SAINT MARGARET’S BUDAPEST
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SAINT MARGARET’S |
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Index
LENT 4 Readings: 1 Samuel 16: 1-13; Ephesians 5: 8-14; John 9. Saul, the king of Israel has been rejected by God, and David is anointed to replace him. Saul's rejection appears to have come about through his usurping of the role of Samuel by offering the sacrifice himself following the defeat of the Amelekites. He was beginning to get above himself. A little like Gordon Brown deciding that he could be Archbishop of Canterbury as well as Prime Minister. However, Saul's rule did go on for many years still. No one seemed to have the courage to tell him that he was finished, so the accession of David was a long and complicated story. The actual anointing of David had to be done in secret, so Samuel approached the family of Jesse on what would appear to spies to be a religious occasion, even though Bethlehem was not in his parish so to speak. The local elders received him with caution because they were afraid of Saul's anger if his suspicions were aroused. However they are reassured of his peaceful intentions, and the sacrifice of the heifer proceeds. Jesse parades all of his older sons before Samuel, but none of these are accepted. The Lord does not choose as men choose – precedence does not rest on seniority or looks. The Lord looks to the heart. Finally David, the youngest, is called out before Samuel, and he is chosen. His outward appearance was indicative of strength of character and considerable inner resources. Both Saul and David were powerful personalities, and as leaders were imbued with the spirit of God, each in his own way. David is the first true king – Saul still had the sense of a tribal chieftain about him. Each though was significant in the development of Israel the nation. The problem with Saul was that the corrupting and destabilizing nature of personal power, which we have seen so often take hold of sometimes great men over the ages, took hold of him. David , for all his faults, was able to retain some sense of innocence, and repent and turn back to the way of the Lord. There is a real contrast of dark and light, evil and good, between these two interacting characters.
The epistle passage too contrasts dark and light. The early Church sensed strongly the need for them as Christians to state the choice with which the world faced them in black and white terms. There is no middle ground. Before conversion they were darkness, now, following conversion to Christ they are light. Note, not 'in darkness' or 'in light'. There had been a darkness of the soul, whereas now there was light and joy. The heathen soul is darkness, I have sensed it on occasions. If we are possessed by light rather than darkness then our life and behaviour will evidence this. In contrast the works of darkness are unfruitful, and we are to expose them. This does not mean going about pointing out the faults of others – though there can be a place for reproof on occasions. It is more that the quality of life lived in the light will show up the darkness for what it is. If we are positive in our walk with Lord, imitating Christ, growing more like him, then the life of darkness will be seen increasingly clearly for what it is. Even speaking about sin is seen as unhelpful. ..... everything exposed by the light becomes visible. The light shed about by our lives must be such that it lights up the world around us, and shows it up for what it is. The Gospel reading continues this theme of light and dark. We have another involved Johannine discussion on Jesus as the Light of the World connected with the story of the healing of a man born blind. It was a common belief of the age that illness was the result of punishment for wrongdoing, either by the person concerned or their forbears. Jesus rejects this idea utterly. He declares that the purpose of the man's blindness is that God's work might be revealed in him. The purpose of the death of Lazarus was similar, as was the miracle at Cana – they reveal the glory of God. There is much in life that we cannot explain: this applies particularly to the mystery of suffering. Jesus' words here tell us that God can nevertheless use the experience, if we allow him, if our lives are available to him. The work of Jesus goes on continually, even the sabbath must not be allowed to stand in the way. The time for acceptance, or rejection, of Jesus does come to an end. The opportunity of salvation is not endless. Jesus is the world's light while he is in it; apart from him there is only darkness. Those who choose darkness cut themselves off from the light. The healing of this blind man becomes a sign of the way Jesus illuminates. He sends the man to the pool of Siloam (which means sent). He washes there and receives his sight. Thus there is a wordplay on the name – Jesus too is the one who is sent. The man receives his sight at the place called Sent, but the power to heal, to give sight, i.e. of enlightenment, comes from the one sent from God. The discussion over the man's identity serves to reinforce the reality of the event: the formerly blind man proclaims that he is the same person. He knows who healed him, but he does not know where Jesus is. The Gospel is telling us that the source of enlightenment is unexpected and mysterious; Jesus remains unpredictable, we cannot control him or the way in which he reveals himself. Naturally the man's claims have to be tested, so he is brought in and questioned about his healing and about Jesus. The whole incident has undermined the authority of the religious leaders, so they try hard to catch the man out on some detail. The fact that it was done on the sabbath seems to answer their need for an avenue of attack on Jesus. He has sinned by not observing the sabbath law. They try to judge Jesus against the very criteria which he has come to supersede. Their minds are closed in their entrenched position. The event shows our need to be open to the revelation of God in new and unexpected ways – ways which may disturb our set ideas. The authorities then try to discredit the miracle by casting doubt on the reality of the man's blindness – so they bring in the parents. They though verify the story that the once blind man can now see. They are frightened to go further than this – but the man himself is bolder. He sticks to the facts, despite the possible cost to himself. He has experienced the healing power of God in Jesus: he doesn't really understand it, but nevertheless it happened – they cannot shake his faith. He spells out the logic of his faith – to heal a man born blind is a miracle such as can only come from God. So they drive him out. Now Jesus searches him out and reveals his identity as Son of Man. This title 'Son of Man' was understood in the sense of the Messiah as present among God's people, revealing God to them. The man is thus able to see Jesus as being more than a just a prophet of God as he had at first thought, not merely a man who had given him physical sight, but as the one who could also give spiritual enlightenment. Jesus' gift to him was not simply the opportunity to live a normal life – he had given him a vision of a completely new way of life, life in the Spirit. Life which he offers as gift to every one of us. Jesus is the Light of the World, bringing judgment on those who refuse the light. This is the case with the Jews. The man who was blind and accepted healing is enlightened; those who like the Pharisees and the Jewish leadership who believed that they were the enlightened ones are actually blind, and because they reject the Light of the World remain in darkness. The question for us is, do we accept the light and new life which Christ offers us, do we walk in the light which leads to God?
Elijah the prophet believed that his end was near, so he sets out to pay farewell visits to various prophetic communities at Gilgal, Bethel and Jericho, accompanied by Elisha who was to succeed him. They crossed the Jordan, its waters being miraculously held back to let them cross. Elisha asks from Elijah a double share of your spirit, i.e. of his prophetic power. This was similar to the portion of the first.born, in this case so as .to be sure of the succession. The fact that his request would only be granted if he had a vision of Elijah’s passing implies that spiritual gifts can only be transmitted to those who are fit to receive them, or who God wants to have them. As a seal of the inheritance he also had the cloak of Elijah. In the event Elisha was not a prophet of the greatness of Elijah. Elijah, who we meet again in the Gospel reading, was symbolic of the great prophets of Israel in the pre-Exilic period particularly. The stories about him we remember best are those where he stood up to the weak-charactered King Ahab, his foreign and evil wife Jezebel and the large band of prophets she brought to introduce her own religion into Israel. As I said, we do meet Elijah again in the Gospel. But first, what is the significance of this episode which traditionally is known as the Transfiguration and is considered so important that it has its own feast day? The Greek is metamorphothe (transfigured), literally a change of form, which suggests that Jesus was seen by the disciples temporarily in the form of his post-ascension glory. But to set the story in context we should go back one step to the events of the preceding week. First, Peter, of course followed by the other disciples, had the astonishing revelation which led to his great, wondering confession, You are the Christ. Jesus then immediately began to teach them what this statement really meant: for him, and for them. Particularly in the area of his suffering which was to come quite soon. This though was one step too far for Peter at this stage. Still on a high after realizing the greatness of the Lord, he could not comprehend the way of suffering of which Jesus was teaching - and so he protested – thus earning the rebuke of Jesus, Get behind me Satan! O dear, the highs and lows of life in quick succession – Peter experienced all that when he began to follow Jesus. But now, on the mountain, which was probably Hermon, but just could have been Tabor, two things happen. First the truth of Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ of God is confirmed, for Jesus appears in a glory which can only be messianic. Who but the Messiah could appear in such a way? And, secondly, the teaching of Jesus that he must suffer is shown to be fully in line with the will of God - the voice of God designates Jesus as the one whose teaching God wants all people to accept. Thus it would seem that what was granted to the three disciples was a glimpse of Jesus in that state of glory to which he was finally to be exalted. The reference to Elijah and Moses points in that direction. These two were the great representatives of the Law and the Prophets in the mind of faithful Jews at the time of Jesus. Their presence testifies to Jesus as being the true Christ of God. Moses was the first figure of salvation for the Jews. It was Moses who led God’s people from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. It was Moses who was reputed to have written the first five books of the OT (the Pentateuch) which contain the Law. We have already seen the importance of Elijah as representative of the prophets of Israel. At the time of Jesus the Pentateuch and the books of the various prophets were the authorized scriptures of the Jews. Just as we might say, Well, that’s what it says in the Bible, Jesus refers to the Law and the Prophets. The Psalms were well known and read in the synagogues; indeed Jesus on several occasions quotes from them, even on the Cross. But they still at that time did not have the same authority as the Law and the Prophets. Thus Jesus is clearly shown to be in the line both of God’s prophetic figures and his salvation figures. But then, to avert any danger of his being misunderstood as merely being one among the others, a further prophet of the old order, the voice clearly singles Jesus out as the prophet of the last days whom Moses had foretold as superseding himself (Deut.18:15,18-19). But Jesus is more than this: he is actually God’s only Son, the one to whom alone the world should listen. With his coming the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled, the old covenant is superseded by the new. The voice which makes this proclamation is described as coming from the cloud which had overshadowed the scene. For S. Mark, for the disciples, this will have meant that the voice was truly the voice of God. The cloud was par excellence the vehicle of God’s Shekinah (the presence or dwelling of God). The cloud, all through Exodus for instance, is the medium in and through which God manifests himself, makes his presence with his people known. The early Christians saw the Second Coming of the Lord as being with clouds of glory. It remains to explain the suggestion of Peter that they build three shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. It is probably a reminiscence of Peter himself. It looks like a slightly silly idea. But really what Peter wanted to do was prolong the experience. How good it is to be here! he is saying, let’s build some shelter, you can talk, we can learn, we can bask in this wonderful glow. He was naturally overwhelmed by the experience and wanted it to last. But it was not to be. Suddenly it is all over. This was only a foreshadowing of what was to be. Before the end there remained much to be done, and much to be suffered by both Jesus and his disciples. The suffering must not be by-passed or evaded. I think some people, like Peter at that stage of his life, would rather avoid Lent and its message, would rather avoid Passion Week and the Crucifixion. Should not our religion be all about victory and happiness? Well no! Christianity is a religion of reality. We cannot avoid our conflict with evil; our own and that of others. Down from the mountain in the real world, Christianity, truly understood, is not some form of escapism. Three friends of Jesus had this experience of glory. Are other disciples, then and now, denied it? Perhaps we can let S. Paul in the epistle reading have the last word: For it is the God who said, ’Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We are living in the end-time. Christ has risen. We can experience something of the glory now, that shall be.
THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT (B) There is quite a lot on the subject of God’s healing in the readings for today. It bears witness to the desire of God to minister saving health. Healing is the prerogative of God and it is clear that God’s ways are not always the same as ours. His way is sometimes surprising and difficult to understand, but in the end it will be seen as the only way. The Gospel of Luke tells us that, There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian (4:27). The narrative does not mention the names of the kings involved so it is impossible to put a date on the events, but obviously it was one of the periods when Syria was in the ascendant. So. how did Naaman come to deserve this gift of healing? After all he was the leader of a potential enemy army; he was one in whom humility was not overly evident. To add insult to injury his healing was prompted by a captive Israelite slavegirl, who no doubt remained a slave when Naaman arrived home healed from his disease. What was the God of Israel thinking of? But God’s glory was revealed! This is a pointer to basic truth. Whatever our material circumstances, or our life situation, we have, now and always, freely and constantly offered to us the saving power of the God of grace. The God who in the person of Jesus Christ lived, died and was resurrected for us. This power can bring the life and joy of heaven out of terrible suffering. Physical, mental and spiritual healing is surely a part of this.. Anyway, through his healing Naaman becomes a convert to Yahweh, the God of Israel. And to ensure that he can worship the true God in his own country, he takes a load of the soil of Israel home with him. In the Epistle reading S. Paul is writing of his deep desire to make converts. He knows that in Christ he is free, but in order to be able to appeal to people he makes himself a slave – in the sense that he becomes a Jew to Jews and a Gentile to Gentiles. For the sake of the Good News of Jesus Christ he will do anything in order to bring people to faith. It requires effort, the kind of effort displayed by athletes who contend in order to win – and only one can win! This requires training and self-discipline in the same way as the athlete trains. The athlete competes for a crown of laurel leaves – decidedly a perishable crown. The well-known mosaic at the site of the Ishmian games shows the winner on the day offering thanks to Tyche, the goddess of Good Fortune, and wearing a a crown of what it has been said looks like withered celery – it has already begun to droop. The Christian’s training though must lead to the winning of an unfading crown. Lent is approaching – it is probably a good time to make a plea for everyone to set aside some time each day for a time of prayer and some reading and meditation on a passage of the Bible. We can do it – it simply means planning it into the day. We will almost certainly fall short of the standards set by S. Paul, but it is an important discipline for the professing Christian. I mean, do we want an imperishable crown or are we prepared to settle for one made of droopy leaves? Naaman we are told was a leper. Here in the Gospel we have another leper coming to God to be healed. Leprosy is a horrible disfiguring disease. For Jews it involved ritual unclean-ness which caused the sufferer to be segregated from both community and religious life. The Law could do nothing for a leper, it could only make rules to as far as possible protect the community. The rabbis had a saying that the healing of a leper was as difficult as the raising of the dead. They saw it as the severest penalty passed by God on a sinner. Isaiah speaks of the guilty people of God as lepers. He uses this image too to describe the mysterious Servant who takes away Israel’s sin. Because Jesus identified himself with this OT figure of the Servant the meeting of Jesus with the leper becomes quite significant. Jesus touched the leper: his compassion led him to break the most basic social ban. Impurity meets up with the Holy; the outcast of society meets the Servant, who will himself become an outcast from Israel. Leprosy which defiles comes into contact with the one who makes pure. Here sin faces its potentially choicest victim; evil meets the cure for sin. In the person of the leper the Saviour touches, purifies, makes whole, the sinful world. All this adds up to the fact that the religious authorities to whom Jesus sent the cured man in accordance with the Law, should have seen the sign that the Saviour had come and that through him the social outcasts and the living dead had been rehabilitated. The priests could not cure leprosy – as the Messiah of God, Jesus alone had the power to do this – they should have recognized this and understood. To differing degrees today’s lepers are the various outcasts and rejects of our society. They are the AIDS patients, the incurable invalids, the retarded, even the old, all of whom we shut away in hospitals and institutions and forget about. Out of sight out of mind. They are the street people, young and old, the homeless, the glue-sniffers and other addicts of alcohol and drugs – all those who live on the margins of our society for one reason or another, and are rejected. We must learn from Jesus. Each of us have our own spots of leprosy, each of us is unclean, until we are touched by the forgiving and healing love of God in Jesus. Day by day we need to be readmitted to the community of the saved. And once we have been touched and cleansed, we must proclaim God’s saving word, and following the example of Jesus, welcome in their human dignity those who were previously outcast or rejected. It was not to us that Jesus said, Go, and see that you do not tell anyone. We are to tell it abroad, the task of the Christian is to proclaim.
FOURTH SUNDAY BEFORE LENT The OT passage from the message of the prophet we know as Second Isaiah is set as Cyrus is beginning to rise, as the neighbouring world is realizing that here is a new power which will suddenly destroy the power of mighty Babylon. To the Jewish exiles this will bring liberation of some kind. There will be a return, and in some sense this will be a return to God himself, Yahweh, the holy one – an identification which Israel ought to have been able to make, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? A few thousand Jews, utterly subject and powerless in mighty Babylon, are challenged to realize what they have always known, It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,… Of course these people were human, they had a tendency to feel sorry for themselves, to feel that God had somehow overlooked their plight. The punishment or learning experience of it did not rate too highly. There was another point to learn too: that their God was not simply a local God for the land of Israel. The prophet’s answer is to make the first real connection in the Bible of creation and eternity in respect of God. The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. That means he is the lord of both universe and of time. With the subtleties of the language, this does not mean everlasting or eternal: but it does show that the prophet has been made aware of the superiority of God to the limitations of time and space. Such is God and therefore the source of renewal and vigour to those who wait upon the Lord.. This passage contains that wonderful promise that was the source of the name of the highly successful foundation which Maria and I set up in New Zealand, and its counterpart now here in Budapest – the Wings Foundation, a Szarnyák Alapítvány. ..those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Only in the Lord can any of us find real recovery or healing. Isaiah and the other prophets knew they had an obligation to proclaim the word God gave them. Similarly S. Paul feels an obligation to preach the Gospel; the necessity is laid on him. This is not a subjective feeling of the need to speak about Christ and the Gospel: rather it is an objective obligation which was imposed on him at his conversion. On the Damascus road, when the light shone around him, the voice said, Get up, and enter into the city, and what you must do will be told to you (Acts 9: 6). In the city Ananias was told that Paul was a chosen vessel to bear my name before the Gentiles (Acts 9.15). Thus Paul had a keen and permanent sense of vocation that pressed on him. To fail to preach was to fail God and face the con-sequences. Christian vocation is not a subjective response to irrational inner urges; it is a permanent obligation to do what God demands of us. There are times when this is easy, and this brings its own reward. But human nature being what it is we will not always find it easy to be obedient.. At that point, like S. Paul, we have to recall that we are entrusted with a commission. This word, commission (stewardship in some versions) carries with it the idea of responsibility to a superior and an obligation to perform a duty. Actually, here at Corinth, he waived his rights as to payment for his ministry. This is typical of the things he did to make the Gospel heard widely. S. Paul was very good at establishing a rapport with his audience: he saw it as part of his stewardship. When dealing with Jews he removed barriers which could be removed; the circumcision of Timothy at Lystra is a case in point (Acts 14: 3). When dealing with non-Jews who nevertheless were under the law he spoke and acted in a way that would not alienate them. He even went further and spoke to heathen in their own language – as for example when he quoted heathen poets, or when he preached to Athenians, picking up their interests and concerns. (Acts 17:16-end). The weak, for instance, are those who have dietary scruples and other observances which seem to them of great importance. It didn’t seem all that important to S. Paul, but he is anxious not to put unnecessary stumbling blocks in their way. Concern for the Gospel should be such that we are sensitive to what upsets others; we do not please ourselves or live to ourselves (Rom. 15:1ff.). Finally he claims to be all things to all people……for the sake of the Gospel. It is probable that his earlier life in the great city of Tarsus had brought him into contact with many people of widely different backgrounds. God had sanctified this experience and harnessed it to the service of the Gospel. These principles outlined by Paul have a wide application for us all in our life and witness. In the Gospel passage Jesus continues the battle with the forces of evil in his work of healing, and this finds a wide response. Then after a time of rest and early morning prayer, he goes and preaches, bcause for that is what I came out to do. That is his real task, and here is the same sense of obligation to preaching that we saw in S. Paul. Jesus meets people where they are, and he teaches and heals and casts out demons, whatever is appropriate to the situation. The situation today may not call for so much casting out of demons, although that still seems often to be needed. But what is still important is the appropriateness of our response, as a Church, as Christian people. We need to meet people where they are at, and speak and minister in a way, a sensitive way, which we hope they can accept. The account which S. Mark gives us is really vivid. It is told from the standpoint of S. Peter particularly. His home seems to have become a centre for Jesus and the disciples at that time. The household included Peter’s wife and her mother. The healing of the mother-in-law must have made a strong impression on Peter and the others. They told Jesus about her illness as soon as they got in the house: and the response of Jesus is just as immediate. He simply took her by the hand and helped her to her feet – the fever left her and she began to help with the household tasks. Actually it must have been a household of faith. It appears that Peter’s wife accompanied him on his later missionary journeys (1 Cor. 9: 5). The vividness of the account reminds us powerfully though that we are dealing with real people in the Gospels – real people whose memories were precious to the Early Church. Precious to us too because they recall to us that we are not dealing with figures in stained glass or on icons, but feeling, living, breathing people to whom we can relate. The prayer life of
Jesus was remembered too; how he got up early in the morning and went
somewhere secluded in the quiet of the dawn. Much has been made of
this, rightly so, for it is an instructive model. The work of the
Gospel cannot be carried out without regular prayer. I have heard of a
minister, not an Anglican, who claimed to be too busy to pray. That
person’s ministry failed eventually. We have to make time and space
for regular daily prayer. The obligation the clergy have to say the
daily office is helpful for us. It must not become simply a thing of
rote though – prayer is meant to be conversation when all said and
done. LENT 5 (A) Readings: Ezekiel 37: 1-14; Romans 8: 6-11; John 11: 1-45.
The prophet Ezekiel was one of the exiles in Babylon following the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.. Here he relates the remarkable vision he was given of the dry bones and their revitalization, their coming to life. The whole of Israel appears as a host, lying about like the whitened dry bones of those killed in an ancient massive battle. As he prays, the vision changes – the bones are clothed with flesh. He is told to call the winds so that breath might enter these bodies. In both Hebrew and Greek the word for wind, breath and spirit are the same – ruarch in Hebrew. There is often a play on these words as we saw a couple of weeks ago when the Gospel recounted the meeting of Jesus with Nicodemus. Ezekiel prays, and, as the wind blows the Spirit of God moves, and life comes into this field of dry bones. It is a vision of restoration, political restoration in a sense, the restoration of Israel as God's own people. They will return to Jerusalem. It will be like a return from the grave – it is a gift of new life from God. Ezekiel though is not saying anything about resurrection as we know it in a Christian sense. In the 6th century BC there was no belief in a real life after death. Only after the resurrection of Jesus did this belief become fully possible. People in ancient times did hope for something beyond death though. Some Bible commentators suggest that the writer of the Book of Job could well have had Ezekiel's words in mind, believing them to say more than they did, when he wrote what is probably the strongest statement in the OT on the after-life in Job 19:25 -27. From our Christian standpoint we can look back to these writings and be thankful for their fulfilment in the light of the resurrection of the Lord. God raises the dead to a bodily resurrection. I will come back to this later. The gift of the Spirit is symbolized too in this vision of Ezekiel's. By the breathing in to us of God's Spirit, we are spiritually renewed. The Epistle continues this theme by contrasting life in the Spirit and life under the law. The law inevitably led to condemnation because it told people what sin is: thus no one had any excuse for not knowing what was wrong in God's view, but that was as far as it went. It offered no solutions or help. On the other hand, the Spirit will also show us what is wrong, but at the same time empowers us to do what is right. Because the Spirit is the Spirit of God, we can also be forgiven when we fail, and turn back to him. Jewish Christians who had experienced the constraints and condemnation of the law (and of those who administered it) must have enjoyed a real sense of freedom and new life when they learned to live in the Spirit and not under the letter of the law. However, there were Jewish Christians who had not learnt this lesson: they wanted new Christian converts to be bound by the law. S. Paul argues quite fiercely against this. He finds himself in wonder at the grace of God. In order to overcome the weakness of the law, a weakness caused by human nature which leads everyone into wrongdoing, a weakness the law defines but cannot cure, God sent his Son in human form. Jesus was subject to all the human frailty that we are, yet because he was without sin he was able to give himself as the cure for sin. Forgiveness is possible because of the Cross. The one sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross achieved all that the centuries of animal sacrifice had failed to achieve. Life in the Spirit is thus the fulfilment of the law. But it is not automatic, it is not magic. It is a matter of deliberate choice, we must choose between aspiration to the spiritual values of life, or to the path which leads to death. S. Paul goes on to the eternal aspect of life in the Spirit. In this life we are certainly set free and experience renewal. It is all a foretaste of life eternal. Not only has Jesus died, but he has also been raised, and through this we find forgiveness and eternal life. The Spirit is described as the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit is life, and the Spirit of him who raised Jesus .... this shows us the fulness of life in the Spirit, now and eternally. As baptized Christians we have received the gift of the Spirit. It is our choice whether we choose to live in the Spirit. If we seek spiritual values, to grow in the spiritual life, then we will experience the promised freedom and peace. Life in the Spirit is life in Christ. The Spirit will produce in us the character of Christ. Living in the Spirit implies the imitation of Christ, allowing ourselves to be guided by him, possessed by him. The end result of this way of living is eternal life. If we live in Christ, to use Paul's phrase, then death becomes the fulfilment of this relationship. The sign of this outcome is the resurrection of Christ himself. Jesus' raising of Lazarus was a demonstration of the possibility of after-life and God's ability to bring it about. As with all the passages from this Gospel that we have looked at over the last few Sundays we need to look for what the writer is saying to us about Jesus and his message. The story opens with just the straight facts – the message about Lazarus' illness, which implies that the sisters need Jesus, but leave the response to him. There is no pressure. It is a good lesson in how to approach Jesus in prayer, especially in a crisis situation. Jesus' only response at this time is to say that this illness will result in bringing glory to God. The journey into Judaea will be dangerous for Jesus, so the disciples try to restrain him: however, the light of the world cannot be afraid of the darkness. He must illuminate it, show it for what it is. We are intended to realize that giving life to Lazarus will be costly for Jesus – in fact it becomes the crucial factor in Jewish resolve to kill him. The message for the reader is that the gift of resurrection life, symbolized in the raising of Lazarus, is available to us through the self-giving of Jesus' own life for us. Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days by the time Jesus finally arrives. Martha has a need to speak with Jesus alone, so she goes out to meet him. In this conversation she works through her grief, trying to find meaning and hope in the situation. She is a woman of faith, and this comes through clearly. She begins with a statement of her belief in Jesus' power to save: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Then she affirms her trust in the ability of Jesus to intercede for her. This becomes important later in the actual raising. Jesus assures Martha of the reality of resurrection. She accepts this in a theoretical sense, but not as she is about to see it. Jesus goes on to proclaim the new dimension: he is himself the resurrection and the life. Rising from the dead is not to be viewed as an event out of this world, but as being real through belief in him as the resurrection and the life. The raising of Lazarus thus becomes a sign of this gift of life here and now, and continued hereafter. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and every-one who lives and believes in me will never die. The question, Do you believe this? is not just directed to Martha but to each of us. If we answer as Martha does, physical death becomes irrelevant. Jesus as the life enables us to deal with death. This all happens outside the village. Now Martha goes to bring Mary to speak with Jesus too. She in turn makes the same statement of faith as her sister. Neither of them pressure Jesus but simply leave the matter in his hands. Jesus for his part treats both sensitively; he deals with Martha's need to talk and with Mary's tears. His own reaction reflects his deep emotion in the face of death and sorrow, and possibly too his disappointment at what seemed like the lack of faith and understanding of those around. The natural concern of Martha about the smell is met by a further response from Jesus about the need for faith. Jesus' prayer consists in his lifting his eyes to heaven. This is all that is needed, it was a sign of his oneness with his Father, and the efficacy of his prayer. The action shows that effective prayer emerges from a life lived close to God, a life of obedience to God's will. Jesus' words were only to help those looking on to understand and believe. Some of them did – others went off to report to the Jewish religious authorities. And this will be our experience: not all will respond with faith, not all will accept the Lord as the revealer of God, and the source of new life. But we thank God for all those who have found new life in him. EASTER 5 Peter 2: 2-10; John 14: 1-14. During the whole of the Easter season we consider Christ, risen from the dead, and his Holy Church, born out of faith in that Easter event. We have seen Jesus' belief that his followers would be called to suffering, as he was, if they were obedient to his call. And suffer they did, and still do. In a number of places in the world to obey God's call is to invite persecution and even death. For us the experience will not be so dramatic, but it still has consequences. S. Stephen was the first recorded person to suffer martyrdom for his Lord. Put to death outside the city, as was Jesus, he was able to imitate his Lord even to his words of forgiveness for Saul and those others who carried out the killing. We know that this event almost certainly worked in the mind and heart of Saul, leading to the experience on the road to Damascus where he was enabled to hear the Lord's voice and turn to him. Thus Saul, one of the chief persecutors of the infant Christian Church, became S. Paul, an apostle - one who did as much as anyone to build up the Church, especially among the Gentiles. In fact, he himself became a martyr in the same faith as Stephen. What does this say to us about the value of life, lived and died in the spirit of obedience and witness to the power of the living God? The Epistle uses building imagery too. In this case to show that the Church is both a community, and a place of personal spiritual experience. We move towards Christ who is a living stone. This is similar to other sayings about Christ which refer to him as living water and living bread. He is him-self truly alive, and gives his life to us as believers. Believers themselves become through him living stones built into the spiritual house which is Holy Church. There are a number of words for stone and rock in Greek. The one used here means shaped stone – stone that is worked at until it is right for its intended use. By our faith we allow God to fashion us for our place in his spiritual house. This being 'built' indicates a process, the process of God moulding and shaping us for his purpose. As believers, built into this spiritual house of God, our function is that of a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices to God. This stands in contrast to to the material offerings of the Jewish sacrificial system, and the grossly immoral sacrifices of paganism. Our spiritual sacrifice involves the offering of ourselves in recognition of the fact that we belong to God. To be acceptable to God the sacrifice must also be holy. This will be reflected in the moral quality of our lives. The whole of our life, our interests, our family commitments, our work, our play, must be made an act of worship. The passage goes on to quote from Isaiah,the Psalms and Hosea, all used to press home the message. Christ is the cornerstone, i.e., a stone built into the angle of a building in order to give shape and stability. It is also a stone laid at the corner of a building used in a ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction. In both uses it is indispensable. Such a stone is precious to believers, but to unbelievers it is something to stumble over. This stumbling we see characterizing the lives of unbelievers. There often is confusion and lack of direction. Where there is direction it is self-willed and unconcerned with the fate of others. Christian faith brings direction and purpose, and a sense of belonging – belonging to God's people. The blessings of the Christian life are set out strongly. And the only possible response to blessing is also set out. The outcome of knowing that we are a part of the body of Christ and a Christian believer is: that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. We proclaim God's mighty acts, not just by words, but by imitating them ourselves, and by living lives that acknowledge his lordship. Our lives need to be advertizements for God. Advertizing is a powerful weapon – it has made the double yellow arch of McDonald's better known wordwide as a symbol than the cross of Christ. The importance of believing is picked up again in the Gospel. Do not let your hearts be troubled... To believe in Jesus is to believe in God. The passage emphasizes the divinity of Jesus. In him we have no mere representative: here we have God himself. This identification of Jesus with God is explained by the figure of abiding. Belief in God has new meaning in Jesus. For him to go through death and resurrection, to his Father's house (with rooms for all) was to prepare a place of permanent fellowship with him. Access to God is solely through Jesus. He will come again to take the believer to himself. Life after death is life in union with Jesus. What Jesus does is what God does. Philip should have known from his experience of Jesus and observation of the works of Jesus that in seeing Jesus he was seeing the Father. Later in this Gospel the image of abiding is developed further in the metaphor of the vine and the branches (chap. 15). In the context of the mutual in-dwelling of the Father and the Son, the assurance of the afterlife as an abiding with Christ is of great significance to believers. To others, i.e. apart from faith, there is no such assurance. The language is beautifully reassuring as it seems to suggest a loving Lord taking us in his arms and placing us alongside himself. Jesus is also in this passage preparing his disciples for his physical leaving of them. At that time how will they know the way to him? Jesus himself is the way. Those who have entered into a living relationship with him in this life will find this fulfilled in the hereafter. Jesus is the way; he is also recognized by the believer as enshrining the truth – he is the living stone, the living bread, the living water. In the strong rock of the Eucharist we receive his life, our spiritual bread and water, our spiritual nourishment. We experience Jesus as the giver of life and vitality here, and we follow in fellowship with him in the hereafter. And you know the way to the place where I am going. The confusion of Philip, and Thomas later, is understandable. They wanted to localize the way – to know exactly this place where the Father may be seen. They were human. But no map is needed. Jesus is the way to the Father, we must follow him alone. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father. And Jesus is the way because he is the truth and the life. He is the truth because he is the very Word of God, in whose image we were made. He is the life, by the gift he makes continually of himself, not least in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, because he is one with God. He is in the Father, and the Father is in him. We do not believe in a faceless God. On the contrary, God has shown us his face in Jesus Christ! We recognize him in the face of Jesus of Nazareth. It is by continuing here the work of the Lord, by seeing his face in the disfigured faces of people around us and on our television screens, the faces of those whose sufferings he has shared by his death on the cross of Calvary, that we journey with him to our own final abiding place. 'You will guide us along the path of life; you will open the door of your home to, O Lord!'. PALM SUNDAY Readings: Isaiah 50: 4 -9a; Philippians 2: 5-11; Matthew 27:11-54. The OT passage is the fourth of the so-called Servant Songs of the prophet we know as Deutero (or Second) Isaiah. The figure of this 'Servant' was taken by Jesus as being highly significant in his conception of who and what the Messiah of God was meant to be. And, thus, what the Church, as the Body of Christ is meant to be in the world today. The opening verse of the reading presents the Prophet as a true teacher, who uses God's words to bring comfort to those suffering the Babylonian exile. But he, that is the prophet, can only bring God's word to his hearers insofar as he himself is hearing God. Thus he listens each morning for what God would have him say. What an important message for Christians, perhaps especially preachers and teachers. We all need to pray in a way that listens, each and every morning, because it is important that the message we bear, both in our words and in our lives, should be truly from God. Our listening prayer needs to be tied in with study of the Bible – truly God's word to us. That is the way we can ensure that we are reflecting God's Word, in all the senses of that word, in our daily lives. As the Prophet listened he learned an important lesson – that he, as God's servant, must be willing to accept punishment and suffering without bitterness or complaint. The Bible has many examples of this attitude to life. S. Paul's letters show that he learned to accept insult along with physical and spiritual pain. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus came to the point of acceptance of the 'cup' of suffering in obedience to his Father's will. The suggestion has been made that Isaiah, prior to writing this passage, had been arrested by the Babylonians, and that the injuries described had been such as he had suffered at their hands. Be that as it may, the writers of our NT Gospels read into this passage a foreshadowing of Jesus' suffering. For us as Christians, the example of Jesus is one to be imitated in the face of rejection or suffering caused through our obedience to the will of God. It is not just the sufferings which are foreshadowed by this prophet, but our response to them as well. This passage also is a clear statement of Isaiah's confidence that God will stand by him, enabling him to set my face like flint as he confronted his persecutors. He uses legal language to describe how God will vindicate him, and to challenge his opponents. There is a kind of confidence coupled with hopefulness, which is a product of faith, which will see us through this kind of adversity. The Epistle reading from Philippians is important from several aspects. First from a Christological point of view it shows that Christ is eternally God. It shows too the self-denying nature of God's love. Also there is a moral aspect as it makes clear the importance in the Christian life of imitating the character of God in a similar life of self-denial. Religion should never be used to gain privilege. Denying oneself and obedience are the values being focused on here. Christ himself lived out these values, and thus was able to re-enter the heavenly places. God's nature is beautifully expressed by describing his action as self-giving – he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. That is, he came to serve. This is the model for Christian life. There is just so much in the narrative of the Passion of Our Lord that we have just heard. All I can hope to do is pick out a few important points. It begins with the treachery of Judas. There was an inevitability about the death of Jesus, however this cannot mitigate the responsibility of Judas. Even at the Last Supper Jesus seems to be appealing to him to reconsider what he was about to do. The death of Jesus was inevitable – if not through the actions of Judas, his enemies would have found some other way. But it was his action which in fact facilitated their evil intent, and he must bear that burden. What were his motives? The Bible does not tell us. The Gospel of John suggests greed, but I think it was much more complicated than that. The facts though remain. Jesus almost certainly could have escaped, even at this last moment – but he went voluntarily to his death. The institution of the Eucharist is told with only the barest of detail – after all by the time this Gospel was written the Eucharist was a well established part of Church life. The words of institution would have been as familiar to these early readers as they are to us. Participation in the Eucharist does not just link us to each other, it links us to all participants now, and in the time past through history, with every generation of Christians throughout these over two thousand years. The theme of 'servanthood' of course is central in this last supper of Jesus, with him as the breaker of bread and the passer of the cup for all. The Agony in the Garden reveals the deep and painful internal struggle of Jesus. The disciples who had accompanied him were frankly not of much help at this time. His strength came from his own relationship with his heavenly Father, and his obedience to his will. 'Watch' – the word of advice to his disciples became an important word in the Gospels. As disciples, it is important for us also. We need to watch for spiritual laziness in our lives, we need to watch for the subtlety of the tempter, we need to watch out for failure in love and support for our brothers and sisters in the faith. We remind ourselves of all this when we watch with Jesus for one hour following the Maundy Thursday service. The account of Jesus' agony is precious – it indicates his understanding of our spiritual and moral struggles. At this time he faced the fulness of human suffering – he did not take advantage of his divinity to avoid any part of the Passion. The season of Lent ends this week – the week beginning today. This is Holy Week, the most solemn week of the Christian Year, the most solemn week in the history of the world. The liturgy for the days of Holy Week does not mask the struggle – it allows us to accompany Jesus through his last days and hours, even that Hour, at once both dark and glorious, for which he said he had come. We follow his every footstep, from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem today, acclaimed by the crowd, to the desperate loneliness of Golgotha where he is abandoned by almost everyone, even those he himself had chosen and for whom he was giving his life. The climax comes very quickly and all seems to collapse. Yet, even at the moment of utter dereliction – My God,my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus with outstretched arms, attracts and gathers to himself humanity and the universe. All seemed ended, in fact all is about to begin. At the end of the passage is recorded the attempt to seal the tomb with a great stone, and with guards, with Jesus' body inside. It was a futile gesture – the victory had been won on Calvary's cross. EASTER 6 Readings: Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3:13-end; John 14:15-21. What a gift to S. Paul, coming across this statue in Athens to an unknown God! It gave him the perfect opening with which to challenge the local philosophical and popular paganism. For the Epicureans, the gods existed in a far off state of bliss, not too interested in what went on the world. On the other hand the Stoics saw the world in an almost divine light, their job as humans was to get in touch with this divinity or life force. The ordinary folk believed in a variety of gods who had one thing in common – it was important to keep these gods happy to stop them intervening in one's life in adverse ways. S. Paul's address acts like a searchlight, enabling him to target each position in turn, and then shoot it down. There is one God only. You both know him, and you don't know him, so you raise an altar to him, just in case. The fact is he is not far from the world, but nor is he identified with the world; he is the world's creator and provider. Humans, and not idols, are the beings with the closest affinity with this true and real God. So far so good, any Jew could agree with this. But now comes the punchline. The true God has acted in history in the person of Jesus Christ. S. Paul has not only addressed and answered the various Athenian Greek positions, he has shown that philosophical systems are not where it is at. What matters is Jesus, Jesus, the focus of God's vision for Israel to be light to the world. Israel's prophets had claimed that Israel's God would deal with the ills of the world. The Epicureans when faced with evil simply shrugged it off as unimportant in the total scheme of things. The Stoics suggested suicide as a solution. Ordinary people assumed that more appeasement of the gods would solve the problem for them, so they offered more sacrifices at their local shrine. These are not viable solutions. S. Paul proclaims that the living God has provided the only viable solution to the problem of evil in the raising of Jesus, and in his return to initiate justice in the world at the last. Our society reflects all of these attitudes doesn't it? Western European culture for a couple of centuries or more has been basically Epicurean: the word 'god' is taken to refer to an idea, or at best, an absentee landlord. Now, suddenly, Stoicism is making a comeback within the pantheism of New Age concepts. Ordinary paganism (making a god of money, success, power, sex, art, education, - often things worthy in themselves) is the norm. The message of S. Paul is as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. We all have altars to unknown gods which need to be sought out and torn down. But perhaps though we do really know the name. Whatever, the solution offered by God in the Lord Jesus is still the only solution. ...in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. So says S. Peter in the Epistle. This is his advice for living the Christian life. By sanctify he means to reverence, to acknowledge the holiness of God in our hearts. What we say of him and the way we act should reflect this sense of reverence. To S. Peter it is important that we should always be ready to give a lucid account of the hope that is in you. Peter was good at this himself as we have seen from the accounts of his sermons in the Book of Acts. But then he had first hand knowledge and experience of the power of God's forgiving love in his own life. He could talk to people where they are at and address their need for forgiveness and a new beginning. Similarly S. Paul in Athens begins with the interests and questions of those listening. Our defence of our faith must of course be given with sensitivity; with respect for both the message and the hearers, and not in such a way that our behaviour can be used to criticize the message. And we must be prepared to accept rejection and suffering because of the message. The object must be to lead to God, to bring to Christ. The Lord met his death doing just that. For him, death was in respect of the flesh alone – in the spirit he was made alive. The final thought of the passage directs us to the resurrection as that which makes our salvation possible, and to the exaltation of Christ. He is Lord of all – his message is for all, his message is efficacious for all who ever lived – the salvation offered by God is total, for all creation, for all time. The Gospel tells us that God!s gift of salvation is not a remote or technical or magical experience. Baptism is the response to the message of love. Our need is to love God and to know that we are loved. Keeping the commandments is an expression of love. Jesus promises his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, designated here as the Advocate, but sometimes translated as the Paraclete or the Comforter. The sense is that the Holy Spirit is our strengthener and encourager. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God with us. He is also the Spirit of truth. That is, he is God's revealer of truth to the Body of Christ, in so far as we are open enough to receive it. The world in general is unable to receive the Spirit, simply because it does not know God and thus cannot recognize revelation. For believers too, the Spirit is the abiding presence of Jesus in our lives, enabling us daily to recognize love, and to be love to the world. In terms of witness it is important that those around us should see that abiding presence. We need to be able to communicate the need for all of this sense of fellow-ship with the living God, and that life is pointless without it. The Lord assures us that we will not be left orphaned. The departure of the physical Jesus left the way clear for the all-pervading presence of God in the Spirit. I am coming to you, Jesus says. The present tense is important. It signifies a continuing presence. The Spirit is the Spirit of the living Christ, the risen Christ: because he lives we live too. This living presence, encouraging, guiding, cleansing, enlivening, is what is meant by the mutual abiding. 'We in Christ and Christ in us' to use S. Paul's phrase. We need to practice the presence of God in our lives, to open our hearts, our minds, our lives to his refining and forgiving love. To recall him as often as we can – abiding in Christ through the Spirit. God loves us, and our response to love will be shown by our obedience. This in turn will enable God to manifest himself in us. The longer we love God, abide in him, share his life and obey his leading, the more we will come to understand him as he reveals himself to us. Our faith, Christianity, is a lifelong walk with the Lord towards the light. PALM SUNDAY 6 Readings: Isaiah 50: 4 -9a; Philippians 2: 5-11; Matthew 27:11-54. The OT passage is the fourth of the so-called Servant Songs of the prophet we know as Deutero (or Second) Isaiah. The figure of this 'Servant' was taken by Jesus as being highly significant in his conception of who and what the Messiah of God was meant to be. And, thus, what the Church, as the Body of Christ is meant to be in the world today. The opening verse of the reading presents the Prophet as a true teacher, who uses God's words to bring comfort to those suffering the Babylonian exile. But he, that is the prophet, can only bring God's word to his hearers insofar as he himself is hearing God. Thus he listens each morning for what God would have him say. What an important message for Christians, perhaps especially preachers and teachers. We all need to pray in a way that listens, each and every morning, because it is important that the message we bear, both in our words and in our lives, should be truly from God. Our listening prayer needs to be tied in with study of the Bible – truly God's word to us. That is the way we can ensure that we are reflecting God's Word, in all the senses of that word, in our daily lives. As the Prophet listened he learned an important lesson – that he, as God's servant, must be willing to accept punishment and suffering without bitterness or complaint. The Bible has many examples of this attitude to life. S. Paul's letters show that he learned to accept insult along with physical and spiritual pain. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus came to the point of acceptance of the 'cup' of suffering in obedience to his Father's will. The suggestion has been made that Isaiah, prior to writing this passage, had been arrested by the Babylonians, and that the injuries described had been such as he had suffered at their hands. Be that as it may, the writers of our NT Gospels read into this passage a foreshadowing of Jesus' suffering. For us as Christians, the example of Jesus is one to be imitated in the face of rejection or suffering caused through our obedience to the will of God. It is not just the sufferings which are foreshadowed by this prophet, but our response to them as well. This passage also is a clear statement of Isaiah's confidence that God will stand by him, enabling him to set my face like flint as he confronted his persecutors. He uses legal language to describe how God will vindicate him, and to challenge his opponents. There is a kind of confidence coupled with hopefulness, which is a product of faith, which will see us through this kind of adversity. The Epistle reading from Philippians is important from several aspects. First from a Christological point of view it shows that Christ is eternally God. It shows too the self-denying nature of God's love. Also there is a moral aspect as it makes clear the importance in the Christian life of imitating the character of God in a similar life of self-denial. Religion should never be used to gain privilege. Denying oneself and obedience are the values being focused on here. Christ himself lived out these values, and thus was able to re-enter the heavenly places. God's nature is beautifully expressed by describing his action as self-giving – he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. That is, he came to serve. This is the model for Christian life. There is just so much in the narrative of the Passion of Our Lord that we have just heard. All I can hope to do is pick out a few important points. It begins with the treachery of Judas. There was an inevitability about the death of Jesus, however this cannot mitigate the responsibility of Judas. Even at the Last Supper Jesus seems to be appealing to him to reconsider what he was about to do. The death of Jesus was inevitable – if not through the actions of Judas, his enemies would have found some other way. But it was his action which in fact facilitated their evil intent, and he must bear that burden. What were his motives? The Bible does not tell us. The Gospel of John suggests greed, but I think it was much more complicated than that. The facts though remain. Jesus almost certainly could have escaped, even at this last moment – but he went voluntarily to his death. The institution of the Eucharist is told with only the barest of detail – after all by the time this Gospel was written the Eucharist was a well established part of Church life. The words of institution would have been as familiar to these early readers as they are to us. Participation in the Eucharist does not just link us to each other, it links us to all participants now, and in the time past through history, with every generation of Christians throughout these over two thousand years. The theme of 'servanthood' of course is central in this last supper of Jesus, with him as the breaker of bread and the passer of the cup for all. The Agony in the Garden reveals the deep and painful internal struggle of Jesus. The disciples who had accompanied him were frankly not of much help at this time. His strength came from his own relationship with his heavenly Father, and his obedience to his will. 'Watch' – the word of advice to his disciples became an important word in the Gospels. As disciples, it is important for us also. We need to watch for spiritual laziness in our lives, we need to watch for the subtlety of the tempter, we need to watch out for failure in love and support for our brothers and sisters in the faith. We remind ourselves of all this when we watch with Jesus for one hour following the Maundy Thursday service. The account of Jesus' agony is precious – it indicates his understanding of our spiritual and moral struggles. At this time he faced the fulness of human suffering – he did not take advantage of his divinity to avoid any part of the Passion. The season of Lent ends this week – the week beginning today. This is Holy Week, the most solemn week of the Christian Year, the most solemn week in the history of the world. The liturgy for the days of Holy Week does not mask the struggle – it allows us to accompany Jesus through his last days and hours, even that Hour, at once both dark and glorious, for which he said he had come. We follow his every footstep, from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem today, acclaimed by the crowd, to the desperate loneliness of Golgotha where he is abandoned by almost everyone, even those he himself had chosen and for whom he was giving his life. The climax comes very quickly and all seems to collapse. Yet, even at the moment of utter dereliction – My God,my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus with outstretched arms, attracts and gathers to himself humanity and the universe. All seemed ended, in fact all is about to begin. At the end of the passage is recorded the attempt to seal the tomb with a great stone, and with guards, with Jesus' body inside. It was a futile gesture – the victory had been won on Calvary's cross. EASTER 7 Readings: Acts 1: 6-14; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5: 6-11; John 17: 1-11. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, S. Luke tells, without undue elaboration, of the event we know as the Ascension. As the disciples were talking with Jesus he was removed from their sight. A cloud hid him and they saw him no more. Two men in white appeared beside them telling them that he had gone, but would return. The messengers gave no details about the second coming, simply saying that he would come at some unspecified time. So the disciples return from the Mount of Olives to the upper room, and wait as Jesus had instructed. We are not told how the disciples felt or how they reacted to this abrupt removal of the presence of the Lord. S. Luke simply makes the point that the earthly appearances of Jesus are at an end. That is why the Paschal candle is no longer visible here. We are symbolically reliving the experience of those first disciples – we now await the coming of the Holy Spirit with power at Pentecost next Sunday. On another level of course though the Spirit of course is with us, but these symbolic actions are valuable reminders of that fact. Many in fact have questioned the veracity of the story of the Ascension. We should remember that the ancient world view was of a flat earth and a firmament as a sort of roof. Heaven was above this, and this was where one found God. The early chapters of Genesis reflect this same cosmology. We need to interpret the story with this in mind. If the story was being written today the same truths would be expressed differently. It is an interesting point as to how as 21st century Christians we find ways of conveying the truths about God, and our faith, in language and images relevant to our world view. Neither denial of the facts, nor insisting on the literal words of scripture, are the way. Eminent theologians and churchmen both have been guilty of these approaches. We need first to understand the imagery and background of the accounts we have, and grasp the truths being conveyed by them. It is the frequent failure of Christians to do this that makes our witness often less than authentic. We need not doubt the truth of the Ascension – that Jesus was separated from those who had been the eye-witnesses to his resurrection, and resurrection appearances, and that he would return. In his Spirit he will return, and it is to await this assurance that the disciples return in faith to Jerusalem. The distance of a sabbath-day's travel is a little under one kilometre -.it was the legal maximum. It marks the distance from the mount to the house in which the upper room was situated. The upper room is traditionally a place to meet and pray, to find quietness with God. There is nothing to say that this was the upper room used by Jesus for the Last Supper, but it could well have been. It was a similar upper room to that at Troas where Eutychus went to sleep and fell out of the window while S. Paul was preaching (20: 8ff). Fortunately there are no windows here out which one can fall. Polycarp, the elderly Bishop of Smyrna (now Izmir), martyred in about 166 AD., was found 'sitting in an upper room' when he was arrested. His persecutors were amazed at his piety and constancy (Martyrdom of Polycarp, 7: 1ff.). The place of waiting to which the disciples went after the Ascension was consistent with their own need to reflect and pray together on their experience, and find a place of quiet security. This group was not just the Twelve, but included also the faithful women who were so important to the ministry of Jesus, along with members of Jesus' family whose previous opposition must have ceased. This diverse group was diligently, and in a unified way, engaged in prayer and reflecting on the meaning of the events they had witnessed and the revelation they had received in Jesus. They were together in faith awaiting guidance and strength. This group of people was the embryonic Church – they represent the Church. I believe every church needs such a representative group to be doing just this as an ordinary, but necessary part of its life. These people met in the upper room too because it offered a degree of security in a situation which was not without danger to the followers of Jesus. Christian witness and commitment can never be entirely secure from the world: there is always the possibility of suffering. Jesus' words in the Gospel will witness to this. S. Peter also reminds us that we participate in the sufferings of Jesus. The opening verses of the epistle reading say four things, directly or indirectly, about persecution: it is a characteristic of the life of Christians; it tests the reality of their faith; it is a sharing in the suffering of Christ; it is a reason for joy. It continues by asking that we serve one another humbly. We can recognize the hand of God in the things that humble us as well as in those which bring joy to life. Our troubles will in fact not last for ever; those who share in Christ's humiliation will at the last share too in his glory. It is a help to remember that we are not alone, our salvation is God's doing, our hope is in his strength and faithfulness, not our own. We easily forget all this in the comfort of our lives – we need to ask ourselves from time to time if we are truly actually confronting evil in any real sense. We may think that persecution happens mainly in Moslem countries – the fact is it can occur anywhere, as judges and politicians and police have found to their cost as they have confronted the evils of organized crime in the US, in Italy, in Ecuador, for instance. In the eyes of the world this is all very paradoxical, because the world finds glory not through weakness and suffering, but in what appears to be strong and successful by its own standards. This divide between the Church and the world is reflected in the prayer of Jesus, the first part of which is the Gospel reading for today. This prayer is a commentary on the statement that Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart from the world to the Father, having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them totally (13: 1). Thus this prayer reflects the situation of Jesus at this time, and that of a person in relation to him, and also that of the Christian community in relation to God and his world. Jesus prays first for a return to the glory from which he had come – the glory which is of God the Father also, since Jesus and the Father are eternally one. In the person of Jesus, in his words and actions, we are faced with God. God's glory goes with the authority of Jesus because both imply judgment. We must either accept or reject the revelation of God in Jesus. The glorification of Jesus is the power of God in action; we cannot believe in God apart from his revelation in Jesus. Any other way to God is partial at best. The gift of God to those who do believe is eternal life, which is further defined as knowing God, i.e., acknowledging God as he was revealed in Jesus the Christ of God. In fact in our human condition, knowing Jesus is the only way that we can fully and truly know God. Next, the prayer turns towards the Christian community. This is those who have kept your word, i.e., those who have accepted Jesus as the revealer of God, and also accepted his word in his teaching and commissioning. They have received the words, and know in truth, - i.e., in reality – that Jesus came from God and was sent by him. It is for such believers that Jesus prays. Jesus will no longer be in the world, but the community will, and they will be without his presence. So, Jesus prays that Christians may be kept in his word, in belief in his revelation, and that they may be preserved from disunity. Disunity is not of God, it denies the unity which is in God and which should be in the relationship between God and man, and man and man within the fellowship of the Spirit. Much of this may seem remote and complex. But what Jesus is saying above all is that we are loved in God. He knows us, and loves us in spite of that. We are under his protection, we are in his presence. ASCENSION DAY Readings: Acts 1:1 -11; Ephesians 1:15-end; Luke 24:44-end. This major festival, the Ascension, cannot be considered in isolation, but should be seen as part of the whole transition period from Easter to Pentecost. It is here at the Ascension that the Risen Lord Jesus vanishes from the sight of his disciples, in order to open up a new way of relating to them – a way in which his presence is not limited by human considerations of one person in a geographical locality, but the sole limitation being the faith of the individual or the church community. As if by way of a bridge crossing a river, the disciples now have to leave the known territory where they have been with the Lord as a human person, and cross to the other side – as yet unknown and unexplored – where they will experience him in a new way. Christ, now enthroned in glory, remains with his Church. Thanks to the presence of the Holy Spirit, this new way of knowing God is established for ever. The disciples now discerned him in their sacramental life, in his word, in prayer, in the fellowship of the Christian community.. And so too today, this is exactly where we as disciples will encounter him, or perhaps more accurately, where he will find us. It is then now, for those disciples as for us, as the angelic messenger said, a question of not looking up into the sky, but of being witnesses to the Risen and Ascended Lord who is still present with us, of co-operating with him in the work of extending the Kingdom, of bringing justice and peace to God's world. We can find the joy that the first disciples experienced in his presence, we can find the power exercised in the early Church, through our walk with him in the Spirit. We have too the assurance that where he is, we shall also one day be. TRINITY SUNDAY Readings: Isaiah 40:12-17, 27-end; 2 Corinthians 13: 11-end; Matthew 28:16-20. The OT passage this morning is the beginning of the oracles of that great prophet we call Deutero (or Second) Isaiah. The Book in the OT we know as Isaiah actually was written over several centuries by three, possibly four, different prophets. Their oracles were combined by an editor into one book. So we do not really know the name of the person whose prophecies we are reading. We do know that Second Isaiah was writing to the Exiles in Babylon, and here, in this powerful passage, he is laying out the basis of faith for a believer – i.e., the absolute power of the God who created all that is created, the Lord our God. If someone were to ask who can achieve the impossible, the answer is: He who created the world before whom the idols and false Gods are nothing. The Spirit of the Lord is the prime mover in creation, as we see from the first verses of the in the Bible, the Book of Genesis. But he was not just the Creator, he was also the Counsellor who directs the course of history. The nations include the great and powerful, including Lebanon, whose mighty forests of cedar were world famous. Now, sadly, they have almost disappeared. These nations are symbolic of human power and pride. In fact they are all emptiness and nothingness in comparison with the only true reality, the ultimate reality, which we find in God. The problem was that the Exiles, with the event of the exile itself, and with the passage of time with no sign of rescue or change in their situation, were coming to believe that God had forgotten them. The prophet's answer is to make the first recorded connection of creation and eternity in respect of God. Thus, Yahweh is both Creator, in time, and also the Timeless God. That is, he is Lord of both the universe and of time. Which is more than claiming that he is eternal: it is proclaiming him as Lord of the Ages – that he is active in history, active through all eternity. He is thus the source of strength and renewal for those who wait upon him. Age will not be a determinant, all may rise up like eagles with renewed strength, they shall be saved. The idea of the Trinity is not spelt out anywhere in the OT, but there are instances, as in this passage, where it is suggested. We see here also a strong sense of community and of corporate responsibility, as the people of God. The same sense of community should be seen as characteristic of the Christian Church. Here, that is our responsibility. This sense of membership one with another can be seen in the Epistle also. S. Paul shows a deep sense of responsibility for the community at Corinth. There is no sense of resentment even against the people there who have opposed him. His greetings and farewells are addressed to everyone. There is no place in the Church for ongoing ill-will or division. However, he makes it clear that there is still some way to go in the healing process. After the farewell, the first imperative translates as mend your ways. The verb in the Greek has the sense of repairing that which is broken, of making progress to a complete whole. And indeed, Christian living is a becoming, a progression towards perfection. None of us is perfect yet, but we are coming closer as long as we are on the road and not turning aside. There was still a long way to go at Corinth before that church would be a fully integrated community: too many factions were pulling in different directions. In the Church there has to be an effort and intention on the part of all to find a way forward together. The second imperative is a call from S. Paul for the Corinthians to concentrate on what he has said to them. The first letter contains much of his teaching. He warned of the danger of factionalism (chap. 1); and of the fruitless pursuit of human wisdom, he warns against the toleration of open immorality within the church community (chap. 5); he defended his own teaching and his own authority (chap. 9); he taught on the subject of spiritual gifts and of their use in and for the Church; he gave us that sublime treatise on love in chapter 13, and much else in addition. If our church communities were to live by the spirit of his precepts which closely echo the person and teaching of Jesus, then there would be no divisions, we would be making real progress towards perfection. The pleas to agree with one another and to live in peace are the logical outcomes of practicing what he preached. The result will be that the God of love and peace will be with you. The effect of division is to drive out God. Only as we come together in the Church, being of one mind, is God able to make his presence known. Human rivalry and resentment, so involves the ego that God is excluded. The holy kiss is a sign of our love and commitment to one another. The kiss was widely used in the ancient world as a sign of membership within a group, and could signify a wide range of relation-ships. It still does in much of the world, including Hungary. There is evidence that the kiss was a part of the Eucharistic liturgy from the earliest times. Cyril of Jerusalem is reputed to have said: Think not that this kiss (i.e., the liturgical 'kiss of peace') ranks with that given in public by common friends. It is not such: this kiss blends souls with one another, and solicits for them entire forgiveness. Therefore, this kiss is the sign that our souls are mingled together and have banished all remembrance of wrong. The kiss therefore is reconciliation, and for this reason is holy. The Kiss is what we now call the 'Peace'. So try to think of Cyril's words as we shake hands or whatever this morning. The Peace is not simply a greeting. The sense of holy reconciliation should be present. The grace in the last verse is the grace which comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, the love that comes from God, and inspires a similar love in believers; the sense of partnership which comes from sharing God's Spirit within the Church. The form is that of benediction, and the emphasis is on grace, love and partnership. There is no direct reference to God as Trinity, yet it is from such passages, and from the experience of our early brethren of the way God acted in their lives, that the doctrine of the Trinity arose. Good dogma comes out of experience – it is not imposed by Church councils – they simply reflect the reality of the experience of the Church. So, the doctrine of the Trinity, which we celebrate today is an expression of human experience of God. We hold God to be the Creator. God has revealed himself in power and majesty; he is Almighty. At the same time he is merciful and loving. He has communicated this to his people from OT times onward by the activity of his Spirit in the minds of those who believe and are open to revelation. Most clearly and tangibly, Jesus has revealed God in his human life, which at the same time was divine. The Trinity helps us keep a balance in our view of God: balance which is often lost when people clutch hold of various enthusiasms for a particular type of revelation. It is into God in his totality that we are baptized, as the Gospel reminds us. The Gospel passage is the concluding verses of the Gospel of Matthew. They are there to help make the transition from the earthly ministry of Jesus to that of the Church. The Church is to carry on the work of Jesus – it is Jesus to the world in its day. We are Jesus in the world today. Obedience plays a large part in this reading. The disciples go to Jerusalem in obedience; discipleship itself implies obedience. We read of the disciples of Jesus, forgetting that today we are his disciples. They in turn are to make disciples ... by way of baptism, and teach obedience to those baptized. It is significant that moral obedience is the primary requirement for the baptized. This whole Gospel places a strong emphasis on ethics. It is to this Gospel alone that we owe the powerful moral teaching enshrined in the so-called Sermon on the Mount. That was teaching given to disciples for discipleship. It means renunciation of worldly ambition for its own sake and the denial of self and self-centred ways of acting. It demands the bearing of the cross; the following of Christ; the willingness to be a servant to all; and a commitment to living in obedience to the will of our Father God. This Gospel passage leaves us in no doubt about the writer's view on the divinity of Jesus. He is given all authority in heaven and on earth. Such authority is God's alone. We are reminded that it is through Jesus and his teaching that we know what to believe and how to live. It is the Spirit promised by Jesus that is poured out on us at our baptism, and which gives us understanding of God through the revelation of Jesus. It is the Spirit which leads us into a contemporary application of his teaching. As Jesus spoke of worshipping his Father, so we worship God's totality according as we have received the revelation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AFTER TRINITY Readings: Leviticus 19: 1 -2, 9-18; 1 Corinthians 1:10, 11, 16-end; Matthew 5:18-end God is 'other' than us, he is 'other' than the whole of his creation. And that which sets him apart is his holiness. In the context of our OT reading from Leviticus the holiness of God is represented by his moral purity – the opening verses make clear the need for holiness in those who want to approach God. That is, the standards of the world cannot be our standards. In the words of S. Paul, we must be in the world, but not of the world. The moral precepts are about the way we treat our neighbour, and interestingly, the alien. The alien would often be a refugee in the midst of the community We show charity to the less well off, we deal honestly, we do not lie or steal. We deal justly with our neighbour. In short, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. And the reason for all this: I am the Lord your God. One of the big questions for Israel though was, Who is my neighbour? Generally in OT Law our neighbour is the fellow-Israelite, extended at its best to the stranger within the gate. I think we must admit that it is a question which, in a sense, we ask ourselves when we consider the limits of our giving to needs of the world. The plight of so many people looks far away and unrelated to us and our life situations. When we come to the teaching of Jesus though we find the question answered in an even wider way than Israel answered it. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is Jesus' answer to the question. His answer goes beyond even the original question in order to ask one of his ultimate questions: To whom can I become a neighbour? Israel sought to define and to set reasonable yet generous limits. The Christian, however, seeks not to limit obligation, in imitation of the limitless love of God. ....you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself, ... That is, to allow wrong actions to continue within the community is in a sense to become part of it. Jesus has a similar saying, If your brother sins, go and reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. Others should only be involved only if the warning goes unheeded. The emphasis in both Old and New Testaments is on avoiding a rift in the Body. There are a number of other constraining rules in the passage relating to the taking of revenge, anger leading to violence, etc.. The OT law codes made provision for dealing with such matters in the community. In general they were fair and limiting, thus avoiding the risk of ongoing, never ending family feuds and the like. Here we see a further advance. The answer is to be seen in terms of love: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love and the taking of revenge are mutually exclusive. Jesus went still further and added the Law of Love to the words by which Jews proclaimed their love for God daily: Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deut. 6: 4,5). Thus for us as Christians, love of God and love of neighbour are at the foundations of our spiritual and moral lives. And this love is not limited to our fellow Christians as the Jews limited love to their fellow Israelites. After all , we are reflecting the love of God which is boundless. The idea of holiness comes forward also in the Epistle passage. S. Paul is still dealing with the question of factions which had been so disruptive of the Corinthian community. Divisiveness of this type leads to loss of the most important attribute of all Christians – the awareness of the possession of the Holy Spirit. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? he asks. He is emphasizing an important aspect of being a Christian – a Christian is the dwelling place of God. Nothing must be allowed to destroy this temple. That is, nothing must be allowed to disturb the indwelling of the Spirit. The Corinthian factions were having this destructive effect, and S. Paul believes that this will eventuate in God's avenging himself on them. Not in the sense of revenge, but rather that those who deny the Spirit, or leave no room for the operation of the Spirit, cut themselves off from God. The temple of God is holy. Christians are sanctified by the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. We are thus set apart for God, and desecration of this temple brings its own reward. As he says elsewhere – the wages of sin is death. Some words of S. Ignatius of Antioch are appropriate here: Nothing escapes the Lord's notice, but even hidden things are near to Him. So let us do everything on the basis that He dwells in us, that we may be His temples and that our God Himself may be in us, which He is, and He will appear in our sight because we rightly love him. In the | ||
