Fr Ron's Notes For March 29

Sunday 29^th March, 2009 Fifth Sunday in Lent

Sentence

This is the covenant that I will make with them, says the Lord; I will put My law within them and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31: 33

Collect

O God our redeemer, in our weakness we have failed to be Your messengers of forgiveness and hope: renew us by Your Spirit, that we may follow Your commands, and proclaim Your reign of love, through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Jeremiah 31: 31-34

The days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall establish a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, a covenant they broke, though I was patient with them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant I shall establish with the Israelites after those days, says the Lord: I shall set my law within them, writing it on their hearts; I shall be their God, and they will be my people. No longer need they teach one another, neighbour or brother, to know the Lord; all of them, high and low alike, will know me, says the Lord, for I shall forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I shall call to mind no more.

PSALM 119:9-16

How shall the young keep their path pure: unless they hold to Your word?

I have sought You with my whole heart: let me not stray from Your commandments

I have treasured Your word in my heart: that I might not sin against You

Blessed are You, Lord God: O teach me Your statutes

With my lips have I been telling: all the judgements of Your mouth

And I find more joy in the way of Your commands: than in all manner of riches.

I will meditate on Your precepts: and give heed to Your ways.

For my delight is wholly in Your statutes: and I will not forget Your word

EPISTLE Hebrews 5:5-14

Christ did not confer on himself the glory of becoming high priest; it was granted by God, who said to him, "You are my son; today I have become your father;” as also in another place he says, "You are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.” In the course of his earthly life he offered up prayers and petitions, with loud cries and tears, to God who was able to deliver him from death. Because of his devotion his prayer was heard: son though he was, he learned obedience through his sufferings, and, once perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, and by God he was designated high priest in the order of Melchizedek. About Melchizedek we have much to say, much that is difficult to explain to you, now that you have proved so slow to learn.

By this time you ought to be teachers, but instead you need someone to teach you the ABC of God's oracles over again. It comes to this: you need milk instead of solid food. Anyone who lives on milk is still an infant, with no experience of what is right. Solid food is for adults, whose perceptions have been trained by long use to discriminate between good and evil.

GOSPEL John 12: 20 – 33

Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Gentiles. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we should like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew, and the two of them went to tell Jesus.

Jesus replied: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. In very truth I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains that and nothing more; but if it dies, it bears a rich harvest. Whoever loves himself is lost, but he who hates himself in this world will be kept safe for eternal life. If anyone is to serve me, he must follow me; where I am, there will my servant be. Whoever serves me will be honoured by the Father.

"Now my soul is in turmoil, and what am I to say? "Father, save me from this hour''? No, it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” A voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing by said it was thunder they heard, while others said, "An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus replied, "This voice spoke for your sake, not mine. Now is the hour of judgement for this world; now shall the prince of this world be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth I shall draw everyone to myself.” This he said to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

NOTES ON THE READINGS

It is a very sad state of affairs that there remain many people who are unfamiliar with the Scriptures, - and even somewhat unwilling to fill in the blanks, so to speak. This is not so much a criticism as a statement that such lacks make the Sunday Readings provide much mystery instead of great insight. Not only does knowledge of Hebrew history help enormously in understanding the New Testament, but there are also myriads of references and nuances that enlighten Gospel and Epistle. Indeed, perhaps the greatest reason that John’s Revelation poses mystery or threat to readers stems from the failure to notice or know the extent to which John’s imagery stems from the Old Testament.

Sadly, it is not possible to make up any shortfall here, but the attempt to provide some insight is paramount.

Old Testament Lesson

One of the matters referred to above is the constant reference in the OT to ‘covenants.’ Space does not permit an exposition here, but it should be noted that Israel always understood their faith in terms of the God Who commits Himself to His people. [1] And just as a growing child needs successive ‘contracts’ with parents, so Israel needed the similar progression. (There were several covenants before Moses, but at that point in history, there was the Law – Exodus and all that. But legislation does not make a lot of difference to people’s actions and behaviour, as attitudes must be ‘owned.’ Discipline may begin from outside a person – but the only real discipline is self-discipline­ and that is very much a matter of personal choice, commitment and involvement. It is towards this latter growth that Jeremiah pointed.

Psalm

While lots of Christians seem to rejoice in what they describe as a free Gospel, where forgiveness is offered without any real response, the Psalmist was aware of the value of all of God’s ‘judgements’ and ‘statutes’ – without which, life becomes remarkably fragmented and disoriented. Gospel does not free a person from responsibility but rather charges them with it.

Epistle

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews may often sound obscure to modern readers, but if one can get past the cultural ‘thing,’ (and is aware of the Biblical background) there is a lot to be uncovered. Perhaps the most fascinating thing, for me at least, is that Biblical emphasis on the fact that the human damage caused by human sin can only be addressed and ‘repaired’ by a human. Hence the profound statement here that although like Melchizedek, there are other ‘connections,’ Jesus had to go through the same sorts of life and experiences as you in order to be Saviour.

Mind you, the same author seemed to have difficult with his own congregation or churches, finding even then that people preferred to stay at their comfort zone level rather that more towards maturity. Sadly, little has changed in the intervening millennia.

Gospel

One hardly knows where to start in trying to unpack this passage. Dear old John managed to write his Gospel deceptively simply, but there is also a far more profound level to what he conveyed. This is true of all his writing.

I often ask people to read the fine print. Here it is quite critical. ‘There were some Gentiles.’ Sure they were at the Festival, so must have been people looking at becoming Jews. But Gentile they were, and it is fascinating to find that Jesus spoke to them in terms that He seemed unable to use with obtuse Jews. It is a flash of revelation, indicating how far ahead of His Jewish disciples, that Jesus was. Even more surprising is the clearer perception of those Gentiles.

Whenever John talks about ‘glorification,’ are you aware of what he is really describing? We often use words that mean little to us. Here is no self-wrap like a pop star! It is something far more important.

Whenever Jesus is glorified, or God is, then it is a case of them being seen for what they truly are. Here is a transfiguration, if you like. The sudden dawning on (some) people as to the true nature of the person they are confronting. And it is to Gentiles, Gentiles! That Jesus offered this ‘glorification.’ And that is completely unexpected.

On top of that, Jesus faced those potential Jewish converts with the complete and required response to the Gospel. That was – and is – to forget self, deny self, and follow Him. Does that not hit you right between the eyes, so to speak? To top it all off, John shows how Jesus found such a commitment quite something of a challenge.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

You might recall that, right at the start of this Season of Lent, I was naughty enough to suggest that Lent is not so much a period for giving things up for a time, but rather a matter of taking time out to check our priorities and choose the important aspects of discipleship. It strikes me that today’s Readings offer both the necessity and the process for growth in that discipleship.

But first to ‘real life.’ One of the discoveries that I made, a long time ago, is that this business of being a believer, a Christian, is not a matter of sudden discovery, change and ‘born again.’ On the contrary it is a long process, of spits and starts sometimes, that is a life-long experience. In fact, it is rather like being a person. Let me explain.

When I was a child, loving and remarkably wise parents nurtured me. There was nothing very fancy about Mum and Dad, - or they would not have seen themselves as extraordinary. As we grew, it was not so much a matter of rules that had to be followed, but it was certainly a matter that we had to take notice of and respond obediently to our parents. Occasionally, I recall, punishment was meted out, like the time when I was ten and had a go at smoking. Dad made me wash my mouth out with soapy water.[2] However, as time passed and we grew up, there was far less evidence of rules and far more expectation that we would learn from experience. All this was done in an atmosphere of love and caring. [I feel deeply for people for whom such an experience never occurred for them.]

I remember, for instance, Dad talking to me as a mid- teenager. ‘I will never say to you “Don’t drink, Ronald.” However I will simply tell you that I have never drunk, because I did not know whether I would become a drunkard or not, and do not intend to find out the hard way.’ That tended to illustrate the sort of learning that was our experience of growing up. In other words, there was a subtle move from discipline imposed to discipline encouraged from within. In this day and age when discipline tends to be the current obscenity, I look for the time when wisdom overcomes even adult stupidity and when political correctness disappears into limbo.

Now all the above is there to try and set the scene. The long history of Israel parallels that growth from childhood to adulthood, with all the starts and stumbles along the way. And those starts and stumbles used to be presented to me as evidence of my sinfulness, something from which to repent so I would get to heaven. That annoys me still, as the real reason is far more adult and sensible than that. The whole point of the possibility of forgiveness in the Christian Faith is NOT to turn me into some sort of squeaky clean twerp, but rather is there to enable me to face the fact that I am capable of some pretty lousy things, to learn from said mistakes, and then to move towards that maturity that only Christian Faith can give.

So as Jeremiah has it, the passage of time and the growth towards development calls for changing relationships and progressive development. From discipline imposed to discipline from within. And the latter state is far more significant than the first. Apart from anything else, this is a far cry from the Christianity of my youth, when the charge was always to believe, and ask no questions. That can end only in a blank wall.

Often I ask people to ponder quite how they arrive at their theology, their understanding of God, How they learn to see the difference between what tends to be nothing other than ‘accepted patterns of current behaviour and thought, and the really remarkably different approach to life that the Faith offers. And today I ask you to look at the continuing process of your discipleship , --- and to ensure that you continue to grow and develop way, way past your comfort zone.

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[1] Eg., the Greek title for the New Testament is diaQhkh - which is actually a one-sided agreement. That is, the terms are offered, and can only be accepted or rejected. Terms cannot be varied.

[2] I must report that it did not have the required effect – as people who know me will report with some glee!