It has been interesting to come back to Ireland at the end of last week to find that the Budget has been subject to revision by the people. Formerly it was the task of the opposition to critique the proposals and the Government to stand by the decisions they made. In fact it cut short Garrett Fitzgerald’s government’s term in office when they stood by their decision to tax children’s shoes back in the 80ies. Whatever the rights or wrongs of this particular piece of legislation to yield to pressure groups is not the way to govern. In times of crisis the government needs to be seen to exercise its authority and bare the consequences of its decisions. In short, the budget is not a discussion document. The Bible is not a discussion document either! What God has said is true. We are all descended from one source. We are here for a purpose. We are going to one of two possible places. We learn that God is our maker. It also explains that our Maker is our redeemer. “This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.” And in the final analysis our destiny depends on our relationship to Him. “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus invitation remains open to all who come to Jesus believing in his word. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Unlike the budget you cannot change what God has said but you can depend on it.

Using various financial devices different countries have had to come to the rescue of the god mammon this last week. Mammon has been successful in creating the biggest wealth gap in human history as his devotees scaled hither undreamt of financial summits. How has it been done? The New York Times wrote in 1999, “Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings” little did they realise how effective their spurs would be! Unbridled lending made many rich people richer. Americans are growing angry over the “golden parachutes” that protect business executives even if their companies fail. After serving eighteen days as the chief executive of Washington Mutual before the bank collapsed on September 26, Alan Fishman stands to receive a $19 million severance package. That is the equivalent of $1.12 million for each day he led the company—a company that subsequently imploded, no less. In the Bible and the Koran it is forbidden to use money to make money, i.e. to take interest — our entire modern western economy, and now more or less the global economy, is built on that system. Some European countries have quietly made provision for Muslims to ‘do business’ in different ways so they can keep (a version of) their laws. Nobody has suggested making similar provisions for Jews or Christians! What is the remedy for mammon worshippers? Those who have stolen from the poor to make the rich richer? The Bible advises, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need”. (Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 28) Governments may have a duty to shore up the system but only the power of the risen Christ in a life will break the link with mammon.

When the former British Prime Minister, Harold McMillan was asked by a journalist what troubled him most in his political life he famously replied, “Events, Dear Boy, Events”! This last week has seen the most cataclysmic events of our time hit the citadel of capitalism that America has become. The sheer scale of the debts incurred far exceed our comprehension. Indeed the mind struggles in trying to understand how these debts could have arisen in the first place. We act like the humorist, Garrison Keillor’s Lutheran farmers in the Minnesota outback of Lake Wobegon who, when crisis arise, go and do yardwork! Anything to take the mind off what is simply too big to grapple with. It must have been a similar state of mind that prompted Simon Peter to say to his fellow Disciples “I am going fishing” and they replied “We will go with you”. The events of the previous couple of weeks had left them bewildered. The unthinkable had happened. Jesus had been captured. Peter had denied him. Jesus was crucified. They had gone into hiding. Jesus had risen from the dead. He had appeared to them. He had spoken to them. He had eaten food. It was all too much to take in. They needed the therapy of the ordinary. The healing rhythm of routine tasks. But they also knew that things would never be the same. And so it was that Jesus met them on the shore where they were and got involved with their task. They needed to be reminded that they had a greater task to do. Their lives had a greater purpose. Their job was to proclaim that Jesus had risen as he said he would. He had died for them. Now they were to live for him. Events come and events go – capitalism is not Christianity – Jesus still meets people where they are. He reveals himself to them and reminds them that they have a task to do – to introduce others to a risen Saviour who alone can equip them for time and eternity. Jesus calls his followers today to do likewise.

It looks like the convicts are running the prison was the graphic description one commentator gave to the unbridled greed of the top Bankers who now face the liquidation of their banks. The removal of controls some years ago permitted ever higher risk lending resulting in the banks taking on the mantle normally worn by their entrepreneurial customers. The time honoured practice of international banking also found itself drawn into the high risk environment. The trusted names with the highest credit rating have been the hit by what is now described as a financial tsunami. This particular wave may well travel around the world. In sharp contrast to the financial disruption four emails arrived this week illustrating the way of life in Maasailand, Africa. The missionary who sent them was keen to illustrate how a relatively small sum of money had made a major impact in that society. Their struggle for survival was not helped by the disruption in Kenya following the disputed general election results. Against the odds Christian preachers had set up medical clinics and organised schools. Their worship was under trees in the daytime and at night with the shepherds under the moon. What has Wall Street to do with the Maasai? Not a lot! God’s view of this distorted world was summed up by Jesus in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Just as Jesus illustrated the rich man’s love of money and self over against his neighbour, Lazarus, so today Wall Street behave in a similar way to their Maasai neighbours in our global village. Interestingly the rich man prayed in hell for his brothers only to be told, “they have the scriptures, let them listen to them”. St Luke chapter 17 verse 29. St Paul added that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ”. The Maasai shepherds heard and responded to one who is not only their Shepherd but the door to heaven. Jesus said, “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved”. The Maasai will not be in heaven because they were poor but because they trusted Jesus. The invitation is open to all. By God’s grace there is no excluded class. Bankers and Maasai meet at the foot of the cross. Will you be there?

Was it Samuel Johnston, in one of his more cynical moments, who said that nothing was certain except death and taxes? In recent years the latter has been far from certain in Ireland but it appears that that from the 15th Sept. that could all change. Faced with declining revenues new measures have been put in place to obtain automatic returns of interest, from Banks and Building Societies, paid on significant deposits. Landlords also come in for attention as the government plans a crackdown on those who fail to register their tenancies and come into the tax net. Accountants, long thought to have been an ally of Revenue, have apparently not always been so. Those, whose clients have been convicted of evasion, may find themselves joining their clients in the dock! Over the period since 2000 when the present Taoiseach was Minister of Finance the sum of 2.45 billion euro was recovered in evaded taxes. If this figure was to be used as a target for the present incumbent tax evasion may cease to be a national pastime! What do we find in the scriptures? Taxes were never popular especially when they had to be paid to the Roman army of occupation. The Pharisees, who wanted to trap Jesus with his own words, tried to make use of this fact. They asked Jesus the question, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not”? It was a well crafted question designed to alienate Jesus from the people if he answered “Yes” and to make him liable for treason if he answered “No”. (Read it in St Luke’s Gospel Chapter 20 verses 20 to 26.) Jesus’s answer was to ask for a coin. The Roman coin was passed to him. It had Caesar’s image stamped on it. He asked them who it was. Their acknowledgement that it was Caesar brought forth the response, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. The Pharisees trap had been sprung! They were silenced. The coin in Caesar’s image was Caesars. But what are we to make of the request to give to God what is God’s? We have to ask ourselves the question, “who is made in God’s image?” The answer, we are. Jesus is here proclaiming that we are not our own but were created for a purpose – to be the image bearer of the living God. So was Samuel Johnston right? It’s most likely he was wrong on both counts! Tax evaders will always be with us. And death for the image-bearer of the living God is really past – Jesus bore the pain of it for him at Calvary. Trust him with your life.

“A powerful one-off drama for BBC One, Fiona’s Story is a tale of trust, betrayal and the breakdown of a marriage.” This sentence taken from the “Press Pack” of last evenings TV production did little to prepare you for the terse drama which was to follow. Gina McKee stars as Fiona Mortimer, a woman who fights to hold her family together after her husband Simon, played by Jeremy Northam, is accused of downloading images of child sexual abuse from the Internet. Faced with public exposure, a court case and possible imprisonment, Simon admits to his wife that he “touched” their daughters and later appears to attempt suicide. Fiona’s struggle to protect the family, encourage her husband and find money to pay the bills is only the beginning of her troubles. It soon becomes apparent that Simon is living in denial and these feelings are shared by his father – “its only pictures”. Simon’s ability to hairbrush any initial guilt from his mind increased as the date for his trial is repeatedly postponed. His mother’s dismissal of the problem “men have these mid-life crises” leaves Fiona without anyone she can confide in and her plea that these images are real children, falls on deaf ears. Part of Simon’s defence is the proliferation of sexually charged images that bombard the eyes daily had desensitised him to the danger of becoming addicted. However instead of recognising the mess he is in he aggressively attacks Fiona for shielding the girls from him. The drama is played out to a finely crafted conclusion when the law case is dropped (Simon had been able to delete the most incriminating images from his computer) but Fiona left him in no doubt that he knows what he has done and she also knows. The listener is left with the hope that somehow the enormity of his guilt will dawn upon him and issue forth in repentance. Jesus may not have had access to TV or a computer but he did know how fallible we are and made himself clear that we need to separate from the sin even if the separation is as painful as losing life or limb: “if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ St Matthew Chapter 18 verses 6/9. Pornography is the snake in the grass of modern man. It goes largely unseen but has a poisonous bite which unless treated can be fatal. The treatment? Repent and place your life in Jesus’s hands. Pray that you will not enter temptation or, if already bitten, that Jesus may rescue you from this most destructive of addictions.

In a refreshingly forthright speech, Cardinal Brady took issue with the fact that the “the claims and influence of secularism and relativism have gone largely unchallenged in the Irish culture and media”. Indeed those driving the European agenda, which Pope John Paul II described as having a “loss of Christian memory” may need to be reminded that the European Convention on Human Rights has been build on a foundation of Judeo-Christian ethics. The removal of any reference to Christianity in the foundation of these rights has placed the European state in a value vacuum. Without the God given boundaries to govern human conduct there can be little confidence that the flow of anti-Christian decisions, listed by the Cardinal, will abate. Ireland and indeed Europe have become places where Christ is largely absent from its institutions. In his lecture this scene was contrasted with the US where last week the political contenders were brought together by a Pastor, who spent two hours interviewing them on the national media, on their faith in Christ and its implications as to how they would govern. By comparison, in Europe, having Christian convictions was enough the remove an Italian Politician from office. In the US the absence of such convictions are a handicap to being elected! Indeed the adoption of the “born again” label has occasionally been fraudulently used to garner votes! But people do not counterfeit things that are worthless and behind Jesus reply to Nicodemus’s probing’s as to how he might become a member of Christ’s Kingdom, “I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” lies an invitation to a transformed life. For Nicodemus putting his faith in Christ changed him from a fearful member of the Sanhedrin to a fearless disciple, defending him before the Pharisees and assisting in the burial of Jesus’s body. But before we can get born again politicians we need to have born again constituents. Christ will remain absent from the institutions of Europe until you and I demand a restoration of Christian values which will only come when our lives are committed to the risen Christ.

“What strikes me when I come back here is that someone is always going to a funeral.” The community aspect of funerals was highlighted in the comment made by someone returning from the UK for Cemetery Sunday. The cohesion of the community at funerals reflects respect for the dead and sorrow and support for the family. Cemetery Sunday provides an opportunity to renew these sentiments, strengthen family ties and renew the link with the past. Other cultures mark the right of passage in different ways. A Chinese friend, who had cared for his elderly father during his terminal illness, had a problem when it came to the burial. Ancestral worship was the family way but as both my friend and his father had come to trust in Jesus a Christian funeral was arranged. There would be no money buried with the deceased and no joss-sticks burned on the grave. Instead flowers were planted and tended emphasising love and respect for, but not worship of, the dead. We need to be guided by the Bible on this matter. The resurrection of Jesus from the grave transforms Cemetery Sunday from the gloom of the grave to the anticipated joy that awaits every believer in that great reunion St Paul spoke about; “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep”. Because of Jesus the sleep of death has been swallowed up in victory, a victory shared by everyone who places their trust in him.

The celebration marking to opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing must rank as favourite for the title “the greatest show on earth”. It was breathtaking as our senses were overwhelmed by the sheer scale and technical complexity of the “Birds Nest” stadium. The gravity denying deeds appeared to be miraculous. The bonus for China was that the flawless performance was witnessed by the global power-brokers from their seats in the arena. The Olympic slogan “One World, One Dream” and the 5 interlocking circles representing the 5 continents joined by sport bear testimony to the 204 competing countries. Behind the statistics lie years of gruelling training undergone by the competitors. St Paul was familiar with the rigours required by athletes. He encouraged the Christians at Corinth to adopt a similar lifestyle and to go all out for the prize. He wrote; “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. The Olympians looked for favours from their gods to help them win the prize. In China the number 8 carries the notion of good luck so the date 8.8.08 was deliberately chosen in the hope it would secure greater success. Entry to the Christian race is through faith in Christ. This is faith in the facts of his death, as our substitute and in his resurrection to eternal life, to ensure that every repentant entrant will be included. Symbols of luck are jettisoned and Christ is seen to be an adequate saviour for this world and the next. As St Paul said; “I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. In the end of the day that’s the only prize that matters. Trust him and press on.

Of all the definitions of faith I have heard this one is the latest! It is hard to comment on the one-liner which was used last week in the address to the annual gathering of the Legion of Mary at Knock except to say it was positive. It certainly beats the schoolboy’s “Faith is what you need to believe something that ain’t true”. Perhaps the most often heard injunction regarding faith is the phrase “Keep the faith”. Most who use it would be surprised to learn that it was first used by St Paul, in his final letter to Timothy. St Paul used it in the past tense “I have kept the faith”. The question is, what was this faith St Paul kept, all about? As the Apostle to the Gentiles he was well aware of the faith placed in the idols of his day. They abounded in every city he visited. He accused the people of “worshipping created things rather than the Creator”. He would probably say the same thing if he visited Ireland today! For St Paul his faith was in Christ. For him to live was Christ. He was sold out on Christ. His birth, life, death, resurrection and coming again resonated in him and in every Christian ever since. St Paul’s great boast was in death of Christ for him personally. He could stand before crowds and kings and explain with total conviction that “Christ died for me”. Now virtually everyone believes in the death of Christ but it is what one believes about the death of Christ that transforms lives from historians to believers. This is God given gift of faith which enables the sinner to see that his sins were laid on Christ who indeed died for him. Like learning to swim there comes a moment when you have to take your feet off the bottom, this faith turns into trusting totally in the work of Christ on your behalf. Saying yes to yes carries the merit of positive thinking and can make you feel good about yourself but Christian conviction comes when the truth of these four words “He died for me” break through the barrier of unbelief and fill the believer with wonder, love and praise. Further reading; Romans chapter 5 verses 6-11.