This sermon is apdapted from one I preached last Sunday at my home church. The readings are Recently I’ve found myself wondering how we would respond to Jesus if He had arrived in our time rather than 2000 years ago. Obviously I’d hope to be one of His followers, even an Apostle if I was lucky but at times I wonder if we would have reacted like the religious leaders whom He so often rebuked or whether we’d be like the crowds who so often missed the point. Take today’s Gospel reading for instance, we are often so distracted by the miracle that we miss what’s going on. Much like the crowds that followed Him to see the wonders He worked yet often deaf to His message. The woman in today’s Gospel reading however had been waiting for 18 years. It may not have felt like waiting, for her that may just have been how life was with no change in sight. And then a man called Jesus shows up and her life is turned on its head not just due to what happened on the outside.
In that culture having a disability or disease was often seen as a sign of God’s judgement for some great sin you must have committed. We now of course know this not to be true but for her and those around her this was the reality. She must have done something terrible and so would have been shunned and looked down upon. Jesus doesn’t just heal this woman’s back, he heals her emotionally, no longer is God judging her, He has shown her mercy and she is no longer an outcast. All that weight is lifted from her. Her prospects have been turned on their head. How many people today need that in their lives’? We so often associate God being present and His Kingdom breaking through with great signs and miracles. We expect the booming voice, trumpet blast and burning fire. But what does Jesus say of His mission here on earth, which we must admit was filled with signs and miracles. Luke 4 18&29 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” It’s not about the wonders, it’s about the message, proclaim and release. Release those who cannot accept God for whatever reason from whatever is stopping them. In this woman’s case, her belief that God was judging her, that God was against her. We often in our own lives put things between ourselves and God, we block that relationship whether we mean to or not and sometimes it feels like God needs to show up in some big, show stopping way to fix it but He doesn’t. He doesn’t just come in spectacle. He’s right here right now, His Spirit is moving amongst us as we worship, whether He comes in great signs or in the stillness and the quiet of our hearts He is here. ‘But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel’. You have come to Mount Zion. We stand at its gates right now and yet at the same time we’re not there yet. Someone recently compared the Kingdom of God to Christmas (by the way if you want to beat the rush Christmas cards have now arrived in card shops), Christmas is December 25th. That’s when it is. But as Christmas gets closer we say it starts to feel Christmassy, it may feel like Christmas for the days after the 25th. Sometimes when something unexpected and good happens we say that it’s like Christmas has come early. No one is saying it’s not the 25th but at the same time no one is saying it’s not at those times either. No one would deny that the Kingdom of God comes when all is made new but at the same time we experience it here and now, it breaks through. But we still wait for it to come fully. So what are we to do while we wait for Jesus to return. We could all just hole ourselves up and wait it out, you know, bury our coin like the servant in the parable to give it back when our master returns. Somehow that doesn’t seem the right approach. God doesn’t tell us to wait, He tells us to get out into the world and drag the Kingdom of God through into our world here and now. To punch holes in the dark fabric of reality and allow God’s Kingdom to shine through and transform this world. There are so many in this world, in this country, this town, on our streets and in our workplaces who feel like the crippled woman in today’s passage. Nothing is going to change, this is it. God either doesn’t exist or He clearly doesn’t like them. Their only picture of God is of Mount Sinai where God meets His people; dark, brooding, terrifying, the awful power and majesty of God that nothing can approach. But we know that this isn’t the whole story, our mission is to follow Christ, to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. We are called to come to these people and to witness to them the saving power of God, not with great signs and wonders but with what they need in order to accept God. We are called to break down the boundaries between them and God because God offers them hope and a future. Jesus’ miracles aren’t about the spectacle, I’m always suspicious when miracles become about the spectacle. They are Him removing those things that keep them from God. So don’t go chasing miracles, great signs and wonders. Yes when God’s kingdom comes those things accompany it but it’s not the point of it. If all we do is focus on what God is doing elsewhere nothing is ever going to change here. There used to be a programme (and there may well still be) called 'Storm Chasers' where people would go out and follow and track great weather events measuring the size and impact. If all we ever do is chase spiritual storms, chase after wherever God appears to be working then He can't do anything here because we're all elsewhere. And if we spend our time looking at all that He's doing elsewhere then we get discouraged that nothing is happening here and we are tempted to give up. Instead of doing that do those little things that bring God’s light into a corner of your world. Slowly, by word and action, break down those walls and those preconceptions that keep people from accepting God. God is so often revealed in the everyday working of His people, sometimes we don’t even realise it. David found that writing out his thoughts and emotions as songs and poems helped Him to process them and hand them to God. Thousands of years later billions of people have used them to help them through difficult times or to worship God when their own words run out. Paul kept in contact with the churches he’s planted and wrote them letters to help them along. Today we use them as a cornerstone of our understanding of God and His call upon us as believers. And it's always a great comfort to me when I stand up to preach that Peter opened the very first sermon of the Church with ‘We’re not drunk’ and 3000 were converted. If we are faithful in what we do God will be faithful in transforming, by His Spirit, those little deeds we do so that God’s kingdom comes in the everyday actions of His faithful people. So as I move away to begin my training in September I pray that this place will be a place where God’s kingdom touches earth. Not with trumpet blast and great signs but in the faithful, everyday actions of the people here. Amen
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AuthorAn Anglican Curate in my 20's I was raised in an Anglican Church, went to a Youth Club run by an Evangelical Church, attended a Baptist Church while at Uni and was a member of a New Monastic Community after graduating. As such my faith has been influenced by these experiences and traditions into what I hope is a more rounded viewpoint. Archives
September 2022
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