Pastor Darryl

Luke 19:30
As I read the Palm Sunday text about Jesus coming to Jerusalem, I wonder – why the donkey (Luke 19:30)? Yes, it fulfils the prophesy of Zechariah 9:9 (See, your King comes to you … gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Luke though, adds a little that Zechariah didnʼt. Firstly, that the donkey was available and tied up, and secondly a colt “which no-one had ever ridden.” There the colt is; standing awaiting as it were, totally unaware of what its purpose was to be. This kind of image applies to many people. Tied to many things and issues in life, without really knowing what their purpose in life is. And yet as we know, Jesus had a very important purpose for that donkey. The donkey had never been ridden, and yet garments were “thrown” on the animal and Jesus was placed aboard. An unbroken donkey, and you just throw on something to sit on, hop on and ride off – yeah, right. Yet, as far as we can tell, the little donkey submitted to these strange events, didnʼt jib or buck, just went along through that noisy, active, crowd without a fuss. When asked to carry out some assignment or bear some burden do we just humbly do it? Or do we balk and buck and say, “Why me, get somebody else.” We like to see what is going on before we go into it. We want to understand everything happening in our lives before we submit. God, “Show me Your will for my life, then if I like it, Iʼll do it.” But thatʼs not the way life works. As God leads us by the Holy Spirit, rather than worrying about the journey, shouldnʼt we just trust Him. After all, He has never broken a promise.

Pastor Darryl

Photo by London Wood Co. on Unsplash

Philippians 3:12

Suppose you knew of a section where there was a buried treasure worth at least a thousand times more than everything you owned, and itʼs for sale. The price is equal to everything you own. You sell everything and you buy the section. So, you now own it all, treasure included. So, how much did the treasure cost you? You are probably thinking “everything I had.” But that would be incorrect. The treasure cost you nothing, because you paid for the section. You could not afford the treasure. It was priceless, yet free. The treasure is in fact a blessing, a gift of God, salvation, eternal life in Christ. You could never earn enough to buy it, yet it is yours, free.

St Paul outlined his pedigree, a man who thought he had reached the top, the highest level according to worldly standards of the time. He states that he gave up everything for this treasure. Yet he could not earn this treasure. Indeed, salvation is so great a treasure, that when you realise what you have it will lead you to give everything in response to having found it. It will lead you to the love of God, to forgive as you are forgiven, to the love of others as yourself, to give as You are given, to joy because this treasure has entered your life.

Blessings

Pastor Darryl

Psalm 32
Following on from last week, this weekʼs texts Psalm 32 and the gospel reading Luke 15:11-32, both contain themes of repentance and forgiveness of which forgiveness is by far the stronger. As we saw last week, repentance is more than just saying, “Iʼm sorry.” It is a turning away, a change of direction, change of mind, change the inner person (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God). We also noted that the conscience plays an important role in bringing one to repentance. Both this weekʼs Psalm and Gospel inform us that the underlying reasons that our conscience is being brought into play is the thing that people today either donʼt recognise or donʼt want to hear about – sin. Sin that is exposed by the Law within us. Luther states that unless we understand about sin, we will not be able fully to understand or describe the reality of the evils and sufferings we see around us. We will not understand why our conscience becomes bothered. It is quite amazing how both the Psalm and Gospel readings address this, as they speak to many events in lives today, but their focus is not on sin or repentance but on the gift of forgiveness. Forgiveness in the Old and New Testaments is a gift from God, totally unmerited by the sinner, and has the power to change lives. This gift expressed through Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, calls all people everywhere to repentance so they may experience the true joy of life in Christ.

Pastor Darryl

2 Peter 3:9
Reading and hearing Scripture we often ask: How does what we have heard relate to me? Todayʼs gospel text can certainly relate to the recent events here in Christchurch. However, it is not just these events, there are always plenty of terrible news items available; tsunami, other acts of terrorism, wars, hunger, violence, crime, etc. Such news, when close to home, upsets us, throws us off guard. Not only does it cause a kind of numbness, sadness, even anger, it causes us to ask many questions. Usually our questions centre on the words, how, why, what and where. In todayʼs text, news of the horrible massacre which Pilate, the Roman Governor ordered regarding some Samaritan pilgrims, reached Jesus. Jesusʼ response is different, totally unexpected. “Do you suppose that those Galileans were worse sinners than any others, that this should have happened to them? I tell you ʻnoʼ, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.” And in relation to those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, killing them all? Jesusʼ reply is the same. “Do you suppose that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? I tell you ʻnoʼ, but unless you repent you will perish as they did.” Do we think that any of us deserves exemption from tragedy? Jesus is merely showing that we all are sinners worthy of Godʼs judgement. Because of our sin, none of us deserves exemption from tragedies. Thank God for Jesus our Intercessor, the one in whom our faith rests, the one whose righteousness covers us. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord … is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”

Pastor Darryl

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Luke 13:31-35
As Jesus journeys to Jerusalem, he grieves. He laments over the peoplesʼ unbelief and stubbornness to repent, believe and be saved! Later, Jesus weeps because the Jews didnʼt seek shelter under His love. They, like some of us wandered away from the protection and love of God and have become vulnerable. Jesus told them that many would come from “east and west, north and south” seeking to enter the kingdom of God, but that to come in,
they must enter through the “narrow door.” (Luke 13:22-30) Jesus is that narrow door, the narrow way! Remember how he told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through
me.” (John 14:6) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but it was not your will.” (Luke 13:34) Jesus tenderly called, then, and He still calls today – to the whole world, to the people of Canterbury, to its city and towns and to us. He tenderly calls also to those of non-Christian faiths, to the young and old, to those of every generation. He tenderly calls people to repentance, to faith and to Himself – the narrow door, the narrow way! Come to Him and pray. Invite and bring with you friends, neighbours, co-workers, classmates and any others from “east and west, north and south” seeking to enter the Kingdom of God. The Saviour is tenderly calling!

Pastor Darryl