RonBlog

Sunday 25th March, 2012 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, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen

Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, 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. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin 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 words in my heart: that I might not sin against You
Blessed are You, Lord God: O teach me Your statutes
With my lips I have 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 glorify Himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the One Who said to Him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten You"; as He says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."
In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the One Who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered; and having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

GOSPEL John 12: 20 – 33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
Far. far too often, the perception is expressed by Christians that the Old Testament is all about judgement and the New is about love. Nothing, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. It comes as some surprise whenever I ask people to see the vast development, evolution if you will, of the understanding of God, life and relationships over the historical period between Abraham and Jesus. With the emergence of that remarkable line of OT prophets, much of this process took place over a period of some centuries. Sadly, not many of the ordinary people of Israel seemed very aware of that progress.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel in particular illustrated their understanding of God changing people from the inside. This passage is a promise and Ezekiel enunciated both the need and the process. Take a long deep breath and see that the Holy Spirit was at work as much in Old Testament as in the New. On top of that, the prophets were aware of the need of profound change, conversion if you will, if people were to be true to the Faith, to God and to each other. Mind you, there will ever be those who consider themselves well ahead of the mob when in fact they have made it clear that they are way off beam, on a false track.

Psalm
It is a pity that many of today’s young parents do not follow the admonition and experience of today’s psalmist. It may sound a little like boredom incorporated but the reality is very different.

Epistle
Dear old Melchizedek. If you are mystified by all this, then I suggest you read Genesis 14:18ff and Psalm 110:4. The connection is that of king/priest who was superior to either rank in Abrahamic and David’s times. Jesus is declared the ultimate priest/king. If you wish to explore this further, I suggest that you obtain a good Bible Dictionary and peruse it. Do not be surprised if you find yourself a little bemused. (It is not unlike the business of the snake on the pole last week!)

GOSPEL
Come on a small journey with me if you would. Notice that John records this conversation with Greeks, Gentiles, nobodies as far as Jewry was concerned. Surprise No 1. Then comes the second surprise which while somewhat shattering is also somewhat common in the Gospels. Jesus took those questioning Greeks far further into His confidence than He could take Jews, or even the Twelve. How easily we all become somewhat blindfolded by what we assume, and so miss what really is the real agenda. Now would you please read through the Gospel again and catch the nuances?

NOTES FOR A SERMON

The Season of Lent – as it follows the steps of Jesus in His testing before the start of His public ministry, - focusses on the seriousness of the business of discipleship, not just for Jesus but for all of His followers of what age, or time, or place. In the light of that emphasis, perhaps these readings come with rather greater impact, as well they should. In our worship, the readings are these for us to listen to the Father, to understand what issues are put into focus, and then to ponder our response. In other words, ‘For the word of the Lord Thanks be to God.’ And we certainly do need to listen and respond positively.

I mention in the notes above that there is no great distinction between Old Testament and New, but a growing, developing, evolving faith being presented. Sadly, much of the growth and development shows up more in the prophets than in anyone else. That should be of no surprise: the Faith is ever the focus of far lesser numbers than one might hope for, not just because we are human, but because not a lot of humans take much notice of significant and serious issues.
For instance, it becomes so terribly clear and obvious, as one reads through the prophets that remarkably few people respond positively. I guess it is a bit like the story of the Flood. Myth it might be, but it does illustrate the capacity of humans to avoid anything even slightly challenging or uncomfortable. So it was in Jeremiah’s time, and he posited the need for change to come at a rather deeper human level. ’I will write it on their hearts’ is a quite well-known text, but it has to be said that the process is easier talked about than accomplished. On the other hand, that dear old psalmist, whatever age his contribution stemmed from, had a very clear picture of what needed to happen and at what depth personally. No one can legislate for response to truth, nor even demand it with any great hope of success. It must be the considered and committed response of each individual. Jeremiah was well aware of that. So is our Heavenly Father.

One of the great and disturbing factors in Jesus’ ministry was the extent to which people quite outside the Faith, quite beyond the pale, seemed to have a far clearer, truer picture of the faith reality than those who were Jewish adherents. Here, blow me down, are Greeks, nobodies and outsiders, who should have been totally ignorant of the direction of the Faith let alone its content, being if not initiated, then at least trusted with – some very powerful information. Here is no info for some spiritual elite; here is core material that Jesus had been conveying in so many different ways, but had fallen on deaf ears. Yet these ‘outcasts’ understood and responded. I am often surprised at the extent to which apparently ‘godless’ people are not only aware of the point and purpose of the Faith but live it.

And it is to those ‘outsiders’ who hear the voice of God, so to speak, when He guarantees the veracity of Jesus’ ministry and direction. Surely, that should make us all sit up and listen!