Sermon: 27 August 2023 Pentecost 13
Texts: Romans 12.1-8; Matthew 16.13-23
Theme: Living the Christian Life
Prayer: O Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lies the secret of all life and the hope of all people. We pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age but let its problems challenge us; its discoveries exhilarate us; its injustices anger us; its possibilities inspire us; and its vigour renew us, for your kingdom’s sake. Amen
As we make our yearly commitment to the ongoing ministry of our church community here in St Lucia today, I want us to ponder the question about living as disciples of Jesus, living the Christian life, and do this in three points:
(1) by looking first at why we do it.
(2) how we go about it; and
(3) an example of living it.
First, why do we live this life? And for this we turn to the Gospel passage from Matthew but before we do I need to tell my very favourite religious joke of all time:
A Lutheran, Catholic and Anglican all die on the same day and find themselves standing together at the pearly gates. St Peter was on long service leave so they found themselves facing Jesus. “I know I’m not whom you thought you would see,” Jesus says, “but be that as it may, I have one question for each of you and if you answer correctly, in you come to the heavenly banquet.” The Lutheran steps up and Jesus says, “Who do you say that I am?” The Lutheran replies, “Well it says in the bible that…” Jesus interrupts him abruptly with, “But who do you say I am?” The Lutheran stumbles, “Ah….” Jesus’ face frowns, arm goes down to a lever, pulls it, a trapdoor opens and the Lutheran disappears from view.
The Catholic steps forward and Jesus says, “Who do you say that I am?” The Catholic replies, “Well the Church teaches…” Jesus interrupts him abruptly with, “But who do you say I am?” The Catholic stumbles, “Ah….” Jesus’ face frowns, arm goes down to a lever, pulls it, a trapdoor opens and the Catholic disappears from view.
The Anglican, by now a little worried by what has happened edges his way forward to face Jesus and Jesus says, “Who do you say that I am?” The Anglican replies, “Well you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” A smile begins to form on Jesus face, “but then again, on the other hand…”
It is quite apt to be reminded of this Gospel passage because at the heart of our lives as people of faith, as those who dare to follow is our own response to Jesus question, “Who do you say I am?” Sometimes Anglicans are accused of being wishy-washy; not a 100% sure of what they believe both as individuals and as a Church. But can I say that Sundays like today when we are brought face-to-face with Jesus are important and vital to our lives. We are faced with a question no one else can answer on our behalf. What is OUR answer? Not anyone else’s but our own deep down – Who do we say Jesus is? It’s not an ask once and forget type of question. I believe it is a question we need to address each and every day! I had the great privilege to spend a day last year, as part of my study tour in Israel, in the exact same spot where Jesus asked his question. I was moved to tears as I pictured myself endeavouring to answer Jesus as if he were standing right in front of me. We were at Caesarea Philippi, about 25k north of the Sea of Galilee. According to some research there could have been few districts with more religious associations than Caesarea Philippi. The Syrian’s had many temples there; the area was said to be the birthplace of the Greek God Pan; the river Jordan was said to start here and Herod the Great had built a great temple of white marble to the godhead of Caesar. It was Herod’s son Philip who changed the name of the place from Panias to Caesarea and added his own name Philippi - of Philip to distinguish it from Caesarea on the Mediterranean. One author writes, “And there, of all places, this amazing carpenter stands and asks the disciples who they believe him to be, and expects the answer, “The Son of God.” It is as if Jesus deliberately set himself against the background of the world’s religions in all their history and their splendour and demanded to be compared with them and to have the verdict given in his favour.” I certainly recommitted myself to Jesus in preparation for my move to be among you here in St Lucia.
It is so easy to be alarmed and distracted by the idols and Gods that surround us; to be afraid of change and terrified of the circumstances we find ourselves in but if the number one reflection and thought at the start of each day were I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and I will live this day as a child of God then that makes a difference. It frames everything else that follows. And if you are struggling with faith – feeling like you are just holding on or have even let go, may I humbly suggest that a starting point is to honestly answer the question – Who is Jesus to me!
So we address the why we live as a Christian for we believe in Jesus but what about the how to live as a Christian. Here we turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verses 1-8. Paul begins with, “I appeal to you therefore brothers and sisters”. The therefore is important. Chapter 12 is the switch in Paul’s letter. Chapters one to eleven are really a theological treaty; solid, heavy, theological text that outlines Paul’s understanding of God and Jesus and salvation and all that God has done for us. And now the application of all of that; of all of Paul’s understanding of the gracious nature of God, comes for us! It’s like Pauls is saying, ‘In light of my argument I believe the following applies to us; to you, me and all Christians!
And what is the most important thing Paul wants us to do in light of eleven chapters of dense but persuasive argument? By the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God which is your spiritual, and therefore according to Paul, truer, worship. Note that we do this by and in and through the mercies of God. We cannot do it in our own strength which is a relief. Now we could spend a lot of time parsing this sentence and working out the nuances of each word, but I want us to note ‘your bodies’, which is saying, everything we are! Not just our mind, or strength or even our money, or an hour or two of our time, but us – all of you; all of me. We give our whole selves to God. And is this not what we say most Sundays after Holy Communion in the prayer that starts, “Father, we offer ourselves to you as what? As a living sacrifice through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory. In a deep way; the worship we attend on Sunday mornings doesn’t really end. For Paul, in light of all that God has done, we offer ourselves totally back to God; in the parlance of today’s youth, we offer ourselves totally back to God, 24/7/365! Now that really is an idea worth our deep and considered reflection. In what ways is my life outside of the times when I gather for formal worship an offering of myself to God? The questions will flow; how on earth am I going to do this? Is it really worth it? It seems so hard? I really don’t know where to start? Now I believe that Paul knew that is what his readers would be thinking when they read this so what is the next thing he writes? Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.
It’s as if Paul has anticipated our problems. So we don’t know where to start in presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice – well certainly don’t follow the lead of the world. For Paul, there is God and the things that lead us to a deeper relationship with God and all the rest are just distractions. We have the narrow gate on the one hand, and we have the broad well paved path that leads to Hell on the other – and for Paul, most people; read ‘the world’ are cruising down that highway. I have in my desk drawer, as a reminder to me each day – a paper that says, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” But Paul says, “be renewed by the transforming of your mind.” There is so much in this passage let alone entire letter but I do want to point out one other thing for us that Paul (hard to believe for some!) is also talking here about humility and humbleness. I believe it has to do with creating a harmonious community. Don’t think too highly of ourselves or above ourselves – but also don’t think too lowly either – and in doing this – do it for others - treat everyone with respect and honour regardless of what they have to offer or bring to the table. All of us are created, baptised and called to be in God’s community and we are all the same regardless of what role and function we have in that community.
And so we have reflected why we live the Christian life and some pointers to how we live the Christian life but I want to finish today with an example for us to ponder. Thursday past, the 24th August was the feast day of St Bartholomew. We know nothing about Bartholomew. There is even uncertainty about his name. It has been suggested that Bartholomew and Nathanael are the same person and thus the Gospel passage from St John dealing with the call of Nathanael is the gospel set for Bartholomew’s feast day. We know nothing about Bartholomew — except, that is, for the only thing that matters about him. We know that he was a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. That is all.
I suspect that if he was with us today Bartholomew himself would not have wished for anything else to be told about him except that he was called to serve our Lord.
To serve is to hide. On Easter Day, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus met two disheartened disciples. Later, after he had made himself known to them, “he vanished from their sight”. That is what is Jesus does. He still vanishes from our sight. Now you see him; now you don’t. He does not await our recognition, still less our ovations. By the time we have found the noisy hymn to sing his praise, he is off somewhere else. We know, many of us, that we have met him. There was that moment, at the edge of an abyss, when he touched our lives, steadied us, and saved us from falling. Only later did we recognise who it was — and by then he had gone. He had moved on, as he did in Galilee. And, as in Galilee, we must drop everything and follow him. There are the Bartholomew’s, whose hidden service to their sisters and brothers becomes known only when they have left us, when they themselves are lost in light. There are many more Bartholomew’s whose story — before the books are opened — we shall never know. And in a sense this ordinary saint for whom we know little is the perfect saint for our times now. Bartholomew is a reminder that sometimes the most important part of being a disciple of Jesus is just showing up, then we can wait and see how God will use us. We see that God often comes to people in rather ordinary ways and through rather ordinary people. God still comes to us through rather ordinary people - average parents, mediocre priests, undistinguished Sunday School teachers, ageing congregations. Yet when we come with an open mind and true heart,
we can see the extraordinary presence and experience the extraordinary power of God. When we do, God uses us, ordinary people doing ordinary things, to build up the kingdom and to make a difference in our world. Let us seek to follow Bartholomew’s undistinguished faithfulness. Without striving for glory and recognition, let us be content to be faithful, ordinary followers of Jesus. Then there will come a day when we will hear our Lord say, "Well done, you good and faithful servant," because we have answered well by the lives that we have lived, his question, who do you say that I am.
The Lord be with you.