Bible Sunday John 5:36b-end Isaiah 55:1-11How much more evidence do you need? We might have heard this in a detective series on television or read it in a book. In crime novels and their filmed renditions, there is often a mistake made about the identity of the criminal at first. Only towards the end, of course, it becomes clear who really did it, after quite a few red herrings. Some detectives are very keen to get the ‘obvious’ person convicted, disregarding the evidence, or seeing it where it is not. It’s all about the evidence, and it can be misleading. In the ancient world, it was much the same. Then, what was needed most, was witnesses. As long as you had those, you would be alright, from the point of view of both parties. Sadly enough, even in our own generation mistakes have been made and justice has not been served. We have to deal with that time and again; the recent Post Office scandal is a case in point. Where does that take us, then, in the light of today’s readings and today being Bible Sunday? Bible Sunday is the last Sunday in October, when we remember how the Church began to change during the Reformation. Martin Luther, who nailed his Ninety Five Theses to a church door, was an instigator of reform and, greatly influenced by other biblical scholars all over Europe, paved part of the way towards a new understanding of salvation. Sola Fide, by faith alone. Luther challenged the prevailing doctrine that a person could earn or pay for their place in heaven, or even pay for the sins of dead loved ones to be forgiven. His search through Scripture convinced him that forgiveness is God’s alone to grant, and our salvation is personal, based on faith, not on works. As Paul writes in Ephesians 2: ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’ (Eph.2:8-10).It is faith, then, that inspires good works, not our faith depending on good works; a marked difference. And the evidence for that new understanding of salvation is found in Scripture, in the Bible as it has been handed down to us. The problem that Luther and his contemporaries wrestled with was not new; it was the same idea that Jesus himself was confronted with in his dealings with the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. At the beginning of John chapter 5, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and was criticised for that. What follows is Jesus’ teaching in a statement that could read like a ‘witness for the defence’ in a court of law. He sets out the reason for his works of healing, his authority from the Father, and the testimony or evidence backed up by the Scriptures. He mentions John the Baptist, who gave evidence in testifying to Jesus as the Son of God, but also takes it further back than that, to ‘the works that the Father has given [him] to complete’ and which testify on Jesus’ behalf. Jesus does not claim it all for himself; rather, he is asking the people to look for the evidence. It is all there, he says, just look and see! John the Baptist had pointed to Jesus and was preparing the way for him. But there is much more evidence than John. There is the evidence of the Father. As Jesus says, ‘the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.’ (John 5:19). If the people believe in God, then, surely, they should be able to see the evidence of who Jesus is in what he is doing? This raises another question: do they really know God? If not, how much more evidence do they need? And what about us; we have the Bible, the testimony of countless believers in the Church, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Are we truly seeing where our salvation comes from and clinging to the truth that gives us life? Amen.
Twenty first Sunday after Trinity Isaiah 53:4-end Mark 10:35-45What is the question that we would most dearly like to ask Jesus personally? And if we haven’t yet asked in prayer, why not? Because we can ask the Lord anything, anytime according to his promise to hear. Perhaps you have asked but not heard an answer yet, or perhaps the answer is not the one you wanted. It’s complicated, isn’t it? Also, what about the nature of the question? Is it a selfish one, or is it totally free from any ulterior motive? That would be good, wouldn’t it! Anyway, Jesus was asked a question in today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, and he gives an answer, although it is not one that is easy to accept. So, what happened? James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him: ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ Okay, not so much a request, really, more a demand, rather, I would say. But Jesus is not put off; he just asks them what it is that they want him to do for them. And here it comes, for they said: ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ A request that sounds a bit daring but also a bit flattering. In the same account that appears in Matthew’s Gospel, it is the mother of James and John who asks the question, which gives an extra slant to it all. But in Mark we focus on the disciples themselves. And Jesus does not evade the question; nor does he ignore or dismiss the request. He gives an honest answer, saying that they don’t know what they are asking. Are they able to drink the cup that he drinks, or be baptized with the baptism that he is baptized with? Their response is courageous, affirming their ability, saying: ‘We are able.’ It sounds like they really mean it, but, as Jesus continues, it will not be an easy journey; nor will the reward for their commitment be exactly as they wish it to be. In order to be truly counted as a follower of Jesus, you must let go of any preconceived idea that you can ‘earn’ a reward. And the funny thing is, of course, that our reward is guaranteed, and that it will be exactly right and fitting. I have sometimes wondered who would sit at Jesus’ right and left in his glory. My personal take on it would be that it could well be John the Baptist, or anybody else that showed a level of humility and obedience to God’s calling that is above and beyond. But ultimately it is God’s decision and his design that makes that choice. Does it matter? I don’t think so. I don’t think it is even helpful to ponder the question, as it is beyond our reach. And thankfully it is so; for it helps us not to be taken captive to the wrong kind of thinking. So, we have to be satisfied with the response that Jesus gives to James and John, and through them to all the disciples and to us: ‘To sit at my hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’ It may take more humility to accept that than we are happy to admit; and, in any case, true humility – the one that accepts that we are fallen human beings and saved only by God’s grace – is often only obtained through stumbling and making mistakes, not by being what we might call ‘great’. It is certainly not the ‘humility’ that Uriah Heep claimed to possess in the story of David Copperfield; look it up if you have forgotten. Rather, it is the kind that wholeheartedly sees themselves as a servant, not a master, and that is reflected in Jesus himself, who said: ‘For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ May we, then, be able to ask Jesus this question: ‘How can we serve you best?’ Amen.
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity Mark 10:17-31 Hebrews 4:12-endYou may be an expert at sewing – that is, in making clothes – or you may never have done any, except sew on a button, perhaps, as one of the basic sewing skills. But whatever your level of skill and experience, you may appreciate that it is not always easy to thread a needle. It’s a bit fiddly at the best of times, with a thin but very flexible thread and the eye of a fine needle not a lot bigger. How ridiculous it would be, then, to try and get a camel through the eye of a needle! You might as well try to put the ocean into a milk bottle, or the whole desert into a thimble! So, when Jesus is saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God, does he really mean to be so dismissive of the rich to the point of making a ridiculous statement? If the rich can’t enter the Kingdom, then who can? This is indeed what the disciples ask, saying ‘Then who can be saved?’ And then comes the next statement of Jesus as he looks at them and says: ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’ It doesn’t seem to help much, as Peter then reminds Jesus of what they have all left behind to follow him. But even here, Jesus is positive about the possibilities for God, when he says that whoever has indeed left ‘house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for [Jesus’] sake and for the sake of the Good News, will receive a hundredfold.’ Actually, he says more and if we left it there and missed the rest of his words, we could be misled into thinking along the same line as many have done, namely, that wealth is a sign of God’s favour – which it isn’t. So we do well to mark the rest of Jesus’ statement, which says: ‘who will receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’ It is not that the rich cannot enter the Kingdom of God by definition. So the problem is not wealth itself but our attitude. The rich young man who came to Jesus and asked the question in the first place, what he must do to inherit eternal life, might have thought that his wealth would be an asset to increase his chances. That he had gained his wealth by being good and keeping the Commandments. But Jesus, when he looked at him, and loved him, as it says – so the young man’s riches did not put Jesus off – sees what his problem is: he is so attached to his wealth, so tied to his possessions, that it is those who are holding him back from enjoying true freedom and God’s Kingdom. There is a reason for the saying that a shroud has no pockets. Riches, material possessions, cannot go into the Kingdom of God; they cannot go into the ‘age to come’ any more than a camel can pass through a needle. Jesus is stating it like this in a deliberate over-the-top way, to emphasise the point, and to make it clear that it is our attitude to wealth that is the problem. He also teaches what the Kingdom of God – and the age to come – is about. It is, surprisingly, upside-down and inside-out. The first will be last, and the last will be first. All things are possible for God. Wealth is not the reason why we are called as members of God’s family, our faith is. And yes, there may be very difficult times, when we suffer loss, for instance, all in the course of our obedience and living as followers of Jesus. But we will also gain, many times more, in terms of fellowship within a new family: ‘brothers and sisters and mothers’ in Christ, who offer welcome. Jesus did not just make strange statements that challenge our sewing skills. He lived, taught, healed, died and rose again, to give us life. And our response to his ‘Come, follow me’, is what matters. Amen.
Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Mark 10:2-16 and Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12Who is welcome in God’s place? And where is God’s place, we may also then ask. Psalm 26 says, ‘O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides.’ (v8). We are used to calling a church God’s house, and in essence that is of course true. But we also know the Church to be the whole body of believers, wherever they are and gather. In today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, we find Jesus being asked a trick question about divorce. Some Pharisees trying to let him say something that might trip him up, against the backdrop of king Herod’s irregular way of marrying his brother’s wife, and John the Baptist’s sad demise because of his criticism of Herod. In response to the Pharisees’ question, Jesus refers them back to God’s initial purpose for marriage from the beginning of creation in bringing husband and wife together as one. His words ‘Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate’, are still used in marriage ceremonies in church today. After this conversation, Mark continues with the account of people bringing little children to Jesus to bless them. The disciples, possibly concerned that Jesus might be ‘overrun’ with little ones who distract him from his mission, turned them away. But Jesus won’t have any of that. Instead, he is indignant and says to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.’ And his final word about this, is rather sharp: ‘Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ How do we interpret this? Well, we can see what a child is: small in stature and in status (especially in those days), vulnerable, trusting, reliant on the care of others. There are also other characteristics that we can often observe: an awareness of the spiritual side of life, and an ability to absorb knowledge and skills. So, when Jesus is saying that we need to ‘receive the kingdom of God as a little child’, I think he is referring to those particular characteristics of children and that are necessary in order to enter God’s kingdom. For we cannot enter without humility, without a proper understanding of our own vulnerability and our need for God’s love, mercy and care. In the letter to the Hebrews, the author wonders about God’s care for human beings, quoting from Psalm 8, saying: ‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honour.’ We know that, what with all the things that we have done wrong, we cannot find a reason why God should regard us with any favour at all. But he does, through his Son Jesus Christ, who has made us God’s children. Therefore, as children, we are loved and treasured, and have access to the throne of grace – even though we are unworthy of his attention. Hebrews continues: ‘It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer (Jesus) of their salvation perfect through sufferings. […] For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.’ So, who is welcome in God’s place? All who, like children, accept his Son, Jesus Christ. So that they can gain entrance into God’s kingdom, which is already here and not yet; which is today and still to come; which is wherever people live and gather in His name. As the Bible says, ‘Jesus Christ, who lives in our hearts through faith.’ That is where God’s kingdom has begun. Amen.
