The Epistle for next Sunday

Ephesians 4

Unity in the Body of Christ

¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it^a]">[a] says:
"When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."^b]">[b] ⁹(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^c]">[c]? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.


Whenever people enter a new organisation they are always expected to follow the aims and expectations of that group. It is no different for us as Christians, but how spectacularly we mess up and hinder rather than help the aims of Christ. It must have been the same for the early Christians so Paul paints a picture of the kind of life people must live if they enter the fellowship of the Christian Church.
Barclay describes the words in the first three verses of this passage as "jewels"! Five basic words of the Christian faith. I will look at them one by one.

Humility: The Greek word for "humility" which Paul uses here was actually coined by Christianity. In Greek there was no word for humility because humility was not counted as a virtue at all. The ancients looked at humility as as kind of cowering, cringing thing which was to be despised and not desired. The Greek adjective for "cringing" was used to describe a plant which trails along the ground. And yet the early Christians set humility as the very first of all the virtues; and it is the virtue on which all the others depend and from which they flow. Where does this virtue come from and what does it involve?

Christian humility comes from self-knowledge. I have often had to face myself in all my stupidity and unworthiness and it is a very humiliating thing. I think that most of us dramatize ourselves and see ourselves as the centre of things. There is a story which Barclay tells of a man who dreamed his waking dreams before he went to sleep at night. He would see himself as the hero of some thrilling rescue from the sea or from the flames; he would see himself as a great speaker holding a vast audience spellbound. He would see himself walking to the wicket in a Test Match at Lord's and scoring a century or in some international football match dazzling the crowd with his skill; always he was the centre of the picture.

That is just what I am like sometimes! I remember as a child thinking that I was in some way special. Somehow put on earth by God for some special mission. How easily deceived we are! True humility comes when we are forced to face ourselves - warts and all - and we see our own weakness, our own selfishness, our own failure in work and in personal relationships and in achievement. It is so essential (but not easy!) to look at ourselves without the rose-tinted glasses of self-admiration and self-dramatization and self-love.

It is helpful to put our lives beside the life of Christ. God is perfection, and to satisfy perfection is not difficult, it is impossible! As long as we compare ourselves with second bests we come out of the comparison well. It is when we compare ourselves with the perfect that we see our own failure. When I compare myself with Jesus Christ there is no room for pride. This is an ongoing lesson which I find I have to relearn over and over again.

The second of the great Christian virtues is gentleness. True to form, brother William assists us in understanding the Greek word (which is beyond translation!)

In Greek the word for gentleness (Praus) has two main lines of meanings.

Aristotle had much to say about this concept. It was his custom to define each virtue as the mean between two extremes. On the one side there was too much of some quality, on the other side there was some defect; and in between there was the quality in exact proportion in life. Now Aristotle defines gentleness as the mean between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. It is the mean between being too angry and never being angry at all. The person who is gentle is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time. Perhaps that helps us to understand what Paul means by the word "gentle".

But there is another fact which will help us to find the meaning of this word. This Greek word "praus" is also used to describe an animal which has been trained and domesticated until it is completely under discipline and control. So, the person who is gentle has every instinct and every passion, everything to do with heart, mind, soul, tongue under perfect control. How I remember thinking that I had mastered these things when I was younger. Now I know better. Gentleness is difficult and the rate of failure is high - too high! Such self-control is beyond human powers. When we have mastered gentleness we can say that we are "God-controlled".

This then is the second great Christian virtue - the second great characteristic of the true member of the church. This is the person who is always angry at the right time, but never angry at the wrong time; this is a person whose self has died and whose whole life is directed and controlled by God. Barclay says that "he is God's gentleman."

The third great quality is patience. This word has two main directions of meaning.

It describes a spirit which will never give in and which, because it endures to the end, will reap the promise and the reward. The Christian patience is the spirit which never admits defeat, which will not be defeated by any task, which will not be broken by any suffering or controlled by any sin or defeated by any hatred or unforgiveness by others. This patience will never be defeated by any disappointment or discouragement, but which keeps going and endures to the end.

Chrysostom defines it as the spirit which has the power to take revenge, but which never does so. Lightfoot, according to Barclay, defines it as the spirit which refuses to retaliate. He uses an analogy of a puppy and a very large dog together. The puppy yaps at the big dog; he worries him; he bites him; he growls at him; he attacks him, ad all the time the big dog, which could annihilate the puppy with one snap of his teeth, put up with the puppy with "a grave and forbearing dignity."

And now a few thoughts about the fourth great quality - the quality of love. Something so new that Christian writers had to invent a new name for it; or at least take a word which was a very unusual Greek word.

Paul now goes on to set out the basis on which all Christian unity is based. In our time of proliferation of Christian groups this is crucial advise. First he says there is one body. A brain must function through a body which is coordinated and unified. In the same way Christ needs us to be united. Unless there is a co-ordinated oneness in the body the wishes and thoughts and plans of the Head of the body cannot be realised. The unity of the Church is essential for the work of Christ. Of course, as Barclay points out, this does not have to be a mechanical oneness of administration but it does have to be a oneness of heart and mind and love of Christ.

Then Paul speaks of the oneness of the Spirit. The word for Spirit is "breath". Unless the breath is in the body the body is dead and the life-giving breath of the Spirit is what energises the Church. It is the operation of the Spirit in the body which gives the body life. There can be no Church without the Spirit.

Next Paul speaks of the one hope in our calling. We are all moving towards the same goal. his is the great secret of our unity. We may all have different methods, different organisations, even different doctrines but we are all moving towards the goal of a world redeemed by Jesus Christ,

Paul remind the Ephesians that there is one Lord. This was the nearest credal statement of the early Church: "Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil. 2:11). As Paul saw it it was the dream of God that there should come a day when all the world confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord. The word used for "Lord" was the regular word used to describe the Roman Emperor. Quite a risky requirement for the early Christians!

There is one faith. Barclay points out that this does not refer to one creed. Rather it means that all Christians will surrender completely to the love of Jesus Christ. They may describe their surrender in diferent terms, owever they describe it it is common to all of them.

There is one baptism. One gateway for all Christians into the Church. In the early Church it was nearly always adult baptism. It was a public confession of faith and a move from paganism.

Finally Paul says there is one God who is the Father of all. This the unique thing about the Christian God. Not that he is King, not that he is Judge but that he is Father. Our belief about God begins in love. He is also above all. No matter what things may look like to us when we read the newspaper of watch the news, things are not what they seem to be. Our Father is still in control, guiding, directing, sustaining, upholding, loving. He is in all.

Mark

The Gospel for Sunday

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Water 16When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19When they had rowed three or three and a half miles,[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. 20But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." 21Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Barclay points out a number of possible meanings of the miracle. First, Jesus literally multiplied loaves and fishes. Many people find that very hard to take. Some may point out that Jesus refused to do something similar when he was tempted to turn stones into bread (Matthew 4). So for those who are puzzled Barclay has two explanations. Perhaps this was really a sacramental meal. In the rest of this chapter Jesus speaks about the Last Supper - eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It could be that the meal was just a morsel for each person but the thrill of the presence of Jesus and the reality of God turned the crumbs into something which richly nourished the 5000 in a mysterious sacramental way.

But perhaps there is another beautiful explanation. Barclay suggests that very few people would leave on a nine mile hike without taking food and drink with them. Perhaps none of them would produce what they had and - very humanly -wished to keep what they had for themselves. Perhaps Jesus then produced what he and his disciples had and began to share it out. Moved by his example, anyone who had anything did the same and, in the end, there was enough - more than enough - for all. Could it be that this is a miracle in which selfish people are turned into a fellowship of sharers. Could this be the biggest miracle of all - a story about changed lives and changed human nature, changed people?

I think you will know what my view is brother! But very interesting thoughts from Barclay nevertheless.

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine.....We've waited long enough!

Mark

THE EPISTLE FOR SUNDAY 22ND JULY, 2012

Ephesians 2:11-end (NRSV)

11 So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth,* called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— 12remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body* through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.* 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.* 21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually* into a dwelling-place for God.

This is a special passage of Scripture for me for a number of reasons: (i) It was my text on Christmas Day 1993, before the first democratic elections in South Africa – specifically verse 14:

“ … For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the diving wall, that is the hostility between us …”

(ii) It was also the text of the first Church of my recollection as a young child in East London, South Africa, where my family worshipped with the first non-racial Presbyterian Church in that country in the early 1960s – something that was radical anywhere in the world at the time, let alone South Africa. In fact a broken wall and this text was the emblem of the Church. Even though I was a very young child of about 4 or 5, it had an indelible impact on me.

In Christ there is no difference at all, we are one, and race or class or anything becomes meaningless. How we need to remind the world of this so many years later. It is almost as if there are some things that are all too easily forgotten, even distorted and in need of constant refreshing.

The Jews are a special people; they had the Old Testament where it is crystal clear that God is the God of all and that it was their role to bring the love and mercy of God to all people. What a privilege. But some had got it all horribly wrong! By the time of Jesus, they considered themselves to be superior to all others; in fact Gentiles (everyone who was not a Jew) were despised. Some considered Gentiles to be mere fuel for the fires of hell; if a Jew married a Gentile, a funeral was held for the Jew; it was not lawful to help a Gentile woman in her hour of need for all that would do is to aid another Gentile coming into the world. The Jews of the time were considered to be the chosen people of God!

But we must also never forget that this was not true of all Jews, as there were many Godly Jews throughout these times, just an aberration by some powerful people, for this is not the essence of Judaism at all.

No wonder Jesus was in for a hard time: he overturned this with his radical message of God’s love and mercy for all. The Parable of the Good Samaritan must have been as radical as a Taliban person helping a British person today; his contact with a Samaritan woman would have caused absolute outrage.

Jesus came to break down the dividing walls – all diving walls – for whosoever would come. There is still the truth that walls will remain because people build them; but in Christ, we can all be one. But for this to happen, people need to come to Christ. This is why I am of the view that the world needs to Gospel of Jesus even more today than it has for some time. In a sense, Jesus is our only hope.

The ancient world was full of barriers. Some of the Greeks were as discriminatory as some of the Jews – dividing the world into two groups – Greeks and barbarians (everyone who was not a Greek!) Barbarians were also excluded from religion. Plato, brilliant though he was, got things seriously wrong when he claimed that non-Greeks were ‘… our enemies by nature.’ Barclay points out that this is a plague that is timeless, and he is right because it was this sort of attitude that was at the heart of Apartheid in South Africa and remains a scourge in many areas still today. The Dutch, at one time, had a proverb that states: “Unknown is unloved”. This hits the nail on the head: when people do not know others, they act out of fear instead of love. Barclay quotes Father Taylor of Boston who said: “There is just enough room in the world for all the people in it, but there is no room for the fences that separate them.”

Central to our faith is transforming the world into a family where everyone is respected and afforded dignity, and this becomes especially real when people find forgiveness and wholeness by being united with the risen Christ; for it is only when this union happens that we come to realize that everything else, without exception, takes second place to being part of the family of Christ. Paul makes the point that Jesus is our peace and peace does not come from any other source than love. Real peace is nothing something that can be legislated or enforced; if this is the paradigm; it will be fake and will not last. As Barclay comments: “It is in a common love of Him that people come to love each other … and only when they all love Christ will they love each other …”

Barclay includes a telling true story that makes this point so clearly.

British soldiers brought the body of one of their friends to a cemetery for burial. It was Roman Catholic. The priest told them gently, that he was sorry but this would not be possible. The British soldiers therefore buried their friend on the border of the cemetery. They returned the next day to see that all was still in order, and to their astonishment, they could not find the grave! They were approached by the Catholic priest. I will let Barclay complete the true story:

“ … The priest told them that his heart had been troubled because of his refusal to allow their dead comrade to be buried in the churchyard; so he told them that early in the morning he had risen from his bed, and with his own hands he had moved the fence to include the body of the soldier who had died for France. That is what love can do. The rules and regulations put up the fence; but love moved it. Jesus removed the fences between man and man. He abolished all religion that is founded on rules and regulations, and brought to men a religion whose foundation is love.”

I often experience what it is like to be excluded. I believe our Lord led me into the ministry in the Methodist Church and because of this many in the Church of England in the UK (and the Church of Scotland) have not even considered me to be a minister of the Gospel; Roman Catholics have refused even to offer me the sacrament of Holy Communion. I am deeply grateful to you for accepting me and my ministry because of your love for our Lord and for me. (But this was true for most Anglicans in South Africa because other more important things needed to be dealt with – like getting rid of the sin of Apartheid.) I am grateful to some prominent Roman Catholic brothers who were also law breakers and because of their love for me, invited me to share in the Mass with them. (Because two of them are now in very senior positions, they will sadly need to remain nameless.)

We need to maintain standards, but not at the expense of love. I remain committed to breaking down walls that separate.

I now focus on the gifts we receive in Christ.

(i) We are made new: Barclay reminds us that there are two words in Greek for new – ‘neos’ which refers to a new point in time – and ‘kainos’ which refers to a new point in quality. A pencil that has been produced in a factory this week will be ‘neos’ but there already exists millions of pencils like it. For something to be ‘kainos’ means that it brings to the world something new, something that has never existed before. Paul is suggesting that Jesus brings together Jew and Gentile and from them produces a new kind of person. This does not mean that Jesus makes Jews into Gentiles and Gentiles into Jews – he produces something completely ‘kainos’. Chrysostom states that it is as if there is a statue of silver and another of lead and both are melted down and the result is something of gold. Barclay comments:

“The unity which Jesus achieves is not achieved by blotting out all the racial and national characteristics; it is achieved by making all men of all nations into Christians.”

This is important. In the past missionaries often made the mistake of converting people both to the Christian faith and to a western lifestyle. This is not what our Lord wants – he wants us to be something completely ‘kainos’.

(ii) We are reconciled to God: The word Paul uses is one for the bringing together friends who have been estranged. Jesus shows that God is the friend of all and because God is our ‘friend’ we ought to befriend all others.

(iii) We have access to God: Paul uses the word ‘prosagogeus’ – in fact there was person of this title in the Persian royal court and whose function it was to introduce people who desired an audience with the king. Because of what Jesus has done we have access to the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe – ‘… that, than which, nothing greater can be conceived …’ My mind always boggles at this: that God is interested in, knows and cares for David Owen.

Barclay concludes:

“The unity in Christ produces Christians whose Christianity transcends all their local and racial difference; it produces men who are friends with each other because they are friends with God; it produces people who are one, because they meet in the presence of God to whom they have access.”

Karen Armstrong points out that much of problem that we face today comes from the way in which we have been conditioned by the thought of the Enlightenment and the emphasis on ‘reason’ as the only worthwhile way of knowing. Yet, if we reflect on this, it becomes apparent that ‘reason’ has led us in many wrong directions and false notions e.g. that the world is flat, slavery was justifiable and even desirable, and other such heresies. Reason is an important way of knowing but not the only way, because it does not even ask some of the most important questions, viz. how we can make sense of life in this world, which has as a vital part, difficulty, suffering and injustice? Reason can help us to understand ‘how’, but can never address ‘why’. The theory of Evolution makes perfect sense as to how the world and life forms evolved, but taken to its logical conclusion can, in its social dimension, rationally, justify Apartheid and Nazism, because if life is a mere matter of survival of the fittest, these things can be seen as perfectly rational. And we know, intuitively, that this is simply nonsense. Life is about ‘being’ and being human means that we have choices and freedom, and history shows that those who are most human are those whose lives are filled with compassion and love and care for the weaker – which contradicts both evolutionary theory and reason.

Being human means that we are people not merely of biological existence, we are those with ‘inner being’ (verse 16) and this needs to be strengthened if we are going to be fully human. The Scriptures were, when they were written, never meant to be mere historical antiquarian records of precisely what happened, they were meant to take the reader into the presence of the ‘Ground of All Being’ and to encounter and experience transcendence. This happens by ‘faith’ and it is only since Descartes that this has meant signing up to a set of doctrines /beliefs. The faith of the Apostles and St Paul referred rather to ‘trust’ and ‘commitment’ and ‘engagement’. St Paul speaks of it taking place in one’s heart (not the brain), what modern philosophers would refer to as ‘mind’.

It is all too easy to get hung up on “Did Jesus really do this or say that?”; what really matters is that the Scriptures transport us to a deeper sense of reality by giving us an encounter with Jesus in the here and now. The compilers of the Old and New Testaments, and the early Church Fathers constantly re-interpreted the Scriptures to speak directly and intimately into their present contexts, and so exposition is vital. The Scriptures were never seen in a literal way until the modern period and so to insist on the Genesis account of Creation as literal truth is profoundly unbiblical.

The Scriptures are read with the distinctly human sense of ‘faith’ - commitment, encounter and engagement - and the commentary is as important as the text (although the commentary is not possible without the text.)

As Paul puts it in verse 18, it is more than a rational exercise, it is a prayerful exercise and if we think we understand – we are mistaken and must try again - because as Paul continues in verse 19 explains that it ‘surpasses knowledge.’ We cannot know the fullness of God, we can only experience it. This is far more than we can ever ask or imagine. Or as the writer of the Hindu Scriptures (Upanishads) puts it: God is like the ocean and our minds are like a spoon: you cannot measure the ocean with a spoon – but you can throw the spoon into the ocean …

It is wonderful to be reminded of all this again … Tell me the old, old story and tell me often, for I forget so soon … All too often I lapse into modern rationalism and deny myself of so much blessing.

I all too easily read past the idea of God as Father (verse 18), because it is an image that I am so familiar with. Barclay reminds us that ‘father’ can refer to paternity: the biological fact that someone has ‘fathered’ a child. This implies nothing more than the biological fact. Some fathers do not even know that they have children! But we have experienced more – not mere paternity – also fatherhood, the latter implying an intimate relationship of love and fellowship and care. God is responsible (ultimately) for our paternity, but in Jesus also welcomes us into the fellowship of his fatherhood. At the centre of the Christian understanding of God is that He is like Jesus – kind, loving, merciful.

This was a revolutionary notion at the time, for according to the Old Testament, access to God was denied. The people believed that if they ever saw God, they would die (Judges 13:22) The Temple was believed to be the dwelling place of God but it was only the High Priest who was allowed access to the Holy of holies on one day in the year on the Day of Atonement. When Jesus was crucified the curtain in front of the Holy of holies was rent asunder symbolizing that access was now possible to the presence of God.

But there is a danger that people might become overly familiar and forget that God is the God of glory. God is holy and if we seek to come into his presence we too must be holy, as Barclay comments: “… our right of access to God does not give us the right to be and to do what we like. It lays upon us the obligation of seeking to be worthy of such a privilege …”

God is also the Father of ‘all’; if we forget this, we make the same mistake as some of the Jews of Jesus’ day. There is no person, no church, no nation who has exclusive possession of God. This means that all human contempt, pride, religious exclusiveness are all ‘… necessarily wrong …’ Barclay adds: “… The very fact of the Fatherhood of God means that we must love and respect one another …”

Both of us have been blessed by having wonderful earthly fathers, but we are even more blessed by having God as our Father, as revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

But there is another thought as well. We are also blessed to be fathers ourselves. In reflecting on this I am reminded of the awesome responsibility we have of being good fathers to our children.

SERMON ON THE EPISTLE FOR SUNDAY 15TH JULY

Ephesians 1:3-14 NRSV

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ^* before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,^* having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this^* is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Barclay points out that the whole of this reading (verses 3-14) – in the original – is one single long sentence. It is not so much reasoned statement and ‘… a lyrical song of praise …’ He is not thinking in logical stages, but ‘… because gift after gift and wonder after wonder from God pass before his eyes and enter into his mind …’

We make sense of it by breaking it up into manageable pieces:

(i) At the core of the Christian life is God’s choice: Paul did not choose God – God chose him! Jesus made this point strongly as recorded in John 15:16. To Paul, everything was of God and this caused him to give thanks. It would not be that great if man chose God, it is wonderful that God chose man.

(ii) Paul thinks of the bounty of God’s choice: God chose us to bless us with those things that are only available from heaven. There are many things that we can achieve for ourselves: skills, position, material goods; but what we can never achieve for ourselves is ‘goodness’ or ‘peace of mind’. Barclay comments: “God chose us to give us those things which he alone can give.”

A moment’s reflection takes this further. There remains today the important question of what is meant by ‘good’. Many say that it is that which provides happiness for the majority; but what about sizable minorities? Are they to be utterly miserable because only the majority count? Society has unquestioningly accepted this as just the way it is in a democracy, i.e. that misery is the lot of all too many. Because 51 % are happy it is just illogical that the wishes of 49% should not be considered!

Others suggest that ‘goodness’ like ‘yellow’ cannot be defined at all – you know it when you experience it intuitively. But people’s intuition does not always agree (even though on the basics they have a point). But this is not the place for a detailed philosophical discussion of ‘goodness’, what matters here is that it is not something earned or deserved – like faith – it is a gift from God and is linked with Barclay’s last point and that is that we are chosen for a purpose.

(iii) We are chosen to be holy and blameless. The Greek word for ‘holy’ is ‘hagios’ which means difference and separation. A church is holy because its purpose is different; ministers’ are holy because they are meant to be different to others; God is supremely holy because God is so completely different.

In the early Church (and it is my experience in Britain today) that being Christian, and this means being different, means that the people of the world sometimes even hate you because they cannot understand why you are so different. I know this is your experience as well. Barclay suggests that the Church has got things wrong in the sense that some have tried to erase this difference between being a Christian and being worldly; some are reluctant to make a stand, reluctant to challenge sin, reluctant to impose standards, because they want to attract people and become popular. Barclay concludes: “In point of fact a Christian should be identifiable in the world … Our being different ought not to take us out of the world; it should make us different within the world.”

It should be easy to identify the Christian within the school, the shop, the factory, the office, the hospital ward, the law court – anywhere. And this is the difference: we ought not merely to behave as human law requires but rather within the laws of Christ. This meant disobeying the apartheid laws because they contravened the laws of Christ!

Sadly, the world we inhabit is so conditioned to its own ways, that, being a Christian can mean getting into trouble, as was the case with the nurse who offered to pray for a patient; people being expelled from their union. But, if enough Christians became ‘hagios’ – holy – answerable to Christ, they would revolutionize society – for the good! And in the midst of our present circumstances, don’t we need a revolution in our way of thinking, because our economy, education, morals are rightly being questioned?

But we are not only expected to be holy we are also meant to be blameless – ‘amomos’ – we need to offer ourselves as a sacrifice, giving every part of our lives to God. Barclay explains: “… it is to challenge man to make his whole life so perfect that it is a fit offering to God …”

We Christians ought to be different – good people – because we have been made good – sanctified - by the grace of God. This should be obvious to all and be as transparent as the goodness of Mother Teresa, St Francis and all the great saints. Impossible! No because it is not our doing it is what God does in us – the reason why he has chosen us. When we are good and holy and blameless we do not become arrogant or proud because we know this is God’s doing for with us because such virtues are impossible for us to achieve. Barclay concludes:

“… the Christian sets no value on the judgements of human standards, but thinks only of how to satisfy the scrutiny of Christ …’

Ephesians 1:5-6:

⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

These verses include the lovely image of adoption and it is worth a brief re-visit.

It gives God pleasure to adopt us into his family. This is a lovely thought and is increasingly so for me as I have now spent so many years contemplating the greatness of God with my philosophy students. To think of St Anslem’s profound definition of God as “… that, than which, nothing greater can be conceived …” This creator of everything that exists – universe after universe – and that which is beyond human understanding – so great – yet cares for Mark Andrew Smith and David Rhys Owen enough as to adopt us into his family – is a wonderful thought.

A reminder of the process of adoption …

In the Roman Law that was operational at the time of St Paul, family law was based on the principle of ‘patria potestas’ – the father’s power – which was absolute: a father could sell a child into slavery and even kill his own child! A child could not possess anything even inheritances or gifts unless the father allowed it and he could take these things back if he so willed. So it was a serious step to move from one ‘patria potestas’ to another.

It was carried out in the form of a symbolic sale in which copper and scales were used. Twice the real father sold the child and twice he bought the child back, but on the third occasion the sale went through. After this the adopting father went to the principal Roman Magistrate – the Praetor – and pleaded the case for the adoption. Once this was completed the adopted child had all the rights of a legitimate child in the new family and lost all the rights to the old family.

Barclay applies all this to the experience of the Christian. We were members of the family of the world and absolutely in the power of sin. God, through Jesus, has taken us out of that power into His power. Our adoption into God’s family ‘… cancels and wipes out the past and we are made new. We have passed from the family of the world and of evil into the family of God …’

Ephesians 1:7-8:

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight …

In this section we encounter three of the great ideas of the Christian faith: (i) redemption, (ii) forgiveness and (iii) wisdom and insight:

(i) Redemption: Here the word used is ‘apolutrosis’ which literally means ‘to ransom’. It was commonly used to refer to ransoming a prisoner of war or a slave or freeing a person from the death penalty for a crime. It was used for God’s ransoming of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Barclay comments:

“In every case the conception is the delivering or the setting free of a person from a situation from which they themselves were powerless to liberate themselves, or from the penalty which they themselves could never have paid.”

This is precisely what Jesus does for us, in that we are powerless without God’s grace, and fall under the domination of sin. We know the wrongness of things in our lives, but we are powerless to do anything about it.

(ii) Forgiveness: The ancient world was haunted by the sense of sin. This was the theme of the whole of the Old Testament. Barclay comments:

“It might well be said that the whole of the Old Testament is an expansion of the saying, ‘The soul that sins, it shall die.’ (Ezekiel 18:4)”

Deep down, all people are conscious of their guilt and stand in terror at the thought of God. Barclay illustrates this by suggesting that all the plays of Aeschylus can be seen to be founded on but one text: “The doer shall suffer.” He adds:

“Once a man had done an evil thing Nemesis was on his heels; soon or late Nemesis would catch up on him; and punishment followed sin as certainly as night followed day.”

Jesus changed all this because he opened the way to God; he teaches us not of God’s anger, but of his love and forgiveness.

(iii) Wisdom and insight: The two words used in Greek are ‘sophia’ and ‘phronesis’ and the Greeks believed that if a person possessed these things, they had everything they needed for life.

Once more Barclay comes into his own by explaining the cultural context. He explains that Aristotle defined ‘sophia’ as the thing of the searching intellect and the questioning mind and it is ‘sophia’ that is the answer to the eternal problems of life and death, God and humankind and time and eternity.

‘Phronesis’ (in English – prudence) is the knowledge of human affairs where planning is necessary, or as Plutarch explained – the practical knowledge of the things which concern us. Cicero was of the view that ‘phronesis’ was the knowledge of the things which are to be sought and which are to be avoided; Plato spoke of the disposition of the mind which enables us to judge what things are to be done and which things are not to be done. Barclay concludes:

“In other words, ‘phronesis’ is the most practical thing in the world. It is the sound sense which enables men to meet and to solve the practical problems of everyday life and living.”

Here, St Paul is saying that what Jesus brings is ‘sophia’ – the knowledge of eternal things, the intellectual knowledge that satisfies the mind; and ‘phronesis’ – the practical knowledge - which equips us for everyday living.

What a lovely balance. With Jesus – and his living presence within our lives today and every day – we are given the tools to deal with the problems of both eternity and time – or as Barclay concludes:

“Christ gives to us the ability to see the great ultimate truths of eternity and to solve the problems of each moment of time.”

Redemption, forgiveness, wisdom and insight – what lovely gifts – all free and unconditional to those who would receive them.

2 Corinthians 12:2-10 (New International Version)

2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Brother,

As you know, the meaning of virtue was one of the prominent ethical discussions in the writings of ancient thinkers. So-called "virtue lists" abound in classical literature; they typically commend such traits as piety, reverence, excellence, practical knowledge and patience. One quality of character, however, that one never finds in the Greco-Roman "virtue lists" is the trait of weakness.

You probably have noticed how often this quality was mentioned by Paul in his letters to the Corinthians. We are weak... Who is weak and I do not feel weak? If I boast, I will boast about the things that show my weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me. Not only does Paul champion weakness in himself, he extols the weakness of Christ.

What! Christ weak! Yes, he was crucified in weakness... And then he says about us all, we are weak in him... The point is this: true holiness is not a matter of personal power—it is a matter of God’s power in the midst of personal weakness.

The city of Corinth, like many ancient cities, was inundated with the images of power. The impressive temple of Apollo under the brow of the acropolis greeted all visitors to the city. The biennial Isthmian Games which I refered to last week, featured contests of athleticism and feats of power. Corinth, the “master” of two harbours, was an economic trade center and power-broker for much of the Mediterranean world. Hence, it is not surprising that the cult of power was alive and well among Corinth’s citizens and even among the Christians who responded to Paul’s preaching.

Sometimes the exaltation of power infiltrated even their understanding of the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is almost certain that Paul’s detractors in Corinth boasted of superior ecstatic experiences, since Paul chose such an experience for his own climactic “boast.” His words, “I will go on to visions and revelations,” indicate as much, and we know from 1 Corinthians that the Corinthian church valued highly the more sensational kinds of spiritual experiences. The ecstatic experience that Paul chose to recount in 2 Corinthians 12 occurred some fourteen years prior, and it happened to someone Paul does not name but says he knew. It becomes clear that the person of whom Paul speaks is Paul himself, since, still in the same context, he shifts from “the man” to “me.”

There is no way to directly identify this experience with any known occasion recorded in the book of Acts or in Paul’s correspondence. Some have suggested his vision on the Damascus Road as a possibility, others his trance in the Jerusalem temple, and still others his near death in Lystra. None of these can be proved.

In this experience, Paul was caught up to the “third heaven,” to “Paradise.” Both of these terms are known from the Jewish and Christian writings. Heaven, the place where God lives, was depicted as multi-layered, usually in a sevenfold way. By entering the third heaven one could stand near the Lord. Paradise was a Persian word meaning “garden,” and in Jewish apocalyptic literature it represented the home of the righteous who had died.

The irony of this ecstatic experience is sharply upheld in that in it Paul heard things that were not possible to describe nor permissible to repeat. It is also ironic for Paul to say, “I will boast about a man like that, but not about myself,” since that man was, in fact, Paul. Instead, Paul contents himself to boast of his weaknesses. If he wished to follow the lead of his opponents in boasting of amazing experiences, I suppose he could have done so truthfully. However, he declines.

But Paul saw an inner connection between the ecstatic experience he had just recounted and another personal situation, this time a debilitating one. Paul suffered from some deep personal affliction, so deep that he compares it to a skolops (= thorn, splinter). While Paul obviously uses a metaphor, the reference is ambiguous. Tertullian thought it was a physical affliction, Augustine and Luther thought it was a temptation. Arguments have been put forth in favor of migraines, epilepsy, convulsions, ophthamalia, malaria, a speech impediment, rheumatism, fever, and even leprosy!

Whatever the case, Paul certainly understands his experience in a Job-like context. Just as Job’s affliction was dealt by Satan but permitted by God, so Paul understands his own affliction to be a blow from his archenemy, yet at the same time, allowed by God in order to prevent any conceit on his part. If ecstatic experiences might tend toward conceit, the direct refusal by God to answer Paul’s prayer for healing drove him toward humility. Three times he prayed for healing, but God declined, only letting Paul know that saving grace was enough and that divine power is brought to perfection in human weakness.

In this divine “no,” Paul understood more clearly the nature of God’s power. If his opponents boasted of spectacular things, Paul was obliged to boast of his weaknesses, not because weakness itself was glorious, but because it was the way in which Jesus’s power was most clearly showed.

“Therefore,” Paul says, “I delight in sickness, insult, pressing needs, persecution, and distress.” His final summary is, I'm sure you will agree, one of the most quotable quotes in the Bible: “When I am weak (in myself), then I am strong (in the Lord)!” What a foil for his opponents’ misguided philosophy, “When I am strong (in personal power), then I am strong (in spiritual things).”

Holiness often is confused with personal power. A holy person is construed as one who is disciplined. He or she is a person with a rigorous code of conduct. Holiness is believed to be the expression of religious fervour, the measurement of ourselves and others by a demanding list of religious criteria. The problem with this way of seeing holiness is that it misses the very heart of what holiness is all about in the first place.

Perhaps that is why Paul says so much about weakness when writing to the Corinthians. As Greeks, the Corinthians took great pride in their intellectual and cultural history. They were especially in love with the classical virtues of wisdom and power. In their approach to the Christian life, they championed all the ancient Greek virtues that were part of their heritage.

Paul was different, he knew that the message of the cross put all virtues in a very different light. The cross was shameful. To the Jew it was the symbol of God’s curse. To the Greek, it was the sign of public disgrace. To the Roman, it was the death of traitors and rebels. Nothing in the whole structure of ancient culture, either Jewish, Greek or Roman, prepared anyone for the preaching of the cross. It was a stumbling block to Jews and absurd to the Greeks. But to those whom God had called, it was Christ—the wisdom of God and the power of God.

In our culture that stresses personal autonomy and social advancement what should our response be?

Mark

8 July - Mark 6.1-13

Mark 6:1-13

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

⁶He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. ²On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary^* and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence^* at him. ⁴Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief.

The Mission of the Twelve

Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Jesus was rejected because he was too ‘ordinary’ – he was just a carpenter. Barclay points out that in today’s world, he would probably be seen as a handyman – very skilled – but nothing special and adds the telling point that …

“ … God, when He came to earth, claimed no exemptions. He took upon Himself this common life with all its common tasks …”

Jesus would have been rejected today as well, because people evaluate people by externals and not because of their inherent worth as individuals.

Jesus never left Nazareth until he was about thirty. Why? Because his father had died young and he was needed to support his mother and his brothers and sisters. It was only when they were old enough to fend for themselves that he felt free to leave. Even God’s mission had to wait. I find this truly wonderful; God being there in the ordinary in every respect.

Because Jesus had lived in this little insignificant place for so long, and because he was so well-known that he was rejected. Barclay writes: “Some times we are too near people to see their greatness.”

It is sad that Jesus could therefore do no mighty works in Nazareth and this itself reminds us of an important truth and that is that some things simply cannot be done if the atmosphere is all wrong.

Firstly, no person can be healed if they refuse to be healed. Without the will to live, even the best doctors can do nothing. I will always cherish the memory of Trish’s lovely father who was broken by the tragedy of the death of his son followed by the deaths of his brother and closest friend – all in a matter of months. He simply broke and on his death certificate the cause of death is “… of a broken heart …” He lost the will to live – but he is with our Lord and is now at peace.

Secondly, there can be no preaching in the wrong atmosphere. Barclay contends that congregations preach half the sermons. I find this to be so true. If people engage with me as the preacher I feel a real sense of liberty and can preach well, but if they are hostile, everything falls flat. I am sure you will also have had this experience in South Africa when challenging Apartheid from the pulpit, sometimes the hostility was palpable!

There can be no peace-making in the wrong atmosphere. If people come together to hate, they will hate. If they come together with the conscious decision to love Christ and each other, it will always work. Barclay concludes:

“There is laid upon us the tremendous responsibility that we can either help or hinder the work of Jesus Christ. We can open the door wide to Him – or we can slam it in his face.”

It would appear that Mark, when writing this passage, was of the opinion that this incident was the foundation event for all future Christian activity was based. The disciples had spent a time of preparation with Jesus, listening to his teaching witnessing his mighty works, and now it was time for them to become active in ministry themselves, both by words and works.

Denis Nineham is my source for this reflection.

Mark does not explicitly say what they were told to say, in fact he does not go into detail to explain what their specific instructions were before setting off. Some have tried to suggest that this is because this incident is ‘unhistorical’, but Nineham rejects this suggesting rather that the explanation can probably more be found in ‘… the lack of tradition about, or interest in, the incident in the Church in which St Mark was writing …’ These instructions belong to the context of Palestine, but should not be seen as the paradigm for all missionary activity. This becomes obvious when reading the experience of St Paul. Paul could never have carried through his immense missionary journeys if he had remained faithful to the letter of these instructions.

At the time of writing, the conditions within Palestine had changed very little and so Mark could be emphatic in his writing in this way. As a result this tradition became precious to them and were elaborated on by Matthew and Luke. From these accounts we learn more, i.e. that the message was the coming of the Kingdom which was considered imminent and that if the news of this was to spread in time, there were to get a move on, so they must travel light and waste no time where people refused to listen to them.

Now, the responsible thing to do would be to be well prepared – as Paul was – and to be supported by the Church as we reach out. Context is important and so, where you and I minister, we need to be sensitive to the needs of those in our mission field. What we say and how we say it needs to be tailored to the fact that our congregations have no choice – they are told to be there – and this binds us to a great responsibility not to abuse the privilege.

Barclay points out that one can summarise what the twelve did as follows:

(i) They were heralds of the message of Jesus – they did not create a message, they ‘brought’ it. They did not tell the people what they believed or considered probable – “… they told people what God had told them …” They were like their prophets of old and could begin what they said with the words: “Thus saith the Lord …” I know this is difficult, but we need to be able to do the same.

I love reading the sermons of the great thinkers, because this is when one really gets to the essence of their wisdom. There is something about the preached word, the dynamism, the inspiration from the Holy Spirit, the response of those listening as God moves in the place, and one can even get this from reading the sermons afterward.

It is this conviction that led us Methodists to answer when we are asked: “What are your doctrines?” we reply that they are contained in John Wesley’s sermons.

I vehemently disagreed with Paul Tillich – until I read his sermons – and the same applied to Rudolf Bultmann.

(ii) They preached the message of Jesus which had at its core: “Repent!” There is a need to change. This is bound to hurt and be unpopular, because it implies that we are getting things wrong. It requires that we are ‘disturbed’ and most people like being kept in their comfort zones. But repentance is the most positive thing anyone can do – because it means that we can change and become more like the people we want to be – deep down – by becoming the person God wants us to be. It is for our sake – not God’s sake. Repentance needs to be at the core of our message and until it becomes so, the Church will continue to decline.

Like it or not, a central feature in Jesus’ message was the need to repent – because he knew that, by nature, we are all selfish and in order for things to become better for all – we need to undergo radical change. Barclay illustrates this by using an example from the novel “Quo Vadis” where a young Roman falls in love with a Christian girl. Because he is not a Christian, the girl will have nothing to do with him. He tries to find out more and so secretly follows the Christians to one of their meetings and listens to the sermon preached by Peter. Barclay writes:

“He felt that if he wished to follow that teaching, he would have to place on a burning pile all his thoughts, habits and character, his whole nature up to that moment, burn them into ashes and then fill himself with a life altogether different, and an entirely new soul. That is repentance.”

And most people in Britain today simply do not want this. They just want to be left alone. Because this is a lovely country in which to live and because by far the largest majority of people are not guilty of robbery, theft, murder, adultery – what Barclay refers to as the ‘glaring sins’ – they believe they are good people. And by the standards of the rest of the world, they definitely are. But the standards for a disciple of Jesus are much higher, because they require a complete paradigm shift from  being self- centred (which our society largely is) to being God-centred and this requires change, and if there is anything British society does NOT like, it is change!

Barclay concludes:

“Repentance is no sentimental feeling sorry; repentance is a revolutionary thing – this is why so few people repent.

This passage ends with the way the disciples brought with them the ‘King’s mercy’ – help and healing. They brought liberation from demons and illness; they desired to bring health to both body and soul, what Barclay refers to as ‘whole salvation’ and not just ‘soul salvation’. There is great significance in the way they anointed with oil, because in the ancient world oil was regarded to have great healing powers. In the hands of the disciples, an old remedy therefore took on new significance, because the spirit of Christ gave it new virtue and power.

The twelve brought to the world the message and the mercy of the king, ‘… and that remains the church’s task today and every day …’