Sermon at All Saints Parish Church,
Winterslow - Third
Sunday after Trinity - Parish Eucharist (Healing) Service – Sunday 16 June 2013
2 Samuel
11.26-12.10; 13-15; Galatians 2.15-21; Luke 7.36-8.3
May the words of my
mouth and the mediation of all our hearts be always acceptable to you, O
Lord. Amen
It is really wonderful and a great privilege to be here with
you all this morning preaching in my “home church” - and to so many people I
know so well. Having said that, I do
have in my head that piece of scripture which, although we haven’t heard it
this morning, and I am certainly no prophet! – is nevertheless in the forefront of my mind as I stand here
in front of you – from Mark 6:4 – “Prophets
are not without honour except in their hometown, and among their own kin
and in their own house”.
In our Old Testament reading from 2 Samuel we learn of David’s complicity in what amounted to murder
– so that he could marry the wife of his loyal general, Uriah the Hittite – the
beautiful Bathsheba after whom he had lusted when he saw her bathing from the
rooftops of his palace. From that moment
on he had schemed to make her his own - resorting, eventually, to having her
husband killed by placing him in the most dangerous place in a battle with the
Ammonites. When a child is subsequently
born from that illicit union of David and Bathsheba, God, through Nathan the
Prophet, tells David that the child will die in infancy – and sure enough it
happens – after a short illness the child dies. The price paid, he is told, for
his great sins of murder and adultery. A
great theme for Father’s day!
Our second reading is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians – a
letter primarily written to a confused church in Galatia who were uncertain
whether it was necessary to still follow the Jewish laws to become a true
Christian (remembering that Jesus had said he had come to fulfil the law not to
destroy it) or whether Gentiles, who did not follow Judaic law, could also be converted
to Christianity. Paul’s explanation is that we are justified as Christians, not
by simply obeying the law (very much an important part of Jewish faith), but by
our simple faith that Jesus Christ died for our salvation and a belief in that
alone is sufficient. This is a theme
later taken up by Augustine of Hippo and a main plank of Lutherism and
Reformation theology.
Finally, we had our reading from St. Luke’s gospel in which
Jesus admonishes his host for not having greeted him properly and for not
having given him water to wash his feet and failing to anoint his head with oil
– traditions when a guest came to dinner in those days. By contrast, he praises the “woman in the
city” who has lavished much attention on him – a woman whom we are told is a
sinner. Probably a “lady of the night”.
Her simple acts result in her sins being forgiven by Jesus – something which it
would be difficult for the host, a Pharisee, to understand because according to
Jewish law and custom, only the High Priest on the Day of Atonement could
forgive sins.
Each of these three readings is linked with the ideas of sin
and forgiveness after a moving away from God – for each reading talks about a
moving away from the law or customs of the day. Although David is taught a terrible lesson
for his adultery and murder, the loss of the first born child, he subsequently
went on to have another son with Bathsheba – Solomon – who was to become
renowned for his wisdom and for bringing peace and stability to the United
Kingdom of Israel – an act showing God’s forgiveness and restoration towards
David; Paul teaches that sins can be forgiven through the justification of
faith and not just a strict adherence to law and ritual; and finally Jesus
forgives the sinful woman through her actions of love towards him at the
Pharisees’ dinner table. Each act of
forgiveness is a form of healing.
Today is a special day here in Winterslow. It is Fathers’ Day and our service is one
containing healing ministry. If nothing
else, I think our three readings each teach us the importance of the second
commandment which Jesus emphasised to his disciples – to love one another – to
treat each other properly with that same love Jesus showed during his earthly
ministry – to respect each other and, as Paul says, to let Christ live in us so
that we shine that love to others. Above all, such actions result in knowing
that we have a Father who forgives us our sins – whatever they are.
During my current course on pastoral care, it has been
emphasised time and time again the importance of getting alongside people and
listening with three ears – one on the speaker to listen to what is being
said; one interpreting what and why we
think it is being said and finally a third on what God is saying to us as we
listen. We should apply this to all our
interactions with people and especially our children. We should be good role
models for our children and others around us, like the woman in the gospel
story, being prepared to spend that extra bit of time lavishing love and care. Those of us who are fathers know only too
well that our time can so easily be taken up with earning a living, or finding
it hard or impossible to earn a living ; with dealing with all the stresses
that life and work or lack of work brings and not giving enough time for our
family and children. The Pharisee in our gospel reading probably was so busy
with arranging things for his guest that he forgot the simple common courtesies
of the water and the oil. It is often
the little trivial things of life which get in the way of the greater needs of
giving love and affection to those around us.
The story is told of the little boy who saw his father spending a great
deal of time on his laptop, mobile phone and going to meetings – getting up
early in the morning and coming home late - all of which kept him away from
having quality time with his son.
Intrigued by what his father was actually doing he asked him “Dad, how much do you get paid for doing all
this work?” The father, rather
indignantly responded – “Well it’s not
really any of your business but since you ask I get paid £60 per hour”. That night as the father passed the
little boy’s bedroom he heard him on his knees praying his night prayers by his
bed. Interested to hear what he was saying he put his ear to the door and he
heard his son say “Dear Lord Jesus,
please help me save up £60 so I can spend an hour with Dad”.
As children of God we are incredibly lucky. We don’t have to say such prayers – God is
spending time with us 24/7. He is with
us, as Psalm 139 says, “when we sit up,
when we lie down, there is nowhere we can go where He is not there”. Sometimes, though, I think He needs to
ask us where we are? Just like the son in the story, just like
Jesus at Simon the Pharisee’s house, just like Paul in his address to the
Galatians and also the prophet Nathan to David – the question posed by God is
is where are you? Why have you moved
away from me? Why do you do things of which
I do not approve?
We need only to acknowledge our faith – just as we will
shortly be doing in the Creed. God is
always ready to forgive us if we have genuine faith – he wants us to make him
the centre of our life – to take a leaf out of his book – to be Christ-centric. Unlike David, we have Jesus and the Holy
Spirit through whom we can seek and receive forgiveness and healing. As we each come up to take part in the Lord’s
supper later, let’s each of us ask God to help us prioritise and remove those
blocks and burdens which prevent us from engaging more fully with Him and our
Faith. To take away those things which get in the way of a full relationship
with God on an hour by hour, minute by minute basis. To help us overcome those distractions which
move us away from God, on those things which we focus on too much instead of God.
I am one of the worst procastinators you can find and get
easily distracted. That applies also, I
have to confess, very often to my prayer and faith life. I can so readily identify with those biblical
characters who did lose the plot, lost the focus on God – Peter, David, Jonah,
Eli and so on. But the great thing is
that we can re-focus and we can so easily put things
right. Let’s begin that process
today. Let’s ask God through the Holy
Spirit to help us get the balance of our spiritual life right and get our
spirituality back into focus.
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