In the 1989 film Dead Poets Society a young English master at a New England Prep School is portrayed pointing out photos of past students to his class. ‘They’re all dead now,’ he says. ‘Carpe diem, seize the day,’ he advises. ‘Seize the opportunities you have before it’s too late.’

Moving from his report of the events surrounding Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44) and the ensuing plot of the Jewish religious leaders to kill Jesus (11:45-57), John the Gospel-writer records that some six days before the Passover Jesus and his followers went to Bethany – which is roughly 3kms (2miles) outside Jerusalem. There Jesus dined with his friends, Martha and Mary, and their brother Lazarus (12:1-8).

During the course of the meal prepared by Martha, where Jesus was guest of honor with Lazarus, Mary opened a jar of very expensive perfume, oil of pure nard from Northern India, and poured it over Jesus’ feet. Diners at that time reclined on couches around a dining table, typically leaning on their left elbow with their feet curled out behind them.

Extravagant devotion. Mary, who had wept and said to Jesus when Lazarus died, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ (11:32f), now not only anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume, valued at more than a year’s income, but also wiped them with her hair. Against the norms of polite society, she would have let down her hair to do this (12:3). Her act was one of humility for she anointed Jesus’ feet, not his head. She had seized the moment to thank Jesus with a most generous and extravagant devotion.

However Judas, one of the disciples, was unimpressed. John tells us that Judas’s comment was not, ‘How thoughtful,’ or even ‘What a mess’, but ‘What a waste’. ‘Why wasn’t the perfume sold and the money given to the poor?’ he had asked (12:4-5). John comments that Judas said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief,… (12:6).

Hypocrisy and betrayal. Judas’ concern for the poor was nothing but hypocrisy. Underneath, Judas was greedy. And that’s why, in the end, his love for Jesus proved to be conditional. Indeed, all four Gospel writers report that Judas negotiated a deal with the Jewish leadership to betray Jesus (see, Mark 14:10f, Luke 22:4-6).

It’s said that everyone has their price, and this was certainly the case with Judas. Matthew’s Gospel tersely tells us that Judas asked the religious leaders, “How much will you give me if I betray him?” (Matthew 26:15)

Judas’s kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:47-48) turned out to be a treacherous kiss, for he was the kind of follower who supported Jesus as long as he thought there was something in it for him. When he realized Jesus was not fulfilling his expectations, he cast him off. How money and material things can deceive us.

Seizing the moment can be used for both ill and for good.

Anointing for burial. How different is Jesus’ response to Mary’s extravagance: ‘Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me’ (12:7-8).

Jesus’ words about his burial and the fact that he would not always be with his disciples, echo a deeper theme he introduced in his conversation with Nicodemus. A time would come when he must be lifted up – an allusion to the cross (3:14-15).

As John’s Gospel unfolds it is increasingly evident that those who believe see that Jesus is not only the Son of God incarnate (1:14) but also God’s king. Mary’s anointing of him shows that she understood this. Jesus’ comment that the anointing is for his burial reveals the deeper theme – that before he could take up his kingship, he would first be laid in a tomb. Humanly speaking, his death would be brought about by Judas.

There is something else behind Jesus’ commendation of Mary’s action. She understood the meaning of the first commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Yes, Jesus implies, the poor need to be cared for. But to fulfill the meaning and practice of the second commandment – love your neighbor – we need first to love the Lord, which is what Mary was doing.

Seize the day. Mary seized the opportunity to express in an extravagant way her heart-felt devotion to Jesus. She awakens us to the vital and intimate love and joy we can experience with Jesus.

Luke, in his Gospel tells us of on another occasion when Jesus was dining with Martha, Mary and Lazarus: Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet listening to him. And when Martha who was in the kitchen burst in on the gathering asking for Mary’s help, he responded: ‘Mary has chosen the better portion’ (Luke 10:41-42).

How often do we seize the opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet, reading and reflecting on the Words of Scripture? How often do we pause to pray, asking his Spirit to draw us into Jesus’ presence? How often do we go to church forgetting that we gather, first and foremost, to come into the Lord’s presence as his people? How often do we go out from church with no sense of having met with him, unchanged from the attitudes that we took in?

Let me suggest that before going to bed tonight, read John 12:1-8 and pray over it, asking the Lord to draw you afresh into the riches of his love. Seize the time to offer or re-offer your life in heart-felt devotion, love and loyalty, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord. Seize the day while there is time.

A prayer. We beseech you, almighty God, to look in mercy on your people; that by your overwhelming goodness we may be governed and preserved evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

You may want to listen to Christ Our Hope in Life and Death from Keith & Kristyn Getty and Matt Papa.

Eugene Ionesco’s, Exit the King is a clever play about life and death. Reportedly, the Romanian-French Ionesco who died in 1994, said about the play: I told myself that one could learn to die, that I could learn to die, that one can also help other people to die. This seems to me the most important thing we can do, since we’re all of us dying men who refuse to die. The play is an attempt at an apprenticeship in dying.

Now I don’t want to be morbid, but I raise the subject for two reasons. First, Ionesco understood that because life is fleeting – as Ukranians know all too well right now – we need to consider our values and priorities. Second, in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal (Luke 15:11-24) a key theme is our lostness: we look for life in the wrong places.

Throughout his ministry Jesus of Nazareth challenges us all to consider our hearts’ desires.

The opening lines of Luke chapter 15 reveal that two very different groups of people were in Jesus’ audience at that time – what we might call the sinners and the saints. The sinners were society’s outcasts, the fraudsters and the immoral; the saints were the religious establishment. The first group needed to learn that at the heart of God’s nature is mercy and forgiveness; the second needed to be shocked out of their self-righteousness. The two groups had two very different views about life and death.

Knowing that mindsets are very hard to shift, Jesus didn’t preach a sermon nor engage in debate. He simply told three stories – about a shepherd who had lost a sheep, about a woman who had lost a coin, and about a father who had lost two sons. I’ll focus here on the father and his younger son.

The clever story opens with the younger son asking his father for his inheritance. The son, by asking this implies that he wished his father were dead. Nevertheless, the father gave him what he wanted. But it was not long before the money was gone. Having no friends or credit line, the son was soon without food and homeless. Worse followed. With a drought and a crash in primary industry, the best he could do was become a day-laborer, feeding pigs. Even so, he starved. His thoughts turned to home – to his father, the farm, and the food.

The son weighed the odds. ‘Here I am, feeding pigs,’ he reflected. ‘The casual-workers on Dad’s farm are better off than me. I’m a fool. I’ll have to bury my pride and go home. I’ll have to tell Dad I’m really sorry I messed up and don’t deserve a thing. I’ll ask him to take me in as one of the hired-workers.’

Jesus’ story would have captured everyone’s attention. Some hearers would have been saying to themselves, ‘That’s me.’ Another group would have said, ‘That son doesn’t deserve to be forgiven’.

How would the father react? That is the question.

Like most fathers, he knew what his son was like and what he would do. But he still loved him. In fact, he’d been on the lookout for his return. And when word came that his son was on his way home, he immediately raced out to greet him.

We need to feel the impact of Jesus’ story. No self-respecting citizen in that culture would ever run down the street. He would walk with dignity and deliberation. Furthermore, this father wasn’t racing out to greet a son who had graduated with a doctorate and made his first million before he was twenty-five. The father’s action came at a personal public humiliation.

Yet the father not only ran but threw his arms around his son and kissed him. The son, no doubt overwhelmed, was honest and expressed his sorrow and deep repentance: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  Period. Full stop.

He had planned to add, ‘Treat me as one of your hired servants.’ But he now realized this was not appropriate. For the first time he understood that he’d never really known his father, nor how much his father loved him. He had never appreciated the privilege of being a son.

What was the younger son’s problem? He wanted his father’s wealth so he could enjoy all the pleasures that took his fancy without accountability.

Here is heart of the human dilemma. We think that our possessions and the pleasures we pursue are the be-all and end-all of life. Reckoning they are secure we find they aren’t secure at all. We look for life in the wrong places because we’ve left God out of the equation of the meaning of life.

Jesus’ great longing is for us to be honest and humble enough to say, ‘Lord, I know you are true and I know everything I have comes from you. Please forgive me for turning my back on you. Help me to honor you above all else in life.’

Can God find it in his heart to forgive us? Jesus also answers this. In verse 22 we read that before the younger son could catch his breath, his father was busy ordering new clothes, shoes, and a ring – the best of everything. The most elaborate and expensive feast was prepared, and the father tells us why: ‘For this my son was dead, now he is alive, he was lost but now he has been found.’

The Prayer of Humble Access takes up the principle of God’s willingness to forgive the repentant heart when it says the Lord’s nature is always to have mercy.

We easily miss the force of the father’s words in Jesus’ story, ‘For this my son was dead, now he is alive…’ We may have everything the world offers, but until we have turned to Jesus Christ, in God’s sight we are the walking dead.

How good it is that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). And how good it is to have gospel ministries such as TheWord121 to introduce family and friends to him so that they may not die but have life forevermore.

A prayer. Almighty God, grant that we, who justly deserve to be punished for our sinful deeds, may in your mercy and kindness be pardoned and restored; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

(Note: Today’s Word is adapted from my Luke: The Unexpected God, 2nd Edition, Aquila: 2019)

With the continued missile onslaught on the cities of Ukraine we feel the pain and the suffering and the loss of life. ‘Why this evil and suffering in this 21st century?’

In his 1940s book, The Problem of Pain,CS Lewis considers the question of pain and suffering from the perspective of the meaning and purpose of life.

He comments: If the first and lowest operation of pain shatters the illusion that all is well, the second shatters the illusion that what we have, whether good or bad in itself, is our own and enough for us. Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying when ‘all’ does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St. Augustine says somewhere ‘God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.’

In the opening lines of Luke chapter 13, we read Jesus’ comments about an evil that Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea, had perpetrated. He had mingled the blood of some Galileans with the Jewish sacrifices, perhaps at Passover time (13:1). While the event is not documented elsewhere, we know from Josephus (The Life of Flavius Josephus17 and The Antiquities of the Jews 17, 9, 3) that the Galileans tended to aggravate the Roman rulers and that they in turn responded harshly to any form of opposition.

Jesus’ words are tough: ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?’ he asked. ‘No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did…’(13:2-3).

‘Be warned,’ Jesus is saying, ‘all men and women are out of step with their Maker – and so too is planet earth.’ Certainly, every volcano and flood, every conflict and war, are testimony to that. Life as we know it is unpredictable and fleeting. We need to wake up and turn back to God while we have time.

To ignore Jesus is to head towards a fate even more tragic than that of those Galileans, for we will be exposing ourselves to the second death of which Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 12:4-5. If we wake up to the critical times in which we live we can turn to God and ask for his grace to live our lives in harmony with him.

CS Lewis observes: Pain is not only immediately recognizable evil, but evil impossible to ignore. We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world…’

Jesus pointed out that the choice we have is not only difficult and vital but is also urgent. He takes up this theme in a parable he tells (13:6-9). Gardeners know how easy it is to pull out an unproductive plant. However, wise gardeners will curb their impatience and wait. They will feed the plant, prune it, perhaps even cut some of the roots to stimulate it. Only when they find their careful endeavors are to no avail will they cut it down: ‘Let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down’ (13:8-9).

Many years ago I was involved in setting up a new school. Two or three large eucalyptus trees in the grounds were dying because of a prolonged drought. After digging around the tree roots, we set sprinklers every evening. As the water soaked into the ground, the trees began to regenerate and produce new growth.

The vineyard in Jesus’ parable sometimes symbolized the people of Israel(see Isaiah 5:1-7). However, while Jesus would have had in mind the people of Israel,his application is more general. He is reminding everyone of two themes that he develops – a final day when God will call everyone to account for their relationship with him (the first commandment), and God’s delay in the timing of that day. Jesus doesn’t want us to confuse God’s patience with indifference.

God’s non-intervention in times of evident evil doesn’t mean that he is indifferent. Rather, because he is extraordinarily patient, he exercises great self-control and chooses to wait. Yes, there are times when we may be tempted to think that Jesus will never return. He tells this parable to reassure us.

Two critical events would shortly touch the lives of his hearers – first, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection; second, in 70AD, the fall of Jerusalem, which he predicted (see Luke 21:20-24). In Luke chapter 13 Jesus says there would be a third crisis yet to come that would affect the whole world: his return. For centuries the Jewish people had been waiting for the dawn of the age of the Messiah. ‘Well,’ Jesus is saying, ‘It is here; you are standing on the threshold of the new age, the edge of eternity.’

Jesus asks us today: ‘How is it that you do not see the signs of the times in which you live?’ None of us can predict the future, but we can be assured that Jesus will return. His second coming will be very different from his first. It will not be a small, silent event, seen by only a few, but will come with great fanfare to be seen by everyone. If we are tempted to doubt Jesus’ words, we should note that the first two of his predictions have occurred!

A prayer. Almighty God, we confess that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: keep us outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, so that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

(Note: Today’s Word is adapted from my Luke: The Unexpected God, 2nd Edition, Aquila: 2019)

In the midst of the turmoil of the West, the evil invasion of Ukraine, and the threats to a law-based world order, where is your hope for the future?

Come with me to the Letter of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, chapter 3:12 through 4:1.

In verse 12 we read: But I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize.

Drawing his metaphor from athletics, Paul says he presses on in his walk with the Lord.

A champion single-sculler once told me his training hours – rising before daylight six days a week, 52 weeks a year, no matter the weather. I asked him why he did it: ‘The podium,’ he responded. As we press on to the future, we are to invest our lives in the present so that we will experience the prize Jesus Christ holds out to us.

This is not about works. Earlier in chapter 3 Paul says he puts no confidence in the flesh (v.4),  not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes though faith in Christ… (v.9). When we turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, God applies Christ’s righteousness to us. We are now to live in that new relationship.

‘We’re not there yet,’ Paul is saying. We need to press on to the day of resurrection (3:11) when everyone will be summoned from their grave and brought before God’s judgment seat. That time is yet to come but it is guaranteed because Jesus rose from the dead (Acts 17:31).

And, Paul says, in pressing on we need to be deliberately forgetful. Forgetting here is the opposite of remembering – putting the past behind us and moving forward. For Paul it meant putting behind a rules-based religion by a deliberate and studied forgetfulness.

It’s easy to put our trust in anything other than an ongoing personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the years I’ve had people tell me they had been involved in children’s ministry, leading music or Bible studies. It’s good to thank the Lord for opportunities to serve him in the past, but as God’s people we don’t live simply by looking to the past. Christianity is forward looking.

Which brings us to a second theme: Holding fast. In verse 15 we read: Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained…

It seems there were some in Philippi who disagreed with Paul’s teaching regarding their lifestyle. Some were teaching ‘perfectionism’, rather than reckoning on the constant conflict between the flesh and the spirit and the reality that growing into maturity is a process. CH Spurgeon is reputed to have kicked in the shins a man who said he was perfect. The man’s angry vindictive reaction showed without any doubt that this was far from true.

Follow my example, says Paul. ‘I long to see you all arrive at God’s finishing line, mature in the faith having lived Godly fruitful lives.

A warning follows in verses 17 through 19: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

To oppose the cross of Christ is destruction. It is with genuine sorrow (tears) that he speaks of those who worship themselves – their god is the belly. Self-satisfied and feeling no need to look beyond their own interests, their appetites dictate their lives. They glory in things of which they should be ashamed. Concluding that life now is all there is they justify behavior they ought to condemn.

In the Old Testament, commenting on those who call evil good and good evil, the prophet Isaiah says, they put darkness for light and light for darkness. (Isaiah 5:20). In his day people attempted to shape a moral code that was rooted in pleasing ourselves.

How important it is to remember that we are called upon, not only to believe God’s revealed truth, but to obey it. Paul’s words here are similar to what he says in Romans 1:18 and 21. In our natural state we attempt to suppress the truth. Knowing God exists, we don’t honor him or thank him for all the good things we enjoy.

Our Hope is in Christ Alone: Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself (3:20-21).

Our security is in Christ who has not only risen from the dead but who has ascended and is now with the God the Father in heaven. Christ is now reaching down, as it were, calling us, drawing us through life to be with him where he is.

Paul is saying that Christ has already secured the podium – the prize for us. His resurrection guarantees it.

What then should we treasure? Jesus Christ! He is the one who bore our sins. He is the one who guarantees us new life and a new hope, glory and a crown. While our life in this world is fleeting, we have responsibilities to honor Christ in the way we live. We are also to press on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In his Narnia book, The Last Battle, CS Lewis portrays Peter, Edmund and Lucy entering the land of Narnia, never again to leave. The unicorn summed up everyone’s feelings: “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now …”

A prayer. Almighty God, we ask you to look on the heartfelt desires of your servants, and stretch forth the right hand of your power to be our defense against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A prayer for peace. God of the nations, whose kingdom rules over all, have mercy on our broken and divided world – and especially on the people of Ukraine at this time. Shed abroad your peace in the hearts of all men and women and banish from them, and the leaders of the world the spirit that makes for war. We ask this so that all races and people may learn to live as members of one people and in obedience to your laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

Human relationships on the personal and international level must rate as the greatest challenge for the world’s future. The cold-blooded invasion of Ukraine reveals an oft unspoken issue that confronts us: flawed human nature.

The Russian author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once commented, If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

And the 19th century Scottish minister and evangelist, Robert Murray McCheyne observed, The seeds of all sins are in my heart, and perhaps all the more dangerously that I do not see them.

Let me make a suggestion. Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent that continues through to the day before Easter Day. The six weeks of Lent can be a special time of spiritual re-awakening through consistent Bible reading, honest reflection, and prayer.

Indeed, the prayer for Ash Wednesday and for Lent, focuses on God’s forgiveness of the repentant person and spiritual renewal. The Lord Jesus challenges us to know the Scriptures, reflect on them, and to pray throughout the year.

However, such is our flawed nature that we can all deceive ourselves. We can be two-faced, saying one thing and doing another. We may even read the Bible and pray, attend church, and give to the poor, but our hearts can remain unchanged in our relationship with the Lord, as well as with one another.

Consider Jesus’ warning against hypocrisy in his Sermon on the Mount: “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

Earlier in his sermon Jesus says: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:16). In both places he is talking about being seen by others, yet he seems to contradict himself. Is he inconsistent?

In chapter 5 he speaks of the moral qualities of our life in public. In Matthew 6 he warns against using our faith to win approval. There is a sharp difference between living as God desires and our desire to make a name for ourselves. The first glorifies God. The second only brings fleeting applause.

The attention-seeking ‘religious’ get what they delight in – accolades and celebrity. But Jesus warns, they will miss out on the true reward that comes from the living, all-righteous God. All they have is a counterfeit religion, empty and without value. Two examples follow.

Counterfeit giving. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others” (Matthew 6:2).

Jesus is saying that when we give so that others know what we are doing, whether in public, church or at a charity function – we are being two-faced. We’ll get what we’re after – celebrity status. But that’s all we’ll get. There is no genuine faith and no reward from God. It is a two-faced life-style.

“But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:4).

To be rewarded by the Lord is the ultimate blessing. The approval of others is transient; the approval of God is eternal. Being aware of the deceitfulness of our hearts, we need to pray for God’s grace to avoid counterfeit giving.

Counterfeit prayer is another area where we can be two-faced. In verse 5 we read: “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward…”

To lead the prayers in the synagogue was a mark of distinction, especially as the leader prayed at the front of the congregation. Jesus knows how easy it is for any one of us leading prayer to focus more on the literary quality of our prayer and our tone of voice, than God.

Now Jesus is not saying that prayer must always be in secret. He and his disciples attended services in the Temple and synagogue. The first Christians regularly met for prayer. Prayer in public was not so much the issue as the attitude of the pray-er.

In fact, the main point Jesus makes is our need for private prayer, for who we are in the privacy of our room is who we really are. Without others around us we are less likely to be motivated by self. This is the prayer God hears.

– – –

Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine at this time of an evil, unprovoked war. Let’s pray especially for God’s people and for the Lord’s mercy on the country – for all who suffer and have lost loved ones; that the Lord will intervene and thwart the purposes of war-makers and bring about a just peace.

Let’s also pray that this evil will be a wake-up for many – that they will see the two faces of human nature and the need for us all to turn to the God whose nature is to show mercy and forgiveness. This is the news the world needs to hear afresh.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, so that we, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

A prayer for peace: God of the nations, whose kingdom rules over all, have mercy on our broken and divided world – and especially on the people of Ukraine at this time. Shed abroad your peace in the hearts of all men and women and banish from them, and the leaders of the world the spirit that makes for war. We ask this so that all races and people may learn to live as members of one people and in obedience to your laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A prayer for those in need.

Almighty God, we commend to your fatherly goodness all who are in any way afflicted or distressed, especially those who suffer and grieve in this time of war in Ukraine and those who are impacted by the floods in Australia. We also pray for those who are known to us. May it please you to comfort and relieve them according to their needs, giving them patience in their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(c) John G. Mason

The breaking news is that Russian troops have entered Russian separatist sections of Ukraine, purportedly as peace-keepers. Is this the beginning of a changing world order championed in a recent meeting between Russia and China? In the midst of divisions and uncertainty around us, what can we do? Where can we find assurance and hope?

The answer to the question, ‘What can we do?’ is pray! In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul the Apostle writes: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and for all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We often forget that Christians for three centuries were often persecuted under Roman rule. Indeed, Nero used them as scapegoats for the fire in Rome and put them through all kinds of barbarous cruelty including the lion’s den in the Roman arena. Christians had every reason to hate the state, and yet Paul calls on God’s people to respect the civil authorities for what they are: God’s provision in a fallen world for the good order and protection of society.

But there is a second question: ‘Where can we find assurance and hope?’

In Psalm 2:1-4 we read: Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’

How important it is to remember that whatever happens around us, the Lord continues to work out his purposes in our world. Despite the derision, opposition, or even the persecution we might experience from political leaders or those around us who embrace a secular progressive agenda, God will have the last word.

How can we be sure of this? Come with me to a surprising scene in Luke 9:28-36.

Luke begins, about eight days after… (9:28). He wants us to be in no doubt that, just as the previous conversations had occurred, so did the scene that was about to unfold. Jesus took three of his disciples with him, Peter, John and James when he went up on the mountain to pray (9:28). While Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white (9:29).

This was not a superficial event. In both Luke and Acts a reference to dazzling clothes usually signifies a supernatural or ‘other worldly’ glory. Two great prophets, Moses and Elijah, who were not transformed as Jesus was, were also present and spoke with him about what he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem (9:31).

Prophets had been very much in the minds of Jesus and the disciples at that time. Indeed, eight days earlier Jesus had asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ and they had replied, ‘John the Baptist or Elijah, or one of the prophets.’ But when Jesus had pressed them for their own view, Peter had replied: “You are the Christ” (9:20).

But here on the mountain it was clear that Peter had not yet worked out what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ. Otherwise he and the other two would not have been asleep only to be awakened by the brilliant, supernatural light of Jesus and his visitors (9:32). Furthermore, as the visitors departed Peter said, “Master…; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah – not knowing what he said” (9:33).

Before he could utter another word, a cloud enveloped them all and they heard a voice, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him” (9:35). It was a scene and a voice the disciples would never forget. The glory which transfigured Jesus that day revealed him to be God incarnate.

He is the Son of Man of whom the prophet Daniel spoke, the one to whom would be given the kingdom, the power and the glory (Daniel 7:12-13). He is the man from heaven.

The main purpose of the event was for the three disciples. Yes, Jesus truly is the Christ: God the Father’s words confirmed what they had recently concluded. Furthermore. they needed to listen to him – as we need to do today.

The scene was a foretaste of the glory of God’s kingdom – a foretaste of Jesus’ messianic reign. Peter later wrote: ‘We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty (2 Peter 1:16).

The event is very important for us. If Jesus had disappeared following his resurrection and his ascension, we would have no assurance of his enthronement in glory. The transfiguration is a preview of his power and majesty as he works out God’s purposes for his creation, moving world affairs to an end time when he will be seen in all his might, majesty, dominion and power – the supreme Lord over heaven and earth.

In the midst of the rumors of wars and the tumult of war, what should we be doing? Pray! Where is our hope for the future to be found? In the risen ascended Christ, the man from heaven.

A prayer for peace. God of the nations, whose kingdom rules over all, have mercy on our broken and divided world. Shed abroad your peace in the hearts of all men and women and banish from them the spirit that makes for war; so that all races and people may learn to live as members of one family and in obedience to your laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Preserve your people, Lord God, with your continual mercy, for without you we will fall because of our frailty; keep us always under your protection and lead us to everything that makes for our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

(Note: Today’s Word is adapted from my Luke: The Unexpected God, 2nd Edition, Aquila: 2019)

You may want to listen to Keith & Kristyn Getty and Matt Papa’s Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.