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 ...
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 ...
posted by Sharren Taylor at 11:24 am
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