Lent 4 Cygnet JSM Seeing the light

John 9;1-49

You might well wonder what Mr. Bean has to do with today’s readings

The readings for today are all about seeing the light, Revelation, the guidance of God.

We see Samuel anointing David through God’s guidance after seeing all of Jesse’s sons, the tall the dark and the handsome, in every way the apparent leadership material for the role of king. “Do you have any other sons” Samuel had to ask. Yes but it is just David, the youngest who is a shepherd. David, God’s chosen who was to be the father of modern ancient Israel.

Paul tells us that we should live in the light, that we are the light in Jesus.

This brings to mind Mr. Bean. You might be familiar with Mr. Bean being dropped into view in a spotlight and being wholly within the light. It is not so hard to imagine ourselves being within the light of Christ in a similar way. When we choose to wander away from the light we are outside of Jesus protection and guidance because we have chosen that path. We can move back into the light with repentance and be restored through forgiveness in the Grace of God. Paul tells us that we should choose light. To avoid the ways of darkness because that is how we were before we belonged to Christ.

These two readings about sight, light and insight support the gospel in which the blind beggar who was born blind receives his sight and then, even much better receives spiritual sight as well.

He is contrasted starkly by the Pharisees who demonstrate severe spiritual blindness in their determined attempt to defuse the threat they perceive in Jesus.

The reading goes through different phases, firstly addressing the question  of whether sickness is hereditary or not. Jesus makes it clear that neither the beggar nor his parents were responsible for his blindness, but that brokenness gives the opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed.

The blind man is a good advocate for Jesus, even before he has the second encounter with Jesus where he receives his spiritual sight he knows that Jesus is a prophet from God.

For a poor man, uneducated and very much on the fringes of society, he is able to out debate the Pharisees firstly by pointing out that such healings only come from God so it is simple to deduce where Jesus is from. He knows that Jesus’ power is from Heaven whilst the Pharisees are questioning even his geographical origins.

When pushed even further about his own opinion of how Jesus accomplished the healing, the man commits himself to Jesus by asking the Pharisees, do they want to become his disciples also.

Like his parents, he must have known that by opposing the Pharisees that he would be excommunicated. Having already spent his whole life in a state of excommunication, one would have thought that the last thing he would choose to do was to throw away the possibility of normality but he did just that.

He had not even had a day of getting used to not being a reject and yet he chose to become a reject from mainstream society because he knew Jesus had freed him from blindness and that Jesus power came from God.

It is interesting as an aside the sequence in which these events unfolded. Jesus took pity and healed the man without any bidding from the blind one.

Jesus healed on the Sabbath and used spittle to make the paste to smear on the mans eyes. Both would knowingly bring the wrath of the Pharisees as being contrary to Mosaic law.

The man professed to being a disciple of Jesus on the strength of his healing at which stage Jesus had not revealed himself as the son of man which must have been equivalent of announcing himself as the messiah. The restored man had no compunction in accepting Jesus word that he was the messiah. “Lord I believe” and he worshipped him.

At this point in his journey to the cross, Jesus revealed himself. In a similar way to God revealing David as the King elect, God revealed Jesus to be the messiah who would die on the cross.

It was obviously much more important to the now seeing man to commit to Jesus than to conform to the social and political mores of the day.

He had seen the light and how appropriate that is to us on our Lenten journey.

As our trip to and through the cross continues, we have heard about being born again through the exchange with Nicodemus, and we have heard the witness of the Samaritan woman that Jesus is the Christ.

In both those encounters we have seen how important it is to let go of all which inhibits us, all that holds us back. Nicodemus could not see past his humanity and his learning, so being born again had to be spelt out word by word for him. The Samaritan lady was an outcast and knowing she was in the presence of a prophet, she was prepared to receive the understanding that Jesus was the messiah.

Again through an outcast of society the same knowledge is revealed. Nicodemus had to discard all he knew to allow this strange concept in. The lady at the well had lost all already, she was at the bottom of the heap, a social reject and welcomed a God who would accept her rather than push her away as did her society. The blind man also had nothing, then he had everything, or so it seemed, that is a normal life to enjoy, but he threw it away and accepted Jesus as his Lord.

Our Lenten journey may not be so dramatic but we do try to expose all that is dark within us to the light and pass it to Jesus cross and as we do just that, maybe this lent, Jesus is revealed even more clearly than before. Christian life is about being born again, new life, every day and Lent is a special time where we can deepen our relationship and sense of purpose with Jesus. We have infirmities, we have levels of brokenness which need restoration and Jesus invites us to unload and see afresh that he is Lord and saviour.

The 23^rd psalm is the perfect scripture to reinforce that restoration that God offers us, leading us beside the still waters to restore our soul.

Lent is a special time for Christians, however that does not mean that it  is only for Christians.

This blind man’s experience challenges us to think about how people in our society who do not have a relationship with Jesus might have as dramatic a revelation as did he have. And that is where we come in.

We might not be involved in the restoration of someone’s sight, but the gaining of spiritual sight is equally astounding so we can believe that what we do to help people into relationship with Jesus is dramatic.

We continually have the challenge to live as people of God. To shine the light. And that is usually just the first step in bringing people to ask us how we cope, what is the meaning of life for us.

Our Samaritan friend last week showed us the way, she didn’t try to convert anyone, she just told them what Jesus had done for her and she posed the question, could he be the messiah?

They went on, met and formed their own relationship and believed.

There was an Every day Light article last week which I posted on the blog which asks how can we get closer to God?

Praying was of course the first answer, reading scripture and believing that it holds truths for us in our everyday lives is another. Expecting those truths to be realised and sharing our experience with others completes the cycle.

Sharing, whether it be our knowledge of Jesus, our car or a few eggs doubles the value of the item and builds society.

Today we can unload our darkness to Jesus, we can enjoy and share in the seeing of the light in a new and refreshing way, we can believe in the changes that are happening in our lives through Jesus, our healing, our refining, our learning our growing and our growing closer to Jesus.

And we come back to Mr. Bean, having renewed our relationship with Jesus we are living in the light which comes from within as well as from without at which point we not only reflect light but generate light.

And we can go out into the world feeling confident and expecting and wanting to share and knowing that so long as we do our bit honestly, the Holy Spirit will take over and add to and magnify and complete our efforts.

May this lent be lightening and enlightening for us all, for Jesus Sake

Amen

Lent 4 John Cannell, Woodbridge

SERMON   SSSimon&Jude Woodbridge  Sun Apr.3 2011  J.K.Cannell:       John 9:  Seeing and Believing

Refs: Saint John by John Marsh, Pelican/Penguin1968; Laymans Bible Commentary, John, Floyd Filson,Vol19,John Knox Pr, 1963; New Bible Commentary D Guthrie et al,IVP 1970

The purpose of the Gospel of S.John, according to the beloved apostle himself, was written to produce faith in Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, or Christ, and as Son of God.  John’s exalted Christology never detracts from his account of the humanity of Jesus.   This one story, in it’s several sections and characters, occupies a whole chapter in the Gospel’s 21 chapters, and is one of the gospel’s clinching examples of John’s teaching about who Jesus is.  The previous chapter introduced Jesus as the Light of the World and here is an example of what that means.  The healing miracles in this gospel tend to involve people who are in a chronic state, so Jesus’ acts of healing or restoration are seen to be very powerful.  What really marks this story is the detailed record of the discussions that the miracle provoked and the miracle that the discussion provoked.  I ‘d really like to set up this marvellous narration & story in a play.   I divide the story into 7 parts, as John Marsh does in his book Saint John.

Part 1.  Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He leaves the Temple and he sees a man, who probably has to beg, who has been blind since birth.  What else can a blind man do at that time?  At once the first discussion gets going.  His disciples ask whether the blind man had somehow sinned before birth or whether his parents had sinned in some way sufficient to bring this sad affliction on their son.  There was much topical discussion about the connection between suffering and sin.  It was a common idea in that society, well exercised if you remember by Job’s companions in the Book of Job.  It still is in some in fundamentalist religious quarters.   I also happened to get involved with that topic of suffering because of sin last Sunday when I preached on natural disasters and the often asked question  Why did God let the Japanese earthquake and tsunami etc happen (that has caused and is causing so much suffering).  In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus dismissed straight away the suggestion that the tower of Siloam that fell and killed 18 people was deserved by those people and their sins.  Here again Jesus dismisses at once any suggestion that this blind man’s sin (which would have to have been in the womb) or his parents’ sin had caused this tragedy from birth.  Instead He says the man had been born blind so that God’s power might be displayed in curing him.  That seems hard, but it was!  Indeed that pretty unexpected statement was the curtain-raiser on all that follows.  The man had never seen light.  It appears he was mature but still young, articulate, possibly in his late teens, certainly older than 13 which was the age of becoming “of age.”   He was well known locally (v.8).

Part 2.  From v 6 Jesus takes the lead for a little while.  The darkness in which blindness had kept the man led Jesus to describe the time of his own ministry as a “day” in which he must get on with what his Father had sent him to do, before darkness fell.  He emphasizes again, just as he had done earlier, that in his earthly ministry he was “the light of the world”.  Then he heals the man and brings him light.  And as we read on we see this real physical healing symbolizes the light-bringing effect of his ministry.  He mixes probably colloidal clay into a paste using his own saliva and spreads the paste as ointment on the man’s eyes.  (There are some medicines now that have a colloidal base).  “Go to the the pool of Siloam and wash it off and bathe your eyes.”   The man does so, and comes back, able to see.  Mark’s gospel twice reports Jesus using his own saliva, once in the healing of a deaf mute and once like this of a blind man.  Commentators say that Jesus’ healings mean the re-creation of the whole person spiritually as well as physically.  Signs are all about: Genesis 2 speaks of God making Adam out of the dust of the ground which had been softened by rain and mist.  Jesus speaks of people being baptised in living water, when people become incorporate in him.  Paul says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. 

Part 3.  This next section is especially vivid.  When the man returns in v.8 the neighbours are puzzled to say the least.  They ask him incredulously how it happened.   I imagine some were trembling at whatever amazing thing or miracle had happened.  The man was well known, perhaps a local fixture, a tragic case but one they were used to.   Some were so surprised they doubted whether it was the same man.   Some of the local crowd say it’s not him at all but someone who just looks like him.  Some said “It is he”.  And he says “I am the man”.  It was in the preceding chapter that John had used the great ego eimi  I AM Name of Christ, and here in a different style and context it is again.   Perhaps there is a sense in which the man can now join his Lord and say I AM, I really am.     John’s account contains quiet irony as the locals discuss this ‘new creation’ of a man remade by Christ.  Anyway the friends and neighbours keep asking him, “How was it that your eyes were opened” and the man tells them about the clay paste anointing his eyes, about stumbling off to wash at Siloam and then finding he could see.   “Where is that fellow now” they ask.   “I don’t know” he says.  At this stage Jesus is just another man to him.  It is still sinking in, despite the new miracle of light that overwhelms him, how amazing it is to be born blind and yet receive sight.  S.John’s story up to now is holy, reverent, low key.   

Have you ever had a miracle or experienced one?  I suspect the full meaning of it, the blessing of it only dawns on us slowly.  I remember in our previous parish perhaps 18 years ago the grandson of the great theologian A.W.Tozer came to preach and celebrate.  After the service a vision-impaired lady friend of ours could see clearly again and she wouldn’t stop squeaking, bless her.  Most people didn’t give thanks.  They didn’t want to believe that something extraordinary had happened to upset the even tenor of the day and the order and decency of the worship.  What soured the service for some was that the visiting priest had also whacked the Masonic Lodge, some of whom came to that church.  When the rector came back next day he was angry.  “If anyone attacks the Lodge”, he said, “it should be me, not some upstart from Melbourne”. 

On another note I remember back in Adelaide some of us christian teenagers praying ernestly for a mate who had just had a serious motor-scooter accident.  He looked quite dead lying on the road, blood seeping from an ear.   After a while Trevor became well again.  We were very uncomfortable then and thought we all must have exaggerated, and I confess the one thing we didn’t do together was to stop everything and kneel down and thank and praise God.   Talking of miracles, I remember back in 1960 (BM=Before Margaret) driving down the M1 motorway from Rugby to London in my 1935 Morris 8 Tourer (Sue) of which I had just finished replacing all the worn-out big-end and crankshaft bearings.   There was no speed limit in those days but I knew if I stuck to 50mph the engine would be happy and the oil pressure would stay above 45psi.  But after driving for an hour I found the speedo said 62mph and the oil pressure had sunk to 15psi instead of 45.  I had to drive up a hill at the exit from the motorway and then the little engine sounded rattly and very sick.  There was a good chance I wouldn’t get to the very important meeting in London at which I had to speak (which was to change my life), let alone get to Surrey afterwards to see my then girlfriend.  I stopped and prayed “Please Lord if I’ve busted or melted my bearing shells again, please hold that damage and let me make it there in time.  Please get the oil pressure up.  Please God of all creation, you’re the greatest engineer.   Please help me get there.”  When things had cooled I started up again and the engine seemed better and I got to the meeting on time.  Afterwards I got to Christine’s parents’ house OK.  On Sunday night I drove safely and slowly the 125 miles back to Rugby, driving carefully to spare the little engine.  As I turned into my lodgings there was a strange crunch and the engine stopped and wouldn’t restart.  Next weekend I pulled the engine out and took it apart and there was hardly any metal left on any bearing anywhere.  Sure it was a miracle, as far as I was concerned.  Eventually I gave thanks.  In fact I still do.  Only a little miracle but real enough!  Of course there’s others too, and I’d really like us all to share our experiences of miracles this morning.   I suspect for most of us for most of the time, daily miracles pass almost unnoticed and unappreciated.  How do you put up with us Lord?  Anyway the blind man came back with his sight.

Part 4.  In the next act in this drama v14 the people take the bloke before the priests and Pharisees, who were the leaders and rulers of the Jews.  It wasn’t unreasonable to interrogate him and he tells his brief story.  Always keen to discredit Jesus or anyone else who was out of their theological circle, they press him on how he gained his sight.  He tells them exactly what has happened.  Within a little while they have formed into two sides, one side claiming that “the man who did this cannot come from God, he did what is unlawful on the Sabbath, digging clay and kneading it.”  The other side argues “But how could such amazing signs come from a sinful man?”  They divide.   They ask the man himself “What do you have to say about him?”  The man has been listening to the debate.  Also he is settling down [who would behave calmly who can suddenly see after maybe 20 years of darkness] and he is beginning to form his own conclusions.  In that high company he is prepared now to affirm more about Jesus: “He is a prophet” he replies.   In one sense this is no big deal!  This confession is that Jesus must be a prophet used by God, like any prophet.  The woman at Sychar said that.  More insights will come but let’s not underestimate what’s happening now.   For the man has increased considerably his answer from the first time when he said: ‘I don’t know who he is’.  Now he is declaring that Jesus is a prophet, and a prophet is far senior to a rabbi and indeed to an ordinary Pharisee.   The man didn’t say “He is the prophet.”  Not yet anyway.   

Part 5.  From v 18 the situation hots up.  Now the Jews sat they don’t believe the man had been blind, so they call his parents who say  “We surely know he is our son.  We brought him up.  We surely know he was born blind.  We have no idea how he can now see, or who healed his certain blindness.  Ask him.  He is of age.  Let him tell you.”  We can assume the parents were simple people but they were not fools.  Also they were in a dilemma.  They were scared of the learned assembly of Pharisees, who had already let it be known that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be ejected from the synagogue.  And although it rarely happened, that was pretty serious, only surpassed by being sent to jail.

Part 6.  Not surprisingly, the Jews then decide to re-examine the man himself, and this interrogation from v24 starts on a different note.  Apparently their own arguments have resulted in an agreement that Jesus must have broken the Sabbath law in which case he must be a sinner.  On the other hand we can guess the man has always been forthright and avoided trouble previously because he was blind and therefore not taken too seriously.  For he gives a very spirited argument and defence which takes them aback.  “I don’t know whether the man who healed me is a sinner.  But I do know that I was blind and now I can see”.   So the authorities make one last attempt to have the details settled clearly enough that the matter can be settled beyond doubt.   “What did he do?” they ask again, “How did he heal you?”  But the man is becoming impatient    “I told you already but you wouldn’t listen.  Why do you want to hear it again.  Perhaps you want to become his disciples?”    At this the Jews become indignant and abusive.  This affair is not turning out well at all for them, and their bullying isn’t getting the right results.  “We are disciples of Moses.  As for this fellow you speak of, we don’t know where he comes from” which wasn’t true because they had already tangled with Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles and the authorities certainly knew of Jesus’ birthplace.   But you and I know that they didn’t really know where The Lord Jesus came from.  And the man answered   “This is extraordinary.  You don’t know anything about the man who opened my eyes, I who was born blind!”   And he said quite a lot more and addeed  “God doesn’t listen to sinners but to anyone who is devout and does his will.”  (Spot on).  “If this man was not from God he could do nothing.”

So the man whom Jesus healed ridicules them, the official theologians of Israel.  “Who are you, obviously born and bred in sin, to lecture US” they shout.  Whereupon in their pride and anger they excommunicate him who an hour ago had been standing blind by the roadside, but who now could see them.

Part 7.  If we made a play about this story, or a film, or even an opera, we’d switch now to a scene of peace, perhaps with Beethoven’s 6^th symphony in the background.  Jesus enters.  There are no parents, neighbours, Pharisees in this scene.   The Son of Man, Son of God hears the story.  He comes up to the man who has been excommunicated and asks “Do you now believe in the Son of Man?”  The man replies, just like the woman by the well, just like some of my students in Nepal, just like some people on Bruny Island “Tell me who He is so I can put my faith in Him.”  Jesus says “Indeed it is He who is speaking to you”.  He might have said, perhaps did say, “I AM”.  We may imagine how the once-blind man reacts.  He looks again.  With the power of sight given him by The Lord he now sees the reality.  The man falls to his knees and says “I believe” and worships Him.  There’s the miracle of the miracle!   Friends, I could go on to a Part 8 to examine in detail what Jesus then says about having come to give sight to the sightless and to make the blind see, but you know that; you love that scripture and you can read it again.  Finally Jesus unmistakably condemns the Pharisees and authorities because they claim to see but see nothing.   Is The Church still sometimes like that.  Are we? 

But we can pray, “Lord, heal our blindness.  Let us see you and let us worship you with all our hearts, bodies and minds.  Teach us to know you, and to believe you are the great I AM, Light of the World.   Amen        

a model for communal preaching

Living Water, Living Story

Posted 03.20.11

1)  All stories work through details and gaps. Details highlight what is important to the author and so guide our interpretation. Gaps invite us to use our imagination and fill in the blanks and, by doing so, become invested in the story.

2) Give a little bit of background to the Gospel reading for today, the story of the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well. (And, by the way, read only the gospel this week; people will get a lot more out of it if it doesn't come as the fourth biblical reading they hear.) Here are a couple of things I'd lift up:
The contrast between last week's reading and this week's couldn't be stronger – Nicodemus is male, Jewish, and a religious authority (an "insider"). The woman is, well, a woman, a Samaritan (it might be useful briefly to explain the enmity between Jews and Samaritans), and an outsider (which probably explains why she came to draw water a noon, the worst time of day to draw water but the one where you are least likely to encounter others).
Jesus is not uncovering a shameful past or exposing her life of sin when he says she has had five husbands and the man she is living with now is not her husband. Rather, she has most likely been widowed or divorced/abandoned (much the same thing at this time) five times and is now likely dependent on another for subsistence. Jesus, then, is not chastising her or calling her to account; rather he sees her, compassionately naming and understanding her circumstances. This is why she calls him a prophet and risks asking him the central question that divides Samaritans and Jews: the question of where it is proper to worship.
While she came to the well to get water, now that she has met Jesus, "who told me everything I have ever done," she leaves her jar – the token of her present difficult and dependent life – behind to go tell others. She has, indeed, encountered living water, has been freed by her encounter with Jesus, and wants to share this living water with others.

3) Now, with just that little bit of background, invite folks to turn to others (maybe 3-5 people) to pay attention to the details that grab their attention and to the gaps that they want to fill in. Also have them note their questions, as our questions also draw us into the story. Here are several additional prompting questions: In what way can you identify with the woman at the well? What is the one question you would ask Jesus if you could? What token of your difficult life would you leave behind?

4) After giving people 5 minutes or so to do this, invite a few folks to respond, sharing their insights and their questions with the group at large if possible. (If that doesn't work, think of an adequate substitute for your context.)

Okay, so how do you end a sermon when you've opened it up this way? I don't think you have to "end" it – in fact, the hope is that people will keep talking about this passage as they leave. But to draw things to a close, you might share how you'd answer one or two of the questions you've just asked. You might talk about the promise that God in Jesus also sees us – our challenges, problems, doubts, fears – with compassion and frees us to leave our jar behind. You might proclaim that the Jesus who is willing to break all boundaries to share living water with this woman – who, interestingly, becomes the first evangelist, leading others to meet Jesus through her testimony – continues to break boundaries in order to reach us.

I can't promise you this will "work." It sometimes takes a few weeks of a new practice before people become confident in trying it out. But that's precisely the point – we need to give our people practice in reading and interpreting Scripture so that they will, in fact, believe that this book is their book and that they can, indeed, read it, understand it, enjoy it, and even share it with others.

I know this means taking a risk, Working Preacher. And I appreciate your courage in trying this or some other ways of helping our people find themselves in the pages of Scripture. Blessings on your proclamation!

Transfiguration Yr a cyg JSM looking at self through God's eye

Exodus 24;12-18

2 Peter 1; 16-21

Matthew 17; 1-9

The transfiguration was first and foremost a time when Jesus was affirmed as the Son of God. It was a time after which he had met opposition, he knew the Pharisees were plotting to kill him and he had explained to his disciples that he had to die but would be born again. He must have been lonely and unhappy about the events to come. He loved his disciples and had compassion for all who were suffering and must have wanted to continue to bring healing and salvation to all hurting people. To have to leave the world, in a horrible way, on the cross, would be challenging for any person. Being Human, Jesus would experience the same emotions as most, however still being human he had knowledge from heaven which gave him a God’s eye view of the cross journey.

He knew the scriptures intimately, he had amazing insight from God about what people  were thinking, and about events which were to unfold.  So he know that he had to die a terrible death and not surprisingly his humanity was troubled by this. He knew he would be deserted by his beloved disciples as well so this was the perfect time for him to receive a powerful boost from God the Father in heaven.

The visitation he received from Elijah and Moses as well as the voice of God and the transfiguration experience of taking on the brilliance of the angels combined to reassure him that his purpose was much greater than his preferences. That to save the world, his pathway was clear and that he could set his face toward it knowing that it was a good thing, the right thing the only thing regardless of his human dislike of the process involved.

Peter James and John also shared the transfiguration experience and that no doubt changed their lives. To have been present at such a momentous event could be compared to an astronomer watching the big bang occur. It was a moment that for the rest of their lives they would draw on to reassure themselves that what was happening was real and not a dream. A pinching yourself moment to be certain that you were awake.

But much more important than that was the fact that they received the affirmation that their master was who they believed him to be. the messiah, the son of God. So that these ordinary people who dropped their nets and become fishers of humans knew for all time that when they suffered persecution and ridicule that their faith was properly grounded.

They came to know themselves much better and though that was not an instantaneous process, along with all that they had been taught and had seen and that later the Holy Spirit would bring them to understand, that they would know that they indeed were the cornerstone of the new church. That they could preach Jesus resurrected with confidence.

I am sure that it caused a few problems that had to be overcome, some matters of ego perhaps. It probably takes an appreciation of the responsibilities involved to get perspective upon the knowledge that you are the best mates with the Son of God.

Moses entered the cloud on Mount Sinai to receive the commandments from God. This must for him have been another milestone which he could always fall back on as people were disobedient and even when God told him that he could see the promised land but not enter it.

The fact that the voice came to Jesus through cloud and that Moses entered the cloud for fourty days and that the ark of the covenant was followed by cloud by day and fire by night are all deeply symbolic. However the main thrust of these two readings is the self awareness realised through the experiences and the effect this had on later events.

I read of a nice story of a young monk who asked his senior accomplice why it was that so many people heard the gospel but then fell away and only a relatively small number held firm to their faith. The older monk replied that it was similar to when dogs flushed out a rabbit and chased it. That soon all the local dogs joined the hunt and the whole pack was baying in persuit. As the chase progressed and after ten minutes or so when the exercise became telling, the majority of dogs stopped chasing but there were always one or two who did not give up. The senior monk went on to say that these were the dogs who had seen the rabbit. The others had only heard the noise and joined  in the excitement of the moment and this was the same with Christianity, those who had seen the rabbit so to speak, had had a close encounter with Jesus and that it was enough to last them all their lives. So they kept following.

The reading from 2 Peter alludes to this light sighting reality, The epistle is said to have the objective of stimulating spiritual growth amongst the readers, of combating false teaching and encouraging watchfulness for the second coming of Jesus.

He writes, Believe on witnesses and prophets until light rises within you, the light which will guide and support their faith always.

I am guessing in an educated way that probably everybody here has experienced that light within which is a mountaintop experience which  has helped to give knowledge that we are children of God, that Jesus loves us and has a plan and purpose for us. And that encourages us to continue to follow Jesus on our walk through life. A journey which has made different people of us and is continuing to do so. We have sighted the rabbit and wont drop off the chase.

Mountaintop experiences are life changing but the life changing event as was the case with what happened for the disciples can often be more relevant when viewed in hindsight.

When we think of our own mountaintop experiences and what has happened in our lives since they happened, we can really recognise how far God has bought us on our journey.

Similarly, when we look back upon our life as a Church it is possible to recognise how much growth and change has occurred over periods of time.

It might be that some of that change is perceived as negative, such as thinking back to our Sunday school of 8 to ten children each week, the youth groups which used to meet regularly and the Guild of Martha and Mary which was active over so many years.

We need to see the other side of the coin and recognise that along the way, there have been ups and downs which have developed resilience and there has been a continuing building of a resource of faith and experience.

We draw from the scriptures today, how the major events described, the transfiguration and Moses receiving of the ten commandments were milestones which enables us to look upon the individuals and events and help to understand them better as people and understand better what God was doing in them and through them.

Similarly as the scriptures speak to us, it gives us the opportunity to step outside of ourselves and look upon our journeys with God with a God’s eye view to help us to appreciate just where we have come from and to help us join with God in following God’s planned journey for us.

Let us depart today challenged to think and pray about where we have come from , in which areas we have grown and which areas we would like to see growth in  the medium term future.

But as we do so let us remember the words from Peters second letter today where he says, We have the word of the prophets and the eyewitness of Jesus’ fellows who saw the deeds and heard the prophesies from Jesus first hand.

He says “Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts”

He is certainly saying that until you have the rabbit moment, then hold on to the light shining in the darkness which is the testimony of the witnesses and the word of the prophets.

Exactly the same principle holds as we seek God’s guidance as we move forward on our journey with him. Like the sower of the seed, we have to choose wisely where the seed is scattered. As we allocate our resources with a view to a harvest, we need to look for the deep soil, not the rocks or the briars.

When we think about some of the resources we have I am gobsmacked. When I think of the resource of faith held within this Church, God has truly blessed us. Certainly it has been partly a result of our journey so far, but most of all, it is purely the combination of the life lived with Christ of our people.

We all hear weekly of the miracles which are happening through prayer, Mitch, Gus, Gavin, William, Kay to speak of the major events, however we constantly hear of answered prayer and every answered prayer is a miracle.

As we seek to fathom how God wants us to move forward in the using of this and other resources, we need to fall back on the scriptures, to remember the words of the prophets, to heed Jesus instructions, to take account of the testimony of witnesses from Jesus time to the present.

Please make a note of any passages which you find helpful in this process and it is a helpful tool to write down your thoughts, feelings and hopes in this process. We are not asking you to share what you have written, but certainly share the scripture you find helpful.

If we think about the way we would like to grow with God, it may be helpful to use a simple framework to do so.

The familiar words, Faith, Hope and Love are a good place to start,

Faith is multifaceted but straightforward, Hope could be looked at in the light of what we hope God has/may work here with us and through us, and love likewise has many manifestations but it might help to look at our vision statement, We are a Church with Christ at the heart of our lives, who seek to bring his love to the heart of our community and to consider how we can partner with God to bring this to be an even greater reality. Amen

Epiphany 8 Yr a Woodbridge JSM God's love for exiles/Christchurch

Epiphany 8 yr a woodbridge jsm

Isaiah 49;8-16a

Psalm 131

I Cor 4;1-5

Mtt 6;24-34

There can be no better example of how worthless are the things of this world than the earthquake in Christchurch last week.

Whether you had Gucci glasses or a Lamborghini and a frig full of caviar and bin 47 Penfolds when the ground began to shake, all the effort and worry and stress which goes into making the money to buy the best all of a sudden is put into perspective.

This past six months has been a series of disasters in Australia with floods, cyclone Yasi and fires also and New Zealand has had two earthquakes within six months, the first causing no loss of life but enormous damage.  And the mine collapse near Graymouth.

This is the way of the world, there are peaceful years but natural disasters are a part of life and while we take precaution where we can, there are some things which you just cannot prepare for.

Many  people are philosophical when it comes to the damage of bushfires and floods and earthquakes also, when it comes to property, but when it comes to lives it is a different story.

A death is a major trauma for loved ones and we grieve with Christchurch for those lost last week. Our grief is miniscule compared to that of relatives and other residents of Christchurch. A huge number of people are affected between families, loved ones and friends. neighbours, fellow workers. Members of clubs and societies, even the people who travel to work on the same bus or train. When they are not there now it will be a constant reminder of the tragedy.

I read of a counsellor involved in 9/11 who upon hopping onto a train which he was accustomed to catching prior to the disaster when visiting the city a decade later burst into tears when he knew that so many of the people not there were lost in the tragedy.

Every resident of Christchurch will be affected by the communal cloud of grief and this really puts into perspective the waste of time and effort which goes into consumerist persuits.

The upside to tragedies such as Christchurch is the way which the best in people comes to the fore and Christian values are shared in so many ways throughout society.

I spoke of Brisbane last time I was here after the flood a month ago. The Holy Spirit leads people to acts of goodness whether they are churchgoers or not. But for a Christian it is particularly valuable to have a faith which upholds and encourages one during trouble.

It is such a shame for all those who do not have a faith and have to face trauma with their own strength. I cannot imagine how defeated many must feel under the pressures, stresses and strains which many if not most people experience in this life.

God certainly does not intend that people undergo such pain. God has given us promises which are relayed again in the words of Isaiah today which are spoken to us through Jesus who came to fulfil the law and the prophets.

“In the time of my favour I will answer you, I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land.

To say to the captives Come out and those in darkness, be free.

They will neither hunger nor thirst nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.

He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

God speaks of his love for his children and the prophet says,

Shout for joy O heavens, rejoice O earth, burst into song O mountains, for the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

 And goes on to quantify that love by saying that even though a nursing mother may forget her infant, that he will never forget his children, God is saying that the love he feels for his children is greater even, than that of a nursing mother.

Oh! if only it were possible for those who are hurting now to know and believe those words,  comfort for those suffering to be able to rest their pain and grief into God’s hands.

God must have seen the Israelites in bondage in Babylon in the same light because in Isaiah’s poem we hear Zion say “The Lord has forsaken us” and it was to this statement that the nursing mother comparison was relayed by the prophet. The exiles believed that their plight was irreversible and that their behaviour had caused God to desert them. There are no doubt many in Christchurch feeling just the same right now and God would have them hear the same words of comfort that he gave the exiles.

When Jesus in the sermon on the mount says “Do not worry” I am sure he is not just talking about clothes and possessions and what we eat. When we think about worry in a Christian context, we know that worry involves a shutting out or separation from Jesus. We are trying to achieve in our own strength that which we should be leaving to God. To plan is not to worry, to worry is to prepare and avoid the loss of something. The negative side of planning perhaps.

The converse of worrying is to draw closer to Jesus and allow him to share in our concerns, to help us with those which are genuine and those people in  Christchurch have plenty of genuine concerns on their plate right now.

We can pray that Jesus can assist them in their immeadiate needs, for healing, shelter, food, and support. Their needs run deeper than just those needs of survival. There is the need for emotional healing, a process of returning to something like normality. I am sure that counselling will be available through government and church to help in that.

But there is also the even deeper need of spiritual healing which those who are Christian will draw upon readily. People will feel bruised and broken in spirit, and angry that God has “let” this happen. God does however, make the rain and the sun to fall or shine upon the righteous and unrighteous so there will be a natural restoration for many who are non-believers but we know that not all will allow even that natural process to occur.

The prophet Isaiah in the preceding passage to that which we heard today also prophesises that God will make his children to be a light for the gentiles who in their exile and despair may have taken hope that God really had not deserted them and so today, we give thanks that God’s grace is so freely abundant to all who call upon him and take our  role seriously of helping through prayer to bring that light to those who are suffering and without relationship with God through Jesus.

That is the good news however,  that we can pray, alongside of Christians throughout the world, and when we know of the amazing healings and restorations that flow through grace from prayer in our own midst and when we know from reliable sources of the miracles which happen through prayer elsewhere, we can direct our prayer at this time for those who are otherwise bereft of support at the deeper spiritual level and pray God bring light into their lives through people, and through the power of the Holy Spirit that in this tragedy they may find the doorway to peace opened and choose to pass into a relationship of peace, hope, guidance and support and most of all, salvation, for all their lives.

Through our geographical proximity, through blood and friendship relationships the tragedy in New Zealand is very real to us and it is natural to keep family before God as a very high priority, we must also recognise that Northern Africa is experiencing a massive transformation and that Libya has the potential to become the next major human induced tragedy of the world. So we keep the  people of Libya in prayer for safety and a just outcome of this present conflict. Despite the faith differences we know that all people are equally loved by God, so join with all who ask for ask for God’s grace to bring healing, justice and peace to Libya.

Amen

Epiphany 7 Yr A Woodbridge, John Cannell

SERMON A  SS.Simon & Jude Woodbridge  Sun 20 Feb 2011  J.K.Cannell

Lev 19: 1-2, 9-18.   1 Cor 3: 10-17.   Matt 5: (17-37) 38-48

The Six Antitheses of Jesus:  particularly Retaliation, and Loving our persecutors vv38-48

May I suggest we have our bibles open at these pages of vv 17-48.

Father, teach us obedience.  Give us Grace to be effective witnesses to your healing love and mercy, through Jesus your Son.                                           

The OT reading begins easily enough.   The Lord told Moses to say to the Israelites, “Be holy like Me”.   Mmm.   That seems OK though it’s asking rather a lot.  But then it gets a bit provocative.  “When you are reaping your fields or harvesting your grapes, leave some for those who have nothing”.   Not very business-like! Come on! I’ve got a family to feed you know!  “Never deceive or oppress your brother or your neighbour or anyone who works for you or even an alien.   Be careful to be just, not only to your brother and daughter but to any fellow-countryman”.  Now hold it.  It’s not a fair world.   And then it becomes downright arguable, over the top for us reasonable law-abiding folk.  “Never seek revenge.  Never cherish a grudge”, it says!

Imagine:  “Crikey if I behaved like that they’d kick me out of the synagogue.  If old Mordecai did what it says he’d have been the laughing stock of the village.  Remember when silly young Ruben set fire to Mordecai’s  entire corn crop that year!  Mordecai took the matter to the elders and they broke Ruben and his family, just about, with the fines and all, and quite right too.  Doesn’t matter if it was an accident, Mordecai still suffered.  And then silly young Ruben added insult to injury by falling in love with Mordecai’s daughter Miriam.  Lovely girl.  But Mordecai sent his daughter far far away and between you and me he arranged for Ruben to be hurt one night.  I don’t blame him....Where might it all have ended?    Next day that visiting Rabbi started arguing... “God says you must love your neighbour as yourself”.  He said that that’s what Moses reckoned that God said.  Well I don’t know.  Look, give me some good clear rules and I’ll obey them, I’ll stick to the rules.  I’m God-fearing.  I’ll obey the rules.  But when some visiting Rabbis try on a lot of stuff about “loving everybody even the people next door” then where are you?  A man’s got to look after his family doesn’t he, at all costs?  It stands to reason.  God didn’t love the people next door when he drowned all Pharoah’s troops when they came after us, across the Red Sea, when our forefathers were escaping out of Egypt, did he?  Look, the Torah’s our book, Genesis,  Exodus , Leviticus, Numbers and good old Deut.  And fair do’s, we Jews more or less stick to Moses’ rules, The Law as we call it, not the airy fairy Abrahamic stuff with forgiveness and faith and all.  You know where you are with rules!”

That, more or less, is where civilized humankind was then, and mainly is now. 

Now we’ll skip about 1600 years and refer to the New Testament. We open the Gospel of Matthew again.  The Fathers of the Church have compiled this lectionary so that we can hear what Jesus the Messiah, the Christ Himself teaches from the Father’s Heart, in NT and OT.   He who is of God, one with God, eternal with God, mighty above all creation but our friend and brother, Saviour and Redeemer, speaks in the Gospels. 

The main thing about Matthew 5:17-48 is the attitude to God’s Law, rather than man’s.  Jesus says He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.  Some think this means He came to dot the is and cross the ts and make it even more detailed but Jesus makes it clear that that is not at all what He is on about.  Some think He came to abolish it altogether.   In a way, as we shall see, He came to intensify the demands of The Law.  Formal obedience to rules is nothing compared to Gods’ righteousness.  A Pharisee might well have said “Look I have done precisely what is required in such and such a situation.  I didn’t enjoy doing it.  I didn’t want to do it.  But I did it, and fulfilled the Law of Moses, and I’m not going to go one millimeter past that.  I’m making no further commitment”.  And that saddens and offends the Heart of God.  Jesus is not looking for the dreary completion of some legal clause or a demonstration of external rectitude.  Righteousness means being right with God.   Jesus is looking for the response to the Law to be a springboard for a life of devotion to God.   In vv 21-48 He gives a number of examples of the outworking of that wholeheartedness and holiness, in obedience.   He shows that to keep the letter of the old Law while ignoring its spirit, to try to buy merit with God while at the same time breaking laws inwardly, is not on for a Christian. 

Even beyond the detailed contents of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the legalism of the scribes and Pharisees was particularly contained in their accumulated oral pronouncements, which many people memorised.  This was a vast lot of law...the Torah had plenty already (as you’ll see as you read it), but there was much more.  In the 3^rd century some of it was codified in the Mishnah that runs to 800 pages.  Then scholars wrote 12 printed volumes to amplify that, in what was known as the Jerusalem Talmud.  The pettifogging minutae must have been heartbreaking to someone who wanted to live right with God.  For example, to keep the Sabbath holy a new lamp could be moved from one place to another but not an old one.  A donkey could go out on the Sabbath wearing its saddle cloth (if it was fixed on the day before) but couldn’t wear a bell, because it would have to do work to cause the bell to ring.  And people watched closely to see whether these restrictions were ever flouted!  There were thousands of regulations like that, for everything.  All this was to preserve righteousness.  (See The Message of Matthew by Michael Green, The Bible Speaks Today, IVP, Ed John Stott, 2000).  But the rules were not enough.  No wonder Jesus said “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees you will certainly not enter the kingdom of God!” 

The prophets of old used to say “Thus says the Lord”.  But the rabbis who followed were not guided by the Holy Spirit but by the Talmuds and the traditions of men, and we are told that they usually avoided preaching on their own authority.  Instead they liked to discuss the theses and statements of other clerics.  “Rabbi Nathaniel said last year.....and in view of Babylonian Talmud No.563 I will add some observations about that.....”  And in the midst of these layers of confusion and obfuscation and theses concocted by the scribes, comes Jesus!  With immense authority Jesus dismisses centuries of orthodox interpretation and with assurance He starts explaining  the roots of OT teachings with “You have heard it said.... BUT I TELL YOU.....”.   At long last the Messiah has come.  God speaks!   He rips the veil away from God’s Word and suddenly the truth becomes clear; frighteningly clear.

In this discourse of Ch 5 vv 21-48 (our lectionary readings for last week and this week), Jesus presents six antitheses to the rabbi’s theses.  (See Quicknotes Bible Commentary Series Matthew and Mark  Vol8 by Stephen Leston, Mark Strauss, Ian Fair.  Barbour, Ohio 2008).  These contrast the old accumulated law of the elders scribes and Pharisees, all fractured and shot with contradiction, with the new unified righteousness which He proclaims.   The traditional theses are turned upside down by Jesus’ antitheses.   In that way Jesus did correct and complete (or fulfill) the Law of Moses.  In doing so He did not abrogate the ancient Law.  He went behind it to its original function, to the secret purposes of the human heart, and the heart of God.

The first is about murder.  Anger can equal murder!   We begin to see that Jesus’ good news is a matter of life and death.  We are reminded of 1 John 3.15 “anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life in him”.  Jesus adds hard things.   For example, to call someone raca (Matt 5:22) is to use an Aramaic swearword for a ‘blockhead’.  Do not call one of God’s creatures that, Jesus says, and get rid of your bitterness towards your brother and everyone else.    The second is lust equals adultery.   We are warned.    The third antithesis is about divorce, as hot an issue then as it is now.  Conservative Rabbi Shammai insisted that ‘something offensive or indecent’ in Deut 24 meant infidelity but Rabbi Hillel was much more liberal.  He would probably say that burning the toast at breakfast was deserving of divorce for some.  So between these conservative and liberal views a great disparity developed throughout Jewry, which Jesus obviously found distressing.   But Jesus is stricter than Moses.   It must have been shattering for those who took advantage of the Mosaic concession of Deut.24:1-4 to allow divorce, to have heard Jesus setting out God’s original purpose for marriage.   In the kingdom, as at the creation, marriage is meant to be exclusive and lifelong .  (Gentle St.John Chrysostom links Matt.5:31-32 with 5:3-9 of the Beatitudes.  Surely a man of God who reconciles others and is a peacemaker and is merciful cannot cast out his own wife).  The complexities introduced today by mental ill-health and a fallen world make this prime social problem even more intractable.  But Jesus leaves us in no doubt about His views.  Besides, He heals in all manner of hopeless situations.  He forgives and renews, and we have access through His Church as it faithfully continues those works of healing and restoration among those who have faith.

Fourth, Jesus turns to oaths and promises.  An example:  Rabbi Zechariah makes a judgement in the synagogue court:  “Poor Bartholomew cannot be held to his promise to buy Ezra’s land because he swore on the great altar of the Sanctuary.  Had he sworn on the Sanctuary itself it would have been a binding vow, but the altar is insufficient.  So I excuse him”.                    No, says  Jesus, there’s no need to swear;  a good man’s word is enough.  A citizen of God’s kingdom must be utterly trustworthy.  Otherwise he is in sin.  As it was then, so now.

The fifth and sixth antitheses, about retaliation and love, are at the heart of this great treatise of ‘The Sermon on the Mount’.    (We come at last to the verses set for today: 38-48).   The teachers of The Law taught “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.  But Jesus says, “Don’t resist (possibly ‘engage with’, ‘fight’) those who do wrong to you.  (Guthrie, Motyer et al say that in the context this applies to wrongs done to you; it does not prohibit the defence of others).  “Don’t retaliate.  “Offer the other cheek as well.  “Give to anyone who asks.  “Don’t resist those who wrong you.”   (Jesus is not talking about global pacificism or the abolition of police forces and the rights and wrongs of war.  Paul talks about the responsibilities of states in Rom 13). The teachers of The Law said “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy”, although a command to hate your enemies appears nowhere in the bible.   Jesus said “What I say is pray for your enemies and those who hurt you!”   “There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly father’s goodness knows no bounds.”    Jesus says that private revenge can not be part of a christian’s life.  

Now friends, it is normal for us to try to rationalise and qualify hard biblical teaching, and water it down to stuff more socially acceptable to modern man.  But this is the Gospel of God.   As my friend Bp. Howell Witt of NW Australia used to say, “Don’t muck about with it”.    

This teaching is rubbish to a ‘man of the world’.  Of course I will retaliate when cheated, hurt, wronged.   And the practice of the Rabbis was legalistic and retaliatory.   Here is the greatest contrast of all between the old Law where punishments fits the crime and the Christ-way of forgiveness, from the OT and the NT.    Listen to Leviticus 24:20.  If anyone injures and disfigures a fellow-countryman, it must be done to him as he has done...fracture for fracture, etc.  Or Deuteronomy 19:21  You must show no mercy: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.  Much of that stuff is still observed in Muslim Sharia law.  But Jesus will have none of it.   Jesus’ understanding of these Mosaic laws is that they were intended by God to restrict excessive retaliation rather than empower retaliation.  Now His precious Son, Christ the King, teaches that kingdom ethics permit no retaliation at all!   Much the same teaching is given in 1 Peter 2:18-23 and in 3:6-9 and 14-17.  

It’s interesting about guilt and grievances.  Verse 23 is often misread.  Read it.   If you are presenting your gift at the altar and suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against you, leave that gift there and go and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift.  Instead of getting all hot under the collar about what I think he has done to me, I should go and talk with him about what I did to him, and beg his pardon.

Michael Green talks about his conversation on vv 40-42 with a black Christian leader in South Africa.  It may have been The Revd. Desmond Tutu when a young man, before he was consecrated bishop, though I don’t know.  “How did you respond on the many occasions you were humiliated by whites?”  He replied “When I was unjustly forced into some menial action, I completed it, and then turned and asked my ”boss” whether there was anything more he would like me to do to help him?  This always took the wind quite out of his sails.”  It’s what the bible calls heaping coals of fire upon his head.  I guess that’s when Satan quietly excuses himself and instead gets stuck into some other situation involving retaliation.  He can make trouble out of that much more easily.  That’s the point.  Members of the kingdom, you and I, can cause utter amazement by the way we respond to insult and hurt.   Then we can help bring about healing and renewal and repentance.  There should be such generosity of spirit about us that we give and give, just as God has given to us.  That’s the principal way we are to be His ambassadors in human kingdoms.    So now we can add another layer to this Jesus teaching about not retaliating, because it disarms evil and greed to dispense with grudges and debts and it makes our own lives so much simpler!  It helps to heal people, to forgive them when they have sinned against us, and it heals us too.  Ultimately it avoid wars.  And although it’s God’s business, it brings others to repentance as nothing else can.

So there’s plenty of human justification in not retaliating.  But the main reason for acting generously with prayer and without bitterness towards those who hurt us is that’s what Jesus commands!     But there’s more: God’s generosity in NOT making our punishments fit our crimes, but in forgiving the penitent and making us co-heirs of his kingdom is the example we follow.  His kindness and compassion lifts us out of our misery and darkness into His marvellous light.  In having taken it upon Himself to pay the costs of our selfishness and sin, we sinners can stand before Him, justified, for goodness’ sake!  Man, that’s generosity!  That’s Grace!

Dr. John Macquarie the theologian visited Hobart years ago.  In his Bishop’s Lecture he reminded us that at no time in the terrible suffering of the betrayal, passion, trial, scourging and crucifixion did Jesus cry out in cursing or vengeance or anger against his enemies and torturers.  He the sinless could have retaliated.  He did not.  So, said Macquarie, although Satan must have tried as he had never tried before, he never found a foothold, a chink, an opportunity at which to enter into the life of the great High Priest who was also the Lamb of God, and so pollute the perfect sacrifice.  So he lost the day.  He lost his only chance.   God triumphed.   That’s reason enough to live according to Jesus’ antitheses in the teaching of Matthew 5, to act generously, forgive love and pray for those who hurt us, avoid retaliation.  Jesus knows people will argue about this for centuries but His last word on the matter is this:- “There must be no limit to your goodness”.  

You mean me, Lord?

Amen    

Epiphany 4 yr A cyg JSM

Can you imagine God, looking down upon St. Marks, loving and caring and wanting to continue moving us in the direction that he plans for us

It is a comforting thought to me because to recognise that that is the case, that we are not just involved in an academic exercise which dissects and analyses the bible readings, but that along with many other ways, God is a part of the service and helping us to know his will for us as the Holy Spirit helps us to hear God through the living word, the bible.

Let’s hear what the bible is saying to us today.

I see a pattern of moving. In each of the readings, God is working to move the hearers from their present place to a different place.

Isaiah has some stern words, not unusual for Isaiah but he lays it on the line to the Israelites , “Esse quam videre” to be and not to seem to be” as our school motto ran when translated from the latin.

God is upset that people engage in a token fast and demand that God hears their prayers to which they receive no response. God informs them that it is wrong to engage in religious practise and continue sinning, doing what they please, extorting their workers, arguing with each other, fighting and so on.

These are a people who have lost their way. They have been genuine in the past. But have lapsed into bad habits and are now disobeying the law.

Isaiah goes to great lengths many times to reinforce to the Israelites that it is faith which is the most important, that people should be obeying the law because it is part of their faith, not something separate which became the tragic separation of the law from the faith.

In a nutshell, God is moving his people back to faith and integrity from their present position.

Paul writes to the Corinthians and begins with humility not authority which he may well have to right to do. He tells them that it has been with fear and trembling that he addressed them rather than by powerful arguement and strong logic. Paul appears to be addressing some of the add ons, which Corinth had leaned towards, causing splintering by following Appollos or Cephas or some Paul himself.

Paul has demonstrated his skill at reasoning and use of logic in arguement. His words at the Areopagus stand in testimony to that skill so he could well have embarked on an eloquent debate. The point he was making however was that it was the simple undiluted message with which he started that the Corinthians should come back to. Christ crucified.

The Corinthians seemed impressed with powerful arguement and so their splintering. Paul is relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit. The knowledge of the Corinthians of the power of the spirit demonstrated among them already, and the power of the Spirit to work within his readers to help guide them back to the essences of their belief.

So God, through Paul is looking to move his readers back on to the straight and narrow path, to dispense with the frills and add ons which they think has enhanced their faith and come back to the simple truth of salvation through faith in Jesus death on the cross.

Jesus we hear in Matthew’s gospel is talking to his disciples immeadiately after delivering the beatitudes so he has set the scene of the kind of attitude belongs to those who are blessed by God. He goes on with two profound statements to his disciples, “you are the salt of the earth” and a little later, “You are the light of the world”.

As he elaborates on both of these statements it would seem by implication that he is warning the disciples against remaining insular in their own group and not spreading themselves and the gospel amongst the society. Also warning them against hiding their light in a way in which the world cannot see and appreciate who they are and what they are doing and in whose power they are doing it.

It may not be that they have been inadequate in these areas, Jesus may just be stressing the importance to this way of being in order that the gospel would be propagated to its best advantage by these disciples. Either way it is moving the disciples to a different place that they are at to a different place, to a higher plane of operation.

Jesus elaborates on what seems to be an unrelated matter, that of how he has come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

Maybe a tad difficult to understand for his listeners at the time, but subsequent writers of the bible have no difficulty with the principle of having faith in Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection is the fulfilment which replaces the law.

It should be enhances the law in that no one is trying to say that the ten commandments are irrelevant, rather that the loving response to Jesus great love can only be to do as he would want for us to do.

I am sure that the disciples were in a different mental and emotional place after they had listened to Jesus on that day.

So again as we ponder on just where God would have us be today tomorrow and the next day and beyond, it is quite easy to understand that god’s plan for us is to move from where we are today.

Simply because life and Church life and personal relationship with God are a journey so movement has to be part of a journey.

That does not assume that we have lost the way, are on a wrong track or are in a bad place.

When we remember that of our top ten characteristics nine were equal to or above the 85^th percentile of all the Anglican churches in Australia. That alone says that we are doing something right. It also says that we are in a good place to continue moving forward, and needless to say it would make sense to keep the strong points firmly in mind as we plan the future.

When I say plan the future, I mean work with God to plan the future. The parable of the sower and the seed speaks of the partnership between God and His people. The farmer spreads the seed and God makes it germinate and grow. So it is up to us to use the benefit of hindsight and the journey God has undertaken with us so far, along with the strengths which we know we have along with much prayer and discernment as we seek God’s will for the path ahead.

One thing we can know from today’s readings, and in fact from virtually all our knowledge of the bible, is that shining our light, Shining Jesus light in the world through our worship, work and word is if you like, part of the objective of our journey and holding on to the core values, the understandings of Jesus life, death and resurrection is the underpinning of the journey.

So from todays readings, the message is that movement is natural, God is continually helping His people to move and grow. Part of that growth appears to be about shining the light of Christ in the world which comes with righteousness, i.e. faith in Jesus and living out the way of Christ. And coming deeply in prayer to seek God’s guidance in the wonderful partnership we are in with God through Jesus.

Let us pray now,

We give you thanks and praise Lord for your grace and mercy in bringing us to this day. In all we have learned and built on. We give you thanks and praise that you have built a loving family here and for the friendships, joys and happy memories we have as a result of the journey so far. Lord, we thank you even more for the journey we know lies ahead and for the plan and purpose you have in and through that journey.

So continue to guide and strengthen us and lead us that we may truly shine your light in the world and bring many people into the knowledge and love of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen