Read: Mark
13:14-23
Let us pray,
Heavenly
Father, we have participated with our hearts and mind before you in praise and
adoration. Now as we hear your Word through Jesus, I asked that you steady our
minds and open our ears, encourage us by your Spirit to receive the Word today.
Amen
These nine
verses are a difficult passage and goes against our Christian duty of to go and
do. The questions at the back of my mind, how do we see the work of Jesus and
His atonement for us? Is there a change in our worship of God and a central
place to worship God on Earth?
Introduction
My
theological essay that I am focusing on over next 3 months is “Rainbow Spirit
Theology” and revelation of God expressed Himself to the Indigenous People and
how Australian Theology played a role in experiencing God.
Back in the
creation story we have recorded the relationship of humanity with earth and
that we were created from earth by God and at the end of our time on earth we
are returned to earth from where we were created. This is our Christian
spiritual foundation which links us to earth and the writer of Genesis believed
it was important to record like Israel as a people living in the desert or
towns. They were a people of the land for the food and water, which we are too.
But I want to share an Indigenous spirituality with Earth and demonstrate the
relationship with creation. Hopefully will stimulate some thoughts about our
Indigenous people living with us and how they may bring us closer to God.
Genesis 2:7
(NKJV)
“And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being.”
Indigenous
People
Aboriginal
author and Yorta Yorta woman Hyllus Maris (1934-86) expressed this
connectedness with the land beautifully in her poem Spiritual Song of the
Aborigine [4].
Spiritual Song of the Aborigine
I
am a child of the Dreamtime People
Part
of this Land, like the gnarled gumtree
I
am the river, softly singing
Chanting
our songs on my way to the sea
My
spirit is the dust-devils
Mirages,
that dances on the plain
I'm
the snow, the wind and the falling rain
I'm
part of the rocks and the red desert earth
Red
as the blood that flows in my veins
I
am eagle, crow and snake that glide
Thorough
the rain-forest that clings to the mountainside
I
awakened here when the earth was new
There
was emu, wombat, and kangaroo
No
other man of a different hue
I
am this land
And
this land is me
I
am Australia.
Poem by
Hyllus Maris.
The
Indigenous view is one of interconnection between creation and themselves which
this particular clan rightly echo “I am this land and this land is me, I am
Australia” and if they have a story relating to end time, I do know they also
have prophesy but they belief the body return to where it came from with the
spirit/soul lives on.
I shall read
an article in “The Shamanic Times” which describe an Australian Aboriginal
story about the end times. The Shamanic Times is an online resource for all
things sacred and shamanic for Indigenous Prophecies as a spiritual wave. As I
read think about the return of Jesus and the cleansing that will takes place,
will it be like a spiritual wave.
Australian Aboriginal: "The End of the 40,000 year Dreamtime"
Prophecies handed down from generation to generation
of the Australian Aboriginal Elders speak of the coming of the end times of one
dimension as we enter another, the end of the 40,000 year Dreamtime.
“I was in dreamtime. I [have] seen this great wave going. I tell people about this wave. It wasn't a tidal wave. This was a spiritual wave. So, to me, I believe that the Dreamtime is going to be that. I believe the revival is going to start in Australia when we're Dreaming. It's the humming bee that I'm talking about. And love. We've got to learn to love one another.
You see, that's really what's going to happen to the earth. We're going to have tidal waves. We're going to have earthquakes. That's coming because we don't consider this land as our Mother. We've taken away the balance, and we're not putting it back.”
So I leave
it there with that thought from the Australian Aboriginal prophecy.
As a
Christian, the end time is not purely focus on a single race to which the
Apostles belong to the Israelites or to the Australian Indigenous people but
all humanity.
Let us hear
our story handed down through the Scriptures. As I approach this passage in
Mark's gospel of Jesus and the continuation of the Olivet Discourse.
- Jesus is the point presenting a massive evacuation of Christians leaving their early possession behind because of an event that will shatter their traditional worship in the temple.
- Remember that Jesus was engaging with a few of the Apostles that will experience in their lifetime.
- More about the different views that exist and I will suggest my opinion based on the teaching that I understand.
I would like
to remind of the incident and teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of John (Read
John 4:19-24). We encounter Jesus and His disciples as they were leaving Judea
and to go to Galilee and this time they will be going through Samaria. We pick
up the story with the Samaritan woman engaging in a conversation with Jesus.
Now Jesus’
disciples had gone into the city to buy food but Jesus was thirsty and needing
some water went to the well of Jacob near Sychar, a city of Samaria. The reason
for this diverting is to highlight an important aspect of our Christian
spirituality rather than a physical inference.
Our first
interjection that Samaritan woman makes to Jesus is a statement after
discussing with Him about being thirsty and earthly relationship is the place
of worship. It was a question to know to satisfy her conscience as the New
Matthew Henry Commentary indicates and it was in a respectful language. She acknowledges
Jesus as a prophet and seeks further guidance.
Leading on
from this she acknowledge her traditions in relationship to worshipping God,
“Our fathers worshipped on this mountain.” It was in the public domain where
the temple was built by Sanbailat II, a governor in 4th century BCE.
The Samaritan re-established the tradition of public worship upon Mount Gerizim.
To give a bit of geography of where Mount Gerizim is situated is “one of the
two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the West Bank city of Nablus, and
forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the northern
side being formed by Mount Ebal. Not far from West Bank.
Mount
Gerizim is mention in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy and Joshua, it played an
important role in the life of the Hebrew people in understanding the cursing
and the blessing with what is an abomination to God. The Samaritans hold to the
governance of the five books of Moses as their reference to worship of God.
Deuteronomy
27: 9-15 (Read)
This passage
indicate a very important criteria to being “the people of the Lord your God.”
It was a specific moment in their life when Moses and the priests, the Levites
address all Israel. It was not sometime in the future but today “shall obey the
voice of the Lord your God and observe His commandments and His statutes which
I commanded you today.” (v10).
A clear
instruction to obey the voice and observe God’s degrees from that day onwards
and another event also happen Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. These two mounts
had the twelve tribes divided into two, one half on Mount Gerizim to bless the
people and the other on Mount Ebal to curse. Note it is not the mount that will
curse or to bless, it is the people to remind the people.
I would like
to draw your attention to verse 15 and it is the first of the curses that the
Levites spoke in a loud voice to Israel, “Cursed is the one who makes a carved or
moulded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman,
and sets it up in secret.” These are hash words but to worship any image is an
abomination to the Lord, not only is the owner of the image in big trouble but
also anyone associated with the construction. Also to do it in a manner that is
not open or in public view is held in abomination, as we would call – behind
closed doors.
From this
Scripture evidence, we can appreciate the Samaritans and their worship of God,
why they consider anything else an abomination before the Lord your God.
It is Jesus’
reply that is of importance not only to her but to us which pick up in verses
21-24 of John 4. It is the changing dynamics from a physical act to a spiritual
activity; it is our spirit through the Holy Spirit worshipping God the Father.
We cannot do it by ourselves and it was only paved the way by the atoning work
of Jesus.
Notice an
end is coming to the way of worship and the location would ceased, “the hour is
coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, worship the
Father” (v21). Given the commands, we just read about Moses to Israel about the
place of worship. The traditions of going to the temple as the Samaritans claim
the cultic centre as a proper place of worship, Mount Gerizim. This was the
Samaritans traditions and the Jews had theirs in Jerusalem.
The
differences of beliefs lied in the scriptural evidence that the Jews and
Samaritan relied upon. The Samaritan had only the 5 books of Moses known as the
Torah whereas the Jews had the Torah and the Prophetic Writings. It is on the
back of this that Jesus issue a claim in verse 22, “You worship what you do not
know; we know what we worship, for salvation is on the Jews” (NKJV). The New
Living Translation adds the dynamics which I believe is more intent on the
verse, “You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we
Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.” It is more
clearly identify, “the one you worship”. The commentators clearly identify that
because the Jews had the Prophetic Writings as part of their worship, the
Scripture pointed to the Messiah which the Torah alone is silent. The promise
Messiah, we accept is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God which is demonstrated
for us in the New Testament through the Gospels and the Epistles.
Another side
issue, if the Samaritans and the Jews had foundational differences in their
beliefs but Jesus did not disqualify their belief, where do Muslim sits where
they hold onto the 5 books of Moses, Psalms of King David and the Gospel as
part of their sacred writings.
The primary
reason for mentioning Islam is they also believed in the end times which will
include a day of resurrection and judgement in God’s final assessment of
humanity. Like Christianity the timing of events is unknown, only God knows and
there will be life after death.
True Worship
Back to the
encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John 4:19-24. As
we come to verse 23, we are entering into a transition moment, a new paradigm
and symbolised how we are to worship God the Father. “But the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and
true; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (NKJV)
Firstly the
time is changing from what was to what is. Stop what you are doing and do this,
there is no option, the old has finished and something new is to start. It is
here now, not even in the future, something to be planned for. As a worshiping
community in Kempsey, we should be seen as doing something new, the Anglicans
are going through the same. They have recognised what was and need something
new as they consider calling for a new Rector. As we sit around the table, are
we prepared to move forward under God’s grace, to stop what was and be that new
worshiping church for the community?
Secondly, we
have a relationship with God as the Father, in the Greek it is “Pater.” I can safely
say, if you see me you have seen my father, it is a physical connection that a
son has with his father, with emotions and spirituality links. My father’s DNA
is carried through. It is this bonding we have when we say Father as the Lord’s
Prayer echo the same thought.
Thirdly, a
new worship must be “in spirit and truth”. We have a conglomerate of
ingredients that contributes to worship. Our worship must be in truth carry the
notion of that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. A truth is also a fact or belief that is
accepted as true. We are getting a picture of truth is in the fact the New
Testament describe new ways of seeing the Old Testament for us Christian in our
worship of God the Father. Along with truth is spirit, it is not with a capital
“S” but a small “s” meaning us but in the Greek is it “pneumati”. It is our
breath that we are to worship and what is this breath, it is the substance that
makes us breathe, the air. The air we breathe is invisible but we can see the
effect on the path like the wind. We see the action of breathing, inhaling
causing the lungs to expand and then exhale the lung collapse. Our worship must
have an effect of being alive and base on the foundation beliefs that we hold
as true. When we worship in spirit and truth, it is the effect that must be
seen as the reason why we do what we do in worship.
Fourthly,
Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth” v24. Clearly Jesus advice what God is not but Spirit, He is not
bound by physical dimension that we ourselves are. In Isaiah 29:13 which
Matthew echo in 15:8-9 and warn what worship is not, “These people draw near to
me with their mouths. And honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from
me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.”
(NKJV)
Conclusion
I pray that
some of the background information to where we are about our hope for the
future and how we are to worship God the Father in spirit and truth was a
dynamic shift in the way for the Jews and Samaritans. Who held as their
traditional understanding based on the sacred writing they had passed down from
previous generations? We have the New Testament to help with the Old Testament
and points to the Kingdom of God through the Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth, who
died and rose victorious over sin and death.
Revelation
22:20 John records these words and which is our hope also, “He who testifies to
these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Next week I
will be going into the details that we must be ready for desolation and
deception that the reading of Mark 13: 14-23 alludes to.
Reference List
Manser, Martin H. The
New Matthew Henry Commentary. 2010: P1745. Zondervan: Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
Tasker, R.V.G. Tyndale
New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to St. John. 1981: p74-80.
The Tyndale Press: Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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