Sermon at St Mary’s Church, West Dean
- Morning Worship – Sunday 9
December 2012
Malachi
3:1-4; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6
May I speak in the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
A typical weekday morning in the Barratt household sounds
something like this - “Why are you not ready?”; “Why didn’t you clean your PE
kit last night?”; “Why didn’t you tell me that you needed to make and take a
model of the Great Wall of China to school today as part of your history
project?!” Any parent of teenage
children will know or remember those mornings.
However hard you try and explain things to them, teenagers live for the
“here and now” and seldom think about the consequences of not being prepared
for future events. And how many of us,
if we are honest, are just like that? Although this might be a generalisation,
in my experience teenagers will get away with as little as possible if they can;
leaving others to pick up the pieces.
Are we so unlike them? Rant over!
Our first reading this morning came from Malachi. Can anyone tell me (apart from today’s
reader) where in the bible you will find this book? The answer is – it is the last book in the
Old Testament, before Matthew, although there is somewhat in the order of a 400
year gap between the two. Malachi gets
dusted off every Advent but otherwise we hardly ever hear from him during the
rest of the year. That’s a pity. It is
the reading which we heard today which is usually read, but the whole book of
Malachi makes really interesting reading and has a great significance for the
church today.
The name Malachi means “messenger” and was probably a “nom de
plume” for the author of this book. It was written at a time when the exiled
Jews had returned to Jerusalem, had rebuilt the Temple and city walls and had
resumed their worship in the Temple.
However, they had become indolent and lazy. They were expecting the Messiah, the chosen
one, to come and release them from Persian overrule; but he had not
appeared. They had slumped into simply
going through the motions of worship and sacrifice to Yahweh or Jehovah. The
priests were keeping the best animals for themselves; the people, with the
complicity of the priests, putting forward blemished animals for sacrifice.
They were paying lip service in their worship and thought that, so long as they
did the bare minimum in their devotions, they would keep alive the hope that
God would send them their conquering saviour
Malachi must have been an extremely unpopular guy. His message, as contained in the four short
chapters that make up his book, takes the form of a dialogue between the God
and the people – a question and answer session.
For example in Chapter 1 – “I have loved you, says the Lord”. “How have you loved us? ask the people”. “You have despised my name”. “How have we despised your name?” and so on. God tells the people, through this process,
how he is disappointed with them, that they have turned away from a true and
honest approach towards their religion and replaced it with a more secular
outlook on life. A really interesting
book to read in the context of today’s world and not very long either – four
short chapters. Malachi ends with the
hope that God will send another messenger who will prepare the way before Him
and this is a direct echo of the quote from Isaiah which we heard in the Luke
reading: “Prepare the way of the Lord”. Prepare, prepare, prepare – a theme
which clearly leads from the prophecies of the Old Testament right up to the
ministry of Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist.
There is something unusual about our Gospel reading
today. It is one of the few passages of
scripture, other than the Passion, which occurs both in all the synoptic
gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as John. Its significance cannot, therefore, be
underestimated and is such a pivotal point between the prophecies of the Old
and the ministries of the New.
Back in the days of Isaiah it was usual, when any king was
proposing to make a state visit within his kingdom or outside it, for roads to
be smoothed for his passage and the route made easily for his transport – hence
Isaiah’s analogy of making the paths straight and rough places smooth. It is a bit like our Queen today – it is said
that she thinks that everywhere outside her royal palaces smells of fresh
paint! Isaiah is clearly talking about the coming of a king but not a king as
they would know him.
Malachi talks in vivid and colourful language about the need
for the people to change their ways – to change them to God’s ways. Not just a
tinkering but something more radical and substantial. John the Baptist repeatedly used the word
“repentance” which is our English translation from the Greek word metanoya (metanoya) meaning “a change of mind; forsaking old patterns,
habits and priorities; a new way of life”.
In the reading we heard from Philippians, Paul is imploring the church
at Philippi to continue to lead the way of Christ, to determine what is best,
to continue on the path of repentance so that the change is complete.
The people
of Malachi’s day probably didn’t deliberately set out to be lazy or careless in
the way they worshipped God. They probably simply lapsed into their indolent
ways. My teenage son, for example,
probably thinks it is really helping if he manages to get his dirty cup or
plate as far as the kitchen – not realising that it would be an even bigger
help, (and gain the applause if not shock of his parents) if he also put them
into the dishwasher – now that really would be an example of metanoya –
repentance!
If any of
you have had a car with a slipping clutch, you will know that as the clutch
wears down you become accustomed to its sloppiness and then compensate with
your increased pressure on the pedal. It
is only when it completely fails or is replaced that you actually realise just
how bad it was. The same can be said of
how we approach our faith and worship.
There are times when I get complacent, get so involved in everyday
things that my prayer life and devotions can start slipping like that clutch.
That’s when we need to take a reality check – when we need to flip once more
through the pages of Malachi and ask ourselves – “Are we simply paying lip
service to our faith?”
At this time
of year we see preparations all around us – indeed, the commercial world has
been preparing for Christmas since August!
But do we as Christians really stop and think about the meaning of
Advent? Today we lit the Candle of Preparation, we heard from John that the
best way to prepare ourselves for his coming is to change so that we become
more Christ centred, more theocentric.
But do we really prepare ourselves fully?
One of my
favourite stories at Christmas is the short story by Charles Dickens – “A Christmas Carol”. I am sure that sometime and somewhere over
the Christmas period, on our multi-channelled TVs, there will be a screening of
it again. It struck me a few days ago
that here is a really great illustration of metanoya or repentance. I am sure I don’t need to tell any of you the
plot of the story but it is worth remembering that scene towards the end of the
book when, after receiving visitations from four spirits, Ebeneezer Scrooge
shows how that terrifying experience has changed him so completely. Instead of
being the mean miserly businessman we met at the beginning of the story, he now
brings joy and hope to the poor Cratchet Family.
Scrooge
needed to be visited by four spirits, we only need one – the Holy Spirit, which
was left for us after Jesus’s ministry here on Earth was completed. That same Spirit which John the Baptist saw
descending during Christ’s baptism, that hovered over the waters at the
beginning of creation and which inspired Malachi to write his book.
As you take
away your Candles of Preparation and light them at home, pray that the Holy
Spirit will show you the best way for you to prepare for his coming this
Christmas and help lead the Christian life throughout 2013.
Amen
