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Sermon for Sunday 25th January 2009 - Life Balance - Celebration |
by Pete Sandford |
Readings: Old Testament: Isaiah 58:5-9 Is such the fast that I choose, Is not this the fast that I choose: Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
Gospel: Mark 2: 13-17 Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples — for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." Celebration This week we watched a historic occasion, a great celebration attended by more than two million people, a gathering stretching further than the eye could see and witnessed by millions more over TV and Internet broadcasts. Barack Hussein Obama finally arrived at the steps of the Capitol to swear the Oath of Office. A long and improbable journey, not only in the race for the White House but, more than that, in the struggle for equality and justice, that “a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant [could] stand […] to take a most sacred oath”. A journey made visible in the story of one man, but beyond that, the journey of those whose ancestors “endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth”. The crowds and audiences worldwide held their breath as the new President approached the podium, anticipating a speech of great celebration, of soaring oratory, of exultant poetry. Within a minute the quality of that silence had changed as their hero began to speak of crisis, war and failure. Is this what they had travelled or tuned-in to hear? There’s a similar clash in this morning’s readings – here’s how we think things ought to be and here’s how God says different. To understand these readings and the challenge they carry, we have to go right back to the beginning, to the first pages of our Bibles, to the sixth day of creation where we read: “God created humankind in his image, The thumb-print of God, present in all of humankind from the moment “God shaped Adam from the dust of the earth”; the breath of God, present in each one of us from the moment “God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7). The Psalmist reminds us “Know that the LORD is God. In our Lent Groups this coming week, we will be exploring this theme as an aid to understanding how celebration is an essential part of our “Life Balance”. Delight is the first of the three themes of this week’s discussion. God delights in us as his creation. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. I love watching the long-running U.S. political drama, The West Wing, where the camera is constantly on the move. From the earliest episodes, the phrase, “Let’s walk and talk” keeps recurring as the behind the scenes workings of the White House are acted out at a fast walking pace. Mark’s Gospel is just like that. Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me”. And he got up and followed him. This is Jesus, the fast-moving teacher from Nazareth. If you want to learn from him, you have to follow him – “he taught them as he was walking along”! For me, Jesus is the greatest example of the catch phrase “It’s no good talking the talk if you can’t walk the walk.” Mark demonstrates for us that Jesus teaches not only through his words but through his actions. And what actions these are. So convincing is Jesus in his combination of words and action, of talk and walk, that already the fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John, have left their nets to follow him. His words of the immanent Kingdom of God, backed up by the works of healing. Those words now come to Levi son of Alphaeus sat at his tax booth. “Follow me!” These are words of invitation and of grace. That a rabbi should take the initiative in offering such an invitation was surprise enough, but that the recipient of that invitation should be a tax collector, a collaborator with the oppressor regime, was either pure grace or pure scandal. Levi’s response: “And he got up and followed him”. The consequence of that invitation and response, one we will see again and again through the Gospels, is celebration. And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples — for there were many who followed him. The second theme of this week’s Life Balance theme is Beauty. These were not the ‘Beautiful People’ in the eyes of those who had the religious and political power. The lives and actions of those sat at table with Jesus would have been described as ugly by the religious leaders. And yet, as the one who spoke the word at the beginning of creation, Jesus the Living Word sees the beauty within each of these people around him. Jesus later talks of the celebration in heaven when even one sinner repents. What a celebration this must have been as Jesus and his disciples are joined for dinner by many sinners and tax collectors who came to follow him. We can see this table as being an anticipation of both the last supper and of the celebration at the end of time. But soon the grace of Jesus’ presence at this table becomes scandal. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Yet Jesus is not about to be sidetracked from his way of grace by the criticism of those who would close the door to any who did not attain to the perfection demanded by their narrow interpretation of the law. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." The next stories told by Mark narrate the escalation of this conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities; a conflict which quickly builds to the point of those religious leaders conspiring with the puppet authorities of the oppressing power to put an end to Jesus’ life. The arguments they have may seem to be over small technicalities of the law, of minute and conservative observance of the tiniest detail versus a liberal and radically open interpretation, but Jesus recognises that at the heart of these arguments is the very understanding of God himself. The religious leaders have put themselves in God’s place by imposing their interpretation of the law. Jesus aligns himself with God and offers them a way past this pious idolatry in reminding them of the place of God as the creator of all things and therefore the supreme authority. "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." This is all about Gift, the third theme of this week’s group. Gift is not about what we can do for God, but that God first loved us. All of our works, we are told, can do nothing to move us closer to God. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and we cannot bridge that gap. But through the gift of Jesus life on the cross, that gap is bridged. The clash between outward pietism and true obedience is voiced through the Prophet Isaiah when God challenges those who think they can justify themselves through their public shows of uprightness. Is such the fast that I choose, Is not this the fast that I choose: Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, This is the challenge, not only to talk the talk, but also to walk the walk, to let our faith speak through our works. Barack Obama, in his Inaugural Address, pointed out this same rugged path of working for justice, of following the way of our convictions and of our faith. For Obama, “the source of our confidence [is] the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.” A confidence in God who, through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, makes this promise to those whose faith is matched by action:
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, Now that is a reason to celebrate! Amen |
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