humor in the Bible

Talking with a friend about fave Bible stories brought one to mind. After the crucifixion, Jesus has risen, but not everyone knows it yet. In John 20, verse 19, the disciples are together in a house 'with the doors locked", as they were afraid of being arrested for being associated with Jesus. "Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”"

now, picture this. The disciples are in a locked house, and Jesus suddenly appears in their midst with no warning! I bet they just about jumped out of the their skin! Eyes big as saucers! I suspect inwardly Jesus had a chuckle at their reaction. And maybe they all started laughing with surprise and joy at seeing Jesus risen!

sometimes when we are happy and surprised, we begin to laugh and can hardly contain it! the Gospels never say that Jesus laughed, but some things he said could be said with a twinkle in the eye, and would give his listeners a laugh. ("It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle..." what an image! He also told Peter to find a coin to pay taxes, in the mouth of a fish! and 'why worry about the speck in your neighbor's eye when you have a plank in your own eye!"

I suspect Jesus had a great smile, and loved to laugh, and that folks around him often felt a sense of joy just being nearby. Faith doesn't always have to be serious!

Looking for SomeOne? Epiphany sermon, Jan 8 2012

Isaiah 60

The Future Glory of Israel

1 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.

4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and exult,[a]
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.

Matthew 2

The Visit of the Wise Men

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[b] and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

~~~~

There's a story about a family who were talking with their children about the morning's Sunday School lesson. They talked about the Magi bringing gifts to the baby Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh. There was a long pause and one child asked, “How come nobody brought diapers?!”

this is the story of the Epiphany. The 12^th day of Christmas. Though in reality it likely took much longer than 12 days for the Magi to come find Jesus. Indeed the text tells us they came to a house, so Joseph and Mary had found a place to stay other than a stable!

The Magi were kings, possibly from Persia, or even further away. The Bible lesson doesn't really tell us the specifics, does it? It doesn't even say how many there were, we presume there were 3, because of the mention of the 3 gifts.

There would have been more than just the kings, traveling into Jerusalem. after all, important powerful people never travel alone. Nowadays if you are important you travel with your publicists, personal assistants, security. 2000 years ago, the Kings' travel group would have had security and personal aides, but instead of media publicists, there would be heralds to announce their coming, and people to care for the animals on which they rode. So a troupe like this coming into the city would have caused a commotion that got people's attention. Herod may have been threatened by their mere presence, and then they asked about a newborn KING of the Jews! This would have certainly frightened Herod. Herod the Great, who was renowned for tremendous building projects in Jerusalem, including the Temple, was also terribly paranoid, so much so that he killed anyone he deemed a threat, including his wife and two of his sons.
No wonder he was “troubled, and all of the city with him” So he summoned the Magi. Lying to them that he wanted to worship this newborn king, he found out for himself what they knew. Fortunately, the Magi were warned in a dream to NOT go back to Herod and found another route out of the region.

So the Magi, however many of them and their travel companions, found their way to Jesus by a “star” that guided them to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is due south of Jerusalem and there has been much speculation over time about just what this star was. A comet, or a conjunction of the moon and several planets? We don't really know. It's one of those things that scholars like to argue about. I think spending too much time on details like was it a comet or how many magi there were, can take us away from the real reason this story is in scripture.

This is the first time that Jesus is recognized as divine by non-Jewish people!
Remember, last week, Doug told us about Simeon, who had been told he would not die before seeing the Messiah. And Simeon said over the baby Jesus, that he was a light to the Gentiles as well as to Israel. The Magi were not Jewish. But they knew that this Jewish baby was someone very special. That is why they went looking for this SomeOne. And why they brought gifts of great value to show their recognition that this was indeed Someone Special.

The gifts showed Jesus' Kingship-the Gold- and religious significance-the Frankincense. They-KINGS from other regions, brought expensive gifts to honor the baby Jesus!

The tradition of gift giving at Christmas probably began here. And ironically in our day and age, we may be very tired of Christmas by the 12^th day! Be honest, some of you groaned inside when you saw we were singing one more Christmas song this morning! We get worn out by the commercial aspects of the holiday season. There is so much pressure to get the right gifts, make the right dinner, have or attend the right parties. And over the last several decades Retail companies ramp up their marketing to get more and more of our Christma$ money! The marketing wears us out...seeing Christmas displays out in the stores well before Thanksgiving, and the endless commercials braying “X number of shopping days left”, well, it can take us right out of any thought of worshiping a newborn King!

You see, I'm afraid we have started to confuse the birth of Christ with the hoopla of the holiday. The commercialism and the media are so overwhelming that we just want to be DONE with Christmas! So by New Years we may have put away the decorations with a huge sigh of relief! But we may feel something missing. We are still looking for something, for SomeOne, down deep inside.

All humans have a deep desire for Something, because we are created for more than just work, eat and sleep. We are created to be together with others. We are created with desire for someone who knows us intimately, who can still love us! God created us with a deep yearning for relationship with God and with one another. That is what all of us seek. That is what Christmas and Epiphany are all about. Not the shopping, baking, decorating, but the LOVING, the caring, the giving a gift of LOVE because you care about the other person and recognize they care for you.

And we find true completeness in the SomeOne born on Christmas day. Jesus is the SomeOne we all seek, whether we realize it or not. And we, like the Magi can bring gifts to honor and revere and acknowledge his Lordship in our Lives.

We can bring Gold...our time, talent and treasure. Yes we bring our weekly offering. We contribute to missions and other charities. We also give our time! Spending some time helping at the church, serving as an usher or greeter, helping at coffee hour, Sunday School, choir, offering a ride to others, serving on a board or committee, visiting folks. There are endless chances to give our time and talent to our Lord.

We can bring another gift to Jesus....frankincense! What?! Frankincense was a special incense used in the Temple, when it was burned it was believed that the prayers of the people went up to heaven on the smoke! We can pray for our friends and family, for our church and her leaders -lay leaders and pastors! We can pray for our Nation, for missionaries, for Christians in other parts of the world, where it is not safe to proclaim the name of Jesus! We can read our bibles outside of church! Yes the bible is often hard to understand. Altho as Mark Twain was quoted as saying, “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”

the Bible can be challenging for pastors too, especially the parts we do understand...but we are here for you. We have Bible study groups, weekly Wednesday prayer gathering. We even have a website on which there are devotions and links to websites with Bible study information. Our gift of frankincense is our commitment to spiritual growth.

And our third gift...Myrrh. Myrrh is resin or gum from a specific type of tree that grows in the Middle East. It was used to prepare a body for burial. Not a 'normal' gift to bring to a baby, was it? But of course, this was not just any baby. Myrrh tells reminds us that Jesus, the One for whom we are all looking, came for one reason. Jesus was born to die. To die on the Cross. Because that was the ONLY way to make us right so that we could be in complete relationship with God. We can bring all the things we do wrong, all the stuff that separates us from the love of God and of others, we can bring them to Jesus right now and say “Lord, I am sorry. I lay all my imperfections and and self centeredness and all the ways I look for someone other than You-i lay all these things at the cross right now. Lord Jesus, will You forgive me?”

When we pray this, Jesus' answer is “Yes, my child. I forgive you. Because I love you. I was born for you, I died on that cross for you, I rose again for you, all because I love you. Look no further, I am the SomeOne that you seek.”

today and every day, we can look for that SomeOne and bring our gifts to Jesus. To the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the One who was born to die for each of us. How can we do anything but worship and adore Him!

the cross over the manger

Some time ago, I was “multi-tasking” in the Bible. I was planning Advent Bible studies, reading through the birth stories and making notes. And later that same day, hoping to write a devotion for the Lenten season, I read the Good Friday texts. Reading both the birth and death stories, something really struck me.

Luke 2:12 ESV

“and you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger”

Luke 23: 52-53 {Joseph of Arimathea} went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down {from the Cross} and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.”

the baby wrapped well is a sign that he was well cared for. Newborns like to be wrapped up, it helps them to feel secure.

That Jesus' body was wrapped in linen after his death was also a sign that he was being cared for, even though there was no time for the women to prepare the body with the oils and spices.

But there is obviously something more to these details! The parallels in both stories are there for a purpose. They remind us that the shadow of the cross lies over the manger. We love the Christmas story, we feel all warm and fuzzy when the children sing Away In A Manger. But Jesus didn't come just for us to feel warm and fuzzy! Jesus came-- God with us. And came as an infant! (The God of all creation!) just from love, from desire for complete relationship with us, His creation! And the only way to that complete relationship was the cross.

Jesus' mission was the cross. The One who would never sin was wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, would grow up to take ALL our sin, all the things that distract us from God for even an instant....upon Himself on the cross.

Can we remember this as we go through Advent and Christmas, can we remember to honor our Lord and do better caring for others, now and always? As we watch the children's programs, wrap the gifts, sing the songs, bake the cookies—remember, the Cross over the manger.

Thomas-From Doubt to Devotion

sermon i gave when guest-preaching at Rochester, WI

Thomas: From Doubt to Devotion

John 20
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Some Questions
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are going dead?

When the French swear do they say pardon my English?

Why doesn’t glue stick to the bottle?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

We do check the wet paint don't we? I know I do! And isn't that almost what Thomas wanted to do? He just wanted tangible proof. Sure he had been with the disciples for 3 years, sure he knew they were reliable..or well maybe knowing them for 3 years is precisely why Thomas wanted tangible proof for himself!

Can you imagine this scene? The disciples were locked in the house. They had seen Jesus arrested, knew he had been beaten and killed, they were convinced they were next! They were terrified of the authorities. And suddenly Jesus appears in their midst, saying Peace be with you!

Thomas was not with the disciples at this first appearance. We are not told why. We are told that Thomas was also called the Twin. But whose twin?! We do not know. He could have been a twin or a look-alike sibling of one of the other disciples or someone else close to Jesus. There is some belief that Thomas may have been one of Jesus' brothers, or rather half brother. We just do not know.

Thomas was not present at the first appearance of Jesus. We are not told where he was, why he was not there. But we do know that a week later when Thomas was with the others, Jesus again appeared! And again just turned up in their midst in the locked house! Saying “peace be with you” and Jesus said specifically to Thomas, put your finger here..see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.” Jesus is not condemning Thomas, he is saying go ahead, touch the scars, see for yourself! Maybe Jesus recognized that needing hard proof was just the way Thomas was. Only after that did He say, “stop doubting and believe”

the words used here for doubt and belief have more than one meaning. Or perhaps I should say there are layers of meaning here. Remember that the languages of the Bible, Primarily Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New, have many fewer words than English does. So one word in these languages may have more than one meaning, or shades of meaning. These shades of meaning would be more apparent in context, with vocal inflection. So we lose a little bit in translation. What strikes me about the word for “Believe” is that the meanings of it include faith and belief, having confidence in, and trust. Trust is a key component of faith. And yet that can be one of the hardest things we manage. Perhaps Thomas believed in Jesus, but did not quite trust the words of the others. Could Jesus be saying, just have trust!!!

Author Brennan Manning writes in “The Ragamuffin Gospel” In earlier times it did not take faith to believe that God existed--almost everybody took that for granted. Rather, faith had to do with one's relationship to God--whether one trusted in God. The difference between faith as "belief in something that may or may not exist" and faith as "trusting in God" is enormous. The first is a matter of the head, the second a matter of the heart. The first can leave us unchanged, the second intrinsically brings change.”

we live in a time and a society in which we tend to have to 'See it to believe it” and to have proof. We want documentation, facts and figures. We may find it hard to believe—to trust, without hard proof. So faith can be a real challenge for us. When we want proof & documentation of everything else, why should we believe in a resurrected Jesus! I must admit, if I had been in that room, I might have had to touch the nail-scars myself.

Actually when I was much younger, I had been “born again”,and yet I did not act on my belief. In fact most of the time, I did not act like a Christian at all. I knew someone with a profound faith, my Aunt, and I envied her faith. Her faith and trust in the Lord saw her thru some hard times and illness, and gave her hope, no matter what. I never thought that I was capable of that depth of belief and trust in an invisible Saviour. One of my 'issues' is that i am a person who needs to see feel, touch, to experience something in order to believe. So I see a bit of myself in Thomas...doubting Thomas. But fortunately, faith is not something static, it can change. Our faith life is a progression..that is why we refer to our “walk of faith' we may not always “walk” in faith....some of us stumble, and maybe even crawl rather than walk. I finally understood that I can pray for more faith. That is a prayer that I believe God LOVES to answer!

At some point in our journey thru life, we need to experience the Living Christ for ourselves, just as Thomas and the other disciples did. Maybe that is a scar that we all bear...needing proof. And we all do have our own issues or scars, do we not!? Some of them big, some not so big. We may have issues in a relationship, with a temper, addictions or illness. Maybe we obsess over appearances, or maybe we just don't care! These are our scars, the invisible scars that we carry every day. Scars that may keep us from realizing the truth of Jesus, as Thomas' lack of faith and trust did until he saw and felt and heard for himself.

The scars of anger and bitterness can keep us from forgiving one another. This is what Jesus told the disciples; “If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Jesus first breathed the Holy Spirit on the disciples, then spoke to them of forgiveness. It is through the Spirit that we can comprehend the love of Jesus, and begin the process of forgiveness. If we begin to understand ourselves as the Lord understands, we will learn.

Author Brennan Manning again;”Faith is a code to accept that Jesus knows my whole life story, every skeleton in my closet, every moment of sin, shame, dishonesty, degradedness darkening my past. Right now he knows my shallow faith, my feeble prayer life, my inconsistent discipleship, and he comes beside me and he says, I dare you to trust. I dare you to trust that I love you, just as you are and not as you should be, because you're never going to be as you should be.”

Through this trust and love, we realize that each of us has acted out of the pain of our own scars and wounded others, and through the Spirit we learn that those who hurt us acted out of their own pain. When we recognize our own flaws, issues, wounded-ness, then we realize that others are acting out of theirs. Again through prayer, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we learn compassion and thru compassion, we learn to forgive. This is a part of our faith journey- We are forgiven as we forgive. When we forgive another, we are more fully accepting the Lord's forgiveness of us!


So while we, like Thomas, may wish we had tangible proof of Christ, if not for ourselves but for those near us who have doubts, we can accept on faith that Jesus is real, that Jesus did rise, even tho we can not touch the scars on his hands and his side.

The end of our Gospel lesson today is this:
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.--that we may have life...today in Jesus and for eternity with him in Heaven.

...the other day I was reading an article that says that the vast majority of people do not believe in heaven. But there are those who have seen heaven and come bck to tell us about it! There is a book that is on the best seller lists right now about a little boy who saw heaven when he was 3 years old.. and told his parents about it as he got older and was able to talk about it.

there is a book titled 90 minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper.

He was in a horrible car accident-pronounced dead at the scene, and revived 90 min. later, by a man praying for him.

Don told about being at the gates of heaven. And the incredible, beautiful music there,...and seeing diseased loved ones. He said he was met by his great grandmother. And that as he knew her through his life, she had wrinkles and trouble with her teeth. When she met him at the gates of heaven, she had no lines at all in her face, and when she smiled at him her teeth sparkled!

Heaven is real...the bible says so! And we will have a renewed, perfect body, with no wrinkles, sparkly teeth, and no aches and pains..Hallelujah! We will not have any of that, because Jesus has the scars in his hands and his side. He, who was perfect, without sin, and became sin for us....for each of us, has the scars so we won't have to!!

The scriptures, all the Word of God are given that we may believe! We may want more-we have deep questions borne of life struggles. Jesus validated Thomas' struggle to believe by showing him the scars, and you deserve to have your struggles validated as well. If you are struggling with doubts, unforgiveness or just struggling with faith, it is ok. It has happened to me, and to most believers. Even Mother Teresa had struggles. Jesus Loves YOU without reservation. Let's celebrate this love together.

Let us pray, Our Lord and God, you know our doubts, our questions and struggles and still you love us. Today we pray for each of us who has a doubt, and we pray for compassion to help us forgive. thank you for the love and forgiveness shown through Jesus Christ.