Rev. Dr. Niveen Ibrahim Sarras

Matthew 25:14-30-- Stewardship Sunday

November 15, 2020

The evangelist Matthew gives us three stories back to back to explain the end of time. The Parable of the Ten Virgins, The Parable of the Three Talents, and The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. The parable of the three talents is not about salvation by works. The apostle Paul teaches us that "by grace, you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8), and the apostle James teaches "faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2: 17). The purpose of this parable is to encourage us to prepare for the second coming of Christ.

Let us look at the symbols of this parable:

In this parable, the owner represents God, and the servants represent us. Jesus describes the master as a hard man, harvesting where he has not sown and gathering where he has not scattered seed (v.24). The parable's point is not the evil character of the master but how the servants prepared for his second coming. Therefore, do not assume that Jesus is describing God, the Father, as unjust and harsh God. A talent was "the largest unit of currency at the time… possessed five talents of gold or silver was a multimillionaire by today's standards."[1] The talents represent all gifts God entrusted to us, such as the gift of children, time, work, skills, money, community, technology, spiritual gifts, and more.

The master gives the first servant three bags of gold or silver, and the second servant two bags of gold, and the third servant one bag of gold. God gives talents to us according to God's wisdom and our abilities.

Often leaders in Jesus' time journeyed to Rome to lobby for power or position themselves politically with the new emperor. The journey took a long time, and it could be dangerous. Those leaders could be robbed or killed by thieves. So, their return was not for sure. Before they started their journey, the masters put their servants in charge of their business and properties. Those servants were called stewards; they acted on behalf of their owners. In this parable, the Lord emphasizes the fact that the master may delay, but he is coming back.

The delay of the master is a crucial point. It proves who is faithful and who is unfaithful, who is good and who is wicked. So, the delay is significant. The faithful steward or servant prepares for the coming of his master. Our Lord Jesus may delay, but he is coming back for sure. Our calling is to be faithful stewards by preparing for his second coming.

In the principle of stewardship: God owns it all. Everything belongs to God, and I am responsible for managing everything God gives me. These stewards were given stewardship responsibilities to act on behalf of the owner when he went away. The owner expected his servants to manage the money as he would do. They were expected to adopt the priority of their master. Stewardship is using God-given resources to accomplish God's given goals. For example, the judge and prophetess Deborah used the prophecy gift God gave her to judge in Israel. She rescued her people from their enemy, Sisera (Judges 4). Deborah demonstrates an excellent example of a faithful steward because she used God's gift to accomplish God's goal and priority. We rob God by using God's resources and ignoring God's priorities and goals. As stewards, we are accountable to God for everything.

The wicked servant did not put the master's priority first. Jesus is telling us what would happen in his followers' lives if they do not manage God's gifts to prepare for the second coming of Christ. Our Lord encourages us to be faithful stewards because one day, we will stand before God to give an account for what we did with what we had. You will fail as a steward when you do nothing with what God has given you. Instead of entering into the joy of your master, you will be left out in the darkness. The first and second stewards worked hard to double their gifts. The third servant was lazy and irresponsible. It is easy not to give money or share your time and skills with the church. Remember that God does not need your money or skills and gifts because they are already God's. The point is what you are doing with what the owner has given you to prepare for his second coming.

My friends, stay awake and watch for the second coming of the Lord. I pray when he comes he will tell you “Well done, good and trustworthy servant [steward]; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”

Rev. Dr. Niveen Ibrahim Sarras

Matthew 25: the parable of the ten virgins.

November 8, 2020.

Matthew 24-25 is one discourse where Jesus shares with his disciple his final teaching about his second coming. After he left the Temple, he went to the Mountain of Olives and explained to his disciples the events that will take place before the end of time and encouraged them to be ready.

One of the parables that Jesus uses to encourage his disciples and us to be ready for the second coming is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Let us go through the symbols of this parable.

• The groom represents Jesus, and the bride represents the church.
• The virgins or the bridesmaids are the church members. Jesus calls all the bridesmaids virgins. He does not name five virgins and five harlots, which indicates two types of believers.
• The light is the word of God, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105).
• The oil refers to the Holy Spirit, as explained in the book of Zechariah chapter 4.
• Midnight hour refers to spiritual darkness, spiritual crisis, and spiritual weariness.
•  The wedding is a symbol of the union between Christ and the church.

What do the ten virgins, or the ten church members have in common?

5. Every church member is presented in this group. Jesus does not compare believers with unbelievers as he does with the parable of the sheep and goats. Jesus is talking about us who are churchgoers.
5. All of the virgins, those who call themselves Christians, are baptized and partake in the body of Christ. Both the wise and foolish have their Bible and familiar with it. They believe in the doctrine of the church and experience the grace of God. The virgins or churchgoers are watching for the second coming of Christ by participating in church activities.
5. Both the wise and foolish became weary of the long night, waiting for the second coming. They grew tired and found it difficult to resist the temptation of the flesh.
5. All the virgins heard the midnight call and were taken by surprise. They arose and began to prepare their lamps. It seems that the lights were unattended, and they had to fix them.

Up till this point, there is no difference between the virgins.

Let us look at the differences:

When the foolish virgins lit their lamps, they discovered a lack of oil. They found the wise virgins brought additional oil, and they asked them to share it with them. The wise cannot share the oil, so they asked the foolish to shop for oil.

A person can't share the character development of the Holy Spirit. I can share the word of God with you, but I cannot give you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a matter between you and God. Only God gives the Holy Spirit. So, the foolish virgins found themselves unprepared to welcome the groom.

It seems that the foolish virgins did not find oil because it was midnight, and no shop was open. This confirms that God alone gives the Holy Spirit. The groom arrived and entered the banquet and the doors shut behind him. When the door is closed, no one can open it. The foolish virgins shouted, “Lord, open the door for us.” They pleaded in vain. The Lord responded, “surely, I do not know you.” The groom rejected the bridesmaids because they were strangers to him. He refused to open the door to them not because they were a few minutes late but because the door was secured to protect the banquet members and prevent the wedding crashers.

They knocked on the door, not because they wanted to be in a relationship with Christ, but because they did not want to be left out in the darkness. The foolish virgins or Christians want the privileges of being Christians; they want the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and grace, but they do not want discipleship. Amos tells us that God rejects this type of Christians.

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps (Amos 5)

Stay awake and prepare for the second coming of our Lord. You might get tired and exhausted. The only thing that keeps you awake is your strong relationship with Jesus Christ and dwelling in his word. The Holy Spirit will always be with you to help you fight the darkness and evil and to stay awake. Now we have an opportunity to be open to the Holy Spirit, but at the final judgment, it will be too late. The door will be shut. What you are doing now is what matters, but later at the final judgment, it will be too late. Amos explains to us how to prepare for the coming of the lord by

But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(5:24).

Rev. Dr. Niveen Ibrahim Sarras

John 8:31-36 Reformat Sunday

October 25, 2020

 “In 1510, Luther was sent to Rome, where he witnessed the corruption of the Roman church. He climbed the Scala Sancta (“The Holy Stairs”), supposedly the same stairs Jesus ascended when He appeared before Pilate. According to fables, the steps had been moved from Jerusalem to Rome, and the priests claimed that God forgave sins for those who climbed the stairs on their knees. Luther did so, repeating the Lord’s Prayer, kissing each step, and seeking peace with God. But when he reached the top step, he looked back and thought, “Who knows whether this is true?.” He felt no closer to God.”

“Who knows whether this is true?” All of us want to know the truth. Daily we receive lots and lots of misleading information about politics, health, history; you name it. “Some people appeal to reason and logic to adjudicate competing truth claims. Others appeal to sense experience. Still, others refer to themselves and their own subjective sense of things.”[1]

Martin Luther struggled to find the truth. In the 16^th century, the Catholic Church was dominant in Western Europe and indoctrinated Christians with misleading information about their faith and salvation. Selling indulgences that offered forgiveness was a single example of the church manipulation. The relationship between people and church was essentially based on money, which increased the wealth of the Catholic Church.”[2] Wealthy families secured their salvation by buying positions for their sons in the church.[3] The church, not Christ, was the gate to heaven. In other words, if you want God be happy with you, make your priest happy. These examples show you that the Catholic Church of the 16^th century fed illiterate Christians fake news about their salvation taking advantage of their ignorance. As a result of the church practices, the essential biblical truths muted for centuries.

Jesus tells the” Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (31-32). In ancient Greek, the language of the New Testament,  the word (alḗtheia), truth, “was synonymous for "reality" as the opposite of illusion, i.e., fact].”[4] Based on these two verses, we know the truth or the fact/reality if we know the word of God. If we dwell and study the word of God, then we will know the truth, and the truth will liberate us from misleading information that clouds our judgment about who we are in Jesus Christ and about our salvation.

Martin Luther based his reformation on one question, “How can I be made right with God?” In other words, how can I be justified in the eyes of God? The answer is not through following the church practices. Luther summarizes his response with two phrases: sola fide, faith alone, and sola Scriptura, Scripture alone. That said, our Christian life should be based on what the Bible says and not on what the culture teaches us. We are not justified by our good works but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who set us free from sin and Satan tyranny to become children of God.

The Catholic Church of the 16^th century argued that Scripture did not have the final authority, but the pope did. As a result, Pope Leo X persecuted Luther and excommunicated him, but Luther stood his ground in God's word and refused to change his position. In the Leipzig Debate between Martin Luther and Johann Eck, who defended the Pope, Luther responded that “… A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it.… [N]either the Church nor the pope can establish articles of faith. These must come from Scripture. For the sake of Scripture we should reject pope and councils.”[5]

The word of God has freed people from all kinds of oppression and delusion. I will give you a few examples:

God's word that tells us facts about our freedom and dignity as people created according to God’s image has liberated slaves and demolished slavery. Martin Luther King depended on God's word to challenge the apartheid system in the United States, and the ELCA continues to challenge systemic racism.

The word of God inspired the liberation theologians in Latin America and Palestine to challenge the unjust socioeconomic structures and the Israeli military occupation of West Bank-Palestine. Through the word of God, liberation theologians are advocating for the poor and underprivileged. Scripture stands on the side of the oppressed and demonstrates that God wants to transform their lives.

The word of God has lots to say about discrimination against women and has led to emerge of Feminist theologians. These theologians depend on Scripture to explain the quality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership and that God does not discriminate based on a person's gender.

The reformation of the church and society has no end. We are called to continue this reformation that our Lord Jesus Christ has started. We need to continue to rely on the facts that Scripture proclaims about the relationship between God and us and one another to continue to reform our world and advance God's kingdom on earth. When we are rooted in the word of God as Martin Luther did, then we will be true disciples of Christ, and you will know the truth/facts, and the truth will make us free.

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras                       The Parable of the Wedding Feast Matthew 22         October 11, 2020

A wedding is a joyful event. Families and relatives and friends come to celebrate a milestone event in the bride and groom's life. Wedding preparations can take months. Imagine a royal wedding with all its lavish and elegant decor and food. People feel honored to receive an invitation to a wedding and feel even more honored and excited to be invited to a royal wedding. We had a wedding yesterday in our church; all the guests were honored and excited to attend the wedding. But there is always a fascination with the royal wedding.

The Bible tells us about the royal wedding that will top all weddings—the union of Jesus Christ and his bride, the church. There will also be a heavenly feast—the marriage feast of the lamb. We are no longer spectators because God invites you and me and all nations to attend this royal wedding.  The parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22 reveals the nature of the King's invitation.

In biblical times, the wedding was an opportunity for families, friends, and all the village to set aside all their work for a few days to celebrate and enjoy the marriage banquet.[1] The king sent messengers to invite people to his son's wedding, but they refused to come and ignored the invitation to be busy with their lives. Others mistreated the messengers and had some of them killed. "The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city" (v.7).

This parable is disturbing because the evangelist Matthew presents God as ruthless and violent. The parables of Jesus should not be taken literally. "Parable is a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth and religious principle."[2] This parable describes the salvation history metaphorically. God sent over and over prophets to the Israelites, inviting them to return to God and follow the law, but they killed and tortured the prophets. According to Exodus  32 and Psalm 106, The Israelites worshiped the molten image of gold bull-calf instead of God. God punished the Israelites by sending the Assyrians and the Babylonians to destroy their city and temple and take them to exile. Later, God sent the Romans to destroy the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Because the Jews refused God's invitation, God extends the messianic wedding invitation to include the Gentiles. This invitation is described in verses 9 and 10

"Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests."

Now  the church consists of the Jews and the Gentiles.

The person who attended the wedding banquet without wearing the wedding garment (v.10)  does not represent a poor group or an innocent person but a man who presents an incomplete conversion.

The man without the wedding garment had neither ignored nor refused the invitation to the feast. But his yes to the call of God was not carried through in his life. He wanted the good things of the Kingdom, but not enough to break with his sinful ways and live as a committed disciple.[3]

Through this parable, Jesus tells the leaders of the Jews that following him means accepting God's invitation because he is the Son of God. Following Jesus and joining his Kingdom requires a full conversion without making excuses to continue to be busy with our world. We cannot have one foot in the world and the other in God's Kingdom. God wants your mind, soul, and body to be dedicated to the Lord.

We are attracted to the worldly things that we enjoy. Earthly life distracts us from the real joy that only Christ can give to his followers. True Christians live for the Lord without compromising their faith. Jesus looks for followers to follow him whatever it takes. When we fall short of God's glorious standard and earnestly repent, God will help you to stand on your feet again. The prophet Micah says,

Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me. 7:8

Total commitment to the Lord means that Jesus Christ is Lord in every area of our lives. When you commit yourself to Christ and wear the wedding garment, the garment of your baptism, you are opening yourself to God's grace to touch your life. This grace helps you to respond generously to God's invitation. Only through God's grace, your heart and mind will be transformed to continue to follow Christ no matter how the world is inviting you to do otherwise.

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras

Luke 21 Challenging the Authority of Jesus Christ

September 27, 2020

"In 1981, a Minnesota radio station reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were staging an intense search for the vehicle and the driver, even to the point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that, unknown to the thief, were laced with poison. The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait.

Now the police and the owner of the Volkswagen Bug were more interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than to recover the car. Often when we run from God, we feel it is to escape His punishment. But what we are actually doing is eluding His rescue."[1]

The gospel story for this Sunday is about repentance, turning to God. Repentance is essential to the Christian faith that we cannot ignore. Jesus' problem with the chief priests and the Jewish leaders is their hypocrisy and lacking repentance. After Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and cleansing the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him to question his authority. "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" The two questions "intended to trap Jesus into either admitting that he has no authority from God or claiming that he comes from God, which might open him to the charge of blasphemy."[2] Jesus was an intelligent person, for he recognized their bad intentions immediately. Jesus responded to them with another question: "Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?" Jesus did not shift the subject. He connected his ministry with the ministry of John the Baptist, to demonstrate his authority comes from God, as John did. By raising this question, Jesus revealed the hypocrisy of the chief priests and the elders and their need to repent.

To answer Jesus' question, the chief priests and the elders found themselves in an awkward position with three options: "They can either (a) say what they think—that John's baptism was not from God—and face the anger of the crowds that regard John as a prophet, or (b) admit that John's baptism was from heaven, in which case they would be put to shame for not believing him,"[3] or (c) to claim not to know. To avoid embarrassment, they chose option three.

Our Lord emphasizes the chief priests and the elders' rejection of John the Baptist by telling them the parable of the wicked son. The father asks his two sons to work in his vineyard. The first son refused his father's request but later changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard. The second son agreed to his father's request, but later, he disobeyed his father. Jesus correlates the first son with the tax collectors and the prostitutes who initially rebelled but later repented as they heard John the Baptist's message. Jesus identifies the chief priest and the elders with the second son. They have the law, but they disobeyed God.

Our Lord insulted the chief priests and the elders when he states that the notorious sinners like the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before them. The chief priests and the elders assumed that they were way better than the tax collectors and the prostitutes. They never expected anyone to tell them God prefers this dishonorable group who repented over the honored group who refused to repent. Jesus intends to say to the chief priests and the elders that when God sent John the Baptist to call them to repent, they discredited him as they discredit Jesus. Now, they will find themselves watching the sinners enter God's kingdom before them, or they will be left out of the kingdom.

Repentance and returning to God is a life journey that does not end until we die. Martin Luther teaches us that "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."[4] To repent is not simply to regret but to change your direction. Through repentance, you experience the steadfast love of God and grace. Repentance is the key to heaven. We cannot go to heaven without repenting from anything that separates us from God.

We need to examine our lives daily and to realize the ways we break God's commandments. Like the police and car owner who searched for the thief to warn him from eating poison crackers, Jesus keeps on looking for us to warn us about sin and keep us from sin. The danger is when you and I keep running away from God's grace. That will only lead to our destruction. Our Lord invites us to repent for our own sake and our well-being. I encourage you to look at repentance as a way Jesus manifests his love for you. Through repentance, you experience God's mercy and forgiveness, which makes you whole again.

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras

Exodus 14, crossing the Red Sea

September 13, 2020

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Exodus story? What fascinated you about it? Maybe you are fascinated by the ten plagues or Passover, the splitting of the Red Sea, the pillar of the cloud, or the pillar of fire. There are so many things in the story of Exodus that are amazing. What fascinated me about this story comes from the mouth of the Egyptians, "let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt" (v. 25). The Lord is fighting for them! This statement summarizes the book of Exodus and summarizes our Christian life.

The Israelites in Egypt were powerless with no weapons to protect them. They used their hands and strength to make a living. In contrast with the Israelites, Egyptians had the power and the most advanced weapons of their time. The book of Exodus tells us that when Pharaoh chased the Israelites, "He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them" (14:7). The story of Exodus describes a conflict between the oppressed and the poor group and the imperial power of Pharaoh. God chose to fight for the oppressed.

Pharaoh created chaos and disorder for God's creation by enslaving the Israelites. Yes, slavery brings disorder to God's creation because people are created according to God's image and deserve respect. By defending the oppressed Israelites, helping them to leave Egypt, and crossing the Red Sea, God put an end to the chaos, and Pharaoh and his soldiers with all his chariots were left dead and destroyed on the seashore. God trapped Pharaoh with the same weapons he relied on to fight Israel.

Pharaoh built his economy on forced labor, exploitation, and domination, but God, through Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, destroyed his power and empowered the Israelites.

The story of Exodus is not about supernatural power, but about defending the oppressed and those who are in need. The story of crossing the Red Sea teaches us that God sees and hears our groaning and struggle in every situation we encounter. Our Lord Jesus takes on his cross your groaning and suffering, and he is continually defending you. He will always meet you where you are and helps you to cross the Red Sea; to cross all your suffering and challenges, and will help you to be resilient.

Our Lord is your pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night to protect you and lead you. When you think that your challenges are bigger and stronger than you, remind yourself that Christ is stronger than your challenges. He will see you through it. Satan enjoys deceiving us by making us think that God does not care or notice our suffering, but the story of crossing the Red Sea assures us that God sees and knows what we need. God knows what you are going through, and God will always come up with good news for your difficult situation. The author of Psalm 139 says

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

As we struggle to live out our faith in a very challenging world, we have a God who knows us very well. God knows our problems and feelings. Our Lord Jesus brings you good news for whatever bad situation you encounter—"unemployment, family discord, depression and serious illness, doubt, fear, loneliness -- you name it."

The account of Exodus assures us that our hardship is not forever, and the painful experiences are meant to help you learn and grow from them. The challenges you face will come to an end. God foresaw that Pharaoh would harden his heart and not let the Israelites go free, causing them to suffer more and more, but God used their suffering for God's glory and the well-being of the Israelites. God also foresees your suffering and will put an end to it. Remember, you are not waiting alone to see God's victory over your suffering; the Lord Jesus is waiting actively with you to strengthen you to endure your challenging circumstances.

When you meet people going through a tough time, please do not tell them, "do not worry, it will come out fine in the end." Nor does it help you to say to yourself amid of your suffering and pain that you will learn good things from this experience because it might take years to discover  good outcome of your suffering. It is essential to acknowledge your feelings and your pain and to remind yourself that our Lord is on your side fighting for you. The apostle Paul teaches us that "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)." He also advises us to "12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer to be patient in suffering" (Romans 12:12).

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras

Matthew 16 and Exodus 3 message on suffering

August 30, 2020

Suffering, pain, and sickness are an ever-present reality, and so we cannot escape them. Suffering is the center of our faith because Christianity is based on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since the beginning of Judaism, Jewish scholars have been contemplating suffering. For instance, the books from Joshua to second Kings explain suffering as a result of disobeying the law of God. As a result, God punished the Israelites several times. After the exile, the Jews were careful to observe the law, but they suffered terribly by the Romans, who occupied their land and exploited them. During this time, the Jewish scholars understood suffering to be the work of the devil. Christians understand the origin of suffering to be the sin that has broken our world. Pain, suffering, and death are the result of sin.

We cannot comprehend the reason behind our suffering. Part of our human nature seeks to know and understand the reason behind our pain because we want to be in control. Even though we do not comprehend our suffering, God comprehends it. Imagine if the Israelites had lived a comfortable life in Egypt, would they have left Egypt to go to the Promised Land? No. Would God Yahweh be their God and our God? I do not know, but I am sure that the salvation story would be different.

We might not understand the reason behind our suffering; therefore, we need to trust God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in a sermon preached in 1938, “God is righteous, whether we understand His ways or not. God is righteous, whether he punishes and chastises us or whether he pardons us…We do not see it, but our faith must confess it: God alone is righteous.”[1] Surrender to God’s will, and God will make you see it through. All of us endured, is enduring, and will endure suffering. Our Lord Jesus suffered on the cross because his suffering is essential to our salvation. Jesus Christ’s suffering means your healing; therefore, he was determined to go to Calvary to carry your suffering and sin on the cross.

Peter tried to stop him, but Jesus rebuked him by saying, “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus' statement implies that Peter is in the same league with Satan. Jesus called Peter a rock because he confessed that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Now, Jesus calls Peter a stumbling rock.  With these two incidents between Jesus and Peter, the evangelist Matthew links the identity of Jesus the Messiah with his suffering, death, and resurrection.

Jesus teaches us that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (v.24). Jesus asks you to carry your cross, not his cross. No one can carry Christ’s cross. The cross means suffering and sickness, but for Christians, our suffering is not without hope because Christ is in solidarity with our pain. Christians are called to suffer for their faith, and as human beings, we are exposed to different types of sicknesses. Jesus is calling us to carry our cross, whether we suffer for his namesake or suffer from illness or any other challenges.

At the cross of Jesus, we receive not only mercy, peace, and grace, but also we encounter suffering. This is the irony of the cross. Bonhoeffer says, “That is the mystery of suffering in the church and in Christian life, that the very gate on which is written ‘abandon all hope,’ the gate of pain, of loss, of dying—that is very gate is to become for us the gate of the great hope in God, the gate of honor and glory.”[2]

Through pain, sickness, death, and all tribulations, you encounter Jesus’ love and assurance of his presence in your life. You do not need to fear suffering or to stay focus on your sickness because the Lord is working with you to fight back. You will always receive courage and peace from Jesus Christ, who endured your pain and fear on the cross and won the victory for you. Count on God’s righteousness to overcome your fears.

Our Lord Jesus Christ might not solve your problem, or heal your sickness, but he promises you to go into your suffering with you and to strengthen your shaky heart. The apostle Peter says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Jesus cares about your suffering and pain. He feels your suffering and understands your agony.  Trust in God’s promise in Isaiah 41:10 “do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

 No matter what happens in your life, our Lord Jesus Christ is there for you to strengthen you and to give you peace and hope.

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras 

Matthew 16:13-20 and Exodus 1&2: your faith is your lifeguard

August 23, 2020

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen.

 One time I went to the YMCA to swim. During swimming, I had a severe leg cramp. I lost my balance and began to sink. I felt that was the end of my life. After a few minutes of struggling to survive, I heard the voice of the lifeguard asked me to hold on the rescue tube. The lifeguard saved my life. I had mixed feelings of fear and joy, so I cried.

Troubles of this world overwhelm us. Suffering and injustice can break our spirit. Sin, pain, and oppression can feel like cramps that make us sink in deep water. If you don’t have faith, you will sink and die. Faith is your rock when the ocean waves from a storm slaps your face. The kind of faith that sustains you is the faith of the apostle Peter, who confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Your faith can move mountains. These mountains are your anger, sickness, addiction, or whatever your challenges are.

Your faith in Jesus Christ gives you strength in times of trouble. It gives you courage against your fear. The story of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, and the mother of Moses and his sister Miriam is the story of women's faith that gives them the courage to be resilient and to face Pharaoh’s oppressive policies and genocide. Because the midwives feared God, not Pharaoh, they refused to kill the Hebrew baby boys. Moses’ mother refused to give up her son to the Egyptians to throw him in the Nile but accepted Pharaoh’s daughter to raise him as hers. The faith of the Israelites sustained them amid their slavery. Their faith helped them to endure Pharaoh’s cruelty and xenophobia.

We face pain in our lives. We will face many challenges. We might lose loved ones, and we might endure sickness or face tragedies. Without these challenges, we will not learn what faith in Christ is. God works behind the scenes to help you to make it through. God worked through women nurturing love to destroy Pharaoh’s power. God’s sovereignty is manifested through compassion, care, and grace. Even though your problem and pain consume you, God is working in your life to help you. Your faith in Christ Jesus is like a lifeguard that saves you from sinking into deep water. Hold onto your faith to help you.

In good times it is easy to talk about faith and to encourage others to keep their faith. But the challenge is to keep faith in difficult times and to trust in the steadfast love of God to sustain you. In difficult moments, you pray sincerely and ask Jesus Christ to intervene immediately to solve your problems. Many times, Jesus does not answer your prayer in the way you want. So, you become tempted to be upset and be angry with God. Here faith is your lifeguard. Do not stop praying but ask our Lord to strengthen you and to help you to remain strong even though your difficult situation does not change. Ask God to guide your steps and open your heart to the Holy Spirit to comfort you.

When you feel the struggle and the challenges heavy on your shoulders, read your Bible, and surround yourself with faithful Christian friends. Since I learned about my father’s sickness, I rely on scripture more and more to stay strong. I put some encouraging verses from the Bible, where I can see them, to remind myself of God’s promises to my father and me. Stay in the word of God when tough times hit you. Trust in what the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose.”

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras
Matthew 14:13-21
August 2, 2020

As people rush to stockpile supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, stores have placed restrictions on the purchase of essential goods like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies, and medicines. The reality is that one person’s stockpiling can mean another person’s shortage. Hoarding and price gouging demonstrate the falling moral values in our society.

“With over 800 million people facing chronic undernourishment and a further 135 million people suffering crisis levels of hunger or worse... analysis shows that an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020 due to COVID-19.”[1] “David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), has labeled a ‘hunger pandemic’ alongside the health crisis.”[2]

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It is God who feeds and saves. The crowd does not mind walking a long distance to hear Jesus. Five important verbs describe Jesus’ reaction to the crowd:

1. Jesus had compassion on them. His heart was moved with pity as he saw people struggling with hunger. Jesus was surrounded by hungry people who needed his help. Despite being fatigued, Jesus makes himself available to them and heal their sickness.
2. The second verb is “to heal.” Most of the illnesses in Jesus’ time were due to malnutrition. Food supplies and debt were frequent problems for many.

When it was evening, the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away to buy food. The critical line is Jesus' directive to the disciples, who wish the hungry crowd would go away. Jesus says, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat" (v. 16). Jesus wants his disciples to take responsibility. So, the disciples give Jesus five loaves of bread and two fish.

3. Jesus blesses the food. The third important verb is “to bless.” Jesus thanks God for the few foods he has. Learning to thank God for every little thing can enrich our lives and help us not to complain all the time. Jesus teaches us to be grateful for everything we have.

4. The last two verbs describe Jesus’ reaction are breaking the loaves and giving them to the disciples to pass out to the crowd. The bread and fish just kept on coming. “It was certain only that the generosity of Jesus was streaming forth in superabundance.”[3] The three verbs: to bless, to break, and to give are used in our Holy Communion liturgy. The Eucharist feast is a symbol of God’s generosity, justice, and love. Breaking bread together is a communal and sacramental act that aims to transform us and make us a new creation in our relationship with God and our neighbor.

Traditionally speaking, the main point of feeding the 5000 is Jesus' ability to perform miracles. In fact, the main point is Jesus sympathizes with those who are hungry and put his sympathy into action. His sympathy demonstrates God's desire that food be distributed equitably. He cures and feeds the poor crowd. His reaction to the crowd recalls Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed and signifies that “The kingdom of heaven produces a plentiful harvest from the smallest of seeds.[4] From the little we have; we can bless abundantly. A commentator reflects on this story says:

The feeding stories are not about a miraculous multiplication of a few loaves and fish. Rather, they show how cooperation and fair distribution can bring abundance and harmony. There is enough for everyone if nobody grabs what they can without a thought for their neighbours. Jesus took the meager supply available and blessed, broke and distributed them. These three actions are at the heart of our Holy Communions... The ego, the false self that Jesus tells us must be put to death, is always concerned about scarcity, always therefore seeks to hoard, is afraid of the generosity of God, assumes that more is necessary before anything can be achieved. When I discover the underlying truth about who I really am the abundance of the present moment opens up. There is no need to wait until one condition or another is fulfilled. If, in trust, I use what is available to me at this moment then I am blessing, breaking and giving.[5]

I would like to end with a German song that I translated it into English. It is called Ich Glaube/ I Believe.