Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jan 17 2020 - Luke 8:22-39 – Fear and faith

Fear features in both of the stories we have read this morning. In the first we read of Jesus and his disciples crossing Lake Galilee in a boat. Jesus is asleep when a fierce storm blows up and threatens to swamp the boat. No doubt the disciples were afraid for they woke Jesus saying, "Master, Master, we’re going to drown!" (Luke 8:24). But it is only after Jesus has rebuked the wind and the waves and all is calm around them that we read of their fear. Jesus asks them, "Where is your faith?" By way of response we read, "In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.'" (8:25). They are filled with fear and amazement. They have seen something wonderful, something quite beyond their comprehension, and they tremble in the presence of one who can command the storm. But theirs is a wondering fear that draws them on rather than drives them back.

In the second story we read of a man possessed by many demons. He lived among the tombs outside the town and was unable to be constrained even by chains. He was wild, strong and naked. He must have been a fearful sight. Jesus cast out the demons, but permitted them to go into a herd of pigs that was feeding nearby. The pigs rushed over a cliff into the sea and were drowned. When the townspeople came to see what all the fuss was about they were amazed to see the wild man, clothed and in his right mind, calmly sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to him. The narrative continues, "Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear" (8:27). Here also were a people who had witnessed something wonderful that Jesus had done and they too were filled with fear. But their fear made them want to be rid of Jesus. They would rather be left with the familiarity of their troubled world than live with one who could transform the storm and create peace.

Living with Jesus is not a comfortable experience. He is liable to disturb our world for he has come to heal, transform and subdue. He brings peace – the storm is stilled and the troubled mind restored – but he also unsettles. He calls disciples to leave the familiar routine of their lives and to follow him. He will rob us of satisfaction with the way things are for he has given us a glimpse of how they could be and shall be. And he has shown us that he alone has the power to make things new for he is the resurrection and the life. Jesus robs us of the quiet of the graveyard and the inactivity of death. 

Those who proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord in the first century were viewed as a threat to the Pax Romanum – the peace established by Caesar and maintained by the Roman Empire. In many parts of the world today Christians are viewed as an unwelcome and unsettling presence in societies that want to live without regard to the claims and power of Jesus. And so we face the temptation to privatise and internalise our faith so that it cannot disturb others. But that is to deny its very nature; Jesus cannot but disturb. He has disturbed our lives with his transforming presence and he intends to disturb the lives of others through us.

It is a fearful thing to be in the presence of the living God and to know his power at work. The question for us is whether that will be a fearful wonder that draws us on, or a fear that will make us want to be rid of him at all costs.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your transforming power that has disturbed my life. Continue your holy disturbance in me and make me a gracious disturber of the peace of death that by your power all things may be made new.

Jan 17 2019 - Genesis 19:1-29 – The Destruction of Sodom

This is, by any estimate, a truly shocking chapter of Scripture. Why are these incidents recorded in the Bible? How can this chapter be "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16-17)?

This chapter is not about the "sin of homosexuality". Isaiah likens rebellious Judah to Sodom in its empty religion, violence and failure to care for those in need (Isaiah 1:10-17). Ezekiel declares the inhabitants of Sodom were "arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:53). This chapter is not about homosexual love but about the kind of male rape that sadly still occurs as a means of domination in warfare and within prisons.

What then is this chapter about?

Firstly it reminds us of the appalling consequences that can flow from bad choices. When Abraham and his nephew Lot agreed to separate because their flocks had grown too large to graze together, Lot chose the land in the Jordan valley rather than the less fertile hill country (Genesis 13:10-13). He reckoned that living in the region of Sodom would enable him to prosper. He looked only at external appearance and not at the character of the people among whom he would be living.

How have we gone about making critical choices for ourselves and for our families? Have we simply looked at what might be the best route to prosperity or have we considered where we might best grow in knowledge of God and be useful in his service? The story of Lot is a salutary reminder of the cost of bad choices.

Secondly, this chapter reminds us of the reality of God's judgment. We have a "compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6). But he will not forever turn a blind eye to human rebellion and violence; he is a God of justice. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah stands as a warning to a world that continues to turn its back upon God and his salvation in the Lord Jesus – the one "who rescues us from the coming wrath" (1 Thessalonians 1:10). We should not seek to minimise the reality and awfulness of God's wrath against sin.

But this chapter also displays the mercy of God. Despite the folly of his choices, Lot and his family are saved from judgment. Indeed, if Lot's sons-in-law had believed God's warning, they too would have been saved. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; he longs for them to turn back to him and be saved (see Ezekiel 18:23 and 1 Timothy 2:3-5).

We are told in Genesis 19:29 that "when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities." Lot was saved because God remembered his covenant with Abraham and extended his compassion to Lot. It is because of God's covenant faithfulness towards us in Christ that we too are saved.

Lastly, this passage warns us of the danger of turning back from following Christ. We should be like Paul who said, "one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). Jesus warned his followers not to turn back saying, "Remember Lot's wife!" (Luke 17:32).

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us from the coming judgment. Without him we would be lost. Help us always to look to him and keep on following him. Help us also to tell others of the one who alone can forgive sins and reconcile us to God. Make us your messengers through whom others may be saved.

Peter Misselbrook