Total Convergence

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak

Trinity Church
†
Waltham, Massachusetts

The Day of Resurrection – Easter Sunday – 8 April 2012

Isaiah 25:6-9, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; I Corinthians 15:1-11, John 20:1-10

From the Book of the Prophet, Isaiah:
Isaiah wrote, the LORD…will swallow up death forever, and the LORD God will wipe away tears from all faces…let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

From St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians:
The apostle said, I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried, [and] that he was raised on the third day….

And From the Gospel According to St. John:
Mary Magdalene, heartbroken to find her Lord’s tomb empty on the morning of the third day, and thinking that the body had been stolen, wept. And Jesus asked her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation, Amen. †
I have entitled this morning’s sermon Total Convergence because in the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ all things, both material and spiritual – all hopes and fears, loves and hatreds, prides and prejudices – all natural forces and all supernatural powers – all rights and wrongs, all good and evil, all truth and falsehood – everything in all creation comes together – converges – at one moment in time – an historical moment in our time – a moment in time from beyond time – that moment when time met eternity – that moment when Jesus Christ died on the cross; a total convergence of all that was – and of all that is – and of all that ever shall be.

In that one moment in time, everything changed – forever. For at the moment, God the Father, in and through God the Son, destroyed death. All that’s good and right and true met face to face on the battlefield of God the Son and all that’s bad and wrong and false met defeat. The power of sin was broken and the hope for salvation given to all mankind. In that total convergence, the One True Holy God won – and saved all of our sin-sick souls as He also redeemed our mortal bodies.

Everything from the first moment of creation had looked forward to that moment of the cross – and everything that has happened since has looked back at it. All true prophecy like that of the great prophet, Isaiah had predicted that someday God would swallow up death. When Jesus died on the cross, that prophecy became reality.

Although we’re here this morning joining with Christians from all over the world, to celebrate the resurrection victory, we know that the work of salvation occurred on Friday – in the crucifixion. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the victory won on Friday became manifest to the world as the crucified Savior became the resurrected Lord.

St. Paul spoke – or wrote – of the resurrection as a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the gentiles. That’s because the Jews always wanted signs form God as proof of – well just about anything. The resurrection, for whatever reason, was not the sign that they had wanted. So it became a stumbling block to their believing.

The gentiles, so highly influenced by the intellectualism of the age as practiced by generations of Greek philosophers – you know some of their names – Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, Cantor, Plutarch and Aristotle to name just a few among hundreds – wanted everything to make sense in material and rational terms – to fit into the laws of both nature and reason. Logical Greek thinking had no room for the supernatural divine miracle of resurrection. Reluctant to suspend intellect, the resurrection seemed to them a folly – foolishness in the face of reason.

They did not know – and those who worship at the altar of human intelligence in this generation – do not know – that one need not suspend one’s intellect to believe but rather allow for the possibility that all of mankind’s highest and best thoughts can be fulfilled by faith and will be fulfilled by faith in the divine Truth – capital T. Truly, we can only discover that which God has chosen to reveal.

We may think that we, by virtue of our intelligence discovered some great truth. But that discovery comes only because God has chosen, at some point in time, to reveal it. And our intelligence, inferior to His, yet comes from Him as He had created us in His image in the first place.

Suspension is not the issue. Fulfillment is. Knowing the limits of our intelligence brings us to an appreciation for the infinite intelligence of God Himself. We can gain no greater wisdom. And with that wisdom we see clearly the foolishness that we once indulged. Paraphrasing St. Paul, The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man.

Eventually, many did believe. St. Paul simply preached Christ crucified and risen and pointed out that their Greek rationality did indeed have room for an unknown god – He said that Jesus Christ filled that gap. Over time, most of the ancient world claimed Christ as Lord and Savior.

Faith for the intellectuals – both genuine of which there are few and pseudo of which there are many – is always a difficult proposition. But permit me an example of a man – an authentic intellectual – who just recently told me about how he came to believe in the resurrected Christ.

A physician by vocation and a philosopher by avocation, he subjects everything to careful intellectual analysis. He identifies himself as a scientist, has the best education available, reads everything that he can and both practices medicine and teaches it as well. Now in his mid 70s, he still values intellect especially as it applies to healing. Now, this is how he came to believed in the crucified and risen Lord.

About 25 years ago, his wife died from cancer at the age of 48. They had been high school sweethearts, got married right after college and together had been blessed with three children. They were the kind of couple where when one inhaled the other exhaled; they thought the same thoughts shared the same values did almost everything together.

He had been brought up a Unitarian. His wife had been an Episcopalian. But church life in either form had been very casual indeed.

For him, theology, doctrine and Bible study were an academic pursuit without significant value for living. Although he found some degree of truth in this particular field, he had missed the ultimate Truth. He was one to believe, as so many do, that truth is relative, that all religions are pretty much the same and all lead to God – God being defined – in his mind – as the impersonal source of creation.

His wife’s affliction with cancer tested him. With only the most casual belief in God and no faith in Jesus Christ other than as a great teacher, the whole issue of suffering and eventually death hit him at the very center of his being.

He saw himself as a healer. He believed only in the miracle of science. Yet, for the one whom he loved he could not heal and science had no answer. He was useless.

Her suffering seemed meaningless. Her pain torn him apart. And her death left him an empty void. Life without her was not worth living. He kept on for the sake of their children.

About eight years later, on a trip to Israel for an international medical conference, he took time to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the magnificent sanctuary built on the traditional site of the crucifixion at one end and of the resurrection at the other. He noticed an especially beautiful icon. In front of the icon was a bank of votive candles. Not one for ceremony, he nonetheless took a candle lit it and placed it in the rack. He whispered, Sweetheart, this is for you.

Standing next to him was a Greek Orthodox priest who had heard the whisper. The priest put his hand on his shoulder and said in English, You’ve lost someone you loved. With those words, he began to cry – weep actually – something he never did – and he wept to use his words, uncontrollably. Through the tears, he saw the crucifix nearby at the location of the actual crucifixion.

Literally, in that moment in time, everything in his life converged. His wife’s suffering took on the perspective of sanctification in and by Christ’s suffering. Her death fit into His. And His resurrection meant that she lived. He became powerfully peaceful – for the first time since she had died. And he knew the meaning of the peace that surpasses human understanding. Through no exercise of his own mind, the mind of God blessed him with perfect peace.

He loved his wife more than he could ever express. But he came to know that God loved her even more. And all of these thoughts and all of these feelings – everything that they had shared together and all of his life after her death – even the emptiness of life without her – converged. It all somehow made sense. It all fit.

And it was, finally, all good – not because any form of suffering, pain or death is ever, in and of itself, good – it is not – but because the suffering and the pain the sorrow and tears- even death itself – have been redeemed in the cross of Christ.

That’s how it happened for him. And in that moment, the power of the crucified and risen Savior bound up another broken heart. Convergence – total convergence.

All of us who love know that pain – the almost unbearable heartbreak of the loss of one so dearly loved. True love always suffers.

Jesus spoke to the grieving Mary and asked her, Woman, why are you weeping? In some sense, He asks each of us the same question – Why are you weeping? We know, by faith – that He fulfills everything. Even our grief manifested in our tears finds fulfillment. And in Him, we also know that although weeping may tarry for the night, joy comes with the morning.

Easter tells us that finally, goodness prevails. In the total convergence of everything that happened in the moment in time from beyond time that Jesus Christ died, the holy love of the righteous God won the victory for everyone who will simply believe – and in faith – by faith – and through faith – love Him who loved us so much as to go to the cross for us – there to die so that we could live.

By faith everything converges and makes sense. In faith, everything comes together for the good. And through faith, we win the victory that Christ won for us.

So we can say,

Alleluia!
The strife is o’er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun:
Alleluia!

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of our salvation – for your Son’s death on the cross of our redemption and for His victory won for us that we might live forever. As He rose from the dead, so bless us with a full faith in Him that we may rise up victorious over all our afflictions and rejoice and be glad all the days of our lives and so live that
all that we say and
all that we do and
all that we are
will honor and glorify the same
Jesus Christ,
our crucified Redeemer,
our risen Savior –
and the only Savior of all mankind,
Amen. †

The Power Struggle Continues

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak
Trinity Church
†

Waltham, Massachusetts

The Sacrament of Holy Communion
Palm Sunday – 1 April 2012

Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 118:25-29, Philippians 2:5-11, Mark 11:1-11

From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah:
I hid not my face from shame or spitting. For the LORD God helps me; therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near.

From St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians:
Regarding Jesus Christ, the apostle wrote, And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him….

And From the Gospel According to St. Mark:
Welcoming Jesus into the holy city of Jerusalem, the crowds shouted, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of he Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hears be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation,
Amen. †

This is a magic wand – a real magic wand. In fact, this wand is an exact replica of the wand used by one of the fantasy world’s most important and powerful wizards, Harry Potter himself. He bought it Ollivander’s Wand Shop on Diagon Alley in London. So you know that this is the real thing!

Now, I will prove it. By waving this wand and uttering the proper incantation, I will turn this entire congregation into frogs. The incantation is, of course, in Latin, Congregation frogmentum – so here goes – in just one second, all of you will be frogs. Congregation frogmentum!! There – Hmmmmm – I don’t see any frogs. Let’s try again – Congregation frogmentum! Ooops! You didn’t change. It didn’t work. Did I hear a ribbet from the choir??? It’s good to be green!!!

Now as all of you well know, there’s no such thing as a real magic wand. This wand holds no magic – there’s no Ollivander’s Wand Shop and there’s no Diagon Alley. And there’s no wizard named Harry. It’s all a part of the magical world of fairy tale.

Magic, the instrument of which is often a wand, is itself not real; it’s the art of illusion. When David Copperfield, currently one of he world’s most renowned magicians, made Diamond Head in Hawaii disappear – and then the statue of Liberty in New York City, neither the mountain nor the monument really disappeared. They just seemed to. For those who saw it, one moment they were there and the next – presto – they were gone; but not really. How he did it I don’t know. But what I do know that it was all an illusion, a trick, a deception – a great deception – a convincing deception – a thrilling deception – but a deception nonetheless. Magic.

We love magic. David Copperfield and other great magicians become multi-millionaires by performing their various illusions. And the more dramatic they are the more that we enjoy them.

Nothing wrong with that. We know it’s a magic show. We come to see the illusion. And we delight in the deception – so long as we know that we’re being deceived – that it’s not really real.

But there’s another kind of magic – a virulent kind that deceives claiming truth, makes promises that can only be illusions and rather than entertain and delight, it entraps and destroys. It’s so bad that the magicians will never identify themselves as deceivers – neither will they call their work evil.

It’s the kind of deception that characterizes the ongoing power struggle between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. The good, the right and the true never deceive. The evil, the wrong and the liars always deceive. It’s how they operate in this world as they are empowered by the great deceiver, the Father of Lies, also known as the one who constantly accuses the good of the evil that he performs. And right there is one of the first points of identification of the deceiver. He always blames someone else for the destruction that comes from him.

Keep all of his in mind as we look at how our Lord used His power. In Him was there was no deception. From Him came no evil. And trough Him we find Truth.

When he entered the holy city of Jerusalem, He arrived to the cheers of the crowds who hailed Him shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes on the name of the Lord – hoping that He would be the One who would deliver them from the oppression of their Roman masters. They sought an earthly kingdom like that of their greatest King – King David – when the nation ruled that part of the ancient world. Living under the brutal Roman authority, they hungered for redemption.

When people feel desperate, when their lot seems hopeless, they will believe in any one who speaks the words they want to hear, who promises to give them what they want – and all of this will come at no cost to them. In other words, the people – and all of human history testify to this – will place their faith, hope and devotion in the one who embodies and proclaims the fulfillment of their illusion.

The people in that crowd had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover commemorating the passing over of the angel of death when they were enslaved in Egypt. But just how much the majority of the people who comprised that crowd actually knew about their religious heritage remains a mystery. We know that faithful Jews studied their scriptures and practiced their religion.

But many others – perhaps the majority of the people – had only a casual knowledge of their faith and the history of their spiritual heritage. Most did not even speak the language of the Holy Scriptures – Hebrew. Most spoke Greek and the local Aramaic.

Although not enslaved in their generation, as had been their ancestors in Egypt, they nonetheless felt the brutal burden of Rome. They wanted a Messiah who would lead the revelation and set the people free. They wanted a military hero forgetting that Rome’s overwhelming power could easily crush them.

Perhaps they had forgotten how costly had been their last revolution. Throwing off the tyranny of the Seleucids in the Maccabeen Revolution of just a hundred and fifty years before, they achieved a temporary victory. But sadly, their war heroes became corrupt in the next generation and the Romans viciously conquered them. Thousands upon thousands were crucified. Jewish blood situated the soil.

Now, years later, the people were once again desperate. Caught up in the possibility of deliverance, they sought a man who could wave a magic wand – or in this case, a powerful, if you will magic sword, and give them a victory that was truly impossible to achieve. Magical thinking.

Assuming that most of the people did not know their religion well – or if they did, did not take it seriously having compromised it under the cultural pressure of the Greeks and Romans – perhaps they were unfamiliar with the writings of the prophet, Isaiah who had predicted that the true Messiah would come as a suffering servant and not as a mighty warrior – a servant who would endure rejection, hatred, disgrace, torture, suffering and humiliation – but would ultimately come out victorious because the Lord God would give him the victory.

The suffering servant would win this worldly victory having defeated the powers of this world at their source – their source being from the power of the world beyond – or better expressed, from the world below. Heaven would defeat hell. Spiritual victory in – and over – the material world.

Jerusalem would be the battlefield – but not the whole of that city – but a small hill in the shape of a skull just outside the city gate. There the battle would be fought. There the suffering servant – the one who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but would humble himself and become obedient even unto death – death on a cross – that cross was the battlefield.

No bloodshed as in most warfare; only the shed blood of the suffering servant. And that would be the shed blood of God made man – of Jesus Christ, the true Messiah and not of just one more worldly power broker who would so willing shed everyone else’s blood and make of everyone else his suffering servants. And his method of operation would be false promises – deceptions in which the people would believe as they gave themselves to slavery in the faith that he would make them free. Magical thinking with disastrous consequences. Yet the way of this world – then as well as now.

So we come to this sacred table and share in the Sacrament of our deliverance. We come to feast at His victory banquet. We come for the ultimate liberation from the powers of sin and death. We come to taste of the eternal kingdom won on the suffering servant’s cross on which He shed His blood. And we say, Take and drink. The blood of Christ shed for you.

Nothing magical about this at all. No wooden wands – just a wooden cross. No magic – just a divine miracle. No magicians – just the True Messiah.

So come to this sacred table and receive the victory won for you. And feed on Him in thy hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, deliver us we pray from the sin if magical thinking that salvation can come from anyone other than from you. Open our hearts to your miracle. Enlighten our minds with your Truth. And deliver us from the powers of this world, that we may taste of your Kingdom now – and live there forever –
in and through your Son,
our only Savior,
Jesus Christ the Lord.
Amen. †

The New Covenant

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
March 25, 2012, Lent V

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-12; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33

From the Prophet Jeremiah:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah….I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

From the Letter to the Hebrews:
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

And from the Gospel of St. John:
“Now the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” was written by Lord John Acton in a letter to his friend Mandell Creighton on April 5, 1887. When he ended the letter, the British historian added this postscript: “History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.”

A German writer, Friedrich von Logau may have said it better: “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.”

When you study the book of Jeremiah, you will meet some of history’s most powerful and corrupt rulers. God judges the nations and eventually pays them the wages earned from their sin. No nation can despise God’s law and defy His rule without suffering for it. The prophecy of Jeremiah teaches that very clearly.

Jeremiah was perhaps twenty years old when God’s call came to him in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign around 626 B.C. Though at first Jeremiah hesitated when God called him, he surrendered to the Lord and became one of history’s most decisive spiritual leaders. Tragically, however, the people who most needed his leadership rejected him and turned their backs on God’s Word.

As never before, our homes, churches, cities, and nations need decisive leaders who will obey the Word of God. The politician asks: “What do the polls say?” The diplomat asks: “Is it safe?” But the true leader asks: “Is it God’s will?”

Any plan for the betterment of human society that ignores the sin problem is destined to failure. It isn’t enough to change the environment, for the heart of every problem is the problem of the heart. God must change the hearts of people so that they want to love Him and do His will. That’s why He announced a New Covenant to replace the Old Covenant under which the Jews had lived since the days of Moses, a covenant that could direct their conduct but not change their character.

Jewish history is punctuated with a number of “covenant renewals” that brought temporary blessing but didn’t change the hearts of the people. The Book of Deuteronomy records a renewal of the covenant under Moses, before the people entered the Promised Land. In addition, before he died, Joshua led the people in reaffirming the covenant (Josh. 23-24). Samuel called the nation to renew their vows to God (1 Sam. 12), and both Hezekiah (2 Chron. 29-31) and Josiah (2 Chron. 34-35) inspired great days of “revival” as they led the people back to God’s Law.

The fact that the blessings didn’t last is no argument against times of revival and refreshing. When somebody told Billy Sunday that revivals didn’t last, the evangelist replied, “A bath doesn’t last, but it’s good to have one occasionally.” A nation that is built on spiritual and moral principles must have frequent times of revival or the foundations will crumble. Does our nation need such a revival?

Our nation has been pushed so far left; where God is systematically being removed from our schools, our courts, and our government; where the mere mention of His name is looked down upon. The national day of prayer was canceled. Where human life is being devalued: unborn children are being sacrificed in the name of women’s rights; age is being considered for medical treatment. The haves and the have not’s are being pitted against each other. We have become a nation of entitlements. Our founding fathers did not want us to be a godless nation; just the opposite. The phrase: “separation of church and state,” is being used to remove God from our society through our courts. People are starting to wake up, mobilizing and are yearning for such a revival. People want to get back to our roots and proclaim, “In God we trust.” Whether it happens in New England, I don’t know.

But the New Covenant isn’t just another renewal of the Old Covenant that God gave at Sinai; it’s a covenant that’s new in every way. The New Covenant is inward so that God’s Law is written on the heart and not on stone tablets (2 Cor. 3; Ezek. 11:19-20).
The emphasis is personal rather than national, with each person putting faith in the Lord and receiving a “new heart” and with it a new disposition toward godliness.

The Old Covenant tried to control conduct, but the New Covenant changes character so that people can love the Lord and one another and want to obey God’s will. “By the Law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20), but under the New Covenant God promised “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34). It is this covenant that the Jews will experience in the last days when they see their Messiah and repent (Zech. 12:10-13:1).

Moses did not lead the people of Israel into the promised rest; in fact, he himself was forbidden to enter the land. Joshua led them into their physical rest, but not into the promised spiritual rest (Heb. 4:8). But what about Aaron, the first high priest? Is it possible that the priesthood under Aaron, with all of its sacrifices and ceremonies, could bring a troubled soul into rest?

The Hebrew Christians were solely tempted to return to the religion of their fathers. After all, any Jew could travel to Jerusalem and see the temple and the priests ministering at the altar. Here was something real, visible, and concrete. When a person is going through persecution, as these Christians were, it is much easier to walk by sight than by faith. Some of us have doubted the Lord under much less provocation than these people were enduring.

The central theme of the Book of Hebrews is the priesthood of Jesus Christ, what He is now doing in heaven on our behalf.

Aaron was chosen by God to be the high priest, and he was duly ordained and installed in office (Ex. 28). He was chosen from men to minister for men. His main task was at the altar: to offer the sacrifices God had appointed (Heb. 8:3-4; 9:14). Unless the sacrifices were offered in the right place, by the right person, they were not accepted by God.

The very existence of a priesthood and a system of sacrifices gave evidence that man is estranged from God. It was an act of grace on God’s part that He instituted the whole levitical system. Today, that system is fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus Christ. He is both the sacrifice and the High Priest who ministers to God’s people on the basis of His once-for-all offering on the cross.

The Son of God was “begotten” into a glorious new life in His resurrection! He ascended to heaven in a glorified body to become our High Priest at the throne of grace. When Aaron was ordained to the priesthood, he offered the sacrifice of animals. But Jesus Christ, to become our High Priest, offered the sacrifice of Himself – and then arose from the dead!

Jesus Christ is a High Priest forever. No Old Testament priest ministered forever because each one died and relinquished the office to his successor. Since Jesus is a priest forever, He gives His people salvation forever (Heb. 7:23-28).
Christ’s ordination was unique because He belongs to a different order from the Old Testament priests. They belonged to the order of Aaron; He belongs to the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is mentioned in only two places in the entire Old Testament. His name means “King of Righteousness,” and he was also “King of Salem [peace].” But the fascinating thing about Melchizedek is that he was both a priest and a king! Only in Jesus Christ and in pre-Law Melchizedek were these two offices combined. Jesus Christ is a High Priest on a throne!

As God, Jesus needed to learn nothing. But as the Son of God come in human flesh, He had to experience that which His people would experience, so that He might be able to minister as their High Priest.

No matter what trials we meet, Jesus Christ is able to understand our needs and help us. We need never doubt His ability to sympathize and strengthen. It is also worth noting that sometimes God puts us through difficulties that we might better understand the needs of others, and become able to encourage and help them (2 Cor. 1-8ff).

Our Lord knew that He was facing suffering and death, and His humanity responded to this ordeal. His soul was troubled, not because He was questioning His Father’s will, but because He was fully conscious of all that the Cross involved.

Jesus openly spoke about the Cross. It was an hour of judgment for the world and for Satan, the prince of the world. The death of Jesus Christ would seem like a victory for the wicked world, but it would really be a judgment of the world. On the cross, Jesus would defeat Satan and his world system (Gal. 6:14). Even though he is permitted to go to and fro on the earth, Satan is a defeated enemy. As we serve the Lord, we overcome the wicked one (Luke 10:17-19). One day Satan shall be cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:10), and eventually he will be judged and imprisoned forever (Rev. 20:10).

“Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The phrase “all men” does not suggest universal salvation. It means “all people without distinction,” that is, Jews and Gentiles. He does not force; He draws them. He was “lifted up” that men might find the way, know the truth, and receive the life. The cross reminds us that God loves the whole world and that the task of the church is to take the Gospel to the whole world.

The New Covenant between God and man is offered to “all men,” Jews and Gentiles; anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. It is interesting to note that Gentiles or non-Jews were there at the beginning and ending of Jesus’ ministry. We have the Magi’s traveling to see Jesus after His birth; and we have the Greeks wanting to see Jesus just before His death. These Greeks mentioned in John’s Gospel “were accustomed to come and worship at the feast.” They were not curious visitors or one-time investigators. No doubt they were “God-fearers,” Gentiles who attended the Jewish synagogue and sought the truth, but who had not yet become believers.
One of the major themes of John’s Gospel is that Jesus is the Saviour of the world, not simply the Redeemer of Israel. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). He gave His life for the world and He gives life to the world (John 6:33). He is the Light of the world (John 8:12).

The basis for the New Covenant is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Matt. 26:27-28). Because the church today partakes in Israel’s spiritual riches (Rom. 11:12-32), anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ shares in this New Covenant (Heb. 8:6-13). It’s an experience of regeneration, being born again into the family of God (John 3:1-21).

Let us pray:

Most gracious and redeeming Lord. Establish your new covenant in our hearts. Help us to realize your saving grace; your redeeming power. Renew a right spirit within us. Anoint us with your Holy Spirit and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Make us bold so that we may be witnesses to a lost world. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

AMEN †

Cracking the Whip

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak
Trinity Church
†
Waltham, Massachusetts

Lent III – 11 March 2012

Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, I Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22

From the Book of Exodus:
God spoke these word to Moses, I am the Lord your God…you shall have no other gods before me…you shall not bow down to them or serve them…

From St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Church at Corinth:
The apostle proclaimed, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

From the Gospel According to St. John:
Regarding the cleansing of the temple from corrupt money changers, Jesus, making a whip of cords…drove them out of the temple…poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation,
Amen. †

I received a great e-mail this past week of various newspaper headlines – best described as headline bloopers – that actually got printed. I thought they were really funny – I hope you do as well. Here a few of the best ones. It may take a moment to get it – but they’re really good.

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Experts Say

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

War Dims Hopes for Peace

Cold Wave Linked to Dropping Temperatures

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Local School Dropouts Cut in Half

and

Tornado Rips Through Cemetery – Hundreds Dead.

Now these are headline bloopers – note worthy because headlines are important. Most of us read the headlines in the paper, or on the Internet, and if it looks interesting we then read the rest of the article. A good headline captures our attention and makes us want the rest of the story.

I wonder how the headlines would have read if newspapers covered Jesus cleansing of the temple. There were, of course, no newspapers in those days – news got around mostly by word of mouth. But if there had been, how would the headlines have read?

One might read – Religious Fanatic Trashes Temple. This paper obviously had a bias against anyone who might disrupt the normal routine of Temple activity. Anyone who would do such a thing would have to be a fanatic.

Another paper, more sympathetic, might lead off with, Jewish Holy Man Roots Out Temple Corruption. Here, from our modern perspective of those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior, captures our attention because we believe in its truth. Temple corruption dishonored God. God’s Son came to clean it up.

And yet another headline might be, Jesus of Nazareth Cracks the Whip in Jerusalem – Temple Cleansed. Again, this sympathetic perspective acknowledges the corruption that the first paper might overlook, identifies Jesus by His most common name, and tells us exactly what he did. In any case, regardless of the newspaper’s bias or perspective, these headlines would capture our attention. We would the rest of the story.

News in those days, as I indicated just a minute ago, got around mostly by word of mouth. Someone who had witnessed the event would tell another or several others – and if there were many witnesses, many stories would abound. Then, as now, the news would travel.

We have four accounts of the Temple cleansing from four different reporters. These reporters, Matthew, Mark, Luke as well as John, all tell the same story but from slightly different angles. For instance, Mark and Luke tell us that although the Temple authorities were outraged and sought to have Jesus arrested, they held back because Jesus was so popular with the crowds. Neither Matthew nor John mentions this.

It’s entirely probable that the people who went to the Temple – regular men and women who lived their lives in an attempt to honor and obey God – went there to offer sacrifices and to pray. I think it’s safe to assume that they were as outraged – as was Jesus – by the corrupt practices. But none of them had the courage to take any action. Or perhaps it wasn’t so much a lack of courage as it was an overwhelming feeling of helplessness – one man against the world kind of thing.

Probably the most notorious corruption was that of changing money. Roman money, with the image of Caesar on it, represented unclean, paganism – the idolatry of the Roman Empire. Roman coins were not therefore acceptable for Temple usage. So the Temple authorities insisted that the Roman coins be exchanged for Temple currency.

This is how the corruption functioned. A worshipper would exchange a coin worth five dollars but only get in return two dollars worth of Temple money. The corrupt money changers would use the balance to pay off the authorities keeping the rest for themselves.

People went to the Temple to make their sacrifice s for either thanksgiving to God for some great blessing such as the birth of a child or to seek forgiveness for some sin in their lives such as breaking any of the Ten Commandments or any of the multitudes of lesser laws that had been added over the centuries. (Some of these were the man-made laws to which Jesus referred on another occasion.) To encounter this kind of corruption – or any kind of corruption – in the place where they wanted and needed to find holiness, well outrage would be the appropriate response.

I also think it’s safe to say, that most of the people were fed up with it. Ready for a cleansing revelation against Rome and even more so against their own leaders who had sold out to Rome and were profiting from the oppression, the people would have – and did – embrace a man like Jesus who had the courage to literally crack the whip, drive out the money changers and lay claim to the Temple for the sake of holiness. He said, This is my Father’s house – a house of prayer for all nations. You’ve made it a den of thieves! The people loved it. High time someone spoke out! High time someone did something!

The people not only loved the cleansing, they also loved Him in a hero-worship, celebrity kind of way. When they heard the headline that Jesus had cracked the whip in the Temple, people came to listen to His every word. And, for a time, they placed their hope in Him – that He would save them through that much desired revolution.

For them, salvation meant the revolution. For them, only the blood of the slain oppressors – those who had so often confiscated their meager wealth, put down their efforts to live according to their own faith and generally made their lives miserable – only the blood of those evildoers could cleanse their nation from its corruption.

Now, interestingly enough, only John mentions the whip. The others just say that Jesus overturned the money changers’ tables. I like John’s version best because it stands over and against the notion that Jesus was some kind of sickening sweet and sentimental savior, non-judgmental and all-inclusive kind of guy – weak and wimpy – who never held anyone to account for anything. Truly, any serious reading of the Scriptures and of the Gospels presents a very different picture of the Son of God and Savior of all mankind.

Never sickening-sweet, Jesus proclaimed the primacy of The One True God – The One True God who was – and is – and will be forever – His Heavenly Father. Jesus proclaimed and demanded that only He be worshiped, honored and obeyed. The first and great commandment – the most important of the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai – said just that. I am the Lord your God…you shall have no other gods before me…you shall not bow down to them or serve them…

Well, the people wanted their bloody revolution to cleanse their nation as well as their Temple from corruption. Wash the place clean with their blood. That was the prevailing wisdom – the conventional wisdom – the popular belief. Bloodshed was the only way. We want a savior to led the revolt and set us free – so they believed.

Such was the aforementioned prevailing wisdom. But as St. Paul tells us, the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom… Think about it. How can the shed blood of unholy and corrupt men cleanse anything? If the people shed the blood of those who had shed their blood, well all you’ve got is more bloodshed with no redeeming result. Surely, if the revolution were successful it would only be a matter of time before a new level of corruption would set in. A bloody revolution was not the answer.

Many might have remembered the stories of the Maccabean Revolution of just about 160 years before. Judas Maccabaeus led that revolt and successfully freed the Jewish people from foreign oppression. But in just one generation, that new government became corrupt – in just one generation.

In His perfect wisdom, God knew that bloodshed though had to happen. But neither the shed blood of unholy men – nor the shed blood of the dumb animals sacrificed in the Temple. Although the Temple sacrifices had had their function, it was now time for the one, true, perfect and all- sufficient sacrifice that would not only save the oppressed people but also would offer the oppressors the opportunity for redemption as well.

Shed blood was required. Sacrifice had to be offered. But it had to be the shed blood of God Himself – it had to be His own life sacrificed for only the perfectly holy sacrifice – only the perfectly holy blood could cleanse the people from their sin – all people everywhere and in all generations. God had to offer the sacrifice. God had to be the sacrifice. God had to save His people – and only He could do it.

That could be a headline – Only God Can Save the People. That would get our attention for sure. We would want to get the rest of the story.

We have the rest of the story. God the Father – incarnate in God the Son – the perfect sacrifice. The perfect victim. Offered not on the altar in the Temple but on the altar of the cross. Offered not by a corrupt high priest, but by the perfect Great High Priest who was – and is – and will be forever Jesus the Christ.

Perfect priest. Perfect victim. Perfect sacrifice for the imperfect people – that they might inherit perfect eternal life in God’s perfect, heavenly kingdom. Jesus Christ the perfect blood shed so that no other blood need ever be shed – if all the people would believe. Literally, the blood of Christ shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.

So what about the corruption that devastates every generation? What about all the injustice, oppression, extortion, theft, rape and murder that stains the fallen human condition?

For those who truly believe, their sin is cleansed. For those who do not, God’s perfect justice will prevail. Each of us faces our individual judgment. All of us face the final judgment at the end of time. Washed in the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, no sin is counted against us. Not washed in that blood, only sin remains. Simple as that.

And so we live to bear witness to our Lord’s sacrifice, that as beneficiaries of Him gift of Salvation we can rejoice and be glad all the days of our lives – now an forever – as we worship and serve Him in obedience to His command. And when He comes again, He will execute both His perfect mercy and His perfect justice. Until that time, we simply have to keep the faith, proclaim the Word and rejoice in our salvation.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, let the power of your saving sacrifice come to its perfect fulfillment. Defeat all the powers of this world and of the world below. Deliver us from every oppression and all afflictions. Lift us up to the gates of heaven and establish the perfection of you kingdom,
in and through you Son, Jesus Christ,
the only Savior of all mankind,
Amen. †

Suffering – Rejection – Victory

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak

Trinity Church
†
Waltham, Massachusetts

The Sacrament of Holy Communion
Lent II – 4 March 2012

Genesis 17:1-7, Psalm 22:23-31, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38

From the Book of Genesis:
God spoke to Abram and said, I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. And Behold, my covenant is with you…

From St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans:
Speaking of Abraham’s righteousness as reckoned to him by faith, the apostle wrote, It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

And From the Gospel according to St. Mark:
And Jesus began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise…

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation,
Amen. †

When Jesus taught His disciples about what had to happen for the sake of mankind’s salvation – that the Son of man must suffer, be rejected by not only the power brokers of His time but also many whom He would have considered close friends, as well as the countless people whom He had healed and then be killed by the same, the disciples did not understand.

Their lack of understanding wasn’t because they were not very bright as some contemporary pseudo scholars postulate. Those in the now fading Jesus Seminar designate Jesus and His disciples as simple country folk – ignorant and of, at best, average intelligence – pleasant peasants as they call them. Not so. Not true.

Neither was their lack of understanding because they were not well educated. If you look at each disciple and what Scripture tells us about him, we find men who could both read and write – something that the majority of people could not do. They knew their scriptures, and although none of them could be called a Bible scholar, all of them knew the basics of their religion. Regarding their level of education, they were, probably, a cut above the average man.

Furthermore, some were most certainly, successful businessmen. Peter had his own fishing business, as did the brothers, James and John. They owned their own boats, lived in their own houses, and employed others to work for them. Regular, hard working men – smart for sure and better educated than most of their generation; and for Peter, James and John, more successful than the vast majority of people of their time. Although one could hardly call them rich men when compared with other more prestigious people, they were nonetheless better off than the most.

I maintain that the disciples did not get the full impact of Jesus’ teaching about suffering and rejection because they did not want to believe that their Lord and master, who had become their friend, would have to suffer and die. They admired and respected Him – they loved Him as the wisest, most insightful teacher, an amazing healer and miracle worker – a holy man for sure. And being a holy man, well that would mean good things, a dedicated but happy life – a life of health, relative wealth and much happiness.

As I just said, the disciples knew their scriptures. We can safely assume that they knew about Isaiah’s writings in which he prophesied, by virtue of divine revelation, that the Messiah would be despised and rejected by men, would suffer at the hands of sinners even though He had committed no offence, and be killed. But knowing the scriptures and applying them to oneself or to one’s most admired friends – well the application does not necessarily follow from the knowing.

Despite the prophetic proclamations, most people then – as now – believed that holiness brought blessings, the aforementioned health, wealth and happiness as well as the respect and admiration of men.

They wanted a victorious leader who would make their lives -and the lives of everyone else as well – better, richer, freer and generally happier. They wanted salvation in the here and now. Furthermore, if their leader would be rejected, suffer and die, what about them? Would they be rejected? Would they have to suffer? Would they have to die as well?

Perhaps another reason why the disciples just didn’t get it – at least at first – was the possibility that they, like most people today, were preoccupied with the problems of family and friends, of politics and business, illness and health, loves and hatreds. Thinking about the eternal dimensions of holiness did not command their attention as much as the demands of the present moment.

And surely, at that time in Jewish history the issues of the unjust Roman authority that oppressed the Hebrew people – well, that was always on their minds as well. We can identify with these hard working fishermen who had profitable businesses only to have the government come and take too much of the profits. Infuriating then as it is now. And common to almost every nation in almost every generation.

When Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God, He spoke of another realm of being as well as of the world of the here and now. It’s not one or the other – an either / or it’s a both and. His first concern in this life and in the life yet to come was holiness generally spoken of as righteousness. Although the eternal kingdom took priority, the temporal kingdom was also important.

The Kingdom of God as the eternal Kingdom of Heaven and as the kingdom of perfection in this world when the Messiah comes to reign as King of Kings – in both cases, holiness or righteousness – blamelessness -functioned as a requirement. The Kingdom, in both dimensions, was open only to the righteous. Anyone or anything unholy could neither inherit it nor get into it.

Blamelessness was the central aspect of the covenant that God established with the Father of the Nations, Abraham. Two thousand years before their time – and four thousand years before ours, God established a covenant with Abraham that as he walked with the Almighty God in blamelessness, the Lord would bless him with descendents as numerous as the stars – with good health, long life, and prosperity.

Yet two thousand years after God established this covenant – after God had kept His promise of countless descendents, with so many opportunities for health wealth and happiness, the people failed to keep their part of the bargain. When everything went well, the people forgot all about God, became self-centered and self-indulgent and shall we say, fat, lazy and happy.

When everything went wrong, they protested, What did we do to deserve this? Where’s our God? Why has He let this happen to us? Leaders would arise, call for repentance and direct the people back to God. The people would repent, everything began to get better and when it did get better, the people would once again turn away and, to quote Isaiah, go astray.

Righteousness or blamelessness, under the Covenant established with Abraham, involved keeping the law best summarized in the Ten Commandments. The first one, to love and honor God and exclusively worship Him – well they rarely kept that one for very long. They like the other gods and goddesses of the ancient world better. The other gods and goddesses allowed for licentiousness and self – indulgence. True then as it is now. Regarding the currently popular new paganism is not new at all – it’s as old as time.

And keeping the law regarding treating each other with respect, compassion and brotherly love well, they failed there as well. The truth became evident that only God Himself could save the people – His chosen people – and all the people of the whole world from themselves. God had to become man, teach them the Truth, demonstrate holiness and make the necessary sacrifice to deliver the people from their oppression – from their personal as well as from their political oppression.

It could not come by virtue of teaching. (Education, in and of itself, may have very little effect on blindly held faith – especially if that faith is self-serving.) It could not be accomplished through a twelve-step, self-help program (however effective such programs might be in other circumstances.)

Neither could their redemption come as a result of a revolution to defeat Rome. Pagan Rome would most certainly fall – but not through that kind of a revolution.

Only God Himself could make His people righteous. Only God Himself could cleanse mankind from sin. Only God himself could save in every dimension of salvation. And to do so, He had to come, manifest Himself, perform the miracles and call the world to devotion to God. And he people, being who they were, would despise Him for His goodness. They would reject Him, inflict upon Him brutal suffering and kill Him. They blame would fall upon them. Righteousness played no role. They would commit the ultimate sin.

But God would nonetheless save the people. He would die both because of their sins and for the sins. His death would prove God’s perfect love. And simply by virtue of sincerely believing in Him and what He had accomplished on the cross – through His rejection, suffering and death, the victory of eternal life would be won. To quote St. Paul, the Lord was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

The only blameless one – the only righteous one would take the blame onto Himself and set the sinners free from condemnation. Because of His sacrifice, sinners would be reckoned as righteous even though they remained sinners. The kingdom of heaven would open to all who would simply believe. And the promise of the perfection of this world through eventual re-creation would become real.

Faith is the key. Believe and be saved. Disbelieve and be lost. But know this – Those who believe in this fallen world may very well have to suffer rejection. Over the centuries, many – indeed thousands – have suffered and died for the cause. But the blessing of eternal life can be received in no other way and from no other savior.

So we come to the Lord’s table – to the alter of His sacrifice to take Him into yourself that He may dwell in you and you in Him – until He comes again to establish the perfect kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Remember, it’s not one or the other -it’s both / and.

Alive in us and we alive in Him, we live forever in the perfection of righteousness, reckoned to us because the Son was rejected, suffered and died – and rose again – for us.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, grant to us the courage necessary to serve you in these troubled times. Bless us with the power of our faith to carry us through and inspire others to follow. Help, save, guide, guard and defend us by your grace, and bring us at last unto everlasting life,
in and through your Son, Jesus Christ,
the only Savior of all mankind,
Amen. †

Learning from Noah

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
February 26, 2012, Lent I

Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; I Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15

From the Old Testament:
I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

From the First Letter of Peter:
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

And from the Gospel of St. Mark:
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

When I read the Old Testament and Epistle readings this morning referring to Noah, it brought back memories of a Bill Cosby comedy monologue he did in 1965, where he gave a humorous portrayal of the conversation that might have happened between God and Noah. It went something like this:

Noah was in his carpenter shop, sawing wood, when he heard a voice:
God: “Noah”
(Noah pauses, then continues to saw wood.)
God: “Noah”
Noah: “Who is this?”
God: “It’s the Lord!”
Noah: “Right. Where are you? What do you want? I’ve been good.”
God: “I want you to build an ark.”
Noah: “Right. What’s an ark?”
God: “Get some wood and I want it to be 300 cubic x 80 cubic x 40 cubic.”
Noah: “Right. What’s a cubic?”
God: “Go out and collect animals 2 by 2, male and female.”
Noah: “Who is this really? What’s going on here?”
God: “I am going to destroy the world!”
Noah: “Am I on candid camera?”

I see some of you still find this humorous.

God established a covenant with Noah, some Theologians refer to it as “The Noahic Covenant.” Though God spoke especially to Noah and his sons, this covenant includes all of Noah’s descendants and “all generations to come.” The covenant doesn’t stop there, however, for it also includes every living creature and “all living creatures of every kind.” Humans, birds, beasts, wild animals and especially ferrets are encompassed in this wonderful covenant.

In this covenant, God promised unconditionally that He would never send another flood to destroy all life on earth. As though to make it emphatic, three times He said “never again.” He didn’t lay down any conditions that men and women had to obey; He simply stated the fact that there would be no more universal floods. From that day on, Noah and his family could enjoy life and not worry every time the rain began to fall.

There were at least four times in the covenant, the Lord mentioned “every living creature.” He was speaking about the animals and birds that Noah had kept safe in the ark during the Flood. Once again, we’re reminded of God’s special concern for animal life.

In the Book of Revelation, when the Apostle John beheld the throne room of heaven, he saw four unusual “living creatures” worshiping before God’s throne, each one having a different face (Rev. 4:6-7). The first had a face like a lion, the second like a calf, the third like a man, and the fourth like an eagle. These four faces parallel the four kinds of creatures with whom God made this covenant: wild beasts, cattle, humans and birds. These creatures are represented perpetually before the throne of God, because the Lord is concerned about His creation. They remind us that all creation worships and praises the God who provides for His creatures and rejoices in their worship.

To help His people remember His covenants, God would give them a visible sign. His covenant with Abraham was sealed with the sign of circumcision (Gen. 17:11; Rom. 4:9-12), and the Mosaic Covenant at Sinai with the sign of the weekly Sabbath (Ex. 31:16-17). God’s covenant with Noah and the animal creation was sealed with the sign of the rainbow, they would remember God’s promise that no future storm would ever become a worldwide flood that would destroy humanity. The rainbow reminds us of God’s gracious covenant and the “many-colored” grace of God.

Rainbows are universal; you see them all over the world. God’s many-colored grace is sufficient for the whole world and needs to be announced to the whole world. After all, God loves the world, and Christ died for the sins of the world (1 John 4:10, 14).

But the rainbow isn’t only for us to see, for the Lord said, “I will look upon it” (Gen. 9:16). Certainly God doesn’t forget His covenants with His people, but this is just another way of assuring us that we don’t need to be afraid. When we look at the rainbow, we know that our Father is also looking at the rainbow; and therefore it becomes a bridge that brings us together.

God’s covenant with creation affects every living creature on earth. Without it, there would be no assured continuity of nature from day to day and from season to season. We would never know when the next storm was coming and whether it would be our last.

God wants us to enjoy the blessings He “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). When you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the world of nature around you becomes much more wonderful, because the Creator has become your Father. The God of creation is the god of salvation. Trust Jesus Christ and you can then truly sing, “This is my Father’s world.”

The patriarch Noah was held in very high regard among Jewish people in Peter’s day, and also among Christians. He was linked with Daniel and Job, two great men found in the book of Ezekiel (14:19-20); and there are many references to the Flood in both the Psalms and the Prophets. Jesus referred to Noah in His prophetic sermon on the signs of the end: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man (Matt. 24:37-39).

What relationship did Peter see between his readers and the ministry of Noah? For one thing, Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) during a very difficult time in history. In fact, he walked with God and preached God’s truth for 120 years (Gen. 6:3), and during that time he was certainly laughed at and opposed. The early Christians knew that Jesus had promised that, before His return, the world would become like the “days of Noah;” and they were expecting Him soon (2 Peter 3:1-3). As they saw society decay around them, and the persecution begin, they would think of our Lord’s words. Are we once again in the “days of Noah?”

Noah was a man of faith who kept doing the will of God even when he seemed to be a failure. This should certainly be an encouragement to Christians. If we measured faithfulness by results or numbers, then Noah would get a very low grade. Yet God ranked him very high!

But there is another connection: Peter saw in the Flood a picture or type of a Christian’s experience of baptism. No matter what mode of baptism you may accept or practice, it is certain that the early church practiced immersion. It is a picture of our Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Many people today do not take baptism seriously, but it was a serious matter in the early church. Baptism meant a clean break with the past, and this could include separation from a convert’s family, friends, and job. Candidates for baptism were interrogated carefully, for their submission in baptism was a step of consecration, and not just an “initiation rite to join the church.”

The Flood pictures death, burial, and resurrection. The waters buried the earth in judgment, but they also lifted Noah and his family up to safety. The early church saw in the ark a picture of salvation. Noah and his family were saved by faith because they believed God and entered into the ark of safety. So sinners are saved by faith when they trust Christ and become one with Him.

When Peter wrote that Noah and his family were “saved by water,” he was careful to explain that this illustration does not imply salvation by baptism. Baptism is a “figure” of that which does save us, namely, “the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Water on the body, or the body placed in water, cannot remove the stains of sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that (1 John 1:7-2:2). However, baptism does save us from one thing: a bad conscience. Peter states that a good conscience was important to a successful witness, and a part of that “good conscience” is being faithful to our commitment to Christ as expressed in baptism.

It may be worth noting that the chronology of the Flood is closely related to our Lord’s day of resurrection. (Listen closely) Noah’s ark rested on Mt. Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month (Gen. 8:4). The Jewish civil year started with October; the religious year started with the Passover in April (Ex. 12:1-2), but that was not instituted until Moses’ time. The seventh month from October is April. Our Lord was crucified on the fourteenth day, Passover (Ex. 12:6), and resurrected after three days. This takes us to the seventeenth day of the month, the date on which the ark rested on Mt. Ararat. So, the illustration of Noah relates closely to Peter’s emphasis on the resurrection of the Saviour.

Peter gave us several lessons that are relevant for today:

First of all, Christians must expect opposition. As it gets closer to Christ’s return, our good acts will incite the anger and attacks from godless people. Jesus lived a perfect life on earth, and yet He was crucified like a common criminal. If the just One who did no sin was treated cruelly, how can we expect to escape suffering? But the suffering should be for righteousness’ sake, and not because we have disobeyed.

A second lesson is that Christians must serve God by faith and not trust in results. Noah served God and kept only seven people from the Flood; yet God honored him. From those seven people, we take courage! For some people, Jesus appeared to be a failure when He died on the cross, yet His death was a supreme victory! When we look around this country, especially in New England, it may seem like Christianity is failing, but God will accomplish His purposes in this world. The harvest is not the end of a meeting; it is the end of the age.

The third lesson is that we can be encouraged because we are identified with Christ’s victory. This is pictured in baptism, and the doctrine is explained in Romans 6. It is the baptism of the Spirit that identifies a believer with Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13), and this is pictured in water baptism.

When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit came on Him as a dove, and the Father spoke from heaven and identified His beloved Son. The people who were there did not hear the voice or see the dove, but Jesus and John did.

It is through the Spirit’s power that we live for Christ and witness for Him (Acts 1:8). The opposition is energized by Satan, and Christ has already defeated these principalities and powers. He has “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). And therefore we can go forth with confidence and victory.

Noah preached repentance. John the Baptist preached repentance. Jesus preached repentance. Repentance alone is not enough to save us, even though God expects believers to turn from their sins. We must also put positive faith in Jesus Christ and believe His promise of salvation. Repentance without faith could become remorse, and remorse can destroy people who carry a burden of guilt.

Another practical lesson is that our baptism is important! It identifies us with Christ and gives witness that we have broken with the old life and will, by His help, live a new life. The act of baptism is a pledge to God that we shall obey Him. To treat baptism lightly is to sin against God.

The important thing is that each Christian avows devotion to Christ and makes it a definite act of commitment. It is in taking up our cross daily that we prove we are true followers of Jesus Christ. Noah may have felt the task ahead was monumental, but his faith, righteousness and witness prepared the way for our baptism in Christ. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour, and the lost world needs to hear His Gospel.

Let us pray:

Most gracious and redeeming Lord. Flood our hearts, minds and souls with your redeeming grace. Give us a faith and endurance to accomplish the tasks you set before us. Baptize us with your Holy Spirit; cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that we may be witnesses to the lost. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

AMEN †

Reality Check – Ash Wednesday 2012

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

Trinity Church
The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Stength and our Salvation,
Amen. †

Here we are again. Another year has passed. Another Ash Wednesday has arrived offering us another opportunity for the ultimate reality check. That’s what Ash Wednesday is all about – a reality check that sets the transcendent reality of the saving power of The One True God over and against the tragic reality of an otherwise unredeemed world.

We have gone through another yearly cycle of the great occasions of holy worship in which we have celebrated God’s Incarnation at Christmas, our Lord’s victory over sin and death on Good Friday, and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We live each year – each day – indeed, each moment – alive in Him as He lives in us and lives with us in the power of and through the presence of His Holy Spirit. Without Him there is no life.

He has given to us His great gift of salvation. Without that, we truly have nothing. Without that we are nothing. Without Him there is nothing – nothing but vanity for without Him all that was and is comes to ashes and dust.

Furthermore, all that will be has already been – for there is nothing new under the sun – and that too comes to nothing – even the sun itself will either implode or explode. It’s just a matter of time. Hence, we say tonight, Remember O man, dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return. For that’s the only reality that can be – without Jesus Christ. Reality check.

Ash Wednesday proclaims this ultimate Truth – that in Jesus Christ, everything comes to perfection; all that’s good and right and true finally prevails as He and He alone defeats all that’s bad and wrong and false. In Him, life lives. In Him, death dies. And although tradition tells us that we should not say Alleluia during the Lenten season, yet it’s the only word we can say when we proclaim Christ’s victory – so we dare to say Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! even on Ash Wednesday.

His saving sacrifice gives us faith and allows us to hope. In Him we can love – really love – love in holy love and in that perfect, self-sacrificing holy love – perfectly manifested on the cross – we can live forever in the eternal love that cannot die.

Yes. This whole thing is one great big gigantic and most glorious love story – not a love story of worldly love but of transcendent love that redeems and saves – even redeems the vanity of all our other loves. The ultimate reality check. God’s perfect love saves us because He loves us. Simple as that.

God has revealed the quality of life lived without Jesus Christ. It comes to us in Holy Scripture in the Book of Ecclesiastes. In that short book of only ten pages, the preacher courageously declares the harsh and hopeless reality that without Jesus Christ all is vanity. That’s one of the preacher’s favorite words – vanity. The one word that both denotes and connotes hopelessness, emptiness, meaninglessness and despair. One might say that the Book of Ecclesiastes is the Ash Wednesday message.

In that despair, one can seek relief through sensual indulgence – but that blossoms and flourishes and then withers and fades. If one gives himself to unbridled sensual indulgence – sensuality created good but defiled by disease and deception – one can only indulge despair.

Another attempt that the unredeemed man makes in an effort to ease the pain is to take as much worldly wealth and power as he can unto himself in order to defend himself from victimization by holding the wealth and power to victimize. Hence, politics in any form – politics in every form – without redemption – brings an ever-increasing corruption. For all the talk of freedom and rights, without the Redeemer, we only have bondage and oppression.

Witness all of world history. Witness current history. Witness the present situation in which Christ-less people have placed their faith in a false political savior who lies and cheats and steals and yet calls all who do not know Jesus Christ unto himself. They believe his lies. They cheat in the name of justice. They steal as entitlement. He who currently lies and cheats and steals will eventually kill. Yet the Christ-less man and the Christ-less woman love him, defend him, live for him and will die because of him.

Scripture identifies him as the anti-Christ. To the best of our knowledge, the ultimate anti-Christ has yet to come – but he has many disciples preceding him, paving a highway for him. The Christ-less currently give themselves to the devil’s various disciples – many of whom invoke our Savior’s name. Some Christians will be deceived – and in the deception, they become Christ-less.

Another way to escape the despair is to seek the perfection of nothingness. In this vain pursuit, salvation comes as only the release from the unbearable pain of the Christ-less life. Total nothingness is better than overwhelming pain – its own kind of mercy. But nothingness – even perfect nothingness – is a void. The void will be filled with the very thing it seeks to a-void – eternal pain, perfect in its devastation – the perfect place for the anti-Christ to dwell without resistance – the cup of the void filled to overflowing with misery.

The preacher of Ecclesiastes concludes with these words in which reside only the faintest whisper of hope – but hope nonetheless – a hope in his time yet to be fulfilled. He instructs us saying,
Fear God, and keep his commandments;
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment…
whether good or evil.

Fear God. For the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. And wisdom tells us that dust we are and unto dust we shall return.

But we also know that perfect love casteth out fear. And perfect love – the perfect holy love of The One True God perfectly revealed on the Cross of Jesus Christ, the self-sacrificing Savior who alone saves our sin sick souls.

His cross stands as the ultimate reality check.

Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.

But also, (paraphrase)
I know that my redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
After my awakening, he will raise me up;
And in my body I shall see God.
I myself shall see,
and my eyes behold him…and not another.
For he is to me a friend and not a stranger.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, as we acknowledge our mortality in your presence, so we also trust in your redeeming love and in your saving sacrifice. Bless us with the humility necessary to receive our redemption and bless us even more with the joy of our salvation
given in, on and through the cross of your Son
our only Savior,
Jesus Christ the Lord,
Amen. †

Up on the Mountain – Up on the Cross

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak

Trinity Church
†
Waltham, Massachusetts

Epiphany VII – Transfiguration Sunday – 19 February 2012

II Kings 2:1-12, Psalm50:1-6, II Corinthians 4:3-6, Mark 9:2-9

From the Second Book of Kings:
As Elijah and Elisha were walking and talking, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two…and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

From St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light….

And From the Gospel According to St. Mark:
Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, and led them up to a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them…and there appeared to them Elijah with Moses….

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy s sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation,
Amen. †

Epiphany, the liturgical season that emphasizes God’s self-revelation to the world in His Son, Jesus Christ, always ends with the account of our Lord’s Transfiguration in a vision given to Peter, James and John. This, being the last Sunday in the season, we celebrate this great event. That’s how the season ends.

Now Epiphany always begins with another revelation again given to three men – this time the Three Wise Men – in which God revealed to these gentile royal dignitaries that the infant King of the Jews whom they came to see was also their King as well. God had revealed to them, having summoned them by a brilliantly shinning star, that He, the One True God, had taken on human flesh for the sake of the salvation of the whole world – the Jewish world and the Gentile world alike.

For the Three Wise Men, their visit to that house in Bethlehem, some twelve to eighteen months after our Lord’s birth in a stable, was a pivotal event. Scripture tells us that the divine revelation changed their lives. So much so that they presented to the little child their gifts of gold, representing worldly wealth, frankincense used exclusively for divine worship and myrrh, the ointment used for anointing the dead. Gifts from the royal wise men to the royal infant king – but not only royal but also divine. God offered His revelation. The Three Wise Men received it. It changed their lives.

Although Scripture only tells us that they returned to their home country, we have to rely upon legend to tell us what happened after they got home. One account claims that all three came from Persia. When they got home, they told everyone what they had seen and thus laid the foundation for the eventual Christianization of that country.

Another legend claims that each Wise Man or King came from a different country; one from Persia, another from Asia Minor, present day Turkey, and the third from Africa. When each returned to his own country, he laid the foundations there for the eventual reception of Christianity.

In just the same manner, the Transfiguration of our Lord high up on that mountaintop in a stunning vision given to Jesus’ three closest friends and trusted disciples, represented a pivotal event in their lives as well. God had revealed to Peter, James and John, all faithful Jews, that their master, teacher, healer and friend, Jesus, was the true Messiah – the One who fulfilled both the Law and the prophets of the Jewish religion.

In the vision, Peter, James and John saw Jesus radiating a brilliant light standing with Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah, the most important of all the Hebrew prophets. So important was Elijah that he alone among all of the prophets was assumed into heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Moses stood together with Jesus in a cloud from which they heard a voice from heaven say, This is my beloved Son; listen to him.

There was a reason – a very practical reason – for this retreat to the mountaintop. Jesus had taken Peter, James and John up on a mountaintop where they could be away from the crowds. Crowds had been following Jesus wherever He went in those days. He had healed many people from all sorts of afflictions. He had cast out many demons. His reputation had spread. Multitudes of people came to Him seeking healing either for them or for a loved one.

Jesus needed a break. He needed a rest. All of this work took energy. Remember when the woman with the hemorrhage touched the hem of his cloak? Jesus felt the power go out from Him. We can assume that this was the case whenever He healed or cast out a demon. The energy would go out from Him. Now he needed a little rest and relaxation. He healed by virtue of His divine nature. He rested because of His human nature. So, He and His three closest friends went up to the mountaintop.

High up on the mountain, God changed the lives of these three disciples. From that moment on they knew that Jesus was the Savior. Everything had changed. They had been blessed with this great revelation. But there was more to come. God’s full manifestation remained incomplete.

They did not know what would have to happen to complete the epiphany. As they stood up on that mountain, Jesus had yet to hang up on the cross. He had yet to die and rise from the dead. He had yet to ascend up into heaven. But that would come. And again, Peter James and John would never be the same again. Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection is the ultimate pivot point in anyone’s life. Everything turns on the cross.

Peter, James and John spent the rest of their lives proclaiming the saving power of God in Christ to the ancient world. And the world was never the same again. Human history had turned on the pivot point of the cross.

That’s what happens when you come in contact with the One True God – when you come to know Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the crucified and risen Savior of the whole world who fulfilled the Hebrew Law and prophecy but also all pagan philosophy and religion as well. Knowing Jesus as the Christ – as the crucified and risen Savior – is the pivot point. When the revelation comes, one can never be the same again.

The unique quality of our Lord’s perfect revelation changes everything that anyone has or can ever believe. Law of some sort makes up the content of most religions. Our Ten Commandments have parallels – not necessarily exact parallels – but similar teachings in every religion. But law in any form cannot save. It serves as a standard for judgment but not for salvation. It is, as St. Paul points out, the agent for the recognition of sin. But it does not defeat death. It cannot offer resurrection. In fact, faith in the Law rather than in the Savior is a veil to the light of the Gospel as well.

The same applies to prophecy. Prophecy comes and goes. Right now, as in the first century, prophecies of the end of the world abound. Some claim the end is coming because the sun will either implode or explode. Some say the end is coming because mankind has fallen to new lows of human moral depravity. Others claim that God is so thoroughly disgusted with us that He can no longer tolerate the disgrace. And still other say that the end is coming because of the human affliction of the planet causing either global warming or global cooling – environmental sins against Mother Nature. We will either roast to death or freeze to death. But prophecies of all sorts currently abound.

Prophecy of this sort again cannot offer deliverance from sin and death no matter how one defines sin or explains death. Only God has the power for ultimate deliverance with the perfection of life.

Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Salvation simply is not available in any other religion, philosophy or belief system of any sort. Truly, if you push any other religion – any other faith – to its end, to its outer limits, you can only come to Christ. The best of any human aspiration can only find fulfillment in the only Savior of all mankind.

The three Wise Men and the three disciples received the revelation to which God had called them. Anyone who comes to God in Christ comes because he has been called.

But called still requires reception. St. Paul wrote about how the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light. True then as it is now. Pagan religions abound as people today make up their own faith systems of bits and pieces of whatever appeals to them at any point in time. Nature religion, perhaps the oldest form of paganism currently enjoys a tremendous popularity in he form of environmentalism.

Humanism, the pagan deception of human self-salvation also holds great appeal to many. People believe that a governmental system of human creation – following an economic structure of forced compliance – with human life being perfected through the exercise of human intelligence – well, nothing can ever be more destructive. Human beings cannot perfect themselves or their society. Tried over and over again in human history and failing every time it’s tried, nonetheless people will still place their faith in these deceptions.

God has given us His perfect revelation. He has called us unto Himself. But He still leaves us with the choice. Receive Him or reject Him – one or the other.

Our job, as God has called us into His eternal saving Truth, is to proclaim it, as did the wise men and the disciples. We cannot force acceptance. We can only offer it. And that’s all we can do until He comes again.

With this in mind, let us pray.
Heavenly Father, grant us the wisdom of the wisest men and the conviction of the greatest disciples. Give us we pray the courage to proclaim your saving Word in all conditions of life, and to live our lives as manifestations of deep faith, high hope and holy love, that we may worship and serve you in all that we say, in all that we do and in all that we are,
to the honor and glory of your Son,
our only Savior,
Jesus Christ the Lord,
Amen †

Spiritual Fitness

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak
Trinity Church
†
Waltham, Massachusetts

Epiphany VI – 12 February 2012

II Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, I Corinthians 9:24-27, Mark 1:40-45

From the 2nd Book of Kings:
Elisha the prophet said to Na’aman, commander of the Syrian army and a leper, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.

From St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians:
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

From the Gospel According to St. Mark:
And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, If you will, you can make me clean…. Jesus …touched him and said, I will; be clean.

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation,
Amen †

Last Sunday, the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, is much better known across the country and to a much larger number of people as Super Bowl Sunday. The whole nation watched with great interest and enthusiasm as the New England Patriots battled it out with the New York Giants for victory. Sadly for us, the Giants won.

But those who played in that game have become part of both American cultural history as well as American sports history. Names like quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady and coaches Bill Bellichich and Tom Coughlin will be remembered for generations to come. They are sports heroes – admired, respected and in some cases, the objects of hero-worship. Little boys will look up to them, model their lives after them and want to grow up to be just like them.

Young athletes learn very quickly that to become a great athlete means years of hard training. That involves hours, days, months and years of practice, exercise, careful diet and long workout schedules. It means a life of self-control and self-denial if one wants to win the trophy – to win the prize. All the hard work and sacrifice becomes worth it when you win the prize.

Keep this in mind as we talk about St. Paul – a man who knew about self-discipline, self-control and the importance of winning the prize.

One of the things that made St. Paul such an effective evangelist was his ability to understand and relate to the complex cultural and religious environment in which he lived. Having grown up a Pharisee, he was well educated in the Jewish religion. As he zealously defended his faith in the face of the threat of the newly emerging Christian church, he came to know Christianity as well. We know the account of his conversion and how he became one of history’s most important evangelists. But, on top of that, he was equally well versed in all the gentile philosophies and pagan religions popular in the first century Roman Empire.

The cultural atmosphere in those days had become heavily Romanized in all parts of the empire. Greek and Roman culture, lifestyle, social values, morals and ethics had saturated Palestine, strongly influenced the Jewish people and had changed Hebrew culture. This had become so profound that the most popular text of the Hebrew Scriptures was written in Greek – not in Hebrew. Many faithful Jews knew and studied Hebrew, but the majority of people spoke Greek or Aramaic – perhaps even Latin. Hebrew had become a minority language.

The Greek and Roman influence determined what most people thought, believed and how they lived. One of the most popular aspects of that pagan culture was the enthusiastic participation in sports.

Athletic competition played no role in traditional Jewish life. The glorification of the body, and exposure in the games violated every aspect of the inherent modesty practiced in ancient Jewish culture and religion. Devoted Jews avoided any kind of carnal display.

But casual Jews – and that probably meant most of the people – participated in sporting events in some way. Sports were then as they are now, fun. Although some participated literally for the fun of it, others took sport very seriously, keeping a rigorous discipline of practice, exercise and diet so as to become good enough in the games to win the prize. The love of sport was as strong then as it is now – the desire to win as well.

St. Paul often spoke of the athlete’s rigorous discipline in living as a model for living the Christian life. The sportsmen kept such a discipline to win a perishable prize – a laurel wreath. But the Christian who practiced self-control as a means to live a holy life would win an imperishable prize – the prize of eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom. Hence the apostle encouraged the members of the early churches to be as self-controlled in their Christian spiritual life as the great athletes were in quest for worldly honor and glory. The athlete has to be physically fit – the faithful Christian, spiritually fit.

Spiritual fitness most certainly means adhering to a healthy spiritual diet, avoiding spiritual junk food. Spiritual junk food means all those things that make us feel good regardless of whether or not they’re true. Examples abound.

Let me list just a few. The idea that everyone goes to heaven when he dies or that being a good person is equivalent to being a good Christian – or that being nice is the same as being good – or I can be a good Christian without going to church or if I am faithful, God will bless me with health, wealth and happiness – on my terms or all you need is love or it doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you’re sincere or that all religions are basically the same and all lead to God or that God is just too big to be contained in just one religion – (as if religion’s purpose were to contain God) – all of this and so much more represents spiritual junk food to be avoided by anyone who seeks spiritually health and fitness.

It takes a significant degree of self-control in order to avoid feeding on this tempting array of corrupting notions. It requires – yes, requires – a discipline of prayer, Bible study, meditation, contemplation, reflection, self-sacrifice and most importantly, participation in a true church that offers authentic worship. Authentic worship in a true church is most important because it includes all of the above within the context of joyful praise and heartfelt gratitude.

Spiritual junk food weakens the soul; it will make you sick. Spiritual fitness strengthens the soul; it will make you healthy. Authentic worship strengthens the soul more than anything else.

Think of the spiritually strong people of which the Bible speaks. Men like Elisha the prophet. Spiritually strong and fit, he lived a life that honored and glorified God in everything that he said and did.

He had become so well know as a man of God that even foreigners came to him for healing – people who did not believe in the One True God but who believed that this holy man could restore to them health. Hence, we have the account of the foreign Commander of the Syrian army, Na’aman. He suffered with leprosy.

As much as he would have liked to believe that he could be healed in his own country by washing the rivers of his homeland – those waters had not cleansed him – it was only by washing in the waters of the Jordan was he cleansed. And not just by washing – but by washing in obedience to the command of a strong and powerful holy man – Elisha the prophet. Truly, the water was not the primary cleansing agent. Obedience to holiness was the force that cured him.

That healing, as well as all healing, comes from God and from Him alone – no matter how, where, by what means or through whom or to whom the healing comes – all healing comes from God. Healing for non-believers – even healing for notorious sinners -testifies not to our goodness or deserving, but to God’s great mercy and amazing grace.

This morning’s Gospel account of our Lord’s healing of the leper reveals an important lesson for all of us. He said to Jesus, and I paraphrase, If you want this to happen, I can be healed. If your will is that I be healed, it will happen. And Jesus responded to him saying, I will your health – and the man was healed. Hence, we see that the will of God manifested and revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ, was and is and will be forever that all will be healed.

So then, why do sickness, suffering and disease continue to dominate the human condition? Why do people – even faithful people who keep a rigorous practice of self-control, self-denial and pious devotion – why do they suffer?

We have no one answer in Scripture. We have several. Sometimes we suffer as a consequence of unrepeanted sin, living a reckless life that literally makes us sick. Sometimes we can attribute our sickness to belief in spiritual junk, that is, placing our faith in falsehood. This always results in some kind of mental illness – always!

Sometimes we suffer not so much because of sin but rather as a means to manifest faithfulness in adversity, as did our Lord Himself on the cross of our salvation. Suffering comes at times as a test of faith or as a means to cause us to turn to God. Sometimes we suffer to strengthen our spiritual devotion through exercising it in difficult times. But we know that God will finally heal us.

Healing is God’s will. It may or may not come in this life. It will most certainly come in the life of the world yet to come – in life in the Kingdom of God – in the Kingdom of Heaven. It comes spiritually as our souls, upon death to this world, fly to the gates of heaven – and physically when, at the end of time, our Lord opens the graves and raises us up in our bodies. He rose from the grave and we shall, too.

As we are spiritually purified, as Elisha the prophet so often purified water, so our bodies will be purified from every form or manifestation of disease or affliction. We will be raised perfected in the image that God had originally intended for each of us – uniquely reflecting some aspect of His perfect will.

Keeping spiritually fit in this life means that we win the prize – not a perishable wreath of fleeting honor or glory – but the eternal prize of the full perfection of life lived to the honor and glory of God – the prize of ever increasing and unimaginable joy. We exercise self-control, self-denial and self-discipline not so much as to win – because salvation comes as a gift – but so as to be able to receive that gift as He gives it.

But most importantly, we need to keep a rigorous discipline of prayer, study, meditation, doing good works and faithfully worshipping the One True God perfectly revealed in His Son, our only Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Feeding on His Word enlightens our minds and strengthens our hearts.

And feeding on Him in His great Sacrament of Eternal Life nourishes our souls. He said, Take. Eat. THIS IS MY BODY, broken for you. The ancient liturgy states, Take this in remembrance that Christ died for thee. Feed on Him in thy hearts by faith with thanksgiving. We are what we eat. That keeps us spiritually fit in this life as we await the prize of eternal life, given in and through our crucified and risen Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.

And one last word. We need to be spiritually fit to fight as soldiers in God’s army – not just as athletes in a game. This world, having fallen, continually wages war against The One True God. Faithfulness to Him practiced in a life of self-denial and self-control is our greatest weapon as we seek to defeat the corruption, lies, deceptions and evils of the current generation. The spiritual battle rages with grotesque physical manifestations. God calls us to fight the good fight and win under the sign of the cross of our salvation.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father fed us with the bread of life. Deliver us from spiritual deception. Keep us healthy, strong and fit so that we can fight as soldiers armed with your saving truth. And bless us we pray with the victory that you have won for us in and through your Son,
Jesus Christ,
the only Savior of the whole world.
Amen. †

In Search of Healing

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak
Trinity Church
†

Waltham, Massachusetts

Epiphany V – 5 February 2012
The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Annual Meeting

Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, I Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39

From the Book of the Prophet, Isaiah:
The LORD… gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength… they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

From St. Paul’s 1st Epistle to the Church at Corinth:
The apostle wrote, Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

From the Gospel According to St. Mark:
After healing Simon – Peter’s mother-in-law, the whole city was gathered about the door. And he healed many of them who were sick with many diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen. †

As I look back over 40 years of ordained ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ, I am convinced that most Christians – most church people – neither know nor understand how important they are to God. I know that most people come to the Lord in search of something -in search of some kind of healing, be it for a specific illness or disease or for something less clearly identifiable – something more akin to the malaise and low-level and ongoing depression that comes with living life without Jesus Christ alive in that life. They come seeking a cure for the crippling existential anxiety that dominates their living because they’re not yet alive in Christ.

In this morning’s gospel lesson St. Mark tells us that the whole city gathered around the door of Simon-Peter’s mother-in-law’s house because they had heard that Jesus had healed her. So they came seeking healing for themselves or for a loved one. They came in droves; and He healed many- but not all. St. Mark gives us no explanation as to why Jesus healed many but not all. I can give no explanation – neither can any scholar or theologian that I have ever read. We simply have to trust that in sickness and in health, God continues to work out His purpose. And we also know that His purpose is always salvation.

Jesus also cast out demons – a kind of healing – in fact, the kind of healing that most of us need more than any other kind and yet few of us will ever even admit to even having the affliction. Being possessed by demons sounds much too medieval, superstitious, un-enlightened or ignorant. Yet demons do take possession and those upon whom they have the greatest hold are probably the ones least likely to admit it. Remember, the serpent is subtle. Evil always comes disguised – always!

Maybe we’re reluctant to acknowledge the existence of demons because we have a cartoon like image of them – as little devils with pitchforks that fly around making life miserable for as many as they can afflict. The fact is that demons are spiritual forces, powers, influences, attitudes, falsehoods, deceptions, and all those things that work on behalf of misery, despair, cruelty, violence, evil and death that can take hold of a person and destroy his life. They’re personal because they work in and through persons as well as have lives of their own.

To name a few – hatred, malice, pride, prejudice, greed, lust, envy, covetousness, inordinate anger, anxiety, fear, vengeance – well, complete your own list. The spiritual powers behind all of the above are the demons.

For further understanding, let me contrast demons with their opposites, angels. If you have ever become overcome with rage, you’ve been possessed – for a short time – by demonic anger. But on the other hand, if you have been filled with righteous indignation at some great injustice, then an angel has touched you in an effort to motivate you to correct what’s wrong. You can see the difference. (Both angels and demons motivate behavior.)

As Jesus cast out demons, we read that he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. We know that at this point in His ministry, Jesus did not want to be known as the Messiah or even as a great healer. His time had not yet come. He went about teaching, calling for repentance for the sake of the Kingdom of God, and doing good things healing many, but He wanted to keep his identity quiet until the right time.

Hence, He did not permit the demons to speak -because they knew Him. He did not want to be identified as the Savoir – not yet.

I always find it fascinating that so many good people have so many doubts, questions and concerns about the true nature of Jesus Christ and His Messiah ship. Doubt and fear, the enemies of faith -and only defeated by the power of faith – come from those spiritual forces who oppose the Christ. Being overwhelmed by doubt and fear is a sign of demonic activity and in the extreme, actual possession.

Even for those who deeply believe, demonic attack can and does happen. In fact, because of one’s faith and the quality of one’s Christian life, well that can serve as almost a magnet for the demons – they cannot stand to see a good soul who lives – and laughs – and loves – and works – and prays – and experiences the joy of life. Such a person can become a target. Faith prevents the attack from becoming a possession. Faith empowers the soul and defeats the enemy.

We also need to remember that whenever any of us is about to do something that’s good and right and true – to do anything that is holy – the demons will appear. It always happens.

Jesus Christ, the only Savior of all mankind – is demon enemy #1.

Just as I know that most Christians do not realize how important they are to God and to His work in this world, so I am also convinced that most church people seek to avoid that part of discipleship that involves being soldiers of Christ. Preferring the peace of God that passes understanding to spiritual warfare -forgetting that both of these realities are equally valid, important and part of life until He comes again – well, we all too often fail to report for duty when the battle ensues. Even when called, many go AWOL.

The unholy war against Christianity continues today as it has throughout the ages because the bad guys have no doubt about the enemy – they know him and seek to destroy Him so as to take possession of His followers.

Right now, all over the world and even here at home, the war against Christianity and against Christians is escalating. Last week, the American Roman Catholic bishops issued a letter to be read in every parish church exposing the effort to force Catholic hospitals, schools and other related institutions to provide birth control. Roman Catholic hospitals will be forced to administer abortions. If they refuse – and by the grace of God WILL REFUSE – the government will fine them – huge amounts – which the institutions cannot pay. The government will put them out of business and, as has happened before in corrupt human history, confiscate the property.

Never before in our history has anything like this happened. It’s all part of the ongoing spiritual war. Being forced by corrupt law to violate The One True Faith is in and of itself demonic – as well as unconstitutional in the United States of America.

All of this is happening as another religion, living under another law, a demonic law, glorifies killing those who oppose their religion. As the powers that be demand that we tolerate all religions and spiritualities, no one demands that the religion that seeks to destroy us be tolerant of us. They call this unholy war a holy war. But that’s the way the bad guy works. Deception is his favorite weapons.

St. Paul faced the same issues that we face today. He knew the importance of every believer to faithfully bear witness to the Christ. It was so important that he said to the church at Corinth – a place in which the spiritual war was raging in the ancient world – he said, Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. Not all of us are called to be preachers, but all of are called to tell the story. For better or for worse, God has decided do His work in this world in and through us. If we fail, Woe to all of us!

This is one of the reasons why this church should not close – not so long as the Lord has provided us with an opportunity to carry on. Another church closing in Waltham causes rejoicing in the hearts and minds of those who favor demons over angels – in those deceived and working consciously or unconsciously for the wrong side and for those who, for whatever reason, hate all that’s good and right and true.

We can feel overwhelmed. We can feel as if we’re too weak to fight the good fight. But, if we take the Lord’s side, He will show us the way. He will sustain us in this and in every battle. He has always sustained His people when they faithfully served Him. Hence, His prophet, Isaiah could proclaim,
He gives power to the faint
and to him who has no might,
he increases strength…
those who wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary
they shall walk and not faint.
This can happen here.

Many of us are tired. Many of us are weary. But all of us can be empowered to work for God’s kingdom and serve is His army if we simply follow Him. He will cast out our demons of discouragement and despair. He will lift us up with wings like eagles. He will nurture and sustain us. He will grant to us the strength, the power and the allies necessary to bear a faithful witness to Him in this city.

Always remember – we’re so important to God that He took on our human nature to transform it. Jesus Christ, lifted up on the cross to fight the demonic forces of sin and death lifts us up. He fought. He won. We win through Him.

He gave Himself for us so that we can give ourselves to Him – and win. In this Sacrament of Christian Nurture, He strengthens us for the battle. If we feed on Him He will give us the victory. So feed on Him in thy hearts, by faith and with thanksgiving – and win.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, deliver us from the temptation to give up to the forces that work against you and that seek to destroy us. Empower us to fight the good fight and, by faith, come to your victory won on the cross for the sake of our salvation in this world and in the world yet to come. Keep us faithful, good Lord, surround us with your angles and bring us at last to your heavenly kingdom,
in and through your Son
our only Savior,
Jesus Christ the Lord.
Amen. †

Monthly Commentary

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Total Convergence

The Power Struggle Continues

The New Covenant

Cracking the Whip

Suffering – Rejection – Victory

Learning from Noah

Reality Check – Ash Wednesday 2012

Up on the Mountain – Up on the Cross

Spiritual Fitness

In Search of Healing