we too should confess Jesus as our Lord and God, and receive the eternal life that begins now and goes on forever. The life that Jesus has after his resurrection is a foretaste of the life that can be ours – at least that is the promise of John’s gospel. 

The encouragement from Thomas is that Jesus does not condemn our scepticism – instead he encourages us to press on in our search for answers so that we too can recognise him for who he really is and enter life in all its fullness.  

We now move to John’s account of the words of the risen Christ. And so we come with Mary to the tomb:

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

John 20:11-15

Mary, John tells us, came first to the tomb and saw it empty, ran to tell Peter and John, and now has come back to the tomb, and sees it empty, but with angels seated in the tomb instead of the body. She does not expect resurrection – rather the lack of a body increases her distress and confusion. “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him”.

Then she turns from the tomb to the garden and sees Jesus, but does not realise it is Jesus. But Jesus sees her, and his first words to her, as to the disciples on the road to Emmaus are words asking questions. “Why are you crying?” “Who is it you are looking for?” 

Jesus does not overwhelm her with his presence, but rather he asks questions to draw out her response, to hear what she will say, and to allow her to express her confusion to him. She responds as if he was the gardener and asks him what he has done with the body. 

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

John 20:15

“Thinking he was the gardener” – and of course, in a very real sense he was the gardener. Jesus was the one through whom the first garden was created. Jesus is the Second Adam, the firstborn of the new creation. In this scene he walks in the garden he has created, the sign of a new world to be. Jesus succeeds, where Adam failed, in doing his Father’s will. 

So she wasn’t far wrong, even in her confusion, and it will just take a word to put her into her right mind once more.

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

John 20:16-17

Jesus reply to Mary’s question is simply to speak her name – and in that speaking she recognises hin. As the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognise Jesus around the meal table, so Mary recognises in the simple act of Jesus speaking her name. It is striking that it is in the act of naming her that she recognises him. It seems to indicate that she is used to hearing her name spoken by Jesus. Jesus knows her by name.

Recognising him she seeks to hold on to him, which he refuses – now is not the time for holding on to this experience – instead Mary has a job to do – she needs to go to the disciples – to the brothers, and tell them that Jesus is ascending to the Father.

But note the way he talks about his disciples. They are his brothers. They have the same heavenly Father, and the same God – the relationship that Jesus has with the Father is now available to his disciples. Jesus has to ascend to the Father to bring about the way this relationship works. 

Mary cannot cling on to him, cannot look back to what has been. Jesus’s resurrection marks a new stage in the relationship. The relationship loses the sense of physical closeness, but now a new relationship to the Father is opened up. Jesus’s disciples are his brothers, they have a new identity as God’s dearly loved children. 

This scene in the garden changes everything for us. We don’t see Jesus physically in the same way as Mary did, but we can know that he calls us by name. He knows us as we are. He relates to us as individuals. He brings us into his family and into his new creation. He calls us to be part of his project of bringing about a new world. We are to be signposts and heralds of a day when that scene in the garden will reach its final fulfillment and a new world will come into being. 

Listen for his voice calling your name, and play the part he calls you to. 

Ponder these words, again from Timothy Dudley Smith

Above the voices of the world around me,
my hopes and dreams, my cares and loves and fears,
the long-awaited call of Christ has found me,
the voice of Jesus echoes in my ears:
`I gave my life to break the cords that bind you,
I rose from death to set your spirit free;
turn from your sins and put the past behind you,
take up your cross and come and follow me.’

What can I offer him who calls me to him?
Only the wastes of sin and self and shame;
a mind confused, a heart that never knew him,
a tongue unskilled at naming Jesus’ Name.
Yet at your call, and hungry for your blessing,
drawn by that cross which moves a heart of stone,
now Lord I come, my tale of sin confessing,
and in repentance turn to you alone.

Lord, I believe; help now my unbelieving;
I come in faith because your promise stands.
Your word of pardon and of peace receiving,
all that I am I place within your hands.
Let me become what you shall choose to make me,
freed from the guilt and burden of my sins.
Jesus is mine, who never shall forsake me,
and in his love my new-born life begins.

Next in Luke’s Gospel we come to the 11 disciples. They are all gathered in the room talking about the individual appearances of Jesus, when suddenly Jesus appears:

³⁶ While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
³⁷ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate it in their presence.

Luke 24:26-43

Somewhat ironically, given the impact his appearance has his first words are “peace to you”.  It is an appropriate thing to say to a group of frightened and now very confused disciples. This peace is not just an absence of terror – which would be welcome to the disciples, it is also a wholeness of life, which results from Jesus’s resurrection. 

This peace does not come automatically. It needs Jesus’s interaction with his disciples to bring about this peace. More precisely it needs them to see for themselves that Jesus really is alive. He is standing before them. He can be touched. He can be seen. His nail marks are still there in his hands and his feet. He is really alive.

Their fear turns to joy, and now their difficulty is grasping it because their joy and wonder is so great. It is the most amazing and wonderful thing any of them can possibly imagine. Jesus’s final piece of physical evidence is to ask for food – and the disciples give him some fish. Having given them the physical evidence for his resurrection he now proceeds to explain what it means.

He’s written this gospel so that we can have the same experience. We don’t, it is true, see the risen Christ – but we do have the gospels to read. We can investigate the evidence and see that these are reliable accounts. That the New Testament tells us of a Jesus who suffered, died and was buried – and that the tomb is empty. And if that is true – then everything else written in this book can be true too. 

More than that, though, we also need the explanation. The reason for the resurrection. We can know the facts, but until we know why Jesus rose we will not fully know the peace that the resurrection brings in our hearts and in our lives. It is the explanation that Jesus goes on to make in this chapter.

⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Luke 24:44-48

In v44 he is effectively telling them that they really didn’t need to be surprised – he had told them all this before. Everything that is written about Jesus in the Law of Moses – that is the first 5 books of the Bible, the Prophets – which in our bibles is both the history (Joshua – 2 Kings & Isaiah – Malachi), and the Psalms (which may well also be standing for the rest of the “writings” – all the other books of our old testament) must be fulfilled. 

He isn’t saying that absolutely everything in the Old Testament relates directly to him – we don’t have to force texts to mean things they could never have meant to hear them speak of Christ. What he is saying is that in every part of the Old Testament there are things written about Jesus, about what God’s chosen King would do and be. Sometimes there are direct prophecies – more often there are patterns of how Israel and her leaders were supposed to be that Jesus fills out the full meaning of – sometimes it isn’t immediately obvious how this works – which is why Jesus had to open their minds to understand and explain the Scriptures to them.

He explains that the fact of the Messiah suffering and dying and rising was always the intention. The purpose of this death and resurrection was that forgiveness of sins would be available to all nations – starting in Jerusalem. God’s plan all along was that the nations would be included in God’s people. Jesus’s disciples are witnesses of these things.

Intriguingly though, Luke picture them as now being sent out. Jesus is first going to send them what the Father has promised – which, it becomes clear in Acts, is the Holy Spirit, who will clothe them with power from on high.

Having given them peace, through the evidence of his physical resurrection and the explanation of the witness of Scriptures, he now tells them to wait in the city for the promised Spirit who would bring power from on high. They are given peace, and promised power. And just as we can have the peace of the assurance of Jesus’s physical resurrection and eyes opened to see the message of Jesus in the Scriptures, so we can share in this power.

The first disciples will experience the power of Jesus’s resurrection in them when they receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And they will subsequently experience fillings of the Spirit that give them power to do the task of witnessing to Jesus among the nations. Disciples of Jesus receive the Spirit when they first trust in Jesus – but we also need to acknowledge our conscious dependence on the Spirit’s power in our lives. I think that can involve seasons where we need to wait. 

Sometimes we just need to get on with general or specific things that Jesus has told us to do. But I think there are also times when we need to take heed of the message to wait. Perhaps if we have become complacent in our ability, and lacking in expectation that God will do anything out of the ordinary we need to wait and ask God to send his Spirit. Perhaps now is a time when many in the UK should perhaps be waiting on God and asking for his power to show us what to do. 

We are emerging from the other side of a global pandemic when all our patterns of life were shaken. Do we really want everything to be just like it was before, only a little harder because there are less people and some people have felt a freedom to stop? In evangelical circles in the UK we’ve been rocked by leadership scandal after scandal – whether of outright physical abuse, or of more subtle spiritual manipulation, and as a result we  – I – find it harder and harder to trust our leadership. In the Church of England the debates over sexuality threaten to tear the church apart, and show the desperate need for leadership that can hold out grace, at the same time as living by the truth revealed in Scripture.

In this time we have a desperate need for the peace the Risen Christ can bring, and for the power that he clothed those first disciples with on that first day of Pentecost. We may not need another Pentecost, but we could surely do with a fresh demonstrations of that power in our church and nation. So maybe it is time to pray with a fresh vision of what could be. A fresh desire for God’s Spirit to breath new life into our faltering efforts to serve him so that God’s people come alive with joy, bringing life to those around.

Perhaps now would be a good time to pause and reflect. Perhaps you feel acutely your need for peace in the midst of turmoil. Place yourself in that room with those first disciples and ask Jesus to make himself real to you and bring his peace to your life.

Or maybe it is the need for God’s power in your life and work that you acutely sense your need for. Perhaps it has been a time of barrenness. Perhaps you feel you have faithfully fought for truth, but the sense of Christ’s presence is remote, and the reality of his power feels so distant. 

Pause now and ask. Pause now and wait. Pause now and pray. Use the words of this hymn.

Lord of the church, we pray for our renewing:
Christ over all, our undivided aim.
Fire of the Spirit, burn for our enduing,
wind of the Spirit, fan the living flame!
We turn to Christ amid our fear and failing,
the will that lacks the courage to be free,
the weary labours, all but unavailing,
to bring us nearer what a church should be.

Lord of the church, we seek a Father’s blessing,
a true repentance and a faith restored,
a swift obedience and a new possessing,
filled with the Holy Spirit of the Lord!
We turn to Christ from all our restless striving,
unnumbered voices with a single prayer:
the living water for our souls’ reviving,
in Christ to live, and love and serve and care.

Lord of the church, we long for our uniting,
true to one calling, by one vision stirred;
one cross proclaiming and one creed reciting,
one in the truth of Jesus and his word.
So lead us on; till toil and trouble ended,
one church triumphant one new song shall sing,
to praise his glory, risen and ascended,
Christ over all, the everlasting King!

Timothy Dudley Smith