Sixth Sunday of Easter - Rogate (6 May, 2018)

Stand fast

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.  And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."  Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.  And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.  And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."  So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.  Number 21:4-9

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.  Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.  Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.  He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.  Let them thank the LORD for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!  For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.  Psalm 107:1-9

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, 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.  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.  1 Timothy 2:1-6

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.  James 1:22-27

"In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.  Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.  I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.  In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.  I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father."  His disciples said, "Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!  Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God."  [Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?  Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."]  John 16:23-30 (31-33)

We live in tumultuous times.  Maybe not as uncertain as the last weeks the Disciples had with Jesus, but shifting none the less.

The Disciples had it even worse.  Everything seemed to fall apart.  Jesus was killed, the Jewish leaders spread stories about a stolen body, and some of the group might have seen a ghost.  Only they didn't see a ghost; they saw the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Jesus spent forty days giving His last instructions to them.  Not just to prepare them for the task that lay ahead, but to reassure them.  Things were not going to get easier.  In fact, things would go from bad to worse.  Out of the frying pan and into the blast furnace.

But Jesus reminded them: "In this world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world."  What was their to be afraid of?  Jesus had redeemed them, and all creation.  The steadfast love the psalmist wrote about is what Christ delivered to us when He delivered us.

He is the Rock upon which the Church rests.  Our strong tower when all other hope fails.  The pilot who guides us to safe waters.  Like the serpent raised up by Moses in the wilderness, we look to Him to heal us from our sin.  Because no other counterfeit savior can redeem us.