Give me Father, we thank you for this time of worship.
We thank you for what a blessing it is to be able to come and
worship the Almighty God. We thank you for all that you
provide for us Lord, and we thank you for the offering
that's been given. And in many different ways.
We thank you that you're the God who's blessed us in many, many
ways. And we thank you that we can
give our offering back to you. We pray it will be used in a way
that will give you honour and glory your wisdom to those that
distribute that, that you will be honoured through it.
We thank you for our Sunday School kids.
We thank you for the blessing of family.
We thank you for our parents of our Sunday School kids as they
seek to raise you up in your ways.
And Lord, we pray for them now our Sunday School and our ten
classes say go out and they are taught your word.
They challenged by it Lord and we pray that it will sink deep
into their heart. And Lord, we pray for each one
that they will come to know you as their own.
Lord and Saviour, we thank you for our Sunday School teachers
and those that that teach our children thank you for their
willingness to teach into the hearts of our young ones.
Lord, give them the words to say and with clarity for them we
ask. And father, we pray for Peter as
he brings the word of God to us this morning.
Lord, we thank you for the message that you've laid on his
hand. We thank you for the truth that
is your word. And Lord, we just pray that as
Peter shears that message and you'll give him clarity of
thought and, and bringing that message across.
And Father, we pray that our hearts will be open to hear what
you want to say to us, that it will challenge us, it will stir
us and Lord, it will grow us and bring us closer to you.
So this we pray and ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Good morning, everyone. And as Gavin Gav just mentioned,
I won't reiterate again, especially for those who are
here for the first time, that we're actually going through the
Gospel of Luke. And as Gav mentioned, we are in
Chapter 5 today and that's chapter 5, verse 33 to chapter
6, verse 11. And that's what we are going
through. This is the passage for today,
right? So just begin, just before we
begin the study today on the passage that I just mentioned,
I'd like to share a story of Jack and Jill right now.
Remember one thing, this Jack and Jill were a elderly couple
in their 70s. It's not the Jack and Jill went
up the hill to fetch a pail of water because this couple are
more likely to tumble down the hill and walk up the hill,
right? So it's about Jack and Jill are
elderly couple in their 70s. And of course, Jill was very
inquisitive, very inquisitive old lady who really wanted to
know or get to know and understand who this young
married couple that just moved in next door to her.
So, yeah, they're clothes properly.
So she would say every morning, just look at that, Jack, that
sheets are pretty dull. Their shirts look stained.
Someone should teach this young lady how to wash clothes and how
to wash them clean. So week after week after week
she was complaining and saying the same commands to Jack.
So then one morning when she got up, she looked as usual out of
the window, peered through the fence and to her surprise she
mentioned to Jack. Ohh, their laundry looks clean.
Finally. Clothes look really really
clean. She must have learned how to
wash her clothes. So what did Jack said?
Well, the husband replied quite gently, saying I woke up early
in the morning and I just cleaned out our windows, right?
And that's what he said. OK, Now the principle of the
story is about optics, right? It's about optics, the lens
through which we perceive and look at things.
So that is why I have Hitler. Today's message about the
optics, right? What is our optics?
Let's look at our passage. So keep that view in mind about
the optics. So let's look at Luke chapter 5
was 33 to chapter 6 verse 11, right?
Luke chapter 5 verse 33 to chapter 6 verse 11 and I'll read
this passage and it says here. Then they said to him, Why do
the disciples of John fast often and made prayers?
And likewise those are the Pharisees, but yours eat and
drink. And he said to them, Can you
make the friends or the bridegroom fast while the
bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the
bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will
fast in those days. Then he spoke a parable to them.
No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one.
Otherwise the new makes a tear and also the peace that was
taken out of the new does not match the old.
And no one puts new wine into all wine skin, or else a new
wine will burst the wine skin and be spilled, and the wine
skin will be ruined. But the new wine must be put
into new wine skin, and both are preserved.
And no one, having drunk all wine, immediately desires new,
for he says the old is better. Chapter 6 Now it happened on the
2nd, 7th after the first that he went through the grain fields
and his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them,
rubbing them in their hands. And one of the Pharisees said to
them, Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the 7th?
But Jesus answering them said have you not even read this?
What David did when he was hungry, he and those who were
with him, how he went into the House of God, took an aid the
showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not
lawful for any but the priests to eat, and is said to them, The
Son of man is also the Lord of the Sabbath.
Now it happened on another Sabbath also, that he entered
the synagogues and taught, and the man was there whose right
hand was withered. So the scribes and Pharisees
watched him closely whether he would heal on the Sabbath, and
they might find that they might find an accusation against him.
But he knew their thoughts. And he said to the man who had
the withered hand, Arise and stand here.
And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to him, I will
ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to
do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?
And when he had looked around at them all, he said to the man,
Stretch out your hand. And he did so, and his hand was
restored as whole as the other. But they were filled with rage
and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
So in today's message, we will be considering just two major
themes from this section. 1st, we will be examining or looking
at the lens of the Pharisees or the optics of the Pharisees.
And that's what we'll be looking at, right?
How did they view Jesus? What optics and what lens
through which they viewed alone? And 2nd, of course, the counter
lens that reveals who Christ is because Christ our Lord offered
that counter lens. So those are the two major
themes that we would be dealing with today.
So the first theme is the lens of the Pharisees and the lens of
the scribes. What is the optics or the lens
through which the Pharisees viewed the Lord?
Well, they're actually viewed the Lord through the lens of
conformity, and that's what I refer to, the lens of conformity
conforming to their treasured religious traditions.
Now, there are actually 3 incidents that are recorded or
mentioned in this particular passage, and we'll be looking at
those 3 incidents. One, of course, is fasting, and
the other two are about the 7th. And through these incidents, you
can see that the lens of the Pharisees come into play, The
optics of the Pharisees, the lens of conformity.
Let us consider fasting first, right?
So fasting was only commanded. By the way, if you look at the
Mosaic law in the Torah, it was only commanded at the Day of
Atonement. Of course, this is known as
young kippur, if you know the Jewish feast, the young kippur,
which happens after the the trumpet feast, the Feast of the
Trumpet. However, you can see that
fasting is recorded in the Scripture at other times where
people do faster Other times, at times of morning, they're fast.
At times of repentance, they're also fast.
And also in times of crisis or national emergency, the people
of Israel do fast. And of course harms records that
people do fast as a means of personal devotion.
But by the time that we come to the Lord's ministry on earth,
the fallacies actually started developing A structured fasting
practise. And that's what they did, a
structured fasting practise. So it became almost like a very
pious customs to the Pharisees and all the religious Jews and
those who embraced Judaism becomes a a pious custom where
they have to fast twice a week and usually on a Monday and on a
Thursday. So if you really look at loop,
for example in Luke chapter 18 verse 12, where you have this
proud Pharisees loudly proclaiming public saying I fast
twice a week. Now that was their custom
fasting twice a week, usually on Monday and Thursday.
So therefore the Pharisees view the actions of Christ through
this particular lens, the lens of conformity.
Why? Well, here is this man Christ
the Lord, right? He's a rabbi, but still he did
not require his disciples, nor did he himself follow these
religious practises that we have that has been passed down from
fathers to fathers in terms of his traditions.
And therefore hence he cannot be God.
He just cannot be God. And look at the question that
the fallacies asked in chapter 5 verse 2033.
Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers?
And likewise, those are the ferries, but yours eat and
drink. And it is through this lens of
conformity, as I said earlier, that they perceived the Lord.
And hence a common perception that arose amongst the Pharisees
is that the Lord is A1A glutton and a wine bibber.
Have you heard of that term in the Gospels?
Return to Matthew Chapter 11, verse 19, you can see that's a
term that arose. Ohh, he's a glutton, He's a wine
bibber. That is because the Law did not
practise this fasting that the Pharisees did.
Now let me deviate here to reconcile some of the accounts
that we see of the same thing in Matthew Chapter 9 verse 14, as
well as in the Gospel of Mark. Both in the Gospel of Matthew
and Mark you could see that the same incident is recorded in
Matthew Chapter 9. Verse 14 tells us.
This particular portion in Matthew tells us that the
disciples of John came to Jesus asking why do we and the
Pharisees fast often but you're disables do not fast.
So it was a disciples of John that came that isn't Mark.
Matthew Chapter 9 was 14 in March of the 12 was 8.
We can see that Mark recalls that both groups explicitly.
Both groups, the disciples as well as the Pharisees, were
involved in asking the question. So therefore it is plausible
that the disciples of John are the ones who raised the question
and the Pharisees reinforced it. But when you look at the book of
Luke, looks intention was to show the optics from the side of
the fallacies of the parasite side.
And that's the looks. That's what looks intention was.
Let's look at several observation which is another
practise amongst the Jews, the fallacies, the religious Jews.
Chapter 6, verses 1 to 11, gives us 2 incidents concerning the
Sabbath observation. Now Sabbath, by the way, was a
cultural script for the Jews. The Torah, which contains the
Mosaic Law, of course commands the Israelites to keep the
Sabbath day holy. However, it was not prescriptive
enough for the religious leaders.
So what they did was they came up with a list of prescriptive
list of things that are lawful and unlawful during the day of
the Sabbath. So for example, in the
traditions or in the Mishna, you could see that in the oral
traditions there were 39 categories of prohibited work,
all listed down, which of course included reaping and threshing.
So what did the Pharisees do? Well, they interpreted the
disciples plucking the grain and then drumming into their hands
in in order to eat it as reaping and threshing and hence
prohibited actions on Sabbath. There will also similar
prohibited work with regards to health treatment in the mist.
Now in the traditions you can see that life saving treatment
was permitted on 7 right and any other form of treatment was
prohibited if it's not life threatening.
And that was what they did at one as part of practise that was
prohibited or not. Now according to the Pharisees,
the man with the withered hand did not meet that threshold of
life, life threatening health issues and hence it was unlawful
to heal that man on the Sabbath day.
So because of such a lens that they had, such optics that they
had, they completely ignored A notable miracle that took place
that we read, of course, in chapter 6 from verses 1 to 11
right now. Let me therefore offer the
counter links. As I said earlier,
unfortunately, the lens of conformity through which the
Pharisees viewed the Lord blinded them to the reality of
who Christ is. So therefore the Lord offered a
countenance that reveals who He is.
He presents 2 realities of Himself.
And that's what we want to, or I want to talk about today, the
two realities that Christ presented, the counter realities
of who He is. The first real reality is that
He is the bridegroom and Luke chapter 5 verse 34 says this.
Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the
bridegroom is with them now? The Lord chose an imagery of joy
in the presence of the Bible group.
That is the majority that He chose.
There's a countenance that He chose, and it's not a time of
fasting, but a time of joy. Now such a description of who he
is was actually was not lost on the disciples of John the
Baptist who was actually involved in asking the question,
why do we fast? Why do the Pharisees fast but
your disciples do not? So they, it was not lost on them
because they are Rabbi John the Baptist testified to his
disciples of who Christ is, right?
And that is what John said to his disciples in John chapter 3
versus 28 to 29. You yourself bear with, bear me
witness that I said I am not the Christ, I'm not the Messiah, but
I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the
bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom
who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is
fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease. So John himself told his
disciple who the bridegroom is. So the Lord using the imagery of
the bedroom was not lost on the disciples of John who asked that
particular question. Now, when you look at this
imagery that the Lord used, the imagery of the bridegroom was
intentionally chosen by the Lord because it actually portrays the
reality of who He is. It speaks of a special
relationship. Right now, there is no
bridegroom without a bride. That'd be all right.
And there's no celebration without the friends of the bride
groom. Now, there are so many truths,
of course, that we can unpack, especially when you consider the
friends of the bridegroom, but that's not the intention.
Today, however, I like us to focus on the special
relationship between the bridegroom and the bride.
As I said, there's no imagery of the bridegroom without the
bride. And inverse 35 of Chapter 35 of
Chapter 5, the Lord was pointing to His imminent death or
impending death on the cross. Now it is through the finished
work of Rice on the Cross that this special relationship
between the bridegroom and the bride was birth right.
And through his death, we who have believed in Christ are
reckoned to have died with him. And through His resurrection we
have now been raised to a new life in Christ and withdrawn or
married to him. And that is what Romans Chapter
7 verse 14 says. I'll read that portion.
It says, therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the
law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to
another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should
bear fruit to God. So we who have trusted Christ as
our Saviour and our Lord, collectively we form the Church,
the body of Christ, and the church is pictured as the Bride
of Christ. So hence we are reckoned married
to him. So that's the imagery that the
Lord chose just to show the special relationship that the
Lord has with His bride. So through this imagery, the
Lord pointed to a new reality of who he is.
He is a bridegroom, has said he has a special relationship with
the bride. Now it is not therefore a
transactional relationship. It's not as transactional
relation. It's not about a quid quo pro
relationship based on a set of dos and set of Donuts.
And that was the problem of the lens of the fallacies.
Now just imagine a marriage. Just imagine a marriage where
the husband sets out a list of dos and donts for the wife.
Just imagine that, right? You shall bring breakfast to my
bed every morning and make sure that you make the cup of tea
exactly as I want, neither hot, not too hot, not too cold, but
exactly about 8 to 3.5°C. Every morning you shall pack a
meal for me to take to work and when I come back from work at
5:30, you shall be at the doorstep with a cup of tea to
welcome me. Now just imagine such a
relationship in marriage, a quick quid pro transactional
relationship. And if you do all of these
things, I will therefore accept you as my wife.
Now, that's not the relationship that we have with Christ, and
that's not what he was that he portrayed to the Pharisees and
the disciples of John. Rather, it's a transformational
relationship and that's what it is.
So efficient chapter 5, verse 25 actually elaborates on this
transforming relationship, a relationship built on love and
grace. So I'll read that portion to
you. Efficient Chapter 5 versus 25 to
27. Paul says this, husbands, love
your wife, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanser with the
washing of water by the word, that he might present her to
himself. A glorious church, a transformed
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that she should be wholly and without blemish.
Now this is the reality of who Christ is, and this reality,
unfortunately, cannot be understood through the lens of
conformity, the lens that the Pharisees head, the lens right.
The Pharisees viewed the Lord through all the religious
structures and practises, and because the law did not meet
those expectations, they concluded therefore He cannot be
of God. Now let me pause for a moment
and consider what all of these things actually mean for us
today. Now there may be seated here
some who are really seeking Christ, seeking to know the
Lord. You're not Christians yet, but
you're seeking. You're interested to know who
Christ is now. Through what lens or optics are
you seeking Christ? Do you seeking?
Do you seek Christ as a religious figure with a set of
commandments that you have to follow, with a set of practises
that you have to do in order to become a Christian?
Is that the lens through which you are seeking Christ?
There are others who actually call themselves Christians
seated here, but unfortunately you are not because you think
that your faith and you look at your faith actually through this
lens of conformity. Why?
Well, I come to church regularly.
I try not to miss every Sunday. I read the Bible.
I win the time permits. I shoot the prayer upwards.
I try my best not to sin. I speak the jargon of a
Christian and therefore I must be a Christian.
Surely God is pleased with me now.
Becoming Christian is not about conforming to a set of dos and
set of Donuts. Is not a such a transactional
relationship if if you think that that is the case, it's only
religion. It's not transactional.
Becoming a Christian is, as I mentioned earlier,
transformational, a new relationship between the bridge
and the bridegroom. It is accepting what Christ has
already done. There's nothing we can do.
It's accepting what He has done. The fact that he has died on the
cross, that he has paid the penalty for our sin and the sin
that has separated us from God. And when you believe that and
accepting him as your Saviour and Lord, then he translates
your, transforms you from darkness to life to newness of
life in Christ. Now this is the reality of who
Christ is, what He has done. So don't let the lens of
conformity cloud this reality. Now there are many here who have
actually genuinely trusted in Christ as their Saviour.
I can see the majority of you have done so.
You have been saved for many years and believe me, I have
been in this category. So I'm actually speaking through
experience, right? I'm speaking through experience.
However, what has happened is due to the business of life, you
have slipped into a a routine, what I call spiritual habits.
Right? Like clockwork, you get up in
the morning and you read the Bible and you said the time for
that, I read the Bible and I pray you attend church, you even
get involved in ministry. But over time these becomes
habitual practises and what has happened is you have developed
that implicit mindset or an optic that these are activities
of what pleases God and what puts you in proper standing with
him. And your relationship with God
unfortunately has slipped into being quite transactional.
A set of dos and a set of don't remember what the Lord told the
Church of Ephesus in Revelations.
Well, the Lord said your works are good, right?
You do all of these tremendous work.
However, I have one thing against you.
What is it? You have lost your first love.
Your relationship with me has become quite transactional.
Now, one thing you must understand and recognise when
you read through this passage that such an optics, a lens of
conformity cannot coexist with the transforming relationship
that we have with the Lord. And the Lord actually reiterates
this through two parables that he mentions in Luke chapter 5
versus 36 to 38, two parallels. So in verse 36, he talks about
the old garment, which is the religious system with all of its
traditions and practises. Then he talks about a new piece
of cloth, which is a new reality that we have in Christ, a
reality that is a transforming relationship.
Now, in this particular parable, these two things cannot coexist.
The Lord is not an addon or a patch, right?
And that's what the parable really means.
They cannot coexist. For example, it says that you
cannot take this new piece of cloth right and cut a piece to
it and then try to patch an old garment.
Because what happens is when this new cloth shrinks, it just
tears it away. It's not compatible, right?
That's compared well at all, and that is what the Lord is saying
here and Inverse 37 The new wine here depicts the life of a
transformed relationship that we have in Christ, the life of joy,
of power, of hope that we have in a transformed relationship
with Christ. Now such a life cannot be
contained within the fragile old wine skin of rigid rules,
regulations and traditions, right?
And when the new wine ferments, it just burst and destroys the
old wine skin. That's what it is.
These two things are not compatible.
They cannot Co exist. So are you.
Am I trying to fit Christ into our framework?
Are you allowing Christ our Lord to reshape, to reshape our lens,
to reshape our optics so that we understand that we have a
transformed relationship with him?
So that's the first reality that our Lord prisons to the
fantasies, right? A counter lens through through
whom? Or through through the lens that
they previously viewed, which is the lens of conformity.
The second reality is this, that he is the Son of man.
That's a second reality that Christ presence.
Now when asked by the Pharisees why his disciples are fucking
rubbing and then eating the grain on the Sabbath, this is
what the Lord said. This is the counter lens that it
presents a reality of who he is. He says in Luke chapter 6 verse
5, the Son of Man is also the Lord of the 7th.
The Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath.
Now this statement, the Son of Man appears quite a few times in
the gospel. It appears in Matthew chapter 12
verse 8 and Mark chapter 2 verse 28.
And this claim is quite extraordinary because it has
many layers to it. The statement the Son of Man is
also the author of seven has many layers.
So it's quite an extraordinary statement made by the Lord.
It unveils who cries his which the fallacies could not see
because of their optics. So the first statement, the Son
of Man. Now, how was this statement
interpreted by people? Perhaps to the ordinary Jews,
the statement may mean he's a human one, the Son of man.
However, to the Pharisees, to the religious Jews, this is
where the the Lord was having this conversation with the
religious Jews and he that's what he was intending.
So to the religious Jews, the Pharisees, the statement may
mean that a claim of Messiah ship.
And that is why it can be associated with Daniel Chapter 7
verses 13 to 14. Because in Daniel Chapter 7
verse 13, Daniel says, I was watching in the night vision and
behold one like the Son of man humming with the clouds of
heaven. Now that statement actually
refers to the Messiah. So to the Jews, to the religious
Jews, to the Pharisees, this statement, Son of Man, may mean
a claim to Masashi. Now to drive home the point that
he is indeed claiming Messiahship, the Lord adds
another layer to the state. When the Son of Man, and he says
this, the Son of Man, is also the Lord of the Sabbath, he adds
another statement. Now, by claiming lordship over
the Sabbath, he's actually claiming authority over Sabbath.
He's claiming the right to determine the meaning of the
Sabbath, is claiming the right to interpret the Sabbath, the
purpose of the Sabbath, and the proper use of the Sabbath.
That's what Lord of the Sabbath really means.
Now when you consider that the 7th was instituted by God in
creation, a claim of lordship over the seven is a claim of
deity. And so that is what the Lord
said. I am the Messiah, I am the
Christ, and I am God. The Son of Man is therefore the
Lord of the seven. No, that's a new reality of who
crisis, right? And that would have incensed the
Jews, incense or sorry, the Pharisees.
On another occasion where the conflict over the Sabbath
happen, it happened at the healing of the man with the
withered hand, and that we read in chapter 6.
And in that particular incident the Lord completely reorientated
the meaning of the 7th right. So we see an example of how He
claims lordship over the Sabbath, and He does so by
asking this question in chapter 6, verse 9.
Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save
or to save life, or to destroy it?
Now this statement by the Lord brings to 4 the moral nature and
the character of who God is. God desires mercy, He desires
good over all of the religious practises of the law.
We see for example in Josiah chapter 6 verse 6, as in the Old
Testament. For I desire mercy is what God
says, for I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
Not all of your religious practises and the knowledge of
God more than all of these burnt offerings and the optics of the
Pharisees blurred them from seeing the reality of who Christ
is. That he by nature is a loving
God. He by nature is a merciful God
desiring to do good and to save lives.
Whether it be the lives of the tax collectors that of course
Andrew Linton spoke about last week, right?
And whether it be the lives or the Samaritans who were
considered as half cast by the Jews, or whether it be the lives
or the Gentiles who considered or regarded as unclean, or even
the lives of the Pharisees who had this lens of conformity, He
looks on the leper with compassion.
I think Billy mentioned that two weeks before where he reached
out and touched the untouchable. Now that is our Lord.
As the lyrics of the song goes, He is a good, good God that who
are who are Lord is. Now let us pause and consider
the goodness of God the the lens, the counter lens that the
Lord wants to portray to the Pharisees.
First, the law is inherently good, as as Army says in Psalm
chapter 100 was 5 For the Lord is good, His steadfast love
endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Second, the Lord is universally good.
That's a common grace of God, universally good as seen in His
Providence for His creation and the created world.
In fact, the apostle Paul speaking to the people Listra
next chapter 14 verse 17 says this.
Nevertheless, He did not leave himself without witness in that
He did good. He gave us reign from heaven and
fruitful season, fulfilling our hearts with food and gladness.
That's a common good. The Lord is universally good.
Thirdly, the Lord is sacrificially good, and we see
that in His redemptive work. Lord himself says in John
chapter 10 verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep and finally the
law is experientially good. And then Sam chapter 34, verse
8, the psalmist says this all. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. Blessed is the man who takes
refuge in him. Finally, let me conclude with
this question. What is the lens through which
you look at the Lord? What is the lens like the
Pharisees? Are you looking at the Lord
through the lens of your religious structures, the lens
of conformity? Remember the Pharisees looked at
the law through such a lens, the lens of conformity, seeing the
Lord as a rule blaker, not conforming to their traditions,
the value traditions of the fathers and Luke.
Chapter 6 verse 11 is probably the saddest verse in the Gospel
of Luke where it says it was chapter 6 verse 11.
But they were filled with rage. They were filled with rage and
discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
They still did not see beyond their lens of conformity and
understand the reality that Christ presents as a bridegroom,
the one who transformed relationship, and as the Son of
Man, the Lord of the Sabbath, who is good and merciful.
They just did not see beyond their lens of conformity.
So are we able to look beyond the lens that blur who the Lord
is and see Him for who He is? Remember one thing, through His
death and resurrection, He is the bride group offering us a
transforming relationship. Do you have a relationship as
such with Him? He is the Son of man, and his
goodness endures forever. And as the word of the song
goes, Jesus, what a beautiful name.
Son of God, Son of Man, a lamb that was slain, let us play.
Father, we thank you for this time that we can come together,
a time of remembrance of the sacrifice that your son made on
the process of Calgary. Father Bobby, thank you.
Then, in front of us, we see who our Lord is, the Bridegroom, the
one who has a transformative relationship with each and
everyone who have come to trust in Him.
But we also see Him as the Son of Man, not only as a Messiah
who would come for us, but as the One who lives for us.
And we thank and praise you for this, for His goodness and for
His kindness. And we commit this time once
again into your hands and in the Saviours precious, and in his
worthy day. And we pray, I mean.