Sermon 28th June 2015

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches. The reading is from Mark's Gospel - 3: 20-35

Hmm: I wonder! If I were to begin by saying, “The Son of Man did not come to … who might join in? Let’s try it then: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And, for the bonus point, the Bible reference for that verse is … (Mark 10:45).

Well, it has been a while since any of the preachers used what I said at the start would be our memory verse for this series from Mark. But the shadow of the cross has seldom been absent from the pages of this book that we’ve been working through over the past 2 months. It is particularly, ominously, present here at the end of chapter 3; though less blatantly so than it was at the start of it. Verse 6 reads, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus” – which really leaves very little to the imagination.

In today’s passage what we have is both sides of this coin, as it were. In part it’s an illustration of how things had got so bad so quickly. It’s also, in part, an insight into the mind, and the mission, of Jesus – for which he knew he would have to pay that ultimate price. Into that rich mix we can, and must, add no less than 3 other key elements. First is the reminder of the stark, costly, choices that Jesus expects his followers to make in his name. Second is the fact that those who do consistently make such choices demonstrate their membership of God’s family. And, thirdly there’s the minor matter of an issue that has troubled Christians throughout history: what counts as the unforgivable sin, of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

To all of that we could easily add a fourth element of course! I’m sure that you noted how those accusations of the teachers of the law focused on Jesus’ driving out of demons. The presence of demons is frequent and obvious throughout this first part of Mark’s Gospel. As he told the story of this dramatic arrival of the reality of God’s Kingdom in Jesus, Mark wanted his readers to grasp the significance of what it meant. At the start of this Gospel John the Baptist had promised that the one who would come after him was much stronger, more powerful than him. This is Jesus proving that he was; he was powerful enough to tie up the strong man and rob his house of what the devil had taken from God: all of humanity.

Demonology isn’t often at the forefront of 21^st Century Western Christian preaching, let alone of our society’s prevailing secularist thinking. But the events of Friday, on top of last week’s, may well force us all to think about the reality, and the nature, of evil. A beheading at a factory in France; dozens of tourists gunned down on a beach in Tunisia; a suicide bomber killing 27, and injuring hundreds, at a mosque in Kuwait; all after 8 people were shot dead at a prayer meeting in a Charleston church because of the colour of their skin: and evil is only the invention of deluded religious minds? I’d certainly say that Jesus knew exactly what was doing when he confronted the devil in his ministry. He also modelled price of doing so; as well as securing the final victory over evil by dying on the cross. And all of that is at least trailed here, if not explicitly visible in these conflicts between Jesus, his family, and the teachers of law.

Now I don’t plan to say much more today on the topic of evil, modern or ancient. That’s because I don’t think that’s the main point to emerge from this passage, or this series. As ever, though, if it’s something that you want to pursue yourself, I’m more than willing to explore it further with you. It matters, in every way, because this is about us needing to see, understand and interact with God’s world in God’s way. We need to grasp that first and foremost, or else we’ll risk not understanding Jesus – just as his own family did here. This passage is bracketed by their lack of understanding; which was even greater by the end than it was at the beginning. They really didn’t get it, or him: at all. In fact, they thought that he was mad!

Here is that first insight into the mind, and the mission, of Jesus then. To him, being about his Father’s business was much more important than eating even. Well, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” remember. So when people piled into the house where he was staying, teaching, and healing them (doubtless including driving out demons), was what he got on with. It’s also what he expected of those 12 that he’d chosen earlier in the chapter, note. The intensity which they did it with clearly caused word to be sent to his family. Their reading of events was that Jesus must have gone mad Mark says. (And there is no reason to doubt him on this, because it’s so refreshingly honest that it can’t have been made up.) So they set out to go and do what these days might be called an intervention!

I know: put like that it’s this notion which sounds crazy; but hindsight is a wonderful thing. All his family had were these strange reports that they couldn’t make sense out of in any other way. As we’ll return to, family was (and is) such an important feature of Jewish society. It was their duty to protect the family reputation from any further damage, then. As they saw it, what Jesus was doing was bad enough: being so caught up in meeting all these need that he wouldn’t even stop to eat? So who knows what they’d have made of the events that then transpired while they were on their way to stop him. Yet another run-in with the religious authorities; this time with the teachers of the law who had come down from Jerusalem specifically to check up on what Jesus was saying and doing.

In his commentary on this passage Tom Wright suggest that these people were looking for a fight. We can tell that they had already made up their mind about Jesus from what they said. As people tend to do when we want to dismiss someone or something, they’d stuck a conveniently derogatory label on him. But they did that quietly, amongst themselves, from the other side of the room: “he’s demon-possessed, look”. As we heard, though, Jesus brought it into the open. Having called them over, he pointed out how illogical and inaccurate a label it was. “How can Satan be divided against himself?” That seemed to silence them; but what’s more significant here is the point that Jesus made to them about that unforgivable sin, of blasphemy (or “saying evil things” in GNB) against the Holy Spirit.

As I say, that question has troubled many Christians for many years; not wanting to commit that sin themselves. But if it’s set in this context, there is clearly no need for us to worry. Jesus’ point – again as is well explained by Tom Wright – is the danger of getting a wrong idea fixed in the head. If we convince ourselves that the Doctor who’s offering to perform a life-saving operation on us is actually a sadistic murder, then we’ll never agree to having it! That’s how many people saw Jesus in his time – as was the case here. Even as Jesus was bringing in God’s Kingdom, taking back ground from enemy, these people convinced themselves that he was the enemy. And it reaches a point Jesus says, where there is no getting out of this kind of self-made corner. It’s those who keep on blindly insisting that God’s work is actually from the devil who are committing that unforgivable sin, then.

Once again there is so much more that could b said on this. And if it is still troubling you after this brief explanation then please do speak to me about it. For now, though, I want to move on, to pick up the other bracket. That comes in verse 31, when Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived at the house he was in. It was still full enough that there wasn’t room for them to get in, so they sent word in that they were outside. For most of us that probably doesn’t sound too big a deal. We’re mostly used to living far from our wider families; maybe not even having much to do with them for weeks or more at a time. In Jesus’ time (as for many Jews today) it couldn’t have been more different: family provided their model of relating to God: in encompassed their whole life.

Here once again Jesus turned what people, even his own family, thought completely on its head. Looking around him – not just at his chosen 12 – Jesus said that it’s those who do his Father’s will who are his family. This was a truly radical, sweeping redefinition of all that his hearers understood about God, and themselves; so it’s not a point that could’ve been missed by any of them – though it might be by us. What each of us need to get our heads around, then, is what it means for us to follow and obey Jesus; to do his Father’s work; even in the face of life-challenging opposition, let alone if our nearest and dearest call us mad; or demon-possessed.

It may be that you’ve never spent very much time considering that for yourself. If so, and if you do think of yourself as a disciple of Jesus, then now is the time to do just that, I’d suggest. And you could do much worse that to do it in the context of this passage. It may only be short, and contain some unfamiliar cultural material; but it sets out so many of the key issues of life and of the Christian faith. It includes: how we see, understand and interact with, God’s world in God’s way. It allows us to confront the nature of evil, both the overt kind and the sort that invites us to drift away from God. It puts key questions to us about the choices that we will, or won’t, make; about what priorities we’ll set for our time, energy, and relationships. It also encourages us to examine the cost of obedient discipleship; of following Jesus in any, and all, circumstances. And I’m sure that there’s plenty more in here besides that we’ve not even begun to get to today. What I’m even more sure of is that this is all possible only because, in the words of Mark 10:45, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And therein lies both the challenge for us, and the reason for our eternal life that we can, and must, begin to live out right now.

With all that in mind, I’ll end with this prayer written by Henri Nouwen: “Let me be reborn in you and see through you the world in the right way, so that all my actions, words, thoughts can become a hymn of praise to you. I need your loving grace to travel on this hard road that leads to the death of my old self and to a new life in and for you. I know and trust that this is the road to freedom. Lord, dispel my mistrust and help me become a trusting friend. Amen.”

Sermon 14th June 2015

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adrian Parkhouse, preaches. 

The reading is from Mark 3:7-19

“From many to 12”

“Can you expect the wedding guests to fast in the bridegroom’s presence?” Mark 2: 19

I am sure Ben will forgive me for reaching back across the weeks to steal a verse from the passage on which he preached to set the scene this morning. 

Q:  Why don’t your disciples fast?

 A:  They are like men on a stag night:  what do you expect?

Already in our studies of Mark’s gospel, the people around Jesus, those he called and those who came to join as his followers have featured large:  the fishermen on the lake shore, Levi in his tax office, the crowds bringing the sick and the possessed to the door of Simon’s mother-in-law, the “people coming from all quarters”, the walk across the Sabbath cornfield – and now the large crowd of people following and pressing in on the lakeside.

And our passage today tells how Jesus takes time aside – as he often tried to and sometimes managed (in Luke’s account he spends this whole night in prayer) – and then called to himself the men he wanted/called to him those he wanted (13).   He chooses the twelve.  They were summoned up the hill/mountain.  It is interesting that some translations (including GNB) include the phrase “whom he named apostles” (meaning “someone who is sent”);  others (including the NIV) don’t– and the distinction reflects a difference in the underlying manuscripts.  The difference is not important for today – though sadly the issue of who was or was not an apostle was to feature large later in the life of the young church (see Paul’s letter to the Galatians and 2 Cor).  If anything by drawing attention to “job titles” what this point highlights is that in fact the gospel writers use the title of “disciple” quite lightly:  sometimes it refers to the 12;  and sometimes it refers to the wider group of people who have become followers of Jesus.

Even so, “discipleship”, what it means to be a follower of Jesus, is a primary theme in Mark’s gospel.  It is as if we are watching a TV drama where the director has one of the cameras constantly focused on the disciples and again and again the director takes us to them:  we hear what they are saying, we gauge what they are thinking, we laugh at them, we laugh with them, we are shocked by them, we feel for them, we share their experiences: joy, surprise, “who me?!”, self-importance, faith, no-faith, getting it right, getting it wrong, being loyal, running away, understanding, not understanding, victory, fear.  We are with them as they collect the baskets of uneaten bread at the great feedings, we are in the boat in the storm as it dies away, there in the excitement of their return from their own missionary journeys, then we are with them on the road bickering about who is to sit next to him in heaven.  Just like them, to us some of what he says makes sense – but we understand why they don’t understand when he talks of sacrifice.  Like them, we want to be like other people’s disciples – like John’s , we want to know the secret of his praying:  teach us how to pray.  And then we watch ourselves – because it might as well be us now – in that final week in Jerusalem.

It is good – if completely coincidental – that we are all wearing name badges this morning/Emily is getting baptised this morning.  Names and naming feature high in our passage.  We have the names of the 12 themselves (including the new nicknames given to Simon, James and John) and, if we follow the GNB, we have all 12 named as “the apostles”.  This is the start of the discipling journey – and starting with names in a natural thing.  Being individual, bringing themselves with all their individual differences, all represented by their name.  If you have had children, you will have had two relevant experiences;  First, the awesome responsibility of choosing a name for your child – how will it influence their future?  [How do you feel about your name?  Anyone actually changed theirs?  Not very keen on mine:  every sign of chance – delegated to my brother. ]

 Second, you have that the realisation that the baby is not a “little-you” – it is its own person:  it is “different from you”.  That control you exercised in the naming process is fleeting:  the child is herself/himself has its own likes, dislikes and its own will!  And that is us, at the bottom the hillside;  followers, disciples, each with our name, each with own histories, each with our own characteristics – the thing we have in common is a common desire to be a follower of Jesus.

Jesus chose the 12 to be with him and to be sent out to preach.  This is the second phase of discipling:  watching, listening, learning, testing, trying out.  That is what the 12 were to experience up and down the tracks of Palestine, by the lakeside and in the villages and towns:  listening how to pray, having lessons just for them on the meaning of parables, going out themselves to preach the good news, getting things wrong (“no children please!”) and getting things right (“you are the Christ!”).  This is the “being with” phase.  As you read the gospel, the mood becomes more sombre as the group approaches Jerusalem for the last time, as they are sent to find a colt and then an upper room:  no longer is this the fun of the stag party careering across the cornfield.  While the 12 are still far from understanding everything that is to happen, “being with” Jesus has taught them some of its significance.  And during that week in Jerusalem all they have learned will seem wasted.  They will fail. They will hide their name badges and run away.  Until failure is turned into joy at the empty tomb.

We recognise this “being with” phase too?  Committing to follow, being chosen, means for most of us startingSunday 14 June 2015:  Mark 3:7-19:  “From many to 12”

“Can you expect the wedding guests to fast in the bridegroom’s presence?” Mark 2: 19

I am sure Ben will forgive me for reaching back across the weeks to steal a verse from the passage on which he preached to set the scene this morning. 

Q:  Why don’t your disciples fast?

 A:  They are like men on a stag night:  what do you expect?

Already in our studies of Mark’s gospel, the people around Jesus, those he called and those who came to join as his followers have featured large:  the fishermen on the lake shore, Levi in his tax office, the crowds bringing the sick and the possessed to the door of Simon’s mother-in-law, the “people coming from all quarters”, the walk across the Sabbath cornfield – and now the large crowd of people following and pressing in on the lakeside.

And our passage today tells how Jesus takes time aside – as he often tried to and sometimes managed (in Luke’s account he spends this whole night in prayer) – and then called to himself the men he wanted/called to him those he wanted (13).   He chooses the twelve.  They were summoned up the hill/mountain.  It is interesting that some translations (including GNB) include the phrase “whom he named apostles” (meaning “someone who is sent”);  others (including the NIV) don’t– and the distinction reflects a difference in the underlying manuscripts.  The difference is not important for today – though sadly the issue of who was or was not an apostle was to feature large later in the life of the young church (see Paul’s letter to the Galatians and 2 Cor).  If anything by drawing attention to “job titles” what this point highlights is that in fact the gospel writers use the title of “disciple” quite lightly:  sometimes it refers to the 12;  and sometimes it refers to the wider group of people who have become followers of Jesus.

Even so, “discipleship”, what it means to be a follower of Jesus, is a primary theme in Mark’s gospel.  It is as if we are watching a TV drama where the director has one of the cameras constantly focused on the disciples and again and again the director takes us to them:  we hear what they are saying, we gauge what they are thinking, we laugh at them, we laugh with them, we are shocked by them, we feel for them, we share their experiences: joy, surprise, “who me?!”, self-importance, faith, no-faith, getting it right, getting it wrong, being loyal, running away, understanding, not understanding, victory, fear.  We are with them as they collect the baskets of uneaten bread at the great feedings, we are in the boat in the storm as it dies away, there in the excitement of their return from their own missionary journeys, then we are with them on the road bickering about who is to sit next to him in heaven.  Just like them, to us some of what he says makes sense – but we understand why they don’t understand when he talks of sacrifice.  Like them, we want to be like other people’s disciples – like John’s , we want to know the secret of his praying:  teach us how to pray.  And then we watch ourselves – because it might as well be us now – in that final week in Jerusalem.

It is good – if completely coincidental – that we are all wearing name badges this morning/Emily is getting baptised this morning.  Names and naming feature high in our passage.  We have the names of the 12 themselves (including the new nicknames given to Simon, James and John) and, if we follow the GNB, we have all 12 named as “the apostles”.  This is the start of the discipling journey – and starting with names in a natural thing.  Being individual, bringing themselves with all their individual differences, all represented by their name.  If you have had children, you will have had two relevant experiences;  First, the awesome responsibility of choosing a name for your child – how will it influence their future?  [How do you feel about your name?  Anyone actually changed theirs?  Not very keen on mine:  every sign of chance – delegated to my brother. ]

 Second, you have that the realisation that the baby is not a “little-you” – it is its own person:  it is “different from you”.  That control you exercised in the naming process is fleeting:  the child is herself/himself has its own likes, dislikes and its own will!  And that is us, at the bottom the hillside;  followers, disciples, each with our name, each with own histories, each with our own characteristics – the thing we have in common is a common desire to be a follower of Jesus.

Jesus chose the 12 to be with him and to be sent out to preach.  This is the second phase of discipling:  watching, listening, learning, testing, trying out.  That is what the 12 were to experience up and down the tracks of Palestine, by the lakeside and in the villages and towns:  listening how to pray, having lessons just for them on the meaning of parables, going out themselves to preach the good news, getting things wrong (“no children please!”) and getting things right (“you are the Christ!”).  This is the “being with” phase.  As you read the gospel, the mood becomes more sombre as the group approaches Jerusalem for the last time, as they are sent to find a colt and then an upper room:  no longer is this the fun of the stag party careering across the cornfield.  While the 12 are still far from understanding everything that is to happen, “being with” Jesus has taught them some of its significance.  And during that week in Jerusalem all they have learned will seem wasted.  They will fail. They will hide their name badges and run away.  Until failure is turned into joy at the empty tomb.

We recognise this “being with” phase too?  Committing to follow, being chosen, means for most of us starting a whole new journey where we are not sure we know how to read the map?  For example, everything I have said today may make no sense at all – lots of references to Bible stories with which we may not be familiar?  It takes time and application to be a disciple – to learn, time to test, time to try again – learning the code to the sermons is the least important thing:  learning to love God and love one another is of great importance. 

The 12 were chosen not just to “be with” Jesus but also to be “sent out” to preach.  The experiments they were try out later in the gospel were seen to be a foretaste of the “Great Commission” after the resurrection:  “You must go to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature! (16:15). Having learned, they were to take responsibility.  Well done them!

Naming;  being with and being sent.  The 12, the apostles.  But I wonder what the mood was at the bottom of the hill - among those who were not summoned up the hill?  I have this picture in my mind of everyone having turned up that day with their CVs ready, hoping for an interview.  Begs the question as to what a CV for an apostle might contain?  And it might lead to an interesting sketch on th interview process?  This line of thought led me inevitably to the internet and things people wish they hadn’t put in their job applications:

KEY SKILLS: “I would like to assure you that I am a hardly working person”

SIZE OF CURRENT EMPLOYER: “Very tall, probably over 6’5″”

But to return to the line of thought, I am thinking of those folk who have seen the 12 go up the hill –  that special 12, the number of the tribes of Israel – how are we feeling?

I raise this question because I am acutely aware that it may seem that there is an increasing number of “opportunities for service” in the parish at the moment:  in both churches there are the regularly repeated requests for volunteers for the every-Sunday tasks [Chairs, flowers, microphones, cleaning, Children’s Church etc.];  to which now are added even more “opportunities” to get involved in Parish matters – the upcoming weekend, the holiday clubs, the elderly lunches, the Tree Shepherd employment work.  The opportunities are multiplying – the pressure to leave the stag party and find a route up the hill may seem to be growing.   At the same time, the number of disciples involved is increasing:  for some waiting at the bottom of the hill, the question may be, “is there space for talent that I think I have been given?”

I have no specific answers – but just a general plea, that in all of this, coming forward or not coming forward, we are able to see the life of the church as a gathering of disciples:  we are each individuals, we each need the time and space to be with Jesus and realise his love for us and then we need to be sent out in one way of another to do what He has for us to do.  And feel free to say where you are:  no is an acceptable response.

 a whole new journey where we are not sure we know how to read the map?  For example, everything I have said today may make no sense at all – lots of references to Bible stories with which we may not be familiar?  It takes time and application to be a disciple – to learn, time to test, time to try again – learning the code to the sermons is the least important thing:  learning to love God and love one another is of great importance. 

The 12 were chosen not just to “be with” Jesus but also to be “sent out” to preach.  The experiments they were try out later in the gospel were seen to be a foretaste of the “Great Commission” after the resurrection:  “You must go to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature! (16:15). Having learned, they were to take responsibility.  Well done them!

Naming;  being with and being sent.  The 12, the apostles.  But I wonder what the mood was at the bottom of the hill - among those who were not summoned up the hill?  I have this picture in my mind of everyone having turned up that day with their CVs ready, hoping for an interview.  Begs the question as to what a CV for an apostle might contain?  And it might lead to an interesting sketch on th interview process?  This line of thought led me inevitably to the internet and things people wish they hadn’t put in their job applications:

KEY SKILLS: “I would like to assure you that I am a hardly working person”

SIZE OF CURRENT EMPLOYER: “Very tall, probably over 6’5″”

But to return to the line of thought, I am thinking of those folk who have seen the 12 go up the hill –  that special 12, the number of the tribes of Israel – how are we feeling?

I raise this question because I am acutely aware that it may seem that there is an increasing number of “opportunities for service” in the parish at the moment:  in both churches there are the regularly repeated requests for volunteers for the every-Sunday tasks [Chairs, flowers, microphones, cleaning, Children’s Church etc.];  to which now are added even more “opportunities” to get involved in Parish matters – the upcoming weekend, the holiday clubs, the elderly lunches, the Tree Shepherd employment work.  The opportunities are multiplying – the pressure to leave the stag party and find a route up the hill may seem to be growing.   At the same time, the number of disciples involved is increasing:  for some waiting at the bottom of the hill, the question may be, “is there space for talent that I think I have been given?”

I have no specific answers – but just a general plea, that in all of this, coming forward or not coming forward, we are able to see the life of the church as a gathering of disciples:  we are each individuals, we each need the time and space to be with Jesus and realise his love for us and then we need to be sent out in one way of another to do what He has for us to do.  And feel free to say where you are:  no is an acceptable response.

Sermon 7th June 2015

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adjoa Andoh-Cunnell, preaches. 

Controversy part 2

Last Sunday I was at my mums in Shropshire, getting ready to travel home and listening to the morning act of worship on radio4.
The guest speaker was American Preacher and Christian author Becky Pippert and this is a story she told...as best I can remember it...
There's a young man in the American Midwest, a student, long haired jeans t shirt - barefoot. He is comfortable this way, goes barefoot everywhere
Any way this barefoot young man has recently become a Christian and decides to attend a Sunday service at the local church. It's a mid Western pretty buttoned down church. The young man, being a particular sort of young man is late and the church in this very observant community is pretty full. The service has begun and seeing no seats available, the young man wanders down the central aisle to the carpet at the front and sits down on it. There is muttering from the congregation ....., a barefoot hippy sitting crossed legged on the carpet in front of the preacher!
A stern looking elderly church deacon, walking-stick in hand, makes his way slowly down the aisle towards the cross legged stranger at the front. The congregation is transfixed, this deacon doesn't mess about! Some can hardly bear to watch. The elderly deacon reaches the young man, stick in hand ...and then drops the stick to the floor and gingerly lowers himself to the carpet to sit beside the young man.
And as the sermon continues the preacher says to the congregation
I doubt you'll remember much of what I've preached, but you won't forget the love of Christ seen here this morning.
We'll come back to Becky Pippert's story and hopefully between Becky and Mark's gospel we'll remember whatever it is God has in mind for us this morning..
So the Gospel of Mark! What a rollercoaster! Within 2 Chapters we have
met John the Baptist,
fulfilling Isaiah's prophesy,
preparing the way for the Messiah,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins
Then the Messiah appears out of Nazareth is baptised by John in the River Jordan
and as he emerges
heaven is torn open
the Spirit descends on Jesus like a Dove
and a voice comes from heaven
"you are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
Then Sent by the Spirit for forty days into the wilderness from which John appeared,
Jesus is tempted by Satan.
Mark tells us 'he was with wild animals and angels attended him'
John is imprisoned
And Jesus goes to Galilee proclaiming the good news " the Time has come.
The kingdom of God has come near.
Repent and believe the good news!"
Exclamation mark!!
And we're off!!

Disciples in tow, the first thing Mark tells us Jesus does?
GN 1:21/22
'...and on the next Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught, for he wasn't like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority'
NIV
V 21 'When the Sabbath came Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.
22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law
And There we have it
The divine authority, on the Sabbath
And for the Pharisees, the teachers of the law - the unbearable threat
Jesus has been baptised, blessed, prepared and tested and on the sabbath comes to bring authoritative teaching.
In Mark, Christ's healing, his forgiving, his bringing wholeness into the world is all part of his teaching us the good news he has come to proclaim
Good news that overcomes even death, with the resurrection and the promise of life everlasting The Time has Come
The Kingdom of God has come near Repent and believe the good news!
People get ready!
This was like nothing anyone had ever experienced or could imagine experiencing
The people were amazed and the Pharisees were undermined
and Jesus - imbued with the Spirit and affirmed by the heavenly voice
came to revolutionise our understanding of our relationship with God - the good news!
and in this morning's reading we see all the elements come together around the teaching on the Sabbath.
So what's the controversy around the Sabbath?
The fourth Commandment is thought by some as the commandment of the ten, that most clearly describes our relationship with our creator
The commandment says
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).
The Hebrew word for Sabbath, shabbath, means “to cease, to pause or take an intermission. What does Jesus' example tell us about the use of the Sabbath?
Mark 1:21
'when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.'
In community with others, on the Sabbath, we learn more about our relationship with God and we can take that pause from life's demands - 'God rested the seventh day. Therefore The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it' - made it holy
We are told that the confrontation in this mornings reading between Jesus and the Pharisees has been brewing from that first Sabbath teaching time
When the Pharisees see the disciples travelling through the fields picking corn
In the Greek Verses 24 is translated as
And the Pharisees were saying why do you let your disciples behave this way on the sabbaths - suggesting an ongoing argument

And in response,at verse 25 again in the Greek, Jesus counters with
have you never comprehended the story of David and how he hungered, he and his followers
Of course the Pharisees would know the story, just as they knew the law, but did they comprehend the story? Did they comprehend the reasoning, the spirit behind the law?
The Sabbath as comprehended by the Pharisees was about the limitations placed on humanity in order to live compliant lives.
The Sabbath as comprehended by its creator-made-man in Jesus, was about the release, the freedom given to Humanity in order to live whole lives
It is not therefore surprising in this ongoing argument that Jesus' making whole in body and spirit the man with the crippled hand on the Sabbath is the final straw for the Pharisees.
GN
3:2 Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong; so they watched him closely to see whether he would cure the man on the Sabbath.
NIV
3:2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
And Jesus' response?
GN
3:5 Jesus was angry as he looked around at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong.
NIV
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts
Anger at their unwillingness to let go in their stubborn hearts of the belief that only they could know the meaning of scripture even in the face of the divine power and wisdom Jesus had exercised repeatedly all round the country.
Or perhaps they were unwilling because of that divine power - it undermined their earthly power? They are so incensed that they are driven to plot Jesus' death .
And Jesus' distress and sadness at their stubborn hearts?
Perhaps because the Pharisees as teachers of the law are unable to grasp what the lived meaning of wholeness, Gods gift of freedom, could mean to them and their followers. That good news is lost to them
Lost to the Pharisees even though The Sabbath in Jewish tradition is the date to remember and celebrate God's freeing of the Israelites from Slavery in Egypt.
A day to mirror Gods power to release us into freedom, by freeing ourselves from toil. Deuteronomy 5:15 tells us
Good News
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and that I, the Lord your God, rescued you by my great power and strength. That is why I command you to observe the Sabbath
(NIV)
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
The sabbath - A day, Jesus invites us all to understand, that is made for us, not we for it.
GN 2:27
“The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath. NIV
2:27
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath
What's the difference?
One is a gift freely given to us

The other a box that we must fit into
Does Christ release our lives to nourishment healing and freedom - or Does Christ limit and restrict our lives?
Well It seems that Christianity as a restrictive buttoned down box as opposed to freedom and nourishment is the misunderstanding of many of the population of this country - as according to the news this week the numbers of Anglicans has fallen to an all time low.
Now perhaps other Christian denominations are catching the short fall , I'm sure some are but beyond that for a nominally Christian country it seems many people have no clear understanding of that good news Jesus came to proclaim, or it's true potential impact on their lives and on the world in general.
How do we follow Archbishop Justin Welby in his resulting call for new evangelising?
We follow Jesus in spreading the comprehension of what a holy life in Christ means.
Jesus challenges the Pharisees understanding of God's law, God's relationship with us, through the story of a hungry David in The Temple, through his actions on the Sabbath - The sacred space and the sacred day - connected in holiness -
God rested the seventh day. Therefore The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it' - made it holy
How is this challenging holiness embodied in our lives?
What is this holy life?
A holy life is a circular one, it brings us to God's wholeness, nourishment and compassion and through us brings those gifts to our world - evangelising through His love. And in doing so it brings us back to God.
In Isaiah 58 the prophet describes fasting as a way of purification, of bringing ourselves back to God. Isaiah speaks of the true value to a God of this purification as a prelude to the true nature of the Sabbath.
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
He continues at verses 13-14
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honourable,
and if you honour it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
It is no good our appearing to live text book godly lives if there is no love in our hearts if there is no willingness to open ourselves to God's discernment and follow his lead.
Are we the old deacon who sits beside the young man? Or the muttering congregation?
Are we loosing the chains of injustice? Are we sharing our food with the hungry? Or is that someone else's responsibility?

Perhaps the deacon made his way down that aisle fully intending to berate the young man as many in the congregation from past experience expected him to. Perhaps like the incensed Pharisees in the temple he was a stickler for correct behaviour in the house of God. Perhaps in that last moment as he drew alongside the young man he was surprised by God, surprised by that love, surprised perhaps by his own heart's willingness to let God lead
And what would that young man have learnt that morning?
Perhaps In that instant, that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath? Perhaps That the carpet was as good a place to share in worship as any
And Before we get all health and safety twitchy - blocking exists, chaos etc- it's not that the carpet was the ideal place, nor am I calling on everyone to charge to the front and hunker down here, but in the deacon's being alongside the young man, there was a welcome to God's house, an invitation to share in His love.
Who knows what brought that young man to faith or to that particular church that morning. Was he almost put off by full seats and no space for him, was he uncertain as he walked down the aisle, did he get to the front and then embarrassed just plonk himself on the floor
Was he not only new to faith but also new to church etiquette?
As it turned out Who knows what richness, of friendship and of relationship might develop from that encounter that morning, but an encouragement in faith was surely there
This is the spirit of Gods law
An encouragement in faith in the certainty of his love, to be alongside us at all times, to know just what we need to nourish us in that moment, to make us whole, to sustain us
Jesus came to release us into the discernment of his Fathers love, that through him the direct relationship with God was restored, he came with love to show us that the ultimate legal sanction death had no hold on him, and as the son of man, to humankind he showed that that freedom of life everlasting was to be ours as well, no wonder the Pharisees were incensed. Rule breaking and radical going against the accepted norms, Jesus calls on us, as he did the Pharisees, to question what we are following - the law or The Lord - it's a question of discernment..we can legally find ways to avoid tax but is that in the spirit of sharing our income with the nation for the good of the nation? We can seek out the best bargains in the things we buy but is that at the expense of the lives of those who may be treated unfairly to produce those goods. The holiness in our faith sits not just on the day or in the place that we worship, but also in the holiness of our lives
That ongoing conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus about how holiness should be lived out is our ongoing conversation -
Jesus asks do we do good or evil on the sabbath?
do we live lives reflecting God's values or the world's values?
in our personal lives do we act with love and or legalism - do we see the person before us and ask what does that person actually need or do we ask what ought they to need?
Proverbs 15.1 tells us
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Jesus saw the hunger of the body and the spirit, Jesus saw the brokenness and the yearning to be free of all that holds us away from Gods love and gave his loving attention to that need
Wholeness in Christ requires our whole attention, our whole commitment, our alertness to willingly flourish as the people God made us to be,
to delight in the freedom of a Sabbath day, a day marked by the remembrance of God's compassion and justice ,
a day encouraging us in shared worship to carry that compassion and justice into our week
As Christians I would suggest that it is our job, to leave no one forgotten, and in the spirit of Justin Welby's new evangelising in this country to leave no one we meet ignorant of the freedom of God's love, compassion and justice,
then as Isaiah puts it
'our righteousness (our wholeness with God) will go before us, and the glory of the Lord will be our rear guard.'

God before us and behind us always how wonderful

David and his companions were not to starve when there was bread in the temple
The man with the withered hand was not to struggle on when God's healing power in the shape of the son of man was in the temple and able to restore his hand
As a commentator from the theology of work website observes
The sacred spaces of earth are not refuges of holiness against the world, but places of God’s presence for the world, for his sustenance and restoration of the world.
We can be those living sacred spaces, Places of God's holy presence in the world
The tree shepherd project and the ongoing community action projects here in Herne Hill are some of the ways that we can be those sacred living spaces - where we can work to restore a sense of purpose and hope to those under or unemployed.
We can give nourishment to our neighbours hungry for company and fun through our holiday projects, our lunch clubs, our singing and drama groups, our being alongside the prisoners of Brixton prison and a hundred small acts of love everyday. Perhaps we are involved in charitable work or giving, perhaps we write letters to prisoners via Amnesty International Perhaps we buy goods from Fairtrade or trade craft. Perhaps we keep an eye on a neighbour or make a point of speaking to a stranger in need.
We are the young man and we are the old deacon, both perhaps uncertain, both perhaps surprised by God's promptings if only we open our hearts
We are so blessed to have Jesus' examples to follow of love freely given, divine son of Man, examples that not only show us how to live but in doing so offer us the freedom of knowing that we are held in the unshakable love of our Heavenly Father sitting alongside us on the uncertain carpet of our everyday lives as we bring in the Kingdom come, Gods living Sabbaths each one of us.
My prayer for us is that
Heavenly Father you will Give us the open hearts and minds to discern as you would have us discern
May we follow Jesus' lead and bring compassion justice and love to a broken world in need
And in a life lead by you May peace reign, may joy be always our companion
and May the glory of The Lord be always our rear guard. Amen