A Word in Time

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These and everything like them – notice the throwaway remark in verse 9, ‘and any other commandment’ (about personal relationships) – must be adhered to in every relationship. (For a similar list, see yesterday’s reading, Romans 12:9-16). Do you agree that this story is written from someone who looked at the world many years on and sought to find the beginnings of the darker place which that world has become? At the beginning of another uncertain, anxious year, it would be easy to succumb to the numbness and hopelessness of a cycle of life that leads from creation to destruction, from birth to death. What is the point of coming into being – what is it all for? John’s answer to that is simple: the point of it all is to come into a relationship with the Word, who was, and is, and is to come. He speaks of the ‘witness’, the man sent from God whose name was John, and invites us to accept his testimony and invitation to believe in the eternal Word, eternal Light, so that our transitory being is caught up in his eternity and we become children of God. The letter is written as from a dying man ( 1:14) who is concerned that the followers of Jesus Christ should remain committed to the true faith once he is gone. One of his persuasive tools is to compare the ‘cleverly devised myths’ of the false teachers with the power and credibility of his own eyewitness testimony. This includes referring to the baptism of Jesus ( Matthew 3:17) and the Transfiguration ( Luke 9:35) when he says he heard the voice of God saying "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." ( v. 17) If we have the eyes to see, and if we recognise the 'signs of the kingdom' all around us, we also can be part of the ongoing narrative of God’s people. So let’s stay on the right wavelength!

What God is doing in our lives and in the world may seem, to all appearances such a small thing: we read of a baby in a stable, an itinerant lone teacher on a hill, 11 ill-equipped disciples, an anonymous cross. And yet today: orphanages, schools, hospitals, homes for the elderly, hospices for the dying, shelters for the homeless, community projects and places of worship are all scattered across the world in the name of the baby born in a stable who died on the Cross. What can we learn about the Lord’s purpose for the world from reading about the relationship between the brothers? How might it speak to us today? The Lord’s response to the offerings clearly raises a sense of injustice in Cain who feels he has been badly treated. In a rather over the top response Cain kills his brother, and the idyll would seem to be over. Cain is challenged by the Lord to explain what has happened and he has no real answer, and finds himself alienated from all that he has known, as a child in that beautiful garden of Eden, and as a first-born son of his loving, proud parents. He also finds himself marked and sent out to wander in the wider world. The land he had so proudly tilled is now barren, and he feels separated not only from the Lord, but from all that he has known. The darkness which is to become familiar in the years and ages to come, has begun. We all need to be cared for and looked after and part of that is being encouraged. The writer to the Hebrews knew this and emphasises God’s care and calls on readers to encourage one another daily to keep the faith. The book of Hebrews is believed to have been written prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, so this is one of the later books of the New Testament writings and its focus is upon an ageing Church that was beginning to lose its enthusiasm for what was still a fledgling Christian movement.Who has been a "witness to testify to 'the light" ( v. 7) for you in your Christian experience? Who is there for whom you might be a witness, testifying to the light for them? Three measures of flour are about 16 five-pound (2.2kg) bags. The woman in her kitchen mixes the flour with water in a tub, adds just a little bit of yeast, she kneads it, and she sets it aside and this little bit of yeast will transform the flour into enough dough to bake enough bread to feed 100 people.

However this is where the problems begin, for it seems that whereas the offering of a lamb was well received, God was less pleased with the crops of the ground, causing Cain to feel resentful towards his brother. It would seem that while the lamb had been the best of those available, although it's not spelled out, Cain's offerings had perhaps not been the best of the crop available, hence the response he received from God for his gift. The same seems to be true of today’s story. The palm branches waved by the crowd are associated with the nationalism of an earlier era of Israel’s history, and an armed Jewish revolt against an occupying power by the Maccabean dynasty: in 141 BC, palm branches were carried in a procession into Jerusalem for Simon Maccabee, who was briefly triumphant against the occupiers. When God speaks to us he may ask for a sacrifice. Have you ever found God asking more of you than you feel able to offer?Today's reading offers many ways of thinking about the kingdom of heaven. Let me suggest that one is to think of God in a kitchen, baking bread. (v. 33) The woman in the story takes a small bit of yeast and mixes it with three measures of flour. That's Jesus' simple illustration: God is mixing yeast into the dough of our lives until the whole world has risen. Luke’s Gospel emphasises that Jesus was a person of prayer, and this passage begins with Jesus at prayer with his disciples nearby ( v. 18). Jesus then turns to his disciples and asks them who the crowds think he is. In response, the disciples suggest the alternatives that Herod had earlier considered ( 9:7-8); John the Baptist, Elijah, or an ancient prophet ( v. 19). Such responses highlight that many Jews were expectant that God would send a deliverer in tune with his ancient promises (such as in Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Jesus then turns to a much more negative narrative in which he reverses the situation from one of love to hate. Earlier and subsequent interactions between Jesus and the religious authorities, including the Pharisees and Herodians, provide examples of people trying to work against Jesus to seek his arrest and downfall. These may be some of those who Jesus refers to as hating him and his followers. However, by the time John’s Gospel was written, it would be increasingly common for the new Christian communities to attract abuse and hatred as the persecution of those holding and expounding this new faith had started. Those listening to these words would have been all too aware that there was a growing divide between those who loved them and those who hated them and were a threat. When Jesus refers to the 'yeast' of the Pharisees and Herod in verse 15, this is because in many places in the Old Testament yeast was used as a symbol of influence, often negatively. (Interestingly, Jesus unusually uses yeast in a positive way, as a sign of the kingdom, in Luke 13:21 – the difficulty of metaphor!). Jesus is warning his disciples that they are in danger of seeing the world through corrupted eyes, even while in the company of himself. There may be another of Jesus’ sighs of exasperation that they are concerned about having enough to eat, when he is with them and is the ‘bread of life'. Besides, haven’t they seen him produce a miraculous bounty of food for thousands of people? One can almost hear Jesus’ thoughts about what more is needed to convince people that he is the Messiah.