2015年1月18日 星期日

The Key Persons of the Bible (聖經中的關鍵人物)

#2015-0118

The Key Persons of the Bible
                -- by The Rev. Jason Ke (trans. J.L.)

(A Sermon for Sunday, January 18, 2015, at St.James' English Language Service)

Second Sunday after the Epiphany
1 Samuel 3:1-20
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, my dear friends in Christ!

This morning I’d like to talk about a number of key persons of the Bible.  I’ll discuss the important things that these persons have done, and then I’ll speak in particular about “the hidden glory of Jesus.”

Our readings for today are from The First Book of Samuel, from Psalm 139, from The First Book of Corinthians, and from The Gospel of John, so before talking about “the hidden glory of Jesus,” I’d like to focus on such important persons as follows:

KEY MESSAGES

I.          Four key persons of the Bible

The four persons that I’ll talk about this morning are: (1) The prophet Samuel, (2) The unknown author of Psalm 139, (3) John the Baptista story about him being the Gospel reading for last Sunday, (Mark 1:4-11), and (4) The Apostle St. Paul.

II.       The contributions that these key persons have made

1.         The prophet Samuel:

Samuel was born in the 11th century BC.  He was regarded as the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the Major Prophets who began to prophesy inside the Land of Israel.

If we look into the history of the Israelites, we’ll find that their politics (the form of government, the ruling system, etc.) had always been led by their religion.  Then, as recorded in The First Book of Samuel, chapter 8, when the Israelites asked Samuel for a king, they thought that with a wise king ruling over them, they would be able to resist any invasion from the outside world.

Samuel was displeased with their request for a king, so he prayed to the Lord God, and God said, “Listen to everything the people say to you. …” (1 Samuel 8:6-8)  So Samuel told the people everything that God had said to him, saying that the king would treat them badly -- very strictly and cruelly!  But the people insisted that they should have a king, so Samuel anointed a “tall and handsome” man, Saul, as ruler of the Israelites. (1 Samuel 9:2, 10:1-26)

In the history of Israel, there have been very few kings who performed well.  Even King David, who succeeded King Saul as a great king, committed some inexcusable sins in the latter part of his life.  God was pleased with King David in some respects, but David’s ruling period, or reign, was not very long.  God promised that David’s offspring would continue to be kings of the people of Israel, but this promise would have failed if Jesus (who is a descendant of David) had not come to be the King!

We know Jesus is the King, the Messiah.  But unfortunately the Israeli Jews today are still waiting for their Messiah, a great king (and savior) that would be like King David in history.  And the Star of David (大衛之星, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David) is now used as a striking symbol in the middle of the national flag of Israel.

2.         The unknown author of Psalm 139:

Although his name is unknown to us, the author of Psalm 139 has vividly expressed his faith and insights that are transcendental – that go beyond human knowledge, understanding, and experience!

Psalm 139 has a distinguishing feature in meaning.  It tells us that God is not far away from humans (though many of us feel that he is so utterly far away).  On the contrary, God is very close to humans.  The author of Psalm believed that God saw him before he was born.  The days allotted to him had all been recorded in God’s book, before any of them ever began. (Cf. Psalm 139:16)

Well, this kind of idea is what we refer to as “predestination” (預定論) – the belief that God has decided everything that will happen and that people cannot change this.

3.         John the Baptist:

John the Baptist was a very religious man, and he was able to attract, influence, and inspire people by his charismatic personality.

But we know little about his speech; regarding what he had ever said, we know nothing more than what was recorded in the New Testament.  He spoke to those who came to him for baptism, saying, “I baptize with water, but among you stands the one you do not know. He is coming after me, but I am not good enough even to untie his sandals.” (John 1:26-27, TEV)

John the Baptist pointed out something even more important; he said that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, TEV)  And the next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35-36, NRSV)

That was a profound and very important thing for John the Baptist to say.  The Israelites practiced a tradition of making animal sacrifices (such as lambs, goats, etc.,) for sin offerings.  The Isrealites' original notion of a sin offering was and is that a person who had sinned against God could sacrifice an animal or two (instead of himself) to ask God for forgiveness – and to ask for God’s blessings!  By means of animal sacrifices, however, this type of “sin offering” had to be repeatedly performed.

In The Book of Hebrews, chapter 10, we see that “the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities .... But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.” (Hebrew 10:1-3, NRSV)  In other words, the writer of Hebrews is saying that such traditional “sin offerings” could merely function as “a reminder of sin;” they couldn't really atone for sin.

Now - John the Baptist said that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (Notice the word sin, rather than crime; the Chinese word can mean either/both of them!) – Our Lord Jesus has come to redeem all of us, so the “gap” between God and the human world can completely be filled up.

Jesus is and has been the most valuable “Lamb of God,” whose self-sacrifice on our behalf is a once-and-for-all redemption; there’s no need to repeat Jesus' redeeming process.  The Book of Hebrews, chapter 9, gives an explanation: “Christ did not go in to offer himself many times …. Instead, now when all ages of time are nearing the end, he has appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrew 9:25-26, TEV)

In The Book of Common Prayer, we can see on page 337 the part of The Holy Eucharist: Rite One regarding “The Breaking of the Bread.”  Different priests may practice this section in somewhat different ways, but I think here, the celebrant may say these words three times: “O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world.”   The congregation responds twice to these words by saying: “Have mercy upon us.”  But as the 3rd and final response, the congregation will say: “Grant us thy peace.”

This is what I want to emphasize: Because Jesus has willingly sacrificed himself for us, God’s principles, God's justice, God's love and God's faithfulness can all be fulfilled, and therefore, we can be eligible to get close to Him and to enjoy His gift of peace!

4.         The Apostle St. Paul:

The Apostle St. Paul has made a big contribution to the preaching of the Gospel.  But I'm not going to talk about his evangelical mission this morning – I want to say something about his contribution to the Holy Eucharist, instead.

The Holy Eucharist is based on the canonical Gospels, that is, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and yet in our Book of Common Prayer the words concerning the bread and the cup (pages 334-335 and 362-363) are based on St. Paul’s point of view.  St. Paul’s interpretation of the Lord’s Supper is seen in The First Book of Corinthians. (Cf. 1 Corinthians, 11:23-29)

Perhaps some members of this congregation might feel confused when the celebrant says the following words at the time of the Breaking of the Bread: The celebrant says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” And the people give a response, “Therefore let us keep the feast.” (1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a, King James Version)  Why do we do so?  Why does the celebrant at that point in the Holy Eucharist say what he does?  And, why do the people of the congregation respond by saying the words that they do?

Obviously, St. Paul wants the Christians in this New Testament era to take Holy Communion and yet, at the same time, to recall the Passover story of the Israelites in the ancient times.

In those ancient times, while they were still slaves in Egypt, the Lord God had told those Israelites to put the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals were to be eaten.  And, interestingly, the Lord also said to them, “And do not break any of the animal's bones....” (Cf. Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12, Psalm 34:20)

Do you remember what happened to Jesus when he died on the cross?  His legs were almost, but not, broken by the Roman soldiers. This was done to make the scripture come true: Not one of his bones will be broken.” (John 19:36, TEV)

Simply speaking, we celebrate the Eucharist just as the people of Israel celebrated the Passover festival.  Our receiving Holy Communion is somewhat like their eating the paschal lamb!  I think it can be said that their festival, their eating of the paschal lamb, finds its fulfillment in our receiving Holy Communion.

III.   The hidden glory of Jesus

1.           With special insight, foresight, and clairvoyance, Jesus has extraordinary influence on people:

According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus didn’t do a lot of talking when telling a person to come with him as his disciple. For example, when he found Philip, Jesus simply said to him, “Follow me.”  It's important to point out that those words of Jesus were spoken in the imperative (命令語氣)!  It was a command, not merely an invitation.  And Philip did follow Jesus (1:43 John, NRSV) – and, quite naturally, he later became one of his twelve apostles!

Philip took his good friend Nathanael to see Jesus.  At first, Nathanael had doubts about Jesus.  But as soon as he heard Jesus say something about him, Nathaniel cried out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:46-49, NRSV) Such evidence clearly shows that Jesus has special power and is very influential.

By the way, it’s a pity that the name of Nathanael is never seen elsewhere in the Gospels, although Jesus cared a lot about Nathanael and Nathanael was then very impressed by Jesus. – Was Nathanael too emotional to make a sensible confession at that time?  Did he become less interested in Jesus later and therefore no longer followed Jesus?  No one knows.  But it is very interesting that nothing is ever again said about Nathaniel.

The important think for us to keep in mind, though, is this: whether in the spiritual or secular dimension, we should keep ourselves from being too emotional, especially when we have to make an important decision.

2.           Jesus has revealed that he is the means to bridge the gap between Heaven and the physical world in which we live:

Jesus said to Nathanael, “I am telling you the truth: you will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51, TEV)  Here, the phrase “the Son of Man” refers to Jesus.  In other places in the canonical Gospels, we can find that Jesus uses the term “the Son of Man” when speaking of himself.

Furthermore, the whole sentence that Jesus said to Nathanael can be interpreted as suggesting that Jesus would be “ascending and descending” between God and humans. – This also is the hidden glory of our Lord Jesus!

CONCULSION

Where today can we look for and find the Hidden Glory of Jesus?  I think you can ask any believer that question, and you may get many different answers.  For me, the Hidden Glory of Jesus can be found in our midst as we take Holy Communion, The Hidden Glory of Jesus can be found in the Holy Scriptures as we meditate upon God's Word, the Bible, and, The Hidden Glory of Jesus can be found in the heart, the soul of the believer.

I think it is good for all of us to have a further study of the Biblical lessons for today, to meditate on the Collect for Today, and to gain a better understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ’s glory – through some key persons of the Bible that I’ve mentioned.  Jesus' Glory is hidden...in plain sight.

I hope what I’ve preached this morning is helpful to you, as well. – The Lord bless you all!    Amen.




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