SAINT Bartholomew Anglican Parish

This follows up on the readings of the past few days. What do we want out of life, what do we want when we die? If all we want is pleasure and we don't care how we get it, then we will be judged accordingly on the last day. When we live our lives in accordance with the Gospel, we are doing the will of the Father and will be rewarded with eternal life, earned for us by Jesus. There was a story written by Oscar Wilde in the 1800's called The Picture of Dorian Gray. This novel was about an innocent man who was very beautiful. His friend painted a picture of him. He was introduced to a man who set about corrupting him and little by little his life was one of self-indulgence and pleasure. He took great pleasure in looking at the picture and admiring himself. As time went on, and Dorian's behavior worsened, the picture changed, showing the effects of his cruelty and disregard of others. At the end of the novel, he looks at the picture and is horrified by what he sees. He decides to destroy the picture so that others won't be able to see it. However, when he tries to destroy it, a loud crash summons the maid who sees the picture as it originally was, and the body of Dorian bearing the scars of his lifetime of sin. We may or may not see the effects of our behaviour on our faces, but God sees who we are, and how we have lived. It's our choice: do we live by the flesh or do we live by the Spirit?

Ah, freedom! Everyone wants to be free! The question is: freedom to do what? For youth, it can be freedom from the rules of their parents, or being able to earn money, or being able to drink legally. We all have different ideas of what freedom is, but many people think of freedom as not being under anyone's control, or freedom from the law. Well, Paul is telling the Galatians that freedom from the "Law" is not being able to do whatever you want, but the ability to choose love. The Christian is free from adherence to the Law of Moses because the command to love one another as stated in Leviticus and followed by Jesus command which we talked about the other day, sums up all the commandments. If we love, we don't lie, don't steal or kill or do any of the other things that we know in our hearts are wrong. Paul is also warning the Galatians not to attack one another. There were disputes among the new Christians as to who was right when those who were Jewish convers wanted more of an adherence to Jewish laws than the Gentile Christians were doing, even though the apostles had agreed that they were not obligated to do so. This is still good advice for us today. Christianity is weakened when Christians fight over who is right. There's a story of 4 blind men encountering an elephant for the first time. One man is touching the leg and claims that an elephant is like a big rough log. Another at the tail says no, that it is thin and bushy and moves around a lot. The third at the trunk disagrees with both and says an elephant is like a long hose. The fourth is touching the tusks and claims that they are all wrong, and an elephant is hard like stone. All four are right and all four are wrong. The truth is only found by listening to them all and putting them together. May we always be open to God's truth or Christians may very well consume one another.

There are times in everyone's life when we feel alone. Teenagers often feel alone thinking that their parents don't understand them, they don't fit in with the popular crowd in school, or they're not sure they even like themselves. The elderly can feel alone when they have lost many of their friends; they may have lost a spouse or a child. They may have had to sell their home or had to move into a nursing home far from family. Young mothers can feel alone, unsure of their ability to cope with a newborn and without the stimulation of adult conversation. When all the children have left a home, the parents often feel alone, wondering who they are now that their parenting days are over. Retirees often have a sense of loss of their identity. When a tragedy strikes, we can even feel abandoned by God. Jesus is speaking to the apostles in this passage knowing that they will abandon him and scatter in fear, leaving him alone. However, he is also telling them that he is not alone; the Father is with him and will not abandon him. Even when he quotes Psalm 22 while he hangs on the cross, he is stating his firm belief that he is not alone, his Father who has been with him all along, is with him even then. It is the same with us. No matter what is going on in our lives, God is with us, a loving Father who will never leave us alone. I have always liked the verse in Isaiah 49 that lets us know that "Though a mother may forget her child I will not abandon you." If we are feeling alone, turn to the Lord. Close your eyes, sit in a favorite chair, picture the Father's presence beside you and breathe in his love.

In these last few hours before Jesus is handed over to the soldiers, he is still trying to prepare his apostles for what is coming. His death will be a shock to them even though he told them it was going to happen. Death is always a shock to those left behind, even if the person has been sick for a long time. Sometimes it is even harder if the person has been ill because they rally and we come to expect that they will continue to rally until they don't. Sudden death brings its own form of shock, it brings disbelief. The apostles believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and can't comprehend his warnings. They just confuse them. They saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead just a few days ago, but they still have questions. Jesus tries to give them hope. He tells them that their sorrow will turn to joy, that they will see him again. He had asked Martha if she believed in the resurrection of the dead when he met her at Lazarus' tomb. She said that she did believe. We, too, say that we believe when we accept that Jesus is our Saviour. Although our weeping will last more than the three days that Jesus was in the tomb before his resurrection, we can have hope and we can rejoice after the death of a loved one because we believe that we will meet again in heaven. The apostles will weep, and those who had him killed will rejoice. However, it will only be a few days before the tables will turn and the apostles will rejoice because Jesus lives, and the Jewish leaders will be even angrier than before. Now they will be afraid for their own safety if this new "Way" takes root because the Romans will not be pleased. We have an advantage over the apostles because we know the end of the story and, in the words of a hymn, we have "blessed assurance."

Jesus ascends into the heavens leaving the apostles gazing up at the sky. I wonder what they thought when the two men in white told that he will return one day in the same way they saw him go. The apostles thought that he would return soon. They would never have expected that we would be sitting here over two thousand years later still waiting for him to come back. It is for this reason that it took so long for anyone to realize that they had better record his words and his actions while those who knew him were still alive. It has made so much difference in the world. Without their foresight, we might never have known about Jesus and the gift of salvation that he earned for us. The apostles didn't know it at the time, but this would be so important an event, that the world would one day count time from the birth of Jesus. They may have been a few years off, but time would no longer be dated from significant dates in a culture, such as the Romans who dated time from the birth of Romulus and Remus. We are fortunate also, that they circulated the letters of Paul, Peter, John, James and others so that we would know about the beginnings of Christianity and how it would spread in the known world. Can you imagine being there on that day, not knowing, not understanding? Would you or I have continued to believe? Would we have stayed in Jerusalem waiting for the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised? Would we have understood what he meant when he promised to send an "Advocate" to help them understand all that Jesus had taught them? I would like to think that I would have had that kind of faith, but I am grateful for all those who came before, so that my faith could rest on theirs.

Paul is about to set sail for Jerusalem and has a message for the people he is leaving behind. He reminds them of the Good News he has brought to them and prays for them, entrusting them to the grace of God. He encourages them to work at building up the community and to continue to help those who are in need. He reminds them of the example he gave in working to support himself and his companions, instead of depending on the people to take care of them. Just as Jesus gave us an example of how to live, Paul gives us an example of how to be a disciple. We need to bear witness to the Gospel in words and in example. It is not enough to tell people about Jesus and his promises, we need to be living examples of his word. We should show in our lives the joy that comes from our faith in Jesus' victory over death. We need to take care of the poor and the vulnerable as Jesus wants us to do. Although Paul says he is quoting Jesus, there is no record in other writings that Jesus said these words, but they may be part of an oral tradition that is not contained in them. Throughout the Old Testament and in the Gospels, we are being told to take care of the poor, to treat them fairly, and to give generously. What is the legacy we hope to leave behind, whether it is with family, friends, co-workers, or those we just meet along the way? Hopefully, we will be like Paul, letting them know we will be praying for them, reminding them that strength comes from being surrounded by a loving community, and knowing that we have given good example.