Parallel Chapter 1

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If you are reading or desire to use this course, there is a list of parallel scriptures. Unfortunately Blogger does not do well with tables. Please e-mail me at don.jamison@sydenstrickerumc.org and I will be glad to send them to you. 


Introduction

The purpose of this course is to allow us to explore the writings of the Gospel’s. More specifically the parallel writings. As we explore the writings that find themselves in multiple Gospels, we should continually ask ourselves a series of questions.

·       How did the writer hear the story?

·       Why did the writer put it in this particular place in their story?

·       Why did they structure it the way that they did?

·       What story are they trying to tell or authenticate?

I have not included all the parallel’s that occur and offer that there are plenty of great Parallel Bibles around to assist the reader in finding out more. My hope is to illuminate what each writer wants us to hear and by comparing, we can gather a sense of the tremendous story being told by the early Disciples.

Course

Chapter 1     Bible History and Structure

Chapter 2     Birth Narrative

Chapter 3     Prepare the way, Baptism and Temptation

Chapter 4     Ministry into Galilee

Chapter 5     Miracles

Chapter 6     Sermon on the Mount/ Plain

Chapter 7     Parables

Chapter 8     Ministry in Judea and Jerusalem

Chapter 9     Olivet Discourse

Chapter 10   Passion Narrative and Resurrection

Appendix     List of Parallel Scriptures

Chapter 1

Bible History and Structure

Bible History and Structure

The best starting place in dealing with the Bible is to start with the structure of the Bible and discuss the history of each section at that time. To begin, we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, that it illuminates the relationship between God and humanity, that it is the Only source for questions related to Salvation and the Primary source for understanding God at work in the world. The Bible we often refer to as the Protestant Bible is a collection of books written at different times, by different writers and translated in many languages. There are 66 books of the Bible divided into the Old Testament (39 Books) and the New Testament (27 Books). The Old Testament is divided into 5 groupings or divisions.

• The Books of the Law
• The Books of History
• The Books of Poetry
• The Major Prophets
• The Minor Prophets

We understand that originally the Hebrew people divided the Old Testament into three sections.

• The Books of Law, Torah or Pentateuch is considered to have been written by Moses or have been accumulated at or shortly after the time of Moses. These books chronicle the creation story, the flood story and the Exodus Story of the Hebrew people out of Egypt. They include the Mt. Sinai experience where God brought the guidelines for living that encompasses the Ten Commandments. The first five books of the Bible are included in this group, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
• The Prophets originally included 21 books of the Old Testament. They included Joshua Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Then there were the so-called Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi).

·       The Writings were considered by the Hebrew people as books that were written by men who were inspired of God but were not prophets. We do not know who collected these books or when some of them were written. This group includes the 5 books of Poetry (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) as well as these remaining 8 books: Ruth, Esther, Lamentations, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 & 2 Chronicles.

The Hebrew Bible, which became our current Old Testament, came into reality somewhere around 300 years before Christ when the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek. It included additional books that did not find their way into the Protestant Bible but are part of the Catholic Bible. These books are known as the Septuagint. These books appeared around the time that the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek and included works that were known at that time. They include Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch as well as additions to the Books of Esther and Daniel. These books are often referred to as the Apocrypha. They are not part of the Protestant Bible because Protestant biblical Scholars argued that they were not part of the original Hebrew Bible.

When the Bible was translated into Greek, it was divided into the groupings of present day. These groupings were by literary style more than chronological order or Hebrew definition.

• The first five books, the Books of Law have been left intact.
• They are followed by the Books of History which explains the history of the nation of Israel. They include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.
• The next grouping is called the Books of Poetry; include the Books of Ester, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. They are sometimes called Wisdom writings as well.
• Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel have become known as the Major Prophets. They lived between 2700 and 2500 years ago and include prophecies concerning the nation of Israel including prophecies of Christ.
• The final grouping of the current Bible Old Testament include all of the Minor Prophets which include Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The term minor prophets comes from the length of these books, not the status of the prophet.

We come now to the discussion of the New Testament. The New Testament is divided into three groupings.

• The Gospels which include the Books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We believe them to be written after the death of Christ, most likely some 30 - 40 years after his death. The Apostles believed that Christ was coming again in their lifetime, but as they began to die off realized that he might not. So they began to write down the teachings, events in his life and his sayings so that they would survive.
• The Writings or Epistles include Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude. They were written by followers of Jesus. They often were sent to other people to help explain Christianity. Sometimes they were written to counter heresy, or wrongful interpretations of the teachings of Jesus.
• The final grouping is one single Book, The Revelation of John. This book is thought to have been written around 70 AD or 70 years after Jesus died. It contains a future vision of Jesus and the world.

How it came to be

The early Christians continued to hold to the OT as their divinely-given Scripture, but they soon came to realize the need to value 1^st century apostolic writings as well. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter and the others preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). This process of inspiration continued in their preaching and in their writing. It is assumed that all NT books were written before the end of the 1^st century. Paul wrote letters to several churches and asked that they be read publicly when the Christians assembled (I Thessalonians 5:27; Colossians 4:16). Early historical accounts clarify that apostolic writings were read on a regular basis in the Christian assemblies.

In Paul's letter to the Colossians, he commands that they exchange letters with the church of the Laodiceans (4:16). It appears that early Christians soon began to circulate many of the apostolic writings. It is in this way, most likely, that various books of the NT began to be gathered into collections. Peter, in 2 Peter 3:16, indicates already a collection of Paul's letters (notice that Peter calls them "scriptures" and places them alongside that of the OT).

In the 2^nd century, following the death of all the apostles the writings of the apostles became more valuable. The desire to exchange and collect such writings increased. The gospel accounts appear to be quickly accepted by the Christian community. Paul's letters were commonly accepted. There was yet, however, no mention of a canon of the NT; there were only casual collections of writings that were being passed around.

Soon, however, spurious or pseudonymous letters came into circulation among the churches (letters falsely bearing apostolic names and/or claiming apostolic authority). Furthermore, false teachers arose claiming knowledge handed down by tradition. All this led to the beginning of the canon as Christians realized the need to determine what writings were genuine and what writings were not. By the end of the 2^nd century, the idea of a NT canon was clearly understood. The extent of that canon, however, was yet to be determined.

It is important to understand the criteria used by early scholars to determine the canonicity of any book. The true (and obvious) test of canonicity is/was inspiration. If a book was clearly inspired of God, then certainly it was accepted as part of the NT canon. The question then remains: how was inspiration to be demonstrated?

According to history, several books were universally accepted by every church without any doubt or hesitation. These were the four Gospels, Acts, the 13 letters of Paul, 1 Peter and 1 John (20 books). Several years would pass, however, before the acceptance of the complete canon of 27 books as we have today.

In the 3^rd century, Origen, a well-known scholar of that time, gave a list of generally accepted books. He acknowledged the four gospels, Acts, the 13 letters of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation. He mentioned Jude, wavered in regard to James, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John, and he evidently hesitated concerning Hebrews because, as he said, "God alone knows who wrote it."

In the early part of the 4th century, Eusibius expressed the general Christian thought of his time. He accepted Hebrews as authentic and indicated that James, Jude, 2 Peter and 2 John were beginning to find recognition. Finally, it was in 367 that a man named Athanasius first gave a list of canonical books identical with our 27 today. Scholars since that time have generally remained in agreement that the 27 books we have in our NT are all inspired of God and are the only available such writings.

So where did the writings of the Gospels come from? There is almost a universal acceptance that the three writings we know as Matthew, Mark and Luke came from oral traditions that were passed among the early disciples. These oral traditions may well have found their way into printed writings and some suggest that there was early writings referred to now as M and Q that have been lost over time. Most believe Mark is the first text though Matthew has text that Mark does not have. Where Matthew and Luke agree with another text, it is usually Mark that they agree with. Matthew and Luke then probably came about with knowledge of Mark already in existence. Mark is the shortest. Matthew, Mark and Luke all seem to follow the same sequence of order with slight differences. Most likely, these three are independent writings using the available oral and written sources of their time. Acts is generally considered to be part of the writings from this time period and in fact many believe Luke and Acts to have been written together possibly as one manuscript. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels, synoptic meaning similar or like.

Of the 27 books of the New Testament, it may surprise most people to know that the Epistles, the letters attributed to the early disciples are the oldest. They were likely written while the Disciples still lived which would date them well before 70 AD and most like within the first 30-40 years after Jesus resurrection. Next would come Mark and then Matthew and Luke sometime together. Some attribute these writings to around 90 AD but many theologians argue the destruction of the Temple would have been included if that was the case and it is not. So those folks argue for an earlier date, possibly mid to late 60 years after the resurrection but prior to the Temple destruction. John and John’s Revelation come later probably around 90 to 100 AD. Acts likely came into existence prior to 70 AD but followed Luke in its existence.

           So the question clearly is why study the Gospel in parallel anyway? I believe there is something that can be learned from subtle and sometimes not so subtle different ways the story is told. Each of the writers of the three synoptic Gospels has a story to tell and an audience that they are clearly targeting. So much of what is said is focused on that audience. How the story is told shares a different perspective on how they each heard the words of Jesus plus how the re-telling of miracles, healing and otherwise, shares a perspective on who they believe Jesus to be. For example as we study the birth narrative it is important to understand why Mark doesn’t include it and why Matthew promotes the Magi over the Shepherds.  Some of this has to do with how the oral traditions are shared and who gets to hear what. Some of this has do with what is important about presenting Jesus to the rank and file of their audience.

           Matthew is laid out in a way that you could literally take Matthew apart week by week to preach as sermons. Matthew’s audience we believe are the Jews in and around Jerusalem so the story of Jesus takes into account Herod, the focus of who the people are looking for in a Messiah and what significance the teaching will mean. Hence, Matthew spends a great deal of time telling the story of the Sermon on the Mount in a very orderly way while Luke includes it throughout his narrative. Mark on the other hand may not have had knowledge of the birth narrative when he wrote his Gospel or he may have felt it not strong enough to authenticate the story so he starts his narrative with John the Baptist, which would have been widely known at the time of the writing of Mark. His audience is the Roman people in and around Judea and outward toward Rome. Luke on the other hand is clearly working on the Greek’s in society so he spends a great deal of time on Miracles, on spiritual teaching and spinning the story so that the non-Jew can grasp the significance of Jesus. John’s Gospel also was written for the intellectual Greek and Roman and stands out as different than the other Gospels so will not be included in this work, since there are very few parallel verses with Matthew, Mark or Luke.

           As we study the parallel’s, the right question, as Dr. Mickey Efird would say, is not why are they different, but what does it tell us? So our focus should be on the things that they say together and when they do diverge, what does it have to do with the audience or how the story is being told. 

Water and Spirit

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 1/14/18

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^NRS  John 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." ³ Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" ⁵ Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Good morning and welcome to Baptism Sunday. It is the Sunday when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Christian year. We do this to remember that Jesus went down to the Jordan where John the Baptizer was in order to be baptized. So why did he go? And what does baptism mean? These are the questions that we will try to uncover this morning. No other subject in Christian history has caused more discussion and disagreement than baptism. So often we hear that we are different than other denominations and that those differences are deep and impossible to allow us to come together. Some of them relate to the Sabbath and some relate to the color of the carpet or dimming of lights, but only one differentiates us more than any other. It is the subject of Baptism. Have I been baptized if I have been sprinkled or do I need to be poured over or dunked or do I even need baptism at all.

So what is baptism? As United Methodists, we believe that baptism is a sacrament. In other words, God is the principle player at work in the baptism. That means that as human beings, we simply show up and let God do what God is going to do. Through God’s grace we are incorporated into the Body of Christ through baptism. We are initiated into the Christian church universal and we are commissioned into ministry. And in baptism, the taint of original sin is washed clean from us. Whether that person receives this initiation at a young age or at the age of maturity, it is the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit rather than a means of human choice. It is a communal act whereby we the Body of Christ agree to covenant with that individual for life. In the Methodist church we do not baptize individuals individually. We baptize in the community where we covenant together for life. Through the act of baptism we see prevenient grace in action and an exodus from the bondage of original sin. John Wesley wrote that baptism is the act of God who cleanses us of original sin through his divine grace. That our human condition is such that we cannot ourselves be cleansed through our own initiative and it was necessary for God to sacrifice for us in order that we can be cleansed. It is the incorporation into the body of Christ through his church, the universal Christian church in the world. That makes all the baptized of the world our sisters and brothers. In order to receive the blessing of God and enter into heaven, one needs to proclaim their belief in Jesus and begin the transformation process we call Justifying and Sanctifying Grace. This is not the same as baptism. More on that later!

Baptism comes to us from a rich heritage in the Hebrew faith. Baptism comes from the Greek “to cleanse” and is derived from the Hebrew cleansing liturgies that have existed since Moses. When one sins, one must be cleansed of that sin. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament writings, the cleansing or purification process included water or oil. Levites were anointed with oil after having been cleansed with water before entering into the holy of holies. Hebrew's from the time of Moses have cleansed themselves with water to cleanse the taint of sin from them after sacrificing to God. From the earliest days of our knowledge, we have been required by God to sacrifice for our sins and then be cleansed. In the old Testament times we find this reference to anointing in Exodus, the 29^th chapter from the NRSV: “²⁸ These things shall be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons from the Israelites, for this is an offering; and it shall be an offering by the Israelites from their sacrifice of offerings of well-being, their offering to the LORD.  ²⁹ The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them.” We know that when God chose to set aside those whom would serve the people in God’s name, they were anointed. And it might surprise you to know that we are all called to serve. Anointing typically would have been by the sharing of liturgy that included a covenant relationship and the placing, pouring or sprinkling of oil and/ or water over that person. This anointing symbolized as an outward sign of the inward act of the Holy Spirit on this person.

As time continued in the history of the Hebrew people, anointing of all of the chosen people in one form or another took place. Often this would have occurred at the circumcision ceremony for young men and at or about the same time for young women, within the first few years of their birth. And then at the age of maturity they would come to the temple for Bar Mitzvah, or the coming of age, when children are considered to be adults and the covenant relationship with God truly begins. As part of the cleansing rituals before entering into a temple Hebrew people would come and wash themselves. Often this would be in pools located just outside the temple in which they would wash themselves, sometimes immersing themselves in order to be cleansed and purified.

When it comes to baptism, there are two questions that are asked more than any other. “Do I need to be baptized?” And the other is, “I was baptized when I was an infant and so do I need to be immersed to be saved?” The first question is interesting. The answer really depends on where you are in your spiritual journey. Have you given your life to Christ, professing your faith in him as Lord and Savior? If the answer is yes I have, then the answer to the baptism question is that you probably do not need to be baptized. But with a caveat! Even Jesus was baptized as an obedience of faith. Did he need to be baptized? Probably not in the sense that he had committed no sin but some scholars would suggest that being born human meant that he too was born with the taint of original sin. And in that he could be tempted just as we are. In fact we believe Jesus to be fully human, experiencing the sorrows and joys we do, but also the temptations that we experience. John the Baptizer comes onto the scene and most scholars would point to Mark’s belief that he is the “voice in the wilderness” that comes to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. Early drawings of John the Baptist show him standing in the waters of the Jordan River, baptizing those who had come to receive forgiveness as they repented of their sins. Into this picture comes Jesus. Many will ask why Jesus would need to be baptized. The answer may lie in our understanding of obedience more than necessity. That we believe Jesus to be pure of sin goes without saying. So Jesus, out of a sense of obedience to the will of God, comes to be baptized. And in that sets the example for you and me to be baptized. Do you need to be baptized if you have Jesus in your heart, have committed your life to him and are being transformed by the Holy Spirit? Probably not, but to follow Jesus lead is not a bad way to go. 

The second question has divided denominations. It focuses more on an understanding of baptism than on the method even though it is the method of baptism that is at issue. When we look back at the cleansing rituals of the early Hebrew people, they were done a variety of ways, including self-immersion prior to entering into the Temple. But we also know from historical evidence that a shell was used to pour water over the heads of those being Baptized (see By the Water and the Spirit by Gayle Felton). Felton tells us, “Sprinkling expresses both the imagery of cleansing (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and of setting apart for service of God (Exodus 29:21)”[i] We also see evidence in Acts that baptism was for the whole family. Our understanding of infant baptism comes from this scriptural reference and infant baptism was practiced in early Christian circles. In Baptism remember that we believe that God is at work. And because baptism is an act of God, not an act of humans, the method and the age are not relevant to the practice. In fact, it was not until the 1600’s with the Anabaptist that the method of baptism became a dividing issue. So whether you were baptized as an infant, a young adult or an adult and whether you were baptized by immersion, sprinkling or pouring, God did not make a mistake in your baptism and it does not need to be redone a certain way. The second part of the question relates to salvation. Baptism does not provide our salvation. Our profession of faith, whether at the time of baptism or at the time of confirmation in the Methodist church, proclaims for the world that we have accepted Jesus in our life. It is that moment that we accept the gift that God is offering to us and it is only through that grace that we inherit the gift of eternal life. But it is not a single event in our lifetime, but the event begins a lifetime of faith. As United Methodist people we believe at that moment we are justified and we continue to transform through the power of the Holy Spirit towards perfection.

Today we have the opportunity to remember our baptism. What God has done does not need to be redone. Baptism is God’s grace, an outward sign of an inward spiritual change. And so today you may come forward and dip your hands in the water, place water on your forehead of simply remember that God’s grace has prevailed in your life. I asked earlier if you knew that you only had a short time till you stood before Jesus if that would change how you are leading your life. Today is a day of new beginnings, new commitments and renewal of your life.

---

[i] Felton, Gayle, 2006, By Water and the Spirit, page 20

We Three Kings

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 1/7/18

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^NRS Matthew 2:1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." ³ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶ 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" ⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸ Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." ⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Today we celebrate Epiphany, that moment when we get it, understand it or have a brain-focused moment. It is also the day when we celebrate the arrival of the Magi. I like Epiphany as the moment in which we get it, sort of like a V8 moment. We thought we knew exactly what the answer was and suddenly we are faced with a new reality, a new understanding and it changes everything. I believe that is the reason we have this story. It has meanings that are right in front of us and then innuendo so that we can understand the complete story. The Magi are the people who spend their lives looking into the heavens for a sign. Imagine if you will that, you have been born into the family of Magi and you spend your entire life learning about the celestial movements, what they are, what we call certain stars that connect together and what they mean. Since the time of Daniel, we believe that the Magi have been looking for a certain connection; a certain alignment if you will that proclaims an event that the people of Israel have been looking for since the beginning of the world. Generations have come and gone looking into the heavens, sharing the messages of the stars with those around them and yet they have not seen this one sign that Daniel has them looking for. Maybe as much as four to seven hundred years have passed since the time of Daniel and they still search the heavens for the sign. Then like a V8 moment, there it is. What would you do? I suspect you would wake everyone in the house to let them know. The excitement would be overwhelming. After all this time, the prophecy is true and the sign is in the heavens. What do we do next? Where do we go? How do we get there?

I want to share a suggested answer to the Star of Bethlehem story. The ancient Magi were astrologers. In their day that was considered science and many people believed in the stars sharing what was happening in the world. The people of the first century took much stock in the goings on in the heavens as signs from God. Therefore, the Magi would have been looking for a celestial happening to start this whole thing in motion. Moreover, we find such a thing in the sky around 2/3 BC. There Jupiter, the moon and Saturn all enter into the constellation Aries, which in those days represented the nation of Judea or the region of Judea. Jupiter and Moon signify the birth of a significant person. Since it was in the constellation Aries, which represents Judea the Magi would have known that there was a significant birth of a ruler in Judea, the sign that they had been searching for probably since the time of Daniel. That would have sent them on their quest toward Jerusalem. There are two points to this story. One is that Jupiter rose in the east for the entire quest and the celestial history shows us that Jupiter would have been in the eastern sky during that time. Planets as they pass through the constellations do this retrograde thing where they appear to stop and reverse their course before moving forward again. Jupiter does such a thing in 2 BC and would have appeared to stop over and around Bethlehem. Interesting stuff.

Maybe you have had you whole life mapped out for you and suddenly everything is changed and now you are faced with a new and different reality. Has that happened to you? Most of us at one time or another thought we were going to be something else, do something else, be somewhere our whole lives and suddenly it all changes. The dream evaporates because we find we cannot do what we wanted to do or something gets in the way. The job suddenly evaporates and we face unemployment, job searching and moving to a new location. All of these things have epiphany moments, that moment when we realize that what we thought is no longer and now we face new realities and opportunities.

The Magi brings gifts to Christ and year after year, we rehash what they are and their significance. However, this year I want to focus on verse 12. ^NRS  Matthew 2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. They have a dream. Now mind you, to get the Magi, all of them to agree to go a different way I suspect that more than one of them had a dream. So they leave Bethlehem and go home a different way than they had come. What did they follow? How did they know where to go or how to get home? Remember that they are people who study the sky so they likely could use celestial tracking to get home. But they had to go a different way. All because of an encounter with the living God! That is what I want to focus on this morning.

I enjoy Richard Rohr’s Daily meditation that I get every morning on my e-mail. He is out there somewhat and it causes me often to ponder what I know and believe and explore new thoughts and new understandings. Friday he focused on Love, in fact he has been focusing on love all week. I want to read you some of it.

“You cannot earn God. You cannot prove yourself worthy of God. Knowing God's presence is simply a matter of awareness, of enjoying the now, of deepening one's own presence. There are moments when it happens. Then life makes sense.”

“Jesus pushes seeing to the social edge. Can you see the image of Christ in the least of your brothers and sisters? He uses that as his only description of the final judgment (Matthew 25). Nothing about commandments, nothing about church attendance--simply a matter of our ability to see. Can we see Christ in the "nobodies" who can't play our game of success? In those who cannot reward us in return? When we can see the image of God where we are not accustomed to seeing the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own.”

“The Christian vision is that the world is a temple. If that is true, then our enemies are sacred, too. Who else created them but God? The ability to respect the outsider is probably the litmus test of true seeing. And it doesn't stop with human beings and enemies and the least of the brothers and sisters. It moves to frogs and pansies and weeds. Everything becomes enchanting with true sight. One God, one world, one truth, one suffering, and one love. All we can do is participate.”

“Spirituality is about seeing. It's about intimate relationship with things rather than achieving results or meeting requirements. Once you see fully, the rest follows. You don't need to push the river, because you are already in the river. God's life of love is being lived within you, and you must simply learn how to say yes to that life.”

I believe that when we encounter Jesus in our lives, we cannot help but be changed. Nicodemus meets with Jesus and that encounter changes him profoundly. What do you mean I have to be born from above with the power of the Holy Spirit within me to get to heaven? Is that even possible, to be “born again?” Who can forget the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus? What a profound encounter he has with the risen Jesus. Who are you that you would persecute those who follow me, Jesus asks him. I think in that moment Saul who now uses his Roman name Paul would say he was profoundly changed. Following Jesus’ crucifixion, his disciples were devastated. They had forsaken him in the Garden of Gethsemane to save their own lives. But after they met the resurrected Christ, they were radically changed. Suddenly, they were willing to give their lives to tell Jesus’ story to the world. Many were tortured and killed because they proclaimed Jesus was alive. Skeptics and enemies were also transformed. Jesus’ younger brother, James, didn’t think Jesus was anybody special. But after his resurrected brother appeared to him, James not only believed Jesus was Lord but became the leader of the Jerusalem church and died a martyr in 62 AD.

Roman governor Plinius Secundus wrote in his letters that Christians were people who loved the truth at any cost. Although he was ordered to torture and execute them for refusing to curse Jesus, he was continually amazed and impressed with their firm commitments “not to do any wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up.” For centuries, true Christians around the world have stood as shining examples of the standards of truth and love established by Jesus of Nazareth.

Similarly, the late C.S. Lewis, professor at Oxford University in England, was an agnostic who denied the deity of Christ for years. But he, too, in intellectual honesty, submitted to Jesus as his God and Savior after studying the overwhelming evidence for his deity. Over the years, he wrote many books to uphold the ideals of Christianity, including Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters.

When we meet Jesus, we encounter the true experience of love that God want us to know. Jesus loved people not because they deserved it or somehow were worthy of the experience. Jesus loved people because as the divine human experience, God wanted the world to know that they are loved beyond measure. I am profoundly impacted by the fact that dog spelled backwards is God. A dog loves its master without hesitation. I even see that in our cat Morris towards Bonnie. God loves us in ways we cannot imagine. God calls us to love one another in the same way. When we do, there is no hatred, no separation, no war, no genocide, no suicide, no deceptions, twisted perceptions, perverted truth, injustice, inequality, no prejudice, no homelessness, no... no...no..Just God! Just God! No racism, classicism, sexism, militarism...Just God! Just God! Jesus is calling you on a journey – it may not be the way you intended your life to go, but it is the way that Jesus wants your life to go.

And in a dream they were told to go another way.