The
readings on
which this
sermon is
based can be
found at:
http://frsparky.net/a/r154.htm
s154g16
Second Sunday
in Lent
21/2/2016
(I note that
the Australian
version of the
RCL has this
gospel for
Lent 3 and the
gospel for
Lent 3
today.
Hence I have
done two
shorter
sermons this
week.
Bosco Peters
describes us
as ‘The
Anglican
Church Of
Or’ (1)
:-)
“Blessed is
the one who
comes in the
name of the
Lord.”
Luke 13:35
I return,
again, to
those words of
Jesus: ‘If you
then, who are
evil, know how
to give good
gifts to your
children, how
much more will
the heavenly
Father give
the Holy
Spirit to
those who ask
him!’
(2)
For all we
might love a
‘god’ who
rewards our
love, the God
we worship
actually gives
the Holy
Spirit to
others.
So when we use
the
‘Benedictus
qui venit'
after the
‘Sanctus’ we
need to
recognise the
true character
of the God we
are
worshipping
lest we find
ourselves
‘welcoming’ a
personal
construct,
which
scripture
describes as
an
idol.
Those who had
Jesus killed
could not be
faulted for
their
knowledge of
scripture,
their manner
of religious
lives and
devotion, even
their
charity.
Jesus
confronted all
this in them,
and perhaps in
us, by saying
that God was
elsewhere -
that their
monopoly of
things divine
was illusory,
and that God
was concerned
for all and
not just for
them.
So for me,
much of the
identification
of Jesus with
God - ‘the
Word made
flesh’ (3),
that ‘he is
the image of
the invisible
God’ (4) and
‘since, then,
we have a
great high
priest who has
passed through
the heavens,
Jesus, the Son
of God, let us
hold fast to
our
confession’
(5) - these
are not to
magnify Jesus,
but to say
that the Jesus
who associated
‘with tax
collectors,
prostitutes
and sinners’
embodies
precisely were
God is at.
(6)
Jesus is not
just being the
rebellious
child,
l’enfant
terrible, but
faithfully
reflects what
God wants, who
God is, where
God has always
been.
This is the
real blasphemy
which had him
killed.
The doctrines
of the virgin
birth, the
angels at his
birth, the
star and the
magi (7) are
all to
reinforce this
divinely
inspired
identification
of Jesus with
all people, in
complete
contrast to a
presumed
preference for
the
superficially
religious,
even those who
claim the
name:
‘christian’.
We often think
that the
Church is the
repository of
the Holy
Spirit, but if
the church
only gives her
good things:
forgiveness,
holy
communion,
grace and
salvation, to
her children
alone; Jesus’
words assure
us that
actually God
gives the Holy
Spirit to
others.
Woven
throughout the
fabric of the
Old Testament
is the fact
that the Lord
uses secular
authorities to
execute divine
judgement and
restoration on
the ancient
people of God.
(8)
Now if we
accept this to
be true, it
stands to
reason that we
are most
likely to
avoid God’s
judgement
meted out
through
secular
society if we
befriend those
we consider
our
enemies.
In
ecclesiastical
circles this
means that we
treat
unbelievers
gently,
especially if
they outnumber
the members of
our church
:-)
In this
context it is
significant
that each of
the gospel
writers says
that Pilate
found no case
against Jesus.
(9)
By contrast it
is
‘Jerusalem’;
shorthand for
orthodoxy and
devotion;
that: ‘kills
the prophets
and stones
those who are
sent to it!’
It therefore
seems bizarre
to me that the
church
blithely
recites the
creeds as if
these reassert
God’s blessing
on the members
who are
reciting them
(of course,
only those
without their
fingers-crossed
behind their
backs :-) to
the exclusion
of others -
when
everything
about the
incarnation
that the
creeds
proclaim is
the blessing
of
others.
The creeds
judge the very
people who
recite
them.
The atheist
judges we who
recite the
creeds when we
use the creeds
to exclude
them.
Recently I
have been
seeing posts
of clergy
leaving their
churches and
anointing
people in the
street with
ashes to mark
the beginning
of Lent.
And I suppose
that this is a
laudable thing
to do, except
for those in
the Anglican
Communion
(other than
the TEC) who
have just
marginalised
the TEC for
her including
and affirming
of LGBTI
people.
I suspect that
in God’s
estimation
most of the
Anglican
Communion
needs to
repent far
more urgently
than most
people in the
street!
I am grateful
to Giles
Frazer who
quotes Gerard
Winstanley in
a piece about
the TTIP;
paralleling
our TPPA: “Was
the Earth made
to preserve a
few covetous,
proud men to
live at ease,
and for them
to bag and
barn up the
treasures of
the Earth from
OTHERS, that
these may beg
and starve in
a fruitful
land; or was
it make to
preserve all
her children?”
(10)
I wonder if
this is not
the vision
some have for
the Church
Triumphant
that Psalm 23
reflects in
that picture
of the
ultimate
retribution:
‘You spread a
table for me
in the sight
of my
enemies’.
(11)
How is this
different when
we label those
OTHERS,
ENEMIES, the
LGBTI?
Do we believe
God doesn’t
perceive our
pretence that
we know and
accept what
the Nicene
Creed means
when we
exclude
others?
1.
http://liturgy.co.nz/the-anglican-church-of-or-2
2. Luke
11:13
3. John
1:14
4.
Philippians
5:15
5.
Hebrews 4:14
6.
Matthew 9:11,
21:31
7.
Matthew 1:23,
Luke 2:9,
Matthew 2:1
8.
Isaiah
67:13-16,
Jeremiah 4:6,
Ezekiel 23:24;
Isaiah 44:28
9.
Matthew
27:22-23, Mark
15:12-14, Luke
22:4,23:13-14,
John 18;38
10.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2016/feb/11/the-levellers-and-the-diggers-were-the-original-eurosceptics
11.
Psalm 23:5