Kua rite katoa; haere mai (Everything is ready; come)
by Mark Whitfield
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Look, I have prepared my dinner … and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet (Matthew 22:4b).
Read Matthew 22:1–14
Our family is preparing for our daughter’s wedding early next year. There is something wonderful about getting ready for such a celebration – the invitations, the planning, the food, the service order and all the little details that need to be prepared. Then comes the moment when all the preparations are complete, and the guests are invited: ‘Come!’
That is the invitation Jesus places before you today.
It’s easy to imagine that before God can welcome you, you need to get your life in order. Perhaps you think you need to become a better Christian, overcome your failures, pray more, believe more strongly or somehow make yourself worthy of God.
But listen again to Jesus: ‘Everything is ready; come.’
The invitation begins not with what you have done, but with what God has done for you.
God has prepared the feast. In Jesus, he has dealt with your sin, carried your guilt and opened the way for you to live in his grace. You don’t have to make yourself worthy before you come. You don’t have to arrive with your life neatly sorted out.
You simply come.
In Māori, we hear the invitation: ‘Kua rite katoa; haere mai’, which means in English, ‘Everything is ready; come.’
Perhaps you need to hear those words personally today. Whatever you are carrying – your regrets, disappointments, doubts, weariness or sense that you have not done enough – Jesus invites you.
The invitation is not a demand to become someone different before God will love you. It’s an invitation to receive the love and grace God has already prepared for you in Christ.
So, come. Come as you are. Receive his forgiveness. Rest in his grace and rejoice in his love.
And having received this gracious invitation yourself, become someone who gladly says to others: ‘Everything is ready; come.’
Lord Jesus, thank you that everything is ready, not because I have earned it, but because you have prepared it for me. Help me to receive your grace, trust your promise, and rejoice in your invitation today. Amen.
Pastor Mark is a Kiwi and loves being pastor of St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) on New Zealand’s South Island. He is bishop emeritus of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand (LCNZ), has served on the LCA Commission on Worship and represents the LCNZ on the Roman Catholic–Lutheran Dialogue Commission. He is married to Leanne and is dad to Chelsea (and Tim), Brittany and Charlotte. A musician (organist, pianist, singer and composer), Mark also enjoys gardening, making people laugh and following sport, especially cricket and rugby. And when the opportunity arises, he loves eating rollmops on fresh bread with his father-in-law, Kevin.
Pursued by goodness and mercy
by Kathy Matuschka
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Sure goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long (Psalm 23:6).
Read Psalm 23
Sometimes (not always), my hospital chaplaincy conversations turn to matters of Christian faith, and the person I am visiting indicates they would like me to pray with them. It’s not unusual for the conversation to continue like this:
‘Shall I read from the Bible before we pray? Do you have a favourite text?’
‘Er ….’
‘How about Psalm 23 – The Lord is my Shepherd?’
‘(Big smile) Oh yes!’
I used to think that the frequent choice of Psalm 23 for funerals, as well as TV and movie depictions of church services, was a cliché. I imagined that people chose it because it was the only Scripture they knew.
But since I’ve been a hospital chaplain, I’ve become convinced that this choice comes from somewhere important and real. Maybe it comes from a connection with the faith of a loved parent or grandparent, or perhaps it expresses a faith that transcends organised religion for the person I’m sitting beside, or maybe they are a regular churchgoer. It doesn’t matter: Psalm 23 offers a map of real life and a statement of trust in God’s loving presence.
Psalm 23 levels the playing field: whether your faith is simple and earthy, or you have a PhD in theology, it’s like the manger: we come with nothing to give and everything to receive. I love the imagery in verse six above of goodness and mercy pursuing us. We like to think we can keep our eyes on the Shepherd ahead of us and simply follow, but in fact, we need training to stay on track. Like a sheepdog nipping at our heels, goodness and mercy chase us down again and again, drawing us to rest in God’s presence.
Dear loving Shepherd, you know what is on my heart and mind today. Please hem me in with your goodness and mercy, so that I can rest in your presence as I continue on my way. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
Where is the vineyard?
by Kathy Matuschka
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But the residents of the city were divided: some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles (Acts 14:4).
Read Acts 14:1–6
Every reading since Sunday has included (and even featured) a vineyard. Where is our vineyard today? The only organic elements seem to be people! And the people are in a muddle, to put it mildly. The community is not in a healthy way.
When Paul and Barnabas visited Pisidian Antioch during Paul’s first missionary journey, almost the entire city listened to them speak (Acts 13:44). While not all were converted, many Jews and Gentiles became followers of Jesus.
As they continued to Iconium in the same region, Paul and Barnabas were met with increasing opposition. While some locals were interested, others plotted to stone them. So they continued to Lystra, where they sadly were stoned!
As we read, we might wonder whether their mission to this region will bear fruit. But already in Acts 14:21,22, there is evidence of new shoots appearing: Paul and Barnabas returned to Iconium and encouraged those who had become followers of Jesus!
Later, Paul visited the region with Silas, and we read that one of the converts was Timothy, who joined them on their missionary journey. And so, the church grew.
It’s easy to judge the Jews who refused to recognise the coming of the Messiah and the fruit of God’s Spirit among them, resisting a new message from God to the point of violence.
But how often do we encounter division within Christian churches, between followers of Jesus? People feel passionately that either something needs to change or that it needs to remain unchanged. Each person believes themselves faithful to God’s word. Anxieties manifest themselves. Tensions increase as people choose sides. Judgements get made, and we hurt one another.
Dear God, thank you for planting me in the ‘vineyard’ where I am. Please forgive me for the times I judge my fellow believers harshly. Please help me to see the ways I inadvertently encourage misunderstanding or division in your church. Renew my heart and mind. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
Pruning season
by Kathy Matuschka
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He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit (John 15:2).
Read John 15:1–16
Yesterday, we finished our reflection imagining ourselves as fig trees in need of digging and fertilising so that we might bear more fruit. You don’t mind if we continue that train of thought, do you? (Ouch!)
Today, we zoom in to consider one plant in a vineyard. Jesus describes himself as the vine, and those who follow him as its branches. (Paul does something similar in Romans 11:17, when he refers to us Gentiles as wild olive branches grafted into a cultivated olive tree through Jesus Christ.)
The verse above has been very important at different times of my life. I first encountered its power as a young adult, when I wondered why serving God was not bringing me greater joy and satisfaction. I thought I was following Jesus, but I continued to struggle with depression, shame and self-doubt. What was going on?
One day, as I was reading this passage, I noticed that God cuts off branches that bear no fruit (I remembered that bit), but there was more! The branches that bear fruit are pruned so that they can bear more fruit. With the help of God’s Spirit, I saw I was being lovingly pruned so that I could bear more fruit. It still didn’t feel great, but what a comfort it was to know my loving Lord cared enough about me to personally intervene in ways that would enable me to become more fruitful!
This passage continually comforts me when pruning time comes around. I’m learning that pruning time is a time to be still. It’s not time to concern myself with how fruitful I am or where this is leading, but to rest in God’s wise and loving care.
Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to live with us and doing all the work so we can be connected to you forever. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for empowering us to grow in fruitfulness. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
This isn’t smelling great!
by Kathy Matuschka
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He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it’ (Luke 13:8).
Read Luke 13:6–9
So far this week, a vineyard has featured in every Bible reading. The vineyard has had a versatile role, covering the thriller (bad vineyard tenants), romance (Song of Solomon) and historical (return of the exiles from captivity) genres. Today, the vineyard plays a supporting role, with a fig tree taking centre stage in a parable.
The fig tree is planted in a vineyard. While it offers shade for the workers, it fails to produce fruit for the owner, who instructs his worker to cut it down. The worker begs for one more chance: he will dig around it and apply fertiliser. Then, if it still doesn’t fruit, they’ll cut it down.
The story’s context is that Jesus has just been teaching about the end times. Reflecting on recent tragedies, he assures his listeners that the people who died were not worse sinners than anyone else. Jesus challenges them to remember that death comes to everyone, and so they should repent (learn to see things God’s way) while they still can.
Like the vineyard worker, God is patient and merciful, but there is a hard deadline for them – and for us. The deadline is our common humanity: we all die.
Life and death are unpredictable. Death often comes suddenly. The drama of the fig tree is left in suspense: Will the tree bear fruit, or is it in its final year?
As Christians, we live with this suspense. We are not always confident about our fruitfulness. Sometimes God digs around our base, which leads us to feel wobbly and uncertain. Sometimes God allows something in our lives that doesn’t smell like it would be good for us (like fertiliser)!
Jesus urges us to repent. As individuals and communities, God’s Spirit calls us to see things in a way we haven’t before. So that we can produce fruit that we never imagined we could.
Dear God, thank you for your patience and mercy. Thank you for what you are doing in my heart right now. Please help me to bear good fruit. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
Settled
by Kathy Matuschka
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I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God (Amos 9:15).
Read Amos 9:13–15
Some of my ancestors settled in South Australia’s Barossa Valley – which is known for vineyards and winemaking – after they emigrated from what is now Germany. Unfortunately, the place they chose to settle, Hoffnungsthal (Valley of Hope), flooded, and so they moved elsewhere and started again. Generations later, my parents moved into the Barossa, so I grew up back where our families began their time in Australia.
The vineyards in today’s texts are described as fruitful, just as in the readings we heard yesterday and the day before. After all, a vineyard’s purpose is to produce grapes.
Today’s vineyards are so productive that the reapers are said to overtake the sowers – obviously an exaggeration intended to highlight the vineyards’ fruitfulness and the delight this brings.
But ultimately, there is something more wondrous than the vineyard’s productivity: its location. This vineyard is back home, in Israel! It fulfils Yahweh’s promise through the prophet Amos that although the Hebrew people will be taken into exile in a foreign land, they will later return. Both the people and their vineyards will be planted in their own land again.
Settled.
I grew up in a time of rich harvest for my denomination. As the daughter of Lutheran teachers, I witnessed the growth of Lutheran schools and the effort it took to achieve this growth! I viewed the mission harvest God gave us as normal because I had never known anything different. I felt settled.
Things have changed in more recent decades, and I have felt unsettled; I’m not sure where we are as a church now, and what the future might hold. My questions are being answered in the increasing number of stories of congregation members turning up to share God’s love in practical ways with new generations. Have you noticed it, too?
Loving Creator, because your dear Son Jesus rose from death, I am settled in you – forever. Through the power of your Spirit, I praise and thank you – forever. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
What are the names of your little foxes?
by Kathy Matuschka
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The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away (Song of Solomon 2:13).
Read Song of Solomon 2:10–15
Do you have some favourite places in nature? Do you recall happy memories of sharing special places with loved ones?
A vineyard provides the setting for our reading, as it did yesterday. But today, rather than being an object of power and control, this vineyard is an intimate place, highlighting the freshness and delight of new love.
When our hearts connect with another (whether romantically or platonically), the connection we feel seems enhanced by being in the beauty and simplicity of God’s creation. The author of our text today expresses their extreme delight in the fine spring weather, the appearance of flowers, the cooing of doves, the fruit of the fig trees and the blossoming of the vines. For those in love, it seems no one else has ever beheld the beauty of the earth in the way that they do!
The author goes on to speak about little foxes – little threats to the bliss God offers us within our human relationships. Left to grow, these ‘foxes’ can damage and even destroy our ability to connect with one another – even with those in whom we once delighted!
There are so many little foxes, but I’ll name a few. There is perfectionism: sometimes we get so carried away with creating a perfect experience that we forget to rest into what God has so abundantly provided without our assistance.
Perfectionism can be related to inadequacy: the little voice that tells us we are not enough as we are. It urges us to produce more and achieve more.
Then there are little foxes that cause division, like misunderstanding, judgement, unforgiveness and bitterness. Those are busy little foxes!
Do you know the names of your little foxes?
Loving God, you made me to enjoy relationship with you, others and myself. By your Spirit, please release me from the power of the little foxes that limit and harm those relationships in my life. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
That’s ridiculous!
by Kathy Matuschka
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Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son’ (Matthew 21:37).
Read Matthew 21:33–46
Jesus’ parables can be confusing, but this one seems straightforward, at least from our perspective as Christians. There seems to be an obvious, one-to-one correlation between the story as Jesus told it and God’s salvation story, as many of us have been taught all our lives.
The vineyard owner (God) established a vineyard complete with a fence and a tower (abundance). When the vineyard was under threat by bad tenants (the Jewish leaders at the time), the owner responded by first sending his servants (prophets), and then eventually his son (Jesus), to restore order (redemption).
But this story isn’t just a clever way of tricking the Jewish leaders into judging themselves, so that Jesus can ‘one-up’ them. It’s more than a shrewd response to their challenges to his authority.
This is an announcement – to all the powers of this world and beyond – of God’s ridiculous rescue plan for this world!
I mean, how ridiculous is it that the owner of the vineyard would send his son when the bad tenants have already killed his servants? Who would do that? A smart landowner would surely send an army and wipe out the opposition once and for all.
That’s how ridiculous God’s rescue plan was. And still is for us today. But unlike Jesus’ parable in our text today, God’s rescue story doesn’t end with the son being killed. God’s Son – our brother, Jesus – willingly became weak and vulnerable, and died … but then was raised from death. All praise and thanks to God!
Who would think that the creator of the universe, the author of all power, would act like that?
That’s ridiculous.
That’s love.
Amazing love! How can it be that you, my God, should die for me (Charles Wesley)? Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
Renew us; give us life (outsiders welcome)
by Peter Bean
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Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved (Psalm 80:7).
Peter’s paraphrase of Psalm 80:7: Renew us, Enabler of Life; your Presence bless us; give us life.
Read Psalm 80:7–15
This verse occurs three times in Psalm 80: verses 3, 7 and 19. That gives it some importance! The New Living Translation translates this verse as: ‘Turn us again to yourself, O God … Make your face shine down upon us.’
God takes the initiative. Whether we are close to God or far away! Whether we are born into a Christian family or come from a different situation! God takes the initiative!
The psalm talks about the various things that God has done for his people. But it also acknowledges that they have slipped away; they have forgotten the provision of life and all its benefits. So the prayer begins with: ‘Turn us again to yourself, or renew us; give us life.’
The writer recognises that only God can revitalise us; only God can turn us back; only God can give us life. And how does God do that? By becoming like us!
Ironic, isn’t it? We were made like God (Genesis 1:26,27). But to renew us, God becomes like us: The Word became human and made his home among us (John 1:14). The psalmist knows, as God does, that we cannot turn to God on our own. So, God becomes human. Jesus, the Christ, lives among us, experiences human life and begins the work of renewal.
Christ becomes the enabler of life as God’s face literally shines on people. God takes the initiative. If you are struggling, looking for hope or feeling lonely, pray for God to be present in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to turn you to Christ again. And be blessed. And experience life.
God, thank you for becoming like us, so that we could be like you. Renew us; give us life. Amen.
Spring has sprung. Flowers are displaying their colours; fruit is forming on the trees. There is new growth everywhere. As you observe this wonderful new life, may you revel in the new beginnings God offers you each day. As Peter continues to meander his way through the Book of Psalms, he invites you to read them anew and apply them to your life. If you would like his paraphrase of any psalm (from 1 to 120), send your request to pbean087@gmail.com