Tawa Baptist

Qualities of a good parent (by Murray Lucas)

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

To-day I want to share with you about what constitutes being a good parent from a Christian faith perspective. I will be drawing upon Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son and while the emphasis is on the son’s father it is totally valid to extend the message to include mothers, and other parent figures in our lives such as aunties or uncles.

I have chosen this focus as I am delighted that the leaders of the Tawa Church have made an impressive and wise commitment to the work of children and families.

One of Rembrandts greatest paintings is “the return of the Prodigal Son”. In this painting the focus is on the hands of the father.  The right hand is feminine, and the left hand is masculine. The reason for these differences has been debated extensively over the years, and the main explanation is that the hands represent both the hand of the father and the mother of the prodigal son.   God can assume both the male and female parenting roles for us.

Let me share three vignettes that I have experienced related to parenthood.

Story 1:

I am talking about a boy whose father could not be bothered to turn up to a pre- stand down meeting – a high-end discipline meeting. The father eventually told the boy by phone that he was not coming to meet the Principal. He told the boy he was on his own after initially promising he would come to school. The boy had waited for 1 hour before he was taken home by myself. At least his father gave permission for that.

That same boy had deliberately committed a number of minor offences so that he could do a detention after school supervised by myself or the Deputy Principal. We soon worked out that he appreciated the company, boundary setting and some type of accountability. It would be an understatement to say that he felt the absence of a father keenly.

In the end to support this student along with other neglected pupils in a sustainable way we created a classroom led by a trained teacher and quality mother who made them accountable but lovingly guided them through the challenges of adolescence. As a result, respect and trust in an adult developed.

Story 2:

Student K was a danger to himself and others. His verbal trash talk of others was such that he was constantly getting into fights and generally it was K onto 10 or even more. One day after school he was arrested for an offence that took place outside of College and outside of school hours. The Police rang me up and said no-one in the wider family or whanau was willing to pick him up from the Police Station. Could I do this as his school Principal? I politely refused saying that social services needed to be involved as they are better trained than me. He then went to the Activity Centre (Challenge 2000) and was so bad for them, he was excluded from this alternative school-something that had never happened before.

This story has a happy ending. Some eight years later I was at a local Polytechnic Information day related to the hospitality trade. I was served by this same boy at the function. He said, “Mr Lucas, do you remember me?” I said, “You are not K?” He looked similar but his manners were impeccable and he carried himself superbly well. He told me he was indeed K and told me his story. He had been sent up to Gisborne to the only relative who would have him. That did not last long but the relative did get him a job working for a local builder. This builder saw some potential in him and allowed him to board at his place with his wife and family. His employer became the father that he had never had. After 5 years of having a father figure take an interest in him and encourage him, this boy was transformed in a very positive fashion. The builder’s gentle but fair discipline had dramatically changed this lad. Again K’s trust and respect in an adult developed.

It was a powerful message to me that we should never give up on people no matter how dire their predicament. 

Story 3:

My third story relates to my own father. As I have grown older I realise how fortunate I have been in all areas of my life to have a father who was a great role model but also loved me unconditionally. I have many memories that I treasure when my Dad took time to spend with me to make me feel valued and special. I remember one day vividly when after school finished for the year he took the day off to walk around the Pauhatanui Estuary with me. He told me about all the plants and the ecosystem of the wetlands and said how important they were for our environment. He told me that scripture says that we need to be good and responsible stewards of our environment, long before climate change was even heard about. At that time, he was Director General of Lands and Survey for NZ but I felt privileged that he could take a day out to make his son feel valued and empowered.

As a result of the experience of consistent parental love and caring throughout childhood, such fortunate children will enter adulthood not only with a deep internal sense of their own value but also with a deep internal sense of security.

The first two stories illustrate that all children are terrified of abandonment and with good reason. The fear of abandonment begins around the age of 6 months as soon as the child is able to perceive themselves to be an individual separate from its parents. There is no doubt that in both my first two cases the young men not only feared abandonment but experienced it.

Sadly, when we look at the Bible, some of the fathers mentioned were not good role models. Isaac and son Jacob both demonstrated favouritism to one son over other siblings with initially unpleasant results. Eli was unable to effectively discipline his sons and Samuel and David were outstanding men of God but struggled as fathers.

One of the worst examples of fatherhood was the Old Testament judge Jephthah who had just won a battle over the Ammonites, but had foolishly vowed that he would offer the first person that came to his house, as a burnt offering to Yahweh. That person was his daughter and as a result of his rash and ill-advised oath his daughter was killed.

Things do get better in the New Testament. Joseph the father of Jesus would have had to overcome shame and humiliation over the virgin birth to be an excellent role model to Jesus and his siblings. I think Zebedee and Zechariah seem also to have been quality fathers.

However, the passage I want to use to show the qualities of a good father relates to the father figure in the Prodigal Son – a Parable that Jesus told. We read the Parable in Luke Chapter 15: 11-32…

The Parable of the Lost Son

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

The plot centres on the younger son who, impatient and greedy, asks his father for his inheritance. The father allows his son to have his inheritance, but the son wastes his money, eventually becoming homeless and destitute. In the end, to his great surprise, he is welcomed back into the family by the father and a celebration is organised by the father. This parable throws the emphasis on love and redemption rather than harsh judgement.

I want to deal with three qualities of a good father as illustrated in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The first is a love that never gives up and enjoys spending quality time with his son. The second is the patience of a father and the third is the emotional vulnerability of a father.

Let us first examine love. Think of the son finding his way back to his father’s home after undergoing a lot of self-imposed hardships and suffering and is finally giving up on life. However, his father has not given up on him and welcomed him back to his home with open arms.

Life is not always smooth sailing. It can be challenging and lead one to feel like giving up. But a good father, no matter how daunting the fathering task seems, never gives up on his son or daughter. It is also comforting to know that our heavenly father is always with you every step of the way. To be an effective father you have love that never gives up for your children.

Ultimately love is everything to a relationship.  I have been given worth and value by my spiritual father as Jesus’s life, death and resurrection was an act of love to each and every individual. This love is not forced upon us and it is up to us to accept it.

When we love something it is of value to us, and when something is of value to us we spend time with it, time enjoying it and time taking care of it. Think of a person with their beloved rose garden and the time spent pruning and mulching and fertilizing and studying it. So it is when we love children, we spend time admiring them and caring for them. We give them our time. The time and the quality of the time that parents devote to them indicate to children the degree to which they are valued by their parents.

The feeling of being valuable is essential to mental health and is a cornerstone of self-discipline. It is a direct product of parental love. It is important that such a conviction is gained in childhood as it is much more difficult to acquire during adulthood. On the other hand, when adults have learned through the love of their parents to feel valuable, it is almost impossible for the challenges of adulthood to destroy their spirit.

To be an effective father we must love our children. We have a love for them that will never give up on them. We have a love for them that is expressed in spending quality time with them. We have a love for our children that empowers them to feel valuable and allows them to move into adulthood with confidence knowing they are loved.  

The second quality of being an effective father is to be patient. In the Prodigal Son parable, the boy had been gone a long time, long enough for a famine to ravish the land, yet the father waited patiently. Patience is a virtue all Christians should possess but it is certainly necessary in our homes. We need to learn to be patient with our children, knowing that they have many life lessons to learn. We must realise that children are not miniature adults. Too many children and young people grow up too fast. Many of these life lessons must be learned the hard way. We cannot learn the lessons for them. The prodigal son had to learn some hard lessons and the father allowed it. We, as fathers, must learn patience.

To be an effective father we must love our children and spend quality time with them never giving up on them. To be an effective father we must be patient with our children.

To be an effective father we must show emotional vulnerability. Dads serve as role models by working to be their best selves and allowing their children to see their imperfections. Dads should also demonstrate loving predictability, consistent discipline and unconditional acceptance as is evidenced in the Prodigal Son. One of the most important things I have learned as a dad is to be emotionally available to my sons. They have seen me emotionally vulnerable and I believe that has been important to my sons. It is important to let your children know that you are human. Think how healing for the Prodigal Son was the joyful show of emotions from his father when he returned.

Finally, the father in the Prodigal Son had his priorities in the right place: The most important thing was not that his son had sinned, nor that he wasted his inheritance. Neither was it crucial that he had caused his father untold grief. The most important thing was that his son was home. Material things can be replaced, sorrows can be forgotten and sins can be forgiven, but a soul lost can never be restored.

In the Prodigal Son parable I have always struggled with the question- Was God a good father to the older brother? I would like to address this now as I do believe the Father is a good model in the way he relates to the older son in the Parable.

A number of biblical commentators believe that the oldest son illustrates the Pharisees and the scribes. Outwardly they lived blameless lives but their attitudes were abominable.

In those times, one of the duties of the eldest son would have included reconciliation between the father and his son. The older son would have been the host at the feast to celebrate his brother’s return. Yet he remains in the field instead of in the house where he should have been. This act alone would have brought public disgrace upon the father. Still, the father, with great patience, goes to his angry and hurting son. He does not rebuke the older son, as his actions and disrespectful address of his father warrant.  The father’s compassion does not cease as he listens to his eldest son’s complaints and criticisms. The older son refers to the prodigal son as “this son of yours”. In doing so he avoids acknowledging that the prodigal son is his own bother.

The older brother’s focus was on himself and as a result there is no joy in his brother’s arrival home. He is so consumed with issues of justice and equity that he fails to see the value of his brother’s repentance and return. The older brother allows anger to take root in his heart to the point that he is unable to show compassion towards his bother, and, for that matter he is unable to forgive the perceived sin of his father against him.

The wise father remains consistent throughout and seeks to bring restoration by pointing out that all he is and has will always be available for the elder obedient son.

The father is a good role model to both his prodigal son, as he is to the older son.

Let us compare the father with the older son. The father does not first rush to the servant’s quarters to physically punish his boy and satisfy his wrath before he forgives his wayward son. No. In the story of the prodigal son, the father bears the loss and forgives his son from his treasury of inexhaustible love. He just forgives. There is no payment, there is no appeasement. Justice as punishment is what the resentful brother called justice. Justice as reconciliation is what the loving father called justice. The only anger we find in the parable belongs to the Pharisee-like brother, not the God-like father.

We must love our children and never give up. We must be patient with them and we must be emotionally vulnerable. How well that is modelled by God who is the father of the Prodigal son in this poignant parable.

This is a challenge to all of us who are fathers, mothers and role models in whatever area of life we choose.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Find a picture of Rembrandt’s painting, ‘The return of the Prodigal Son’ and take some time to reflect on it. What do you notice? What meaning to do see in the painting?
  • What are some of the things children need from their parents?
  • Can you think of some good parenting examples from the Bible? Why were these people good parents?
  • Thinking of your own parents, what did they do well? What do you appreciate about your parents now that you are an adult?
  • Discuss / reflect on the parenting style of the father in Luke 15.
  • Who do you identify with most in the parable of the prodigal son? The younger son, the older son or the father? Why? 
Tawa Baptist

Ravens

Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1-6

Video Link: https://youtu.be/hVTLHhUvvFQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Anti-heroes
  • Elijah
  • Ravens
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Can anyone tell me what a group of ravens is called? [Wait] That’s right, a group of ravens is often called an unkindness.

But you sometimes also hear terms like a treachery of ravens or a conspiracy of ravens. Unkindness, treachery, conspiracy, these are not very friendly words. Clearly, there is something a bit sinister or spooky about ravens in the human imagination. 

Today we continue our series on birds of the Bible. Last week we considered the ostrich. Today our message focuses on the raven. 

One of the classic Bible stories involving ravens comes from the Old Testament book of First Kings. In this account ravens are not associated with unkindness or treachery. To the contrary, they serve as instruments of God’s faithfulness and provision. From verse 1 of First Kings 17 we read… 

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbein Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Anti-heroes:

You may have heard of the term ‘anti-hero’. An anti-hero is a central character in a story who lacks conventional heroic attributes. Anti-heroes are like flawed heroes. Anti-heroes blur the line between protagonist and antagonist. They may even seem like the bad guy at first, but in the end they are revealed to be the one who saves the day.

Examples of anti-heroes in the movies include Shrek, Snake Plisskin, Deadpool, Professor Snape and Robin Hood. They are unlikely heroes. In the context of First Kings 17, the raven is also something of an anti-hero. No one would think that God would use a raven to care for Elijah and yet he does.

The Law of Moses declared ravens to be ceremonially unclean and therefore not fit for human consumption. Ravens are birds of prey. Like vultures they feed off dead carcasses, among other things. You don’t eat ravens because ravens eat road kill.

Now in saying that ravens are ceremonially unclean, we don’t mean they are evil or bad. Ravens are one of God’s creatures and God’s creation is good. But as a non-kosher food, ravens came to be looked upon as something that God’s people should avoid.

A couple of weeks ago we heard about Noah sending a dove out of the ark to see if the flood waters had receded. Well, the dove wasn’t the first bird Noah sent. In verse 7 of Genesis 8, we read that God sent out a raven but (unlike the dove) the raven did not come back. It kept flying around.

The inference seems to be that the raven did not return to the ark because it found a smorgasbord of dead flesh to feast on.

The raven stands in stark contrast to the dove. The dove is gentle and winsome, a symbol of new life and peace. While the raven is wild and associated with death, rapaciously feeding off the left overs of judgement.

The ravens’ connection with death and judgement is seen again in Proverbs 30, verse 17, which reads…

The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

The fifth command, to honour your father and mother, comes with a blessing attached; that you will live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. The flip side to this blessing is that if people cursed (or mistreated) their parents they should be put to death.

Proverbs 30:17 is talking about the outcome for those who do not take care of their mum & dad. To have one’s eyes pecked out by ravens implies being killed and not receiving a proper burial, so one’s body is left out in the open for birds to eat. This is a poetic way of saying, if you don’t respect your parents, then no one will respect you.

Given these sorts of horrific images, it is little wonder that ravens are considered a bad omen, associated with death and judgement.

As scavengers that feed off the misfortune of others, ravens don’t fit the classical profile of a hero. They are more like the anti-hero in the Elijah story.

Elijah:

The prophet Elijah is also something of an anti-hero. Elijah is a complete unknown. He pops up in the history of the kings of Israel out of some place no one has heard of. He doesn’t come from a famous family. There is nothing especially impressive about him. And, from what we can tell, he appears to be prone to bouts of depression.

Despite his lack of pedigree and his loneliness, God’s Spirit was with Elijah making him brave.

Elijah lived at the same time as king Ahab. King Ahab reigned over Israel for 22 years and did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of the kings before him. Ahab was not an anti-hero; he was 100% villain.

Together with his infamous wife Jezebel, Ahab built a temple in Samaria for the worship of Baal, something forbidden by God.

Baal was the pagan god of fertility and weather. People in ancient times sacrificed to Baal (and did a whole lot of other terrible things besides) in the vain hope that he would make it rain so their crops would grow and they would not starve. But Baal does not control the weather.  

Yahweh, the Lord, the living God, does not want people to worship Baal or anything else because that is meaningless, empty, a waste of time, a lie. Even worse, it leads people to degrade themselves and hurt others.

These days, people in the western world don’t normally bow down to statues of wood and stone but we do have a tendency to worship things like money, sex, reputation, personal freedom, career and so on.

These things are not bad in themselves. In fact, they may be used for good. But if we make any of them the most important thing in our life, then they have a destructive effect on our own soul and in our relationships.

Given that many Israelites were vainly putting their trust in false gods to make it rain, the Lord (in his love for Israel) was moved to do something about it. In order to demonstrate that Baal was powerless and that Yahweh was Israel’s true provider, the Lord sent Elijah to tell king Ahab that it was not going to rain for a few years, nor would there be any dew.

In other words, Baal does not control the weather, the Lord God almighty is in charge, therefore trust him.

Notice the way Elijah says: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve…”  There are two rebukes implicit in this phrase. Firstly, Elijah is telling king Ahab that Yahweh, is the living God; not Baal.

And secondly, Elijah is saying he serves Yahweh, not king Ahab or anyone else. There is no flattery, no charm, no spin.

Elijah was risking his life by confronting Ahab in this way. This was a heroic thing to do. And yet Elijah is an anti-hero because he is doing something we don’t expect of a hero.

We would expect the hero to defeat the villain, and save the nation from disaster. But Elijah does not do this, at least not straight away. Elijah becomes God’s instrument for bringing about a famine across the land. Elijah’s ministry precipitates disaster. This is tough love, a way of bringing the nation to its senses. Elijah is both protagonist and antagonist.

For Elijah’s protection, the Lord instructed his prophet to hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.

We don’t know exactly where the Kerith Ravine is today but a ravine with a stream running through it is an interesting choice. Ravines in the Middle east are prone to flash flooding. You wouldn’t ordinarily camp out in a ravine because if it rains suddenly, you could be swept away and drown.

Of course, if it doesn’t rain then you are at no risk of drowning. By obeying God and hiding in a ravine, Elijah was putting his money where his mouth was. He was showing through his actions that he trusted God’s word to him that it would not rain.

The Lord goes on to say to Elijah, “You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

Anyone who is familiar with the Law of Moses would be somewhat surprised by this. As we’ve already noted, ravens are ceremonially unclean birds. They are associated with judgement and death. Why would God use ravens to feed his prophet?

Well, Elijah is not eating the ravens themselves, so he is not breaking the law. Given that Elijah is in hiding, it makes sense to use ravens to courier the food. Elijah can’t leave the ravine without risk of being spotted. Ravens flying around in the wilderness are not going to give away Elijah’s hiding place.  (The ravens were sort of like God’s Uber Eats.)  

Ravens

Yahweh’s use of ravens to feed his prophet is a criticism of Israel. Unlike Israel, the ravens obey God’s command. They are faithful servants of Yahweh. If the so called ‘unclean’ ravens are serving Yahweh, how much more should God’s holy people serve the Lord?

When we consider the way God made the raven, we can see it is a fitting choice to feed Elijah. The raven mirrors Elijah, as a sign, embodying God’s message to Israel. It’s like God is saying, the raven (the anti-hero bird) has something to teach you about how you should relate with me.

Ravens are highly intelligent birds, with relatively large brains for their body size. Ravens are smart enough to craft tools and plan for the future, as well as play games like hide and seek.

Unlike king Ahab, who lacks the understanding to realise he is wrong, ravens are intelligent enough to understand what God wants and do it. If a bird is smart enough to understand what God wants, then we human beings have no excuse.

Ravens are excellent hunters. They often hunt in groups enabling them to trap and kill prey twice their size. Just as ravens are excellent hunters, able to provide Elijah with bread and meat (suitable for human consumption), so too God is an excellent provider and can be trusted to feed his people.

In the gospel of Luke chapter 12, Jesus says this to his disciples…

22 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 

Jesus’ teaching here is not an excuse for folding your hands and doing nothing. The ravens still have to gather their food, just as we human beings still need to work to earn money to buy food.

The point is, God knows what we need and is well able to provide it, so we don’t need to worry. Worry is the cousin of Baal worship. By the same token, we do well to take a leaf out of the ravens’ book and be resourceful in using whatever is at hand.   

Ravens can remember faces. Whether you are kind to a raven or cheat a raven, it will remember your face and treat you accordingly. The Israelites of Elijah’s day had forgotten their covenant with the Lord. They had forgotten the Lord’s face, as it were. They needed to be more like the raven and remember God’s goodness to them.

At the end of the service most weeks, I pray a blessing over you which includes the phrase, may the Lord make his face shine upon you. In other words, may God smile on you. May he show you favour and grace. May he be pleased with you and may you feel his pleasure.

There is a lot that happens to us in this world to make us forget the Lord. Remember God’s face. Remember your commitment to him and remember the ways the Lord has made his face shine upon you. Thank him for his goodness. 

Ravens are good communicators, with the ability to point to things with their beaks and hold up items of interest as a way of making conversation. Ravens can even mimic human voices better than a parrot.

The Scripture doesn’t say this but I can’t help imagining the ravens communicating with Elijah, pointing at things and perhaps even mimicking what he said. Certainly they communicated something of God’s faithfulness in returning to feed Elijah each morning and evening.

We human beings are made for relationship, especially relationship with God. Communication is how we establish and maintain our relationships. Prayer is the word we use to describe our communication with God.

The people of Elijah’s day were not talking to the living God. They were talking to dead pieces of wood and stone. In essence they were talking to themselves. Keep talking to God. And when you don’t know what to say, mimic the words of Jesus. Pray the Lord’s prayer.

One other thing about ravens, they are faithful. Ravens mate for life. The Lord is faithful too. God wants an exclusive relationship with us. The Lord wants us to trust him. Yahweh desires our obedience of faith. As we read in Psalm 147…

9 The Lord gives animals their food and feeds the young ravens when they call. 10 His pleasure is not in strong horses, nor his delight in brave soldiers; 11 but he takes pleasure in those who honour him, in those who trust in his constant love.

The ravens trust God and honour him. We can too.  

Conclusion:

Okay, so if the ravens and Elijah are like anti-heroes, then what about Jesus? Well, Jesus doesn’t exactly fit the category of anti-hero. Yes, Jesus is the hero of God’s story but he breaks the mold. He redefines what it means to be a hero.

Jesus is not flawed like your classic anti-hero. Jesus is perfect. That being said, Jesus is misunderstood and rejected by many, precisely because he does what we don’t expect the hero to do. Jesus loves his enemies and forgives those who are killing him, even as he bleeds out on a cross.  

Here’s the thing about Jesus. Jesus shows us the face of God. It’s a face of forgiveness. The face of grace. The face of acceptance. A face that smiles on you.

Let us pray…

God of grace, help us to trust you and remember your face, as we go into this week. Through Christ we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is an anti-hero? Can you think of examples of anti-heroes from books or films?
  • In what ways is the raven like an anti-hero? In what ways is Elijah like an anti-hero?
  • Why is the worship of Baal bad? What sorts of things do people today typically worship? What (or who) do you worship? Is there anything in your life that threatens to take God’s place?
  • Why did God choose ravens to feed Elijah? What can ravens teach us about how we are to relate with God?
  • What practical things can you do to remember God’s face?
  • What spiritual qualities do you share with the raven?  What raven like qualities would you like to develop?
Tawa Baptist

The Ostrich

Scripture: Job 39:13-18

Video Link: https://youtu.be/HXhf3YyM0-o

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Job
  • Yahweh
  • The ostrich
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

When we hear the proverbial saying, “Don’t bury your head in the sand”, most of us probably think of what? [Wait] That’s right, we think of the ostrich.

While ostriches are a bit comical to look at, they don’t bury their head in the sand, in order to avoid their problems, as is commonly thought. That is a myth.

It would be more accurate to say ostriches bury their eggs in the sand because it is warm there. They then poke their head into the sand occasionally to rotate the eggs.

Last week we began a new sermon series on Birds of the Bible by looking at the dove. Today we consider the ostrich. The ostrich is the largest living bird. An adult male may stand eight feet tall and weigh 300 pounds. Male ostriches typically have black feathers with a white trim, while the females have brown feathers.

The main Biblical passage in which the ostrich features is Job 39. From Job chapter 39, verse 13 we read…

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork. 14 She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, 15 unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them. 16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labour was in vain. 17 It was I who made her foolish and did not give her wisdom. 18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Job:

To be able to understand these verses, we need to know the context. The book of Job deals with the problem of suffering and the verses we just read are part of Yahweh’s first speech to Job, found near the end of the story.

But let us start at the beginning. Job was a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. Job was also very wealthy. God allowed Satan to test Job. Satan began by destroying Job’s business and robbing him of his great wealth. Then Satan arranged for all of Job’s children to be killed in a storm, before afflicting Job himself with sores all over his body. 

Despite losing his farm, his family and his health, Job refused to charge God with wrong doing. He continued to worship God saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

To add to Job’s woes, the very people one would expect to provide some comfort and support (his wife and best friends) only made matters worse. Not only did they show a lack of understanding and empathy, they actually blamed Job for his misfortune. Job was alone in his marriage and alone in his community. Job, the righteous & lonely sufferer, reminds us of Jesus.

Despite all of this though, Job did not sin in what he said. Job held onto his integrity. And it was integrity that required Job to ask God for a fair hearing. Eventually, Yahweh spoke to Job out of the storm.

Yahweh:

We might have expected God to comfort Job with a few gentle words of explanation but God does not do this. God offers Job no answers and instead responds forcefully with an avalanche of his own questions for Job.  

The strength of Yahweh’s approach shows Job that God is robust enough to handle his pain and his rage.  

At first glance God’s questions might seem unfair. They were hardly the sort of questions that Job could give a sensible answer to. But really Yahweh is doing Job a kindness. God has listened patiently to Job (at length). Now it is time for some medicine.

When you are in as much pain as Job was in, it distorts your perspective. Your world becomes quite small and you can feel trapped or cornered, like you have no options. In that frame of mind, you become defensive and entrenched in your own narrow point of view. What Job needs is a change of perspective.

One recommendation for promoting good mental health, is spending time in nature. Taking a walk in the bush or the mountains or by the sea, opens your mind to a new perspective, helping you to see your options more clearly.

By asking Job a series of questions about creation and the natural world, God is giving Job a new perspective. The Lord is helping Job to shift the focus off himself and he is dismantling Job’s defences.

God’s questions are a strategy for pulling down the wall that Job has built around himself, a wall that Job felt he had to build because his wife and his friends were so hostile to him. But also a wall that isolates Job and prevents him from experiencing the kind of closeness and understanding that could heal him.

Towards the end of chapter 38 and the beginning of chapter 39, Yahweh questions Job about a variety of animals. For example…

The lions and ravens which God feeds.

Mountain goats which breed and survive without the help of people.

Wild donkeys and wild oxen which roam free and do not need humankind.

As well as the hawk & eagle that make their home where no man can go. 

All of these animals are wild and independent of man. All of them are dangerous and all of them are free, especially free from fear. Is Yahweh trying to show Job that he does not need to be afraid?

Certainly Yahweh is sovereign. He is Lord and King over all things, including the animals, both domesticated and wild. This means, no part of the world lies outside God’s rule. No hostile, dangerous force exists beyond his authority.

Not that God micro-manages everything. Rather he allows and supports freedom within certain limits. All that happens, including Job’s suffering (and ours) takes place within God’s wise governance.

I don’t believe God goes out of his way to cause suffering. Rather he is in control of it. This means God allows suffering to happen but he keeps a leash on it. More than that, God uses suffering to serve his purpose. If God is the surgeon, then suffering is his scalpel. 

That is cold comfort when you are going through tough times. When we are in pain, we just want the pain to stop. And even after the pain has subsided, we may still wonder why we had to go through it in the first place.

Nowhere, in Scripture, does God promise to give us an explanation. We are not entitled. Like Job, we may never understand why in this life.

What God does promise is to never leave us or forsake us. Jesus chose the nails. Christ walks with us and tells us to pick up our cross and follow him. If we share in his suffering, we will share in his glory. That much is promised.       

The Ostrich:

Included in the list of wild animals, in Job 39, is the ostrich. The female ostrich gets six verses. That’s more than the lioness and the hawk. Verse 13 reads…

The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork. 

Perhaps we are meant to see some ironic humour in the ostrich here. The ostrich cannot fly, no matter how much it flaps its wings. Surely the irony is not lost on Job who has had his wings clipped. Job cannot understand his suffering (much less God’s ways) no matter how hard he tries.

Like the ostrich, we human beings need to keep our feet on the ground. We need to humbly accept our limits. The lesson of accepting our limits and embracing the way God has made us is a difficult one. But if we can’t accept ourselves as we are, then we set ourselves up for a great deal of anguish.

Notice that it says ‘the wings of the ostrich flap joyfully’. The ostrich is not frustrated that it cannot fly. The ostrich simply enjoys what she has been given. 

Let’s say you wanted to be a professional sports person but you were not born with the coordination or the genes to reach the heights you dreamed of. For years you train and practice and diet and strive but no matter how hard you flap your wings, you just can’t fly.

Eventually you realise, I can’t achieve what I want to achieve because I’m simply not made that way. And so you are faced with an existential crisis. Who am I? What is the point of my life? Why did I waste all that time?

Well, if you had fun and made friends it wasn’t a waste of time. Who cares if you don’t make it as a professional sports person. If you like sports, play at the level you enjoy. Play socially. Become a coach or a ref.

The ostrich does not try to be an eagle. The ostrich joyfully accepts that it is an ostrich. We save ourselves a lot of grief when are able to accept ourselves the way God made us.

From verse 14, we are given a description of how a female ostrich behaves with her young…

14 She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, 15 unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them. 16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labour was in vain. 17 It was I who made her foolish and did not give her wisdom.

These verses paint a rather unflattering portrait of the ostrich hen. They blend comedy with tragedy. Apparently, ostriches don’t make great mothers.

It’s interesting that God draws attention to the weakness or deficiency of the ostrich. More than that, God takes responsibility for it. Yahweh says, the ostrich is foolish because I made her that way.

The point seems to be that God has made things good, but not perfect. Imperfection and weakness (foolishness even) is part of the plan; it is built into the very fabric of creation. 

This is important to understand. It means we cannot expect everything in this world to function perfectly all the time. Sometimes things will go wrong. Sometimes your body will turn on itself and create cancer cells or produce too much cholesterol or fail to produce enough insulin or something else. 

The verse about the ostrich leaving her eggs on the ground introduces the idea of chance and randomness. Sometimes the ostrich’s eggs will be trampled on, other times they will be okay.

Now obviously, if God had made the ostrich with the good sense and skill to build her nest in a tree, the chance of the eggs being crushed would be greatly reduced. But that is not how God made the ostrich.

The analogue to this is that sometimes suffering is the direct result of the choices we make and other times it is random, just bad luck. More often though it is a combination of choice and chance.

We can make wise choices that mitigate risk and reduce the likelihood of suffering. But we cannot eliminate the possibility of suffering altogether because we cannot control everything.

If you drink and drive, you greatly increase the chance of causing suffering. But drinking and driving does not guarantee suffering. Sometimes you will get lucky and make it home without incident. By the same token, even when you drive sober, there is always the possibility of someone else running a red light and smashing into you. 

I know that Christians (generally speaking) don’t like the idea of luck. Many believers prefer to think that God is controlling every little detail of their life. That sort of belief is fine so long as nothing bad happens. But the moment things go wrong, your faith is turned inside out. Why has God done this to me?

Well, just because something bad happens to you, it does not automatically follow that God wanted it to happen. Yes, God is in control of the outcome and yes he could (if he so desired) micro-manage everything, but most of the time he chooses not to.

God allows room for his creatures to make mistakes. Even though Satan was wrong, God still allowed Satan to mess with Job’s life. Even though Job’s friends were wrong, God still allowed them to falsely accuse Job. The Lord works with the choices his creatures make.

Did God want Job to suffer? No! Of course not. God is not cruel. But suffering is what you get when you allow mistakes. The Lord allows imperfection (within certain limits) and that’s where chance comes in.     

Job’s friends kept insisting that Job was suffering because of bad choices Job had made in the past. They would not entertain the possibility of chance. But God does not agree with Job’s friends. Nowhere in his speech does the Lord convict Job of wrong doing. Yahweh vindicates Job.

Suffering does not submit to man’s moral calculus. Correlation does not prove causation. Just because you are suffering it does not automatically follow that God is punishing you. There is a certain mystery surrounding suffering.

God’s portrait of the ostrich indicates that the world is not perfect, so there is an element of risk and misfortune for all God’s creatures in this world. 

In many ways, Job is very different from the ostrich. Job was wise and consistently made choices which reduced the risk of suffering. Job cared deeply for his children and did everything in his power to look after them. Nevertheless, despite his diligence and care, Job’s children were still killed in a storm.

The book of Job teaches us that it is foolish to rely on luck. At the same time, Job also teaches us that God allows a certain amount of randomness in the universe. Sometimes there is nothing we can do. But even if we do suffer bad luck in this world, God is still in control of the outcome. This world is not all there is. God makes things right in the end, for the Lord is just and merciful.

(As Lance Corporal Jones likes to say, “Don’t panic Mr Mannering”.)

We human beings cause ourselves quite a bit of unnecessary suffering through worry and anxiety about the future. The ostrich does not suffer from worry though. Verse 15 says the ostrich is unmindful that some wild animal might trample her eggs.

Being a parent is terrifying really and it only gets harder the older your children get. When they grow up and leave home, your kids make their own decisions and you can’t protect them in the same way you could when they were young. To be a parent is to be vulnerable.

The temptation, when you’ve been through a traumatic experience (or three) is to imagine the worse. What if someone knocks them off their bike? What if they don’t make any friends? What if they forget to take their inhaler? What if they meet the wrong guy or the wrong girl? What if someone slips a pill into their drink? What if? What if?

Parenting is not easy. It’s an act of faith. As difficult as it is, we need to try and find the middle ground between the two extremes of helicopter parenting on the one hand and ostrich parenting on the other.

While we don’t want to neglect our children or be careless with them, we also don’t want to overthink things. The ostrich reminds us not to overthink it.

Oh for the wisdom to know when to intervene and when to stand back and let our kids figure it out for themselves. 

That being said, it seems a little unfair to laugh at the ostrich for the way it takes care of its young. It’s not the ostrich’s fault that God did not endow her with good sense. Quite apart from that, ostriches are hardly equipped to build their nest in trees or rocky crags, like other birds.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons ostriches are included in God’s speech to Job. For while Job’s parenting style is the opposite of the ostrich, he does share some things in common with this bird.

Through his misfortune Job was misunderstood. He became a sad joke, an object of ridicule, much like the ostrich is misunderstood and is often the object of ridicule. In this way at least, I imagine Job felt like an ostrich. Ostracised.

I said before that God made the world good but not perfect. Weakness is built into creation. That is true but it is not the whole truth. God also gives strength and special abilities.

The ostrich has a significant advantage. It can maintain a speed of up to 50 miles per hour for some distance and therefore can outrun most horses.

Contrary to popular belief, the male ostrich does not bury his head in the sand when trouble comes. Rather he starts running to try and draw the predator into a chase, away from his family. The ostrich knows the predator is unlikely to keep pace. So, while the ostrich may not be the smartest animal, he is fast and he does have some sense, which he uses to protect his family.   

God gives every creature a way to survive and excel. What is your strength? And how are you using the strengths God has given you?

Conclusion:

To recap then. As unlikely as it seems, the ostrich helps us when we suffer. 

The ostrich reminds us to joyfully accept ourselves as God made us.

The ostrich reminds us that this world is not perfect. God allows mistakes and therefore an element of randomness, so we cannot expect to go through life without some suffering.

The ostrich reminds us not to overthink it. Try and find the middle ground between worrying too much and being careless.

The ostrich also reminds us that we all have God given strengths and we should exercise our strengths for good.

One final thing the ostrich teaches us. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Try and keep your sense of humour.

In the end, the Lord restored Job. That is our hope too. In and through Christ, God is restoring his creation. He is making all things new.

May God give each of us the grace and courage we need to keep our feet on the ground and face life without fear. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • How do you feel when you think of Job’s story? What does Job’s story put you in touch with?
  • Why does God speak to Job out of a storm? Why does God ask Job a whole raft of questions about creation?
  • Discuss / reflect on the things Yahweh says about the ostrich in his speech to Job (39:13-18). How do these words about the ostrich help us when we suffer? 
  • What are your weaknesses? What are your strengths? How are you using the strengths God has given you? 
  • If you have children, where would you place yourself on the spectrum between helicopter parent and ostrich parent? Why? Does anything need to change?
  • Why is it important to accept that creation is good but not perfect?

Outtakes

The idea that ostriches neglect their young comes up again in Lamentations 4, which reads: Even jackals offer the breast, they nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness.

There is no comedy in this verse, only tragedy. Lamentations recalls the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC. This siege (like all war) affected the young in particular. During the siege, children received worse treatment than ostrich chicks. Because of a shortage of food, nursing mothers could not feed their babies.

Tawa Baptist

Doves

Scripture: Luke 3:21-22

Video Link: https://youtu.be/jlZNgPtC1rk

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Doves in the Old Testament
  • Doves in the New Testament
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Scientists estimate there are somewhere between ten and eleven thousand different species of birds in the world today. In total there are thought be at least 50 billion wild birds on the planet, perhaps more. Which means that birds outnumber human beings by six to one. That could be a worry if birds ever got organized. 

The Bible mentions around 25 different species of birds, including various types of owls, the eagle, sparrows, ravens, roosters, the ostrich, the hawk and so on. In fact, birds are referred to over 300 times in the Bible, which seems like quite a lot.

Today we begin a new sermon series called, ‘Birds of the Bible’. I don’t think we will try to cover all 25 species of birds, much less every verse that talks about a bird. But it might be interesting to consider what some of the bird references reveal about the character of God. After all, birds were God’s idea. We start our series this morning with the Dove.

Doves in the Old Testament:

One of the first references to a dove in the Bible is found in Genesis 8, which tells the story of Noah and the great flood. While Noah and his family and all the animals and birds were still floating in the ark, Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had receded. The dove came back because it couldn’t find a place to rest.

Verse 9 of Genesis 8, adds a rather beautiful detail saying, “Noah reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back into the ark”.

Not many birds would land on a man’s hand like that. That speaks to me of a certain closeness and trust between Noah and the dove.

Noah waited seven days before sending the dove out again. This time it returned with an olive branch in its beak, indicating the waters were receding. After another week, Noah sent the dove out once more but this time it did not return so Noah knew it was safe to leave the ark.

The image of a dove over the waters reminds us of the Holy Spirit hovering over the primordial waters, when God created the cosmos. It speaks of a new creation. It also speaks of peace after the storm. A fresh start.

Doves were used by the ancient Israelites as a sacrifice. In particular, they were the sacrifice of the poor. If someone needed to make atonement for something, but could not afford to offer a lamb or a goat, then they could offer two doves instead.

We read for example, in Luke 2, how Mary & Joseph presented the baby Jesus to the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem and offered two doves in keeping with the Law.

So, as well as signifying peace and new beginnings, doves point to God’s consideration for the poor. God does not want people to be excluded from worship by a lack of finances.

Doves often mate for life. They are loyal, not promiscuous and so doves are associated with love and devotion. Also beauty. They are a pretty bird.

Perhaps the most intimate book in the Bible is a love poem called the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs refers to doves as a metaphor for beauty…

How beautiful you are, my darling. Your eyes are doves. (1:15)

My lover is knocking: Open to me, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. (5:2)

My dove, my perfect one, is unique. (6:9)

Some think the Song of Songs is an allegory of God’s love for his people or of Christ’s love for the church, a love that is reciprocated. Whichever way you might read it, there is a palpable tenderness and intimacy in the language.

As beautiful as they are, the cooing of doves sounds sad, like crying or moaning.

In the 1980’s the musician, Prince, wrote a song titled, When Doves Cry. It was a song of lament. ‘How can you just leave me standing, alone in a world that’s so cold… Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doves cry.’

The crying doves in the song are a metaphor for two lovers mourning the loss of their relationship.

In Isaiah 38 we read how king Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. When he cried out to the Lord in tears, God healed him and added another 15 years to his life. Afterwards, Hezekiah wrote a song remembering his ordeal. In verse 14 of Isaiah 38 we read…

I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid.

Moaning like a dove, in sadness and regret, was also used to describe those who survived the fall of Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 7 we read…

All who survive and escape will be in the mountains, moaning like doves…, each because of his sins.

So doves, in the Bible, are associated with mourning and grief. This fits with the idea that doves represent a new beginning. “Every new beginning starts with some other beginning’s end.” I imagine Noah and his family felt some grief after the flood, thinking of all that had been lost, much like the Jewish survivors after the fall of Jerusalem. 

Many of you will be familiar with the story of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet who ran away from God. He was swallowed by a huge fish and then spewed up on a beach. Jonah ran away because God wanted him to preach a message of repentance to his enemies the Assyrians.

Eventually, after three days in a fish, Jonah did what God asked him. He told the people of Nineveh that God was going to destroy their city. No sugar coating it. The people of Nineveh believed Jonah’s message and repented in dust and ashes, so God had mercy and spared the city.

Jonah was not happy with this. He wanted God to smote his enemies but the Lord had mercy saying: Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?

You might be thinking, ‘Yea, I know the story but what has that got to do with doves?’ Well, as it happens, Jonah’s name in Hebrew means ‘Dove’. So when we think of doves we think of the story of Jonah and the God of mercy who gives second chances.

The Lord gave Jonah a second chance and he gave Nineveh a second chance too. Just as he gives each of us a second and third and fourth chance. The Lord is slow to anger and rich in love.

Doves in the New Testament:

Today is Trinity Sunday, a week after Pentecost. One of the traditional readings for Trinity Sunday is the account of Jesus’ baptism. From Luke 3 we read…

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Many people see the Trinity (Father, Son & Spirit) depicted in this narrative, with the voice from heaven being that of God the Father.

We might also see in this passage a picture of heaven coming to earth, a kind of glimpse of the future, when God’s kingdom is realized in its fullness. As the Lord taught us to pray: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The other thing that is happening in Christ’s baptism is that Jesus is representing the human race. You see, Jesus is without sin and so he does not need to be baptized for himself. Jesus is being baptized for us. He is identifying with human beings and representing humanity to God.

This means the baptism of Jesus is not only a picture of the communion of the Father, Son & Spirit; it is also a picture of the communion (or holy intimacy) that we (who belong to Christ) will enjoy with God, when Jesus returns and heaven comes to earth.

In other words, the Trinity are not having their own private huddle in Luke 3. At Jesus’ baptism, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are having an intimate moment with humanity, in Christ. In and through Jesus, humanity gets to participate in the Trinity.

When the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, he was also descending on all those who are in Christ. Likewise, when we are baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we become God’s sons and daughters, his family. The Father loves you and is pleased with you.

It is a curious thing that Luke only allows two verses to describe Jesus’ baptism. Given the importance of the event we might have expected a whole chapter at least. But we get just a brief glimpse. Sometimes less is more.

The Holy Spirit could have descended on Jesus in any form. A bear, a lion, a stag, a waterfall, tongues of fire or some kind of mysterious symbol. Yet the Spirit chose the form of a dove on this occasion. Why? Because the dove is like a master key unlocking the meaning of what Jesus came to do.  

For those who are familiar with the Old Testament, the mention of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove, immediately evokes all the images we might associate with doves from the rest of the Bible.

To begin with, Jesus is like Noah. Or more accurately, Noah points to Christ. Noah and Jesus were both carpenters. Noah and Jesus were both righteous. Noah and Jesus were both instrumental in the salvation of the world.

To be ‘in Christ’ is like being in the ark of salvation that Jesus built. In and through Jesus, God is bringing about a new creation, a fresh start for everything God made, not just human beings.

Although Noah points to Christ, Jesus is greater than Noah. Jesus brings peace between God and humankind. Jesus calms the storm of judgement. Something Noah could not do.

Remember the way the dove landed on Noah’s hand. That speaks of the closeness and trust which characterizes our relationship with God through Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to trust Jesus and be close to him.

As we have heard, the meaning of the dove has even greater riches to share. Just as the dove was the chosen sacrifice of the poor, so too Jesus is our atoning sacrifice restoring our relationship with God. Jesus is good news to rich and poor alike, because Jesus takes away the sin of the world.

The picture of the dove descending on Jesus, together with heavenly words of love and affection, reminds us too of the Song of Songs, the greatest love song ever written. Jesus is the word of God. He is God’s love song to the world.

How beautiful you are, my darling. Your eyes are doves. My dove, my perfect one, is unique. When Jesus looks at you, he sees your beauty, he sees the best in you. You might focus on your own flaws and imperfections. Jesus sees that too but not with the look of disdain or contempt. Jesus understands you are a work in progress and he sees you as you will be one day, flawless, perfect, unique.  

Then there is the image of doves crying, moaning and mourning. Jesus is the man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and he wept over Jerusalem. Jesus weeps for the world today too. He understands your pain, your loss, your loneliness.

The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  

Jonah, whose name means dove, points to Jesus. Both Jonah and Jesus slept in a boat during a storm. Jonah was three days in the belly of a fish, while Jesus was three days in the tomb. And both were prophets sent with a message of repentance to a world in need of God’s mercy.

Jonah is not like Jesus in every way though. Jesus was quicker to obey God.

Not that Jesus’ obedience came easy. Jesus struggled in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood as he reconciled himself to God’s will in going to the cross. Not my will, Father, but your will be done.

There is one other connection with the dove that we haven’t mentioned yet. Sometime after his baptism, in Matthew 10, Jesus says to his disciples…

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.

A dove is innocent in the sense that it is harmless. A dove is not a violent bird. It is not a bird which preys on other animals in order to survive. Therefore, in the context of Matthew 10, the followers of Jesus are to be like doves and do no harm, just as Jesus did no harm.

But in the context of Luke 3, where Jesus is representing the human race and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove, the message is twofold…

Firstly, God means us no harm. God intends good for us. The Lord, the holy one, comes gently and without violence, like a dove.

Secondly, Jesus is innocent, not guilty of sin. Which means that all those who are in Christ, are also innocent.   

Conclusion:

Love, beauty, peace, a new creation, a fresh start, sacrifice, the calm after the storm, the pain of mourning, a second chance, mercy and innocence. These are what the Bible associates with doves and these are fulfilled in Christ.

May the Spirit of Jesus fill you and guide you. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Do you like birds? If so, what is it you like about them? If not, what don’t you like? What is your favourite bird and why? What is your least favourite bird and why?
  • Before hearing this sermon, what did you associate with doves?
  • Discuss / reflect on each of the various images associated with doves in the Old Testament. For example, peace after the storm, sacrifice, love, beauty, Jonah, new creation, etc. Which of these images / ideas speaks most strongly to you? 
  • Thinking of Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22, what light does the dove imagery shed on Jesus’ purpose/mission?
  • Why did Jesus get baptised? What is the significance of Jesus’ baptism for those who are in Christ?