SERMON 206 - SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 2024 - TRINITY 20 / HARVEST FESTIVAL

Sermon at St. John’s Church, West Grimstead - Trinity 20/Harvest – Sunday 13 October 2024

Mark 10:17-31

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and may these words be yours Lord, and may you bless all who hear them. Amen.

“Here comes that man again, running up to Jesus with a question about eternal life. We can hear those dreaded words on Jesus’ lips even before the man approaches: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Even before Mark tells us so, we know that the rich young man will turn away grieving, for he has many possessions. And some of us grieve with him as we see him leave, knowing his choice could be ours as well.”

Thus, begins a sermon by an American pastor, Stacey Simpson.

She then goes on to recount that she remembers the first time she read the story at the age of 7 in her childhood bible book. She tells how she was so alarmed when she reached verse 25 that she slammed the Bible shut, jumped out of bed, and went running down the hall and shaking her my mother out of a sound sleep. “Mom,” she whispered urgently, “Jesus says that rich people don’t go to heaven!”

“We are not rich. Go back to bed,” came her mother’s response.

The little seven-year old girl knew better. She knew that she and her family had all they needed plus plenty more. She would later learn of fascinating attempts to soften the text (the use of the word “camel” for “rope,” or “eye of the needle” for “a small gate”), but the little girl inside her knew that these words of Jesus were clear and hard and scary.

Mark 10:17-31 hangs on the question of eternal life. The rich man wants to know how to get it. The disciples want to know who can have it. And the good news that Jesus offers is this: “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

This story can be regarded as one of the gospel’s healing stories. The rich man runs up to Jesus and kneels, just as countless other Jesus-pursuers have done throughout the Book of Mark. The scene is set for him to request and receive healing, and his running and kneeling show that his request is both urgent and sincere. But he is the one and only person in the entire book who rejects the healing offered him.

We read, in Mark’s account that “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” Matthew and Luke leave this out. But Mark, who seems always spare with words, takes the space to note that Jesus loves this man. He offers him healing. “You lack one thing”, he says; “go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (In Mark, the word “go” is used almost exclusively in the healing stories.)

What is the healing that this man needs? What he lacks is that he does not lack. This man is possessed—but only by his possessions. Jesus is offering to free him of his possession, to cure him of his excess. But the rich man turns his back.

Stacey Simpson goes on to say that she too grieves because she has accumulated so much since first reading this text. Likewise, I am constantly being reminded by my wife that we have “too much stuff” and really need to rid ourselves of so many possessions we either do not use or do not need. Stacey raises an interesting question for us. Are we also possessed, but only of possessions? Are we refusing to be healed by Jesus? What can we do to inherit eternal life? Jesus tells his disciples - Nothing. For mortals it’s impossible. But not for God. To say we must give up all our wealth in order to be saved puts the burden on us to save ourselves. Neither wealth nor divestment of wealth saves us. God does.

Our Harvest Festival service today reminds us, as we sing in our hymns, that all good gifts are sent from Heaven above. That whilst we might sow and then nurture that sown grain, we still rely upon God to send us the rain and the sun to grow and ripen it. It is a reminder that without God and the nature which he has created, we can do nothing.

For the young rich ruler, it was a test. Jesus truly loved him and his sentiments to want to follow the Christian way but when the crunch came, he simply could not part with his possessions. He could not change his life-style and be saved.

Even Jesus realized he could not save himself. Those who think they can will surely lose their lives. But those who recognize the utter futility of self-reliance, who realize that their salvation really is not possible, will be saved by the God who makes all things possible.

Yes, there is still the problem of having too much stuff. It keeps us from realizing our need for God because we use it as a buffer against vulnerability. We use it to fill the emptiness in our souls. We use it to feel less susceptible to the vagaries of life. It keeps us from seeing how needy we actually are and gives us a false sense of security.

The rich man’s secure status in life led him to keep asking the wrong question: What can I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus’ response was that there was nothing he or anyone else could do. And Jesus told him to release his wealth and give it to the poor—to grow closer perhaps to the fragility of life, to take his own place among the poor.

The poor, the sick, the demon-possessed and the children of whom Jesus speaks all live close to the fragility of life. They are thus more likely and more able to respond to a vulnerable Christ. The disciples freed themselves of what would stand between them and that fragility and were somehow able to follow the One whose life would soon be a ransom for many. In many ways we have to be like children, as Jesus reminded us in our gospel reading from Mark last week, or like those who know they are really sick or like disciples who have let go of all the things they once relied on—in order even to see how much we need Jesus.

What must we do to inherit eternal life? We must let go of all that we have and all that we do that gets in the way of seeing that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Even then, letting go of it all is beyond our capacity. The hardest news Jesus has is the best news we could get—our salvation is impossible except for God.

To conclude, I can recall an instance of my own when I knew somebody who once said to me “I don’t need to go to church any more, I don’t need God, I have everything I want – a successful career, a lovely wife and family, a big house and a secure financial future”.  A few months after making that statement he suffered a severe stroke which, fortunately, was not fatal and he did recover, but that one devastating event changed his whole outlook on life and Faith and he praised God for his eventual although lengthy return to health.

In saying that it is difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of Heaven, it is not just by being rich, per se, but by allowing our possessions and the love of those possessions get in the way of the true richness of loving Christ and being close to him through the knowledge of our fragility and the need for perseverance – “to go through the severe times”; for as Paul writes in his letter to the Romans (5:3-5)  “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…”

Jesus himself had to persevere through the Passion and the Cross – an example to us all and a reminder for us not to take for granted that we do not need God’s love and grace so that we can really prosper as his children.

 

Amen                                                                                                 MFB/206/09102024

SERMON 205 - SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER 205 - TRINITY 19

Sermon at All Saints’ Church, Farley - Trinity 19 – Sunday 6 October 2024

Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and may these words be yours Lord, and may you bless all who hear them. Amen.

Today’s readings are quite a personal challenge for me, so thank you, Simon, for allocating this Sunday in the Lectionary for me to lead and preach a service to you!

In today’s modern age, our Old Testament Reading and our Gospel Reading may seem outdated and of little relevance to many.  During my lifetime, our cultural world has changed almost beyond recognition.  When I was born, homosexuality was a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment and divorce was frowned upon and in many situations, people were shunned if they left their spouse, even in circumstances where there had been violence, mental abuse or control.  Today we see legal same-sex marriages and no-fault divorces.  The question which we as Christians have to consider is where we stand in relationship to the Word of God and the teachings of Christ.

In fact, statistics show that within the Church at large, the divorce rate is pretty much exactly the same as it is in the wider secular community.  I don’t have any figures for same-sex relationships but guess it might not be much different except for being more clandestine.

Taking our first reading, from Genesis 2, not many people realise that this is the second account of Creation – the first being found in Genesis 1 and when it comes to the creation of humankind the two are quite different – don’t take my word for it, read it for yourselves at the front of your bible at home. Today’s reading, the second account, has Man being created first and then Woman being created out of Man.  This second account was placed in the bible to underline the thinking at the time of Man’s superiority over Woman. The first account, in Genesis 1, however reads:

“So God created Humankind in his image; in the image of god he created them; male and female he created them”. (Genesis 1:27 – NRSV).

No mention here of Man being created first and then Woman as an afterthought so that she could be his “helper” – no, God created them equally in his image.

The purpose of this illustration is to remind us that whilst we can accept scripture as being inspired by God, and I have no trouble with that, we still need to be aware of context and history relating to when and why it was written – especially Paul’s letters – otherwise we can find ourselves being judgmental and unkind to others in circumstances where it is not right to be so. Scripture can so readily be used as a weapon against others when it should inspire us through the lens of the Cross – indeed, in all our studies of the Old Testament we have the benefit of looking back through the lens of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection.

The writer of Hebrews, who incidentally we do not think was Paul, reminds his readers of this when he talks about God now speaking to the Jews, whom he is addressing, through Jesus and no longer through the prophets. We have passed from old creation to new creation, from Old Covenant to New Covenant, and our importance to God is emphasised by the suffering of his own Son, Jesus, on the Cross. We are, thereby, slightly lower than the angels – we are in the Premier Division of God’s Creation. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that with Christ having come amongst us and suffered alongside us God has effectively made Humankind the brothers and sisters of his own dear Son, Jesus Christ. Wow, isn’t that just amazing? Isn’t that just wonderful?

Now we turn to the Gospel Reading which for many can be very daunting and difficult – for me it certainly is. The reading seems so clear and unequivocal that for any preacher it seems to be a clear message – divorce and remarriage are unacceptable and amount to a sin – adultery – a breaking of the Seventh Commandment.  Today’s reading is from Mark’s Gospel and in Luke’s Gospel, also, (18:18) the same absolute unconditional prohibition is read –

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery”.

For some out and out Evangelicals the passage stops there. Both Mark and Luke record a clear unconditional statement.

At this point I should stop; leave the pulpit and go outside so you can stone me!

In researching this sermon, I was relieved to find that the situation is far from having the clarity which that short passage has alone. Fortunately, our fuller reading gives more of the context.

Jesus we read is being tested by the Pharisees who worked on the black and white words of scripture – just as today so do some evangelicals. Jesus replies to the Pharisees question in his usual manner of asking them a question back – “what did Moses command you?” – referring back to the Ten Commandments. In fact, when you read the fullness of his answer to the Pharisees, he emphasises that a man will leave his parents and be joined to another woman in matrimony and that they should consider themselves as one. He ends with the famous words which are part of the Anglican marriage ceremony “Let those who God has joined together let no one separate”.

Later on we read that the disciples asked him again about the matter and we get the famous passage.

Why would the Pharisees have asked Jesus the question in the first place? Well, at the time there was a great debate going on between the conservative school called the Shammai and a liberal school of thought called the Hittel about the correct interpretation of the Jewish law. Sounds familiar?  In fact, the piece of scripture which was being debated was not the Seventh Commandment but Deuteronomy 24:1-4 which actually reads:

Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife. Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

Quite different from the simple question which is put to Jesus. Indeed, this law is quite complex and what Jesus is saying irrespective of all these conditions a man and a wife are expected to remain together where the marriage is blessed by God. A man should not divorce a woman merely because she displeases him – whatever that it meant to mean!

The two schools or thought differed in that “displeases” could either mean sexual immorality or some other lesser attribute which the man did not like.

In Matthew 19:3-6 we find a much better version of this discussion between the Pharisees and Jesus. In that version the Pharisees ask:

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning “made them male and female”, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?’ He said to them, ‘It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but at the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.’

For unchastity! There we have it, a condition. In fact, nowhere do we find it unacceptable in the bible to divorce in circumstances of adultery and I think we can go one further – I cannot envision a situation where God would want somebody to continue in a marriage which was ungodly or abusive or for that matter simply dangerous. It is not simply a matter of displeasure but something much more serious and fundamental.  You can put down your stones now!

Here the Christian teaching is at variance with modern day thinking. Same sex marriage is not found in any of the teachings – it simply did not exist, even in the first decades of my life - and no-fault divorce seems to be a thing of the present.

The essence of Jesus’s teaching is that we have responsibilities to each other – to love one another, to work things out and not flit in and out of relationships as the wind blows.  God is there for us through good times and bad and as we were created to be relational beings, so too must we be there for each other, supporting each other and loving each other as well as God.

Let us pray:

Father God, we pray for our relationships and friendships with others and thank you for your grace that at times when life becomes difficult and we blame others, especially those nearest and dearest to us, we will remember that we were all created in your image and remember that we are all the children of a loving father and are brothers and sisters in Christ who suffered and died for our salvation.

Amen                                                                                                 MFB/205/02102024