“And Jesus Wept”

John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45


So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

He was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

 

Good Morning Gentle Readers

First I hope and pray that all of you are well and safe today, and yes you are in my prayers.

My refection for today comes from a place that I try to go to, sometimes I make it there, sometimes not so much. But it is my belief that it is so important to keep this on our minds and in our hearts, to keep on trying, that I will write about it today.

So Jesus is doing his ministry, again away from friends and family. Well away from the safe and secure of home and word reaches him that his friend Lazarus is sick. Now keep in mind back then, sick was a very serious thing. Even the common things that we go through today could kill, an example, a few weeks ago I had pneumonia, so a trip to the doctor, some antibiotics, and three days off and I am back to work, no big deal, but in the time of Jesus well it might not have worked out that way. So Jesus waits, some of the text says two days, before heading off to see what was going on, which he already knew. When he gets there its too late Lazarus is gone. We then have Martha running out too see him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” I love this woman’s faith, and like me she is trying to convince Jesus that its time for a miracle.

At this point Jesus does not ask “How did he die”, which I think I would have asked, no Jesus just tells her what is really going on, what he is doing. Then its Jesus’s turn to ask a question, and this is a big question that we need to ask ourselves from time to time when we are plagued by doubts and fears. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” This is a hard question for someone mourning the loss of there brother, but Martha answers with a faith filled yes, and that is the important thing. How we answer is just as important by the way, and it can be hard to have that faith filled yes when times are bleak and overwhelming.

Now I will come back to this because for me I think this is the point

“ And Jesus wept”

Why? He knew what was going to happen, why weep?

He goes to where Lazarus is buried and thanks The Father for listening “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus is telling us God always listens, even when we don’t see what he is doing, he is listening, he is answering, he is working in our lives, sometimes not giving us what we want, but always giving us what we need.

Now the next part of this Gospel is about Jesus identifying himself to us and to the people around him.

Jesus does not ask, he commands.

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Yep, this is Jesus, the saviour, the win over death itself, and he has just explained this in no uncertain terms. I can’t say that if I saw this I could ever have even the slightest doubt, how could you? I have been blessed to say that my eyes have seen the impossible, I have seen death turned to life. I have seen and I believe, and if you keep your eyes open, and look for the hand of God, my dear gentle reader, even now you will see and trust me, you will believe.

As we go on in our journey, even now with all that is going on around us, keep your eyes open because out of the darkness comes the brightest of light.

Have faith like Martha….

Jesus is here….

Take Care and God Bless

You are in my prayers

Good Enough

PS….

I will get to “And Jesus wept” its important, but I have been to wordy today

What Do You See

John 9:1,6-9, 1-17, 34-38

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.

He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”

Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.

What Do You See

In a world that is filled with images, live streams, and every thing that the eye can behold, what do you see. Jesus comes along and heals a man blind from birth, this would be really something to see. He makes a bit of clay and puts it on the mans eyes and sends him to wash in a pool called sent. The man comes back and can see, but what does this end up with.

Well the folks can’t agree even though its obvious what has just gone on. So they take it to the important people to sort it all out, but that really is not the right answer. They can’t see what has just happened, they, or some of them just miss it completely.

Well the religious people there, well they get into an argument, and of course they sort of miss the miracle too. Jesus finds the man again, after the officials have tossed him out, he talks to the man again and the man’s questions go to the heart of the matter, “tell me so I can believe.” The answer of course is just as simple as the question.

As we go though our days, especially now with all that is going on lets try to see like the man, lets look to the heart of the matter and see what is there. God is in all things, so as we go along lets not be fearful, but lets look for our chance to be the people of God, let us show compassion, let us show God’s love, and let us see the miracles that are all around us.

Please pray for those who are sick

Please pray for those who are trying to help

Please pray for those who are afraid

And if you get a chance say one for each other, as we go through this trying time

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

Water From The Well

John 4:5-42 NIV

So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her,“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

 

Water from A Well

Good Morning Gentle Readers

This is a jam packed Gospel, there is so much going on and so much being said it is hard to reflect on all of it.

For me there are a few key points.

First of all there is Jesus breaking the rules. The Jew’s and the Samaritans did not interact, in fact they actively avoided each other having no contact at all, but not Jesus, he does not respond with the norm but goes beyond prejudice and calls the women into relationship with him and with the Father…. How often do we forget that this is the right thing to do.

“Everyone who drinks from this well will be thirsty again”

How much of our lives are about wants and needs. We want this and we want that looking to satisfy ourselves but how often do we look to the Lord to not only give us what we need but what will really satisfy. In my own life greed has always played a big role, and I am working to overcome it, but from time to time in moments of clarity I look at what the Lord has given me, a home, a family, more love than I can imagine, he has seen to what I wanted, and seen to what I needed. It is hard to trust the Lord to do this, we doubt so very often wanting to take control when we should let go and let the Lord take us to where we can find his love and his peace.

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”

Jesus is telling us a great truth here, God is all around us in every moment and in everything and everyone we encounter. In every particle of energy and matter, in the wondrous huge things like the universe or the smallest drop of rain, God is there. We must be mindful of him and try to see what he is showing us.

“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”

This I think is one of the biggest things that Jesus says here. The Kingdom of God is not off in some distant future, its right now in the here and now and it is time to get to work. We all have a part to play, a job to do in God’s Kingdom and it is time to get on it. It’s time to show the world that God’s Kingdom, God’s love is here and build that until all of us are there. I look at the world and I see the evil that is here, I see the hatred, I see the greed, I see the lust for power over our fellow men that in no way shape or form has a place in the Kingdom of God, we all need to act. We need to show all people God’s love, we need to be the builders of the Kingdom of God

Then this world will be what it should be…

My dear gentle reader, you are in my prayers

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

 

Frim Fram

Good Evening Gentle Readers

Well today did not work out the way I planned. While I did get some things done most of today was spent just relaxing with my family and you know what, even though I got very little off my to do list, it was a great day.

My reflection for tonight is about being busy, and trust me I have been so, so busy lately. Some of my busy has been day to day work, and that’s good, its nice to work, its nice to have tasks to do, and people to help out. Part of my busy has been going out trying to do things with my family, with Cindy Lo and the Big Man, and that has been fun and we have had a great time but it strikes me that just spending time with my family makes them happy to.

Maybe the point is the simple things make people just as happy……

Tonight I am making my traditional easy Sunday dinner, that’s anything that generates the fewest dishes and can be made with the least effort. This time its deli sandwiches and onion rings with home made tomato soup, so far its working…….

I got thinking about an old blog post about the recipe for Frim Fram sauce because my tomato soup recipe is a complete on a wing and a prayer sort of thing. If any of you have a idea of what this is please feel free to send it to me

 

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

Frim Fram Sauce

Joe Ricardel

I don’t want French-fried potatoes, red, ripe tomatoes
I’m never satisfied
I want the frim-fram sauce
With the aussen fay and chifafah on the side

I don’t want pork chops and bacon
That won’t awaken my appetite inside
I want the frim-fram sauce
With the aussen fay and chifafah on the side

Well you know a girl, she really got to eat
And a girl, she should eat right
Five will get you ten
I’m gonna feed myself right tonight

I don’t want fish cakes and rye bread
You heard what I said
Waiter, please, I want mine fried
I want the frim-fram sauce
With the aussen fay with chifafah on the side

(Scat singing)

I don’t want French-fried potatoes, red, ripe tomatoes
I’m never satisfied
I want the frim-fram sauce
With the aussen fay, with chifafah on the side

I don’t want pork chops and bacon
That won’t awaken my appetite inside
I want the frim-fram sauce
With the aussen fay, with chifafah on the side

Now, you know girls, we really got to eat
And you know we should eat right
Five will get you ten
I’m gonna feed myself right tonight

I don’t want fish cakes and rye bread
You heard what I said
Waiter, please, I want mine fried
I want the frim-fram sauce
With the aussen fay, with chifafah on the side

Ooh, with chifafah on the side

For My Brothers

Good Evening

I have been a lot of things in my life, one of which, many years ago was an infantry soldier. Tonight I am taking some time to think about my brothers from so long ago. Most of them have passed on, these young men who stood beside me, who supported me and with I shared so much are gone now only a very few of us remain. It seemed so very important tonight to take this moment just to honour the memories that they game me, the things they taught me, and the brotherhood that we shared.

Rest well, you did your duty

You are still my brothers in arms

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

Brothers in Arms

Mark Knopfler

This mist covered mountains
Are home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be

Some day you’ll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you’ll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher

And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There’s so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the suns gone to hell
And the moon is riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die

But it’s written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We’er fools to make war
On our Brothers in arms

 

Show Me a Sign

Luke 11:29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. 

“The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! 

“The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!”

I am struck by the phrase Jesus uses in today’s Gospel, “an evil generation,” not indifferent, clueless, or mistaken, but evil. The converted people of Nineveh will arise and condemn the people of Israel and each of us who hear the Gospel with hardness of heart, for the Ninevites were convinced by the authenticity of Jonah’s presence and message. They asked for no sign. Was it Jonah’s words that converted them? Or was it his appearance—bedraggled from his days in the whale’s belly and on fire for the Lord? I wonder.

Sometimes we look so long and hard for signs that the search blinds us to an authentic witness. Or perhaps because we have lost our ability to recognize authentic witnesses when we encounter them, we look for and ask for signs. We cannot see the truth. We cannot hear it. We have blunted our receptors for taking in the truth. Asking for a sign is a convenient shortcut to walking the road with Jesus. Isn’t this the point Jesus makes when he tells us, “no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah”? Jesus is the “sign of Jonah”: he lived, died, and rose from the dead, his three days of entombment echoing Jonah’s time in the belly of the whale.

There is indeed something greater than Jonah here. The Lord used the reluctant prophet with the amazing story to convert an entire pagan city, but the plan for our redemption came by way of God’s own cross and Resurrection—greater stakes and greater suffering with much greater results. This is no fish tale. We must accept the “sign of Jonah.” We, too, must follow Christ through death to Resurrection

Who are We With

Mark 9:38-40

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”

But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon after ward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Good Evening Gentle Readers


This passage is nestled between two exchanges where children feature in Jesus’ remarks to his disciples. What might children have to do with this rogue exorcist that concerns John?

In the passage just prior, Jesus rebukes his disciples for thinking about status and honour. He places before them a child and teaches them that the lowly should be their focus. Because children had no status in that culture, Jesus uses them as an example of the outcast, the poor, the marginalized. Then, in the passage just after this one, Jesus speaks of how important it is to protect children and vulnerable people, to raise them up and not let them fall to harm.

What is Jesus up to here? He is trying to get his disciples to stop thinking about themselves and to realize they should be about service to others, especially the poor.

But, as usual, the disciples don’t get it—in this passage, they’re still thinking about who is in and who is out. They are stuck in the old categories: Who is with us? Who is against us? These are questions about status and belonging, and they reveal the disciples’ jealousy and intolerance.

Jesus blows apart their thinking: God’s circle is much wider than theirs, so they should not worry about who is in and out. Anyone who does anything to assist their mission of bringing forth the kingdom is welcome—no matter if they were in or outside the group of “followers.” And his bigger point stands: stop navel-gazing and look around at all the good work there is to do in service to others. Stop thinking about our group and who belongs and who doesn’t belong and what honours we might receive.

Is status and belonging an important concern where you live or work or learn or worship? What is Jesus saying to these situations?

A good antidote, in my experience, is service—it helps me move beyond established borders and boundaries. Helping to serve meals at a soup kitchen puts me in touch with people I’d normally not speak with, and there is a richness to those encounters because we’re meeting each other on the common ground of our human dignity, rather than letting false social constructs of status separate us. I often experience the Lord in those moments.

 

I would say, go out, and let people know who you are with…..

 

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough

A Visit

May 19 2018

Good Evening Gentle Readers

I had planned a fun family day with my wife Cindy Lou and my two year old son, the Big Man. It was supposed to be all about fun, all about us as a family. Now to put his in perspective a bit I normally work Saturday mornings from eight am to twelve noon, I am still sort of the new guy at my job and the extra money does help out so normally its work, groceries, running around, then home a movie or so and bed on Saturday, but today I did not have to work because of the long weekend. So we wake up and it’s a day off.

Cindy Lou had gone out on Thursday and picked up socks, sixty pairs of them, to drop off at a local shelter. I think she had planned to drop them off next week so when I volunteered to do it this morning it became a family thing. We drove downtown and got to the shelter. I have worked in a number of shelters over the years and one of the bad parts of them is that in the morning, rain or shine you are out the door so there was a good crowd of folks just milling about trying to stay out of the rain.

We met Kyle, a really nice fellow who had stayed overnight at the shelter, he not only helped us drop off the socks but when we struck up a conversation with him he ran back inside to get the big man a Popsicle, which was a story in itself. Kyle is a roofer by trade and working, just not making enough to find an apartment in the city so the shelter is the only choice for now. He was so personable and friendly I wished I could have spent longer talking to him. He was also taken with the Big Man who had no qualms about giving a high five and his great smile to this stranger. We shared a moment, a time and when it was done we went on our way. I am sure that we brightened the day for a few of the folks at the shelter.

Cindy Lou and I met at an outreach so for both of us it was really a walk back to where it began, and yes for both of us it was a visit home.

So its off to the local farmer’s market, Cindy Lou and I never get to go because of my work schedule so this is a real treat. The Big man gets a huge sugar cookie from the “Cookie Queen” and he is thrilled and as we go through the various stalls of home grown vegetables and hand made sausages I notice how nice everyone is. Even with the gray skies and crowd, everyone has a smile and a nice word or two for myself and my family. Our last stop is a favourite of mine, a United Church that on market day sells home made apple dumplings in hot caramel sauce. They are made and served by the church ladies who also sell home made pies, which just by the way, are just the best. So I find a table and we sit down while I go to get my apple dumplings and all of a sudden in this church basement I see what I like to call community church. The ladies in the kitchen are laughing and joking with each other, there are families sitting together talking and greeting people as they come in, children playing and everyone is being treated as if they are all just old friends in someones kitchen. It’s a bit strange for me, but familiar as well, I just haven’t seen it in a long while.

As they day continues I take a bit of time to thank God for my family, I thank God for showing me that I still have the heart to work with the poor, and I thank God for all he has given me……

Tomorrow I have a trip to the park planned…..

I will watch my Big man play…

I will watch my Cindy Lou smile….

And again I will thank God for all he has given me….

Take Care and God Bless

Good Enough