SERMON: Acting out the Love Command, 6/9/15, Woodbridge, LJB
Mark 7: 24-37, Proverbs 22: 1-9, 22-23, James 2: 1-17
The theme of inclusiveness, of loving everyone into God’s kingdom
comes through in all of today’s readings. We started with the OT wisdom
book of Proverbs. Tradition has it that Solomon wrote Proverbs (he was
called Solomon the Wise) as instruction to young people in the ways of
the world and how to live well in the world. A lot of its sayings are very
practical; this is what that book of wisdom has to say about the rich and
the poor:
22: 2: The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker
of all.
9: those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with
the poor.
22: Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at
the gate;
23: for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil
them.
This was rather enlightened thinking, for at this time, the poor had no
rights, no benefits payments, no social justice either. And being poor was
seen as a kind of divine punishment for sins, committed either by the
poor person or their parents. The writer is saying that rich and poor alike
are all God’s children, and are all loved and defended by God. All are
welcome in God’s kingdom, even the poorest people, so all should be
loved and respected by us as fellow children of God.
James’ letter too is also full of practical advice about how to live the
Christian life well. He picks up the same theme as Proverbs that all
people are beloved members of God’s kingdom and should be treated
with love and respect, even the poor. He says Don’t discriminate against
the poor and the disadvantaged and favour your rich friends. In fact,
James writes: (v5) Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in
faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who
love him? James is saying that the poor may even have an advantage in
gaining access to the kingdom, over the rich. Perhaps it’s because the
poor are more ready to rely on God whereas the rich feel comfortable in
relying on their own possessions and insurance policies. It is no wonder
that the church is vibrant and growing in the poorest countries of Africa
and Asia. In the affluent west we have come to rely on the transient
things: our own health and strength, money, insurance, rule of law and
political stability. It is risky: we know these can change, some quite
rapidly. Remember Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit –the
humble-for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
James repeats Jesus’ love command (v8) You do well if you really fulfill
the royal law according to the scripture ‘You should love your neighbour
as yourself’ for all are God’s beloved children.
After James’ writing about love and respect for the poor as for the rich,
for everyone, Jesus’ words in the gospel bring us back to earth with a
jolt. He’s speaking to a desperately worried woman: No! Let the children
be fed first. For it’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the
dogs. He seems to be speaking very harshly, to a woman in desperate
need of help. Her child is very ill, perhaps having epileptic seizures. How
do his words marry with the gospel he preaches of love and compassion
to our neighbour, even the poor, the disadvantaged? How does this fit
with the teaching about inclusiveness from the other readings-that all are
to be loved and respected as God’s children??
Let’s explore a bit further
Jesus is traveling and healing the sick. After confrontations with the
scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem, he made the mainly Jewish town of
Capernaum his base on the west bank of the Sea of Galilee. He journeyed
across to the eastern side of the sea, to the region mainly inhabited by
Gentiles. We hear: Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might
touch even the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were
healed.(Mark 6: 56). Before he left the town of Gennesaret, some Jews
and Pharisees, who had traveled up from Jerusalem, gathered around him
and challenged him.
We heard their criticism in last week’s reading: why are your disciples
not following the Jewish laws for washing of hands, food and vessels?
Jesus called them hypocrites, and told them that it was not unwashed
hands and food that were unclean, rather the evil intentions that came out
of the human heart were unclean. Probably he was looking straight at
them!
Jesus must have been exhausted by all the demands for healing and then
another confrontation with Pharisees, but decided to move on, choosing
to travel north west into the mainly Gentile region of Tyre. This journey
took him and his followers out the region of Galilee, and out of the
Kingdom of Herod, into the Province of Syria. The city of Tyre is on the
coast of modern day Lebanon, not far north of its border with Israel and
west of the border between modern Lebanon and Syria (where there are
many modern day refugees from the fighting in Syria). The people of this
region were descended from the Phoenicians, once a powerful trading
empire on the Mediterranean in the time of King David. That is why the
Gentile woman in our story was called Syro-Phoenician. Jesus seems to
be deliberately moving further away from Jerusalem all the time, and
deliberately, it seems into regions inhabited largely by Gentiles. Perhaps
he was really fed up after that last confrontation with the representatives
from Jerusalem!
Of course it’s likely that many of the people Jesus had already been
healing around the eastern side of Galilee weren’t Jews, but Jesus never
asked, his love and healing were always unconditional; he included
everyone. But today’s reading tells us of Jesus’ deliberate decision (after
some persuasion!) to extend his love and healing beyond the children of
Israel to the Gentiles. Beyond the geographic and ethnic boundaries of
Israel, to Gentiles. In doing this he was saying, yes, you too, Syrians,
Phoenicians, Australians...are God’s beloved children and members of
his kingdom here on earth.
The story is unique too, in that it’s the only occasion we know of, where
Jesus changed his mind. Or had his mind changed. And it took a woman,
a mother desperate to save her child to do it. I love it!
He was tired after his journey, resting in a private house, seeking peace
and solitude. As soon as he sat down, this woman, obviously a local, a
Syro-Phoenician Gentile by appearance and dress, invaded this private
house, shattered his peace and rest and begged him to heal her daughter.
This woman was out alone without male escort. She entered, uninvited, a
private home to confront a Jewish rabbi. She was breaking a lot of
cultural rules –her behavior was out of place, shocking, unexpected!
Up till now, it seems that Jesus has started off his ministry by focusing on
the people of Israel, God’s own people, the inheritors of the traditions of
Abraham and Moses. They needed him, because their leaders were not
teaching them well or caring for them. He spent a lot of time in the
synagogues, teaching. His time was short, he knew the opposition was
growing, he had to stay with his priorities.
So he told her so, quite roughly: Let the children be fed first. For it’s not
fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. How insulting!
He called her and her people dogs, unworthy of his care and love. In fact
the word he used translates as puppies-little ones. So he used a softer
word perhaps, than dogs. But she would have none of it. She said Even
the dogs/mutts under the table eat the children’s crumbs. She accepted
the insult, named it even stronger, dogs, and humbly but persistently
asked again for what she wanted. And she changed his mind. Humility
and love at all costs won the day. He healed her daughter.
It’s a very important turning point in Jesus’ ministry-he’s crossed the
geographic border out of Israel and has now crossed the ethnic and
religious border, offering healing to a Gentile woman who he openly
identified as a pagan and Gentile. Symbolically, he’s extending God’s
kingdom beyond the boundaries of Israel, including other nations in
God’s kingdom, as God’s people.
Perhaps he remembered that God had acted this way in the past history of
his people. His own ancestor Ruth was a Moabite, not a Jewish woman.
Whatever Jesus’ thinking, it marked the extension of his ministry to
include all peoples. We are told Jesus continued his journey in the region
of Syria, going by way of Sidon, even further north along the coast.
There he healed a deaf mute man, another Gentile and outcast of society,
confirming that the kingdom of God is extended to the peoples around
but outside Israel, and people of every place in society.
It’s interesting to ponder this change in his ministry. Maybe it was even
driven in part by his frustration with the Pharisees who made a long
journey from Jerusalem to see what he was doing, only to criticise him
and his disciples for not washing properly, completely ignoring his
miracles of healing. Perhaps he was so fed up with them he wanted to get
away across the border and have a rest. And so the stage was set for his
encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman.
I think this story gives an insight into a very human Jesus, who was
learning his Father’s will while on the job. And who was prepared to
change his mind and minister to anyone who needed it.
There’s our model of ministry: inclusive, flexible, whoever needs help,
wherever, whenever, even when it messes up our plans and what we
thought was our mission. God has ways of redirecting us, interrupting us
with God’s own agenda. That’s what happened to Jesus and it will
happen to us too. Let us be open to God’s interruptions!
God bless you all and your ministry, Amen.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Acting out the Love Command, 6/9/15 WB LJB
SERMON: Acting out the Love Command, 6/9/15, Woodbridge, LJB
Mark 7: 24-37, Proverbs 22: 1-9, 22-23, James 2: 1-17
The theme of inclusiveness, of loving everyone into God’s kingdom
comes through in all of today’s readings. We started with the OT wisdom
book of Proverbs. Tradition has it that Solomon wrote Proverbs (he was
called Solomon the Wise) as instruction to young people in the ways of
the world and how to live well in the world. A lot of its sayings are very
practical; this is what that book of wisdom has to say about the rich and
the poor:
22: 2: The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker
of all.
9: those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with
the poor.
22: Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at
the gate;
23: for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil
them.
This was rather enlightened thinking, for at this time, the poor had no
rights, no benefits payments, no social justice either. And being poor was
seen as a kind of divine punishment for sins, committed either by the
poor person or their parents. The writer is saying that rich and poor alike
are all God’s children, and are all loved and defended by God. All are
welcome in God’s kingdom, even the poorest people, so all should be
loved and respected by us as fellow children of God.
James’ letter too is also full of practical advice about how to live the
Christian life well. He picks up the same theme as Proverbs that all
people are beloved members of God’s kingdom and should be treated
with love and respect, even the poor. He says Don’t discriminate against
the poor and the disadvantaged and favour your rich friends. In fact,
James writes: (v5) Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in
faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who
love him? James is saying that the poor may even have an advantage in
gaining access to the kingdom, over the rich. Perhaps it’s because the
poor are more ready to rely on God whereas the rich feel comfortable in
relying on their own possessions and insurance policies. It is no wonder
that the church is vibrant and growing in the poorest countries of Africa
and Asia. In the affluent west we have come to rely on the transient
things: our own health and strength, money, insurance, rule of law and
political stability. It is risky: we know these can change, some quite
rapidly. Remember Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit –the
humble-for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
James repeats Jesus’ love command (v8) You do well if you really fulfill
the royal law according to the scripture ‘You should love your neighbour
as yourself’ for all are God’s beloved children.
After James’ writing about love and respect for the poor as for the rich,
for everyone, Jesus’ words in the gospel bring us back to earth with a
jolt. He’s speaking to a desperately worried woman: No! Let the children
be fed first. For it’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the
dogs. He seems to be speaking very harshly, to a woman in desperate
need of help. Her child is very ill, perhaps having epileptic seizures. How
do his words marry with the gospel he preaches of love and compassion
to our neighbour, even the poor, the disadvantaged? How does this fit
with the teaching about inclusiveness from the other readings-that all are
to be loved and respected as God’s children??
Let’s explore a bit further
Jesus is traveling and healing the sick. After confrontations with the
scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem, he made the mainly Jewish town of
Capernaum his base on the west bank of the Sea of Galilee. He journeyed
across to the eastern side of the sea, to the region mainly inhabited by
Gentiles. We hear: Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might
touch even the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were
healed.(Mark 6: 56). Before he left the town of Gennesaret, some Jews
and Pharisees, who had traveled up from Jerusalem, gathered around him
and challenged him.
We heard their criticism in last week’s reading: why are your disciples
not following the Jewish laws for washing of hands, food and vessels?
Jesus called them hypocrites, and told them that it was not unwashed
hands and food that were unclean, rather the evil intentions that came out
of the human heart were unclean. Probably he was looking straight at
them!
Jesus must have been exhausted by all the demands for healing and then
another confrontation with Pharisees, but decided to move on, choosing
to travel north west into the mainly Gentile region of Tyre. This journey
took him and his followers out the region of Galilee, and out of the
Kingdom of Herod, into the Province of Syria. The city of Tyre is on the
coast of modern day Lebanon, not far north of its border with Israel and
west of the border between modern Lebanon and Syria (where there are
many modern day refugees from the fighting in Syria). The people of this
region were descended from the Phoenicians, once a powerful trading
empire on the Mediterranean in the time of King David. That is why the
Gentile woman in our story was called Syro-Phoenician. Jesus seems to
be deliberately moving further away from Jerusalem all the time, and
deliberately, it seems into regions inhabited largely by Gentiles. Perhaps
he was really fed up after that last confrontation with the representatives
from Jerusalem!
Of course it’s likely that many of the people Jesus had already been
healing around the eastern side of Galilee weren’t Jews, but Jesus never
asked, his love and healing were always unconditional; he included
everyone. But today’s reading tells us of Jesus’ deliberate decision (after
some persuasion!) to extend his love and healing beyond the children of
Israel to the Gentiles. Beyond the geographic and ethnic boundaries of
Israel, to Gentiles. In doing this he was saying, yes, you too, Syrians,
Phoenicians, Australians...are God’s beloved children and members of
his kingdom here on earth.
The story is unique too, in that it’s the only occasion we know of, where
Jesus changed his mind. Or had his mind changed. And it took a woman,
a mother desperate to save her child to do it. I love it!
He was tired after his journey, resting in a private house, seeking peace
and solitude. As soon as he sat down, this woman, obviously a local, a
Syro-Phoenician Gentile by appearance and dress, invaded this private
house, shattered his peace and rest and begged him to heal her daughter.
This woman was out alone without male escort. She entered, uninvited, a
private home to confront a Jewish rabbi. She was breaking a lot of
cultural rules –her behavior was out of place, shocking, unexpected!
Up till now, it seems that Jesus has started off his ministry by focusing on
the people of Israel, God’s own people, the inheritors of the traditions of
Abraham and Moses. They needed him, because their leaders were not
teaching them well or caring for them. He spent a lot of time in the
synagogues, teaching. His time was short, he knew the opposition was
growing, he had to stay with his priorities.
So he told her so, quite roughly: Let the children be fed first. For it’s not
fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. How insulting!
He called her and her people dogs, unworthy of his care and love. In fact
the word he used translates as puppies-little ones. So he used a softer
word perhaps, than dogs. But she would have none of it. She said Even
the dogs/mutts under the table eat the children’s crumbs. She accepted
the insult, named it even stronger, dogs, and humbly but persistently
asked again for what she wanted. And she changed his mind. Humility
and love at all costs won the day. He healed her daughter.
It’s a very important turning point in Jesus’ ministry-he’s crossed the
geographic border out of Israel and has now crossed the ethnic and
religious border, offering healing to a Gentile woman who he openly
identified as a pagan and Gentile. Symbolically, he’s extending God’s
kingdom beyond the boundaries of Israel, including other nations in
God’s kingdom, as God’s people.
Perhaps he remembered that God had acted this way in the past history of
his people. His own ancestor Ruth was a Moabite, not a Jewish woman.
Whatever Jesus’ thinking, it marked the extension of his ministry to
include all peoples. We are told Jesus continued his journey in the region
of Syria, going by way of Sidon, even further north along the coast.
There he healed a deaf mute man, another Gentile and outcast of society,
confirming that the kingdom of God is extended to the peoples around
but outside Israel, and people of every place in society.
It’s interesting to ponder this change in his ministry. Maybe it was even
driven in part by his frustration with the Pharisees who made a long
journey from Jerusalem to see what he was doing, only to criticise him
and his disciples for not washing properly, completely ignoring his
miracles of healing. Perhaps he was so fed up with them he wanted to get
away across the border and have a rest. And so the stage was set for his
encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman.
I think this story gives an insight into a very human Jesus, who was
learning his Father’s will while on the job. And who was prepared to
change his mind and minister to anyone who needed it.
There’s our model of ministry: inclusive, flexible, whoever needs help,
wherever, whenever, even when it messes up our plans and what we
thought was our mission. God has ways of redirecting us, interrupting us
with God’s own agenda. That’s what happened to Jesus and it will
happen to us too. Let us be open to God’s interruptions!
God bless you all and your ministry, Amen.
Mark 7: 24-37, Proverbs 22: 1-9, 22-23, James 2: 1-17
The theme of inclusiveness, of loving everyone into God’s kingdom
comes through in all of today’s readings. We started with the OT wisdom
book of Proverbs. Tradition has it that Solomon wrote Proverbs (he was
called Solomon the Wise) as instruction to young people in the ways of
the world and how to live well in the world. A lot of its sayings are very
practical; this is what that book of wisdom has to say about the rich and
the poor:
22: 2: The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker
of all.
9: those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with
the poor.
22: Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at
the gate;
23: for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil
them.
This was rather enlightened thinking, for at this time, the poor had no
rights, no benefits payments, no social justice either. And being poor was
seen as a kind of divine punishment for sins, committed either by the
poor person or their parents. The writer is saying that rich and poor alike
are all God’s children, and are all loved and defended by God. All are
welcome in God’s kingdom, even the poorest people, so all should be
loved and respected by us as fellow children of God.
James’ letter too is also full of practical advice about how to live the
Christian life well. He picks up the same theme as Proverbs that all
people are beloved members of God’s kingdom and should be treated
with love and respect, even the poor. He says Don’t discriminate against
the poor and the disadvantaged and favour your rich friends. In fact,
James writes: (v5) Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in
faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who
love him? James is saying that the poor may even have an advantage in
gaining access to the kingdom, over the rich. Perhaps it’s because the
poor are more ready to rely on God whereas the rich feel comfortable in
relying on their own possessions and insurance policies. It is no wonder
that the church is vibrant and growing in the poorest countries of Africa
and Asia. In the affluent west we have come to rely on the transient
things: our own health and strength, money, insurance, rule of law and
political stability. It is risky: we know these can change, some quite
rapidly. Remember Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit –the
humble-for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
James repeats Jesus’ love command (v8) You do well if you really fulfill
the royal law according to the scripture ‘You should love your neighbour
as yourself’ for all are God’s beloved children.
After James’ writing about love and respect for the poor as for the rich,
for everyone, Jesus’ words in the gospel bring us back to earth with a
jolt. He’s speaking to a desperately worried woman: No! Let the children
be fed first. For it’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the
dogs. He seems to be speaking very harshly, to a woman in desperate
need of help. Her child is very ill, perhaps having epileptic seizures. How
do his words marry with the gospel he preaches of love and compassion
to our neighbour, even the poor, the disadvantaged? How does this fit
with the teaching about inclusiveness from the other readings-that all are
to be loved and respected as God’s children??
Let’s explore a bit further
Jesus is traveling and healing the sick. After confrontations with the
scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem, he made the mainly Jewish town of
Capernaum his base on the west bank of the Sea of Galilee. He journeyed
across to the eastern side of the sea, to the region mainly inhabited by
Gentiles. We hear: Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might
touch even the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were
healed.(Mark 6: 56). Before he left the town of Gennesaret, some Jews
and Pharisees, who had traveled up from Jerusalem, gathered around him
and challenged him.
We heard their criticism in last week’s reading: why are your disciples
not following the Jewish laws for washing of hands, food and vessels?
Jesus called them hypocrites, and told them that it was not unwashed
hands and food that were unclean, rather the evil intentions that came out
of the human heart were unclean. Probably he was looking straight at
them!
Jesus must have been exhausted by all the demands for healing and then
another confrontation with Pharisees, but decided to move on, choosing
to travel north west into the mainly Gentile region of Tyre. This journey
took him and his followers out the region of Galilee, and out of the
Kingdom of Herod, into the Province of Syria. The city of Tyre is on the
coast of modern day Lebanon, not far north of its border with Israel and
west of the border between modern Lebanon and Syria (where there are
many modern day refugees from the fighting in Syria). The people of this
region were descended from the Phoenicians, once a powerful trading
empire on the Mediterranean in the time of King David. That is why the
Gentile woman in our story was called Syro-Phoenician. Jesus seems to
be deliberately moving further away from Jerusalem all the time, and
deliberately, it seems into regions inhabited largely by Gentiles. Perhaps
he was really fed up after that last confrontation with the representatives
from Jerusalem!
Of course it’s likely that many of the people Jesus had already been
healing around the eastern side of Galilee weren’t Jews, but Jesus never
asked, his love and healing were always unconditional; he included
everyone. But today’s reading tells us of Jesus’ deliberate decision (after
some persuasion!) to extend his love and healing beyond the children of
Israel to the Gentiles. Beyond the geographic and ethnic boundaries of
Israel, to Gentiles. In doing this he was saying, yes, you too, Syrians,
Phoenicians, Australians...are God’s beloved children and members of
his kingdom here on earth.
The story is unique too, in that it’s the only occasion we know of, where
Jesus changed his mind. Or had his mind changed. And it took a woman,
a mother desperate to save her child to do it. I love it!
He was tired after his journey, resting in a private house, seeking peace
and solitude. As soon as he sat down, this woman, obviously a local, a
Syro-Phoenician Gentile by appearance and dress, invaded this private
house, shattered his peace and rest and begged him to heal her daughter.
This woman was out alone without male escort. She entered, uninvited, a
private home to confront a Jewish rabbi. She was breaking a lot of
cultural rules –her behavior was out of place, shocking, unexpected!
Up till now, it seems that Jesus has started off his ministry by focusing on
the people of Israel, God’s own people, the inheritors of the traditions of
Abraham and Moses. They needed him, because their leaders were not
teaching them well or caring for them. He spent a lot of time in the
synagogues, teaching. His time was short, he knew the opposition was
growing, he had to stay with his priorities.
So he told her so, quite roughly: Let the children be fed first. For it’s not
fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. How insulting!
He called her and her people dogs, unworthy of his care and love. In fact
the word he used translates as puppies-little ones. So he used a softer
word perhaps, than dogs. But she would have none of it. She said Even
the dogs/mutts under the table eat the children’s crumbs. She accepted
the insult, named it even stronger, dogs, and humbly but persistently
asked again for what she wanted. And she changed his mind. Humility
and love at all costs won the day. He healed her daughter.
It’s a very important turning point in Jesus’ ministry-he’s crossed the
geographic border out of Israel and has now crossed the ethnic and
religious border, offering healing to a Gentile woman who he openly
identified as a pagan and Gentile. Symbolically, he’s extending God’s
kingdom beyond the boundaries of Israel, including other nations in
God’s kingdom, as God’s people.
Perhaps he remembered that God had acted this way in the past history of
his people. His own ancestor Ruth was a Moabite, not a Jewish woman.
Whatever Jesus’ thinking, it marked the extension of his ministry to
include all peoples. We are told Jesus continued his journey in the region
of Syria, going by way of Sidon, even further north along the coast.
There he healed a deaf mute man, another Gentile and outcast of society,
confirming that the kingdom of God is extended to the peoples around
but outside Israel, and people of every place in society.
It’s interesting to ponder this change in his ministry. Maybe it was even
driven in part by his frustration with the Pharisees who made a long
journey from Jerusalem to see what he was doing, only to criticise him
and his disciples for not washing properly, completely ignoring his
miracles of healing. Perhaps he was so fed up with them he wanted to get
away across the border and have a rest. And so the stage was set for his
encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman.
I think this story gives an insight into a very human Jesus, who was
learning his Father’s will while on the job. And who was prepared to
change his mind and minister to anyone who needed it.
There’s our model of ministry: inclusive, flexible, whoever needs help,
wherever, whenever, even when it messes up our plans and what we
thought was our mission. God has ways of redirecting us, interrupting us
with God’s own agenda. That’s what happened to Jesus and it will
happen to us too. Let us be open to God’s interruptions!
God bless you all and your ministry, Amen.
You are the Messiah 13/9/15 LJB
‘You are the Messiah’, 13/9/15, Cygnet, LJB
Mark 8: 27-38, Proverbs 1: 20-33, James 2: 18-26
Today’s gospel reading marks an important turning point in the life of Christ:
for the first time, he is recognised by one who knows him well, as the Messiah
sent by God. The Messiah was also called the Christ, meaning God’s chosen,
anointed one, so we call him Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ, God’s anointed one.
Unfortunately immediately after this wonderful moment of discovery it all
went wrong when Christ started to explain the consequences of being
Messiah: that he would be suffering, rejected, and killed, but he would rise
back to life after three days. O No! said Peter, surely not! Yes, says Jesus. And
what’s more, he said, this will be the road for all the true followers of the
Messiah. In your lives there will be suffering, rejection, and for some even
death as well. In Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Nigeria today, followers of Christ are being
killed for being followers of Christ.
Why must it all be so difficult? It does not sound like a great advertisement for
the life of a Christian, does it? I remember reading of an advert the missionary
order the Jesuits placed when they were concerned about declining numbers
joining them. It ran something like this: In the last 100 years, over 100 Jesuits
have lost their lives following God’s calling. Come and join us! What do you
think was the response? There were more applications than ever before!
Young, idealistic Christians are attracted to a challenge that sounds like the
challenge of Jesus to his followers in today’s gospel. Sadly, young idealist
Muslims are being attracted in the wrong way, by the evil that is Isis.
I think we can understand the problems Christ had in his ministry as Messiah
when we look into what being Messiah meant.
We see that acting out his conviction of what Messiah should be brought him
up against many of the rules and the power structures in society.
In Jesus’ time and earlier, there was an expectation that God’s Messiah would
come to deliver Israel from oppression, from the Romans who had invaded
their country. However, there was some diversity of thinking on how the
Messiah would bring about this delivery from oppression. Some expected a
new ruler, a king, like the mighty King David of their history. Some expected
Messiah to act as a military leader, and others by miraculous acts to achieve
power. We know this from writings of the times, for example the writers of the
Dead Sea scrolls expected a new ruler, a Messiah king.
We know that no-one expected the kind of Messiah, the kind of saviour, that
Jesus was. When he told his disciples they were shocked, disbelieving and I’m
sure disappointed. They expected something much grander! Yet since we are
unencumbered by their expectations of earthy power display, we can see that
he actually did come to deliver all of God’s people from oppression, in ways
that were completely unexpected in the Messiah, at the time.
Firstly he came with the good news that we are loved by God. God is not angry
with us for all the wrong things that we do! We are God’s beloved children, all
of us. This was particularly good news for the unloved, the poor and the
outcasts of society.
They were always put down, blamed, shamed and unwanted, but Jesus turned
that around. He proclaimed that he, God’s only son and Messiah, had come to
save the poor and the outcasts first, not the rich and powerful.
As God’s beloved children, he said, God will forgive all of our sins, all of the
wrong and stupid things we do, whatever they are, and free us to start anew.
The burden of carrying around our sins and our guilt is lifted-the oppression of
sins past is taken away. Carrying around a burden of guilt from the past and
worry about the future, we know, takes the joy out of life, and can lead to
mental illnesses. Removal of this burden is personal liberation, freedom, as
we’ve never experienced before. It is more meaningful and lasting than the
sort of political liberation Israel was yearning for. They wanted another violent
revolution against the Roman authorities. The people of Israel had rebelled
against the Romans before, and failed. 40 years after Jesus’ death, in 70 AD the
rebellion came, and brought massive retaliation which included the
destruction of the temple and slaughter of many of Jerusalem’s inhabitants
including most of the religious leaders. As we know, Israel remains a centre of
conflict to this day. And still hopes for the Messiah.
Jesus forgave the sins of people who asked him and that brought him into
conflict with the religious authorities. After all, he was trespassing on their
territory, their jobs: people came to the priests at the temple with sacrifices
and payments to intercede with God for forgiveness.
But Jesus did more than forgiving our sins. There are more kinds of oppression
from which our Messiah, Christ, liberates us.
Christ liberates us from the oppression of slavery. Many of us live do in slavery.
Jesus liberated people from mental illnesses, thought to be due to evil spirits.
He can liberate us from slavery to addictions, to other people’s expectations,
from drudgery and exploitation. The good news of God’s love can reconfigure
our minds from the mindset of slavery and despair to the freedom of a
beloved, free person. God’s gift of liberation comes with the gift of the
strength and will to name our slavery and to do something about it. Sometimes
we don’t realise we are slaves. It’s worth think about who or what exerts
undue control over us and our decisions and naming it. Then we can ask for
Jesus’ help to deal with it.
Some of us live in exile, like the ancient Hebrew slaves in Egypt, distanced from
those we love. Christ led exiles back to community and family life. Christ spoke
of the joy in God’s house when one who has been far away returns. He told the
parable of the prodigal son, and the joy of the father when his scruffy,
bedraggled son returned home from self-imposed exile. Jesus released
prostitutes and tax collectors from the rejection of the community and lifted
them up to being his dinner companions, sharing friendship with him. The
authorities and the good people of the towns did not like that. Jesus healed
lepers of their disease, but importantly in doing so returned them from exile
outside their villages, back to their families and communities. He came to bring
us back from exile too-his love flowing through us can mend broken
relationships, remake estranged families and communities. Loneliness is
oppressive, and Jesus offers freedom from loneliness and a way back into our
families and communities. It’s not easy, and usually involves forgiveness and
humility. Jesus modelled for us how to act that way.
Jesus freed people from blindness, an affliction which reduces freedom and
options in life. He can free us from blindness too. Is there something I am
refusing to see about myself? Or my family? Is my country being blind?
He could not cure the blindness of those who refused to see, those such as the
Pharisees questioning his healing of a blind man on the Sabbath. He accused
them of being blind, more blind than the man who had been born blind. They
hated that, and from that time on they vowed to stop him. To be cured of our
blindness we must acknowledge our blindness and want to see more clearly
what is real. That can be painful, but it enables us to see the truth and to act
on it.
Jesus the Messiah did not collude with the power structures of religion and
government to achieve his aims. His power came from his humility, his honesty
and his preparedness to do whatever it took to obey God. So it was inevitable
that he would suffer, as it is inevitable that his followers suffer when they act
as he did.
When we cut through the blindness and spin of society and tell the truth about
its evils, we can cop abuse, discrimination and in some places, martyrdom, like
our Lord.
Liberating ourselves and our loved ones from slavery to addictions, or to
expectations is daunting and painful, and we suffer.
Seeking to bring exiles into our communities, to offer hospitality to refugees,
to prisoners released from gaol, to invite friends and neighbours back into our
church community is hard work, and can make us quite unpopular.
Reaching out to members of our families who have been estranged, cut off for
some reason is hard, often involves swallowing our pride, and can hurt us if our
attempt is rejected. Yet, it is the work of the followers of the Messiah.
Peter rebuked Christ with the words of the world: No, don’t talk about
suffering and death, it scares us! Think of your reputation, your work, your
position. We hear words like that too, when we go out on a limb to act as the
Messiah did. Think of your position, your family, what will people think! And
they are right, we will suffer as did our Lord. But Peter’s words did not daunt
Christ, and neither should we be daunted or put off by the so-called wisdom of
the world, the sensible, politically correct, the comfortable road.
To be a true Christian, a true follower of Christ is daunting and Christ himself
warned us what it would be like. He shocked his followers with his hard words
and his warnings. But as Peter later said: yes, Lord, but where else shall we go,
for only you have the words of eternal life.
May the Lord be with you, Amen.
Mark 8: 27-38, Proverbs 1: 20-33, James 2: 18-26
Today’s gospel reading marks an important turning point in the life of Christ:
for the first time, he is recognised by one who knows him well, as the Messiah
sent by God. The Messiah was also called the Christ, meaning God’s chosen,
anointed one, so we call him Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ, God’s anointed one.
Unfortunately immediately after this wonderful moment of discovery it all
went wrong when Christ started to explain the consequences of being
Messiah: that he would be suffering, rejected, and killed, but he would rise
back to life after three days. O No! said Peter, surely not! Yes, says Jesus. And
what’s more, he said, this will be the road for all the true followers of the
Messiah. In your lives there will be suffering, rejection, and for some even
death as well. In Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Nigeria today, followers of Christ are being
killed for being followers of Christ.
Why must it all be so difficult? It does not sound like a great advertisement for
the life of a Christian, does it? I remember reading of an advert the missionary
order the Jesuits placed when they were concerned about declining numbers
joining them. It ran something like this: In the last 100 years, over 100 Jesuits
have lost their lives following God’s calling. Come and join us! What do you
think was the response? There were more applications than ever before!
Young, idealistic Christians are attracted to a challenge that sounds like the
challenge of Jesus to his followers in today’s gospel. Sadly, young idealist
Muslims are being attracted in the wrong way, by the evil that is Isis.
I think we can understand the problems Christ had in his ministry as Messiah
when we look into what being Messiah meant.
We see that acting out his conviction of what Messiah should be brought him
up against many of the rules and the power structures in society.
In Jesus’ time and earlier, there was an expectation that God’s Messiah would
come to deliver Israel from oppression, from the Romans who had invaded
their country. However, there was some diversity of thinking on how the
Messiah would bring about this delivery from oppression. Some expected a
new ruler, a king, like the mighty King David of their history. Some expected
Messiah to act as a military leader, and others by miraculous acts to achieve
power. We know this from writings of the times, for example the writers of the
Dead Sea scrolls expected a new ruler, a Messiah king.
We know that no-one expected the kind of Messiah, the kind of saviour, that
Jesus was. When he told his disciples they were shocked, disbelieving and I’m
sure disappointed. They expected something much grander! Yet since we are
unencumbered by their expectations of earthy power display, we can see that
he actually did come to deliver all of God’s people from oppression, in ways
that were completely unexpected in the Messiah, at the time.
Firstly he came with the good news that we are loved by God. God is not angry
with us for all the wrong things that we do! We are God’s beloved children, all
of us. This was particularly good news for the unloved, the poor and the
outcasts of society.
They were always put down, blamed, shamed and unwanted, but Jesus turned
that around. He proclaimed that he, God’s only son and Messiah, had come to
save the poor and the outcasts first, not the rich and powerful.
As God’s beloved children, he said, God will forgive all of our sins, all of the
wrong and stupid things we do, whatever they are, and free us to start anew.
The burden of carrying around our sins and our guilt is lifted-the oppression of
sins past is taken away. Carrying around a burden of guilt from the past and
worry about the future, we know, takes the joy out of life, and can lead to
mental illnesses. Removal of this burden is personal liberation, freedom, as
we’ve never experienced before. It is more meaningful and lasting than the
sort of political liberation Israel was yearning for. They wanted another violent
revolution against the Roman authorities. The people of Israel had rebelled
against the Romans before, and failed. 40 years after Jesus’ death, in 70 AD the
rebellion came, and brought massive retaliation which included the
destruction of the temple and slaughter of many of Jerusalem’s inhabitants
including most of the religious leaders. As we know, Israel remains a centre of
conflict to this day. And still hopes for the Messiah.
Jesus forgave the sins of people who asked him and that brought him into
conflict with the religious authorities. After all, he was trespassing on their
territory, their jobs: people came to the priests at the temple with sacrifices
and payments to intercede with God for forgiveness.
But Jesus did more than forgiving our sins. There are more kinds of oppression
from which our Messiah, Christ, liberates us.
Christ liberates us from the oppression of slavery. Many of us live do in slavery.
Jesus liberated people from mental illnesses, thought to be due to evil spirits.
He can liberate us from slavery to addictions, to other people’s expectations,
from drudgery and exploitation. The good news of God’s love can reconfigure
our minds from the mindset of slavery and despair to the freedom of a
beloved, free person. God’s gift of liberation comes with the gift of the
strength and will to name our slavery and to do something about it. Sometimes
we don’t realise we are slaves. It’s worth think about who or what exerts
undue control over us and our decisions and naming it. Then we can ask for
Jesus’ help to deal with it.
Some of us live in exile, like the ancient Hebrew slaves in Egypt, distanced from
those we love. Christ led exiles back to community and family life. Christ spoke
of the joy in God’s house when one who has been far away returns. He told the
parable of the prodigal son, and the joy of the father when his scruffy,
bedraggled son returned home from self-imposed exile. Jesus released
prostitutes and tax collectors from the rejection of the community and lifted
them up to being his dinner companions, sharing friendship with him. The
authorities and the good people of the towns did not like that. Jesus healed
lepers of their disease, but importantly in doing so returned them from exile
outside their villages, back to their families and communities. He came to bring
us back from exile too-his love flowing through us can mend broken
relationships, remake estranged families and communities. Loneliness is
oppressive, and Jesus offers freedom from loneliness and a way back into our
families and communities. It’s not easy, and usually involves forgiveness and
humility. Jesus modelled for us how to act that way.
Jesus freed people from blindness, an affliction which reduces freedom and
options in life. He can free us from blindness too. Is there something I am
refusing to see about myself? Or my family? Is my country being blind?
He could not cure the blindness of those who refused to see, those such as the
Pharisees questioning his healing of a blind man on the Sabbath. He accused
them of being blind, more blind than the man who had been born blind. They
hated that, and from that time on they vowed to stop him. To be cured of our
blindness we must acknowledge our blindness and want to see more clearly
what is real. That can be painful, but it enables us to see the truth and to act
on it.
Jesus the Messiah did not collude with the power structures of religion and
government to achieve his aims. His power came from his humility, his honesty
and his preparedness to do whatever it took to obey God. So it was inevitable
that he would suffer, as it is inevitable that his followers suffer when they act
as he did.
When we cut through the blindness and spin of society and tell the truth about
its evils, we can cop abuse, discrimination and in some places, martyrdom, like
our Lord.
Liberating ourselves and our loved ones from slavery to addictions, or to
expectations is daunting and painful, and we suffer.
Seeking to bring exiles into our communities, to offer hospitality to refugees,
to prisoners released from gaol, to invite friends and neighbours back into our
church community is hard work, and can make us quite unpopular.
Reaching out to members of our families who have been estranged, cut off for
some reason is hard, often involves swallowing our pride, and can hurt us if our
attempt is rejected. Yet, it is the work of the followers of the Messiah.
Peter rebuked Christ with the words of the world: No, don’t talk about
suffering and death, it scares us! Think of your reputation, your work, your
position. We hear words like that too, when we go out on a limb to act as the
Messiah did. Think of your position, your family, what will people think! And
they are right, we will suffer as did our Lord. But Peter’s words did not daunt
Christ, and neither should we be daunted or put off by the so-called wisdom of
the world, the sensible, politically correct, the comfortable road.
To be a true Christian, a true follower of Christ is daunting and Christ himself
warned us what it would be like. He shocked his followers with his hard words
and his warnings. But as Peter later said: yes, Lord, but where else shall we go,
for only you have the words of eternal life.
May the Lord be with you, Amen.
The greatest, 18/10/15, Cygnet, LJB
Mark 10: 32-41, Job 38: 1-7, Hebrews 5: 1-10
In last week’s reading from Job, we heard about Job’s frustration with God, his
wanting to confront God to complain of God’s treatment of him. Yet he was
afraid of what this awesome God would do if Job did confront him. Today we
heard the answer Job got when he did pluck up the courage to confront God.
God answers, speaking from a whirlwind. And Job copped the rebuff he was
expecting: What can you know, Job, about the works and the ways of God?
How can you hope to understand God’s ways? …More next week!
Moving from the power of creator God to today’s lesson from the gospel,
which is also power: Jesus’ teaching about what real power is.
Jesus’ chosen twelve disciples were from humble backgrounds, fishermen, a
tax collector, and so on. They probably exercised some power as the head of
their households, and perhaps in charge of one or two men on the fishing
boats. On the other hand, they would have been on the unhappy receiving end
of power in the form of town officials, temple priests and scribes, Roman tax
collectors and soldiers. They would have experienced power wielded unjustly
by their own leaders and the Roman rulers.
How wonderful it would be, they reasoned, to share the power of the great
Messiah, the soon to be ruler of the kingdom of God here in earth? What is
wrong with that?
Mark’s combining of the first and last parts of this reading is almost laughable
in its irony and shows us what was wrong with their thinking! Jesus for the
third time spells out for his disciples what is going to happen to him in
Jerusalem, where they are heading.
1
He will be condemned, mocked, spat upon, flogged and killed. There is no
response from them, no inkling of understanding what Jesus is saying. In fact,
the very opposite.
James and John, and probably the others too, have very different visions of
what will happen to Jesus. They picture Jesus as the magnificent ruler of the
kingdom of God. Probably clothed in fine clothes of gold, sitting on a throne,
like the early kings and Caesar. So they ask for what they imagine will be the
positions of power, the seats at the right and left hands of the ruler, Christ.
When Jesus points out the price they will have to pay, they accept
immediately, without thinking it through! Yes, we will drink of the same cup as
you, yes, we will accept the same baptism that you have just told us about
(which is martyrdom!) Yes, of course we will pay the price for such prize
positions and glory in the kingdom! They really hadn’t a clue what they were
asking, and I’m sure they didn’t understand what the price would be. Jesus said
yes, you will share my baptism and my cup. And they did. He was really saying:
you too will be martyrs, dying young, leaving your families devastated, because
you are my followers. But they weren’t hearing him.
Perhaps we feel a bit angry at the presumption of James and John, just as the
rest of the disciples were. The writer of Matthew’s gospel was so
uncomfortable about their request he had their mother make it for them!
We may feel frustrated with their lack of understanding, as I’m sure Jesus was
frustrated. But Jesus patiently used this occasion to give to his disciples and to
all of us another lesson in what it means to be great in God’s eyes, in the
kingdom of God.
2
Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever
wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not
to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Earlier on he had startled his disciples by telling them that God’s kingdom was
made up of people who were like children in their simplicity and trustfulness.
The powerless ones made up the kingdom! Ridiculous! Later he shocked them
again by declaring that the rich and powerful would find it very hard to enter
the kingdom. Jesus taught and modelled servant leadership throughout his life
and in his death. He washed the feet of his disciples at the last supper, like a
servant, trying to help them understand what he meant about serving one
another.
Throughput the gospel of Mark, we hear again and again the lack of
understanding of the disciples, of what Jesus was teaching and modelling. They
didn’t understand his parables, had no faith in his powers to bring peace in a
storm or feed multitudes, and did not understand the kind of leadership and
power he advocated.
We might ask why did Jesus choose these particular men? (At least I ask it!)
They disappear from our sight very soon after Pentecost, after the first few
chapters of the book of Acts, they are hardly mentioned. Peter appears
occasionally, usually in conflict with Paul. As we learn in Acts, the early church
was in the hands of the seven deacons, appointed by the apostles, including
Phillip and Steven, and in the hands of Paul, the great missionary leader of the
early church and his helpers. These men had different skills and experience
from the twelve, and through their efforts and inspiration, the early church
grew rapidly.
3
I think perhaps Jesus chose these twelve disciples because they were most
suited to the work he had for them while he was a travelling rabbi and healer.
His mission was to the people of Israel and in particular the humble Jews, the
poor, the oppressed, in the region of Galilee. His disciples were drawn from
these people, and so were able to speak their language, to understand their
problems and move among the people. The twelve were village people, and
villages were the places where Jesus taught, not big cities, not outside the
borders of Israel.
And perhaps no-one of greater learning or status would have been prepared to
join and follow this village carpenter.
After Christ’s death and resurrection, after Pentecost, the disciples were
changed men, able to discern and encourage the next generation of leaders.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, they knowingly met the fate of martyrs that Jesus
had predicted for them.
I don’t know about you but I still find Jesus’ teaching about what constitutes
real power so alien to our lives. We generally regard power as the ability to
change things and people. But in our culture this usually means legislating or
enforcing laws, or building up or shutting down businesses and jobs and
livelihoods. Having the power of money to get what we want from people. The
heroes in our action movies are those who are strongest, the best fighters,
who come out on top by defeating others.
But Jesus’ concept of real power was quite revolutionary, quite counter-
cultural. He too regarded power as the ability to change things and people. But
he taught that the usual ways to gain power through strength and riches and
politics were not God’s ways.
4
When we look at history, we can see that is true. Power held and exerted by
force or money or politics does not last. Riches and their power come and go
within a generation or two at the most. As we have recently seen, political
power is hard to hold and maintaining it can call for many compromises and
sacrifices of principle. Power held by force is also ephemeral and jeopardised
by illness and age: dictators hang on tightly to power as long as they can, for
the next dictator is waiting for the first show of weakness. Assassination or
exile are the end days of many dictators. There is no place or peace for
defeated military dictators.
Jesus’ way of changing things and people is so different from that way of the
world. He showed us how a humble, compassionate teacher of God’s way
could change the brutal world of the Roman empire. How his teachings could
outlast the empire and spread much further than the all conquering Romans
ever did.
His church, his body carries his message to the world today. But the church has
gone wrong at times and continues to go wrong whenever it imports the
world’s concepts of power into its structures. The church seems to need
reformations and renewals at regular intervals to bring it back to Christ’s
teachings. Entrenched hierarchies, focus on money and buildings, manipulating
people by fear and threats of damnation, these are the ways of the world
which continually creep into Christ’s church.
It’s not surprising, for the church is made up of people with human failings and
has existed in the materialistic cultures of the world throughout the ages. But
it’s important that we are watchful and try to keep the church to Christ’s
teachings, for it is the means of bringing Christ and his kingdom to the world.
5
I’ve just spent some days at clergy conference, and I do believe that we are
blessed in this diocese by having in our leaders authentic teachers of Christ’s
gospel and true servant leaders. They need our prayers for their extremely
busy and overcommitted lives, as they seek to serve us and the wider world.
Our church should embody and model Christ’s teachings about servant
leadership and true power as a beacon and example for the world. Christ’s
teaching about power and servant leadership have a lot to say to our world: to
those politicians who put personal power and advancement above discerning
the good and serving the people they represent. To those public servants who
disregard the ‘servant’ part of their title.
To governments which put staying in power ahead of making the right, hard
decisions for the good of the people. To company directors and executives
who hang on to positions and power by putting shareholder profits above
ethical and moral treatment of employees and customers and their social
responsibilities. To those in the media who use their power over audiences to
denigrate and manipulate.
When we look at these aspects of our culture, we can see what a difference it
would make to humanity if Christ’s teachings about humility, servant
leadership and what constitutes true power were widespread. So it is up to us
as Christ’s church to do our best to make the world aware of Christ’s new way
and reject our culture’s concept of what constitutes power. This means
remaining vigilant and watching how power is wielded in our governments, our
companies, our schools and our church. And being prepared to speak up when
what we see contradicts the wise teachings of Christ that true power is exerted
to serve others. We start by modelling in our own lives his subversive message
of how to change things and how to change people’s hearts. Amen
6
Mark 10: 32-41, Job 38: 1-7, Hebrews 5: 1-10
In last week’s reading from Job, we heard about Job’s frustration with God, his
wanting to confront God to complain of God’s treatment of him. Yet he was
afraid of what this awesome God would do if Job did confront him. Today we
heard the answer Job got when he did pluck up the courage to confront God.
God answers, speaking from a whirlwind. And Job copped the rebuff he was
expecting: What can you know, Job, about the works and the ways of God?
How can you hope to understand God’s ways? …More next week!
Moving from the power of creator God to today’s lesson from the gospel,
which is also power: Jesus’ teaching about what real power is.
Jesus’ chosen twelve disciples were from humble backgrounds, fishermen, a
tax collector, and so on. They probably exercised some power as the head of
their households, and perhaps in charge of one or two men on the fishing
boats. On the other hand, they would have been on the unhappy receiving end
of power in the form of town officials, temple priests and scribes, Roman tax
collectors and soldiers. They would have experienced power wielded unjustly
by their own leaders and the Roman rulers.
How wonderful it would be, they reasoned, to share the power of the great
Messiah, the soon to be ruler of the kingdom of God here in earth? What is
wrong with that?
Mark’s combining of the first and last parts of this reading is almost laughable
in its irony and shows us what was wrong with their thinking! Jesus for the
third time spells out for his disciples what is going to happen to him in
Jerusalem, where they are heading.
1
He will be condemned, mocked, spat upon, flogged and killed. There is no
response from them, no inkling of understanding what Jesus is saying. In fact,
the very opposite.
James and John, and probably the others too, have very different visions of
what will happen to Jesus. They picture Jesus as the magnificent ruler of the
kingdom of God. Probably clothed in fine clothes of gold, sitting on a throne,
like the early kings and Caesar. So they ask for what they imagine will be the
positions of power, the seats at the right and left hands of the ruler, Christ.
When Jesus points out the price they will have to pay, they accept
immediately, without thinking it through! Yes, we will drink of the same cup as
you, yes, we will accept the same baptism that you have just told us about
(which is martyrdom!) Yes, of course we will pay the price for such prize
positions and glory in the kingdom! They really hadn’t a clue what they were
asking, and I’m sure they didn’t understand what the price would be. Jesus said
yes, you will share my baptism and my cup. And they did. He was really saying:
you too will be martyrs, dying young, leaving your families devastated, because
you are my followers. But they weren’t hearing him.
Perhaps we feel a bit angry at the presumption of James and John, just as the
rest of the disciples were. The writer of Matthew’s gospel was so
uncomfortable about their request he had their mother make it for them!
We may feel frustrated with their lack of understanding, as I’m sure Jesus was
frustrated. But Jesus patiently used this occasion to give to his disciples and to
all of us another lesson in what it means to be great in God’s eyes, in the
kingdom of God.
2
Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever
wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not
to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Earlier on he had startled his disciples by telling them that God’s kingdom was
made up of people who were like children in their simplicity and trustfulness.
The powerless ones made up the kingdom! Ridiculous! Later he shocked them
again by declaring that the rich and powerful would find it very hard to enter
the kingdom. Jesus taught and modelled servant leadership throughout his life
and in his death. He washed the feet of his disciples at the last supper, like a
servant, trying to help them understand what he meant about serving one
another.
Throughput the gospel of Mark, we hear again and again the lack of
understanding of the disciples, of what Jesus was teaching and modelling. They
didn’t understand his parables, had no faith in his powers to bring peace in a
storm or feed multitudes, and did not understand the kind of leadership and
power he advocated.
We might ask why did Jesus choose these particular men? (At least I ask it!)
They disappear from our sight very soon after Pentecost, after the first few
chapters of the book of Acts, they are hardly mentioned. Peter appears
occasionally, usually in conflict with Paul. As we learn in Acts, the early church
was in the hands of the seven deacons, appointed by the apostles, including
Phillip and Steven, and in the hands of Paul, the great missionary leader of the
early church and his helpers. These men had different skills and experience
from the twelve, and through their efforts and inspiration, the early church
grew rapidly.
3
I think perhaps Jesus chose these twelve disciples because they were most
suited to the work he had for them while he was a travelling rabbi and healer.
His mission was to the people of Israel and in particular the humble Jews, the
poor, the oppressed, in the region of Galilee. His disciples were drawn from
these people, and so were able to speak their language, to understand their
problems and move among the people. The twelve were village people, and
villages were the places where Jesus taught, not big cities, not outside the
borders of Israel.
And perhaps no-one of greater learning or status would have been prepared to
join and follow this village carpenter.
After Christ’s death and resurrection, after Pentecost, the disciples were
changed men, able to discern and encourage the next generation of leaders.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, they knowingly met the fate of martyrs that Jesus
had predicted for them.
I don’t know about you but I still find Jesus’ teaching about what constitutes
real power so alien to our lives. We generally regard power as the ability to
change things and people. But in our culture this usually means legislating or
enforcing laws, or building up or shutting down businesses and jobs and
livelihoods. Having the power of money to get what we want from people. The
heroes in our action movies are those who are strongest, the best fighters,
who come out on top by defeating others.
But Jesus’ concept of real power was quite revolutionary, quite counter-
cultural. He too regarded power as the ability to change things and people. But
he taught that the usual ways to gain power through strength and riches and
politics were not God’s ways.
4
When we look at history, we can see that is true. Power held and exerted by
force or money or politics does not last. Riches and their power come and go
within a generation or two at the most. As we have recently seen, political
power is hard to hold and maintaining it can call for many compromises and
sacrifices of principle. Power held by force is also ephemeral and jeopardised
by illness and age: dictators hang on tightly to power as long as they can, for
the next dictator is waiting for the first show of weakness. Assassination or
exile are the end days of many dictators. There is no place or peace for
defeated military dictators.
Jesus’ way of changing things and people is so different from that way of the
world. He showed us how a humble, compassionate teacher of God’s way
could change the brutal world of the Roman empire. How his teachings could
outlast the empire and spread much further than the all conquering Romans
ever did.
His church, his body carries his message to the world today. But the church has
gone wrong at times and continues to go wrong whenever it imports the
world’s concepts of power into its structures. The church seems to need
reformations and renewals at regular intervals to bring it back to Christ’s
teachings. Entrenched hierarchies, focus on money and buildings, manipulating
people by fear and threats of damnation, these are the ways of the world
which continually creep into Christ’s church.
It’s not surprising, for the church is made up of people with human failings and
has existed in the materialistic cultures of the world throughout the ages. But
it’s important that we are watchful and try to keep the church to Christ’s
teachings, for it is the means of bringing Christ and his kingdom to the world.
5
I’ve just spent some days at clergy conference, and I do believe that we are
blessed in this diocese by having in our leaders authentic teachers of Christ’s
gospel and true servant leaders. They need our prayers for their extremely
busy and overcommitted lives, as they seek to serve us and the wider world.
Our church should embody and model Christ’s teachings about servant
leadership and true power as a beacon and example for the world. Christ’s
teaching about power and servant leadership have a lot to say to our world: to
those politicians who put personal power and advancement above discerning
the good and serving the people they represent. To those public servants who
disregard the ‘servant’ part of their title.
To governments which put staying in power ahead of making the right, hard
decisions for the good of the people. To company directors and executives
who hang on to positions and power by putting shareholder profits above
ethical and moral treatment of employees and customers and their social
responsibilities. To those in the media who use their power over audiences to
denigrate and manipulate.
When we look at these aspects of our culture, we can see what a difference it
would make to humanity if Christ’s teachings about humility, servant
leadership and what constitutes true power were widespread. So it is up to us
as Christ’s church to do our best to make the world aware of Christ’s new way
and reject our culture’s concept of what constitutes power. This means
remaining vigilant and watching how power is wielded in our governments, our
companies, our schools and our church. And being prepared to speak up when
what we see contradicts the wise teachings of Christ that true power is exerted
to serve others. We start by modelling in our own lives his subversive message
of how to change things and how to change people’s hearts. Amen
6
Sermon: All Saints, 1/11/15, Woodbridge, LJB
John 11: 32-44, Isaiah 25: 6-9, Rev 21: 1-6
All Saints Day is a day of rejoicing. We remember all of the saints of the
church, the well known ones, the unknown ones and those we sat next to
in church and at home, and we rejoice with them that they are indeed
with God, enjoying God’s company in eternal life. Today we are
celebrating All Saints day, so welcome to all of for it’s your day-we are
all God’s saints. The church recognizes many important saints for the
inspiration they can give us:. Last Wednesday was the day to remember
Saints Simon and Jude. Both died as martyrs for their faith. I particularly
like St Jude, the saint of lost causes! There’s a picture of him above the
tea things on the back wall! (RC appeals to St Jude).
I don’t know about you, but I don’t often give thought to what will
happen to me after I die. The afterlife, eternal life, heaven-whatever it
may be called. I’m curious, of course. I think many people are curious,
judging by the number of stories and movies about ghosts and zombies
and vampires and hauntings and even angels that are around. Sometimes
the dying of someone we know or a funeral can shake us into more
serious thoughts, but they are rare thoughts. I wonder if it’s because we
are relatively comfortable here in Woodbridge in this life, and death
seems a long way off. And we’d rather not think about it anyway!
Most of us are not in daily fear of starvation, or death, of violence or war,
thanks be to God. But these fears have been facts of life for many
throughout history and as we know certainly in many countries today.
Such fears demand answers to urgent questions: is there a purpose for my
suffering? a reason for enduring more years in this refugee camp, or on
the road from Turkey to Germany with my children? Is there a reckoning
for the injustice of this world? Perhaps my answers will come in the
afterlife? Perhaps wrongs will then be righted? Perhaps there will finally
be peace and freedom from suffering?
The OT and the NT bring us stories of peoples who had enduring
generations of strife, wars, invasions, and from these people come their
visions of something more: an afterlife in which God will right all
wrongs, bring justice and peace and comfort and happiness to those who
have endured and sought to do his will.
The readings for All Saints Day bring us some of their glorious visions of
the end of time, when all of the saints (which means all of God’s people)
live forever in God’s kingdom. They assure us that all of God’s people
will meet together in the presence of God for a magnificent eternal life.
Writings about the end times are called eschatology, and there’s some of
it in the OT, in the books of Isaiah and Daniel, for example. Eschatology,
writings about the end times, is the subject of the last book of the NT,
the book called the apocalypse, meaning the revelation, the Revelation of
St John the Divine.
We’ll start with Isaiah who points the way for us today. Jewish people in
King David’s time, if they had led a good life, expected to be buried with
their ancestors and to rest in peace with their ancestors. But Isaiah sees
something rather more wonderful. His vision of the end of time is not
resting but feasting: an eschatological feast on God’s mountain. At this
rich feast of fine food and well-aged wine, Isaiah says, God will finally
destroy the shroud which is spread over all the nations of the earth. A
shroud is of course a grave cloth, and represents deaths, which up until
this last moment is the fate lying over all people. The prophet proclaims
that God will destroy the shroud, swallowing up death forever. He will
wipe away the tears, the suffering and the disgrace of sinfulness of all of
his beloved people. God will save his people finally and forever: Let us
rejoice in his salvation!, says Isaiah.
The next heavenly vision comes from the book of Revelation:
our reading is the seventh of a series of visions of St John about the end
of time. In earlier visions John saw God in heaven sitting in judgment
over his people, and over Satan. He saw Satan, the angel who rebelled
against God, cast out of heaven forever, and then death itself banished. A
bit like the shroud of death being torn away in Isaiah’s vision. John’s
seventh and last vision is of a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth have passed away.
They are replaced by what he called the new Jerusalem, a new holy
place, as glorious as a bride decked in finery, coming from God to rest on
earth.
This holy place is to be the new dwelling place of God: See the home of
God is coming among mortals; he will dwell with them and they will be
his peoples, and God himself will be with them.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. This is what Isaiah foresaw in his
vision as well.
Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.
The result of this seventh phase end time scenario is that there will be
perfect peace and happiness between God and his people.
Death is defeated and cast out, no more pain and tears, Behold, (God
says) I make all things new.I am the alpha and the omega . These are the
first and last letters of the Greek alphabet in which John was writing.
God was in the beginning, before the earth and people, and God is in the
end times, unchanged.
Science agrees that there was a beginning to the universe we know, in a
huge explosion of energy called the Big Bang about 12 billion years ago.
About 5 billion years ago the gravitational field of a small star, our sun,
attracted enough matter around it to form planets, including our earth.
Science also tells us there will be an end to our planet, when the nuclear
reactor which is the sun cools and no longer gives energy to our earth.
We won’t worry too much about that for now, it’s some billions of years
into the future. Actions of humans may of course bring about an end to
life on our planet well before the cooling of the sun does so. Perhaps
that’s a little more under our control! And in the beginning was God and
at the end as well, the alpha and the omega.
So, do we have to wait until the end of time until we join God in his
heavenly banquet, in his kingdom? That’s what Martha thought, when
she went out to meet Jesus after her brother Lazarus had died.
The story demonstrates for us and for Lazarus’ grieving family and
friends the compassion and empathy of Jesus with those who are grieving
and suffering. It demonstrates the enormous power of Jesus to bring life
from death, to bring joy from pain, hope from hopelessness. Tears are
wiped away, just as Isaiah and John foretold and Jesus rejoices with
Lazarus and his family and friends.
Martha said to Jesus, yes, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on
the last day. But something new was happening now. Jesus said to her I
am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, even though
they die will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never
die. He asked Martha: do you believe this? Yes, she said, for herself and
for Lazarus. Then Jesus turned this amazing statement into a solid, acted
out metaphor, by taking Lazarus, who was dead, and bringing him back
to life. Those who believe in me even though they die, they will live.
What Jesus said means much to us too: everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die. It brings the visions of living in God’s kingdom
much closer, I think. The dead don’t have to wait around until the end
times to be with God, sharing in the heavenly banquet. Death will not
separate us from God and his kingdom for any length of time.
Remember what Jesus said to the thief who was crucified with him:
today you will be with me in paradise. No waiting needed!
Even more startling is knowing that we don’t even need to die to join
God in God’s kingdom. Really, the visions of heaven on earth that Isaiah
and John are foreseeing are what we are asking to come into being when
we pray the prayer our Lord told us to pray: Your kingdom come and
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We are praying that God’s kingdom, something like a new holy place, a
new Jerusalem, will come into being on earth, making things on earth as
they are in heaven, making Earth into God’s realm in fact. We are
praying for God’s kingdom to come into our planet now, not just after we
die, or in distant end times.
It’s not just a pious prayer that we say without thinking, but it involves
hard work. In following Jesus commands we are each working away on
the little patch of the fabric of the kingdom to which we have been
assigned. We are weaving our patch into the life of our planet, in our
small ways helping God’s kingdom to come. Every loving act, every time
we forgive someone we don’t like, helps to make the earth into God’s
kingdom.
As we work away at it, it is good to remember that we not alone, we are
part of something really huge: we are members of the great community
of saints-the communion of saints- who have been working away in the
kingdom, who are working today and will work in the future in making
our earth into God’s kingdom. Our fellow workers in the communion
include some very famous ones: St Simon and St Jude, St Peter and St
Paul, St Mary McKillop and some lesser known ones: my mum and dad
for example, and each one of you, all God’s saints! God bless you all!
Amen
John 11: 32-44, Isaiah 25: 6-9, Rev 21: 1-6
All Saints Day is a day of rejoicing. We remember all of the saints of the
church, the well known ones, the unknown ones and those we sat next to
in church and at home, and we rejoice with them that they are indeed
with God, enjoying God’s company in eternal life. Today we are
celebrating All Saints day, so welcome to all of for it’s your day-we are
all God’s saints. The church recognizes many important saints for the
inspiration they can give us:. Last Wednesday was the day to remember
Saints Simon and Jude. Both died as martyrs for their faith. I particularly
like St Jude, the saint of lost causes! There’s a picture of him above the
tea things on the back wall! (RC appeals to St Jude).
I don’t know about you, but I don’t often give thought to what will
happen to me after I die. The afterlife, eternal life, heaven-whatever it
may be called. I’m curious, of course. I think many people are curious,
judging by the number of stories and movies about ghosts and zombies
and vampires and hauntings and even angels that are around. Sometimes
the dying of someone we know or a funeral can shake us into more
serious thoughts, but they are rare thoughts. I wonder if it’s because we
are relatively comfortable here in Woodbridge in this life, and death
seems a long way off. And we’d rather not think about it anyway!
Most of us are not in daily fear of starvation, or death, of violence or war,
thanks be to God. But these fears have been facts of life for many
throughout history and as we know certainly in many countries today.
Such fears demand answers to urgent questions: is there a purpose for my
suffering? a reason for enduring more years in this refugee camp, or on
the road from Turkey to Germany with my children? Is there a reckoning
for the injustice of this world? Perhaps my answers will come in the
afterlife? Perhaps wrongs will then be righted? Perhaps there will finally
be peace and freedom from suffering?
The OT and the NT bring us stories of peoples who had enduring
generations of strife, wars, invasions, and from these people come their
visions of something more: an afterlife in which God will right all
wrongs, bring justice and peace and comfort and happiness to those who
have endured and sought to do his will.
The readings for All Saints Day bring us some of their glorious visions of
the end of time, when all of the saints (which means all of God’s people)
live forever in God’s kingdom. They assure us that all of God’s people
will meet together in the presence of God for a magnificent eternal life.
Writings about the end times are called eschatology, and there’s some of
it in the OT, in the books of Isaiah and Daniel, for example. Eschatology,
writings about the end times, is the subject of the last book of the NT,
the book called the apocalypse, meaning the revelation, the Revelation of
St John the Divine.
We’ll start with Isaiah who points the way for us today. Jewish people in
King David’s time, if they had led a good life, expected to be buried with
their ancestors and to rest in peace with their ancestors. But Isaiah sees
something rather more wonderful. His vision of the end of time is not
resting but feasting: an eschatological feast on God’s mountain. At this
rich feast of fine food and well-aged wine, Isaiah says, God will finally
destroy the shroud which is spread over all the nations of the earth. A
shroud is of course a grave cloth, and represents deaths, which up until
this last moment is the fate lying over all people. The prophet proclaims
that God will destroy the shroud, swallowing up death forever. He will
wipe away the tears, the suffering and the disgrace of sinfulness of all of
his beloved people. God will save his people finally and forever: Let us
rejoice in his salvation!, says Isaiah.
The next heavenly vision comes from the book of Revelation:
our reading is the seventh of a series of visions of St John about the end
of time. In earlier visions John saw God in heaven sitting in judgment
over his people, and over Satan. He saw Satan, the angel who rebelled
against God, cast out of heaven forever, and then death itself banished. A
bit like the shroud of death being torn away in Isaiah’s vision. John’s
seventh and last vision is of a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth have passed away.
They are replaced by what he called the new Jerusalem, a new holy
place, as glorious as a bride decked in finery, coming from God to rest on
earth.
This holy place is to be the new dwelling place of God: See the home of
God is coming among mortals; he will dwell with them and they will be
his peoples, and God himself will be with them.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. This is what Isaiah foresaw in his
vision as well.
Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.
The result of this seventh phase end time scenario is that there will be
perfect peace and happiness between God and his people.
Death is defeated and cast out, no more pain and tears, Behold, (God
says) I make all things new.I am the alpha and the omega . These are the
first and last letters of the Greek alphabet in which John was writing.
God was in the beginning, before the earth and people, and God is in the
end times, unchanged.
Science agrees that there was a beginning to the universe we know, in a
huge explosion of energy called the Big Bang about 12 billion years ago.
About 5 billion years ago the gravitational field of a small star, our sun,
attracted enough matter around it to form planets, including our earth.
Science also tells us there will be an end to our planet, when the nuclear
reactor which is the sun cools and no longer gives energy to our earth.
We won’t worry too much about that for now, it’s some billions of years
into the future. Actions of humans may of course bring about an end to
life on our planet well before the cooling of the sun does so. Perhaps
that’s a little more under our control! And in the beginning was God and
at the end as well, the alpha and the omega.
So, do we have to wait until the end of time until we join God in his
heavenly banquet, in his kingdom? That’s what Martha thought, when
she went out to meet Jesus after her brother Lazarus had died.
The story demonstrates for us and for Lazarus’ grieving family and
friends the compassion and empathy of Jesus with those who are grieving
and suffering. It demonstrates the enormous power of Jesus to bring life
from death, to bring joy from pain, hope from hopelessness. Tears are
wiped away, just as Isaiah and John foretold and Jesus rejoices with
Lazarus and his family and friends.
Martha said to Jesus, yes, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on
the last day. But something new was happening now. Jesus said to her I
am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, even though
they die will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never
die. He asked Martha: do you believe this? Yes, she said, for herself and
for Lazarus. Then Jesus turned this amazing statement into a solid, acted
out metaphor, by taking Lazarus, who was dead, and bringing him back
to life. Those who believe in me even though they die, they will live.
What Jesus said means much to us too: everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die. It brings the visions of living in God’s kingdom
much closer, I think. The dead don’t have to wait around until the end
times to be with God, sharing in the heavenly banquet. Death will not
separate us from God and his kingdom for any length of time.
Remember what Jesus said to the thief who was crucified with him:
today you will be with me in paradise. No waiting needed!
Even more startling is knowing that we don’t even need to die to join
God in God’s kingdom. Really, the visions of heaven on earth that Isaiah
and John are foreseeing are what we are asking to come into being when
we pray the prayer our Lord told us to pray: Your kingdom come and
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We are praying that God’s kingdom, something like a new holy place, a
new Jerusalem, will come into being on earth, making things on earth as
they are in heaven, making Earth into God’s realm in fact. We are
praying for God’s kingdom to come into our planet now, not just after we
die, or in distant end times.
It’s not just a pious prayer that we say without thinking, but it involves
hard work. In following Jesus commands we are each working away on
the little patch of the fabric of the kingdom to which we have been
assigned. We are weaving our patch into the life of our planet, in our
small ways helping God’s kingdom to come. Every loving act, every time
we forgive someone we don’t like, helps to make the earth into God’s
kingdom.
As we work away at it, it is good to remember that we not alone, we are
part of something really huge: we are members of the great community
of saints-the communion of saints- who have been working away in the
kingdom, who are working today and will work in the future in making
our earth into God’s kingdom. Our fellow workers in the communion
include some very famous ones: St Simon and St Jude, St Peter and St
Paul, St Mary McKillop and some lesser known ones: my mum and dad
for example, and each one of you, all God’s saints! God bless you all!
Amen
All Saints Cygnet 15 b THE BANQUET GOD HAS PREPARED FOR US J.M
THE BANQUET GOD HAS PREPARED FOR US
Who has been
invited to a garden party with the queen? Who has been invited to dine with the
governor general? Not many neither have I, not very common occurrences. Yet
in Isaiah, we hear that God has prepared
a banquet on Mt. Zion for all peoples. Not just an ordinary banquet but with
the best meat and aged wine, clear wine at that. .
To be
invited to such a lavish banquet in the presence of the ultimate royalty is a
once in a lifetime event if you are lucky. Yet the Lord has thrown the
invitation out to all peoples..
The psalm
changes mood half way through and it is like a continuation of the invitation with a rsvp condition. The rsvp is not a written reply, it is follow
this process and you will be welcome. It says, Lift up your heads gates and be lifted up, you
ancient doors.
Beautiful
language in English and I suspect it was even better in the original tongue.
I have heard
those lines each year when that psalm come up and assumed it was referring to
the community. Drawbridges, city gates and heavy doors were the order of the day to keep out
marauders and other unwelcome visitors.
Solid
barriers, so much so not even a peephole so when someone comes knocking the
gatekeeper has to yell out “who is it” identify yourself.
The reality
is that the writer is most likely using gates and ancient doors as symbols
representing our hearts and souls. Maybe communities maybe nations. But most
likely individuals.
Very apt
when we consider those who have not accepted Christ, the barriers are
formidable and the metaphor indicates that it is much more significant than
just opening up the front door of the house or an internal door. It needs
winches and pulleys and maybe a number of strong men to open these doors.
He who
knocks identifies himself as the King of Glory. The apprehensive doorkeeper
asks, “Who is the king of glory” The Lord of Hosts is the reply.
People in
the days of David and most of the psalm writers had a god or sometimes many
gods so it might be a normal question to ask if someone gave themselves the
rather auspicious title of King of glory. Today many claim to have no god but
may be bound to their alcohol or football or money making. If they had a knock
on the door and were told it is the King of Glory knocking, then there might be
some quick re appraisal of their spirituality.
We are
celebrating all saints today Most of the Christian church accept that all Christians are saints. Catholics
hold beatified saints in particularly high esteem whilst Anglicans tend to make
a fuss over patron saints on their festival days. There are various memorials
to members of the congregation past who have been significant in this Church
life. I know that some of our members
from the past have had a profound influence upon me. When I recall the humility
of Jack Iles. Kathy’s dad, who was basically railroaded into being deaconed at
one particularly lean time in the past. Jack faithfully preached and led
services into his eighties. I recall that the then bishop ruled that communion
by extension no longer be practiced. I asked Jack how he felt about that, given
his long years of service. That’s ok he said, I will do whatever the bishop
wants. He is running the show, not me.
Many people
comment upon the good feeling associated with worship in this church. I am
sure, that is partly due to the ongoing influence of those saints who have gone
before us. We believe in the presence of the holy Spirit and without getting
into detail which is beyond our understanding, I am pretty sure that those
saints are a part of that heavenly presence here.
The words of
Isaiah would suggest that invitation
into the Kingdom of heaven is open house because God has prepared a banquet for
all peoples on Mt. Zion. in each
communion service we pray with all the company of heaven and sometimes stated,
with all the saints and angels. As we
celebrate all Saints day here,. what is plain is that the kingdom of God is
open to everyone and it is individual choice which determines whether one is in
or out.
The bidding
of the psalm is not, open the doors or gates, it is lift up your heads, o Ye
Gates and ancient doors. Which gives more credence to the words being addressed
to individuals, That implies that the gate,
the door has a choice, stay closed or open up lift your head and look who is
coming.
These words
then have relevance to Christians as well as non Christians.
Whilst we
have accepted an invitation to the banquet and we look forward to the fullness
of God’s kingdom when the time comes, there is an implication that we also
could or should re open our gates and doors to the Lord.
It is
interesting that the first two readings mention lack of tears or wiping of
tears and the gospel is about tears. Tears of Mary and Martha, Jesus and the
assembled mourners.
We know that
those other than Jesus were weeping in grief at the loss of Lazarus, Jesus
however was not weeping from grief, he was weeping through compassion for the
people and at least in part because they did not believe what he had told them.
Jesus response to Thomas and Philip was similar, frustration that after so long
together they still did not grasp the import of who he was .
I suspect
that Jesus would weep today at the mediocracy of much of the Church. The body
of Christ which seems not to have head his promise that his followers would do
all that he had and more as we meekly ask that God’s will be done and hope for
the best.
There is
certainly plenty to weep about in the world today, no question of that,
, there is
enough on the news every night to make one weep and all of this is in contrast
with the banquet that God has prepared on the mount for all who would attend,
where there is no weeping or if there is then God is there to wipe the tears
away .
Brothers and
sisters, the challenge we are faced with is helping people know of the
blessings, the banquet, the dried eyes the new Jerusalem the kingdom of God.
The
revelation speaks of the vision of perfection, no death, no suffering, and it
harmonises with the passage from Isaiah about the banquet that God has
prepared. The beauty of the revelation is that whilst it purports to be a
vision of the future, it is in fact a picture of the here and now as well. We
know that at Jesus next coming the transformation to God’s kingdom will be
complete, but in the meantime we live in the here but not quite, the victory is
won but not fully realized.
It is part
of our challenge and our joy to engage with the sharing of our taste of the Kingdom
with the world about us.
I believe
that our challenge now is to believe and live into the promise that is
contained in Isaiah and the psalm today.
We pray for miracles and rejoice when there is an anser to prayer. In
the meantime the pressures of life weigh us down, Some of that is physical,
joints, mortgages, disputes and so on. I don’t personally believe that a table
of fine food and wine is going to appear outside my door. But I do believe that
there are many Christians, many saints some who have gone before and some still
around who face trials far more extreme that we are likely to face, yet their
eyes are full of love for the Lord, they can genuinely praise the Lord for all
God has done for them and for the world in spite of their trials.
I am not
suggesting that we need extra faith but I am suggesting that we can raise our
belief of the joys and delights of God’s kingdom and share that with the world about us. The
challenge is to live in the midst of that banquet whilst we don’t fully see it
but do in part, knowing that it can be realized in its fullness.
as we do so, to know that we are doing it in
conjunction with a band of saints who have gone before us who are still being
active for God in the building of his Church. That the saints of today join hands with the
saints past connected with our Lord Jesus and empowered by his Spirit to the
glory of God in Heaven. Amen
PS having
lived with attempting to practice what I preached, I find it much easier to
affirm that “the Lord is with me” rather than envisage being in the midst of a
banquet or whatever that is the metaphor for.
The presence of the Lord encompasses the banquet. Upon practicing that
affirmation an extra dimension is added to life, Nature seems to spring out at you saying
“look at me, I am part of God’s creation too. I rejoice with you also”.
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