Ask any group of people to keep a secret, and you’re looking for trouble.
More than likely, somebody will let it out at some time and that’s especially true if the secret is extraordinary.
 
Today’s Gospel reading, tells us that Peter is the first among the disciples to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah.
He’s the first to discover that this man, whom he knows so well, is the one anointed by God - The Messiah, sent to deliver Israel from bondage.
Peter says as much when Jesus asks him, point blank, “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter’s answer marks him as the star student - and he receives his reward.
Jesus promises to build his church upon the rock foundation of his faith, giving Peter executive authority.
Here, Peter stands for the whole church and Jesus now entrusts his mission to all who recognize him as Messiah.
 
What a glorious development!
Now should be the time to call in the media, get out the word, let everybody know that the Messiah has come and is setting up his organization.
But Jesus tells them that it’s not time for press releases, photo opportunities, or sound bites - far from it.
 
In the ending of today’s gospel, Jesus “sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”
Nobody - not a soul - Mum’s the word - cancel the press conference - keep it a secret.
Why is Jesus intent on keeping the news of him being the Messiah a secret?
Why not let it out?
And now that he’s admitted who he is, and the disciples all know it, does he really think that this secret can be kept? Won’t it travel from mouth to ear with the speed of novelty?
The voices that ask, “Have you heard about Jesus, the Nazarine?” will multiply rapidly across the land.
 
And it’s not just this once that Jesus wants his identity to stay a secret.
Repeatedly, throughout the gospels, he tries to keep from becoming the talk of whatever town he’s in.
Yet, when he performs such deeds as healing the sick, raising the dead and feeding the hungry, when he fulfils the messianic job description, how are people expected to keep his identity to themselves - and why should they?
What he does in one community after another is a publicist’s dream., making him big news, really big news.
 
There’s a name for everything Jesus does in an effort to pass unrecognized as the Messiah and theologians call this the Messianic Secret.
The most convincing explanation of these words is that Jesus doesn’t want to be acknowledged as the Messiah outside the time of his death and resurrection.
Only in the light of those events can people begin to recognize what his being the Messiah really means.
If they hear he’s the Messiah before he even gets to the cross, they’re sure to misunderstand him.
Instead of being a messiah of sacrifice and triumph, they’ll see him as one who’s come to solve their problems.
Rather than recognize him as the one who calls them to their own death and resurrection, the crowds are likely to view him as a messiah sent to pamper their egos and make their lives comfortable.
 
Jesus doesn’t want his ministry to be seen in the wrong light and for this reason, he prefers that only his immediate circle know that he’s the one sent from God.
The opportunity will come later for them to announce that he is the Messiah - after the crucifixion and his return.
 
The Messianic Secret helps us to understand what goes on in the gospel story, why Jesus sometimes behaves in a way that seems incomprehensible, but the Messianic Secret is more than that, for it has a contemporary application.
People in his own time often misunderstood Jesus because they wanted, indeed expected, a messiah of a different kind to be sent to them from God – a warrior King.
 
Even today, people are also ready to misunderstand Jesus.
We want – indeed we expect - a messiah different from the one who has been sent to us.
We expect someone who saves us easily and asks from us nothing much at all.
We want a Jesus who doesn’t die, or at least doesn’t expect us to follow him in doing so.
While we hope for something easy - what the gospel offers us, is a bit like a scandal.
We can know God best through this one human being, a single life where the Word becomes flesh.
But this particularity is only the start.
The gospel goes on to insist that we know him most completely, not through the notable events of his life, but by his gruesome dying and his incomprehensible resurrection.
Then the scandal becomes even greater.
His cross and triumph don’t adequately reveal him, until we participate in them, and accept them as our own.
With Jesus, we must be prepared to give our lives to him, if he is to be our Messiah.
 
So, in our time, the Messianic Secret has changed.
Once it meant not announcing Jesus as the promised one until his death and resurrection revealed him completely. Now it means not announcing Jesus WITHOUT mentioning the cross and the empty tomb - not announcing him unless we’re ready to die and rise together with him.
 
There are plenty of versions of Jesus abroad in the world today.
Once again, he’s become a star; he’s big, really big.
Some of these versions are authentic, but most are not.
What makes a particular version authentic, is not any denominational or cultural label, nor any other marking designed to set us at ease.
What makes a version of Jesus the real thing and not human fantasy, is whether it invariably returns us to what is most important, what reveals divine love completely.
We can’t welcome Jesus without the cross.
We can’t welcome a Jesus who remains dead.
 
If we’re to call ourselves Christians, members of his church, then we’ll have to accept the Messiah crucified and risen - not only 2,000 years ago, but in our own lives as well.
Then, and only then, are we dealing with the real Jesus.
Moreover, we mustn’t keep the Messiah a secret.
The world, the one where we spend our days, still waits for a saviour and is dying to meet Jesus – through us.
In many cases, they just don’t know it, until we introduce him to them.
 
In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that to be able to do so, we have to be pure and acceptable to God.
Instead of big-noting ourselves and thinking that we’ve got it all together, we have to realise that we’re only one small part of the body of God in the world.
He’s given each of us functions and we’re only effective if we work with other members of the body towards bringing glory in God’s Kingdom.
He says that some of us have the gift of prophesy, meaning that they understand what God is asking of us and they put these thoughts into words.
Others are set to be ministers, who speak the words of God to the believers and unbelievers alike.
Some are teachers, assisting their students to learn the messages that God has written down for us.
Yet others are exhorters, meaning that they encourage others and push them to carry on the good work.
The gift of giving is evident in some and they use this gift to support others in their work.
We also have leaders, who work diligently to guide us in the right direction.
Also, we have those who have been given the gift of compassion, allowing them to work cheerfully for the Lord.
 
Do any of these gifts resonate with you?
Maybe your gift’s not as obvious as the ones I’ve mentioned here, but everyone has been blessed by God with gifts of some sort and it’s up to us to determine what these gifts are and use them in service for our Lord.
 
The time for secrets is over.
Now we need to be like John the Baptiser and to “Prepare the way of the Lord”.
Let people know about the risen Christ, who was prepared to die for them, to allow them the gift of eternal life.

No more secrets.       

​Ok?                         

Pastor Rick

​In today’s passages we encounter the prickly theme of people “being chosen” and it leads me to wonder:
“Does God have favourites?
Is there really a chosen nation, a chosen people and, if so, is it the Jewish nation of Israel?
I believe that God’s the Creator of us all, so how could there be favoured ones?
 
These are not easy questions to confront, or to answer.
Especially when we now know what terrible acts have been perpetrated in the past by those who believed that God was on their side – and that includes Jews, Gentiles, Arabs and even Christians.
 
Today’s passage from the gospel of Matthew is not a very long one, but it is definitely a very interesting one.
We read that Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon – which is part of current day Lebanon – and just 30 minutes’ drive south of Beirut, where, you may remember, there was a terrible explosion on the docks just a few years ago, devastating the city and the economy.
 
But back to our story from Matthew.
Why did Jesus go there? 
It was a journey of approximately 64 kilometres (which is a long way on foot) just to heal one child.
If that was, indeed, his reason for going there. 
 
Possibly he just went for privacy – we know that he liked to get away from crowds – or maybe it was to find a location where he could quietly teach and educate his disciples.
We read just a few weeks ago about how Jesus often liked to withdraw from the crowds to be alone with God and with his disciples (as we saw in the Parable of the Feeding of the 5,000).
 
When he arrives in town, he meets a Canaanite woman.
(incidentally, there was no country called Canaan, it was just a general area between the Mediterranean coast and the Dead Sea / River Jordan).
From the description of her as a Canaanite, we can discern that she’s not Jewish – not one of God’s chosen.
 
However, this Gentile woman has obviously heard a lot about Jesus, and she managed to find Jesus at his retreat with the disciples.
Unlike some of the Jews, his own people who often doubted him and tried to trap him at every conversation, this woman takes it as a given that Jesus alone has the power to heal her little daughter, who is tormented by a demon.
And because she loves her daughter, she begs and shouts and cajoles until Jesus gives her what she wants: the healing of her child.
It’s notable that, in all her pleading and shouting, the first thing she asks for is mercy and only then for healing.
 
She recognises Jesus as the Messiah (a Jewish term), who has the power to cast the demon out of her daughter.
Initially, Jesus tries to ignore her, but she’s very persistent.
The disciples implore Jesus to send her away, because she keeps shouting at them.
 
However, here we encounter a side of Jesus that might affront our modern sensibilities and political correctness when he likens her to a dog.
The words Jesus uses to argue with the Canaanite woman are not ones we expect to come from his mouth.
He tells her that he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.


What can we determine from that?
Is Jesus really playing favourites (favouring the Jews over the Gentiles), or did he just enter into the debate for the ears of his disciples - to show that, even though it wasn’t his main commission whilst he was on earth, he could, and would, do miracles even for the gentiles.
 
These derogatory words don’t stop the woman and she persists - even when Jesus tries to tell her that it isn’t right for him to deviate from his appointed task - which is -  focussing on God’s chosen ones.
 
Maybe, in this encounter, Jesus has now recognised that his mission has expanded.
His response to the woman shows them that Jesus did not come just for the chosen people of Israel, but his mercy and grace now extends to everyone.
 
Again, the woman argues with Jesus, trying to persuade him that even a small amount of his goodness would be sufficient for her and her daughter.
We see her willingness to take even the crumbs from Jesus, reasoning that it would be enough to cure her daughter.
Jesus then utters the words. “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”
 
Here we see a miracle by long distance and the girl is healed from that very hour (not just when the woman gets home), without Jesus needing to lay hands on her.
 
It’s interesting to note the figurative language used in the passage:
·       the children represent the disciples and the Jews;
·       the children’s bread represents the benefits of Jesus’ ministry to them;      and
·       the dogs (literally, “little dogs” - household ones, not outdoor scavengers) represent the Gentiles.
 
Jesus tells the woman that his priority in being there is to instruct his disciples and it isn’t appropriate to interrupt a family meal to give the dogs food from the table.
He’s intimating, therefore, that it isn’t appropriate for him to interrupt his ministry to his disciples to give his services to her, a Gentile woman.
But the fact that Jesus seems reluctant to help her, only seems to stimulate her faith in him.
 
She recognises that he has the right to refuse her request, however and feeling no insult in the analogy he uses, she presses it a little further, saying that even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.
Her point is that the dogs get a small amount food at the same time as the children and thus the children do not have to wait.
 
She infers that there is no need to interrupt his instruction to the disciples, because all she humbly requests is a crumb, a small benefit of his grace to satisfy her desperate need.
She acknowledges that the majority of food should go to the Jews but suggests to Jesus that just a small bit of his grace will be sufficient to heal her daughter.
Jesus accedes to her pleas and tells her that it is her faith that has healed the girl.
 
Jesus had subjected her to a threefold test:
1.     a test of the sincerity of her desire;
2.     a test of its intensity;         and
3.     a test of her own integrity.
 
Her faith triumphed and her daughter was healed, leading us to wonder what we should learn from this passage?
1.     we must acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Saviour;
2.     we must come to him, recognizing we have no claim on his grace, but we can expect him to be gracious;
3.     and when we do, Jesus himself will heal our diseased hearts, bringing us new life.
 
Great faith is the sort that takes God at his word and won’t let go until he meets our need.
Great faith can lay hold of even the slightest encouragement and turn it into a fulfilled promise.
 
I pray that we can all learn from the faith of the Canaanite woman and take each and every crumb from the words of Jesus.
 
Pastor Rick

Sometimes, the story in today’s gospel lesson is interpreted along the lines of the title of a book by
John Ortberg:   “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get out of the Boat.”
 
Peter had the right idea when he got out of the boat, quite literally stepping out in faith.
He, like all of us, is invited to step out into the storms of life, where Jesus calls us to take courage, to leave the safety of the boat, and to come to him.
The message is that if we have enough faith in Jesus and keep our focus firmly on him, we will surely not sink, despite the wind and the waves.
 
If only Peter hadn’t become distracted - because when he kept his eyes on Jesus, he could walk on water.
However, when he got anxious and side-tracked from keeping his focus on Jesus, Peter started to sink.
 
Jesus wants us to be bold in our faith, to jump out of the boat, walk on water, dream big and take risks in our lives.
And if we can just be faithful, we will succeed.
 
In current terminology, “walking on water” has come to be synonymous, even outside of the church, with the idea of stepping out in boldness, taking a risk, attempting what seems like an impossible task.
I have no doubt that Jesus wants us to take risks for the sake of the gospel, because he’s the one who told some simple fishermen to leave everything to follow him.
I have no doubt that Jesus wants us to keep our eyes focused on him and his mission, because he’s the one who reminded his followers, in Matthew 19:26, by saying “With God, all things are possible.”
I have no doubt he wants us to utilise the gift of faith that has been bestowed on us, because he’s the one who tells us to take up our cross, even to lose our lives for his sake and, that if we have faith even the size of a mustard seed, we could say to that mountain, “Get up and move” and it would.
 
When the resurrected Jesus stepped out of the tomb that first Easter morning, he really outdid himself in thinking “outside of the square,” didn’t he!
 
No doubt, Jesus wants us to take risks, be bold, do courageous things for the gospel, step out in faith and follow him.
But I wonder if that’s the only thing that Jesus wants us to hear in this particular gospel lesson?
In fact, the same account in Mark and John doesn’t mention Peter trying to walk on water and Luke doesn’t mention this story at all.
 
Much of Matthew’s gospel is focussed on what it means to be a community. He’s interested in figuring out what it means to be the church, the gathering of people who are trying to follow Christ together.
 
In today’s lesson, Jesus makes the disciples get into a boat and head out across the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus said he would meet up with them again, but first he was going to take some time, by himself, to pray.
 
The boat has, from very early days in the Christian community, been a symbol for the church, large enough to take a number of people, doing a number of tasks, working together towards a common task.
Think of Noah and his ark.
 
We know that sailing through calm waters on a gorgeous sunny day can be exhilarating.
When wind and water and sailors cooperate, the journey is grand.
Sometimes, though, the weather doesn’t always do what the sailors want.
 
Unfortunately for the disciples, a storm blows up, as storms sometimes do in our lives, and Jesus doesn’t wait for them to get safely to the other side.  
Instead, he comes to them, walking across the water.
 
And then there’s Peter.

We usually just skip right to impetuous, enthusiastic Peter, faithfully thinking outside the square, jumping overboard and pulling off an amazing stunt, if even just for a moment.
But what Peter actually does first, is say something.
He says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
 
There are only a couple of other times in the whole gospel when someone addresses Jesus with “if” and it’s not normally a happy ending.
The devil does it three times to Jesus when he tempts him in the desert.
“If you are the Son of God,” make stones into bread, call down special privileges from God, worship me.
When hanging on the cross, people mock Jesus, calling out, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
And here, Peter, beautiful, real Peter, joins this voice, “If it is you, Jesus, command me to come to you on the water.”
 
Now, Jesus doesn’t chide Peter for being afraid.
Naturally, it’s ok to be afraid in the midst of a storm.
Instead he asks “Why do you doubt? Do you really think I wouldn’t come? Do you really think I wouldn’t save you? Do you really think, when I told you to get into the boat and go on ahead, that I would ever leave you alone?”

Matthew’s whole gospel ends with the resurrected Jesus appearing to the disciples.
The resurrected Christ himself appears where he said he would meet them.
And Matthew tells us, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
Some doubted - even then - even with the risen Jesus standing right in front of them.
Yes, they worshiped - but some doubted.
 
Luckily, that’s not where our story for today ends.
Even in the midst of their worship, even to those who doubt, Jesus gives a command and a promise.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
The promise is: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
 
Storms will certainly blow up at some time in our lives – for example, the COVID 19 virus that devastated the world a few years ago and is still present at this time.
Fortunately, we know that Jesus hasn’t left us alone, because he told us he would not do so.
The one who calms the storms and makes the winds to cease, is with us and still has work for us to do.
And yes, it’ll mean us jumping out in faith, but not going it alone - keeping our eyes firmly on Jesus.
 
The purpose of a boat is to set sail, not to stay at the dock.
A wise friend of mine says: “God is like your rudder in life. But if your boat’s not moving, the rudder can’t steer it.”
 
There are plenty of adventures ahead for us and Jesus bids us to follow him.
And he’ll say to us, in the midst of our storms, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
 
So, let’s go wherever God sends us and let us not be afraid to jump towards him when times get tough.      


Prayer:
“We might get tossed about a bit today, for we’re called to place ourselves in a rocking boat, on churning seas
and yet we should not be afraid but seek salvation by taking a big risk.  Let us care for each other as we sail on.
May the compassion of God be in our hearts, the saving grace of Christ keep us safe and strong, and the wisdom and gifting of the Holy Spirit be upon our lips and in all we do.    Amen.”
 
Blessings on you and your journey…………..Pastor Rick

Some of life's crucial turning points are recognizable only in retrospect, when we look back and discover that decisions we made thoughtlessly or casually, actually changed the whole direction of our existence.
Sometimes, we’re keenly aware of the intensity of that struggle, but our difficulty in perception, is one of the reasons we need so deeply the guidance of God.
 
Today’s Biblical description relates to one of the crucial turning points in the life of Jacob, as he wrestled through the night with the messenger of God by the Jabbock.
Jacob was basically a con man in the process of moving from being a man who lived by his wits (his name really meant "thief"), to a man of faith whose name would be "Israel," meaning “one who prevails with God".
Jacob grew up in what today we would call a dysfunctional family and he deceived his blind father Isaac into giving him the blessing meant for Jacob’s older brother, Esau.
He also preyed on the weakness of the hunter Esau, who, when he was famished for food, accepted Jacob’s meal of lentils in exchange for the family birth right.
 
The first blessing for Jacob came like many of ours do - he was in trouble, fleeing from the scene of his actions.
Alone and sleeping on the ground with a rock for a pillow, he had a vision in a dream.
God met him in his crisis, with angel messengers ascending and descending on a ladder from the sky.
Jacob soon found out that God is bigger than he had ever thought him to be.
He’d essentially seen God as being limited to the place where his family lived, but now he says, "Surely God is in this place and I did not know it."

It’s the grace of God that brings assurance to this flawed and imperfect man, blessing the world through him.
God didn't wait for the day when Jacob changed his attitudes and made up for his mistakes.
He simply declared his intention to use and bless Jacob's life.
How amazing it is that God who knows all about our weaknesses reaches through them to trust us with his purpose. We don't clean up our acts just so we can deserve his love.
We can never do enough to deserve it, because it’s a gift from God and it’s called Grace.
 
Sometimes, when we get into a real encounter with God, we find that we’re also in a wrestling match, a struggle with the one who made us.
In that experience is some probing, contained in God's question, "What is your name?"
The probing of the essence of who we are. In Jacob’s case, his answer was, "I am Jacob, a deceiver, a thief, a con man and a manipulator."
God's answer was “Not anymore - you’re more than that and I name you Israel – a prince who prevails with God.”
 
When we wrestle with God, he holds up a mirror in front of us and it makes us face up to what we are.
This is so we can experience the conviction of our sins and shortcomings.
It's the essence of the call to us to repent.
We need to feel sorrow over what we are and what we’ve done.
We’re called to turn away from the old life and embrace the new.
 
Do you remember Simon Peter's encounter with Jesus when the huge catch-of-fish miracle occurred?
He knelt before the Lord and said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinner."
But Jesus responded, "You are called Simon but from now on you're going to be called Peter - the rock."
In meeting Christ, he was called to the design that God had for him - his best self, the steadfast one.
It was going to be a long road between the prediction of Jesus and Simon's solid stand for Christ, but the process had begun, and Peter had been blessed.
 
That's what God wants to bring to every human being, to every one of us, for he’s created this new humanity.
He made us in the image of Jesus, putting together something so beautiful, but most of us haven't yet discovered it.
 
The Spirit of God comes to convince us of our sinfulness, as a prelude to this new life.
Have you ever noticed that in bible stories, wherever food is present, Jesus is there?
As often as he was praying, he was sharing food.
Late in his ministry, he identified himself with bread and wine – then a staple Mediterranean diet and it still is today.
Without food, we’re often cranky and confused.
We tend to lose our way, become disoriented, even lose our balance.
 
When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, they were given manna to eat.
It wasn’t fancy, just something to fill their tummies.
The people became so bored eating manna day after day that they complained to God.
Yet, when you think about it, at least they were being fed.
They didn’t recognise it as a blessing from God, which kept them alive.
 
Today’s gospel story tells another story of food – lots of food.
There’s so much food, that they have heaps left over!
This isn’t a banquet like the wedding of Cana story in John’s gospel, but it’s about food keep us going, food for a journey, simple food: bread and fish.
 
Consider again the story we have of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel: “Jesus withdrew in a boat to a lonely place apart.” What we’re not told in reading just today’s portion is that he was in a boat, withdrawing, because he’d just learned about the death of John, his cousin, who’d baptized him.
It wasn’t the best of times for Jesus, and he was just trying to get a moment of peace to talk to God and reflect.
 
According to the gospel, when the crowds heard that he was near, that he was drawing apart, “they followed him on foot from the towns.”
Did he tell them to go away?
No, instead he blessed them, fed them, talked to them and after they had left, he again went off to be by himself.
 
He set out to do one thing: to get some space and some time away.
This proved to be difficult for him, as we read in today’s story.
Does this sound familiar to you?
Rest, time apart, a few minutes alone, a break, some space – it’s something that we all seek at the end of a busy day, at the close of a tiring week.
Jesus was interrupted and responded graciously - and then went on with what he was doing.
 
Parents recognize this dynamic, so do clergy, so do people with demanding jobs, family obligations, social responsibilities – this dynamic is very likely familiar to all of us.
We get involved in what we’re doing, and we don’t want to be interrupted or distracted, so we ignore what’s nudging us for attention.
 
Jesus withdrew and was constantly interrupted by people clamouring for attention: Teach us! Heal us! Give us food! Prove yourself!
Jesus sought time apart, time for himself, quiet time, but he was interrupted.
And his response? With grace and care, he healed the sick, and he somehow found food for the hungry.
 
Through all his interruptions, Jesus was abundant in his distribution of grace.
So yes, the story is about food, it’s also about blessing, goodwill and God’s abundant grace.
Jesus fed not only their bodies, but also their spirits.
This is the message of our readings today: God’s grace is available in abundance.
Paul also recognised this when, in writing to the Christians in Rome, he reminded them that, through the Messiah, God had blessed them forever.
 
In living the Christian life we’re blessed by him every day.
It’s up to us to recognise those blessings and give him our thanks and praise in return.              

Pastor Rick