Jesus the Ladder

In Genesis 28, we catch up with Jacob as he is fleeing for his life. To say he’s been a bit of a naughty boy would be an understatement and his brother Esau (possibly along with a few others) are wanting to kill him.

As the sun had set Jacob stopped for the night and found a flat stone he could use as a pillow before settling down to sleep. And he dreamed that famous dream we refer to as Jacob’s Ladder of a great ladder with its top in heaven and its feet on earth. Angels were going up and down the ladder which reassured Jacob that God was closer than he had realised and that there was interaction between earth and heaven.

It is often asked why we look up at our sky to point our eyes towards heaven and why we think of it being above us. It is imagery such as this which feeds our perception of a literal higher plane as opposed to a metaphorical upness.

As is made clear in John’s Gospel, Jesus is the access to heaven. He is how people can go to heaven and how heaven can come down to people. Jesus is the ladder Jacob saw in his dream.

John 1:51 says “And He said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man’.”

Jesus is the way to heaven, He doesn’t just show us the way, He is the way. As He said, recorded in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

God appeared to Jacob introducing Himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac and repeats to Jacob the terms of the covenant given to Abraham, Isaac, and now to Jacob. God gave Jacob the promise of land and descendants but He also promised that He would be with Jacob, protecting him, until all these promises had been fulfilled. God continues to work until His work is complete in His people. God’s blessing and faithfulness to Jacob can be seen in the several ways that His presence was described in Jacob’s life. Jacob woke and declared “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.”

Jacob therefore renamed the place Bethel meaning House of God. So if you ever wondered what Bethel meant when you see or hear of a Bethel Church now you know.

He was correct in sensing the presence of the Lord but mistaken if he had thought that God was in some places and not others. God is everywhere – as David clearly understood from his words in Psalm 139.

During his dream, Jacob did not use the ‘stairway to heaven’; instead God spoke to Jacob where he was, demonstrating God’s immanent presence. He is not a faraway removed God calling long-distance but an indwelling God right here with us.

This encounter comes completely from God breaking into Jacob’s sleep state bringing a break to his anxious fleeing. At this vulnerable point in Jacob’s life, God emphasizes that He is not only the God of the first and second generation but also the God of Jacob. The reiteration of God’s promise also serves as a powerful reminder that Jacob’s life should not be governed by self-interest but by becoming a channel of God’s blessing to others.

When Jacob wakes from his dream he is a totally changed man and makes a vow showing his commitment to God.

This is the same Jacob who later would be called Israel and whose sons become the start of the twelve tribes of Israel.

From little acorns (or little dreams) great things grow.

Which leads us to Matthew 13 starting at verse 24, a passage which addresses the evil among us, God’s patience and the separation of believers and unbelievers at the end of the age.

The devil places a corrupt presence amongst innocents or in more generalised parlance unbelievers amongst believers. They look like genuine believers and we can get it wrong and mix them up. Only God knows and can tell the difference.

The weeds or tares look just like the wheat until the ears are fully formed and it is ready for harvesting. This is why, to preserve and protect the true wheat, the tares are not separated out until the harvest. This prevents the wrong ones being destroyed when the tares are ripped out and burnt.

Whilst there are similarities between this parable and the parable of the sower from last week, what each element represents and the point of the parables are different. Last week’s parable showed how people receive and respond to the Word of God; whereas this week shows how God will divide His true people from false believers at the end of this age.

The field represents the entire world within which there is good seed representing the true believers and weeds or tares representing unbelievers.

Make no mistake – by unbelievers we don’t mean those who are currently unbelievers but who will believe – they are wheat which is still developing their ears. No, we are talking about the end of the age when it is time for God’s harvest and those who are false believers, unbelieving or counterfeits who have been put there by the enemy – the devil – to try and corrupt true believers.

It is interesting how many ‘children’s stories’ are great works of theology. In 1883, The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald was published. George MacDonald was a Scottish writer, theologian and preacher, a mentor for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and a profound influence on J R Tolkien and C S Lewis. In this story, Curdie is given the ability that when he holds someone’s hand he can feel what it’s like on the inside – or how God sees them. Hands that look elegant and beautiful are cold, clammy, rough and coarse. Others, despite looking rough and deformed, are beautiful.

Or take Beauty and the Beast. Handsome Gaston is horrific on the inside whereas the terrifying Beast has beauty deep within. Or, of course, the Empress Jadis from C S Lewis’s Magician’s Nephew, who later becomes The White Witch. Digory reflects that “in all his life he had never known a woman so beautiful…” and yet within she was arrogant, callous and cruel.

It is not our job to weed them out but God’s. We are not to separate the good from the bad because we can only see what people are like now. We cannot see what they will become and we cannot see what is written in their hearts.

Our job is to shine forth hope, to proclaim the Word of life, to speak of the love and forgiveness God has for us, of the power to change and the hope He gives us.

The reapers are the angels and will be sent out by Jesus the Son of Man.

There are two different paths and eternal destinies. A furnace of fire where the crop which came from the seeds of the devil will go and there is the radiant glory where the true believers shine forth as the sun.

The fire of the furnace will not destroy those thrown into it. Instead they will suffer a living torment with great woe, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The wheat comes into God’s barn from all over the world, from all classes of society and from all ages. Yet all have one thing in common. They were all sown by the Lord from the good seed of His Word.

Jacob’s dream of a ladder between heaven and earth

Commit and Live

“A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known.
What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

Not Peace, but a Sword “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10:24-39

The very first event recognizing fathers occurred on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia. Grace Golden Clayton organized a church service to honour 362 men who had died in the Monongah mining disaster a few months prior. Subsequently, after much lobbying, Father’s Day was created by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, in 1910 to recognise her single Civil War veteran father who raised and cared for her and her five siblings after their mother died in childbirth.

On Father’s Day, we pause to honour the physical and spiritual fathers we have in our lives, which includes those who have to be both mother and father, and all that they have done. From Psalm 103 verse 13, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him”.

There are many aspects to the perceived role of fatherhood and there are different people who may fulfil this role for us. For some it is their Dad, for some their Mum, for some a Grandparent, for some a carer or a foster parent and for some a trusted mentor or friend. All these people are loved by those they love and care for and we thank God, our Almighty Father, for these people, for all they do and for the way they touch our lives.

Fear causes failure. Fear causes failure in discipleship.

Sometimes one of the harder jobs of a parental type role is having to tell us things that are tough to prepare us for what lies ahead.
Jesus is preparing His disciples for their mission and does not hide from them the threats they will come up against but He also explains why they must not let this fear control or hinder them.

The disciples are to undertake their mission in complete vulnerability and dependence on God; even though they will face arrests, beatings, opposition (including from family and friends), hatred and persecution.

Why tell the disciples the trials they will suffer? Wouldn’t this put them off the task assigned to them?

By warning them in advance, not only do the disciples have the opportunity to be prepared, but also saying aloud the suffering and trials to be faced is the first step to being freed from the grip of fear.

Jesus doesn’t just tell the disciples the worst case scenarios, He also gives reassurance and instructions to resist fear. The most important part of this reassurance is the relationship between the disciples and Jesus, and through Him God.

Jesus warns His disciples that the fate of the Master or Teacher also awaits their disciples and so the disciples should be ready to receive a similar response from the leaders of Israel that Jesus Himself receives and to have no fear of them.

Proclaiming and living the Gospel is the most powerful tool the disciples have against world powers.

Death threats can be a powerful way of controlling people through fear. Whilst humans try to use this power, Jesus reassures the disciples that humans only have power to destroy the body, not the whole person. Only God can destroy both soul and body. However, God is not like human rulers. God has ultimate power over our whole being and exercises this power with mercy and love.

The call to discipleship has priority and is above all other claims on identity, allegiance, family and friends.

To take up our cross aligns the discipleship mission and fate with that of Jesus which can include humiliation, suffering, shame, opposition and death. It implies identification with marginal people who do not “find their lives in this world”. But it comes with the promise from Jesus that anyone who loses their life for Him will “find it” whereas those “finding their life in the world” will lose it.

Jesus shows us that the answer to fear includes recognising and naming it. Fear of the unknown or unacknowledged is a far greater fear than the fear of the known and spoken.

We need to be honest and transparent in recognising the elements of human power including those rooted in the threat of death and suffering. We need to be aware of the conflict and division that proclaiming and living the Gospel inevitably produces. We need deep awareness and conviction of God’s presence in the world in love, mercy and compassion.

Today’s society is guilty of having a lack of commitment and has left its cross on the side of the road.

Every organisation that relies on regular and committed volunteers – churches, Girl Guiding, Scouts to name just a couple – all are having trouble finding people to take on running these groups, to take on responsibility for the different elements that need doing, to run and to support events. People don’t mind making use of these various groups when it suits them but they will not commit to regular attendance, regular giving or taking on responsibility.

There are all kinds of reasons used and excuses given to explain this such as working hours or childcare but, whilst that does affect some, it most certainly does not affect everyone. What about the childless? The unemployed? The retired? Those with compatible working hours or who work part time? Those who do have the talents and time to take an active part but who won’t? And so forth.

People today would rather keep their interpretation of freedom, stay at home watching the television or surf the internet. People think less about being or don’t want to be part of something whether that be a cause, a group or community of believers (in anything) and think more about individual pleasure and activities. And we are all guilty.

Today, people are told to just do what they can and this encourages people to not put the effort in.

Jesus does not say that to us. He did not say it to the disciples. Instead He told a group of scared men that it required commitment and was going to be very tough. He told them this in no uncertain terms.

Did they decline – No
Did they give up – No
Did they say actually Jesus I don’t really feel like doing that today – No

What they did do was to rise to the challenge in total commitment to Jesus.

People, regardless of age, will be what society expects them to be. If a child is told they can’t do something then they start to believe they can’t do it and won’t even try. If you tell a child they can’t behave they won’t even try and the more they don’t – whether that is leaving rubbish on the floor, not putting things away, being rude causing damage, shooting catapults or any action that the adult considers misbehaviour. If they are constantly told they can’t behave they don’t.

Likewise, the more people are told not to overdo it or to be careful because they are frail or that they don’t need to then the less they do and the more fearful and frail they become.

We must train ourselves to take a risk and be willing to commit and do.

Jesus told His disciples not to be afraid, that they would be guided and protected, that they were precious to God and that even if their bodies or feelings got hurt no harm would come to their souls.

God’s love and protection surrounds and insulates us from the worst human powers and earthly life can throw at us. We might suffer as all typical humans suffer but we are precious to God, He holds us in His hand and keeps our souls safe. We can and will endure.

In a society that encourages lazy, self indulgent life on the sidelines it can be difficult to be as committed and courageous as those first Christians.

We must not be complacent. As the world is, it is easy to become. We must be on our guard always to ensure that the world does not drain us of our commitment to others and to God. We must resist the temptation to be lazy and uninvolved.

Like those first disciples, as Jesus’s followers we are all involved with each other, with God’s will for the world, with His command to spread the word, and to bring in the kingdom; and we must not let the siren call of selfishness and lack of commitment prevent that purpose.

The Shepherd and The Gatekeeper

Genesis 7, Acts 2:42ff, Psalm 23, 1 Peter 2:19ff, John 10:1-10

As is so often the case, whilst it might not initially seem like it, our Old Testament and New Testament readings go hand in hand.

Our Old Testament reading details the onset of The Great Flood; representing God’s righteous judgement on a corrupt world and His merciful salvation of Noah’s family.

Indeed, its key themes are the finality of God’s judgement when it comes and the Ark as a type of Christ – a place of absolute sanctuary, provided by God.

There is the invitation into safety: “Come into the Ark” – a final invitation to salvation, not merely survival but true salvation and sanctuary prepared by God. It is a promise of protection. When God sends judgement He also provides total shelter for His people.

God closed the door of the Ark signifying that the time of mercy and warnings has passed. It is a seal of safety for those who accepted God’s invitation and finality for those who remain outside.

Of course, there is also the obedience of Noah, like a sheep steered by a shepherd, who only entered the Ark once he was commanded, completing a long and difficult task of faith.

The Ark highlights a stark contrast between salvation for the obedient and judgement for the rebellious; mirroring the finality of Judgement Day.

In our New Testament readings we are like sheep who have gone astray. Jesus describes Himself as the Shepherd and the Gate for the sheep. Like the Ark, Jesus is concerned with keeping His people, His sheep, safe and cares deeply for them. Both Jesus and the Ark are protectors, gatekeepers and shepherds.

A shepherd tends, herds, feeds and guards their sheep.

Some denominations call their church leaders Pastors. Pastor is the Latin word for shepherd.

Shepherds lead sheep by building trust, using vocal cues, and employing protective, guiding techniques. Often they work in groups, working together to share the responsibilities.

Sometimes they lead the sheep from the front, such as leading them to pasture, breaking a trail, clearing danger, and demonstrating a safe path.

Sometimes the shepherd leads from behind to guide and protect the sheep from danger, keeping the flock together from the rear and allowing the fastest to go first to direct the herd’s overall movement. Herding the sheep instead of expecting them to follow.

By walking opposite to the flock, shepherds can push them into a new direction.

To contain or direct them, shepherds might walk along the side of the sheep, keeping full view of the flock.

Shepherds focus on providing security and nourishment, which ensures the sheep trust them enough to follow.

And, of course, there is the famous shepherd’s crook, which is used to guide, separate, or protect the sheep. The distinct hook at the end is used for managing, catching and guiding sheep by their necks or legs without causing injury. It is especially useful for catching lambs or holding a sheep in the pasture. The long handle is used to guide the sheep through the gates, separate, or steer them without getting close enough to scare/frighten them.

It also supports the shepherd, like a hiking pole, when travelling across rough, uneven or steep terrain.

The shepherd can also use the crook as a defensive weapon against predators to protect the flock or to shake fruit from high branches or to part thick undergrowth.

This highlights how deeply a good shepherd knows their sheep and how well they know their shepherd. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice. The shepherd brings security and life. Jesus as the Shepherd and Gatekeeper is the protector and provider, offering security and life, in direct contrast with the Pharisees or “thieves” who come to steal, kill and destroy.

The gate and the shepherd work together. The function of the gate is to keep the sheep together during the night, safe from predators. During the day the gate is opened so that the shepherd can guide the sheep to pasture. It is important to emphasise that the gate is not a gate of exclusion. It is not to keep out other sheep. Jesus said “I have other sheep that do not belong to this field. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” The gate is purely to guard against all that threatens the sheep.

Not only do the gate and shepherd work together but they are one and the same. Hence, Jesus using both in this teaching. Many get confused by this but it is simpler than it seems.

Let me tell you about an Arab shepherd. This shepherd was not a christian and did not know the Bible. But he did know his sheep and was showing off his flock to a scholar, and also showed off the penned area where his sheep slept every night. “And when they go in there” the shepherd said proudly, “they are perfectly safe”.

But then the scholar noticed something and said, “Your sheep sleep in that pen and yet I notice that the pen does not have a gate on it”.

“Yes that’s right,” the shepherd replied, “I am the gate”.

“What do you mean?” the man asked.

“After my sheep are in the pen, I lay my body across the opening. No sheep will step over me and no wolf can get in without getting past me first. I am the gate.”

The other interesting part of this passage from John is verse 6: “This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

There are many shepherds in the Old Testament, Moses, Rachel, David are just a few. Shepherding was a common job at the time. In addition, the shepherd/sheep metaphors are used over and over again throughout the Old Testament. Yet, despite this, the Pharisees, the people who claimed to be experts in the Old Testament, didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about. They did not understand because they did not believe.

The role of the good shepherd is to take care of the sheep, to protect the sheep, to lay down their life for the sheep and to love the sheep. There is no better metaphor to describe the nature of Jesus’s bond with His people. He is a gentle shepherd who leads His sheep.

On the other hand, Jesus is calling the Pharisees “bad shepherds”. They were the very people who were supposed to spiritually nourish and protect the people of God and yet they were leading the people astray. Jesus was comparing these false teachers to thieves, robbers and strangers. He is saying that His sheep, the sheep of the true shepherd will not be controlled by the pharisees.

Jesus is saying, just in a different way, the same thing that He says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Enter salvation through the Jesus Gate. Be a Jesus Sheep, in the sanctuary of the Ark, tended, herded, fed, cared for and guarded by the Jesus Shepherd; and receive abundant everlasting life, green pastures, still waters, peace and joy.

Shepherding Sheep (Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com)

The Spirit Of God

The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and the Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God.

This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the ‘Spirit’ of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him. He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something ‘out there’, in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing by your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you. Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and the Son.
C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

Today¹ we are celebrating the feast of Pentecost. A regular feature of Pentecost tends to be a talk based on the Acts reading, Joel’s prophecy and tongues of fire.

And so, I am going to talk about our Gospel reading from John; where Jesus us reassuring the disciples that this is not the end of their relationship with Him. They would not be abandoned or left helpless as Jesus was going to the Father to send the Holy Spirit to be with them … and us.

Jesus said, “Believe in God, believe also in me”. This is a fundamental relationship of trust.

Jesus graciously left the gift of His peace. He said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you”.

True peace is not derived from circumstances, people or things; true peace is derived from Jesus. His peace is peculiarly His to give as He purchased it with His precious blood. Jesus was the substitution for a perishing world. Jesus was commissioned to bring peace to mankind.

Jesus is The Way!

To know Jesus is to know both the way and the destination, which is communion with the Father. In order to complete His atonement for our sin Jesus had to leave and return to the Father. But Jesus leaving is linked to the role of the Holy Spirit – the Helper Jesus had referred to previously.

Jesus was returning to the Father to prepare a place for us.

Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life!

Jesus in His life, ministry, actions, everything that He did showed us GOd. Now it is time for Him to return to the Father, He promises the companionship of the Holy Spirit so that the disciples, and us, will be able to continue in Jesus’s way of doing things.

We can only understand and know the Holy Spirit if we know and understand the unity of the other two Persons of the Trinity – the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is often thought of as this bond of love between Father and Son.

Jesus describes the Holy Spirit a “another Advocate to be with you forever”. The love of the Father and His desire to be reconciled with His creation is what led to Jesus’s incarnation in the first place and is the reason for God sending the Spirit to us; God is our Advocate – the one who is by our side, no matter what, no matter which persona of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) it is.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and will be in us – not just by our side.

This Spirit is in us, united with us, the way the Father and the Son are united in each other. This bond with the Spirit enables the Spirit to be our guide in life just as Jesus did the will of God His Father.

The Holy Spirit is our guiding light – our tongue of fire – if the Spirit dwells in us.

But because it is the guiding light for those in whom it dwells, the world cannot receive the Spirit. The world refuses to see the Spirit of Truth alongside them, tapping them on the shoulder with a call to repentance. They do not want to return to being God’s original and beautiful masterpiece. They only see their own gain and not the loveliness of God.

If we can see it in Jesus, if we can see that the Holy Spirit is by our side and in our lives. If we can recognise the real truth and call upon our God to help us do the things He would have us do, then we will know the presence of God within us and His guiding light before us – our tongue of Spirit fire.

8th June 2025 ↩︎