Sermon 19th November 2011

Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Matthew 28 verses 16-20.

I’ll bet you haven’t heard the one about the priest and the poor American farmer. So: in the course of doing a pastoral visit, the priest asked the farmer: “If you had a horse would you give it to the Lord?”
“Yes, of course,” the farmer replied.
“And if you had a cow?”
“Absolutely.”
“How about a goat?”
“Sure.”
“And a pig?”
“Now, that’s not fair!” the farmer protested. “You know I’ve got a pig!”

That story seems an excellent note on which to begin the ending of this series, for all sorts of reasons. The Gospel, the Good News of Jesus about the Kingdom of God, is always personal. It always cuts to the heart of our lives, and gets to us, right where we are now. In those terms, we each have a pig; and, as we come to the end of this series, we are each being challenged to give it to the Lord. Phrase it how you like: put your money where your mouth is; step up to the plate; stand up and be counted: no matter how you say it, the costly task is right in front of each of us. It is this calling, to go and make disciples for Jesus – anywhere: from next door; to the ends of the earth!

As you might imagine, we will get to the details of what is usually known as The Great Commission later. To make sure it stays firmly in our mind until we do, remember that in his book The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren wrote that this isn’t The Great Suggestion but The Great Commission. To obey it, then, is integral to our calling as Christians. It’s one of our 5 Godly life-purposes, as we saw at the start of the year when we studied Rick Warren’s book. We are Made for Mission: it’s not an optional extra, which we can get to if and when we feel like it, maybe. As I said at that time, we can’t underplay how this was the last subject that Jesus ever talked to his disciples about. This order is his legacy to them, to us: we must then carry it forward in his name. The good news is that doing it isn’t as scary as you may think it is!

When I opened this discipleship series back in September, I said that it was for every one of us. No matter where we personally may then have been – or not been – with God, the challenge was both identical, and very individual. All of us were being invited to take the next step forward, with God, in faith. I also said that the path would likely be different for each of us – as I’m sure we have found during these past 3 months. Even those many of us who have experienced bereavement in that time have been in different directions within that. Whatever shape it has taken for you, so many people have told me this Autumn has been significant for them, and in major ways. And I really don’t think that’s coincidental, at all. No, I’m sure that God has been building disciples in Herne Hill – to make us ready to make more disciples; here and wherever.

Now that we have reached the end of this series, I’m even more convinced that it has been, and is, for everyone. The challenge is still both identical, and very individual. It does not matter where we personally are – or are not – with God. All of us are being invited to take the next step forward with Him, in faith. That path is different for each of us, but it leads us in the same general direction: of being, and making, disciples of Jesus. That’s what we have been learning about in this series: how to be, and, by implication, how to make disciples of Jesus. Just because our focus moves on next week (to all the preparations for Christmas) doesn’t mean that we stop being Jesus’ disciples. Quite the opposite: I’m expecting a far more exciting Christmas, and 2012, here because we now understand better what it means to be, and make, disciples!

That fits well with Matthew’s unique ‘take’ on discipleship. All 4 Gospels have discipleship as one of their major themes, and each author brings their own flavour to it. Adjoa uncovered the fact that this word occurs no less than 269 times in the New Testament. I can add that all 269 of them are in the Gospels and Acts. So, in Matthew disciples are ‘Examples with a commission’, as we have been discovering each week. We have seen how that’s true both positively and negatively as we’ve accompanied Jesus and his disciples through Matthew’s account of events. We’ve listened to Jesus teaching the disciples, both ‘straight’ and in parables. We have seen them grasp his message, and get it gloriously right, and so horribly wrong. We have seen how they responded to his challenges, to the difficulties that he had warned them of, and to the tasks that he set them. If you missed any of these sermons, they are all posted on our blog-site – including last week’s. That’s when Adrian gave a whistle-stop summary of the key people, places and events. I’m glad he did that, because it frees me to focus more on the series ending place. Mind you it also needs saying that this is, in fact, the start of the rest of our life with God too; for each of us personally, and as a church.

That has covered the example part: what about the commission element, then? To kick that off here’s quote from Rob Bell’s new book Love wins. It comes in the chapter Here is the new there, which I’ll explain the import of later. In looking at the implications of that story about the rich young man which I spoke on 2 week ago, he writes: “Jesus calls disciples in order to teach us how to be and what to be; his intention is for us to be growing progressively in generosity, forgiveness, honesty, courage, truth telling and responsibility, so that these take over our lives as we are taking part more and more and more in the age to come, now”.

I only got to this part of the book after I had preached; but it struck me that this is the best note to conclude this whole series. Part of what I said a fortnight ago is that those who are Jesus’ disciples need to grasp, and I mean really grasp, the reality that we are living in God’s Kingdom now. It’s not that we’re waiting to go to heaven when we die; it’s that God’s real, abundant life begins here and now. God’s Kingdom is what Jesus came not just to preach about, but to bring in. By his birth, life and death Jesus made God’s Kingdom real, in the present. In Matthew it’s usually called the Kingdom of heaven, but it’s the same amazing reality. The way Tom Wright puts it in his commentary on the story of Lazarus is like this. He says that it’s some new part of God’s future which can and does, burst into our present. God’s Kingdom does that with real, tangible good news, with hope, and new possibilities. It does that even in the very worst of times – but not ‘just’ then.

Today’s not the occasion to tackle whether God still raises the dead through us. For today what’s vital is to recognise that to be a disciple of Jesus is to be part of God’s on-going work of making His Kingdom more real; here; day by day. As Rob Bell says, “here is the new there”. And that is how we are part of the answer to that foundational prayer that Jesus has taught us. “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” we pray, every week. Well, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”, Jesus said to his disciples, here at the end of Matthew. “Therefore go” – yes, that means you, and me – “Go and make disciples of all nations ... teach them to obey everything I have commanded you ... and surely I am with you always”.

How do we do that? I think that Rob Bell has got it pretty much right. I should say that there is controversy about parts of this book – but not this part. Nobody can argue that Jesus teaches his disciples how to be, and what to be. That’s exactly what we’ve seen in this series. There is a real, and truly counter-cultural radical ethical dimension to Jesus’ teaching. Who else encourages, and enables, us to be generous; and forgiving; to be honest; and courageous; to tell the truth; to take responsibility, for our own actions and lives? And what impact would it have, on how many people and situations, if the doing of that took over our life more and more? Wouldn’t it contribute to the reality of living in God’s Kingdom? And isn’t that what being disciples of Jesus is truly about: bringing in His Kingdom here and now by obeying Jesus and continuing this mission that he left us with?

Now perhaps, like me, you are rather daunted by that list of what we are called to be and to do as Jesus’ disciples. Even with his amazing promise to be with us always, growing in being generous, forgiving, honest, courageous, telling the truth, and taking responsibility are quite some challenges! For most of us they also require quite some change in us. Nothing is impossible with God, of course; and practice does make perfect too. So don’t ever stop aiming that high, or trying to get there, with God’s help, and in His strength. But get there in steps if you need to; and there are steps that just about all of us can take. I have permission to tell this story about towels, but before I do, please note that it is ‘only’ illustrative. So: as well as needing meals delivered, a local family recently needed towels. Those were duly provided by someone in the church – rather to the surprise of the extended family who had come to help. I heard it said that the explanation this person gave to their family was, “That’s the kind of thing this church does!”

It may not seem like very much, perhaps; but talk to anyone who has ever had meals provided, shopping or ironing done, a gift of money, or children looked after, during illness, or loss, or after having a baby. I can say, from much personal experience, that it is truly life-changing. I’m delighted to say that I think this church is generally very good at doing that, and more. It doesn’t just happen here, of course: within an hour of the news of my father’s death being known, someone from my mother’s church in Bristol had called in just to give her a hug, and to take her ironing away! These are among the practical signs of God’s Kingdom coming; and most of us can do them. It’s another way of us being disciples, of loving and supporting each other in the ways that Jesus wants us to do. And every time it happens it shows people what God’s love looks like – and what is possible for them too. So, go and be, and make disciples, then. Do it in those big ways that Rob Bell has listed; do it in the small ways too; bring in God’s Kingdom, wherever He takes, or leaves you; and so continue Jesus’ mission. Now let’s pray ...

SERMON 13TH NOVEMBER 2011 - REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adrian Parkhouse, preaches based on the reading from Matthew 26: verses 30-46

GNB: “Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation.”
NIV: “Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

1. “Watch and pray” is a suitable text for a Service of Remembrance. There is a sense in which our moment of quiet was anything but peaceful as our minds replayed the links that our personal histories hold to the experience of conflict: so for some today those histories will have taken you back not just to the Second WW but beyond to stories of fathers and brothers and uncles and friends lost or damaged by the Great War; for you and for others, your memories will have come too from personal involvement in the Second World War, most likely as children and young people, affected by the consequence of war; for some our memories will have taken us to more recent, less widespread, but for you equally significant, conflicts abroad; and for all perhaps the images of recent desert wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. And for some, the memories will have been especially close: of sons, daughters, brothers or friends. And during those moments of quiet you will have watched. And prayed.

2. With only 2 chapters of Matthew left, you won’t be surprised that we are nearly at the end of our Parish series on the gospel’s teaching on being a disciple. It will be for Cameron, I suspect, to draw together the strands of our studies when he preaches next Sunday. I am anxious not to steal his thunder but I do want to set the scene for this morning’s passage (and perhaps to set you up for next week), So can I do a whistle-stop tour of the places we have been and the highlights we have seen: we started by the lake and the call to the fishermen; and then to the hillside, the Sermon and the challenge to be sure who we were apprenticed to; and then, out on the road, we listened to two stiff warnings of the consequences of signing-up – that we might be isolated (like sheep among wolves) and create conflict (and carry a cross); then we were back to the lake, among the big, vibrant crowds by the shore, listening to stories, especially a story about the fruit a disciple might show; then, as the party begins to move towards Jerusalem, Peter comes to the fore - “You are the Christ!” …. and again talk of a cross; and last week, some last teaching to the crowds (and to the disciples) about the cost of commitment.

3. Between last week and this much has happened and the atmosphere has changed. Jesus and his followers have come into Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast, welcomed by the crowd, challenged by the authorities. The teaching has become more pointed – warnings to and against the leaders, predictions of conflict and suffering and the promise of return and the rule of peace. In truth, if the teaching was difficult to apply on the hill-side, by the lake, on the road, now in the City it has become difficult even to grasp. But throughout, one word resonates – as if, were they unable to understand any more of what he was saying, Jesus wanted them to see and apply one essential truth: watch! Be alert!

4. You may be puzzled by this and it is true that we can lose the message in the drama of the action that is going on around the Teacher and his apprentices – the ride of triumph into the City, the display of righteous anger in the Temple, the debates with the Pharisees and the lawyers, the making of plots and, just before our passage, the holding of the final meal together. But now, in the quiet of the garden in the place called Gethsemane, think back over the stories he has told in the previous two chapters – of the foolish bridesmaids who failed to plan ahead and the wise ones who did; of the bad servant who takes the opportunity of his master’s absence to misbehave and the good servant who doesn’t; of the good stewards who invest their master’s wealth ready for his return and the bad steward who does not; and finally the account of judgment and the separation of the sheep and goats. In these last days, Jesus is preparing his apprentices, his disciples, to take responsibility – to be the ones who must be ready to plan, to be faithful, to steward and to serve. And this responsibility requires above all things they must be watchful, in the stories he told , what set the “good” aside from the “bad” was their watchfulness, their readiness..

5. It is this watchfulness which Jesus looks for in Gethsemane. I wanted it to be something different: I wanted it to be “watchfulness” that you would want from a security guard (“watch for the baddies coming!”); or more an example of empathy for him in his suffering (“watch over me”). But it isn’t: it is the same word as is used in the earlier chapters and so his concern, even as his own suffering reaches its crescendo, is that his disciples and ready to recognise what is good and to do what is right, come what may.

6. In lighting on these words in our passage, I have skipped Peter’s (and the others’) typically hyperbolic protestation of undying loyalty, the set-up to his denial. But let’s go back briefly to that part of the passage and notice how Jesus explains what will happen “this very night”. It is effective that he takes the image, the metaphor, the shepherd with the flock, which we have become used to identifying with safety and security (“I am the Good Shepherd ..”; “I am the gate … “, etc), and uses a passage of scripture to express what will happen: with the shepherd killed, the sheep will scatter and run away. Their focus gone, with no-one to guide them the sheep will return to their own way. But Jesus of course adds to the scripture: But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you …”. This is the context of the desired watchfuless: in all that is to happen, watch out for me, be ready to recognise me, don’t be tempted away.

7. My previous passage in the series was on the sun-soaked lake-side when we could joke about salesmen’s techniques and consider the richness of a disciple’s experience. I think it was even in that sun-soaked Indian summer of early-October. Now the Autumn is here and in our gospel the setting is very different. Very early on, in the context of facing testing, Trevor referred to the impending Rugby World Cup (what happened to that?); and I want to borrow an expression from the world of the rugby journalists to suggest that in today’s passage we are into “the hard yards” of discipleship. “Hard yards” sounds as if it ought to derive from the world of trench warfare but I can’t find that it does: it seems to come from rugby where it describes that passage in a game when the opposing scrums settle down for a relentless period of running into each other, making a yard here, losing a yard there. A punishing experience to be involved in. And I say that that is where we are with out apprentices in our passage today: facing the hard yards of discipleship: facing the prospect of the shepherd being slain and it all being lost. “I will go ahead of you. Watch and pray. Watch.”

8. They didn’t of course. Their exhaustion overtook them. We come back to the beautiful way in which the Bible tells the story how it might really have happened. Like us, they fell asleep when they might have watched, they fled when He was arrested and Peter did not to do what he had promised. But Jesus did: he was raised and he did go before them

9. Lastly, how does this apply to us? Because being a disciple involves being a person we do or will the hard yards of discipleship, not only times when our faith is not as strong as we would want, but times when our faith seems stretched, almost over-used with the demands made on us. Today we will pray for each other and those prayers will include prayers for folk facing such times now – facing illness or illness of someone close or coping with loss. Perhaps for some Remembrance Sunday itself reawakens memories of such times. And these are just some of what I think may be the hard yards in our discipleship. If that is you, or for when that is you, then watch, watch, be ready for the touch of the risen Christ.

SERMON 6TH NOVEMBER - ST. PAUL'S

TODAY, OUR VICAR, CAMERON BARKER PREACHES BASED ON THE READING FROM MATTHEW 19 VERSES 16-30. THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS BECAUSE THE FINAL PART OF THE SERMON SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSES THE CONGREGATIONS OF EACH CHURCH.

It must be about time for another of those straw-polls. So, hands up, please – but do be warned: you will be put to the test if you do! Hands up, then, if you think that you can pick up this building by yourself, and put it in the middle of Herne Hill ... OK, no real surprises there: it is, literally, impossible! Well, if you are rich, you stand far less of a chance of getting into heaven than you do of manually moving this building on your own!

That’s what’s known as jumping straight in there! Over the years many people have come up with all sorts of fancy ways of trying to explain how Jesus didn’t mean exactly what he said in Matthew 19:25. But he really did: a camel does not fit through the eye of a needle. The Greek word does not actually mean ‘thick thread’. There wasn’t a small gate called “The Eye of the Needle”, by which you got into Jerusalem if you unloaded your camel first. No, if you are rich, you have no chance of getting into heaven – without God! But the true point of that lies in the last part; and that’s just as well for those of us who are rich, then. Without God, it’s impossible; with God, all things are possible, however – as Jesus said in verse 26.

Opening in this way does run the risk of taking us down a less than ideal path with this passage. Of course people have debated long and hard about what verses 23-24 mean, for rich people in particular. It’s all especially topical for us, with a national debt in Greece making the global economy quiver – in the week when we read about outrageous executive pay rises. The Archbishop of York has waded into that one, even as the Occupy protestors remain camped outside major world financial marketplaces. Think of the impact that has had here; not just on St Paul’s Cathedral and its staff; but on the whole Church of England; it challenges how we all relate to markets, money and wealth: topical stuff! As the banners outside St Paul’s ask, What Would Jesus Do indeed?

For many of us this complicated topic is enough to induce a bad headache. But this Bible story says that wealth is a very personal matter too. We can’t, mustn’t, and won’t duck the big question: do Jesus’ words here mean that all Christians should sell everything that we have? In the context of this series, on being his disciples, is that what it takes to be one? It’s definitely worth asking yourself: if it does mean that, would you even be here; or would that be too high a cost for you to pay?

That is the big question, which needs to be raised today – and looked right in the eye. But once we’ve done that, I think we then need to try and pull back, and view the bigger picture. This was the detail of what it meant for this one particular person to be Jesus’ disciple. The detail might be the same for you; but it might not be. What is, or should be, the same, though, is what’s at the heart of the issue of discipleship. How this rich man put it to Jesus was in this way: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

Yes, we do have to dig a little deeper to get to the heart of the issue from that question. And, as Jesus’ reply to it made clear, that wasn’t the best question to be asking. But the fact is also that this is a question that many people do ask in some way, shape or form. “How do I get eternal life?” And the one thing that we learn from Jesus is that he always meets people right where we are. Yes, he always takes us on from there; or he tries to, anyway. That’s just what he did with this man. On this occasion he didn’t toss it back into his lap, in the way that we so often see in the gospels.

The way that Matthew tells it is different to how Mark and Luke do in their parallels, but not majorly so. In Matthew Jesus didn’t focus on getting this man to see it for himself: he ‘just’ told him the way it was. But we do need to see how the words that Jesus used here significantly widened the scope of the conversation. He wasn’t talking about heaven: instead Jesus was talking about real life; the sort that begins now, not after death. It may only have been after the rich young man had gone away sad that Jesus used the name ‘the Kingdom of God, or heaven’ to his disciples. But that was what he clearly meant when he was talking with this man too. There was, there is, so much at stake: now and eternally.

At one level it all seems so simple. In response to his initial question, Jesus reminded the man how God had already told His people what to do. He had given them those 10 commandments to obey. It’s significant that in verses 18-19 Jesus ‘only’ quoted the 6 commandments that tell God’s people how to relate to others, rather than how to relate to God. It could be that Jesus didn’t want to rock the man’s boat too hard right away. After all, he was probably, in the custom of his time, assuming that the wealth he had was a sign of God’s favour. But at the same time he still knew that he must be missing something. “I’ve obeyed those ... What else must I do?” he asked Jesus.

It was only then that Jesus talked about the matter of his money. Yes, Jesus did tell him to go and sell everything, to give the money to the poor and then follow him. Do note that he did that in the context of how this man could be ‘perfect’. That should ring bells for at least some, because Jesus spoke of the need for perfection several times. “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” for example. It’s a call that Jesus issues to all disciples, in all ages – so none of us are off the hook. A call to discipleship is a call to perfection, then.

The problem is that each of us has something that gets in the way of us being perfect in the way that God calls us to be. The word-picture that Tom Wright paints of this in his commentary is so good that I’ve decided to act it out. The choice of an apple inside this narrow-necked jug is not coincidental: think Adam and Eve! This represents whatever it is that we value most of all. For this man it was his wealth: what is it for you, I wonder? What is it that you are so desperate to hang onto that you won’t let go of it; even if your hand then gets stuck inside the jug? What won’t you let go of, no matter what?

Yes, I know that we humans can work out a clever way to get it out of the jug without getting our hand stuck. After all post-modern life is having what we want when we want, how we want it, isn’t it? But the point of this story is that’s not how it works spiritually. Whatever it is that we hold onto other than God; be it money; self; job; sex; family; status; control; ambition; addiction; whatever – means that we can’t receive the full, real, best life that God wants to give us. “What must I do to get eternal life?” Take the risk of having empty hands, of loving God first and best, and others as ourselves; then let go, and trust. But, if we’re honest, most of us are not too good at doing that!

Yes, it is a risk. It means entering into a world where things are turned upside down; where “the first are last, and the last are first”. It is a world where you may well have to leave everything, and everyone behind. You may have to sell up, give it all away; or leave your house, your family, your livelihood, your security – and not see for what reason. Remember that the throne that Jesus would be on soon after he’d said this was made up of two planks of wood and 4 nails. Yes, he is now at God’s right hand in glory; yes he has promised a sure reward, of real life eternally, of 100 times as much as we give up. The risks are great, and the cost high; but what is it we give up? Now, for real life?

The final part of this sermon is a rare departure from good and Godly parish tradition, by being applied in different ways at each church. Here at St Paul’s it’s time to talk about the recent questionnaire! The raw results from the 73 people who filled them in will come later; but there are lessons to be put in the context of this story. The questionnaire was deliberately set in a discipleship series because it is about how this environment can best be used for us to become better disciples. The many smiley faces and positive comments on the forms say that there’s much to rejoice in here. But some concerns were raised about how this set-up affects our worship, sense of community, and welcome to all.

At heart as a church we are about loving God first and best, and our neighbours as ourselves. So we need to challenge ourselves to think about others. There is something special and different about worshipping together, submitting to God and to one another. How can we enjoy that more, help each other to worship and learn about God more? There is an equal balance of people seeing the benefits in roping off the side aisles and those who are concerned by it. Your ‘lucky’ Vicar has now to choose what to do about that, until the building work starts. That choice is to keep on exploring together how we can best use these surroundings.

With having bigger congregations over Christmas, and the heating benefits there are at the sides, it makes most sense for those aisles to stay open for now. But that decision is set in the context of there being something special and different about worshipping together, and in submitting to God and to one another. So I’ll end with the challenge posed by Richard Foster in his book on spiritual discipline. It’s a challenge for each of us to look round as we come to worship together – and to pray that the people we see will meet with God. If we will all choose to do that, as fellow disciples of Jesus, then no matter which building we are in, or what state it is in, our focus will be right. That’s because it will be about worshipping this generous, life-giving God, who calls us to follow Him into life. So let’s pray ...

SERMON 6TH NOVEMBER - ST. SAVIOUR'S

TODAY, OUR VICAR, CAMERON BARKER PREACHES BASED ON THE READING FROM MATTHEW 19 VERSES 16-30. THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS BECAUSE THE FINAL PART OF THE SERMON SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSES THE CONGREGATIONS OF EACH CHURCH.

It must be about time for another of those straw-polls. So, hands up, please – but do be warned: you will be put to the test if you do! Hands up, then, if you think that you can pick up this building by yourself, and put it in the middle of Ruskin Park ... OK, no real surprises there: it is, literally, impossible! Well, if you are rich, you stand far less of a chance of getting into heaven than you do of manually moving this building on your own!

That’s what’s known as jumping straight in there! Over the years many people have come up with all sorts of fancy ways of trying to explain how Jesus didn’t mean exactly what he said in Matthew 19:25. But he really did: a camel does not fit through the eye of a needle. The Greek word does not actually mean ‘thick thread’. There wasn’t a small gate called “The Eye of the Needle”, by which you got into Jerusalem if you unloaded your camel first. No, if you are rich, you have no chance of getting into heaven – without God! But the true point of that lies in the last part; and that’s just as well for those of us who are rich, then. Without God, it’s impossible; with God, all things are possible, however – as Jesus said in verse 26.

Opening in this way does run the risk of taking us down a less than ideal path with this passage. Of course people have debated long and hard about what verses 23-24 mean, for rich people in particular. It’s all especially topical for us, with a national debt in Greece making the global economy quiver – in the week when we read about outrageous executive pay rises. The Archbishop of York has waded into that one, even as the Occupy protestors remain camped outside major world financial marketplaces. Think of the impact that has had here; not just on St Paul’s Cathedral and its staff; but on the whole Church of England; it challenges how we all relate to markets, money and wealth: topical stuff! As the banners outside St Paul’s ask, What Would Jesus Do indeed?

For many of us this complicated topic is enough to induce a bad headache. But this Bible story says that wealth is a very personal matter too. We can’t, mustn’t, and won’t duck the big question: do Jesus’ words here mean that all Christians should sell everything that we have? In the context of this series, on being his disciples, is that what it takes to be one? It’s definitely worth asking yourself: if it does mean that, would you even be here; or would that be too high a cost for you to pay?

That is the big question, which needs to be raised today – and looked right in the eye. But once we’ve done that, I think we then need to try and pull back, and view the bigger picture. This was the detail of what it meant for this one particular person to be Jesus’ disciple. The detail might be the same for you; but it might not be. What is, or should be, the same, though, is what’s at the heart of the issue of discipleship. How this rich man put it to Jesus was in this way: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?”

Yes, we do have to dig a little deeper to get to the heart of the issue from that question. And, as Jesus’ reply to it made clear, that wasn’t the best question to be asking. But the fact is also that this is a question that many people do ask in some way, shape or form. “How do I get eternal life?” And the one thing that we learn from Jesus is that he always meets people right where we are. Yes, he always takes us on from there; or he tries to, anyway. That’s just what he did with this man. On this occasion he didn’t toss it back into his lap, in the way that we so often see in the gospels.

The way that Matthew tells it is different to how Mark and Luke do in their parallels, but not majorly so. In Matthew Jesus didn’t focus on getting this man to see it for himself: he ‘just’ told him the way it was. But we do need to see how the words that Jesus used here significantly widened the scope of the conversation. He wasn’t talking about heaven: instead Jesus was talking about real life; the sort that begins now, not after death. It may only have been after the rich young man had gone away sad that Jesus used the name ‘the Kingdom of God, or heaven’ to his disciples. But that was what he clearly meant when he was talking with this man too. There was, there is, so much at stake: now and eternally.

At one level it all seems so simple. In response to his initial question, Jesus reminded the man how God had already told His people what to do. He had given them those 10 commandments to obey. It’s significant that in verses 18-19 Jesus ‘only’ quoted the 6 commandments that tell God’s people how to relate to others, rather than how to relate to God. It could be that Jesus didn’t want to rock the man’s boat too hard right away. After all, he was probably, in the custom of his time, assuming that the wealth he had was a sign of God’s favour. But at the same time he still knew that he must be missing something. “I’ve obeyed those ... What else must I do?” he asked Jesus.

It was only then that Jesus talked about the matter of his money. Yes, Jesus did tell him to go and sell everything, to give the money to the poor and then follow him. Do note that he did that in the context of how this man could be ‘perfect’. That should ring bells for at least some, because Jesus spoke of the need for perfection several times. “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” for example. It’s a call that Jesus issues to all disciples, in all ages – so none of us are off the hook. A call to discipleship is a call to perfection, then.

The problem is that each of us has something that gets in the way of us being perfect in the way that God calls us to be. The word-picture that Tom Wright paints of this in his commentary is so good that I’ve decided to act it out. The choice of an apple inside this narrow-necked jug is not coincidental: think Adam and Eve! This represents whatever it is that we value most of all. For this man it was his wealth: what is it for you, I wonder? What is it that you are so desperate to hang onto that you won’t let go of it; even if your hand then gets stuck inside the jug? What won’t you let go of, no matter what?

Yes, I know that we humans can work out a clever way to get it out of the jug without getting our hand stuck. After all post-modern life is having what we want when we want, how we want it, isn’t it? But the point of this story is that’s not how it works spiritually. Whatever it is that we hold onto other than God; be it money; self; job; sex; family; status; control; ambition; addiction; whatever – means that we can’t receive the full, real, best life that God wants to give us. “What must I do to get eternal life?” Take the risk of having empty hands, of loving God first and best, and others as ourselves; then let go, and trust. But, if we’re honest, most of us are not too good at doing that!

Yes, it is a risk. It means entering into a world where things are turned upside down; where “the first are last, and the last are first”. It is a world where you may well have to leave everything, and everyone behind. You may have to sell up, give it all away; or leave your house, your family, your livelihood, your security – and not see for what reason. Remember that the throne that Jesus would be on soon after he’d said this was made up of two planks of wood and 4 nails. Yes, he is now at God’s right hand in glory; yes he has promised a sure reward, of real life eternally, of 100 times as much as we give up. The risks are great, and the cost high; but what is it we give up? Now, for real life?

The final part of this sermon is a rare departure from good and Godly parish tradition, by being applied in different ways at each church. Here at St Saviour’s it’s time to talk more about money! All of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus are answerable to God for what He gives us – including our money. For the many of us who He doesn’t call to give it all away, the standard biblical starting place is a tithe. That’s one-tenth of our income to be given to God’s work in some way. The Church of England assumes that its members will give half of that tithe, so 5% of our income, to the church that we attend.

At the end of this series everyone will get letter that spells out the detailed implications of this assumption. Recent events in my personal life meant that couldn’t happen today; but I need to pass on the main headline now. St Saviour’s is heading toward a large financial short-fall this year – because collectively we have not been giving what we should be to God’s work here. A rise in our costs plus the departure of several key givers together has opened a big hole this year that will get much bigger next year – unless we choose to fix it. For today ‘all’ I’m doing is saying to look out for what is coming your way if you are a member. More than that, start praying about what God is saying to you, about your giving to His work here.

For all of us the question is how our financial giving reflects our discipleship. Our giving back to God must be in the context of how God has made the impossible possible, by the gift of Jesus’ life for us. This real life, now and eternally, is a free gift from God; but it is also one that we must respond to. As we know from this story, we can’t ever earn this life by what we do. What we can do, though, is to live generous, giving, Godly lives – loving Him first and best, and our neighbours as ourselves. That includes what we do with our money, and our time. So let’s pray that we each will respond to God’s call to live that way ...