Benjamin Franklin once wrote that ‘in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. If he was alive today he might have added: ‘and scams’. According to the ACCC, Australians lost $2.74 billion to scams last year. Maybe you were one of them?
Last week I received an email from the LCA IT department inviting me to complete a S.C.A.M 1 Fundamentals course. Sounds helpful, right? The trouble is the email asks me to click on the link! I would, but I don’t know if it’s a scam or not!
The effects of scams go way beyond just the financial losses. Yes, the financial losses get the headlines, but it’s the emotional and psychological impacts that can have the greater and longer lasting effects: anxiety, loss of self-esteem, shame, cognitive impairment, powerlessness, loss of identity.
I guess it should be no surprise that Jesus was ahead of his time and he knew what he was talking about when he said: “Beware that no one leads you astray”.
Are you interested in money? Dumb question, right? I haven’t met too many people who aren’t. Whenever I’m in my local library I browse through the magazine rack. There is magazine titled ‘Money’. There’s a section at the end of the magazine where a successful person is interviewed. One of the questions is: How would you spend your last $50? One person said: ‘I would spend my last $50 on a big breakfast – with as many sides as possible – and a few coffees at a gorgeous Bondi café’. Many others respond with similar comments. Sometimes someone will say they would invest the money, or pay for some sort of lessons to upgrade their skills, or even give the money away to charity! The one thing I have never read is for someone to say they’d give the money to scammers! Well, that would be crazy wouldn’t it?
Factoring in inflation, $50 dollars may not be far off the two copper coins the widow in this week’s Gospel reading puts into the temple offering bowl. It’s her last $50. It’s everything she has. But, Jesus does not have very complimentary things to say about the people who are supported by the temple offerings: “They devour widows’ houses”, he says.
So, who is this unnamed woman? Does she know what she’s doing? Is she crazy?
The serpent said to Eve in the garden: “You will not die . . . your eyes will be opened and you will be like God” (Genesis 3:4-5) Half-truths are insidious. The two half-truths told by the serpent continue to lure us and fascinate us and shape us. We (understandably) look to avoid death and anything that goes with death (pain, suffering, heartache, grief) by ignoring death, denying death, minimizing death, celebrating death (just look at the skeletons and tombstones and ghosts plastered all over fences this week), controlling death and by doing so we think we are being like God. Well, perhaps in some ways we are, but there is a price to pay for trying to be like God. It’s a price we may be willing to pay, but it’s a price God is not willing to pay.
We all love to receive something for free, it brings us great joy. It’s a concept we know and understand, but what does it mean to be set free? Free from what?
Are we, like the Jews who had believed in Jesus, stating that we have never been slaves to anyone? Let’s explore this concept together and see if we can get to the bottom of what it means to be set free, free indeed!
Dr Reverend Tim Stringer
They’re certainly not backward in coming forward, are they? James and John, that is. “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” It doesn’t say it in the text, but I can just imagine Jesus rolling his eyes at that one. He knows them well enough. “Sure, what is it you want me to do?”
What do James and John want? Well, just a little bit of the glory action. I mean it’s all well and good tramping around the countryside, following Jesus, roughing it every night, having given up jobs and security and family. That’s all fine, but surely there’s going to be a pay off sometime. And, James and John wouldn’t want to miss out on that, would they? So, they try and secure their place, their place in glory.
I wonder if the other disciples were angry not because of what James and John did, but because the other disciples weren’t quick enough to think of asking first. Now, they were in danger of missing out.
And, I wonder if this isn’t a common fear amongst followers of Jesus?
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”. Thus says Jesus. The thing with wealth is that it is relative. There is always someone richer than me, so I can always shimmy my way around the uncomfortable implication of Jesus’ meaning. But, as good as we are at shimmying, at some point we have to face up to the fact that we are the camel. As we look at the eye of the needle and the eye of the needle stares back at us, what are we thinking? What, or who, do we trust to get us through? What, or who, does the church trust to get it through? Is it our wealth? Is it our prestige? Is it our doctrine? Is it our intellect? Is it our commitment? Is it our Lord? Whoever, or whatever it is, whoever or whatever we put our trust in, it’s only when we die that we’ll find out for sure whether our trust is rewarded or misplaced. So, Jesus invites us to come and die, with him. That’s where he’s heading as he teaches his disciples about camels and needles. He’s on his way to Jerusalem where he will be killed, and on the third day . . .
Well, you know the rest of the story, but will you trust the rest of the story?
Pastor John Strelan Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a
In Mark 9:38-50, Jesus emphasizes the priceless value of faith, urging us to recognise what is truly precious. Just as we protect and cherish our most valuable possessions, Jesus calls us to guard our faith with even greater care. We are infinitely precious to God, and the gift of faith He gives us is beyond compare. Jesus warns us to avoid anything that could harm our own faith or cause others to lose theirs. As we reflect on this message, may we treasure our connection to God, nurturing the precious gift of faith that unites us to Him eternally.
NOTE: There is no audio recording of this sermon.
Tone deaf. Oblivious. An inability to read the room. Thick as two bricks. Call it what you will. It is clear that Jesus’ disciples were clueless. Jesus had just finished telling them (again!) that he would be betrayed, arrested, killed and rise again. One might reasonably expect that information might be of interest to them! But, no, there’s something else on their minds. They are more interested in debating who is the greatest! Methinks someone needed to take away their shovel.
The American psychiatrist, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is well known for her five stage model of grief, which describes the inevitable human journey of dealing with death and dying. The stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. It’s a tried and true model.
As Jesus and his followers journey towards Jerusalem, Peter is well and truly stuck in the first stage. He can’t stand to hear Jesus talk about death. Most people I know are like Peter. But, dying is something every single person has to face. It is unavoidable. According to Kubler-Ross’s scheme, the lucky ones reach acceptance. Emotionally, that’s a great place to be. But, still, the result is death: the end of life.
If Jesus of Nazareth had become a psychiatrist instead of a carpenter I’m sure he would have added a sixth stage: hope.
Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem is a journey to the cross, a journey to death. It’s the human journey. But, Jesus calls his disciples to a new way of thinking and being. A way of thinking and being where the acceptance of death is not the final stage, but the first stage, the first stage of life. And, after acceptance comes hope.
Please note: The recorded sermon audio is taken from the 10am School Service on Sunday 15th Sept. A different sermon 'Take up your cross' was given at our 8.30am service, and you can find the printed copy here.