Risen... on heroes and martyrs. A study in John 20.

 Risen! On heroes and martyrs

A sermon given in Sydney

12 October 2025

By Bob Mendelsohn

Introduction

Dr. Russell Johnson is the Assistant Director of the Undergraduate Religious Studies Program at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on antagonism, nonviolence, and the philosophy of communication. I read an article he wrote back in 2020 during COVID after the terrible murders in the US of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Both black; both killed wrongly. Both memorialized in paintings, songs, and murals in urban centres and both a symbol of something Johnson wrote about. His article was titled “The Difference between Heroes and Martyrs.”

I found it a compelling argument that martyrs died for a cause and heroes lived in such a way to compel followers to not only admire them, but also to imitate them. 

I remember this article and his considerations and appreciated Johnson’s descriptions. 

One of my takeaways, which I don’t think he wanted as a highlight, was that in either case, for hero or martyr, the person is dead. Heroes don’t necessarily immediately die, but eventually they must. Martyrs always die.

We sometimes use terms like this. We say that a rugby player was heroic. We say that someone like Cathy Freeman ran a hero’s race in Sydney 2000. No matter what, however, Cathy and every rugby champion will die. That won’t change the narrative as far as what we call them. Even so, all heroes and all martyrs die. 

Ancients understood all that. Their heroes and their martyrs to us centuries later died for the cause or La Raza, or to win a battle. 

I’m guessing that most of you in this room today are believers in and followers of the Bible. And one thing we know about those authors of the sacred text is that they had to be telling the Truth. The truths about themselves and about the Jewish people; the truths about God and how we as people can and must be in relation to God.

Truth telling

Now most of us have read some of the sayings of Yeshua, of Jesus, and have discovered that he made some mammoth claims about his own identity and his own ending. 

You here in Minto have been studying the Gospel of John recently and you well understand this notion of claims. Yeshua said “I am the Bread of life”. He told a woman at a well that he would give water that never ran out. He told the disciples at Passover he was “the way, the truth and the life”. He claimed to be the only shepherd of the sheep in direct contrast to the false shepherds, that is, the Jewish leadership which surrounded the Holy Temple. He said that all who came before him, who claimed to be messianic were false and like wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

Those are outrageous claims!

So let me say this. If Yeshua is merely a hero or would die a martyr’s death, but he was substantially a liar, that is, that his claims were false, then he’s no hero at all. If he’s not the Lord of life, as he claimed, then he’s a liar and not to be heeded in any way. 

The story is told of a Jewish man in Melbourne who wins the lottery. He rings his mother who is living in winter where it’s warm up on the Sunshine Coast. He tells her that he has won the lottery and will fly her first class tomorrow to Melbourne, to ride in his new yacht. 40’ yacht! He will send a limousine to collect her at Tullamarine, and she complies. 

On arrival at the dock, she exits the limo and sees him wearing a new suit, a uniform of a captain, with epilates and proper captain’s cap—the whole 9 yards.

He salutes his mother and welcomes her aboard. She looks around and says, “What’s with this outfit?”

He says, “Ma, I’m the captain of the yacht. I should dress right.”

She replies, “Listen, darling, by me you’re a captain. By you, you’re a captain. But to a captain, you’re no captain.”

Listen, I’m not the captain of the cruise ship down at Circular Quay. I’m not the captain of the Wallabies. I’m not the captain of my neighbourhood pickleball club. So if I claimed the title on my business card, I’d be a liar. And you shouldn’t put any stock in whatever else I might say. See how this works?

With all that as introduction, let’s see what these 18 verses in John 20 have to say to us as 21^st century people, here in Sydney and for anyone else who might watch or listen to this in days or years to come.

Evidence of truth

If you are a person who is inclined to believe when truth and facts are presented, then this story packs a punch. If however, you are not one of those, who deems all such story telling as fable and myth, then what John tells us in his biography of Yeshua will fall on deaf ears. Have you read these words in sacred texts? “He that has an ear, let him hear.” (e.g. Mt. 11.15, 13.9, Mk. 4.9, 7.16, Luke 8.8, 14.35, Rev. 2.7, .11, .17, 13.9) What Yeshua is saying by this turn of phrase is that if you are willing to learn, this will be become for you substance and truth. He’s also saying that if you are not given to learn, then this will only be noise and worthless information. 

Do you also remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man. It’s in Luke 16. Yeshua teaches that after these two men die, they go to their eternal ending and the unnamed rich man wants Lazarus to continue to serve him, and he wants to warn his family of what might result if they don’t do the right thing. Yeshua says, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.” He lays out this ‘ear, hear’ thing clearly with the sentence, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Lk. 16.31)

With all that understanding of evidence and willingness, we turn to the Scripture of the day in the first part of John 20.

Three days/ Three nights

Verse one, it’s obviously Sunday morning. First day of the week, unlike some Aussie calendars, is Sunday. In Hebrew, yom rishon. First day. The question is why include that? I believe to showcase that Yeshua was in the grave three days and three nights. Now to understand this, we have to know the way Jewish people regard days. 

For Jewish reckoning, any part of a day is a day. If I say to you, I’ll see you in a couple of days, that could be in exactly 48 hours or even on the 3^rd day or …honestly we don’t know what that vague phrase ‘couple of’ might mean. To a Jewish person, any part of a day is a day. And one more thing. Jewish days begin the night before usually around sunset. So today in Sydney it’s Sunday, the first day of the week, which in Jewish rendering began on Saturday evening around sunset. 

This will help you with the 3 days and 3 nights of Yeshua’s prophecy about himself. (Matt. 12.40) I believe Yeshua died on Friday of that Holy Week. Friday in Jewish reckoning is Day 6 of the week. And when does Day 6 begin? On our Thursday at sunset.  3 Nights? Yeshua was in the tomb on Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday evening. 3 nights. 

No matter how you slice it, you won’t be able to get an exact 72 hours from the death to the resurrection. He died in the afternoon; he arose in the early morning. 

Three days? He was in the tomb Friday day, Saturday day, and Sunday day. Three days. 

Any part of a day is the whole day. So if he’s in the tomb Friday daytime, that included Thursday night. 

The scene at the tomb

Mary, in verse one, saw the stone already rolled away. So this is not a resurrection story, it’s a post-resurrection story. No one saw the explosive opening of the tomb. And Mary is upset and running away. She had come to bring proper spices and perhaps to remember again, in a mourning fashion, as his death and burial took place so loudly and with disruption to the Passover holiday. In fact, everything about the ending of chapter 19 is uncomfortable. Turbulence and emotional strain is characteristic of all the Holy Week events. 

So here it is, Sunday early morning, and Mary went to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea to make final what was perhaps undone. And to settle once and for all her sadness. Her pain. To say ‘goodbye’ properly. 

What does she find? Disruption again. THEY have taken him away. She runs (this is long before jogging became fashionable and is out-of-character for proper women in those days) to the usual place where the disciples met. She finds Peter and John and declares that someone, in fact, probably the Romans or the Jewish leadership, we don’t know which, some people stole him away! And we are at a loss. He’s gone!!!

The narrative shows John running faster than Peter which is a funny inclusion to me. Is John more fit? Is Peter embarrassed about seeing Yeshua whom he had denied three times? We don’t know. But John lets us know that he’s quicker to the tomb and yet reluctant to enter. That could be honorific or purposeful to avoid personal contamination. Again, we are not privy to the rationale. 

Verse five introduces to us linen wrappings, both on the body and on the head. You may have heard some fanciful tales on the internet about Jewish customs and foldings, but I call them fanciful, for there is no substantiation of those internet speculations in anything of Jewish sources. 

What is of note is that the shroud and the headwraps were there, which means the resurrected one was naked on exit. We see him soon in the garden in verse 15, but we are fairly certain he is clothed. With what did he wrap himself? We are not given that information either. 

I don’t worry when the Bible leaves us with many questions. I rather enjoy ‘wonder.’ Today, wonder aloud about how far the earth is from the moon, and someone will jump on Google and answer you. They don’t know how to not know, to wonder, and to sit in ignorance. I’m ok with not knowing everything. I know the One who does.

Can you see how disruptive this whole scene is?

Don’t miss this little phrase about himself that John included. It’s in verse 8. “he saw and believed.”

If you have read much of John’s writings, either in the Revelation or the three epistles that bear his name, or this Gospel you’ve been studying of late, then you will know that John loves to write about ‘what we have seen and heard.’ Primary evidence as eyewitnesses is more important to John and his evangelistic writing than anything else. 

He says, “I saw” and “I believed.”  And at the end of this chapter, he urges his readers also to see and to believe, and with the resultant LIFE which Yeshua, the author of life, promised. Throughout the Gospel, John wants his readers to understand and to heed the testimony, to trust the eyewitnesses, and to believe SO THAT they might have life. Not because Yeshua was heroic. Not because Yeshua died for a cause as a martyr, but because he is risen. Of that, he is an eyewitness. He calls himself to the witness stand.

In fact, he tells us that he, John, was not so convinced right away. He admits to his own ignorance. Verses 9 and 10 show him and Peter returning home and not believing in the Scriptures.  Or at least not really understanding. Their confusion meter was very high. They didn’t get it. 

The tomb scene Part 2

Mary however stays back in the garden tomb area. She meets the risen Jesus whom she initially thinks is the gardener. She is weeping. And she wonders why and what he has done with the body of her Lord. He says, “why are you weeping?” (.15)  Seeing through her own tears is like a translucent glass, rather than transparent. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobmendo/54833158076/in/dateposted/ ) Her vision is blurred. Furthermore, when one is expecting a horizontal dead body, a standing vertical vibrant one would not match expectations. But Yeshua unpacks the whole story with one word. “Mary.” He says and in that moment she hears his unmistakeable voice and the tender call she heard long ago. (Luke 8.2)

She falls at his feet, and embraces his leg to which Yeshua says, “stop clinging to me.” Then he told her his plan, to ascend to the Father, but first she has a duty, to go to the brothers and sisters, to announce his resurrection and imminent ascension. He has won the victory—go tell the others. In other words, “I’m alive!”

Verse 18 we read ,“Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.”

Abrupt ending of the tomb scene. 

Abrupt beginning of the rest of the story.

And an unusual choice for the final witness to the story. 

Strange list of witnesses

You see, John’s biography includes a long list of witnesses called to the witness stand. Remember that one of the first witnesses whom John calls to testify is not the normal, powerful and respectable. Think back through his Gospel. He calls nervous Nicodemus, who sneaks around at night, to testify. He calls an unnamed woman at a well in chapter 4 who is not living an exactly kosher life, sleeping with her 6^th man, to testify to the truths of Yeshua. A woman caught in adultery joins the list in chapter 8. John writes his biography with one purpose, and the eyewitnesses he calls to the witness stand are not the prominent, not the leadership, not the heroes or the powerful. He calls ordinary people to the court, and you, the reader, are the judge of it all. If you have ears to hear, you will hear. And you will recognize the truths of these eyewitnesses, and you will believe. And you will have life. Life. That’s the purpose of John’s writings. 

John alone records this sentence of Yeshua. “I am come that you might have life, and that life in abundance.” (10.10)

So, for you this morning, and wherever you are, listening or watching this talk, I urge you to consider your life, to consider the life God wants for you. To take Yeshua as your Saviour and Lord and to repent of your sins and welcome him as your boss. He wants you to believe SO THAT you will have life. 

Right where you are, at home, or here in the gathering in Campbelltown, please welcome Yeshua, welcome Jesus, as your Saviour. He alone can save you from your sins and bring you into relationship with God. Do it now. 

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To watch this sermon on YOuTube, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-lBMFaqUNI&t=1911s Thanks to the video people of the church.

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Johnson’s article in “Sightings”, a journal of the University of Chicago Divinity School.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/difference-between-heroes-and-martyrs#:~:text=Heroes%20are%20celebrated%20for%20what,commemorated%20for%20what%20they%20symbolize.

 

 

On idols and freedoms... a study in Exodus 32

Introduction

I remember when Ronald Reagan died in 2004, on D-Day. His legacy is still being written, perhaps by contrast with current settings. This comment came from Charles Colson, who used to work on détente under President Richard Nixon and barely knew Reagan. He says that Reagan defined the 2^nd half of the 20^th Century. 

“He will define it because he had the boldness to make a sharp break with American foreign policy by calling evil by its right name. Whether it came from a well-formed Christian worldview or from his unfailing intuition, Reagan defined good and evil in a way that reflected Christian truth, and this is what changed the course of history.”

Reagan dared to challenge the Soviets on the basis of morality—good versus evil. Freedom and democracy were good, tyranny and communism evil. And so at the Berlin Wall, Reagan challenged Soviet tyranny with the unforgettable words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" And it came down, and the Iron Curtain came down along with it.”

 

Today these thoughts are about good versus evil in our days. Not in light of some political scene like we’ve been watching in Ukraine or Gaza, but in terms of our own lives. And I want to talk about heroes and idols. And finally we will talk about freedom and Jewish law. All from our text in Exodus 32.

On idols and heroes

I’ve had heroes; people who have made an impact on my life and whom I admire. As we read about the Golden Calf, the question pops into my mind: is a hero the same as an idol? They say everyone should have an idol, but maybe that’s not right in light of today’s Bible portion and the complete teachings of Torah.

We read about trouble falling on idol worshippers. I remember going to Thailand with my wife and one daughter and everywhere there were statues and shrines dedicated to this god or that one, and one time our tour guide wanted me to kneel down and toss some sticks and say a prayer or something to a wise man. I wouldn’t do it.  I thought it was idolatry. My daughter thought I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get back up.

Here in Australia, we have our own version of an idol. I wonder what it is about music celebrities or movie stars that makes us want to idolize them? And why don’t we do the same with inventors or scientists? Why not our schoolteachers? Why not our parents?  I have my heroes. Are they the same as idols?

Let’s use this definition of ‘idol.’ The dictionary calls an idol, “an image used as an object of worship, or a false god.” It also says it is “One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.” Maybe that’s part of what we need to understand.   God always was warning my Jewish people against idolatry, which probably had to do with the false gods who were out there. They had names back then like Marduch and Baal and Asherah, but most modern people wouldn’t name those as their idols.  Worship was supposed to be only to God, and never given to others in his place.

So are heroes who are good for us, who model for us good things, like heroes in stories or in ancient fables or in modern movies… are they all bad? Are they all idols in the biblically bad sense?

The Greeks used stories to warn us of acting like gods. Consider the story of Arachne, who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was turned into the first spider for her pains. 

Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of his father the sun god and was killed. 

Asclepius, a son of Apollo, was a physician so expert that he began cheating the underworld gods of their due--for he was saving people from death. Hades, king of the underworld, appealed to his brother Zeus, king of the realms above, and Zeus blasted Asclepius with a thunderbolt, burning him to a crisp. 

I think the difference is that heroes are human. They fail. We see them hitting 6s in the cricket pitch, but we also see them ending their careers with a duck. The best golfers sink 50-foot putts, but they also miss short ones to lose the Open. Idols never fail, but of course, they are not real. Heroes are like us; only they have gone on and done really great things. I can become like my hero; I could never be like an idol.

Back to the story of the Golden Calf.  Remember, idolatry didn’t help the Jewish people. Never does, never will.  Moses was called to go to the top of the Mountain, and to talk and meet with God. He tells the people to wait for him. And they do. And he climbs up Mt Sinai and is there for 40 days, nearly 6 weeks. That’s a long time to wait for an old man. Moses was in his eighties at the time. Some of the people probably thought he had died up there, or maybe he lost his way.  

So the people down at the bottom of Mt Sinai grew anxious.  What would they do now? No doubt, someone suggested making an idol and praying to it.   Unfortunately, Aaron and many of the people agreed and they rallied others to take the gold for the Tabernacle and make it into a calf. I don’t know how big it was, but I’ve seen pictures that show it to be the size of the Big Merino in Goulburn, and that’s really big.

The Bible says Aaron was responsible for making the Golden Calf and to be honest I wouldn’t want my name to go down in history connected with a bad situation like this one. I’d rather be like Elijah who challenged the prophets of Baal and made them realize that praying to an idol was a waste of time and that God is always going to win in the end.

This is classic Reagan-esque good vs. evil. Good is following God. Nothing else will do; it’s all summarized as evil.

So maybe you are wondering where Jesus fits into all this. 

My father used to tell me that believing in Jesus was like bowing to a tselem, that’s the Yiddish word for idol.  But what did Yeshua really say about idols and what did he do with worship?

Yeshua told everyone who was listening, that God was to be adored and worshiped. He wondered when people came and bowed themselves before him, what were they doing. Not that he refused worship, mind you, but he wondered if they knew what they were doing. Were they admitting that Jesus was God incarnate?

You see, the opposite of idolatry is the worship of the true God. And that’s what God always wanted. This makes sense personally too.

I need to remind myself that God is number one in my life.  Lots of things want me to give up what I know to be true about Jesus and to become like so many others. A Jewish man named Anton told me when he sees “Jews for Jesus” on our signage, that he wants to vomit.  On the other side, in the church, some want me to quit being Jewish and go eat a ham sandwich with them. But today I want to identify with my people and with my Messiah. I am a Jew, and I am a believer in Yeshua. 

Jesus is no tselem. He is not the idol who is so other-worldly that he cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. He was God who took on humanity and suffered like we do. In His death on the Roman cross, He smashed all idols of human invention. He took the punishment for our sins and opened the way for people-- all people-- to know right living with God, what the Bible calls ‘righteousness.’

The two sides of the Law: Freedom

 One final thing. In the last chapter (chapter 31. verse 21) we saw that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God.  In today’s lesson we read

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. And the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. (15-16) The writing was done by God and are known as the 10 commandments, 

 

A couple things to note. The writing was done on both sides, but could be read by people on each side the same way. Like we could do with the letter “A” or “H”, but we could not do with “E”. Thus the mention of ‘one side and the other side.”

 

The writing was done by God, engraved the Bible says, on the tablets.

Harut is the Hebrew word for engraved. Herut is the Hebrew word for liberty or freedom. Allow me to change the voweling on the text and translate it thus, “And the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, freedom on the tablets” In other words, the Word of God is what brings freedom.

During these troubled days of war and uncertainty, when freedoms continue to be major news each day, we turn our thoughts to freedom. And we rarely think that freedom comes with restrictions. Yet to the wise man, the truly free is one who is taught freedom and its guidelines. The truly free is one who is bound to the rules and joys of freedom. 

Yeshua said it this way, ““If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8.32)

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there…Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" 

I say that to remind us of the good vs evil comments about Ronald Reagan. I say that to commend right living or righteousness to us. I say that to remind us of Jesus, our only mediator and Lord, who gives us righteousness by faith. It’s not in the Law, and our obedience to a set of rules. Our relationship with God determines our freedom. It’s not how many rules you can break, although that sounds attractive to many. Freedom comes from knowing the living God, being taught by Him and His word, and having those words engraved on our hearts. It’s in the Word of God that true freedom comes. We shall know the truth and that’s the truth about God and the truth about ourselves not being God, and that we desperately need God, That truth will set us free.

Home improvement. A lesson in Exodus 18

Introduction

I’m amazed at the proliferation of the genre of television shows on house restoration. Seems that when one show ends another begins. And each one wants to take a very dodgy looking lounge or backyard garden or room and make it into something gorgeous and state of the art. But wait, it’s not just houses that are under the knife and getting repaired; it’s also people. Many shows are now growing in popularity that have to do with personal makeovers. In one, a perfect stranger approaches someone on the streets and offers to do a makeover for them, allowing them all the looks and beauty they have always dreamed of. The common thread in each of these shows is a desire to improve what is, or who we are, with something deeper than a cosmetic paint job. 

Another reality to these programs is the ever-present camera that shows us way too much information about the feelings and development of the person or room or garden involved.  It’s hard to have a genuine reality show when a camera constantly reminds you that this is a made-for-TV reality and thus not exactly real.

Of course, change in these shows is always only skin or sod deep. A room can get a makeover with new paint and new furniture, with a new design and some new cut outs, but bottom line, it’s still a room. And it’s the people in those rooms who have to enjoy or experience the new reality. Sure it’s easier to relax, say some, in a new leather lounge chair than the old dilapidated broken armchair, but some will fret more with the new one and the condition to be maintained.

What is also common in these shows is that change requires an agent. People dream of the Hollywood makeovers and the liposuction and the plastic surgery; they even write in with a video self-presentation of shameful self-promotion. Their purpose is to be noticed and to request that the agency choose them for improvement.

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”  Thomas a'Kempis. 

“I want to talk to us this morning about change and improvement. There's always room for improvement. It's the biggest room in the house.”     Louise Health Leber, quoted in Women Women Women. 

We all long for growth, for change, for improvement, in us, in our situations and in our lives. Today’s reading of the Bible highlights the improvement for the court system of the Jewish people, and thus a principle in understanding our own personal growth as well.

Here’s my order of thinking today. 1) We need a change agent. 2) We need to admit the need for change. 3) We need to accept change when it is offered. 4) Peace will result in our lives when all these take place.

Lesson 1: We need a change agent.

Although we often think of ourselves as the only soul who really matters in life, this is disjoint from truth and from reality. And if there is more than us, then hope can exist for others and for us from outside ourselves. In fact, the only way we can really change with any permanence is to gain strength from others. On the TV shows, change happens when you are chosen. Or when the designers enter. Or when the cameras begin rolling.  Change requires a changer. And friends, true humility in our lives will help us understand, we cannot deeply change ourselves. 

In our reading of Exodus 18 today we see Jethro being changed and then bringing change to Israel as they are newly freed. They have been slaves and thus government did not exist for them in Egypt. They had no rights, no treaties, and no possibilities of justice. God then spared them after 400 years of slavery and out we came into the wilderness on our way to Eretz Yisrael. Justice is a daunting reality for a slave people. Hope for a fair go is the desire of every man, and one of the chief promises you will be hearing outside the polls today as you vote.

Jethro, the efficiency expert extraordinaire, recommends to his son-in-law a new method of holding court. Modify the leadership structure, Moishe, he says, and you will gain from this. Of course, so will the leaders. And so will the people. It was a good plan all the way around.  And it came from an outsider. A wise man listens to those near and far from him.

Lesson 2: We need to admit the need for change

“Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it.”  Isaac Newton, First Law of Motion.

Not everyone wants change, but when we admit it, then it can surely come. It is hard to believe now, but the potato was once a highly unpopular food. When first introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh, newspapers printed editorials against it, ministers preached sermons against it, and the general public wouldn't touch it. It was supposed to sterilize the soil in which it had been planted and cause all manner of strange illnesses--even death. 

There were, however, a few brave men who did not believe all the propaganda being shouted against it. It was seen as an answer to famine among the poorer classes and as a healthful and beneficial food. Still, these few noblemen in England could not persuade their tenants to cultivate the potato. It was years before all the adverse publicity was overcome and the potato became popular. 

A Frenchman named Parmentier took a different tack. He had been a prisoner of war in England when he first heard of the new plant. His fellow prisoners protested the outrage of having to eat potatoes. Parmentier, instead, thoughtfully inquired about the methods of cultivating and cooking the new food. Upon his return to France, he procured an experimental farm from the Emperor, in which he planted potatoes. When it was time to dig them, at his own expense, he hired a few soldiers to patrol all sides of his famous potato patch during the daytime. Meanwhile he conducted distinguished guests through the fields, digging a few tubers here and there, which they devoured with evident relish. At night, he began to withdraw the guards. A few days later one of the guards hastened to Parmentier with the sad news that peasants had broken into the potato patch at night, and dug up most of the crop. 

Parmentier was overjoyed, much to the surprise of his informant, and exclaimed, "When the people will steal in order to procure potatoes, their popularity is assured."  

Moses had to admit the need for change in the justice administration system.  And the desire for change whether in the home improvement shows or the justice in Israel in 1500 BCE is the beginning of real change.

Lesson 3: We need to accept change when/ how it is offered

A few years ago in the Hunter Valley, my wife and I left our motel room to ascend a hot air balloon at 6 a.m. It was her birthday. What a beautiful experience it was. Now not all balloon rides have been so welcome.

On June 4, 1783 at the market square of a French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet straw and old wool rages. Tethered above, straining its lines was a huge taffeta bag 33 feet in diameter. In the presence of "a respectable assembly and a great many other people," and accompanied by great cheering, the balloon was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the noon sky. Six thousand feet into the air it went -- the first public ascent of a balloon, the first step in the history of human flight. It came to earth several miles away in a field, where it was promptly attacked by pitchfork-waving peasants and torn to pieces as an instrument of evil!

Some don’t readily accept change when or how it is offered.

Moses had the humility of a man of God who heard the advise of his father-in-law and welcomed it. Moses saw the benefits, although he could easily have said some pretty negative things about the people of Midian or the ancestry of Jethro. He could have been racist against the nations surrounding wandering Israel. He could have missed God’s plan for justice for Israel. But he didn’t. He welcomed change, as we all must.

Lesson 4: Peace will result

Verse 23 ends with and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” 

This is God’s plan for us all. You can have makeovers and you can see Dr Phil or Oprah and be challenged in your motivations and in your life. Bottom line, if the Almighty changes you, you will have peace in your life. And it’s a peace that passes all understanding.

Paul the apostle wrote the Romans (14.17) the “kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Note the order of things. First righteousness, then peace, then joy in relationship with God. Be right with God first, and then peace follows.

For us who know this God in Yeshua, real righteousness comes in admitting our need for change, and the method of change, which is still startling—the death of the Saviour. The real problem is sin, and that takes some admitting, doesn’t it? Then the agent of change has to be someone outside us, and that’s the Redeemer Yeshua. His death solved the justice of God to the letter, and His resurrection gives us eternal life. If we will only admit it, and welcome it, and be saved by it. Righteousness then peace. In the Holy Spirit.

Evangelism is God’s method of bringing change to others

Of course the changes that came to Israel by means of Jethro’s advice are clear in the text. I want you to think about Jethro’s change as well. Moses told him ‘all’ the Lord had done (.6) and as a result Jethro changed and began to follow the Lord of Israel. He even shouted a “Praise the Lord” (v.9) I remember a woman telling me some time ago that she would pray and become a follower of Yeshua, but she didn’t want to become a “praise the Lord” Christian. What? I asked. She informed me that she wanted to be more private than ‘ all that.’ Shame, and what a waste. If you become a follower of Yeshua, you can and will boast about the One who did so much for you.

Evangelism brought a change in Jethro’s understanding of God and brought him clarity of understanding of life. Jethro benefited a great deal from the Almighty and it was as a result of the agency of Moses, as evangelist.

People around us need to hear the Good News as well. I read an article from Dr Dobson answering a question on evangelism whose opening struck me greatly. It was a ‘how to’ question and the doctor answered saying, “Evangelism is not an event, it’s a process.” I liked that. It helped me understand the continuous care we give others and our hopes for their improvement.

Lessons learned

I believe we should see applications from our stories today. 

1)    Yeshua is God’s eternal answer for change in our lives

2)    He is the perfect outside agent, who cares and brings peace

3)     His method of change is through following his example of suffering and the cross on which he died.

4)    Desire to change is as important as all the opportunities to change you will receive.