John the Baptist - A Homily

Gospel Reading Luke 3:1-6

This morning’s Gospel reading concerns John the Baptist. John’s story and the story of Jesus are bound up together in the opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel. And here, at the beginning of chapter three, as we leap forward almost thirty years from the events of the nativity, the magnificat, and the annunciation, we see that their lives are still entwined, as they each live out God’s calling. John’s calling is to call Israel, and us, back to God.

John is cousin of Jesus, and in some respects the very last of the Prophets. John had the prophetic task of preparing the people of Israel for the ministry of Jesus. He calls the people of Israel to stop, repent, and anticipate the coming ministry of Jesus. We too hear that call today. In this time of year John’s words are particularly meaningful, as we work our way through advent preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth, but also preparing ourselves for his return.

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The Gospel passage begins with a list of names that may strike us as confusing, or boring. Yet, Luke includes them for us because they achieve two purposes: First, the introduction roots the story within real history, within real geography. There is a sense that Luke is concerned to ensure we recognise these events as real history. This is to be no mere myth; of the six names mentioned only one cannot be clearly and independently dated.

Secondly, and of more significance to us, this pronouncement of names reads like a fanfare, a scene-setter. This list of names serves to give formal status to that which follows. I don’t know if you have ever seen or read a piece of legislation, one of our laws, as they sit on the statute book? Well, they begin with an enacting clause similar to this:

“in the 64th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth”
"BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons...

This mirrors almost exactly Luke’s opening lines. We can tell from our modern “enacting clause” that what follows is important, it is to be listened to and applied. The powers of the state are set forth and we are to sit up and take notice.  How much more should we sit up and take notice of ministry of John the Baptist, of whom Jesus says elsewhere “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater”.

And so, we turn to the ministry of John and ask “what is he doing, and why?” The Gospel passage tells that John’s ministry drew on, or in some sense fulfilled, the sayings of the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah spoke a message of hope during a time of national turmoil; but it was not an “easy” hope. It was not trite, Isaiah demanded that the people of Israel returned to God, and lived up to all of God’s expectations.

John preaches harsh words, as did Isaiah, we hear them elsewhere in the gospels. He is in many respects uncompromising. Yet, he has little time for those whom we would think were his natural allies – the Pharisees. They too were uncompromising, but only so far as the externals were concerned, only so far as the letter of the law was concerned. John had no time for this sort of religion. Neither must we.

For John, true religion must change us, not merely our actions. This is what repentance literally means: a change of heart, not merely a change of action. And it is to the heart that John speaks using the language of “paths” “winding ways” and “rough roads”.

The picture, a popular image in ancient world and found throughout the scriptures, is of a triumphant king returning home. The jubilant subjects wish to make it as easy for their beloved king to take up his throne by removing obstacles, and straightening the roads.

This might be difficult for us to picture. Perhaps we can think of the end of Robin Hood; when King Richard returns to restore good and righteous rule and depose Prince John. These illustrations help us to think about how we too must seek to remove the obstacles that prevent Christ from taking his rightful place enthroned in our hearts. Those sins that take root in the secret place of our heart must go. But how?

Surely this is too great a work for us, the Old Testament bears witness to the countless generations in the history of Israel who were called to repentance and yet slid back into Idolatry and sinfulness. John has the answer for us. He says of Jesus in verse 16, just a bit later than this morning’s reading:

“I baptize you with[a] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire."

It is by this baptism of the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to work towards those promises made when we were baptised with water. Let me remind you of them:

• To reject the devil and all rebellion against God;
• To renounce the deceit and corruption of evil;
• To repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour;
• To turn to Christ as Saviour;
• To submit to Christ as Lord;
• To come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

This is a huge undertaking, of that there is no doubt; but as we journey through advent, it is in the power of the same Spirit who raised Jesus Christ to life that we repent of our rebellion against God, and by the same Spirit that we submit to Jesus Christ as Lord.

He is the King who is coming again, and to whom we must all give an account of our lives. But if he is able to make mountains low and fill valleys, then he is able to do this work in us so that we can welcome him with authentic joy.

Amen.

Bartimaeus and the Son of David: A Homily

A couple of people asked whether my sermons are recorded, they are not, but I do stick fairly closely to my script, so what appears here is roughly what the congregation heard:

Sitting in poverty, beside that street two thousand years ago, Bartimaeus, though he is blind, sees a great and eternal truth. As word spreads through the town, gossip and speculation, observation and inference, with the arrival of this itinerant preacher and his band of disciples, Bartimaeus comes to realise the hope that he has in his heart. The faith he has that God will not leave him in his misery, the faith that he has that Messiah has come:

Let us Pray: Almighty and ever wise God, who through your son Jesus Christ have vindicated the Israel of God, the Church, open our ears and hearts to hear your words for us today, by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen

As Jesus approaches where he rests, Bartimaeus makes a bold decision, he cries out in faith. Although it was perhaps opportunistic, or spur of the moment, the phrase that Blind Bartimaeus chooses to address Jesus, Son of David, was far from chance. It was a colloquial, popular expression that indicated that somebody was thought to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed Servant of God. As we know from reading the Gospels each Sunday, year in year out, the Jewish people at the time of Jesus had developed a range of ideas about who they thought this Messiah, this saviour, would be and what he would be like. It is fair to say, however, that many of these ideas stemmed from the Jewish scriptures concerning David, the great king. 

In many respects the historic King David was revered, almost as a sort of mythic ‘once and future king’, held in popular imagination like our own king Arthur. It was from the line, or house, of David that the Messiah was to come. We hear this prophecy throughout the old testament. We find it especially in the books of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah, but also in the books of the Prophetswho so often challenged those Kings on behalf of God. We heard from Jeremiah earlier this morning, elsewhere in his book he says (32:4-5) "the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel...'". 

Bartimaus must have begun to connect these pieces of the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament to the person of Jesus. From his use of this phrase, Son of David, we can tell that as far as he is concerned Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus has come to save and vindicate Israel - back to our OT Reading for a moment, and Jeremiah who gives us God’s words for Israel: "See, I will bring them back from the land of the North and gather them from the far ends of earth; all of them: the blind and the lame," We can't know for certain that Bartimaeus knew this particular scripture, but he clearly believed that God was in the business of restoring Israel, with perhaps a particular concern for the blind, or otherwise suffering. We are only, at this stage in the story of Jesus, beginning to scratch the surface of what it means for God to restore Israel.

Bartimaeus may well have expected Jesus, as the Messiah, to be a warrior king, who would free the Jewish people from the Roman oppressors, and establish a new Kingdom of Israel. David was such a warrior king; the Old Testament says he united the tribes of Israel, that he defeated their enemies, that he was a great king This is exactly the mould that they expected the messiah to fill, that they expected Jesus to fill. Many believed this about the Messiah, even some within Jesus’ own group of disciples. But even so, it is clear that Bartimaeus had a more nuanced, or more developed idea about the messiah. Not only must the messiah be a great king, he must also be merciful. Bartimaeus hoped that Jesus would be merciful to him. Jesus obliges, giving just a hint of the mercy that will come to represent his Messiah-ship. 

Jesus is so much more than a Warrior king, he achieves so much more than defeating Israel’s earthly enemies, the Romans. Jesus as messiah is to be God’s true king for Israel, and that means restoring, and vindicating. This can only be done by resolving Israel, and the world’s, biggest problem: enmity with God.  We discover in our NT reading discussion of Christ as High Priest, for Israel and indeed all people. This is God's vision for saving Israel, and the letter to the Hebrews continues: 

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, [he is himself that offering, that sacrifice] he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 

Jesus is to die, offering himself upon the cross for the sins of the world before he sits down in the place of honour at the right hand of God. Jesus does sit, enthroned in heaven as King. He is king. But it is not as King that he achieves the work of saving God’s people – it is by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. And so, he truly becomes our messiah, our redeemer-king, when we enter into that salvation. We do not cross the Red Sea to enter into a geographical Israel, we pass through the waters of baptism to join the Israel of God, the Church, which is saved by the Sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, delivering us from sin and death. My plea for you this morning, is that you will draw near to Christ the messiah by faith, and enter into the mystery of his death as we partake of his body and blood crying out “‘Son of David, have pity on me.’

Holy Saturday (repost - 2012)

He sleeps, but does not rest, as we lay his linen clad body on the cold hewn step.
He labours, in ways unknown, deep beneath our feet.
He spares not time to be greeted by Elija and assembled scores of Prophets.

Past King David he moves.
Neither Moses nor Abraham hold him as he journeys.
Noah cannot call Him to cease, deeper, further He must go.

A day of scolded feet is his reward as he nears the road's end. Finally, Adam, buckled by weight of time, meets his son, his Father. They greet with a kiss and centuries, millennia, an eternity of regret is undone.

He returns to us, having returned us to God.

Seeking an answer - A Sermon

 John 3:1-15                                                                        

Introduction:

Nicodemus is a man on a journey; we meet him three times in the gospel story, today’s reading captures a snapshot of his first meeting with Jesus – and although this is his first meeting with Jesus, he certainly has been on a journey with God. The importance of his encounter with Christ is that he learns that things are not at all as he expected.  He comes to Jesus expecting answers, and leaves with more questions – but questions that eventually lead to belief. I want to encourage you to do the same. I hope that by exploring Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus today, you will ask of yourself the big questions that deepen your faith in Christ.

Who was he?

We learn a lot about this man from the opening line of chapter 3, and can build a surprisingly detailed picture, and we can begin to speculate about his motivations, hopes, and fears.

The scripture tells that he was “Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus^[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God”

Let’s begin to break this down, starting with his designation as a Pharisee. Now, the Pharisees get quite a bad rep; Jesus calls them (among other things) “blind guides “ (Matthew  23:24) “a brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33), and  “Whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27). This is strong language, condemnation indeed, but we mustn’t misunderstand – They were *almost* right. This is the problem, not that they were so far from the God revealed in the Prophets, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah. It wasn’t that they were just wrong, it was that they were *so* very nearly right, and yet unchanged. So close that they were without excuse.

The Pharisee movement started, as so many movements start, with good intentions. Biblical intentions, godly intentions. But as with so many movements, it became bogged down in legalism, lip service, and mechanistic following of rules. The Pharisees were lay people, “normal” people, not priests, not “chosen”, they wanted to take the holiness of the temple, which had been reserved, and hidden away from the people, and they wanted to live out that holiness in their daily live. This urge is to be commended, not condemned, but they do it in such a way as to by-pass the point of holiness, the point of these laws. The point of all these laws, the point of holiness of life, the point of living a ‘different life’ is to “love God, and love your neighbour” (Mark 12:30-31). We can fall into the same trap, of forgetting that the lives we lead are in thanksgiving to God, and mistakenly thinking that we can impress Him with our actions.

Nicodemus has found himself in this tradition of Lived Holiness, of strict observance, and hope – we must not forget the hope of the devout Pharisees, that if they ‘could just get the people to be holy, even for just a moment, then God would send his Messiah, his Christ, and free them from the Roman occupation. Free them from the tyranny of empire, from corruption of gentile unclean-ness’. Of course we, on this side of Calvary, know that God had something much bigger in mind; freedom from the tyranny of death, freedom from the corruption of sin.

What did he want?

Just as we so often do, Nicodemus builds Jesus in his own image “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God”; Rabbi basically being a title meaning “teacher”, Nicodemus seems to think Jesus is very much like himself, a better version of himself, a more gifted, more holy, more righteous, but a version of himself nonetheless. He wants Jesus to come with a more sophisticated understanding, a more rigorous approach, a more reliable method; something, anything, so that Nicodemus could train himself, discipline himself to better to please God.

Jesus doesn't even engage with this line of thinking, as we pick up in verse 3, “Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

Jesus refuses to be drawn into a debate about rules, and ceremonies, but instead, he uses this moment as “teacher” to challenge the very basis of Nicodemus understanding of his relation to God. Nicodemus, a good Jew, understood that as a child of Abraham, he had been selected, elected, chosen to live in a Covenant Relationship with God. He believed that his people were in a sense, married to God (as we pick up from the prophet Hosea) and all he had to do was be faithful.  Jesus contradicts this understanding; it is not one’s birth of a Jewish Mother that marks a person out as a Child of God, but it is their “birth from above” their “birth anew” as some translations have it.

What did he learn?

Whatever Jesus said to Nicodemus, it is clear that he heard “you must be born again”, unable to leave behind his belief in, his trust in his Jewishness, and the assurance that comes from being a son of Abraham, he could not envisage a birth other than the birth to a Jewish mother, for which he would have praised God daily. Jesus challenges us to throw away our assumptions about our own holiness, and our own importance, knowing that spiritual life comes from God, not from the circumstances surrounding our lives.  In verse 6, Jesus underlines this point “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit” – he is saying, ‘indeed you are a child of Abraham through your natural birth; but to be fully a child of God, you must be born spiritually, too’. For us, we can never change our biological parents, we cannot, indeed, return to the womb, and be born a child of Abraham in the literal sense; but we can, and we must come to God, seeking spiritual rebirth.

If you don’t quite follow, don’t worry – you are in good company- verse 9 records forever that Nicodemus doesn't get it - “How can these things be?” he asks. Jesus’ response, although slightly cryptic, is key to understanding the whole exchange:

“¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man”

Jesus is not just “a teacher”. Jesus is not just “a rabbi”, as long as Nicodemus, or we, approach him looking simply for moral teachings, we will miss the point. Jesus has descended from heaven. He is God-with-us. We repeat it, too often by rote, and fail to be challenged profoundly when we say it. We become like the Pharisees, expecting Jesus to help us live right, expecting him to condemn those who fail to keep to our standards. Jesus rejects this. “of course you don’t understand” says Jesus to Nicodemus. “you are trying to make things right by a moral code” and so often we persist in the same approaches. As long as we approach Jesus in the same way that Nicodemus does here, demoting him to Moral Teacher, we will fail to understand the gospel.

And what is the gospel? Jesus gives us a hint in his closing exchange with Nicodemus:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[f] 15} that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Nicodemus must be dumbstruck at this; it seems too easy – “everyone who believes may have eternal life”. Of course it is not at all “easy”, because it was not easy for Christ. This “lifting up” to which refers is his cross; and to believe in Christ means to follow him, bearing our own cross daily. This is a call to participate in the Life of God, it is a call to take part in God’s action in the world. By believing in Christ, being born of the Spirit, we live out the will of the Father – And this is what Nicodemus had wanted all along, he just couldn't yet see it.

Amen.