Conveniently Paul's sign-off to the Romans in Ch 16 holds a number of the themes I wanted to leave in the minds of those at MVC as I close my time with this amazing crew of faithful people.

Perhaps the clearest indicator of the cryptic nature of John's 'preparation' and Jesus' arrival on the scene is the fact that the very people who were looking for the Messiah ostensibly missed it all together. World shaking change agent flies under the radar. We have much to learn.

'Preparation' has a long history in the scriptures. Change occurs incrementally and slowly until the critical tipping point when we notice the more significant shift. John Baptist functions almost as a type of agent provocateur!

We fear apocalypse because the familiar is shaken beyond recognition. But the joy of apocalypse is the uncovering of the true reality... and it is that the Kingdom of God is prevailing.

The chilling part of the story of the sheep and the goats is the complete lack of awareness that both groups had regarding what they were being judged on. Have we fallen for our own propaganda?

Not the theological underpinning for global capitalism... rather the reality of how we enter more fully into life... or avoid that!

This story functions as a diagnostic indicating that it is our actions that reveal our values/faith and expose the pretence of our supposed beliefs.

This folksy little story of Jesus' confronts us with the reality of our violence in hiding unpalatable stuff we already know away from our consciousness...

How do we value people? What is fair? Why does Jesus mess with our systems so dramatically when he tells his little stories?

What does weak faith look like? What about strong faith? How do we know? Does it actually matter?