Harvest Festival John 1:47-end James 5:13-endHarvest Festival is a joyful celebration: the crops have come in and we thank our God and provider, for giving us the produce from the earth. To sustain us, to strengthen our hearts. We feel blessed with the provision of his grace. We’ve been celebrating Harvest for centuries, on the basis of biblical teaching, that tells us to share resources with those in need. The foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, in short, the poor, have a special place in God’s heart and a share in his will for his people. There is special provision for the weak in society mentioned in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy but also the book of Ruth talks about the principle of gleaning as an important means for God to develop his plan, even using it in bringing about a new marriage; one that brought forth an ancestor of Jesus…Leviticus 19:9-10 says: ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.’ Deuteronomy 24:19 adds something else: ‘When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. … Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.’ So many of us have bountiful provisions – and, sadly, there still is much need. The poor are always with you, says Jesus in another context; but he is quite right – they are. When God created the world and everything in it, he shaped it all just so, that there would be enough to share. God speaks quite strongly against greed – grasping every last ear of corn is only a picture of a much more basic problem that people struggle with all the time: the problem of pride.Today, with all the advanced technology on combine harvesters, every part of the field is successfully harvested – there is nothing left! Producing higher and higher yields. I may have told some of you before, but when we visited the USA, we went to the mid-west, Iowa. We had an outing to a modern farm and when I say, modern, it doesn’t even begin to describe how advanced it was in technological terms.. The combine harvester that we stood next to, would not have fitted in an average church – the small wheels were so high I couldn’t touch the top. You needed a ladder to get in. And inside, there was a cabin with computer and television screens, climatised, and we were told that at the moment of sowing the seeds, the computer would calculate and forecast a roughly accurate harvest on the basis of the weather conditions etc. AND: the harvest would be sold to Kellogg’s the next day… So, Harvest, then, at a time when the world is struggling with extreme weather conditions – lots of floods in many places are a case in point – and armed conflicts that seem to be increasing and making the things we take for granted, like a harvest, look next to impossible in several places. At such a time, we may even wonder, what is ‘our’ harvest? What is the metaphorical ‘harvest’ – or the outcome if you like – of our lives? Jesus is complimentary to Nathanael, whom he spotted under a fig tree, and called ‘an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ And James in his letter, speaks about the prayer of the righteous which is powerful and effective. Referring to the prophet Elijah, he recalls that he was ‘human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.’ How are we, then, growing in righteousness, and producing a harvest that is pleasing to God? How do we share the good gifts that God has placed in our hands, not just for our own enjoyment, but for the benefit of others too. Care for ‘the orphan, the widow and the stranger’ is about personal contact, by giving time, showing compassion, and listening. There is work for the Church to do. What are our assets, so that we can meet the current need? How can we provide a space for people who are hurting and are looking for comfort and peace? May we enjoy an abundant harvest, of righteousness, love and joy. Amen.
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Mark 9:30-37 James 3:13 – 4:3; 7-8aI don’t know exactly when the game of football was invented, and I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes by getting it wrong anyway; in several different forms perhaps. But it was probably not around at the time of Jesus. But if it had been part of life in those days, this part of Mark’s account in chapter 9 might have sounded to the disciples as kicking the ball in your own goal. ‘What are you talking about, Jesus?’, they might have asked, ‘And what’s the point?’ Even now, after all the things that Jesus has said and done before, it is still so cryptic and puzzling. And the thing is, in this passage, Jesus is not even using a parable – a story with a hidden meaning – he is speaking plainly, no riddles, no imagery at all. It says that he is teaching the disciples, as straight forward as possible, and although they heard, they did not understand but were afraid to ask him. What was Jesus saying? It was this: ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ Well, that is as straight forward as can be. So why didn’t the disciples understand it? Maybe it was because until then, Jesus had been teaching in parables, when they had to look for the hidden meaning. But if there was a hidden meaning in his recent statement, they couldn’t find it. It escaped them. So, they did something else: they changed the subject as they were on the way and began to argue with one another who was the greatest. A most opportune and satisfying pastime no doubt… Jesus sees it as another moment to teach them something important, with relevance to his own mission and ministry. He says: ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he takes a little child and puts it among them; and taking it in his arms, he says: ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’ It’s about the rule of life in the upside-down Kingdom of God in which we are called to seek to serve, not to seek to be served. In those days, a child was the person in the household with the lowest status; it had no voice. So welcoming a child was not often done. We may find that incomprehensible nowadays and it is. But what about others we consider of low status today? I’m not giving an answer to that but it may serve as an illustration of what Jesus means. We find a complementary statement in James’ letter, chapter 3: ‘Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. […] God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ We may want to sympathise with the disciples, that they find it so difficult to grasp that the road to true greatness is not through selfish ambition but through self-giving service. It is not always easy to work along those principles but it is the best way in God’s Kingdom. In today’s world, such a thought may still sound like ‘kicking the ball in one’s own goal’, for want of a better metaphor. Maybe the thing for us to do is to really listen. The Word of God is still living and active, and of great importance. Even if we are not totally open to it, we may miss the point completely if we block up our ears, change the subject and look for what is in it for us. So let us look for true wisdom, where the last will be first and the first will be last. Amen.
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Mark 8:27-end James 3:1-12‘Who do you think you are?’ There’s a television series by that name. Each episode explores the ancestry of a well-known person, in order to find out where they come from. It can be quite revealing; sometimes the stories are sad, in other cases there is reason for joy. But it is something that grasps us: a family tree, especially if it is drawn up for the first time, gives people a rooting and answers certain questions. We find family trees in the Bible too. They put the stories in context, a bit like the background of a landscape painting, for instance. The part of Mark’s Gospel that we have reached today, does that too. Here, the story turns: from various healing and other miracles that Jesus has performed, the focus now narrows down on Jesus’ identity and the journey he is to take towards the cross. As Peter’s declaration of Jesus being the Messiah and Peter’s subsequent misunderstanding makes clear, there is expectation among Jesus’ followers but not necessarily the correct understanding of what the Messiah looks like. The general public’s perception of the Messiah was that he would be a military leader, who would chase the enemy away, rebuild and cleanse the Temple, and bring in God’s justice in Israel and to the world. In this image of the Messiah, he was to be an agent of God who would bring in the kingdom – that included sorting out Israel’s mess and putting the Gentiles in their place. But Jesus redefined this picture. His ministry had already spoken of a new agenda according to God’s plan, and although it gave rise to some fierce opposition as well as loyalty, this was the path that Jesus was going to take. His explanation, often so cryptic that even his friends didn’t understand, now finally comes home: Jesus is the Messiah; he is just not the kind of Messiah that they had expected. The Kingdom of God is about justice and mercy and all the things that Jesus had done so far were signs of it finally breaking in. What the disciples had not realised before, though, was that Jesus is not just a prophet – he is also the King.Now when Peter voiced this new insight, Jesus again said something that might not be easy to understand: ‘he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him’. This pressing demand had a reason, though. It was both politically and religiously dangerous to claim that Jesus is the true King of Israel and the long-expected heir in the line of king David. It would make people suspicious, not least Herod Antipas, who ruled at that moment and who didn’t like to give way. It’s funny in a way: the disciples had not expected that the Messiah would be a divine redeemer; they were looking for a king. Now that they think they have found him, they are not to say a word about it; how frustrating! But also, how exciting! And in their excitement, they could easily spill the beans when it was most inconvenient in God’s plan. Hence the stern demand that they don’t mention it to anyone. What’s more, Jesus then begins to teach them the true nature of his Messiahship, to undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days to rise again. And Peter won’t have any of it; it doesn’t fit into his picture of the Messiah at all. It’s a hard time for Peter: first he is commended and then he is rebuked in the most severe terms. A bit of a roller-coaster ride for him. But it is so important that Jesus will be able to continue the journey of his salvation work unhindered, and ultimately to reveal his identity to the whole world.It is not just the question of ‘who do you think you are?’ for him. He knows who he is and what he is about. The question is, rather, who we think Jesus is. Is he ‘just a prophet’ for us, a nice person, like Superman, who should simply turn on some magic to change the world? Or is he the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who has come to save us and give us true hope and a future? The eye-witness account in the Gospels should tell us. Amen.
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Mark 7:24-end Isaiah 35:4-7aWhen Jesus went away for a while after saying and doing some tricky things, he might not have had a somewhat strange encounter in mind. Or might he? Mark’s account says that he went to the region of Tyre, and that he didn’t want anyone to know he was there. But he couldn’t escape notice. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him soon enough and came and bowed down at his feet. Now the thing about this was that the woman was Syrophoenician, Greek, a Gentile, so not Jewish. The insulting name of the Jews for Gentiles was ‘dogs’, and what the Gentiles said about the Jews was equally unpleasant. And although Jesus challenges her in response to her plea on behalf of her daughter, by saying that ‘it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs’, she uses it to her advantage. She replies, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Jesus is pleased and commends her for her answer and grants her what she has asked for. Now we may think that this was just a bit of banter going on and some clever correcting and rebuking both ways. We may even think Jesus was being a bit harsh and out of character. But then we miss the point. God’s plan of salvation was for the whole world but this was to happen through the Jewish people and then to reach the Gentiles after Jesus had completed his unique assignment. The ‘food or bread’ of salvation that Jesus was going to offer had to be given in the context of Israel’s history, and then the Gentiles would be able to profit. The woman seems to get it or in any case, she shows great faith. In what follows is another moment of healing, when Jesus returned from there and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. A deaf man was brought to him who had impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He does so in private, away from the crowd. This healing of a deaf-mute is symbolic of a general restoration of hearing and speech that confirms the movement of renewal and that the Kingdom of God has extended to the peoples around Israel. It is resonant of the prophecy in Isaiah 35 that says: ‘Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; etc.’ It is about the long-awaited rescue plan of God coming near.These two incidents are a reminder that Jesus wasn’t just a good person, going around to be helpful. Everything he says and does has meaning. Some of his words were certainly controversial and upset the established religious authorities as well as some of his hearers. But then, we shouldn’t see Jesus as a cosy, meek and mild problem-solver; he had something much more important to do and only a certain amount of time. His calling to be the Messiah would take him to the cross and there was too much at stake to allow himself to be distracted from his ultimate task. And we should not be distracted either. We too have a role to play as bearers of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. What Mark had written up for all of Jesus’ followers had been seen by the disciples and passed on as of the utmost importance. The healing message of the Gospel was to spread as widely as possible and that included the wiping away of old taboos. Worries about what was clean and what was unclean had to go. The dogs under the table would become children of God, just like the first – Jewish – disciples. At the top of the cross these words would be written: The King of the Jews. He is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour of the world. Amen.
