Tag: Signs

Someone Please Burn Dinner

~ Chuck Griffin ~ Leave a comment

This Sunday’s sermon at Holston View UMC in Weber City, Va., will be “Seeking Signs,” based on Judges 6:36-40. If you want to view the sermon but cannot be present, the entire worship service will be available through Holston View UMC’s web page.

Today’s preparatory text: Judges 6:17-22 (NRSV)

Then [Gideon said to the angel], “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”

By Chuck Griffin

Gideon, the character at the heart of my sermon this Sunday, had reason to be frustrated by his circumstances and doubt God. When Gideon first encountered God, life was not good for the Israelites, and Gideon was certain he was one of those little people who could do nothing to change their situation.

In fact, when the angel of the Lord found Gideon, he was threshing wheat in a winepress rather than out in the open, trying to hide his father’s harvest from raiding Midianites. They were one of the nomadic bands regularly harassing and robbing the Israelites.

It’s not hard to figure out the source of the Israelites’ woes. Chapter 6 begins, “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.”

As you read the full story of Gideon, it also becomes clear his family was part of the problem, maintaining an altar to the god Baal and its accompanying pole, a symbol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Gideon’s first task was to tear down these affronts to God and replace them with a proper altar to the Lord. He did this at night, fearing his father and neighbors.

Gideon’s situation makes it easier to understand his repeated need for signs of assurance from God, despite our being told in 6:34 that “the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon.”

In fact, I suspect this story enlightens us as to why we as Christians sometimes struggle with discernment, even while we know the Holy Spirit is at work in our church community and our lives. The anxieties and uncertainties of life, particularly the ones rooted in how we relate to our family and neighbors, generate a lot of background noise in our heads. It becomes harder to tune in to what God is telling us.

It would help if an angel would arrive and torch the dinner we just offered. Signs are wonderful gifts from God, and they do focus our attention. Hey, at least for a time, it seems Gideon began hearing from God very directly after receiving a few holy demonstrations.

Never forget the advantage we have, however. We live in the time after Christ. In going to the cross, Jesus Christ tore down the barriers sin had erected between us and God. Preachers say it over and over, but I’ll say it again, for my benefit if for no one else’s.

Stop. Listen. Pray. Listen.

Lord, may the thoughts and images that spring into our minds be gifts from you. May we search your holy word to test what is revealed. And then may we be as bold as Gideon when he was at his best. Amen.

That Terrible Step to Come

~ Chuck Griffin ~ Leave a comment

We continue to walk with Jesus this Holy Week toward Good Friday and the cross.

John 12:20-36 (NRSV)

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

By Chuck Griffin

During the week that culminated in Jesus’ crucifixion, signs of what was about to happen were everywhere. At the time, only Jesus could see them.

Note how oddly Jesus acted when Greeks arrived seeking him. Rather than welcoming them, he began to speak of obedience, service and death. Eventually, he hid from the crowds for a while.

Jesus knew that while his earthly ministry was designed to bring salvation to the whole world, it mostly was to occur among his own Jewish people. It would be the role of the post-resurrection, Holy Spirit-empowered church to reach the world beyond Judaism. The arrival of Gentiles from a distant place made it clear crucifixion was unavoidably near. 

Jesus’ cryptic talk of being “lifted up” also triggered questions among the common people, who were expecting an invulnerable warrior king to take charge.

How could one anointed and glorified by God, the one we now understand to be God in flesh, die such a horrible, humiliating death? Over time, Christians have gotten used to the idea of the bloodied Jesus hanging on a cross, but we have to admit the image is strange, particularly to people not raised in the faith.

To answer the question raised by the crowd, it is necessary to explore the design of salvation, and that means we delve into a mystery too complex for us to understand in full, at least in this life. Jesus’ answer, rooted in “light” and “darkness,” gives us insight, however.

For all practical purposes, the Son of Man mounted a rescue mission. Because of our sins, we were trapped in darkness—a place that the Holy God, who is light, had every right to disregard. Out of love, however, he chose not to forget us or destroy us.

Instead, the light entered the darkness to find us, taking on flesh. The title “Son of God” reminds us of his divinity; the title “Son of Man” reminds us of his blessed humanity.

To break the grip sin and death had on us, Jesus had to bear our punishment for sin. Or we might say he had to ransom us from sin. Or we might say he carried our shame. Or we might say he became the one perfect sacrifice for sin, simultaneously priest and slain lamb. These and other descriptions of how atonement works mark the point where the mystery becomes almost unfathomable. We use metaphors to understand what can be grasped in full only by the mind of God.

What’s important is that we believe Christ’s death on the cross is effective, that the divine machinery works even if we cannot comprehend all its cogs and pulleys.

Lord, on this Holy Tuesday we reaffirm our belief that the Son of Man died on the cross, knowing our belief is enough to pull us from darkness into light.