The Big Kafuffle

Leviticus 10:8-11 The Message

8GOD instructed Aaron, 9"When you enter the Tent of Meeting, don't drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons, lest you die. This is a fixed rule down through the generations. 10Distinguish between the holy and the common, between the ritually clean and unclean. 11Teach the People of Israel all the decrees that GOD has spoken to them through Moses."

Leviticus 10:16-20 The Message

16When Moses looked into the matter of the goat of the Absolution-Offering, he found that it had been burned up. He became angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's remaining sons, and asked, 17"Why didn't you eat the Absolution-Offering in the Holy Place since it is most holy? The offering was given to you for taking away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before GOD. 18Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the Sanctuary as I commanded."

19Aaron replied to Moses, "Look. They sacrificed their Absolution-Offering and Whole-Burnt-Offering before GOD today, and you see what has happened to me--I've lost two sons. Do you think GOD would have been pleased if I had gone ahead and eaten the Absolution-Offering today?"

20When Moses heard this response, he accepted it.

It’s somewhat mind-boggling to witness what just happened here when only a few chapters earlier we saw Aaron and his sons present a pleasing sacrifice unto the Lord, playing their part in helping people catch a glimpse of the glory of God.

Just what kind of God do we serve?

In so many ways, I’m so glad that life is a journey, and the spiritual pilgrimage is no exception. Our minds are renewed daily, and we progressively discover more about God, our world, our lives and our purpose – slowly if not surely. And while it appears to confound our senses, one significant part of this growing process is wrestling with the things that we understand not. Like Abraham did when he boldly stood before the Lord and questioned Him(Gen 18:20ff); like Jacob did as he wrestled with the Lord till daybreak and promised to bless him; like David who in honesty of heart ranted and raved at God through the Psalms; and like Job who cried out to God in anguish and bewilderment when tragedy befell him in the blink of an eye.

I am trusting that the Lord will lead me down His paths of righteousness as I seek the counsel of His Word through His Spirit that enlightens our hearts. In the moments when I know not how to discern good from evil, when I know not how to distinguish right from wrong, I pray that His grace shall be sufficient for me and His strength be made perfect in my weakness. Like Aaron and his sons, I too desire to be a priest that knows how to do things right, not in the legal, hyper-religious sense, but with a heart that simply desires to offer a sacrifice that is a pleasing fragrance unto the Lord.

It is my hope that I may keep an open mind as I receive the ‘fixed rules’ that have been passed down through the generations – willing to try and understand the meaning and purpose behind them – and being careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Moreover, I note with much intrigue Moses and Aaron’s exchange at the end of Leviticus 10. Moses as patriarch to the Israelites had been further infuriated by Aaron’s sons who appeared to have flouted God’s commands. Yet, we see in this instance Aaron intervening on behalf of his sons, explaining to Moses that he might take a very different view on things if he took into consideration the grief they must be going through after all that had happened. And upon hearing Aaron’s response, Moses accepted it.

I am reminded that it is mercy and not sacrifice that God desires. More than religion, we must know God, and understand who He is and what He is about before we may correctly appropriate His Word and adhere to the ‘fixed rules’ passed down through the generations. It is the law of grace and love that we are under, and may that transcend all our failings as we offer our hearts to Him.

This Sanctuary

Exodus 25:1-9 The Message

1GOD spoke to Moses: 2"Tell the Israelites that they are to set aside offerings for me. Receive the offerings from everyone who is willing to give. 3These are the offerings I want you to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; 4blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats' hair; 5tanned rams' skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; 6lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; 7onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. 8Let them construct a Sanctuary for me so that I can live among them. 9You are to construct it following the plans I've given you, the design for The Dwelling and the design for all its furnishings.

There’s something so beautiful about this picture. The willing offering of a people who would stop at giving nothing but the best – of gold, fine linen, incense, precious stones and more; making space for a Sanctuary that would have God dwell among them. In moments of desperation and need, we often turn our cries heavenward in earnest, praying for the assuring presence of our comforter, Emmanuel ‘God-is-with-us’. Yet, in doing so, we have assumed that between the heavens and the earth lies a great divide of which God is on one side and we the other.

Yahweh, I am reminded, has always – and shall always be a personal God. Right from Creation, we bear the image of a God who because of His great love gave His most beloved children the autonomy to choose if they would receive His love and respond in return. And as we were expelled from Eden, we had a God who remained faithful to us even in our rebellion. Through the generations, He journeyed with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He raised up Judges time and again to deliver Israel from their enemies. He established David as His representative, and He sought to speak to His chosen people through the Prophets. And when all else failed, He sent His Son to bridge that great divide we had drawn between us and Him when we hearkened to the Serpent’s devilish tales of deceit and bit into the cursed fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

It is with a heart of thanksgiving and praise that I come to understand that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. The greatest divide that we may draw is the same one that we see in the story played out in Eden. Compelled by the same love that we saw in the beginning, we too must make the choice to draw near to Him or not. God desires a willing offering from His people – a people who would choose to make space for Him in their lives – and we may be confident that He would surely dwell among us if we do so.

I’m in a season where I’m still learning how to move from mere rhetoric to a faith expressed through every facet of my life. I suspect most people my age would find themselves feeling like a schizophrenic as they wrestle with questions of their destiny, identity, purpose and worth – and when enough pressure has been exerted in one direction or another, we make a choice either to walk the tight-rope of faith or abandon it altogether. There is no doubt about it, for market-place pressures are real, and how many of us can honestly say that we have made our way through the labyrinth of the concrete jungle without a scar here or a scratch there; and without having lost our innocence in the dangerously enchanting woods out there?

But if I should have any chance of survival at all, then I must at least remember that a life without the presence of His Sanctuary is surely suicide. I can only pray that I may know what of my possessions I must willingly give in order that His presence may be able to dwell in my midst. As for now, I recommit this choice that I have made: Emmanuel, dwell with me – I choose you.

Foolish Games

Luke 22:54-62 The Message

54Arresting Jesus, they marched him off and took him into the house of the Chief Priest. Peter followed, but at a safe distance. 55In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. 56One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, "This man was with him!"

57He denied it, "Woman, I don't even know him."

58A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, "You're one of them."

But Peter denied it: "Man, I am not."

59About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got "Galilean' written all over him."

60Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. 61Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." 62He went out and cried and cried and cried.

We must’ve all once known what it was like to be caught by our own blissful ignorance, puffed-up arrogance and foolish pride. The Master’s piercing gaze caught Peter right at this moment, and he remembered his bold proclamations of loyalty and love to Jesus.

Yet, I notice that it wasn’t Jesus’ heart that broke, but Peter’s own. I suppose Jesus is never quite sorry for the mistakes that we have committed or the stumbles that we experience along the way. Taking it in His stride, He perhaps knows better than we do ourselves, that it is through times of testing where we fail the test miserably that we become aware of our sin and weaknesses, learn His truths irrevocably well, and emerge from the dust and ashes refined to become a little more like Christ.

An image that has captured me is the one of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. ‘Pray that you won’t give in to temptation,’ He instructed His disciples (Luke 22:39-40). We don’t have to pretend to be stoic before God our Father in the face of testing and temptation. We may be honest before Him presenting our prayers, petitions – our weaknesses and desires – before Him. Jesus Himself prayed to the Father for the cup to be removed from Him. In the same breath, He also prayed to God for help in times of weakness, ‘But please, let not my will but Yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). And at once, an angel from heaven was at His side, strengthening Him (Luke 22:43).

Many times we think we have to pray what we think God wants to hear. Take your cue from the Psalmists and lay your heart bare before Him. With the blood of Christ covering us in His cloak of righteousness, we no longer have to hide behind the bushes as God comes walking past. We are no longer naked – and there is no more need to be ashamed.

I Can Only Imagine

Luke 5:1-11 The Message

1Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. 2He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. 3He climbed into the boat that was Simon's and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.

4When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch."

5Simon said, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I'll let out the nets." 6It was no sooner said than done--a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. 7They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.

8Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. "Master, leave. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself." 9When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. 10It was the same with James and John, Zebedee's sons, coworkers with Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "There is nothing to fear. From now on you'll be fishing for men and women." 11They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.

There is something about Simon’s first glimpse of Jesus’ glory that touches me deeply. Perhaps this is my first lesson in understanding the heart of worship – that it cannot be forced, that it cannot be elicited through artificial means, but only when we are awash with an overwhelming awe of His glory.

Although never quite an adequate parallel – but sufficient to get my point across – I guess we can say that worship is like the time when we reach the climax of a movie and find ourselves rooted in our seats with our eyes burning with hot tears (most often hoping that no one can see us respond this way in spite of ourselves), thoroughly moved by the poignancy of the moment as we behold the lives of the central characters and their acts of love, heroism and sacrifice.

In one simple act, everything was put into perspective as Simon Peter beheld the power, sovereignty and holiness of God, which drove him to his knees to plead that he be separated from something or Someone so much bigger than himself: ‘Master, leave,’ said Simon, ‘I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.’ (Luke 5:8) Yet in the same breath, Jesus stood between what seemed like the great eternal divide between a Holy God and a Fallen Humanity as He said to Simon, ‘There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.’ (Luke 5:9)

I am reminded of the words of MercyMe’s I Can Only Imagine:

I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus?
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence?
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Halelluja?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when that day comes
And I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus?
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence?
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus?
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence?
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine


In my sin, I find grace in the One who has stood and continually stands in the gap of the great eternal divide. Surrounded by His glory, what will me heart feel? Will I dance for my Jesus? Or in awe of Him be still? Will I stand in His presence? Or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine.

I can only imagine when all I will do is forever, forever worship You.

Christmas 2005

I walked away from the Christmas Service at Orchard Road Presbyterian Church (ORPC) with a full heart – a wellspring of life that I knew I was to draw from and ruminate upon in the days to come. Questions about who I was, who I am to become, what I am about and where I am to be headed were amongst the many things that I had felt the finger of God gently poking and prodding.

Perhaps it was the hallowed halls of the church that stilled my heart and hushed my soul into quiet contemplation. Or maybe it was due to the fact that I was a stranger in a foreign land stripped bare from the distractions of human agency, the confidence of my ‘know-how’ and the hustle and bustle of community living.

But what I found most precious, was the Spirit of Christ embedded and embodied in the Presbyterian Church’s rituals and traditions that had lost none of its virtue despite the passage of time or antiquity. I was captured and riveted to my seat in an atmosphere of reverent worship of Elohim as we beheld His holiness.

Yet, I was at the same time embarrassingly exposed. I was well aware of just how far I had drifted in the past year from a centeredness in Christ that I once knew so well. While it was tempting in that fleeting instant to decide that I should perhaps retreat to the caves to live a life of solitude, my motivation was quickly tempered by Christ’s injunction to be in the world but not of it.

I don’t think I’ve ever realised the magnitude of its implications heretofore. The year ahead would require a big leap of faith as I step out to engage the world in its gruesome reality and brace myself to test Chesterton’s convictions that Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.

I now laugh at my blasé ignorance when I submitted my application for the Graduate-Diploma in Journalism at RMIT. I had thought rather matter-of-factly that I would face no obstacle with the qualifications and (limited) experience under my belt. It was just another thing I could do, I thought. And in a macabre sort of way, I have the rigorous application process to thank for putting my ego in check as I took more than a moment to consider the posture of my heart and the state of my being.

Suffice it is to say that I now approach this whole deal with ‘fear and trembling’. Stories like Nguyen van Tuong’s blown up across the entire Australian media sparking public furore has awakened me to the reality that the media are the information gatekeepers of our world – making and breaking stories with the sleight of their hand – influencing the topic and sentiment of our culture’s conversation.

That said, perhaps we ought to begin ascribing the same kind of respect and honour to journalists, reporters and newscasters in the same way that we do for doctors, teachers and scientists. We do right to sift and filter the information that we receive daily through various channels, but we would do better if we start becoming more aware of who the gatekeepers of our information are, for it is they who ultimately decide the type of messages that are being piped to our tubes.

I guess it is not enough that morals and ethics be taught in the classroom, but that we have the assurance of the character and integrity of the people who will be populating them. We all know how to pass a test in the classroom – but I fear that few would fare as well when market demands clash head on with public responsibility.

One can only imagine what the face of culture and society would look like if it were not shaped by those who hold a deep sense of faith, hope and love for our world, but by those who are hell-bent on plundering the world of all its riches.

This might just be the vocation to which I have been called. I have a year to find out. May the Lord lead me and guide me – the lamp unto my feet and the light unto my path. Amen.

Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth

I watched 'The Cult of a Suicide Bomber' on ABC Television last night. But more tan just the entertainment aspect of a 'human interest' story - the widespread suffering and hardship of innocent civilians - it also documented the deep-seated hatred between the Palestinians and the Israelies, as well as the uncompromising psilit between the Muslims and the Jews.

After witnessing streets littered with rubble, ashes as well as maimed and bloodied dismembered bodies, I think I understand better the full force of what Jesus was alluding to in the Beattitudes and the subsequent passages following that.

Indeed it is almost impossible for hte likes of the rich young rulers to enter into the kingdom of God - especially in the Western world in which we live in, insulated by the comforts of our possessions and enshrined in a culture of perfectionsim where all things are possible if only we tried hard enough.

A Jewish girl who was only a few steps away fromher sister when she got blown up in a suicide bombing attack remarked when asked if she could forgive her attackers, 'No. I will never forgive them. They killed my sister, they robbed me of my soul.'

I wonder if I'd be able to respond any differently. It is in times of crisis, of testing that our hearts are exposed - and we speak out of the abundance of our hearts. To embrace the way of the Cross then is built on the premise that I have understood Christ's work on the Cross as He bore the suffering and injustice - putting an end to the vicious cycle of eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Father in Heaven
Your name be hallowed
Your Kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us for our sins as we forgive
Those who have sinned against us
Lead us not into the place of testing
But deliver us from evil
For Yours is the Kingdom
The power and the glory forever
Amen

The Madmen & The Pigs

No sooner had Jesus and His disciples landed in the country of the Gadarenes that they were met by two madmen. These two madmen were just coming out of the cemetry. Victims of demons, they had terrorised the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore. (See Mt 8:28-34)er

I read with interest -- and surprise -- at the way the demons responded to Jesus. What a stark contrast to the inhabitants of Gaderenes! The demons recognised Jesus, and so seeing Jesus, the two madmen screamed, 'What business do You have giving us a hard time? You are the Son of God!' And when they saw a herd of pigs browsing and rooting in the distance, the evil spirits begged Jesus to kick them out of the men that they may dwell in the pigs. Crazed, the pigs stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned.

The inhabitants of Gadarenes having heard what had happened to the madmen and the pigs, were angry that Jesus had caused their pigs to drown. A mob was quickly formed demanding Jesus to depart with immediate effect and that He never return to their town again.

Matthew was a Jew and I think about the Jewish crowd that he had in mind as he collated and wrote thedse curious stories about Jesus. I think about the Roman centurion that was to be the vanguard of the many outsiders that would later find themselves seated at God's kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (cf Mt 8:5-12) And I think about the chosen people of Israel who were confused and aimless, like sheep without a shepherd and how Jesus' heart broke for them -- a people who were the firstfruit to the promise but who were still helplessly blind to the Kingdom that was already at hand and the arrival of their long awaited Messiah (Mt 9:35-38).

'First things first,' said Jesus to a disciple that requested leave that he may take care of his father's funeral, 'Your business is life, not death. Follow Me. Pursue Life.' (Mt 8:22)

Jesus' purpose on earth was to bring LIFE - not just physical life but an awakening of the spiritual man inside. He came to throw off intimidation, take away the sting of death and call us into submission to the Lord who cradles our entire life -- body and soul - in His hands (Mt 10:26-28). His purpose was not to make life cosy, but to cut through our cosy domestic arrangements and free us for God (Mt 10:34-39). He has come with the express purpose of HEALING those who were not just bodily bruised but inwardly tormented -- to invite outsiders, and not to coddle insiders (Mt 9:12-13).

The message of 'life' should give us much food for thought, especially the story of the madmen and the pigs. One would think that the inhabitants of Gadarenes would respond with joy and thanksgiving that the two madmen were no longer held bondage by the evil spirits and were now free in the freedom that God had intended for each one of us right from the beginning of creation. Rather, they were more concerned about their perishable posessions - preoccupied with counting the loss of their profit, their agriculture. Their eyes were so fixated upon looking after their own cosy domestic arrangements that they had forgotten to consider how the freedom of the madmen had also freed them to roam the parts of the land that they had previously found unsafe to trespass.

So what response whould this illicit for a non-Jew -- an outsider like me? I often wonder how I should approach the Scriptures without the privilege of the Jewish traditions that helped establish God as the centre of their lives. Should I seek then to recover and revisit these 'roots'?

But if the story of the Roman centurious is anything to go by, the strongest point of connection (though by no ways downplaying the rich spiritual life that the Jews enjoy) that anyone can have is through Christ -- His work, and His part in the Biblical Story. Perhaps that is why Jesus is such a stumbling block, not just to the Jews in His time, but also today: that our salvation should have nothing to do with our history or ancestry, whether we have been working in the fields all day or have come at the last hour. For whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free -- the road to salvation is open for all through grace by faith in Jesus. 'And those who grew up "in the faith" but had not faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened' (Mt 8:12).

Far be it then, that I may respond to the story of the madmen and the pigs with self-righteous indignation - but rather with 'fear and trembling'; knowing that it is nothing about me that earns me a position in the kingdom of God, but that it is because of grace that I may be an insider to His Kingdom and come to the knowledge of Him -- despite my Gentile roots, despite the fact that I may never understand Him in the same way as the Jews would understand God if they believed in Jeuss, despite the that I am still living my life entrenched in the pagan philosophies that I've grown up with in a society that is shaped by the principalities and powers of this world.

I respond with thanksgiving and gratefulness. Like the way Jesus instructed the leper, may I quietly present my healed body along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. May my cleansed and grateful life bear witness to what the Lord has done. Amen.