This Sunday, May 10, is Mother’s Day. It’s an important day in that it reminds us of the love and extraordinary sacrifices mothers can make for their children.

Since the 1960s there have been significant changes in the way women see themselves: having now the sexual freedoms formally perceived to belong only to men; having the capacity to rise to high positions, professionally and politically; yet still having the unique gift to be a mother.

It may come as a surprise to many to read Proverbs 31:10-31. The woman personified here probably draws together the many aspects of womanhood applauded in the Bible.

At first glance we could say she would make a good New Yorker, given her many activities and the pace of her life! But we see here not only characteristics of an ideal wife and mother but also a picture of the Bible’s view of womanhood. Indeed, here are lessons that are applicable across cultures and across time.

Who is this woman? First, let me say that this is not one woman, but a composite picture of Godly womanhood. Let me identify some key themes.

She is a capable manager. In verses 11 through 13 we see that she is active and competent, promoting goodness and protecting those around her against life’s hazards. Indeed, she is capable of taking on a variety of significant responsibilities.

She is also an entrepreneur – a successful businesswoman. In verses 14 through 16 we see her buying and selling in the marketplace and with an eye for property and investment opportunities. Her lamp does not go out, suggesting either prosperity or long hours of work. She is physically fit and strong (verse 17) and skilled in spinning her own thread (verse 19).

She is also compassionate and caring. Verse 20 tells us that she gives a percentage of her profits to the poor, reinforcing the biblical principle that prosperity is to be shared with those who are less well off.

Furthermore, her conversation is not simply small talk about general gossip or current fashion. She uses opportunities to speak words of wisdom (verses 26, 27). She brings God into her conversation – his revelation and his wisdom for life, so essential in the home and beyond – especially in challenging times such as we are experiencing now.

What then is the key to her success? Her independence, her energy, her entrepreneurial gifts? No. In Proverbs 31:30-31 we read: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

These verses form a fitting conclusion to the Book of Proverbs for they bring us back to the starting point. In chapter 1:7 we read: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction. This is what this woman has learned – everyone who fears the Lord is to be praised.

In the course of its wisdom, the Book of Proverbs has some salutary words about those women whose aim is to trap men. Proverbs 31 reverses this, for here is a woman who, fearing the Lord, shapes her life around his Word and his wisdom. She is also a reversal of Genesis 3 with its account of Adam and Eve and their fall.

When we view Proverbs 31 through the lens of the New Testament, we can see it as a pointer to Mary and her response to the announcement of the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:35ff). Luke’s account draws our attention to the depth of Mary’s experience of God’s mercy. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, she says (Luke 1:46f). Mary, it is important to note, is not the bestower of grace. She is the beneficiary of God’s grace.

God says to women, as he does to men, ‘I have designed you and made you. Listen to me; turn to me, ask for my forgiveness. Trust me’.

Let’s take the time this Mother’s Day to thank the Lord for our mothers – or perhaps a mother-figure who has been our special mentor. Above all, let’s thank God for the Son that Mary bore – Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. For to fear him is the beginning of wisdom. To turn to him in repentance and in faith is to know the beginning of life.

In the midst of the uncertainties and fears accompanying the coronavirus pandemic, it’s worth pausing and reflecting on those all too rare moments when we experience a deep longing that we know nothing on earth can satisfy.

We might experience such moments when our hearts are lifted to a sense of the transcendent, perhaps when hearing some sublime music or gazing on a glorious scene that draws us beyond the material to the ethereal. For a few all too fleeting seconds we are enchanted by the prospect of a world whose beauty and peace surpass our usual experience. And we long for it.

Does our longing suggest it could be real?

The myths and legends of the past, and the various religions of the world, may speak of life beyond our experience now. But the Christian Scriptures are of a very different order. They have a unique authority, for the events of which they speak and the utterances they record are firmly grounded in history. Furthermore, they point to a future that is foreshadowed by and is consistent with our experiences now – but of a very different order.

In Colossians 1:25ff Paul the Apostle writes of God’s good news that he preaches. He sums it up with these words: Christ in you the hope of glory (1:27).

Christ in you… For many today Christianity is little more than a belief system and moral code which is nothing more than human invention. But Paul wants us to understand that the events surrounding Jesus of Nazareth hold the key.

Put to death at the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor in Judea at the time, Jesus’ life, death and his subsequent resurrection have turned out to be the hinge of history. It was God’s means of opening the way, not only to put us right with him, but also of opening up for us a new dimension of life that begins now and stretches into eternity. And because this life is grounded in historical events and draws us into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we retain our individuality as persons, but are caught up into the riches and glory of life with Christ himself. What is more, we don’t have to languish in ignorance or unbelief, because the notion of God no longer seems so remote.

The hope of glory… Coupled with this present experience is something else: the hope of glory. We have a future expectation of God’s commendation and reflecting the glorious light of Christ himself as we are perfectly drawn into the light of his kingdom. Those brief moments that give us a glimpse of something far, far richer than even the best of our experiences now, point to our relationship with Christ and what it will be when we live openly in the presence God. The best is yet to be.

It is important we think this through. There will be times when we will be disappointed with the way life treats us. In fact we may be disillusioned at times with Christianity because of life’s experiences. We thought that turning to Jesus Christ as Lord would solve all our problems –finding the right marriage partner, getting and keeping a job, and enjoying a successful career, would all follow as a matter of course. You may have thought you could bring whatever was on your heart to God, and it would happen.

But finding God’s forgiveness and becoming one of his people doesn’t mean this: our bodies are still subject to sickness, marriages to disagreements, and jobs to redundancy.  What the gospel message offers us in terms of life here and now is not transformed outward circumstances, but transformed inner spiritual resources – Christ in you. Outwardly our bodies are wasting away, Paul says elsewhere, but inwardly we are being renewed, day by day.

A sure hope. Yes, the Scriptures speak of a better world where there is no pain and frustration, loneliness and grief.  But we need to understand that this is a future world, one that we perceive by faith, not by sight. The hope of glory is not some vague, wistful, ‘maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t, kind of hope. It is a sure, confident, certain hope, grounded in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes, hope by definition is unrealized for the present, but it is a sure hope. It is this hope that gives meaning and purpose to our lives now.

Reflect: I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:25-27).

Prayer: God our Father, make us joyful in the ascension of your Son Jesus Christ. May we follow him into the new creation, for his ascension is our glory and our hope. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (An Australian Prayer Book, Ascension Day)

Back in 2008 Professor Keith Ward in his Why There Almost Certainly Is a God critiqued the views of Richard Dawkins and others on the question of the existence of God.

A respected philosopher and theologian, Dr Ward raised questions about the dubious nature of materialism. ‘Most of us (philosophers) do not want to deny that material things exist,’ he wrote, ‘but we are no longer sure of what matter is. Is it quarks, or superstrings, or dark energy, or the result of quantum fluctuations in a vacuum?’ (p.14) ‘What is the point of being a materialist when we are not sure exactly what matter is?’ he asked. ‘It no longer seems to be a set of simple elementary particles… What this means is that materialism no longer has the advantage of giving us a simple explanation of reality’ (p.15).

He also raised questions about consciousness, namely, ‘how conscious states – thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions – can arise from complex physical brain-states …’ (p.16). He asked, ‘Do we know that no consciousness could exist without being tied to … a physical process? … There might be a consciousness that came into existence in some other way’ (apart from a physical process) (p.17).

Following a careful analysis of a scientific and materialistic explanation for our existence, he observed, ‘But perhaps materialism is the greater delusion. Consciousness is the most evident sort of existence there is, and it is not necessarily bound to matter …’ (p.96).

It is significant that the opening lines of the Gospel of John read: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people (John 1:1-4).

Spiritual life. With these introductory words, what has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people, John is telling us that, amongst other significant things, men and women have something in common: life. The word he uses speaks of spiritual life, not simply physical or material life.

This helps us understand why there is a restlessness within us about the meaning of life. We are not content simply to exist, nor even to be fully satisfied in the long-term with the pleasures this world offers. Because the life gives light to us all, deep down we sense there is something more. As Ecclesiastes says, ‘God has put eternity into our hearts’ (3:11).

However, and what a however it is, in our natural state we rejected the One who is the source of life and gives meaning to our existence. When God’s Word took on human flesh (1:14), we were brought face to face with what we were meant to be – image-bearers of the living God. Against the glory of God’s eternal Son we are confronted with our failed relationship with God. Preferring darkness, we rejected him. Indeed, on the first Good Friday when they crucified the Lord of life, it seemed that the darkness had won.

Life and hope. That said, strange as it might seem, there is something within God that would not allow this ending. Through the Word, his one and only eternal Son, God personally stepped into the gloom of our world to give us life and hope. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God (1:12f).

John the Apostle is telling us that God’s deep passion is to establish a family in the midst of the gloom of this world. It is a family whose lives were revolutionized when they understood that God’s glory is revealed in the life and work of Jesus Christ. And herein is our hope. When we become members of God’s family we have the sure hope of life forever with the risen Christ.

Let me ask, what is on your heart this Easter season? Do you grieve for our suffering world? John is telling us that the Word incarnate suffered for us. Do you think we live in an evil world? The Word made flesh was tempted like us. Do you fear that we live in a dying world? The Word made flesh died for us. We beheld his glory, says John. ‘We apostles saw it.  We have the evidence of it.’ God is not only there, he has come amongst us to give us life and hope.

Reflect. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people … The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-4, 9-14).

Prayer: Almighty God, you show to those who are in error the light of your truth so that they may return into the way of righteousness: grant to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s service that we may renounce those things that are contrary to our profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to it; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

‘We need Easter’, is an unexpected line we’ve been hearing. For many, Easter is a metaphor for ‘new life’ or ‘new hope’. It is not a reference to the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A journalist once put it like this: ‘The historical, literal truth about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus has little connection with the Easter celebration of Christian believers. Faith thrives on doubt and therefore, even if Jesus didn’t live, die and come back to life again, Easter would still have meaning.’

But this is something the New Testament refuses to accept. All four Gospels testify to Jesus’ empty tomb. Every New Testament sermon references it as well.

In John 20:1-2 we read: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him”.

Witnesses. Despite the testimony of women being treated as secondary in 1st Century Judaism, women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb. Focusing our attention on Mary of Magdala, one of the women who went to the tomb, John records that she saw the stone had been removed from the tomb. Doubtless fearing that Jesus’ body had been desecrated, she raced to tell Peter and John.

Both men ran to the tomb. While John arrived first, Peter went right into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head… rolled up in a place by itself (20:6f). The evidence was clear: human hands had not removed the body. For his part, John saw and believed. However, neither yet understood what Jesus meant when he said they would see him again, physically risen from the dead.

Like John, we may believe that Jesus has gone to be with God, but we find the idea of a physical resurrection impossible to grasp.

Doubts. One of the encouraging things about the Bible is its downright honesty, and not least about its heroes. Thomas, one of Jesus’ first followers, expressed disbelief when told that Jesus was alive. “Unless I see the nail marks on his hands and put my fingers where the nails were… I will not believe,” he said (20:25). He hadn’t been with the other ten disciples when Jesus appeared to them on the day that changed the world.

However, he was present when a week later Jesus appeared again to the disciples. Sensitive to Thomas’ doubts, Jesus said to him: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe” (20:27). Thomas’ response is probably the first recorded confession of faith in the risen Christ: “My Lord and my God!”

Belief Today. In God and Stephen Hawking, Dr John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics at Oxford University, observes that many scientists say ‘miracles arose in primitive, pre-scientific cultures, where people were ignorant of the laws of nature and so readily accepted miracle stories’ (p.82).

In response, Lennox comments: ‘In order to recognize some event as a miracle, there must be some perceived regularity to which that event is an apparent exception! In other words, we don’t need the benefit of modern science to define an extraordinary event’ (pp.84f).

He also notes a second objection to miracles that says: ‘Now we know the laws of nature, miracles are impossible’ (p.86). His response to this is: ‘From a theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is bound to happen if God does not intervene… To argue that the laws of nature make it impossible for us to believe in the existence of God and the likelihood of his intervention in the universe is plainly false’ (p.87).

God’s people understand that ‘the laws of nature’ are the observable regularities that God the creator has built into the universe. However, such ‘laws’ do not prevent God from intervening if he chooses. When he does, we are able to identify the irregularity and speak of it as ‘a miracle’.

Jesus’ resurrection is not the result of a natural mechanism. Rather, as the New Testament tells us, it happened because God intervened, using his awesome, supernatural power (Romans 6:4b).

John 20 concludes: These things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name (20:31).

God’s ‘Yes!’ The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s ‘Yes’ to the hidden meaning of the crucifixion. When Christ died, he perfectly satisfied God’s just judgement of us all. Once and for all he dealt with our broken relationship with God.

More than ever our anxious world needs to hear this good news from God. In the course of his redemptive actions in history, God’s messengers said – to the shepherds at Jesus’ birth, and the women in the empty tomb – “Do not be afraid…” (Luke 2:10, Matthew 28:5). When we turn to the risen Christ, he says to us, ‘Have no fear’ and ‘Peace be with you’. We also have Jesus’ promise: “I will be with you the whole of every day until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Reflect: For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,… (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Prayer: Almighty God, you have conquered death through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant us by your grace to set our mind on things above, so that by your continual help our whole life may be transformed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in everlasting glory.  Amen.  (BCP, Easter Day – adapted)

It is a mark of the critical times in which we live that last Sunday, Her Majesty the Queen made a rare speech. As well as thanking everyone on the frontline of health care, she called for unity in adopting a lifestyle of self-isolation that considers others – especially the vulnerable.

Drawing from the spirit of self-sacrifice during World War 2 she commented: ‘We may have more still to endure’. Her concluding words were full of encouragement. ‘Better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.’

Interestingly in the course of her speech Her Majesty commented: ‘And though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths, and of none, are discovering that it presents an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect, in prayer or meditation’.

During this Holy Week, it’s an opportunity for God’s people to reflect on the events of the first Good Friday before the celebration and joy of Easter Day.

Foolishness…? Writing on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in his First Letter to the Corinthians Paul the Apostle says: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19).

Paul wants us to know that when Jesus died on the cross the power of God was uniquely at work. He wants us to know that God in his wisdom has addressed the root problem of the human dilemma in a way that no other religion or philosophy has.

Our world has made incredible strides in the field of science and technology. We can peer into the vast spaces of the universe and map the human genome, but there is always something that trips us up – be it the novel coronavirus or, more significantly, the persistent inability to find a path to perfect peace with one another.

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, was once asked why he wrote it. He responded: I believed then, that man was sick – not exceptional man, but average man. I believed that the condition of man was to be a morally diseased creation and that the best job I could do at the time was to trace the connection between his diseased nature and the international mess he gets himself into.

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul is telling us that where human wisdom has failed to find answers, God himself has stepped in and acted. The man who hung on a cross between two self-confessed criminals on a hill outside of Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago, was God’s one and only eternal Son. Crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea, the Son of God, who is the source of our life, died in our place.

That day the all-holy God acted in love and provided a solution to our human dilemma in a way that nothing else could. For in his death, the sinless Son perfectly satisfied once and for all every righteous requirement of God.

A moral universe. Paul is saying that we live in a moral universe. Despite the strident voices in the public square, we are not here by chance simply to make the best of a fleeting life. We are image-bearers of our creator God. Our deepest problem is that, designed to know and enjoy a rich relationship with the living God, we worship the desires our own hearts – ourselves and whatever catches our attention. But we were designed for so much more – and for eternity. 

The good news is that the cross of Christ God offers a new start and a new way of living to everyone who believes. The cross is not simply good advice. It’s not even news about God’s power. It is the place where God has destroyed all human pretense and arrogance.

There was something very strange that God did when Jesus died, but there is a rightness to it. Paul tells us that God has deliberately ordered things this way so that we arrogant, self-centered people cannot, and will not, find our own solution.

More foolishness…? In verse 21 Paul says: God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. This is breath-taking. Through the announcement of Christ’s crucifixion, a message that seems senseless and inane when we first come across it, God has determined to rescue anyone who turns to Jesus as the Christ and as their Savior and Lord.

The implications of this are humbling. God in his wisdom has determined on a plan that to human eyes seems so ludicrous. Furthermore, it means that all people – it doesn’t matter who we are – have an equal opportunity to benefit. Priority isn’t given to the highly intelligent, the wealthy, the successful or the celebrities. God’s offer of salvation is open to anyone who by his grace trusts him at his word, to anyone who relies on him, who believes him.

The message of Christ crucified is God’s strange wisdom that subverts the wisdom of the world and provides the one and only solution to our human need – restoration of our relationship with God and a motivation and a model for working out our relationships with one another.

Furthermore, it means that God’s people can be sure that there will be a time when this current isolation ends, and that we will meet again – either in this world or in the perfected age to come.

May you know the riches of God’s grace and peace, hope and joy, this Easter.

Reflect: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19).

Prayer: Almighty Father, look graciously upon your people, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked leaders, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Good Friday – adapted)