Listening to last Sunday's Old Testament Lesson, I was aware of a wry smile coming over my face. I don't think anyone noticed! The reading was Isaiah's vision in the Temple. It reminded me of a time a few years ago when, because of the nature of the post I held, one Sunday each month I had to let someone else into my regular pulpit & go to church elsewhere in the Diocese. This particular Sunday I took the opportunity to hear one of the Senior clergy of the diocese, a Canon of our Cathedral, BUT whose identity & location, for the purpose of this sermon, had better remain anonymous!
This Canon chose to start his sermon by referring to that reading from the Hebrew Scriptures about Isaiah's vision in the Temple, where Isaiah received God's forgiveness by having his lips touched by an angel - using a burning coal from the altar.
This particular Canon then went on to recommend that such practice be incorporated into our Liturgy as part of the way of pronouncing the Absolution! He recognised that such a development may not receive very wide support but he clearly relished the prospect of having a brazier of glowing coals on his altar; he must have had some very difficult parishioners to cope with!!
Whether the Liturgy Committee of the Scottish Episcopal Church will choose to recommend to The Faith & Order Board that such a practice be adopted is a question that can be put on one side just now. What cannot be put on one side are the choices, the questions that we face in this morning's readings.
At the heart of Jeremiah's message in today's reading from the Hebrew Scriptures is choice, a choice about alternatives. For Jeremiah, the choice is between 'those who trust in mere mortals' & 'those who trust in the Lord.' Jeremiah was active in Jerusalem at the time when the city was conquered by the Babylonians. Some people were carried off to captivity in Babylon but Jeremiah & some others were taken to Egypt. So he was living in a time of massive upheaval. Part of his message was to insist that what was happening to God's 'chosen city' of Jerusalem was the working out of God's judgement.
He could see that The chosen people of God had gradually come to trust in other things - in themselves, in novel religious rituals, in wealth, in pretty well anything but God - & they were paying a terrible price. They had chosen to rely on things which are not the source of life. In this passage, Jeremiah uses water as his image of God & uses 'a shrub planted in the desert' as an image of the people. The contrast he draws with 'a tree planted by the water' is not only about refreshment, about life & about vigour but also about connection; its roots stretch into the stream & its life is safe, because it is being fed by what gives life.
God is as essential to life as is water & to choose to live without God is as stupid as it would be to try to live without water. The power of God is a power that is used to comfort & to renew & it is the power that will work, through the cross & resurrection, to comfort & to renew the world. But it is not a power that we can easily recognise; it is not a power that we can easily trust.
We can recognise; we can trust; but it's not easy!
As David Brown reminded us last week, Paul's discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 has fascinated scholars & believers alike. It shows clearly that the earliest preaching of the good news of Jesus contained this witness to the risen Christ. As Paul has said earlier in the chapter, this is something that the Corinthian Christians heard as "good news" when Paul first came to them.
But it sounds as if there had been some debate going on in Corinth about the nature of & the reality of Resurrection. From the slightly impatient tone of this chapter, you get the impression that Paul thinks these discussions are typical of the Corinthians' ability to concentrate on what is not essential. There is a kind of "let's sort this out once & for all" tone about this chapter 15.
Paul suspects that the Corinthians have been burning the midnight oil arguing about exactly what the Resurrected body of Jesus Christ actually looked like & whether, & in what order, Christians would be raised from the dead. They had been getting themselves, & other people, into a great state about it all!
So, in the first part of this chapter, Paul reminds them, yet again by the sound of it, of the proofs of Jesus' resurrection & he demonstrates here how crucially important the resurrection is to their understanding of God, & indeed also, to our understanding of God.
The Sunday before the start of Lent may seem a strange time to want to talk about Resurrection but it is, after all, the climax of all that we go through during Lent. The resurrection is not an additional extra which can be debated as though it leaves the rest of our faith untouched. Paul says, in no uncertain terms, that resurrection is about the nature of God & about the way God has brought about our salvation.
If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then everything that Paul had been teaching them about God is called into question. The resurrection is not only God's affirmation of Jesus' life & teaching but it also demonstrates that God is "Christ-like, & in him is no unChrist-likeness at all" to borrow a phrase from Bishop Michael Ramsey.
The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that offers us new life & it's the power that created us in the first place - the power of God. Paul insists that it cannot be a matter of choice; it's not about having alternatives to pick from, not a matter of debate & speculation. If it is not true, then we have no foundation on which to put our trust in God. So for Paul, then, there is no alternative to faith in Christ, there is no other choice.
Is there any other choice for us???
Our Gospel reading this morning though, does give us a choice; it does present alternatives. But it's the alternative between the life which is blessed & the life which is wretched. The Beatitudes in Luke, which are our Gospel reading today, follow a similar pattern to the Beatitudes in chapter 5 of Matthew & probably came from the same source.
The eight Beatitudes of Matthew are reduced to four in Luke's version but here they are contrasted with four Woes, which are absent from Matthew. So Luke's account is no longer just a programme for those engaged in the quest for God; it's also a warning to those who resist the appeal of Jesus & choose to follow other paths.
It really is about choice!
Matthew's version of the Beatitudes are longer &, in a way, more 'spiritual.' Luke's, on the other hand, are more down to earth & they emphasise material blessings. Luke's are balanced by corresponding 'woes' as well as blessings. Matthew's story tells us about Jesus avoiding the crowds & going up a mountain, where he calls his disciples to him & talks to them alone - 'the Sermon on the Mount.' In Luke's story, the disciples are part of a large crowd & Jesus is addressing them 'on the level place' - 'the Sermon on the Plain.'
Jesus is surrounded by people who are desperate to get the power that streams from him. Through the healing work he does & through his words, Jesus announces God's care for the poor, for the hungry, for the weeping & for the persecuted. This is a passage about alternatives, about making choices, about where you put your trust. Those who have nothing else in life to trust in, & so have to fall back on God, are the ones who are blessed - so Luke tells us. The rest of us have already had our blessings from whatever we chose to put our trust in - & that may not be a comfortable thought!
In a sense, what we are faced with in this Gospel passage is the 'manifesto' of Jesus addressed to those who want to embark with him on his great mission. It will be left to us to see whether any of the party manifestos we will be faced with in the next few months will come anywhere this manifesto -
"how blessed are you who are poor; the kingdom of God is yours"
"blessed are you who are hungry now; you will have your fill"
"alas for you who are rich - you have your consolation now"
"alas for you who have plenty to eat - you shall go hungry"
"alas for you when everyone speaks well of you!"
So then, the choice, the alternatives, are between woes & blessings, between being a dry shrub planted in the desert or a tree planted by the water, between being absorbed in oneself & being open to God.
Lent, starting next Wednesday, is our annual chance to look again at the idea of choosing whether we trust the God of the Resurrection. It is not an easy choice. It is a choice which is not without risk.
To be able to recognise the choice & to be able to make it, we first have to become something else - we first have to become utterly powerless ourselves. When we can & do become powerless ourselves, then we start to recognise the ways of God, then we start to be aware of the kind of behaviour which is of value to God & of value to our neighbours. It is the choice to live fully, to love wastefully & - within that generous love of God for us, to have the courage to be all that you can be.
In the end, it is the only choice that makes any sense.
[pause]
But whichever choice you make - there will probably not be a brazier of burning coals waiting for you on the altar! Amen!
Sermon by: Malcolm Aldcroft