Communion (St Peter’s)

7^th February 2010

Revelation 4 and Luke 8:22-25

INTRODUCTION:

This morning I want to ask two questions.

But before that, a look back fifty years to a Guide camp. I was still a student and was invited to assist at the camp and to give medical advice if required. 

The whole week had been extremely hot and the Thursday was a boiling hot day, so we had not done very much except try to keep in the shade. When bed time came, most of the girls were tired and, despite the heat, were soon asleep. All was calm ----then a sudden storm ---- flashes of lightening, claps of thunder and monsoon like rain. Everyone woke and there was a certain amount of fear, especially when the tents began to be flooded.

There was no need to be afraid because Captain had arranged a transfer to the barn, hot cocoa was provided by the farmer’s wife and all our fear subsided.

Imagine the panic if Captain had gone on sleeping and left us all to cope alone ---- but we were reassured because we knew we could trust her.

Luke 8: 22-25 The Disciples in a storm

It had been Jesus’ idea to go across the lake: - “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake”

All seemed calm as they set off--- Jesus even fell asleep, may be lulled by the gentle movement of the boat and the waves lapping against it.

Disciples were quite happy to let him sleep ---- they could manage, they were well used to handling boats (they were fishermen) --- there was no problem.

Suddenly ---- Everything changed!

“A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.”

Now they were not so bold --- not so sure that they could manage. They woke Jesus up, saying: -“Master, Master, we’re going to drown” or as Mark records the incident: -“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown”

Fear and panic took over ----- where was Jesus when they needed him?

How could he sleep when they were in such danger --- didn’t he know or worse still, didn’t he care?

Yes he did know and yes he did care. Jesus immediately took command of the situation: - “He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided and all was calm”

All was calm --- you can almost feel the tension going --- the relief as fear subsided as Jesus took control.

But Jesus asked them an important question (the first of two questions in this passage)

“Where is your faith?”

Why the panic? Why could you not trust me? Why be afraid when I am in the boat with you?

??? !!! We can often be like those disciples.

When life is all plain sailing --- everything going well ----- so often we forget about Jesus and manage alone, relying on our own skills and abilities --- making our own plans ---- taking our own decisions..

We can manage ----- we can handle life.

Yes, we believe that Jesus is with us ---- and it’s good to have him on board ----- but ----- let him sleep

All is well until, suddenly, storms come ----- illness, bereavement, marriage breakdown, un-employment, money problems, rebellious teenagers.

Help! We feel swamped ------ going under – unable to cope --- in despair. Panic sets in.

That’s when we call out to Jesus, as the disciples did in the storm.  The wonderful thing is, he hears us.

He knows what we need because he has been with us all the time.

He is able to calm our fears and to bring us peace when we take our needs to him in prayer.

“Where is your faith? “Where is your faith?”

Jesus might ask that question of us today.

Are we in danger of letting our troubles drown us?

Are we afraid or sad, worried or despairing?

Jesus is saying: - I am with you ---- trust me --- I will keep you safe.

Second question.

Storm over, the disciples asked: -“Who is this man”

What kind of man can command the wind to cease and the waves to calm down?

Revelation 4 gives us the answer.

Here we see a glimpse of heaven

John has a wonderful vision of heaven ---- a door standing open to allow him to peep in and see the glory of God.

He saw God enthroned in glory and majesty, splendour and power ---- surrounded by many creatures who worshipped and adored Him.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. You are worthy to receive glory and honour and power; for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.”

You created all things: - the whole vast universe was created and is sustained by God ----- and Jesus was with God in that work of creation.

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made”

“Who is this man?” the disciples asked.

He is the Word --- he is with God ---- He is God ----and He created everything.

This man Jesus who calmed the storm on the lake is none other than the mighty, powerful God who made the whole of the world and therefore calming the wind and the waves was a small matter for him.

!!! ??? We too might ask: - “Who is Jesus? How can he deal with my problems?

Jesus, to whom we pray, is none other than the great and glorious God who John glimpsed in his vision.

With him all things are possible ---- even dealing with our problems.

At the guide camp we had no fear in the storm because we knew how capable and caring our captain was.

When we realise who Jesus truly is ------- the powerful creator God, who loves us and cares for us ------ then we can, with confidence, safely put our trust in him.

2 QUESTIONS

“Where is your faith?”

• Do we rely upon own ability to see us through life?

 Sadly, there are times when problems arise that are beyond our ability to cope.

• Is our faith in Jesus, who is with us always and promises to help us carry our burdens and to give us peace.

“Who is this man?”

• Just a figure in history, someone we heard of at school
• No, he is none other than Almighty God, the creator of this vast universe

With him nothing is impossible ----- not        even dealing with our problems.

A children’s chorus sums it all up

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There’s nothing that he can not do

The mountains are his, the rivers are his

The stars are his handiwork too

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There’s nothing that he can not do

Sermon at St Peter's, Oundle on 15 February 2009, 2^nd Sunday before Lent.  Barry Morrison 

 Full of Grace and Truth     John 1.14

A prostitute is so driven by her addiction to drugs that she rents out her 2 year old daughter for kinky sex.  She can make far more money that way in downtown Chicago.  Philip Yancey tells the story in two of his books.   The Christian worker is at a total loss and at last asks, "Have you ever thought of going to a church for help?"  "Church!" she cries out, "Why would I ever go there?  I feel so terrible about myself already.  They would just make me feel worse." 

Jesus somehow attracted and welcomed people like her, the unclean and the untouchable, the lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors, the notorious sinners, all who would be shunned and excluded by everyone else.  A few months ago I heard a broadcast sermon.  The speaker said that at a conference a Leader of a large Church couldn't sleep and went out to find a cup of coffee at an all-night café at 5am.  The only other customers were prostitutes.  One was telling the others that it was her birthday the next day, but she had no family, no friends, no real home, no hope of presents, nothing to look forward to - and then she left.  The Church leader found the courage and grace to say to the others, "Why don't we give her a party, here, tomorrow morning?  I'll get a cake."  And so they did.  Amidst all the balloons and streamers, and after the cake and candles, laughter and no doubt tears, they found out what he did.  One of them said, "I would like to go to a Church that welcomes prostitutes." 

Jesus was full of grace and truth.  In chapter 4 of his gospel John tells of Jesus resting in the heat of mid-day at a well.  A Samaritan woman comes to collect water.  It is quite hard for us to understand just what this meant.  The Samaritans were of Jewish, but also mixed, descent.  They also shared much of the Jewish faith, but this too was mixed - with pagan influences from their neighbours.  Those who are of mixed descent and mixed religion are often the most despised, and the most unfairly despised and rejected.  John simply says, "The Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."  Jesus was of course a Jewish man.  We also need to remind ourselves just how chauvinistic Jewish men could be, strict Jewish men beginning their prayers each day, "Thank you, Lord, that I am not a Gentile (non- Jew) and not a woman."  That is deeply embarrassing and shameful.  So here we have this Samaritan woman coming to collect water under the blazing mid-day sun.   This could only mean that she was avoiding the sniping and sneering, the malicious gossip and taunting that would be provoked by her life-style.

 Jesus talks to her.  Jesus takes her seriously, treating her with dignity and respect.  He asks for water to quench his thirst.  He then offers her living water to satisfy all thirst, indeed a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  "Yes, please," she says.  "Call your husband and bring him here," says Jesus, before going on to say, "You have had five husbands and are now with someone else."  The woman moves the discussion to the differences between Jews and Samaritans and Jesus says gently but firmly that we must worship God in spirit and in truth.  The Messiah?  I am he. 

The woman rushes back to the village.  She leaves her water jar behind.  Note carefully the spirit in which she says, "Come and meet someone who told me everything I've ever done."  It's not - what a terrible man who has shopped and exposed me!  But - what an amazing and wonderful man, he knows all about me, but there is something totally different about him.  He is offering life, real life, to me!  Jesus was full of grace and truth.  What a perfect balance.  This balance is reflected equally in the response of Jesus to the woman caught in adultery, in chapter 8 of the gospel.  "Whoever is without sin," says Jesus, "You throw the first stone; yes, go on, you."  And when they all leave, in growing honesty realism and shame, he says to her, "I don't condemn you either.  Go and sin no more."   

There was a special experience of grace and truth at the recent General Synod.  I have this on the authority of my wife Gill who tells me that it included the best debate in her three and a half years as a member. The motion called for both freedom and a lead in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and none, linked to Jesus' words in John 14, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me."   A number of bishops had found the motion somewhat embarrassing, and it had been put off after being submitted for an earlier Synod.  In the event, the spirit and mood were overwhelmingly positive, with speakers keen to quote examples of God's truth and grace both from the scriptures and from their experience.

 One contributor had previously been a Buddhist and for him this had meant worshipping idols who had given him no peace.  Jesus Christ gave peace and grace in abundance.  In another session a mother from Bradford, formerly a Muslim, had been subject to various threats and had moved home more than once.  She was very touched by the gratitude, understanding and encouragement she received both in the debate and from other members afterwards - grace and truth.  One member said the Synod knew him as a woolly and dodgy liberal.  He had the courage to say, "I haven't had this experience of conversion many have spoken of.  I would like to.  I need some help."  "All are welcome at any stage," responded Archbishop John Sentamu, "Come and see me afterwards."  Life, grace, truth.

 One final example from the ministry of Jesus, in John 8.  He was in discussion with the religious establishment of his day, the leaders, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  "You can be physical descendants of Abraham," he warned them, and I paraphrase,  "but still not real sons of Abraham or of God at all, unless you recognise and believe in me as the living Son of the living God.  The truth, this truth, alone will set you free from pride and self and sin."  Jesus warned them; and he also warns us, a special reminder for those of us with responsibility to lead and to teach, clergy, readers, teachers.  We are called to constant humility, to depend on the grace of God alone to put and keep us right with him. 

 Jesus was full of grace and truth.  We are called to be the same, individually and as his family and fellowship.  John warns that Jesus came to his own, Jewish people, but all too many did not receive him.  John writes of his own personal experience and that of his fellow disciples, "From the fulness of his grace we have all received, grace upon grace, one blessing after another."  Have you received him, and do you know him for yourself, personally?  This is the very heart of our faith, and it is expressed as we come equally to receive Communion with open, empty hands to receive again mercy and forgiveness, grace and reassurance, help and strength.  As we shall sing just a little later in our service, amazing grace.  

In our journey through Matthew we have, over the course of the last few weeks, heard many of the parables that Jesus told during the course of his short ministry here on earth. Several of the parables have involved seeds and the sowing of seed and last week Philip left us with the question “What sort of seed are you?” During the course of my talk this morning I shall be asking a similar question.

This morning’s reading, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, occurs in all four gospels and there is a further account of a similar event known as the Feeding of the Four Thousand in Mark and Matthew. The inclusion of six separate accounts in the Bible of what may have been just a single event may well be part of the reason why the story is amongst the best known. But what type of story is it? Is it a Miracle or is it a Parable? I would like to suggest that it is both.

There can be no doubt that the miracles performed by Jesus helped to spread his name rapidly across Galilee and Judea and to draw the crowds to see him. Indeed, in John’s Gospel we are told that the Five Thousand had gathered ‘because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.’ Through his performance of miracles, and in particular, his healing of the sick and feeding of those in need, we are given a vivid insight into the love and compassion of God. A love that has no boundaries and extends to all: Man and Woman - Jew and Gentile. And what a blessing that insight has proved to be to us and to countless millions of believers over the centuries. The knowledge that we have a God who feels our pain and loves and cares for us as his children.

But what of the Feeding of the Five Thousand as a parable? Much has been written on this subject. Some writers have looked back to parallels in the Old Testament such as Elisha taking 20 loaves of barley to feed a hundred people in the Second Book of Kings or the story of Moses and the falling of manna, or bread from heaven in Exodus. Others have looked forward to parallels with the Last Supper, the Eucharist and the Messianic Banquet. Both make fascinating reading, but this morning I would like to tease out what to me is at the centre of the story by looking at it from the point of view of the boy mentioned in John’s account of the story.

All four Gospel writers tell us that there were five loaves and two fish but only John tells us where they came from: ‘there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.’ We don’t know anything else about him, but we do know that that boy gave up what he had in order that the multitude could be fed. Let us think about that a little more. How many people would five loaves and two fishes feed under normal circumstances? It depends rather upon the size of the loaves which we don’t know, but they were likely to be rather closer to the size of what we would call a bun rather than that of a Mighty White Sliced Loaf! We know a little more about the fish as some of the gospel writers do tell us that they were small. So, how many would this packed lunch have fed? Five people perhaps? That would be a bun each and less than half a fish. Maybe if the loaves were a little bigger it could have been stretched to 10 but more than that and the ration would be getting a little meagre. That would suggest that Jesus miraculously produced the food for at least 4990 people from thin air. If he could do that, it is reasonable to suggest that he could equally well have produced the food for the full 5000 from thin air – but that is not what happened. For the miracle to occur, Jesus asked someone, in this case the boy, to give up what he had for the benefit of those who had nothing. That, for me, is the key to this story.

Put yourself, if you would, in the place of that boy as he saw Andrew, a big, burley fisherman, striding through the crowds looking for food. You’ve got these five barley loaves and two fish but no-one else around you seems to have got anything to eat at all and there are thousands of them! What are you going to do? What thoughts are racing through your mind as Andrew gets nearer and nearer? ‘I’m hungry. I’ve been out in the desert for hours. I’ve no idea how long it will take me to get home. I need this food for myself. I thought ahead and brought it with me. If other people didn’t think, that’s their lookout. I’m keeping it for myself.’ Might you have thought in that way, at least for a while?

But wait! Maybe you were not just carrying the food for yourself: ‘this food is not just for me’ you rationalise, ‘it’s for my family and friends and neighbours. I have a responsibility to keep it for them. I’m not going to give it to Andrew to share with all these people who I don’t even know!’ Might that have been your reaction?

Or perhaps you had neither of these responses. Perhaps you heard Jesus talking to the crowds a few months ago: ‘Blessed are the merciful’ you remember him saying. ‘Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.’ ‘In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.’ Inspired by the wisdom and authority of this itinerant preacher from Galilee you were determined to live your life according to his word and so handed over the loaves and fishes to Andrew without giving it a second thought.

We shall never know what thoughts went through the mind of that boy as he clutched his parcel of food on the mountain side 2000 years ago, but we do know what goes through our mind when we see an appeal on television or pick up the Christian Aid envelope that drops out of the Gazette onto the floor. How does our response to the needs of others compare with the possible responses I have suggested of the boy on the mountain?

I suspect that we all like to feel that we do better than the totally selfish response of wanting to keep everything for ourselves. I suspect also that few of us would claim to follow the teaching of Jesus entirely in both our thoughts and our actions without a second thought. Such devotion is beyond all but a very few whom we rightly revere as Saints.

That leaves most of us, to some extent or another, occupying the middle ground of willingly extending our help to family, friends and near-neighbours but still hesitant when asked to extend it yet further. Jesus was well aware of this human failing and tackled it head on in another of his well-known parables – The Good Samaritan. In that story he made it clear that we are all neighbours and that we must help anyone who is in need; not just those with whom we live in close proximity. So how can we use the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand to help us to extend our horizons further and care for all our brothers and sisters in this great global village in which we now live?  I suggest that we remember that for a miracle to happen, someone has to give up something of what they have for the benefit of those who have not – and that someone is me and you.

Sometimes the cause and effect are easy to see. The response to the Asian Tsunami a few years ago saw millions of people in the west give up a little of what they had and the miracle in terms of relief for the suffering happened before our eyes. In other cases the cause and effect is not so clear.

Every time we go shopping we make decisions that will affect our neighbours somewhere in the world. We may choose to buy food that has been flown in from the far corners of the earth or we may choose produce that has been produced here in the UK. We may choose Fairtrade products or we may go simply for the cheapest. When we make those decisions let us remember that for a miracle to happen, someone has to give up something of what they have for the benefit of those who have not.

Governments too, on our behalf, make decisions that have huge effects on our global neighbours. Encouraging farmers to grow oil-seed rape or use maize for the manufacture of bio fuel in order to keep down the cost of fuel has reduced the quantity of basic staple foods being grown and pushed up their cost to the detriment of the poor. The amount of maize needed to produce just one tank of fuel for a typical family car would feed a family of four in the third world for three months! Using fertile land to grow bio fuel in a world where millions are starving is not the answer to soaring fuel prices. Being prepared to give up some of our use of fuel for the benefit of others is the way for the miracle to happen.

We who live in relative luxury in the western world must take on board the fact that the day-to-day decisions we make have a radical effect on the lives of the poor throughout the world. To “Make Poverty History” will indeed take a miracle: but for that miracle to happen, we must follow the example of that small boy on the mountainside and be prepared to give up something of what we have for the benefit of those who have not.

Palm Sunday

            In the late summer of 1996, we were on our way to Lords to see Northamptonshire play Lancashire in the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup. In St. John’s Wood Road, we bumped into an acquaintance from these parts. A man of independent means, about 12 years older than me, sporting a very smart and expensive panama with (crucially in this context) an MCC hat band.

            That’s the end of the story. There’s no punch line and the only joke that day was Northamptonshire’s batting.

            My description of this panama wearing MCC member is selective and intended to convey something (but not all) about him. Listeners will supplement the picture and fill in gaps according to their personalities and experience.

            Some people will immediately have formed (with approval) a picture of a cricket-loving, Daily Telegraph reading, gentleman amateur and member of the Establishment.

Others will have gained an impression of a fuddy-duddy old reactionary, who probably disapproved of the sporting boycott of South Africa and is determined to exclude women from his inner sanctums.

            Both judgements, as they relate to the whole man, as he really is, would be wholly wrong.

            Those making them would have been indulging in 1. isogesis ­ - an excellent theological jargon word. It means interpreting by imposing your own ideas on the story or text; as opposed to exegesis, which means interpreting by drawing the meaning from what is there in the story or text.

            And what’s more, his wife told me last week that he has never owned a panama hat in his life.

According to the gospel of John, there was this exchange between Pilate and Jesus: 2. “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate then asked Jesus, “What is truth?” [John 18.38].

Scripture is the foundation of our faith: the basis of what we believe and how we should behave.

As we read the Bible, Pilate’s penetrating question needs to be asked again and again. And answering it demands discernment.

Or, to put it another way, religion for grown ups.

This is the hallmark of Protestant Christianity. For it, many people suffered oppression or even death. We have inherited a Bible in our language. We can read and interpret it for ourselves. Of course, to do so we are helped by the accumulated wisdom of the church, our reason, and our experience. But we are autonomous human beings and our minds and our hearts are ours.

I say ‘hearts’ because this is not a dry, academic exercise. It is a sincere search for ultimate truth with which the deepest parts of our personalities are engaged.

Truth is not just a matter of what can be mechanically recorded or tested in a laboratory. Its expression does not depend on literal, factual accuracy. King Lear is not an historical figure. He does not have dates you can learn at school. And yet Shakespeare’s play explores the most profound truths about what it means, psychologically and politically, to be a human being.

            Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is a good example of all this.

            Let’s start with a small detail. Was it one donkey or two? Matthew says two. The other gospels say one. Let’s look at what the prophecy reported in Matthew actually said rather than what the evangelist said it said.

3.         “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! / Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! / Lo, your king comes to you; / triumphant and victorious is he, / humble and riding on a donkey, / on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” [Zechariah 9.9]

            This is just an example of parallelism: saying the same thing twice slightly differently.

It seems that the evangelist simply misunderstood Zechariah and, in his anxiety to make events fit the prophecy, altered them. Each of the other Gospels has only one beast and not necessarily a donkey.

            All of the Synoptic Gospels [1st 3] imply that the getting of the donkey was the result of some sort of supernatural foresight on Jesus’ part. The real reason could perfectly well be a sensible arrangement made in advance. Or chance. John merely says: 4. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. [John 12.14]

            What about a much bigger question, the story’s historicity – did something like this happen at all?

The triumphal entry is one of the surprisingly few things to be found, in some form, in all four gospels. That implies that it was deeply embedded in early tradition.

However, when it comes to the descriptions of the so-called ‘trial’ of Jesus there is no reference to the event. This is odd as, if it happened, the triumphal entry related directly to the issue at the trial: who did Jesus claim to be?

Perhaps that says more about the accuracy of the accounts of the trial than it does about the triumphal entry.

What was all the fuss about?

The evangelists all describe Jesus as presenting himself in a way which could only outrage the Jewish religious establishment and alarm the Romans: entering Jerusalem as a Messianic, Dividic, warrior king who, having conquered, would bring peace.

            The Synoptic Gospels imply the sense that, whatever Jesus was trying to convey about himself, people were simply shouting ‘Hosannas’ at the arrival of the prophet from Galilee. As to who he was: “Son of David” is about as strong as it gets.

            John, however, says that it was all about the raising of Lazarus:

5.  “So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him.” [John 12.17-18]

            Who was doing all the shouting? Matthew and Mark just say they were people or crowds. John says they were pilgrims. Luke’s account is precise and different: 6. “... the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen.” [Luke 19.37]

If Luke is right, that old chestnut of the fickle mob is laid to rest: that the same people who acclaimed him were, a few days later, calling for his death. In fact, when you read the gospels you will find that there is, simply, no biblical support for this contention.

            What about the palms? Only John says that there were any. Matthew has branches cut from the trees. Mark has leafy branches cut from the fields. Luke has only cloaks.

            7. “others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road” [Matthew 21.8]; “others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields” [Mark 11.8]

When did this event occur? The crowd’s cries echo psalm 118:

8. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord./We bless you from the house of the Lord./The Lord is God, and he has given us light./Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.” [Psalm 118.26-7]

The waving of palms and using the words of this psalm reflect practices at the Feast of the Tabernacles or the Feast of Dedication (respectively in autumn and winter). Passover is in the spring.

This has led to the idea that Jesus might have arrived in Jerusalem much earlier than the gospels suggest or that another visit by Jesus to Jerusalem is being described.

Even scratching the surface in this way shows the difficulty of trying to take these ancient texts at face value. However, as we explore them, we find that great, simply expressed themes recur and resonate, at the heart of which is this: that we must love God and each other; and that, through love, we may hope to be united with each other and with God - decisively and eternally.

            Beside the truth of these great themes, the factual truth of Biblical detail is unimportant. We can be completely at ease with imagery and factual inconsistency. But we must constantly search for the truth of what the Bible actually says and not impose on it what we think it ought to say.

            I am not going to say what I think about the triumphal entry to Jerusalem. You can read the story for yourselves. Read about it for yourselves. And think about it for yourselves.

But as you do so remember the man in the panama. Or not.