Sermon 7th September 2008
Our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches today based on the reading from Matthew 18: 1-5, 15-20
If I were to say he's the Messiah of Israel; if I were to say he's the teacher who was even greater than Moses; if I were to say he's the Son of Man; if I were to say he's the one who laid down his life for us; if I were to say he's the one who has saved the world; if I were to say he's the King who rules the world – I'd very much hope that most of you would know exactly who I'm talking about!
Yes, of course I'm talking about Jesus! This is the person whom we meet in the four gospels that tell the story of his life, death and resurrection about 2000 years ago. Each of the gospel writers told the story of Jesus in their own, unique way, with their own particular emphases. All four had an identical aim, though. It's best summed up at the end of John's gospel. John wrote: “this has been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life”.
That was Matthew's aim in writing his gospel too. As one of Jesus' 12 disciples – and a former tax collector at that – he knew exactly what it meant that Jesus had given him life. And he wanted to share that good news with others, especially with his fellow Jews. That doesn't make Matthew a particularly easy book for us to understand today. As we'll see in this series, he didn't bother to explain very much of the Jewish context that he wrote into. But, in other ways, Matthew is the best gospel for us to read. He wrote the story of Jesus in a careful, ordered, thematic way. And he particularly drew out those characteristics of Jesus that I began with: Messiah; teacher; the Son of Man; who gave up his life to save us and the world he now rules as King. And that is as instructive a list as we could want about who Jesus is!
To get a proper handle on all of that we'd have to study all 28 chapters of Matthew. And that would take far longer than we've got. So in our autumn series we'll focus on one very specific characteristic of Jesus from Matthew's list. It's the nature of Jesus as Teacher that leaps out of us from these later chapters of Matthew. To put these events into context in the story of Jesus' life, he was on his way to Jerusalem when he said and did these things. This was his final chance to teach friends and enemies alike key lessons before he died. And, knowing what was going to happen to him, Jesus wasn't about to miss this great opportunity.
Now hopefully nobody is too surprised by this idea that Jesus was a great teacher. Even many people who don't accept that he was the Son of God will tell you that Jesus was a great moral teacher. Some of them may even say that he was the greatest teacher who's ever lived. But I do wonder about people who say such things. In particular, I wonder just how closely they have listened to what Jesus taught; and to how he taught it! I specifically wonder whether they have ever read, or absorbed, passages like this!
At this stage it would be helpful if I could borrow a child, please ... While said child and their parents decide if I can be trusted for whatever I might have in mind, let me remind you again of the context. As I said, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, where he would die. At this point he was just with his closest followers. They knew that they could safely ask Jesus whatever was on their minds. And so that's what they did. In his account of this incident, Mark says the disciples had, in fact, been arguing with each other as they walked along behind Jesus. They had been trying to work out who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now it's a fair bet that the disciples already had a pretty good idea about who would be the greatest! We could be kind, and say that perhaps they had been ranking themselves in order of their closeness to Jesus. But chances are that the disciples thought – as many of us probably do – that it's the most talented, the strongest, the hardest working, the richest, the best looking who'd get to the top in God's Kingdom. Well, the cream does always rise to the surface, doesn't it? That is how life works. Not in God's economy it doesn't! Jesus took a child, like this one, and had it stand in front of them. Then Jesus said, “The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is the one who humbles themselves, and becomes like this child”!
Now I'm sure that you all like this lovely child, who has all sorts of wonderful characteristics – OK, as well as a few less attractive ones! But do you want to be like her/ him? Most of us spend a large part of our lives ensuring that we aren't. We want to grow up, to take responsibility for ourselves, to make our own decisions, about what we do and wear and eat. Who wants to go back to being like this? Not many of us, I'll bet! And so for us to want to be like a child would involve us humbling ourselves. It would mean changing how we see and present ourselves. And I guess that, if we're honest, not many of us fancy that idea!
That has helped to make Jesus' point very graphically. But I do have to say that's it's an even harder point to hear than we might first think. When I said that Jesus took a child and made 'it' stand in front of them, that's what the Greek says. The word for child is neuter: an 'it'. We've come a long way in our view of children since then. Children have rights; they are people, with real characters that we cherish. We often value them – rightly, even if a little rosily, perhaps – for their innocence and sweetness, for their capacity to learn and to grow. But that's not why Jesus used a child to illustrate greatness in the Kingdom of God.
No, Jesus chose a child because of how 'it' was seen at that time. Not a person with rights and choices, and opinions that must be accounted for. Rather a child was, and still is, a responsibility; something weak and vulnerable, unable to fend for itself, of next to no significance, totally dependent. And so are all of us before God! That's not how we like to see ourselves; and so that's why Jesus said that we need to change! In his translation Tom Wright says we need to be 'turned inside out'! And that's not 'just' to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven (which was Matthew's phrase to avoid upsetting Jewish readers, by the way). Jesus assures us this is how we have to be if we are to enter God's Kingdom at all!
I'm sure you don't like that idea any more than the person next to you. But that doesn't make it untrue! Yes, there may be many things that you are in control of in your life, outcomes that you can influence. But when it rains or the wind blows later, try to stop it – and see how far you get! Or try to stop yourself from dying. Or try talking God to let, or buying your way, into his Kingdom. The fact is that none of us can! When it comes to things that truly matter eternally, we are, all of us, weak and vulnerable, unable to fend for ourselves, of next to no significance, and totally dependent on God's goodness and generosity. So if we do want to enter God's Kingdom, we do truly need to be like that child!
It is a radical thought. And it's a radical thought that needs to shape every part of our lives. Change is necessary, in each of us. Another key feature of Matthew is how Jesus demands a right ethical response to his teaching. The idea today was to go on to one illustration of how that change is necessary, in confronting and dealing with sin in the church. I'm clearly not going to have time to cover that now, so I'll encourage you to study 18:15-20 yourselves later. When you do, do note how radically different a way it is to what we naturally do. And that will prepare you well for what's in store next week, and in the rest of our series. This teaching of Jesus is all about changing what we do and how we do it, because now we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
It's teaching that demands us to change, radically. And that change is all based on who and what we truly are, and must be, before God. So that's the foundational lesson that we need to learn today, to launch us into this series. It's not easy to accept that we are weak and vulnerable, unable to fend for ourselves, of next to no significance, and totally dependent on God's goodness and mercy. I know that, because it's a lesson that I've had to learn over and over again through the long process of Jocelyn's illness and transplant. But in that process I have also been learning that believing and trusting in Jesus day by day is indeed the only route to life. So let's pray ...
If I were to say he's the Messiah of Israel; if I were to say he's the teacher who was even greater than Moses; if I were to say he's the Son of Man; if I were to say he's the one who laid down his life for us; if I were to say he's the one who has saved the world; if I were to say he's the King who rules the world – I'd very much hope that most of you would know exactly who I'm talking about!
Yes, of course I'm talking about Jesus! This is the person whom we meet in the four gospels that tell the story of his life, death and resurrection about 2000 years ago. Each of the gospel writers told the story of Jesus in their own, unique way, with their own particular emphases. All four had an identical aim, though. It's best summed up at the end of John's gospel. John wrote: “this has been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life”.
That was Matthew's aim in writing his gospel too. As one of Jesus' 12 disciples – and a former tax collector at that – he knew exactly what it meant that Jesus had given him life. And he wanted to share that good news with others, especially with his fellow Jews. That doesn't make Matthew a particularly easy book for us to understand today. As we'll see in this series, he didn't bother to explain very much of the Jewish context that he wrote into. But, in other ways, Matthew is the best gospel for us to read. He wrote the story of Jesus in a careful, ordered, thematic way. And he particularly drew out those characteristics of Jesus that I began with: Messiah; teacher; the Son of Man; who gave up his life to save us and the world he now rules as King. And that is as instructive a list as we could want about who Jesus is!
To get a proper handle on all of that we'd have to study all 28 chapters of Matthew. And that would take far longer than we've got. So in our autumn series we'll focus on one very specific characteristic of Jesus from Matthew's list. It's the nature of Jesus as Teacher that leaps out of us from these later chapters of Matthew. To put these events into context in the story of Jesus' life, he was on his way to Jerusalem when he said and did these things. This was his final chance to teach friends and enemies alike key lessons before he died. And, knowing what was going to happen to him, Jesus wasn't about to miss this great opportunity.
Now hopefully nobody is too surprised by this idea that Jesus was a great teacher. Even many people who don't accept that he was the Son of God will tell you that Jesus was a great moral teacher. Some of them may even say that he was the greatest teacher who's ever lived. But I do wonder about people who say such things. In particular, I wonder just how closely they have listened to what Jesus taught; and to how he taught it! I specifically wonder whether they have ever read, or absorbed, passages like this!
At this stage it would be helpful if I could borrow a child, please ... While said child and their parents decide if I can be trusted for whatever I might have in mind, let me remind you again of the context. As I said, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, where he would die. At this point he was just with his closest followers. They knew that they could safely ask Jesus whatever was on their minds. And so that's what they did. In his account of this incident, Mark says the disciples had, in fact, been arguing with each other as they walked along behind Jesus. They had been trying to work out who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now it's a fair bet that the disciples already had a pretty good idea about who would be the greatest! We could be kind, and say that perhaps they had been ranking themselves in order of their closeness to Jesus. But chances are that the disciples thought – as many of us probably do – that it's the most talented, the strongest, the hardest working, the richest, the best looking who'd get to the top in God's Kingdom. Well, the cream does always rise to the surface, doesn't it? That is how life works. Not in God's economy it doesn't! Jesus took a child, like this one, and had it stand in front of them. Then Jesus said, “The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is the one who humbles themselves, and becomes like this child”!
Now I'm sure that you all like this lovely child, who has all sorts of wonderful characteristics – OK, as well as a few less attractive ones! But do you want to be like her/ him? Most of us spend a large part of our lives ensuring that we aren't. We want to grow up, to take responsibility for ourselves, to make our own decisions, about what we do and wear and eat. Who wants to go back to being like this? Not many of us, I'll bet! And so for us to want to be like a child would involve us humbling ourselves. It would mean changing how we see and present ourselves. And I guess that, if we're honest, not many of us fancy that idea!
That has helped to make Jesus' point very graphically. But I do have to say that's it's an even harder point to hear than we might first think. When I said that Jesus took a child and made 'it' stand in front of them, that's what the Greek says. The word for child is neuter: an 'it'. We've come a long way in our view of children since then. Children have rights; they are people, with real characters that we cherish. We often value them – rightly, even if a little rosily, perhaps – for their innocence and sweetness, for their capacity to learn and to grow. But that's not why Jesus used a child to illustrate greatness in the Kingdom of God.
No, Jesus chose a child because of how 'it' was seen at that time. Not a person with rights and choices, and opinions that must be accounted for. Rather a child was, and still is, a responsibility; something weak and vulnerable, unable to fend for itself, of next to no significance, totally dependent. And so are all of us before God! That's not how we like to see ourselves; and so that's why Jesus said that we need to change! In his translation Tom Wright says we need to be 'turned inside out'! And that's not 'just' to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven (which was Matthew's phrase to avoid upsetting Jewish readers, by the way). Jesus assures us this is how we have to be if we are to enter God's Kingdom at all!
I'm sure you don't like that idea any more than the person next to you. But that doesn't make it untrue! Yes, there may be many things that you are in control of in your life, outcomes that you can influence. But when it rains or the wind blows later, try to stop it – and see how far you get! Or try to stop yourself from dying. Or try talking God to let, or buying your way, into his Kingdom. The fact is that none of us can! When it comes to things that truly matter eternally, we are, all of us, weak and vulnerable, unable to fend for ourselves, of next to no significance, and totally dependent on God's goodness and generosity. So if we do want to enter God's Kingdom, we do truly need to be like that child!
It is a radical thought. And it's a radical thought that needs to shape every part of our lives. Change is necessary, in each of us. Another key feature of Matthew is how Jesus demands a right ethical response to his teaching. The idea today was to go on to one illustration of how that change is necessary, in confronting and dealing with sin in the church. I'm clearly not going to have time to cover that now, so I'll encourage you to study 18:15-20 yourselves later. When you do, do note how radically different a way it is to what we naturally do. And that will prepare you well for what's in store next week, and in the rest of our series. This teaching of Jesus is all about changing what we do and how we do it, because now we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
It's teaching that demands us to change, radically. And that change is all based on who and what we truly are, and must be, before God. So that's the foundational lesson that we need to learn today, to launch us into this series. It's not easy to accept that we are weak and vulnerable, unable to fend for ourselves, of next to no significance, and totally dependent on God's goodness and mercy. I know that, because it's a lesson that I've had to learn over and over again through the long process of Jocelyn's illness and transplant. But in that process I have also been learning that believing and trusting in Jesus day by day is indeed the only route to life. So let's pray ...
posted by Parish Administrator at 12:43 pm
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