Reacher of the Tossed Ark

Scripture of the day 2 Samuel 6:1-19

There was a blond and a brunette that both lost their jobs because of the economy. So they both found the same job in the newspaper. The brunette went and applied for the job and the boss had her fill out a bunch of papers then he asks "Before you go how many D's are there in Indiana Jones?" shes thinks for a sec then she says “Um 1.” The boss says "ok thanks I'll call you."

Then the blond applies for the job. She fills out the paperwork and then the boss says “Before you go how many D's are there in Indiana Jones?” She starts counting with her fingers and then she says “Do you have a pencil and paper and a calculator?” The boss replies “Yes, but why do you need that?” She says“Just give it to me.” So she starts writing down numbers and using the calculator. Finally she tells the boss “510,002.” The boss is perplexed. “How did you get that?” 

The blonde replies, “Well you know da da da daaaa da da daaa da da da daaaa da da da daa daa daaaa.”

When you think of the Ark of the Covenant, many of us think of how it was portrayed in the movies.  Especially in the Indiana Jones Movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.  In this movie the Ark is depicted as shooting a lazer beam in a picture, and one professor claims "the Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions". In the movie it burns a crate and contains angels of death that destroys an entire squad of Nazi’s. Indiana Jones and his girlfriend Marian escape only by not looking at the angels of death as they fly about.

Now the real Ark of the Covenant was a piece of Holy furniture that was supposed to dwell in the holiest part of the tabernacle. God dwelt between the wings of the angels that adorned the top of the Ark. It didn’t have lasers or hold angels of death. But it was built by the direct command of God and held the original ten commandments a pot of manna, the miraculous food that God provided to the Hebrews during their journey through the desert and the staff of Aaron the first high priest of Israel.

And it was supernatural.

The army of Israel had the ark lead them into battle. At the battle of Jericho the ark was carried around the city for 7 days and the walls fell by just the blast of a horn. When the ark was captured by the Philistines, the cities that held the ark were beset by plagues so much that the Philistines gave the ark back to Israel. They just left it on a cart in the open and told the Israelites to come and get it. But it never had lasers or leveled mountains like it was claimed in the movies.

In today’s Old Testament scripture we see another supernatural manifestation of the ark. Let’s look again at the first part of today’s Old Testament Scripture: “Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand.  And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name,the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.

 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.  Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.  And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.” 2 Samuel 6:1-19

this is one of those scriptures that just do not seem to make sense. It doesn’t seem fair. All Uzzah did was prevent the Holy Ark from falling off the cart to the ground. Most people would think this is a good thing, why in the world did god strike him dead for something that we would consider good?

Well we have to look at this incident in its context.

David was trying to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. That was a noble thing.

It was a good thing. The Ark represented God’s presence and David wanted to establish a permanent home for the Ark in Jerusalem.

So they had to get the Ark to Jerusalem. So they put it on a cart to haul it to Jerusalem. That is the major problem. You see according to Exodus 25 and 37 God gave the children of Israel very specific instructions on how the Ark was to be transported. It was to be covered so no one could see it and carried by priests using the two poles on each of its side.  This was to show that the ark was not just apiece of religious furniture, it was where the children of Israel were to meet God. God dwelt between the cherubim. It was a Holy object.

But David had the Ark transported on a cart. Now 20 years earlier the ark was given back to Israel after the Philistines took it. It was left in a field on a cart. The Ark was then placed in house owned by a man named Abinadab, who was Uzzah’s father and it stayed there for 20 years. Probably on the same cart that the Philistines had used. So they were used to having the Ark on a cart.

Problem is Abinadab and Uzzah were from the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi was priestly tribe. Abinidab and Uzzah were basically priests. These were the people who were trained in God’s law from youth. And they had to have known how they were supposed to transport the ark. In fact they were the ones who were supposed to carry it! We do not know why they chose to ignore God’s word. Perhaps they didn’t think it was all that important, after all the Philistines got away with it. Or perhaps they did not want to carry the Ark all those miles to Jerusalem. We do not know. But they ignored God’s commands and used a cart. Even the Nazis in Indiana Jones knew that they should use the poles. Next time you watch the movie, you can see the Nazis are using the poles to take the ark to the ceremony at the end of the movie.

But they hauled the ark on the cart. Over bump roads toward Jerusalem. And only when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor did the cart tip and Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark.

Now the funny thing is threshing floors, are purposefully made very level and flat. It was hard solid flat ground, like a cement floor. And the cart never tipped on the bumpy roads, it tipped on the flattest and smoothest piece of land it had crossed. And as the cart tipped, Uzzah who was trained since childhood about the holiness of the ark and had it in his home for over 20 years, so he knew better…reached out to steady the Ark. And he died.

Notice, we are not told how he died. A lot of us think BAM God just killed him dead, or as some people claim he was zapped by the power of the ark. But it could be that it just fell on him and crushed him. Scripture doesn’t say. So it didn’t have to be dramatic. It just happened.

David and the men of Israel ignored god’s law and Uzzah paid for it with his life. David and the people knew what God had commanded, but they ignored it.  Their intentions were good. David wanted to bring the symbol of God’s presence into his city. The people came out in mass to honor God. Uzzah just wanted to keep the Ark from falling.

So what does this all mean for us today?

A good samaritan was walking home late one night when he came upon a drunk on the sidewalk. Wanting to help, he asked the drunk, "Do you live here?" "Yep." "Would you like me to help you upstairs?" "Yep." When they got up on the second floor, the good person asked "Is this your floor?" "Yep."

Then the good samaritan got to thinking that maybe he didn't want to face the man's irate wife because she may think he was the one who got the man drunk. So, he opened the first door he came to and shoved him through it then went back downstairs. However, when he went back outside, there was another drunk. So he asked that drunk "Do you live here?" "Yep." "Would you like me to help you upstairs?" "Yep." So he did and put him in the same door with the first drunk.

Then he went back downstairs where, to his surprise, there was another drunk. So he started over to him. But before he got to him, the drunk called out to a nearby policeman and said, "Please officer, protect me from this man. He's been doing nothing all night long but taking me upstairs and throwing me down the elevator shaft!"

There are many people who feel that the intentions of their hearts will justify them before God.  It doesn’t matter what you do so long as you have good intentions in your heart. Right?

We often hear the old saying, “the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions” 

Writer Aldous Huxley once said, “Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions; it's walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too.”

How about you today? 

Is there something that you are involved in that you know is wrong, but you have rationalized that it is ok because you have god intentions? 

Don’t be an Uzzah. 

Because some day the cart may tip and you might end up on the wrong end of a fall.

In the Eyes of the Lord

Four men are in the hospital waiting room because their wives are having babies. A nurse goes up to the first guy and says, “Congratulations! You’re the father of twins.”

“That’s odd,” answers the man. “I work for the Minnesota Twins!”

A nurse says to the second guy, “Congratulations! You’re the father of triplets!”

“That’s weird,” answers the second man. “I work for the 3M company!”

A nurse tells the third man, “Congratulations! You’re the father of quadruplets!”

“That’s strange,” he answers. “I work for the Four Seasons hotel!”

The last man is groaning and banging his head against the wall. “What’s wrong?” the others ask.

“I work for 7 Up!”

Happy Father’s Day! 


Most of the time it is such a joy as a father to welcome a new son or daughter into the world. It is a blessing and the beginning of a sacred responsibility, to nurture and to guide your young child through life to adulthood. To care for the child and to love unconditionally. No matter how smart or not so smart they are, no matter how handsome/beautiful or not,  you love and are proud of your child, and you will stand by them through thick or thin. Your son or daughter is YOUR special child and you look on him or her in a special way.

Today our Old Testament Scripture tells us of how God looks on us in a special way.  In chapter 15 of 1 Samuel, God had told King Saul specific instructions when it comes to battling the neighboring kingdom of the Amalekites. But Saul disobeyed God and so God rejected Saul as King and chose another.

God told the prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse and one of Jesse’s sons was to be anointed as the new King. Jesse brought before Samuel his children, and the first son came forward whose name was Elaib. According to some sources Eliab was a tall, handsome and strapping man who exuded confidence and manliness. And Eliab’s name means ‘God is Father” in Hebrew. Samuel when seeing him was confident that this young man was the one who God had chosen.  He was so excited that he even said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” But the scripture tells us God had a different idea. “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

God had chosen another, so Samuel went through all the sons of Jesse and the Lord did not tell him which one was the future king. So he asked Jesse if this was all of his sons. And Jesse said no, his youngest son David was out in the field tending his sheep. So Jesse called David to come before Samuel and scripture tells us “And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”

God does not look on us as we look upon each other. Today we as a society have an infatuation with good looks and fame. All the girls want to look like new newest teen heartthrob and all the boys want to be like their tv or movie idols. And we may shake our heads at times to the lengths that some of them will go to to be like these larger than life figures, but it was the same when we were kids. Back in my day it was Farrah Fawcett or Tom Selleck.  And it has been the same from as far back in time that you can look. It is part of human nature. The handsomest, biggest and strongest men become the ones the women want and the men want to be. And the most beautiful, charming and alluring women are the ones that the men love and the women love to imitate.  The same was back in the time of the Old Testament.

When Samuel came to Jesse’s farm knowing that god led him there to anoint the future king, when he saw Eliab a muscular and handsome man who stood out from among his other brothers it was almost a no brainer. But God did not choose this handsome Hercules; he had chosen the humble Shepard boy. 

Because, while we look at the outside of people, God looks at the heart.

How does God choose His servants? He chooses by looking at the heart.

God does not care what you look like on the outside, He looks at what really matters, what kind of person you are.

When I went to College, it was a Christian College. I met a guy who everybody called Papa Smurf. He was about 4 foot 1 with his shoes on, and sometimes acted like a sad sack. Everything that could go wrong for him did. When we went out to Brooklyn for our weekly Evangelism he was mugged. He was mugged in downtown New York coming back to college  and he was even mugged just outside our small college community. He desperately wanted a girl and would fall in love with a girl and ask her to marry him after just one date. He had a horrible time. But when papa Smurf got behind a pulpit this little guy suddenly had a power and presence like nobody else in his class. And when he was out on the streets of New York he fearlessly ministered to the gang members and homeless, bringing many souls to Christ.

When God looked at Papa Smurf, he didn’t see a little man. He saw a man who loved god and loved his fellow man. He saw someone who wanted to help. He saw a man after God’s own heart.

Just like God saw past all the imposing son’s of Jesse and instead chose the boy who quietly watched over his father’s sheep.

The same goes for us today. God doesn’t see our physical imperfections. He doesn’t see our weaknesses be they social, physical or emotional. He looks into our heart and sees us for who we really are. And He loves us, He has chosen US to be His servants. With all of our imperfections.

The Apostle Paul tells us as much in his first epistle to the Corinthians, at the end of the first chapter: 

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;  and the humble things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,  that no flesh should glory in His presence.  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—  that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

God has seen us through the eyes of a father. And He has chosen us, no matter how weak we are, no matter how foolish we are and nor matter how physically or socially unimpressive we are. God has chosen you to be His child.

So on this father’s day, let us thank God for His fatherly love. He loves us for who we are, not what we are or what we do. 

God loves with unconditional fatherly love. 

Pentecost Sunday: Joint Heirs with Jesus Christ

A woman had just returned to her home from an evening worship service and was startled to find an intruder in her house.

Catching the man in the act of burglarizing her home, she decided to rely on Scripture for her defense and get the fear of God in the young burglar so she yelled, "STOP! Acts 2:38! Acts 2:38" ("Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.")

As the burglar stopped dead in his tracks, the woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. Shortly, several officers arrived and took the man into custody.

As he was placing the handcuffs on the burglar, one of the officers asked, "Why did you just stand there? All the lady did was mention a scripture verse."

"Scripture?" replied the burglar.

"I though she said she had an axe and two 38's!"

You know a lot of people have a misunderstanding as how the Bible uses the phrase “fear of God”. Does God want us to fear Him? Are we to be afraid of God? Some Christians actually believe that. They have a fear that God is looking over them with a baseball bat ready to hit them if they ever do anything wrong. I have a friend who grew up believing this and to this day she has problems praying. Every time she goes before the throne of grace she feels condemned, bad and filled with self loathing. It is so bad, she can’t seem to pray most of the time, she is in bondage..trapped by the fear of God.  While as Christians we are to have a healthy respect for God, of course, but to many fear means punishment and condemnation.

Today’s scripture talks about the fear of God. Romans 8:14-17 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together”

Today as we celebrate Pentecost, the day we commemorate the pouring out of God’s Spirit to empower the church, our scripture tells us of one of the chief ministries of the Holy Spirit to the church. The Holy Spirit lets us know that we are children of God. We did not receive a spirit of fear to be enslaved. We have received the Holy Spirit. We have received grace bought by the very blood of Jesus Christ himself. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We have been forgiven and we have been adopted into the family of God. So can praise and thank God, He has forgiven us and showered His grace and love upon us. What else can we feel but thanks! Thank you father! Abba Father!

Thank you so much!

We are the adopted Children of God. The heirs of God and join heirs with Jesus Christ. It is interesting,  in the original greek the word in verses 15 and 23 for  “of adoption” or “adoption to sonship” in some versions is huiothesias. This is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture. The heir has all the rights and legal standing as a naturally born son. It is legal, it is binding. We are fully adopted into God’s family, no matter what we have done or who we are. The struggles we might have or the personality we have. We are adopted.

I am a big comic book fan. When I was a kid, I had boxes and boxes of comic books. I collected Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and the Avengers. So with all these superhero movies coming out lately, I am in my heyday.  Brinton and I saw the Avengers when it came out and we loved it. It was dramatic, action packed and funny, a great movie. Now the villain of the movie is Loki the Norse god of mischief, in the movie the Norse gods are just aliens and Loki is the hero Thor’s adopted half brother. Well Loki is a bad guy, he kills innocent people and wants to destroy the earth. In one scene in the movie Thor and the other super heroes are gathered around a table discussing how they are going to stop Loki, and some of them talk about killing Loki, which makes Thor upset. Thor says very forcefully, “But we cannot do that he is my brother” And throughout the whole movie no matter how bad it gets, Thor still has hope for his brother.

It’s the same for us. We are God’s adopted children, legal fully binding. No matter what happens with us, no matter how far a child of God falls God still has hope. God believes in His children and loves His children no matter what.

I remember sitting through a sermon in a very legalistic church and the pastor was speaking on Romans 8:35-39 which tells us that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, Paul says in verses 38-39. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” and the preacher said, “You see there is one thing that Paul left out, what can really separate us from the love of God. That is sin. Sin separates you from the love of God”

Now I have real problems with that. Paul tells us nothing will separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Sin might separate us from fellowship with God because we have guilt, but that does not stop God from loving us. If you have a child who does something bad, even something horrible , you don’t stop loving that child. You might grieve or not understand. But stop loving? That would be a cold and inhuman family indeed. A parent always hopes and loves deep down inside.

Today as we celebrate Pentecost, let’s thank God for our adoption into the kingdom and family of God. Let us thank God for the Holy Spirit who dwells in our heart. And let us thank god for His steadfast and undying love.

Memories of Mother

Today’s scripture from Ephesians tells us how to serve one another. It all starts in Ephesians 5:21, Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Some translations say submit, the root meaning is to put others above yourself. Thinking of others before yourself. Wives, to the husbands, and husbands, submit by loving your wives. As Christ loved the church, by offering himself. Notice, there is just a single line for the wives, but Paul writes almost a whole paragraph for the husbands.

Let’s face it, it’s because men and women are different. Most of the time women are pretty in touch with their emotional side, and men are often clueless. Sometimes its hard to share.

Usually a man comes home from his job and tells his wife he had a frustrating day at work.
His wife often will say something like, "Ahhhhh, tell me all about your day honey,".
The husband looks at her and says, "Well.. I just did."

Sometimes men are a little thick, so Paul tells husbands here in an intimate way how to a husband is to love his wife. Look at Ephesians 5:29. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church. How are husbands to show their love to their wives? By nourishing and cherishing them.  Now the original Greek words here are really interesting. Nourishing comes from the Greek word Ektrepho, which means to nurture, to bring up with loving care to maturity. It doesn’t mean to nourish in a physical sense with food or drink, it means to do those things which helps your partner to grow and be well in their inner life. Their emotional life, their spiritual life. It means to be their emotional and spiritual partner in the struggles and joys of life. To take care of them, to nurture. It means not to tear them down emotionally when they make a mistake. Or point out their flaws on a continual basis. No, just the opposite. It’s telling them how beautiful they are, even when they did not have time to put on their make up. It’s letting them know how amazing they are as a loving mother to their children.

Next is the word cherish, which is translated from the Greek word Thalpo. Thalpo means literally to warm up, to keep warm. Here it means to cherish with tender love, to foster tender loving care.  Paul is saying, keep the love in your relationship. Warm it up, keep it warm. Often times in the day to day work and problems of life we tend to become complacent. We often take for granted those who mean the most to us. Love can often grow cold. Many times, if you ask someone going through a divorce the thing that started it is, they just were not in love anymore. They grew apart. But real love, lasting love is a verb. True lasting love is not just a feeling; it’s an act of the will.  In a long lasting relationship, you can’t just expect the oozy feelings to be there without some work. So Paul tells us men, Warm it up! Keep it warm. Foster tender loving care. Tell her that you love her. Be romantic. Hug. Cuddle. Do the things that foster the feelings. Show your appreciation and love by action, and you’ll once again be feeling the attraction. Unresolved and hidden resentment destroy your connection and chilling a relationship only lead to isolation and loneliness.

Barbara Walters, did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands.

She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. From Ms.Walters' vantage point, despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to walk even further back behind their husbands, and are happy to maintain the old custom.

Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, 'Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?'
The woman looked Miss Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation said, 'Land Mines.'

Husbands, love your wife with the verb, love. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church.

Paul also talks to children, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.". How do you honor your father and mother? Obedience?  Because having a rebellious child, breaks the heart of a mother. I was a rebellious youth. One of the worst memories I ever had was telling my mother I had got in trouble with the law when I was a teenager. To see her face, just drop in sadness. It’s that way with all mothers, they want the best for their children. And when they rebel, even if its not that serious, It brings them so much sorrow. Sorrow of concern, out of love.

Lastly there is another way to honor our mother. By honoring their memory.

Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia  started Mother's Day celebration On May 12, 1907, two years after her mother's death, Anna held a memorial to her mother and thereafter embarked upon a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday. She succeeded in making this nationally recognized in 1914. But it is little known that Anna Jarvis also filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop the over- commercialization of Mother's Day. She and her sister Ellsinore spent their family inheritance campaigning against what the holiday had become. She lost her fight. Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done.

Today, let’s not forget our mother’s who have gone as well. Take time to reflect.

 You know my mom used to make this horrid soup, that I hated as a child. Salmon soup. It was a chowder, really made of salmon and milk or cream. Boy I hated it. I used to sit there and just stare at the little pieces of salmon with the skin still on it bobbing in the bowl. Mom died in the 80s of cancer. And after all these years, boy what I would give, just to have one more bowl of her salmon soup.

Today is a day to celebrate and to honor our mothers. And a day to make love a verb. Let’s Pray.

Holy Humor Sunday

It seems that there was a little old church out in the countryside: painted white and with a high steeple. One Sunday, the pastor noticed that his church needed painting. He checked out the Sunday ads and found a paint sale. The next day, he went into town and bought a gallon of white paint. He went back out to the church and began the job. He got done with the first side. It was looking great. But he noticed he had already used a half gallon. He didn't want to run back in town and being the creative person that he was, he found a gallon of thinner in the shed out back, and began to thin his paint. It worked out great. He finished the remaining three sides with that last half gallon of paint. That night, it rained: it rained hard. The next morning when he stepped outside of the parsonage to admire his work, he saw that the first side was looking great, but that the paint on the other three sides had washed away. The pastor looked up in sky in anguish
 and cried out, "What shall I do?" A voice came back from the heavens saying, "Repaint, and thin no more!"

A goofy, and silly joke. But, in telling it, and perhaps enjoying it on some level we actually are participating in an old and often forgotten church tradition.

It began hundreds of years ago. A monk, whose name has been lost in history, was pondering the meaning of the events of holy week, with its solemn observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the astonishing, earth-shaking events of Easter. "What a surprise ending," he thought. Then suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, he had a new insight. His hearty laugh startled his fellow monks, breaking the silence of their contemplation.


"Don't you see," he cried, "It was a joke! A great joke! The best joke in all history! On Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, the devil thought he had won. But God had the last laugh on Easter when he raised Jesus from the dead."


The monks called it "the Easter laugh." The idea spread rapidly, and the day after Easter became known as a "Day of Joy and Laughter" in Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant countries. In homes and churches, it became common to celebrate God's great joke on the devil with joke-telling sessions. It became the custom even in monasteries. Especially in monasteries.


Recently, the Fellowship of Merry Christians, the publishers of "The Joyful Newsletter," began to urge churches and prayer groups to revive this very old custom and hold Easter Monday parties or to have Holy Humor Sundays the week following Easter.

So Happy Holy Humor Sunday! It’s appropriate, what a joyful time, to celebrate the joy of the resurrection! And you know, the resurrection is not just an Easter event. Jesus abided on Earth in his resurrection form for 40 days until His ascension into heaven. For 40 days Jesus walked and taught his disciples in a supernatural physical resurrected body.

I don’t know if you saw it or not, but during Holy Week and Easter, the History channel ran a new two hour show called, “Jesus, the lost 40 days”, usually I watch these shows with a real critical eye, because there are so many weird and bizarre theories being thrown about or scholars who rely upon old heretical writings from ancient history to disprove the Bible. But this show was a joy to watch. It delved into the resurrection and Jesus 40 days on earth in his resurrected body with inspiration, faith and reverence. If it is on again, I admonish you to watch it. One of the primary scriptures they explored in the special was our New Testament reading from today, the Road to Emmaus. In fact we have a beautiful picture that portrays this scripture right around the corner when you exit the sanctuary across from the sacristy. These two disciples were very sad. They had heard the testimony of the women who had the vision that Christ was raised from the dead, they heard from Peter and how he found the linens lying in the tomb. But they just couldn’t believe it. They doubted. They were depressed. But along comes a stranger to guide them through the scriptures on how it was prophecied that Christ would be the suffering servant who takes away the sin of the world. From Moses through the prophets. And their hearts burned at his words. As the resurrected Christ walked them through the scriptures, Christ opened up their minds and their hearts to understand and believe the impossible. Jesus truly was alive. Risen from the dead! They should be joyful. Rejoice! As we should do today. Rejoice, Jesus is alive, in a physical human body. Sitting at the right hand of God to intercede for us, to forgive us our sins as we confess them and to heal our wounded spirits and broken hearts. Rejoice! Be glad. God sent His only son for us! For you.

 And today’s scripture says, Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

Today as we break bread together, may our eyes be opened, and may we know Him in a new and intimate way. May the spirit of joy in the resurrection lift us up and give us hope. It will not vanish. Jesus is risen and ascended, he is in heaven in bodily form, still bearing the marks on his hand, his feet, his side. He sits on God’s right hand, the hand of authority to bring you close to God. Today as we commune with God at His table, remember His sacrifice and rejoice in His resurrection.

Fighting the Enemy 1 Peter 5:6-11

St. Peter and Satan were having an argument one day about baseball. Satan proposed a game to be played on neutral grounds between a select team from the heavenly host and his own hand-picked boys. "Very well," said the gatekeeper of Heaven.
"But you realize, I hope, that we've got all the good players and
the best coaches." "I know, and that's all right," Satan answered
unperturbed. "We've got all the umpires."

An online Harris poll was conducted between November 2^nd and 11^th of 2009 on the subject of beliefs. 2,303 American adults were surveyed in the poll and it was found out that:  82% of American adults believe in God, 75% believe in heaven, 73% believe that Jesus is God or the Son of God, 70% believe in the resurrection of Jesus, 61% believe there is a hell and 60% believe there is a devil.

The Bible talks about the devil as a real being. But a lot of people have some real misconceptions about who or what the devil really is. Hollywood has really shaped our understanding of Satan. They make him all powerful, a rival to God who is everywhere. Our New Testament reading today from 1 Peter 5 tells us about the devil in verse 8, “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour.” 
That sounds very menacing. Peter tells us that he is like a roaring lion. Now, say you are out in the woods on a hike and you hear a loud roar of a lion nearby, what would you feel?

 You would be afraid right? 

That’s one of the devil’s biggest weapons, fear. Fear of the future, fear of uncertainty. Fear that you are worthless or unimportant. Fear that you are unloved…by others or even God. Fear that God doesn’t even exist. Fear gives rise to doubt, and doubt eats away at our faith. Elsewhere in the bible the devil is called our enemy, the deceiver of the brethren, the father of lies. The devil’s chief job is to make us lose faith. To lose hope. He wants us to believe his lies and not the truth.  Now what’s the truth? Peter tells us before and after verse 8 in the rest of the passage we read today. In verses 6 and 7 it reads:

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” 

Whenever we have difficulties, whenever we go through the trials of life doubt and anxiety can eat us alive. Sometimes we may feel all alone, helpless. Peter tells us, 1: humble yourself, know that you have limits-sometimes you do not have all the answers. 2: give all your worries, stress and problems to the Lord. Because God does care. God loves you. He will work it out, but first he wants you to let go. Let go of the stress and anxiety, and talk to Him about your concerns.

Stress kills.

   In 2003 Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio State University took blood samples of people who were under constant stress and those who did not have overbearing stress factors in their life. What she found was the blood of those under stress contained a high amount of the chemical Interleukin-6 or IL-6. Previous studies have associated IL-6 with several diseases, including heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, type-2 diabetes and certain cancers. Stress kills. When we are overcome by stress we need to humble ourselves by letting go and casting our cares into the master’s hands.  The devil is prowling, roaring like a lion causing us to worry to doubt.

But Peter tells us in verses 9-11,

“Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

Whenever doubts, or fears assail you, resist them. Whenever stresses abound, resist it. Take comfort, it is not just you, but everyone goes through the same types of problems as you do one time or another.

I have a nephew who has had a tough time of it over the last few years. He’s holding down two jobs and trying to finish his college education after re-examining what he wanted to do with his life. But no matter how hard he tries, he always seems to have one financial problem after another. Finally he asked his mother, is there a family curse or something? Because just as he gets ahead of the game, bam! Something happens to bring him once again to the brink of poverty.

But there is no curse, everyone at some point in their lives goes through a financial hardship, and boy it is hard to recover sometimes. Especially in our situation today with the financial collapse and the great recession killing jobs. But he is not alone. We are not alone. The same suffering that we stress over is universal. It is being human. And it will not last forever. In due time, in God’s time, everything will be resolved. And through this time of suffering, God is strengthening us, by teaching us how to surrender to His will, to lean on Him for guidance and serenity, and one day we can also help others, to the glory of God.

Recently, I myself have gone through a great time of struggle. After my hospitalization in December and January I found out my employer had hired someone else for my job even while I was in the hospital bed. My savings were becoming depleted and I felt helpless, in limbo. Other issues pressed on me also, along with coping with the change in my health. I prayed and prayed and it seemed like nothing was happening. But I realized that I was really under spiritual attack. The lions roar was overwhelming the still small voice of God. And just that realization, gave me a new perspective and let me claim the victory that Christ had for me. And within one week I came across three other people who were struggling as I was. They were from all walks of life, a college professor, a housewife and social worker. I was able to share scripture and prayers with them and let them know that they were not alone. And just last week my work called me back to work full time. A little bit of suffering, and afterward by surrendering and giving over my anxieties to the Lord, he comforted me, established me, and strengthened me. And then He was able to use me.

What about you today? Is the roaring of the prowling lion drowning out that still small voice of God? You’re not alone. Cast all your cares upon God, he cares for you, he does. And He wants to strengthen, establish and strengthen you as you endure the storms of life. And in the end, you will be blessed. You will have a deep peace and assurance that the hand of God is upon you. 

The devil may roar, but we have the victory in Christ our Lord. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.