Sermons

Collect

God, who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, ignite in us your holy fire; strengthen your children with the gift of faith, revive your Church with the breath of love, and renew the face of the earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Faithful God, who fulfilled the promises of Easter by sending us your Holy Spirit and opening to every race and nation the way of life eternal: open our lips by your Spirit, that every tongue may tell of your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Acts – 2.1–21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

    “In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Psalm – 104.26–36, 37b*

26    O Lord, how manifold are your works! ♦
In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

27    There is the sea, spread far and wide, ♦
and there move creatures beyond number, both small and great.

28    There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan ♦
which you have made to play in the deep.

29    All of these look to you ♦
to give them their food in due season.

30    When you give it them, they gather it; ♦
you open your hand and they are filled with good.

31    When you hide your face they are troubled; ♦
when you take away their breath, they die and return again to the dust.

32    When you send forth your spirit, they are created, ♦
  and you renew the face of the earth.

33    May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; ♦
may the Lord rejoice in his works;

34    He looks on the earth and it trembles; ♦
he touches the mountains and they smoke.

35    I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; ♦
I will make music to my God while I have my being.

36    So shall my song please him ♦
while I rejoice in the Lord.

37    Let sinners be consumed out of the earth and the wicked be no more. ♦
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Alleluia.

Epistle – Romans 8.22–27

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Gospel – John 15.26–27; 16.4b–15

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Sermon on Pentecost Sunday (Whit Sunday)

Speaking in tongues – isn’t it fantastic to speak another language that someone else understands? Imagine speaking the language of the angels who praise God from eternity to eternity. But who among us is able to translate that tongue?

That is the problem of speaking in tongues, someone has to understand it in order to make sense of what has just been heard. I have told the story of being in Germany that just as I was to leave the country I began to actually hear the language. I was no longer in a strange land where I was a stranger. No longer isolated and alone, I could speak with others. It was a moment of revelation for me, for I could see all around me with a spirit of understanding. I had those eyes and ears Jesus spoke of.

I would like to take a philosophical turn this morning and consider the implications of a mother tongue. We accept an interpretation of the German words that must literally be translated “It gives” – “Es gibt” – as “There is.” – That is the meaning, but it is quite a different one literally.

Now this is not a really big thing, the interpreter’s job is to produce the vernacular in the target language from the vernacular of the original language – it is clearly what those translating interpreters are doing in Brussels for the European Union or in New York for the United Nations. So when we translate “es gibt” to “there is” we are being accurate in the vernacular as to its signification. There is no real problem with this, is there?

No, I don’t think there is. I don’t imagine any of you object to this translation, do you? However, I think there are implications latent in the language when we use particular words. I think the word “geben” in German provides connotations which may not be clearly signified when the word English word “to be” is used.

There is a school of philosophy which takes language very seriously and sees that it is part of the human condition, suggesting that, in fact, language provides the ground for all thought, determining all thought. They suggest that language is inbuilt into our very selves on a fundamental, essential basis. They would take a very different view on language and the place of words in life – more determinist  – than I am suggesting.

In my ruminations, I see the word “geben” and “to be” providing hidden meanings which colour the use of the word and its understanding. One philosopher I take quite seriously founds his thought on the notion of being “thrown” into the world. This is something experienced viscerally. He speaks of human thrown-ness. The ‘is’ of human existence does not just join one part of a particular history to another – like the copula of grammar. Rather one finds oneself in a situation. One is thrust into one’s understanding of existence. We have to grasp hold in order to come to grips with the situation. This German philosopher sees life as “given”. And that is so very different from the normal, everyday English understanding of the ‘is’ of existence, isn’t it?

That profound and subliminal understanding of the human experience is conditioned by the connotations of language. I imagine that the philosopher owes great debt to his mother tongue of German. His thought comes to expression in that language. It is nourished by that language. His thought cannot be taken out of that language without an extensive translation and interpretive effort.

But I philosophically digress even further than I normally do.

This ground upon which we all find ourselves – the foundation of language – has a profound effect on the whole of our experience of life. Sometimes it is totally unrecognised, at other times it intrudes deeply, perhaps even to the point of making us speechless. This is the philosopher’s conundrum, he does not want to speak in a facile manner, but wants the profundity of language’s root meaning to appear in his life’s work of words. Perhaps that is why it so hard to translate any thoughts easily – and here the translation need only be seen as passing a thought from one to any other person. It is the significant philosophical (but very personal) problem of “how can I be understood by that other person?”

I speak in tongues at every moment. – When I speak, the other person may not hear the words I am using, the other person may not hear the sounds issuing from my mouth as language at all. We have all been there, haven’t we? For instance, the moment we realise we love someone and have to blurt it out. That is the moment of true speech, the act of language at its most profound. This speech-act is the intimate connection between two people – which, I have to say, is most clearly revealed in the poetics of love.

I think we can see in love there is that philosophical ‘givenness’. We cannot cause love, can we? It just happens, it is given to us complete and blindingly. I think we have to say that this is true of the whole of life. It is given and we have to come to terms with it most profoundly.

Perhaps we can make the German phrase and its philosophical implication our own today. Perhaps we can begin to speak in a tongue which others might understand as their own.

I would like to say that this speech-act is evangelism at its very heart. It is something we need not be afraid of, for we are speaking from the depths of our experience, from the recesses of our hope. Paul says in our Romans reading today “we hope for what we do not see – we wait for it with patience.” I think we want to share our hope, that seemingly unrealisable aspiration for salvation.

Today is Pentecost when we should be speaking in tongues – just like the disciples on the birthday of the Church. Like them, we are not rolling about with too much wine in us. Speaking in tongues is not the senseless glossolalia which people usually mean. No, when we speak in tongues it denotes that we have actually communicated the depth of our very real thoughts to another clearly and whole-heartedly. This is what I mean by evangelism – we all want to share our own hope, the good news of life in all its fullness as we have experienced it, how life has been given to us in our very existence, in our very being. Life is a grace we want to share with others. We want to be generous with this gift, just as it has been given to us so we want to give it away to those with whom we speak the truth in love in the tongues of men and of angels just as Paul says.

Amen

Collect

O God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: we beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Risen, ascended Lord, as we rejoice at your triumph, fill your Church on earth with power and compassion, that all who are estranged by sin may find forgiveness and know your peace, to the glory of God the Father.

Post Communion

Eternal God, giver of love and power, your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world to preach the gospel of his kingdom: confirm us in this mission, and help us to live the good news we proclaim; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Acts – 1.15–17, 21–26

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred and twenty people) and said, ‘Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus – for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.’

So one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us – one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.’ So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Psalm 1

1    Blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, ♦
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.

2    Their delight is in the law of the Lord ♦
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3    Like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither, ♦
whatever they do, it shall prosper.

4    As for the wicked, it is not so with them;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5    Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement, ♦
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.

6    For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, ♦
but the way of the wicked shall perish.

Epistle – 1 John 5.9–13

If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Gospel – John 17.6–19

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Sermon

What do you think of Ascension Day? Is it a red letter day on your calendar? It is a pink on mine, because the day has particular memory from quite a while ago. – When Bishop Michael Perham first came to the diocese, there was a deanery celebration at Ozleworth. The people who owned the big house and the attached church there had invited the ministers of the deanery to supper after Bishop Michael’s celebration of the deanery’s Ascension Eucharist. So it is a good memory of a feast in a local church.

I wonder whether you have any memories like that. I think that is the sort of tale which becomes the basis for a tradition in our lives. It is a shame that the deanery did not continue its communal celebration of the Ascension. Who knows? – it may have been the basis of a collective memory and tradition in the area which might have spurred more engagement with the church in the deanery. Ozzleworth might have become another Walsingham perhaps?

Such gatherings do have their place in the life of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. At such events we share our lives in an atmosphere which is encouraging and conducive to positive development. A place where everyone is engaged in true improvement. The Church has always been where people have gathered to share their deepest experiences, for no one threatens where the love of Christ appears. When we truly love one another there is connection and support – there is no chance that harm could arise. This is true safe-guarding, where the love of God is shared between equals.

Sadly, it seems that more and more there is isolation and loneliness just when a network of help and fellowship is required. Sitting at my computer reading online blogs is not the same thing as sitting with a friend over a biscuit and tea speaking about matters of life and death while looking each other in the eye. The truth with love as Paul says is what we encounter with our friends in person. Our time of coffee after worship is one of the most important events in the Church’s life – when we accompany each other in true fellowship. It is the start of our life-long journey on that very labyrinthine road of love.

The way we travel with one another is so very important to all of us, for we become crucial in the each other’s lives. I may be able to talk with someone over coffee about some trouble they might have and ease their burden – just as they could do the same for me. This boundless friendship we have through Christ is how we bring people along – in love. We foster their lives, encouraging and promoting the best for them, don’t we?

We start in friendship, what can be called true love or that Christian concept of agape. Whatever we call it, we envelope the other in good intentions and beneficial actions, we do something for them without any thought of reward.

Jesus said in his prayer of farewell, “While I was with them, I protected them in your name.” I think we should be able to say this about ourselves. Don’t you? We are all involved with other people, aren’t we? We all take care of our children and parents. That is something we take for granted, isn’t it? Don’t we care for our friends as well? We would do anything for family and friends, wouldn’t we? Isn’t this the sort of thing Jesus is talking about? I protect my family and friends without any hesitation. Whatever they ask, I will try to give them.

Even in my working life, I have always tried to treat my colleagues and customers as friends. I am happy to be of service to them. Whatever they ask, I endeavour to do it for them. Doing something for a friend is never a burden, is it? We have all helped our friends out from time to time, haven’t we? We don’t expect any payment or reward. We do it because we have a real affection for that person, because we feel there is no cost for our efforts on their behalf.

I know there are people who would drop everything and come to my aid, if I asked. They are my friends. Friends have no expectations, but only offer themselves to those whom they befriend. I have spoken of Cicero’s essay On Friendship before. It is a very interesting read, if you have the time.

What would you do for your friends? Do these words of Jesus echo in your ears – “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Would you do that for your loved ones – let alone your friends?

Even if we cannot make that ultimate sacrifice, we do want to “serve and protect” like the police in all those cop-dramas we watch, don’t we? Well, I think we do. We want to keep our loved ones safe. Our christian love embraces everyone, so I am sure we work to keep the world a better place, despite the failings of society at large.

“While I was with them, I protected them in your name.” This statement which Jesus made must describe all of us in some way at one time or another. We all want to protect others for the sake of something greater than ourselves. When we are here, in Church, we ascribe all our actions to God. When we are outside these four walls, I think we would say something like “for the greater good”. I think we do want to be selfless, ultimately. We don’t want that “selfish gene” to define ourselves, do we? I am sure we want that altruistic reality of our selfless selves to be recognised in all we do – to be the defining mark of our lives, even if it is only for our loved one.

However, I have said it before, if we love one person purely, we will love everyone somehow. We cannot stop at only one person – that would be obsession, wouldn’t it? And we all know where obsession leads. Love opens us up to everyone; we care for all when we have that true love the Church espouses. We all say that we love, don’t we? We all aspire to love in its purity, I am sure.

The greatest hope we have, is that we do care for other people. That care is a protecting concern for everyone. The other person becomes our focus and we see that by fostering the other we ensure safety for everyone. I know that my watching out for others will be reciprocated. Everyone joins in a universal neighbourhood watch. That, I think, is the ideal of love, that there is a web of care for everyone else, and no one is left out. Even the misanthropic hermit has his, or her, share of love, in spite of their irascibility. Everyone embraced by that warmth of love and the world is transformed into a home where life is enjoyed in all its fullness. We just have to realise that life in an innocent, faithful love.

Amen

Collect

God our redeemer, you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your Son: grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Risen Christ, by the lakeside you renewed your call to your disciples: help your Church to obey your command and draw the nations to the fire of your love, to the glory of God the Father.

Post Communion

God our Father, whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life: may we thirst for you, the spring of life and source of goodness, through him who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Readings

Acts – 10.44–48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Psalm

1    Sing to the Lord a new song, ♦
for he has done marvellous things.

2    His own right hand and his holy arm ♦
have won for him the victory.

3    The Lord has made known his salvation; ♦
his deliverance has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4    He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness towards the house of Israel, ♦
and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

5    Sound praises to the Lord, all the earth; ♦
break into singing and make music.

6    Make music to the Lord with the lyre, ♦
with the lyre and the voice of melody.

7    With trumpets and the sound of the horn ♦
sound praises before the Lord, the King.

8    Let the sea thunder and all that fills it, ♦
the world and all that dwell upon it.

9    Let the rivers clap their hands ♦
and let the hills ring out together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

10    In righteousness shall he judge the world ♦
and the peoples with equity.

Epistle – I John 5.1–6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

Gospel – John 15.9–17

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Sermon on Easter vi

They “were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.” I would ask us to ponder this question, “Aren’t we all dumbfounded when something happens which we would never expect?” But then again, the real question is – “shouldn’t we always amazed by everything that happens all around us?”

The “Jews” of the bible are amazed by what was happening right there in front of them probably because of their feelings of “entitlement” under the Torah. They were a proud people who had a definite view of their place in the world. They are the people of God whose tradition of the Law and the Prophets set them apart from all the other people of the Levant, even more so nowadays with the three religious traditions of the area in conflict. Their history distinguishes them. The prophets in the bible testify as to how God has dealt with Israel distinctly. One of these unique voices is that the prophet Joel (2:28-32). He set very high expectations about the end of days. He lets us know that “God was going to pour out His Spirit on all mankind and their sons and daughters would prophesy, old men would dream dreams, young men would see visions, and even male and female servants would have the Holy Sprit poured out on them.”

Joel was speaking to and about Israel itself. Anyone who had a connection to the people of God would be touched and their lives would be blessed by miracles – speaking in tongues, or prophesy, or dreaming dreams – from the leaders in their palaces to the servants in the humblest of dwellings. This prophecy of Joel is a transformation of the whole of the kingdom of Israel, isn’t it? Truth would be declaimed by all, from the king of Israel’s theocracy to the very least of God’s subjects. Everyone in Israel would be worthy of God’s love and care. Every Israelite would speak about what was righteous and good. Everyone would see what should be the case for all and do it. It is salvation in the here and now for Israel. In fact, I have to say, it was an expectation of the coming Kingdom of God, not unlike the preaching of Jesus.

This passage of Joel, I would say, was a well-known saying at the time of Jesus, at the beginning of the Church, but especially within the Church which developed inside Jewish communities. It was one of the many prophecies which spoke to the messianic expectation amongst Jews during the Roman occupation of Israel. It is no wonder that Peter and the disciples, all those Jewish followers of the way of Jesus, were “astounded” as in this story from Acts. This Jewish stance is revealed throughout Acts and in Paul’s letters to the young churches which he visited and fostered in their infancy.

The gift of this Spirit was supposed to be limited to the chosen people. At least that was the way Joel was usually interpreted in this period. Don’t we all know about the sailcloth of Peter’s dream where all of God’s creation was offered to him? Don’t we all know of Paul’s saying that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ? There are many other sayings you can think of, aren’t there?

However, we are absolutely sure that a new universalism became the norm for the nascent church (and for the Church of our time), aren’t we? The christian community had been a sect within Judaism, but it transformed itself with the inclusion of the outcast, the stranger, and even the gentile. That new openness becomes the ethos of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. It became a reality when Constantine became a Christian and the empire followed him. All of Paul’s letters describe the freedom and the openness of the fellowship. Those who followed the way of Christ lived in open love especially towards everyone who professed the name of Jesus Christ. We hear this in all the NT in some way, but especially in the letters of Paul and John.

Here in Acts, we have that exclusive Jewish expectation being expressed and it is rejected. The questions are asked – ‘Is everyone worthy of the Holy Spirit? Are they worthy of baptism, to be washed clean of sin and made whole in Christ?’ We still struggle with this dilemma, don’t we? Some say it is universal, others restrict it – a question which raises its head even in communities like ours today. This passage speaks of a major change in the early church’s behaviour. At the time of Jesus, the christian fellowship was a gathering of brethren, a family descended from Moses which kept the Torah and respected the prophets. The interpretation of the Law plays a big part in this closed community past and present. This tradition of discussing the Law became the source of the most important of Jewish literature, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Midrash. The practice in Judaism is that everyone (well, certainly the men, depending on the community) should extend their learning of the Law, through reading and discussion. When they gathered together, they became the rabbi and the local congregation.

This tradition of dialogue about the Law continues today in christian house-groups in local churches throughout the world. Even we here sometimes echo this old custom when we gather around coffee and talk about the address given during worship, or even when we meet at the pub and talk about the news of the day in relation to the good, or in relation to the question, “What would Jesus do in this situation?” Even if we don’t say that exactly.

We are not as intense about the question of the Law as Hassidic Jews, to be sure. They gather around their rebbe and discuss Torah at length, so much so that there are stories of wives feeling abandoned. However, we skirt about the question of how God might be in our lives when we talk seriously with one another. We do not explicitly question our behaviour against the Torah, but I believe the expression of our religiosity does come out when we question whether it is good to do something particular. I think we do ask ourselves whether we fulfill the one law Jesus thrust on us – to love God and one another. I am convinced we have that one commandment at the very back of our minds all the time, even though we may not bring it to the front of our attention.

I wonder whether the words of Joel are how we understood this bringing the Law to mind. When we do focus on the Law, don’t we seem to blow everything apart? Nothing is as it might appear to us when we are under the thrall of the everyday, when we go along without explicit thought of what we are doing, without what they call “mindfullness”.

Joel is reminding us that the dreams and prophecies which we tell others about may seem strange to them. We may be speaking a foreign tongue to our neighbours because they do not have the loving freedom in their lives which Jesus promises or the guidance of the one Law of life.

That is what was astounding for “The circumcised believers who had come with Peter” – they could not believe that even gentiles could enjoy christian agape as fully as themselves. That is what is mind-blowing. That is what is challenging life as they know it. I think that is the point of this episode: we have to recognise that the Spirit flows everywhere – we merely have to accept it as part of life in all its fullness – for each and every one of us and experience its richness and joy.

Amen

Collect

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life: raise us, who trust in him, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that we may seek those things which are above, where he reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered into one flock, to the glory of God the Father.

Post Communion

Merciful Father, you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd, and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again: keep us always under his protection, and give us grace to follow in his steps; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Acts – 4.5–12

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is

    “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone.”

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’

Psalm 23

1    The Lord is my shepherd; ♦
therefore can I lack nothing.

2    He makes me lie down in green pastures ♦
and leads me beside still waters.

3    He shall refresh my soul ♦
and guide me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4    Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; ♦
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5    You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; ♦
you have anointed my head with oil and my cup shall be full.

6    Surely goodness and loving mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, ♦
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Psalm

Epistle – 1 John 3.16–24

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

Gospel – John 10.11–18

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’

Sermon on Easter iv

I think we all have questions to answer. I think we, like Peter, should be “questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick.” Can we be “asked how this man has been healed” because of something we have done? Have we been good shepherds for all the people around us? – Have we done good deeds and performed acts to heal our neighbours? Or are we like those hired labourers who do not care for those who are entrusted to them – that we can leave our charges and abandon our responsibilities for those who have been promised our protection?

The authorities question us about our good deeds, our healing care, and our dedication to that love which we proclaim to have for our neighbours and God. They echo the questions our conscience pose in the quiet hours of the night, when all is black and there is no light available to distinguish between white and black, right and wrong, good and evil. I have to say that it is rare when conscience and the crowd ask the same questions about our behaviour, but sometimes it does happen.

The circumstances are very odd, when they come together. The crowd too often expects nothing of love in our lives, while our conscience demands too much. The conjunction of these two polar opposites meet in the interrogation of our behaviour. The crowd asks us to conform to their cynically high expectations, while our conscience demands purity and nobility of intention – nothing but the best is acceptable, when we question ourselves in moments of self-examination whether we have really opened ourselves up to and for the other. Our conscience is in a way asking the same question the crowd is – but we don’t ask it in as cynical a manner as the crowd does, that crowd which consists of the authorities, like journalists or lawyers, or even our political leaders. Their enquiries are not to be what they seem to be.

Often the crowd jeers at us as we try to do our best, condemning our failure to achieve an unambiguous solution to moral dilemmas or ethical choices. The crowd is two-faced – one persona is apparently solicitous, eager to know the truth and help uncover it, while the other mask reveals a cynical doubt of anything anyone has to say. The crowd never seems to fulfill their intentions at all, does it? Their care stops short, then they deride our efforts to be upstanding in spite of our failure. Or perhaps the crowd despises us because our efforts have fallen short, because it is so easy to catalogue our sins.

Our conscience winkles out our wickedness also. It can mimic the crowd, questioning our care for all – our loved ones and strangers, which is to say, all our neighbours, whom Jesus commanded us to love. However, our conscience does not start in cynicism and end in the sarcasm of the crowd, does it? Our conscience just asks those hard questions about our intentions and the effort we put into our everyday life. The crowd does accurately tell us about ourselves, but it is up to us to make those judgements authentic.

What does the phrase, “Life goes on,” signify? I think we should mean that it is still possible to experience life in all its fullness, to do good deeds, to love our neighbours. – We may have just failed to help a friend in need, but we can make amends by helping the next person who asks for help, or the sick, the cold, the thirsty even the prisoner, all of whom Jesus made us aware in his saying. Our conscience and the crowd condemn us, but our love cannot fail just because the crowd jeers, and our conscience is disappointed in, our efforts for the other person.

Here we are at our nadir considering our own lack of worth. “Life goes on.” And so must we. Our spirits can’t get any lower – in other words, everyone in the crowd scoffs at our efforts and we ourselves doubt our own endeavour. No wonder we are anxious and despondent! And yet we still must go care.

We ask ourselves why we do anything we do. We should answer something when the crowd asks us, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ We should let our conscience answer. We are thrown into life and we are given the opportunity to engage in all its fullness. Somehow we are here now and we have the power to affect the world. The crowd feels the helplessness of being thrown into the situation, but takes no responsibility, just the opposite of our conscience which takes all responsibility – even for those things for which we cannot be held responsible. In our conscience we know that we have to make the best of a world in which we find ourselves, just the opposite of the crowd. Our conscience makes us act in a way contrary to ordinary expectations. And why not?

Like the good shepherd, we are willing to put ourselves into dangerous positions to save just one of the flock, where ridicule could tear our lives apart because our intention is so at odds with what is normally expected. The hireling does only what is expected. When the wolves appear, they disappear – that is above and beyond. We know that nothing will keep them in harm’s way. The hired hand has no great love for his work – after all, he doesn’t own the sheep, does he? The good shepherd, whether the hired hand or not, does have that care for his charge. In our conscientious way, in our authentic selves, we want to stay with the flock to keep them safe – we want to do whatever what is right for our neighbour because of our being followers of Christ. We always want to act on our love – that willing spirit we have often heard about in spite of our weakness.

That is the intention of care – of love. The ancients called it caritas – they also said it can never be turned off. Even the crowd knows this, even if “they” are happy to ignore its dictates. But the crowd is very happy to throw it back in an accusation of failure when, in our lives, we fail to care.

The good shepherd is the personification of this care, the love which Jesus preached for the sake of the kingdom. It is the attitude of the citizen of the Kingdom which Jesus announced as just about here, right now. That glorious city of God is about to be realised in the next moment of our lives.

The good shepherd knows about the short time the crowd has to maintain its false standards – its perversion of the concerns of conscience for its cynical entertainment. The good shepherd may just lay down his life for the crowd so that “they” will be set free from the world, the flesh and the devil as the prayer book has it. Don’t we all want to do that in our best moments?

We all aspire to be the good shepherd. We all want to share life in all its fullness. That is why the christian aspires to keep to the one rule Jesus laid down for everyone, that we love God thereby loving each other as we love ourselves. That is life in all its fullness.

Amen

Collect

Almighty Father, who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Risen Christ, you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope: strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace, to the glory of God the Father.

Post Communion

Living God, your Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: open the eyes of our faith, that we may see him in all his redeeming work; who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Readings

First lesson – Acts 3.12–19

When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

‘And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped

Psalm 4

1    Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness; ♦
you set me at liberty when I was in trouble;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

2    How long will you nobles dishonour my glory; ♦
how long will you love vain things and seek after falsehood?

3    But know that the Lord has shown me his marvellous kindness; ♦
when I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.

4    Stand in awe, and sin not; ♦
commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.

5    Offer the sacrifices of righteousness ♦
and put your trust in the Lord.

6    There are many that say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ ♦
Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.

7    You have put gladness in my heart, ♦
more than when their corn and wine and oil increase.

8    In peace I will lie down and sleep, ♦
for it is you Lord, only, who make me dwell in safety.

Epistle – 1 John 3.1–7

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Gospel – Luke 24.36b–48

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Sermon on Easter 3

Last week we heard the story of Thomas, and today we heard that Jesus said to the disciples, “‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?’” I would like to say that we should take courage from these rather accusing questions Jesus asked his anxious disciples. This narrative goes on, “In their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” For this reason I say, Be bold – we can still have the joy of a deep faith even if we wonder about a lot of the story. I say we need to “de-mystify” our faith, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church and its language. We need to be express ourselves plainly, with joy even if we are anxious.

It is quite clear that much of what we say in this sacred building has nothing to do with what happens outside these rather beautiful four walls. How many of us converse with people about the Christ risen in our lives? Who talks about the God of the resurrection as Peter did in our reading from Acts this morning? Who would dare to discuss the coming of the Holy Spirit openly in Dursley’s market-place?

The Trinity and all the complicated theology it entails does not impact on our daily lives, does it? In the history of the Church we can read stories of ordinary people trying to come to grips with this topic – that bakers would discuss the very complicated theology of the filioque with their customers as they handed over their loaves of bread. [Who besides me has ever heard of the filioque controversy?] Ordinary people are said to be passionately involved in the deepest mysteries of the faith. Today, however, who is interested in the procession of the Holy Spirit from God the Father and the Son (filioque)? Who cares?

What interests us most today? What is the common topic of conversation amongst people when we meet them on the street – apart from the weather? What do we talk about in the shops? It certainly is not matters ecclesiastically theological, is it? Most of the time we hear about how stressed people are, how they cannot cope with the pressures of present-day life, that they cannot come to grips with the enormity of the universe, that everything is just too far beyond their ken. Faith has to start there – where people’s cares are, where their language reveals themselves. Our church language often covers up our concerns and deflects us from the heart of the matter when it comes to our very own selves and cares, as talking about the weather does. Do we often – no, I should say do we
ever
– open up our hearts to one another to express our terrors and our fundamental doubts? How often do we even do this with our life’s partner?

Jesus “said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?’” If we are to be like Jesus in our lives, why don’t we ask this question of our friends and neighbours? Why don’t we speak of anxious doubt with our loved ones?

Rather, we think – “Isn’t it all too complicated? Isn’t it easier to talk about the weather?” In fact, when we tell another how stressed we are, doesn’t that kill any conversation dead? Do we ever try to press on about the fears and doubts which assail another person? It is much too easy to let them stew in their own stress alone with an anodyne, “Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” and move on to a less dangerous or revealing  topic of conversation. Or are dangerous and revealing the same thing? We are reluctant to leap ahead of the other in our dialogue with them to help free them from their terror.

Perhaps we must ask, whether people make those statements in order to distance themselves, to keep you away from them. They place their stress in the way as a barrier to friendship and care. So we oblige them and take another course in our conversation and life with them.

How can we free people up from doubt and fear? Don’t we feel that freedom ourselves? Hasn’t our faith been our reply to the call of conscience which we heard when we stood on the abyss at the edge of our terror? Didn’t Jesus come to us – whatever the guise in which he cloaked himself – and speak our name so that we could be ourselves? Like with Mary in the garden, didn’t Jesus talk with each one of us so that we could be freed from that fear of loss and that confusion of doubt? Can’t we do that for our friends and neighbours – or even a stranger in our midst? Can’t we speak their names as a call to the love of one another? Can’t we finally fulfill the only precept Christ gave his disciples – that we love one another?

This sort of activity is a very different behaviour from that associated with the church, isn’t it? The behaviour of churches does not foster this unconditional love normally, does it? We have pictures of the Church through images of Victorian clergy who move in the upper reaches of society, like those depicted in Trollope’s Barchester, don’t we? Or is it the Vicar of Dibley who is the picture of the church you have? These images of the leaders of the churches in the land need to be revised – they need to be stripped down to the pastoral care of love and from there we need to allow the churches – which is to say, you and me – to spread this gospel of freedom throughout the land, in each parish love should flourish and every person be confident in their own lives. This is the “de-mystifying” I want to pursue.

The freeing up of people for life in all its fullness should be our goal. So what does open up people today? Is it conversations about miracles? Does talk about theological matters create that freedom? What about talk of black holes or the Higgs Boson Particle? What would help you to understand that call of Jesus clearly, when you truly hear your conscience speaking? What settles you into confidence away from fear and doubt?

This radical reinterpretation has happened from the very beginning of the Church. We have the gospels – each of which has a different character, I would say in itself an indication of the struggle with the wonder and doubt of every disciple. And Paul took a very different way of speaking of the Christ-event in his life, didn’t he? The history of the Church shows how so many different approaches have been taken in the project of freeing others for that freedom to experience life in all its fullness, the life of unfettered love for neighbour and God.

When we pursue love, life becomes ever so much richer, don’t you agree? We become ourselves – we have heard our name clearly, though we may not know its source. Maybe this is why Jesus asks his disciples, “‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?’” Perhaps they were trying to figure out the source of that still small voice. So we should be bold and ask those difficult questions of ourselves and our neighbours. That is just what love does for us, isn’t it?  It is the question Jesus asks all of us disciples. – Let us experience life in all its fullness with joy in spite of the fear and doubt in our hearts.

Amen

Collect

Almighty Father, you have given your only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Risen Christ, for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred: open the doors of our hearts, that we may seek the good of others and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace, to the praise of God the Father.

Post Communion

Lord God our Father, through our Saviour Jesus Christ you have assured your children of eternal life and in baptism have made us one with him: deliver us from the death of sin and raise us to new life in your love, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Readings

First reading – Acts 4.32–35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Psalm

1    Behold how good and pleasant it is ♦
to dwell together in unity.

2    It is like the precious oil upon the head, ♦
  running down upon the beard,

3    Even on Aaron’s beard, ♦
running down upon the collar of his clothing.

4    It is like the dew of Hermon ♦
running down upon the hills of Zion.

5    For there the Lord has promised his blessing: ♦
even life for evermore.

Epistle – John 1.1 – 2.2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us – we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Gospel – John 20.19–31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Sermon on Low Sunday, Easter ii

Today we are gathered on what is often called “Low Sunday” – when congregations are reduced dramatically and there seems to be a dearth of priests. I think it is because all the celebrations of Easter have exhausted the people of God, both worshippers and their leaders. So many want to have “a day off” – the congregations want to take some time away from church and many of our priests have taken this Sunday off to have their holiday.

Where do they all go? Have they all hidden themselves behind locked doors like the disciples? But our reading from John tells us we can’t hide ourselves away – Jesus will appear when we least expect it, even when all the doors are locked and we have a sense of security against all our fears. However, it turns out this self-assurance is false. We are assailed by our own fears, those of our very own selves and the crowd. I would say that behind those closed doors, we are meet our conscience at the very least, an encounter we seem to fear the most.

Even though the doors are locked, we know about the fear of the crowd, don’t we? Well, we should because it is all around us. We have heard of this fear through the media, our conversations with so many who are frightened by everything going on around us – stories range from war and famine to the bullying of the schoolyard. I am sure many of us start out of a deep sleep on account of some night terror. The disciples have this grand fear as well, don’t they? We just read, “the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.”

That is a rather odd statement, don’t you think? Weren’t they all Jews? Could we say they feared their very own selves – locking themselves away, hiding in dark places. – This behaviour didn’t rid them of their fear. It could have exacerbated it. In the dark, behind a locked door, the disciples would cower and hear every sound as a threat. Don’t we do this when we lie in the dark having woken up in the early hours? Don’t we tremble in the dark before the sun rises to cheer us? We certainly are ill at ease when a nightmare wakes us and we try to calm ourselves in order to regain that stillness sleep requires.

The doors are locked and yet we still quake in our boots because of the crowd which assails our very selves, that crowd which tries to tell us what to think and do, submerging us in that tsunami of lethargy and loss of self which its dominion creates. We are fundamentally a very real part of that crowd at the same time as feeling oppressed by its very real force on our lives.

No wonder we read that the disciples were frightened – no wonder they locked the doors so they might not be assaulted again by that crowd which took away their Lord and Master. Now that the disciples had seen the empty tomb, everything has been disrupted. All their expectations were overturned and they were confronted by doubt, just like Thomas.

Within their own ranks there was an unbelief – a doubt around Christ on the cross. Unless Thomas placed his hand on the wounds of the crucified Lord, he could not believe. This doubt must be the basis of the same fear all the disciples were experiencing. They tried to lock the doors to keep it away, but it was not just an external threat, it was an internal anxiety as well.

Internally and externally, the disciples were assailed. Terrors of the night and a fear of the crowd combined to drive the disciples into an upper room, into a space of perceived safety. It was certainly a place of solitude, but does it provide safety? This upper room does isolate, but does it provide a real security?

If we listen to the news and read the newspapers, don’t we realise that such isolation does not work? Separation from our fellows, whether collectively as a nation or individually as a single person, does not provide that certainty we all crave. Each one of us is thrown alone into the world, but each one of us lives amongst the crowd with one another.

In the isolation of the locked room, in the darkness of our fear, we are thrown back on ourselves. We are disciples. We must confront our doubts about life, the universe and everything. We must see the Lord standing there in front of us demanding that we put our hands in his wounds to make everything about life very real. Jesus asks us to experience life in all its fullness. In fact, I would ask you to consider that Jesus commands us to do so with his one injunction – to love one another.

To fulfill this command, means that we have to unlock all the doors. These doors are not just the barriers between us, but these doors are within ourselves as well. Didn’t Aldous Huxley ask us to open “the doors of perception”? I think Jesus is asking us to do the same thing. When we love one another, we are seeing ourselves and others anew. Our perception grasps new aspects – no longer is each one of us Marcuse’s “one-dimensional man”, but everyone is open to the other and so we round out our character. You might say the three dimensions of what Paul experienced of the love of Christ become our own. We become ourselves by embracing the other, not by isolating ourselves because of our terror of the crowd. We also become ourselves by getting a hold of ourselves by embracing all of our experience.

We have moved out of the isolation of the locked upper room into the wide open spaces of friendship and companionship. We have shed the fear of others and put on that armour of Christ which will protect us from any assault. We have become confident in our very selves because we have entered into the passion and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. There can be no terror to life when we have seen the breadth, heights and depths which the love of God opens up to us as Paul did. The fear and pain of life does not isolate us, but it unites us one with another. More importantly, we are not in fear of our own selves, afraid of the isolation of individuality. No, in our experience of the whole of Easter we have been transformed from individuals afraid of everything to people who care for each and every person we encounter just as each one of them loves us. We boldly go forth.

We are disciples, just like those who hid in that locked room, wondering about the whole of Easter. We keep reciting the passion story which ends abruptly at the empty tomb. And then someone enters our very own locked room, totally unexpected because of our recital of the story and opens our eyes – we no longer need the proof Thomas required. We see right through our own terror. Fear dissipates, and we have a new confidence. We have a strength of character which allows us to encounter and overcome that mortal, existential anxiety in order to live life in its fullness, to find life without fear in the fullness of loving one another.

Amen

Today we recount the story of the passion. – In our religious imagination, we relive the death of Jesus on the cross as the twelve experienced it. As disciples of Christ, let us explore the saving event recounted in the gospel of St John. (Jn 18:1—19:42.)

hymn 295 “let all mortal flesh keep silence”

Let us take these words of St Paul as our guide through this hour at the foot of the Cross –

Christ became obedient to the point of death, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.

Let us pray for the patience and resilience to participate in the gospel today.

With that intention, let us begin recounting the passion of our Lord.

Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.’ This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, ‘I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.’ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’

Here in the Garden, in the midst of frantic searchers, soldiers, temple police, men armed with weapons, lighting the area with lanterns and torches, Jesus calmly asks what the anxious search is trying to discover.

We have to remember that everything was to happen in order to fulfil prophecy. In spite of the terror and anger amongst all the people in the garden, Jesus is still calm and asking a reasonable question – ‘Whom do you seek?’ And he replies to them, ‘I am he.’ ‘Put away your swords. My father has given me the chalice from which I must drink’, words implying that we eventually will accept that cup for Jesus and also eventually ourselves.

But no one is listening to this mild reasonableness, are they? Even today we are staggered by simplicity and honesty – and still we do not listen to that moderation, but would rather pursue our obsessions.

In Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, the crowd of the revolutionaries shows exactly this behaviour. The baying for blood, the unreasonable demands and the frantic expression of obsession are what the crowd craves to satisfy.

So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.

So the calm and collected Jesus was arrested in the garden. He was bound by those frenzied searchers and he was dragged away to Annas the father-in-law of Caiaphas.

Caiaphas was the high priest that year. He advised the council that the needs of the many are greater than the needs of the few, so whatever was to be decided about this one man should be for the benefit of all. This is a very political judgement, isn’t it? A judgement we still make today, but perhaps one that is being made less and less as the selfish gene of social media gains sway.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to Peter, ‘You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing round it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.

Don’t we all know someone who will do us a favour? One of the disciples knew someone and that acquaintance let him into the courtyard, the garden inside the walls of Annas’ house. The disciple wangles Peter in by speaking to the woman gatekeeper. – Imagine that, a woman keeping people out of this private place, well not so unusual if we have ever heard of gatekeepers in our contemporary society (let’s think on that archetypal person another time). – Now this gatekeeper was pretty sharp: she recognised Peter as one of the disciples, but Peter denied it – Peter denied his own acclamation of Jesus. Didn’t he once say, “You are the Christ!”? And here in the courtyard he joined the crowd around the charcoal fire, slaves and police all of whom had nothing to do with Christ and truth.

Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus answered, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.’ When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, ‘Is that how you answer the high priest?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?’ Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

As the crowd warmed itself by the fire, the priest questioned Jesus. Jesus was still his calm self over against the authority of the world. He speaks only about his public discourses, that he never was a guerilla, planning in secret to sabotage the power of the state. His words were heard by many and he was happy that those witnesses of his public declarations be interrogated.

Such arrogance in the face of the high priest was punished with a blow. The palace soldier was asking with that cuffing of Jesus, “How can anyone question the assumptions of the high priest? How could any Jew gainsay the authority of the priesthood?” These questions are still being asked publicly today by political leaders and the crowd.

Jesus stood firmly by his public ministry to the people of God. Was it right that the authorities denied the truth which he preached? Was it right that the authorities would deny any expression of that message, especially as it was not wrong?

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’ One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ Again Peter denied it …

Peter was not as innocent as Jesus, was he? He had acted in the same manner as the authorities. After all, he had taken up a sword and cut off an ear. Such a terrible act had been witnessed and remembered. And Peter was recognised as being one of those people in that garden outside the city, that place where betrayal began – when a kiss of loving greeting became the start of the rot, which culminated in the denial of being a believer of a public ministry in which there was no deceit, a denial of one’s true self.

“And at that moment the cock crowed.”

What are we to understand by that statement? We should remember what was said openly for our benefit. We should remember where we stood when we heard the words of eternal life. We are to mind the call of conscience issued by our friend who becomes our saviour. That call may only be the crow of a cock, but we should stand in the sweet innocence of Jesus when he said to the authorities, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong.” Do Jesus’ words here now accuse us – as they do Peter – of mendacity and self-serving behaviour? The cock calls to mind the use of the sword and the denial of truth in life.

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ They answered, ‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death.’ (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

The crowd stormed round from Caiaphas’ place to Pilate’s headquarters with Jesus bound in their midst, heedless of their desecration of the Passover – though the crowd did not enter the unholy edifice of the Roman Governor of Judea. I would say that it was only a nod to their own ritual Law as the people of God, for their intention was truly unholy, wasn’t it? Can’t we understand how such behaviour is engendered in our own time? We all protest too much, don’t we, when we look daggers at someone and say, “A pleasure to see you”?

Once I read a very long study of the figure of Pilate. Everything in this description of the meeting between Pilate and Jesus was taken to be a confirmation of the worst a politician could be. From the cynical question, “Are you the king of the Jews?” to the washing his hands of the matter of this petty, mendicant preacher must have been written to show the dreadful behaviour of a crowd which has no recognition of the truth nor its own complicity in the debasement of another person. They brought before this worldly politician a man, whose crime Pilate did not even recognise. It was of no significance to his career – it would not bring him advancement – this minor event, the condemnation of a wandering, charismatic preacher to death, was nothing he wanted to take a part in. He was as cynical and sarcastic as any politician might be. So he threw the case back onto the crowd who brought it to him. – That crowd was as shrewd as Pilate, demanding he take responsibility for what they wanted to be done – with the sophistry that it was not lawful for them to put anyone to death.

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’

Here is the central point of Jesus’ preaching – the Kingdom of God. Jesus announced that it is so very near that we should listen to the call of conscience and repent because we have not followed the truth. The Kingdom and the truth go hand in hand in Jesus’ world, but what about Pilate and the crowd – were the Kingdom and truth connected at all in their minds? Jesus condemns those who do not hear truth just before Pilate asks the only question anyone ever remembers about him – “What is truth?”

After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, ‘I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a bandit.

Did Pilate really think Jesus innocent, or was this whole episode just too messy for him as an all-powerful enemy leader lording it over a recalcitrant, conquered people to deal with? In his cynicism, Pilate threw it all back to the Jews in the form of a choice, between this innocent preacher, Jesus, or that revolutionary bandit, Barabbas. Was this a test for the crowd to prove itself as false and inauthentic as Pilate himself?

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’

Pilate did what every duplicitous politician would do – he humiliated the accused with a bitterly ironic beating and sarcastic dressing up no Jew would have ever countenanced for themselves and presented this comically parodied figure back to the crowd.

“Ecce homo” – “Here is the man” – says Pilate after he had personally insulted him with a blow from his own hand. He thus  dismisses this “man” whom he had just called the King of the Jews and presents him to the people gathered at his door. The crowd speaks the truth as Pilate hauls Jesus out before them. The crowd replies that Jesus claimed the Kingdom of God as his own, that he was the Son of God. So this Jesus has to die because of their own Law’s condemnation of human hubris, that no man might claim to be God.

Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’

Here we find Pilate in his base humanity, in his fear, a fear the Jews re-enforced by accusing Pilate of not being a friend of Caesar. He knows how the Roman emperors claimed divinity for themselves. Now this Jew has done the same – and Jesus puts a true fear of god in him, no wonder the narrative says that he was “more afraid than ever.” Whatever he does, whether he acknowledges Caesar or Jesus, the ruler will hold him accountable for everything he has done in this incident. He knows the spies are everywhere and he fears for himself even more than he has ever done.

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

As he quaked in his boots, being accused of not being a friend of Rome, Pilate produces Jesus to the crowd yet again. He mocks them about Jesus being their king and whether he should be crucified. The Jews were supposed to be preparing for the solemn feast of the Passover. Here everyone is at the place of judgement, the Stone Pavement, Gabbatha, and there was such an outcry. The Jews were happy that Jesus should be put to death, and that they had sworn allegiance to Caesar even more emphatically, thus condemning Jesus to be crucified.

So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture says,

‘They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.’

And that is what the soldiers did.

From the place of judgement to the place of execution Jesus and two other condemned men staggered and were hung up to die. He died under the sign entitled “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” There was no mistake. Like a social media post, once it was written, it was written and nothing could change it. And so Pilate paradoxically confesses Jesus a true king. Truth in mendacity, truth in a web of lies.

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

The compassion of Jesus for all is evident here. That Jesus loved everyone assembled here at his death is apparent when he commends his beloved disciple and Mary to one another as a new family, a family which everyone could be. Every man is a son to every woman, and every woman a mother to every man.

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

With this last gesture to ensure that love would endure, he accepted the fate of all flesh. Life is love as Jesus showed it through his whole life. Here we can hear Paul’s words again about Christ’s obedience, can’t we?

We must obey the one commandment he gave to the world that we love one another and ourselves because we love God.

Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘None of his bones shall be broken.’ And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Are we like Joseph of Arimethea? Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but he was a secret one because of his fear of the Jews. Joseph fears the crowd. He doesn’t want to confront that mob which calls for blood, even though they don’t want to be ritually unclean by a profound blood-guilt, or by dealing with the outcast or the foreigner. Joseph finally steps up to act for Jesus. He, I think, like Peter, has heard the cock crow. I think we should be like Joseph of Arimethea. We must go forward in faith like Joseph, even if ours is a secret faith. Let us do the good we can and testify to the truth. We must prepare ourselves for Easter when truth will out and joy will abound. Until the tomb of our hearts is full of the glory of the Lord, let us sing again.

hymn 295 “let all mortal flesh keep silence”

Collect

God of compassion, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and in sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bind together and to heal; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

God of love, passionate and strong, tender and careful: watch over us and hold us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Loving God, as a mother feeds her children at the breast you feed us in this sacrament with the food and drink of eternal life: help us who have tasted your goodness to grow in grace within the household of faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

First reading

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Second Reading

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Mothering Sunday

As they used to say, are you comfortable, so let us begin, as we “listen with mother” today, Mothering Sunday.

“Woman, here is your son.” What a verse we have from the gospel this morning! Jesus looks down upon the Mary’s gathered at the foot of his cross and speaks these enigmatic words. These words give all of us a great deal to think about, don’t you agree?

What strikes you as the meaning of these words? There seem to be a number of obvious meanings – but, I feel none are right and none are wrong. But we do have to hunt for them as we read the verses, or hear them as they are declaimed from the lectern. We do have to engage with these words somehow, don’t we? Don’t we have to make sense of them?

In our reading, Jesus is talking to the disciple whom he loved and his own mother. We are told that, from that hour, the disciple took Mary into his own household.

This fact seems very curious to us today, doesn’t it? Why did the disciple take this woman into his home? – Was it because it is Jesus’ mother? Was it because these words Jesus uttered from the cross were his last? Why take in a woman whose son has just been executed in such a horrific manner?

Was it guilt – the guilt of a survivor? Did the disciple feel responsible in some way for Jesus’ death, or guilty that he survived the man who loved him? Or, more likely, did the disciple feel that this woman now had no family to care for her – after all, her son had just been killed in excruciating pain. Who was now to care for her? She had no one to support her. There was no welfare system then. Widows and orphans were on their own, as they have always been until universal social care began. They usually starved unless they were lucky with friends and family, or they were able to pursue some sort of trade.

Widows surviving on their own were unusual in the ancient world; after all, the west’s nuclear family was not part of that society’s norms. Families were large and integrated. So, we should think that the disciple whom Jesus loved must have been like a brother – why else would they become part of the same household? Wasn’t he a beloved brother to Jesus and so it was natural that he should care for Mary and Mary’s care devolved upon him?

Another possibility is that Jesus shamed the disciple into such action. Jesus “blackmailed” him, as it were – a gentle coercion to be sure, the metaphorical twisting of the arm as it were.

Perhaps the words, “Here is your mother” were even addressed to Mary – what if Jesus was actually telling his mother to regard that disciple as her son? – Not to coerce the disciple, but to draw Mary’s attention to another young man to take his place. The disciple would have adopted this woman as his mother, if she recognised that the disciple could act as her son. Is Jesus enabling his mother not to become obsessed with these last moments, that she should not think of him only, and of his death at the hands of murderers, those Roman legionnaires. Jesus wanted to heal his mother in extremis, for he knew it was possible that she might never move on from his death, like so many mothers mourning their dead children.

Could these be the only scenarios to make sense of these words of Jesus as he drew his last breath? I don’t think so. I think Jesus was referring to himself as he spoke to his family, friends and disciples gathered there to witness his last few moments on earth. I think Jesus was saying to Mary that her son was hanging on a cross, there were no angels or armies to rescue him from the hands of the hated Romans.

I think Jesus was re-establishing the loving interdependence which exists all around us. On the one hand he was taking himself out of the equation, and, on the other, he was pointing people towards the living. As he was being lifted out of life, he pointed down to those who loved him and those whom he loved, to hold the living precious, and to love one another. Even at the last, the one commandment which he handed on to us is directing his whole being.

I don’t think these thoughts are anything new. But I think they all arise from the text we have heard and read so many times. Why does he call Mary (whichever one he was talking to doesn’t matter) “Woman”? It is a stark address to one of those who were so attached to him. Imagine you yourself looking at your mother and saying, “Woman,” to her. Is this a universalisation of these last few words Jesus spoke from the cross? Are we supposed to be addressed directly in such a declaration? If I were that woman, Jesus would have been challenging me to take care of this man standing beside me – I am being told that I have to care for this man as if he were my son. And, as a man, I am to take this woman – any woman – as if she were my own mother. This is an affront to all normal sensibilities. But Jesus always did strike at the heart, didn’t he? I have talked about the sleepy-headedness of the crowd, their unthinking and uncaring attitude toward the world in which “they” live with “their” “normal” everydayness.

This final episode with his mother and the beloved disciple turns our normal world on its head. When Jesus utters these words, doesn’t every single one of us become someone of importance? The disciple takes the woman to his own home, she becomes part of his family. I would like to say that the disciple “appropriates” this woman, he makes her his own, as he takes her under his wing and into his home.

If we hear and act on these sayings to the people gathered at the foot of the cross, Every man becomes a son – and every woman becomes a mother. Sons and mothers without the tie of blood – I would say that is the core of Jesus’ message to us – we are all part of this family torn apart by death, but a new family reconstructed by Jesus’ only commandment, “Love one another.” This tie of love is what distinguishes the christian community.

Everyone can experience this compassionate care of absolute love when they enter the doors of a church. The building can offer the place where the silent brooding of our God can be experienced in a new creation – if we are open to it. The busy fussing of God can be given when the congregation welcomes the stranger of a morning, just as the Holy Spirit agitates with those so very valuable gifts for every one of us.

Love should define us, especially in those last moments of life, which the philosopher says is every moment of life. The sayings, “Woman, behold your son,” and “Behold your mother,” should regulate all our actions, from that moment, like a heartbeat.

Amen

Collect

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us, to give up what harms us, and to seek the perfection we are promised in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Merciful Lord, grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament – Exodus 20.1–17

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Psalm 19

1    The heavens are telling the glory of God ♦
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

2    One day pours out its song to another ♦
and one night unfolds knowledge to another.

3    They have neither speech nor language ♦
and their voices are not heard,

4    Yet their sound has gone out into all lands ♦
and their words to the ends of the world.

5    In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun, ♦
that comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoices as a champion to run his course.

6    It goes forth from the end of the heavens and runs to the very end again, ♦
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7    The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; ♦
the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the simple.

8    The statutes of the Lord are right and rejoice the heart; ♦
the commandment of the Lord is pure and gives light to the eyes.

9    The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever; ♦
the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

10    More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, ♦
sweeter also than honey, dripping from the honeycomb.

11  By them also is your servant taught ♦
and in keeping them there is great reward.

12    Who can tell how often they offend? ♦
O cleanse me from my secret faults!

13    Keep your servant also from presumptuous sins lest they get dominion over me; ♦
so shall I be undefiled, and innocent of great offence.

14    Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, ♦
O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Epistle – I  Corinthians 1.18–25

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Gospel – John 2.13–22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Sermon on Sunday, Lent iii

I would like to paraphrase some words from Paul’s letter which we read this morning.

For some demand signs and others desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to the former and foolishness to the latter, but to those who are the called, everyone who are called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Everyone who is “the called” gets the best of everything, don’t they? But who are the called? Do some of us want only miracles which speak of some unearthly power? Do others among us want only revelatory pronouncements that will become statements which will never be questioned? The third way denies the power of the crowd, some of which are seekers of the magical and the others who rely on the words whispered by no one, both ways are flawed, don’t you think? For both ways take away one’s autonomy, one’s own self. After all, I have no part in the crowd’s deliberations. The crowd will take over my whole being, if I let it. Either the miraculous or the siren song becomes the arbiter of all I would do in my everyday, normal life in the world. One or the other part of the crowd will overwhelm me.

The third alternative, that stumbling-block, which Paul reveals, is never considered, is it? We pass over this third way because it doesn’t conform to what we in the crowd expect – it is neither miraculous nor is it a set of words to keep us quiet. The crowd doesn’t think about this third way at all, does it? Paul tells us that Christ is the power of God and that Christ is the wisdom of God. Christ is both together. Christ is the miraculous and the wise incarnation of God in the world. Christ is a challenge to our unthinking. Christ confronts the crowd and its expectations. Christ makes us stub our toe.

So, if that is right, if we are always stubbing our toes, it is no wonder that no one wants to take this third way. It is so much easier not to answer a challenge, to slide along as we always do, without conflict in relation to ‘natural’ expectations, we are part of that crowd which drowns out all our very own thoughts. We don’t listen to the call of our conscience which questions the chattering of the crowd and wakens us from that soporific chuntering of those around us.

The religious life in every culture is no simple thing. Rather it is like that stumbling block which Paul reveals. Even the philosopher falls prey to the crowd when he joins in the crowd’s opinions. And that is despite the fact that she decries the unthinking, baying crowd because no one in it ever hears, let alone listens, to the call of conscience.

What if we do listen? What if we find that stumbling-block more persuasive than the siren-voiced crowd? What if the course of our lives takes a turn away from the simple non-choices the crowd offers us? Wouldn’t things be very different? I wonder, could we say the stumbling block is to be our mountaintop? Does it allow us to see above the crowd milling all around us? Is this stumbling block our own cross?

If so, I think we would be careering through the whole of our lives, always hitting our toes on what might be considered a foolish stumbling block by everyone around us, everyone who does not hear their inmost self crying out to let it be its authentic self. That is the crime the crowd commits – that the crowd does not accept the other as he or she needs to be cherished.

Don’t we see this all the time, when the crowd bays for the blood of someone, a politician of strong character or a leader of no quality at all? We can even see it when we go out in public. We see it in the way people rush by someone in pain, not seeing the very evident pain of homelessness or depression or even delusion. We do not let empathy have a hand in our lives, because sympathy would have us feel for the other and do something for that person. Alas, we do nothing because the crowd has diminished us.

The crowd does not want us to be different from what “they” persuade us is the case. The crowd empowers us to be like itself. I ask, whence comes our strength in the face of this overwhelming weight of the crowd by which we are immobilised? The psalmist says “my strength comes from the Lord”, doesn’t he? But who of our acquaintance would dare to say such a thing to us or who among us would dare say such a thing to anyone else today? If we listen to the crowd, we are to raise ourselves up by our own bootstraps, or get on our bikes, or some other cliché which means nothing. All these tropes assault us and weaken our resolve to do what is different, to do what is morally responsible. The crowd wants us to take an easy path, one that has been smoothed by the crowd’s unthinking and unfeeling erosion in the course of life.

When Amos reported God’s word, “Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,” did he have a crowd in mind? No, he was talking to you and me, individuals who would choose how to live well in the world. Amos was talking about Paul’s third path, wasn’t he? The path which ultimately is one of painful suffering, if only of the ego. Amos and Christ knew the sacrifice of a pure heart, a suffering in front of the eyes of the world, a life of constant stumbling against the blocks of moral behaviour.

The crowd has swept away the stumbling block because it looks elsewhere for its sense. It concentrates on only one thing and can see nothing else. Either it is looking at miracles or worldly wisdom. Paul suggests to his hearers that both are necessary for the good life. Both the power of God to do miracles and the wisdom of God to guide through all life’s difficulty are integrated in Paul’s third way. It is a balanced mode of life.

The christian can extol the power of God in the world and her own life – that is, the wisdom of God can be discerned. The christian does not limit life to one aspect. The christian lives in power and wisdom, what has been given to us all. I would like to say that the christian can engage with all of creation because of the balance of faith, the life of moderation.

We can stand alone because we know about power and wisdom. Perhaps the christian stands atop of those stumbling-blocks and can see more in life than the crowd might see in its blinkered imagination in the valleys between those blocks. Paul recommends to us a way that we have to make our own. It must be made real in every single life because nothing stands still in space and time. Each of us has to live out our conscience for ourselves. This is not something a crowd can do! The crowd becomes our ownmost possibility for the individual paradoxically. We stand alone in the midst of the crowd to become ourselves as we stumble and we must encourage the person beside us, who will have to struggle, just as we did, long after our own battles are over and the victory is won.

Amen

Collect

Almighty God, you show to those who are in error the light of your truth, that they may return to the way of righteousness: grant to all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion, that they may reject those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Almighty God, by the prayer and discipline of Lent may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings, and by following in his Way come to share in his glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Almighty God, you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament – Genesis 17.1–7, 15, 16

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’

Psalm 22.23–31

23    Praise the Lord, you that fear him; ♦
O seed of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, O seed of Israel.

24    For he has not despised nor abhorred the suffering of the poor; neither has he hidden his face from them; ♦
but when they cried to him he heard them.

25    From you comes my praise in the great congregation; ♦
I will perform my vows in the presence of those that fear you.

26    The poor shall eat and be satisfied; ♦
those who seek the Lord shall praise him; their hearts shall live for ever.

27    All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, ♦
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

28    For the kingdom is the Lord’s ♦
and he rules over the nations.

29    How can those who sleep in the earth bow down in worship, ♦
or those who go down to the dust kneel before him?

30    He has saved my life for himself; my descendants shall serve him; ♦
this shall be told of the Lord for generations to come.

31    They shall come and make known his salvation, to a people yet unborn, ♦
declaring that he, the Lord, has done it.

Epistle – Romans 4.13–25

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Gospel – Mark 8.31–38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Sermon on Sunday, Lent II

Who likes to read? And what sort of thing do you like to read? I know most people have to read set books as students. I wonder if you have ever picked them up again and tried to read them with new eyes, seeing the motifs, the language and the whole course of the story as if it were the first time, with the literary eye which your teacher tried to develop in you when they were trying to teach you.

I ask this question about reading because the gospel of Mark began what is called the critical study of the bible. A few weeks ago we read the story of the transfiguration and Jesus’ admonition to the disciples not to tell anyone anything about what they witnessed on the mountaintop. This week we hear that Jesus spoke openly. His words were heard by ordinary people, Pharisees and Sadducees, Samaritans and even pagans (the foreign merchants and all those Roman soldiers occupying Jerusalem, for instance). This seems to be a contradiction in the narrative, doesn’t it? Silence and openly speaking? 150 years ago a German scholar, William Wrede, investigated it. He began, it seems, the literary study of the bible, for he examined the book of Mark as a literary artefact. As a consequence of his endeavours, he gave the world a number of scholarly gems – the most important being his view of the synoptic gospels and the conclusion that there was a priority of Mark.

Wrede’s work on what he called the messianic secret opened rich veins of investigation by scholars and a way of reading documents with a clarity from which we have all benefited. Part of that benefit is that we can all employ these scholarly techniques ourselves in our own reading of literature.

For instance, if we read the newspapers, rather than just being entertained by the different opinions expressed by the leader writers, we can put the articles next to one another and see what different language is used in reporting the statements of the main characters in a news item.

We can benefit from form criticism, one of the many modern disciplines of literary theory. How statements are made reveal a lot about the speaker and audience, and if there are different reports of the speech, we can investigate just why the writer expressed the news in a particular way. This is the same thing the early biblical scholars did when they placed Matthew, Mark and Luke side by side to see the similarities and the differences in the stories reported in the gospel narratives. We can hone our literary acumen by looking at our daily papers. Such an exercise can render our politicians’ words – or even their spin doctors’ presentation of his principal’s words – with a lot more clarity.

One of my teachers was a biblical scholar who compared secular and sacred sources in his work on the bible and patristic literature. He took on a project which seemed to have no relation to his academic work. He used secular sources to see whether these methods of textual criticism worked in what we call “the real world”.  Just after the war he took some public documents about the sinking of ships and submarines during World War II. He examined all the disparate and contradictory stories which were in the public domain in the same way he investigated the ancient literature. He eventually wrote up his conclusions, went into the German Navy Archive and compared his findings with the facts as the Navy had them in their private records. He went into the archive and began checking his results. His wife was waiting for him at the door at the end of his exercise and she was startled to see him emerge from the archive, because his face was pale and he was trembling. “What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously. He replied, “I was right.”

This story was told to me by a fellow student who was a great friend of the scholar and his wife, so I don’t doubt the veracity of it. I saw the man at work in the classroom, so I can also see that the story had to be true. He had a way of making the history of the church immediately relevant. He spoke of the Nicene Council as if it were a meeting of the G20. He said that the Church Fathers were herded into the building and told that they had to come up with a solution to end the controversy on the streets about expressions of the faith, as if there were flashing blue lights outside, pressuring them to come to a conclusion.

Here we have a biblical scholar who used his discipline to make sense of the world around him – literature of all sorts was examined and its truth and falsehood was exposed, warts and all.

I think we can learn a lot from biblical studies for our own benefit in contemporary culture. If we take time to carefully inspect the words of everyone around us, we can come to a better understanding of life in all its complexity.

We might even come to the conclusion that people have secrets that need to be kept, but they also speak openly about so many other things. If we put together their whole narrative, we might be able to reveal some of the secrets of the heart which they want to keep hidden. But if we carefully read their narrative with the skill of our biblical scholars, we could begin to understand what they reveal about themselves.

I believe that religion should wake us up to what is right and good, that God was at the core of our lives. I have always wanted the faith to be intellectually respectable, that it should be something to be examined in any way that is acceptable to reason and faith together.

I once spoke with some people about whether they went to church, and one replied, “Oh, I left that behind a long time ago, for it seemed so childish to me.” But what if he had the idea that faith and its documents could be examined with an eye to truth which could be revealed by examination? What if he had a set of tools which made sense for a twenty-first century schizoid man, he could have left those childish things behind and looked at everything in a new way. He could have entered into a world of maturity.

It is not a big leap from examining ancient documents to scouring social- or multi-media to extract some meaningful material for our own benefit here and now. Studying the bible is as good for us as examining a school text, the newspapers or even FaceBook. Everything should become grist to the mill of minds eager for clarity in the world around us. – I think we should watch with untiring eyes to see just what will be revealed about the reality of our own world, whether it is found in the open chattering of the crowd or in the silence surrounding a secret.

Amen