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Sermon for
Proper 17 - Trinity 14 - Sunday 28th August 2016
Hebrews
13. 1-8, 15-16
Luke 14. 1, 7-14
It is part of being a Vicar
that one is invited to more wedding receptions than most people...
Not every one, of course - but to a fair number. And there is
always that awkward moment of consulting the seating plan to
learn where one has been 'put'.
Over the years I have learned not to stress about this....
Nowadays I am perfectly happy to sit at the back of the room
and attract as little attention as possible - but in my early
days of being 'on show' as the religious professional in the
room, I admit to getting a bit anxious about the people who might
be my neighbours at the table and when (and if) I would be expected
to say grace.
I was finally cured of my anxiety by the "Crusty Colonel"
as he was known in one of my former parishes.... When his youngest
daughter finally decided to get married to her long-time fiancé,
I was duly expected to perform the ceremony in 'her' church ....
which since her father actually lived in the old vicarage that
was physically connected to the little Victorian church building
by a corridor, I couldn't argue with!
All the wedding plans were agreed - strictly Book of Common Prayer;
marquees were erected; caterers booked and in due course my invitation
arrived - I was summoned to attend the wedding breakfast following
the service.
The next time I saw the father of the bride I thought I would
pre-empt any last minute awkwardness and I volunteered to say
grace - if he would just arrange for me to be told when would
be the appropriate moment.
He gave me what can only be described as a withering look, and
exclaimed -" but it's a wedding reception!" Feeling
a little confused, I said, "I know - that is why I asked
- people often expect me to say grace." "Oh good God
no!", was his reply.
On the day, I understood better. His idea of a wedding breakfast
was a glass of champagne, consumed while standing around chatting
and eating the occasional canapé brought round by the
waiting staff.... Much like a hunt meet, now I come to think
about it! But without the same enjoyable atmosphere!
Then came the speeches, (brief) , the cutting of the cake and
then we were all expected to go home while the real guests -
the friends of the happy couple arrived an hour or two later
for a hog roast and party which would stretch late into the night
- long after the 'official guests' had gone home.... feeling
surprisingly hungry!!! (But at least I didn't have to sit and
make conversation with total strangers)
Later I came to understand
that this was a model from a bygone age - think Downton Abbey.
But it put me in my place and ensured that I no longer take anything
for granted!
Don't sit at the top table,
declares Jesus; start at the bottom and see what happens. If
this is a parable, as Luke says, it isn't advice about behaviour
at dinner parties - or even weddings. In Luke's wider context,
its meaning is linked with the warning Jesus gave, and his summons
to, the people of his day. God has promised a great wedding party,
the 'messianic banquet'. But if Israel thinks she has an inalienable
right to sit at the top table, she has another think coming.
Pride comes before a fall, humility before exaltation. This isn't
just wise counsel to an individual: it's Jesus' great challenge
to the Israel of his day.
However, since Jesus Christ
is 'the same yesterday and today and for ever', it is right that
we apply the message to other days, other places. We dare not
restrict it just to the cameo portrait of prudent social humility.
Jesus worked with a bigger
canvas. His message, focused now on his cross and resurrection,
summons the powers of the world to humility; those who think
themselves great are confronted with their own true King shamefully
executed, a sight which overturns all arrogance and unmasks all
pretension. Faced with the crucified and risen Lord of the
world, the rulers of the nations will begin with shame to take
the lowest place.
Hebrews 13 outlines the lifestyle
of those who have based their lives on the humiliating gospel
of Jesus. Hospitality renounces pride of home and family; identifying
with political prisoners renounces pride of social status. The
false gods of sex and money (and today we might add celebrity),
who give to those who pursue them a superficial haughtiness,
are renounced in chastity and humble trust.
Worship the true God, and share
the good things you have. This humble way of living, pleasing
to God, may - probably will - call down abuse and threats from
those whose own lifestyles are thereby exposed as arrogant, but
this merely reinforces the fact that the present world is not
our ultimate home. 'We seek the city that is to come.' In that
city, pride and fear are replaced with gratitude and trust.
Earthly homes may be reduced
in the twinkling of an eye or the tremor of an earthquake to
so much rubble - as we have seen demonstrated with devastating
effect just this week. While we mourn with and have compassion
for the people of Syria and Italy - who see their homes destroyed
for different reasons, but with much the same result, it does
serve to bring home to us how temporary human mastery of this
world really is. God's kingdom - by contrast - is unshakeable.
No disaster, natural or human in origin can destroy it. We can
do nothing of our own account to earn our place in it, but God
offers us hospitality at his table without measure. Open your
hands and your hearts to receive it. Amen.
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28th
August 2016 - Sermon for Proper 17 - Sunday Evening |
Isaiah 33. 13-22
John 3. 22 - 26
Those of us who sing Alto are
usually particularly fond of an anthem by Orlando Gibbons one
of those Tudor composers that managed to carve out a living between
the Church and the Court. The anthem I have in mind is "this
is the record of John" . Written originally for a counter
tenor of course - it is one of the few times that an alto gets
to sing a solo and it often appears during the season of Advent
on that Sunday that is devoted to John as the herald of the coming
Christ.
Our reading tonight reminds
us that John was always quite clear about his position in relation
to his younger cousin, Jesus. As the song puts it - when the
Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him "Who
art thou?" and he answered plainly, "I am not the Christ".
John is a fascinating character
for lots of reasons. He stands suspended somehow between the
old and new testaments - not quite belonging fully to either.
He has, it seems, a premonition of just how important Jesus is
- but he dies long before Jesus' work or mission becomes completely
clear. So is he a Christian? Or is he a Jew? Whatever you class
him as, he must have been a very generous hearted person.
As Jesus begins his public
ministry and his fame is spreading, John's disciples assume he
will be jealous. They were of course unaware at that stage that
John would shortly be arrested and meet his grisly end soon after
that at the hands of Herod. His followers no doubt thought that
his movement would go on into the future, and they were upset
on John's behalf that someone who at first seemed to be part
of their crowd, was now setting up in independent competition!
John's response is not only
that it does not matter, but that it has to be like this. Jesus
is the one entrusted with God's special mission on earth - God's
purposes. John has played his part - rather like the best man
at the wedding, he has delivered his lines, turned up on time
- and now must fade into the background - not try to steal the
bride for himself.
This imagery plays on ancient
symbolism from the Old Testament - the Hebrew Scriptures, that
likened the nation of Israel to a bride that God would one day
make his own. Whether John was consciously drawing on this, we
will never know, but his mind seems focussed on the fact that
Jesus is the Messiah - God's anointed, Israel's coming King and
that he himself is not.
John the evangelist is quite
keen to teach people that whether small or large, everyone has
a part to play in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, but
that we should not try to compare ourselves to others - just
focus on what our own part is to be and take pride in that. Later
Peter will be reminded of this very fact as he meets with the
resurrected Christ on the shore and is commissioned to care for
the flock. In tonight's reading, John the Baptist insists that
if Jesus is prospering, and people are going to him, rather than
to John, that is a cause for celebration, rather than misery
or jealousy.
I am reminded of those athletes
at the Olympics who know that they have only a brief time to
make their mark. For as the years go by and their bodies become
less resilient, less flexible, there will be other, younger athletes
waiting to take their turn on the medal podium. Some never reach
the heights of Olympic glory for themselves - but know that they
have played a part in helping the golden girls and boys to reach
their potential.
So maybe tonight the question
for each of us to ask ourselves is where are we in this great
story that continues down the ages? What is the part that we
are being called on to play and how attentive are we to listening
to God's call?
There are many competing voices
in our modern world - all vying for attention, all seeming to
say "Choose my way - I have the answers!" Today, who
do people trust? To whom do they listen and follow?
All too often, alas, the one
that many seem to gravitate towards has no breath of heaven about
them; no sign of life from the hidden dimension of God's world.
Meanwhile, most of those to whom Jesus was sent did not, and
do not, receive what he has to say. The end of that road is oblivion
- not because God is cruel or spiteful - God is never a bully
or tyrant. But anyone who does receive his Word - who accepts
that God speaks truly through Jesus of Nazareth and gives us
his spirit through him, as his love is poured out into the world,
- such a person already has within themselves the life that,
like the son, comes from heaven.
And if we have that life and
light within us - even if we sense that the moment has passed
us by and that others are now the rising stars - we can be content
that we have played our part; we have pointed the way towards
God and the salvation that only God can provide. Amen.
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