Sermon preached at St Mary’s Lapworth at 11am Mattins
Sunday 27th June 2010 – Trinity 4, Proper 8, Year C
Readings: PS 77: 11-end 2 Kings 2: 1-2 & 6-14 Luke 9: 51-end
In our gospel reading we heard about people following Jesus. Some of them said to Jesus, “I will follow you” and to some of them Jesus said “Follow me”. And the people who follow Jesus were called disciples, and the business of following Jesus we call discipleship.
Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that there were just 12 disciples of Jesus. Actually there were lots of disciples, and also lots of women, who followed Jesus. But there were 12 disciples who (Mk 3: 14) Jesus designed apostles and who would often call aside and speak only to them. But there were clearly lots of people who Jesus seemed to trust with his message. In Luke 10 he sends 72 people in pairs on ahead of him to the towns which he planned to visit. At the end of John chapter 6 we read that many of Jesus’ disciples were put off by Jesus’ teaching “I am the bread of life” and started to go away. Jesus asked the 12 if they were going to leave too, but Peter said, “Lord, to whom can we go. You have the words of eternal life.”
So Jesus had many disciples, and different ways he also calls each one of us to be disciples, that is followers of Jesus. And I think we have to grow in appreciation and respect for all the different ways in which Jesus calls different people. Some are called to follow him very directly and personally, through a life of intense prayer. Some are called to follow him primarily through practical service to family and friends and to the church. Some are called to follow him through painful or tragic situations. Some people seem called to follow Jesus indirectly, through relationship with people who are closer. And at different times in our lives all of these different experiences can come to the fore ofr each one of us. So the key thing for each one of us is to follow Jesus in the specific way that he asks us to follow him in each present moment of our life. We follow him by seeking to do the will of God, and following the commandments and teaching of Jesus (which are about loving God and our neighbours) in the way that Jesus asks of us right now.
And why do we want to follow Jesus? Because Jesus leads us in the way that leads to eternal life. Those words of Peter really do sum it up, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of Eternal life.” (John 6: 68). Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14: 6). Jesus is life, the eternal life, and he wants to share that life with us. But, as well as truth, Jesus is also the way to that life, the route we must walk to find the life. It is walking that way, the way of Jesus, moment by moment, day by day, that slowly draws us closer to Jesus the truth and the life. And this happens because as we walk the journey Jesus grows within us. We become like little Jesuses. We become like the one who we follow.
There was a lovely example of this in our Old Testament lesson. Elisha was the servant to Elijah. He was a true disciple of Elijah. He followed Elijah, leaned from him and ultimately became like him. It seems that when Elijah went up to heaven Elisha inherited his spirit. Certainly he was able to perform the miracle of parting the waters of the river, just as Elijah had done. Certainly he went on to become a great prophet in his own right. Well we too when we follow Jesus, start to become like Jesus. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. (Luke 6: 40). So we seek to become like Jesus our teacher. And I think it is rather shocking how completely like Jesus we ultimately become. Jesus, when is putting James and John straight for wanting the best seats in heaven, still confirms to them that, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.” We follow Jesus even through these difficult things and certainly we ultimately share in Jesus’ glory (e.g. 2 Thess 2: 14).
Jesus is very clear about the cost of discipleship. Ultimately it costs us everything, nothing can be held back. In our gospel reading today Jesus seems deliberately provocative and uncompromising in his call. To one man who wants to follow him, he says “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus emphasizes that the journey he calls us to takes us away from home. For some people that can mean literally leaving home to travel, but for all of us it means leaving the comforts of our old ways of thinking and being, and walking always towards our home in heaven. The New Testament tends of think of us as strangers and pilgrims on earth, walking towards our real home in heaven. (e.g. 1 Peter 1: 17, Heb 11: 13 ff). Then there are two other people who want to follow Jesus, but they want to go back and say good-buy to their old lives first, which seems after all a simple matter of politeness, but for Jesus it is not radical enough. He wants to see a bold, decisive and immediate choice to follow Jesus.
And if Jesus seems to be unreasonably demanding here, let’s remember other assurances that he gives about discipleship. He also describes his yoke as easy and his burden light. In the long term I am sure that this is true. Avoiding the call of Jesus might seem easier in the short term, but the lives that we develop independent of God never really work and eventually they can only fall apart. In the long term it is much easier to build our lives in conformance with God, because these lives have an eternal future.
So, as we spend some moments reflecting on our discipleship, let’s try to be radical in our choice of Jesus. Let’s try to follow what Jesus wants from us moment by moment, day by day. Let’s joyfully follow Jesus the teacher, and by the grace of God, let’s become small Jesuses active in our world today. In this way we can be sure that we are using our lives well, both in this world, and by journeying towards Eternal life. Amen
27 June 2010
20 June 2010
Putting on Christ, like a garment
Sermon preached at St Mary’s, Lapworth at 11am Eucharist
Sunday 20th June 2010 – Trinity III, proper 7
Readings: Gal 3: 23-29 Luke 826-39
Recently my daughter Caroline was in a dance show, so I went along to watch her dance. The show was based on a book called “Peter Pan in Scarlet” which has been written in 2006 as an official sequel to the story of Peter Pan, the little boy who has adventures in Neverland, and who never grows up.
Now the story of Peter Pan ends when Peter Pan’s arch enemy, the evil pirate Captain Hook is defeated by Peter and falls into the jaws of a crocodile. Peter Pan in Scarlet is all about Peter Pan, who carries on living in Neverland, wearing the scarlet robe that was formerly worn by Captain Hook. And as the story develops Peter Pan slowly takes on more and more of Captain Hook’s personality. He becomes angry and selfish and difficult. His gang of friends, “The Lost Boys” find him harder and harder to live with. Peter begins to dream the dreams of Captain Hook and to take on his desires, and all this because he is wearing Captain Hooks cloak. Peter Pan’s situation gets worse and worse until he realises the problems the cloak is causing him. He casts off the cloak, and from that point, although Peter has become very ill, everything starts to get better. The premise is that somehow, by wearing someone’s clothes you slowly become that person.
So in what way is that true? Last night we had a very enjoyable curry night to raise money for the charity “Warwick in India”. I wore the Indian clothes that I bought eight years ago in New Delhi. Did wearing Indian clothes make me more Indian? Well I don’t know? I certainly felt more Indian. And certainly, if I was more Indian, I would wear Indian Clothes more.
Well this all seems like the realms of fairytales. But in our epistle reading today Paul said, “As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ”. And Paul is forever using this idea of putting on things which are good, like we might put on clothing, in order to make ourselves good. When we get up on a morning we have to choose the clothes to put on. In the same way we can start each day by choosing our attitudes and behaviours for the day. In different parts of the New testament Paul tells us to put on the armour of light (Rom 13: 12), the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 13: 14), the imperishable, immortal body (1 Cor 15: 53), the whole armour of God (Eph 6:11, see also 1 Thes 5: 7) and the new self, the new man ( Eph 4: 24 Col 3: 10). It seems that Paul is always urging us to put on good things, holy things, good behaviours as we would put on clothes. These things might be external to us, they might come from God rather than from our own nature, but they have a positive effect on us, slowly changing us into something better. And Paul often talks about Christians as being changed and transformed. He says that we are transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor 3: 18). Eventually, wearing these good things like clothes, they make us Christ like. Paul says, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2: 20).
Equally Paul is always telling us to put aside bad things; to lay aside the works of darkness (Rom 13: 12). This is important because the opposite can also happen. If, when we get up in the morning, we choose to put on evil things and bad behaviours then evil grows within us. In our gospel reading we heard of a man processed by many demons. He was in a most terrible state, completely under the control of his demons, but Jesus still managed to heal him.
In the church we are all Saints and we are all Sinners. We all have Christ within us, especially since our baptism, but we also all have a tendency to sin, to rebel against God. Paul is urging us always to cloth ourselves in the Saint. Always live by the Saint, adopt the attitudes of the saint, the behaviours of the Saint, to think of the good of others, like the Saint. And this is important, because the Saint who grows within us has a future that is eternal and blessed. It can only get better. When we choose to live in the Sinner then we are building for ourselves a future that is in opposition to God. This might seem easy in the short term, but in the end it can only perish and decay and die.
And of course it is not just in the morning that we have to choose to live by the Saint. We have to do it in each present moment of our lives. It is the behaviours and attitudes that we are choosing right now in the present moment that have an effect; not our good aspirations for tomorrow. When I was training for Advanced Driving Test I often found that I had my hands in the wrong position on the steering wheel. As soon as I noticed, I would put my hands back in the right position and carry on. And sometimes this was really hard, I just felt that I could not be bothered. But the more I did it, the more natural it became to me and now I find it easy, instinctive even. Well in the same way I try to train myself always to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to live each moment in the Saint. And over time that too becomes for natural and instinctive.
But what about the times when we just can’t do it? What about the times when, like the demoniac we are dominated by unruly forces within us and we can only choose behaviours which are bad and destructive. Or perhaps the problem is with the people around us, or the society we live in, and we find ourselves constrained towards violence and injustice. Well, in my opinion, this happens all the time and the key thing is to continue to live in the Saint, even when the Sinner is in control. Jesus, in his passion and death, seemed to be overpowered by the forces of evil. It seemed that they had overcome him completely and killed him. But Jesus’ cry went up to heaven. God revealed the Resurrection; new life for Jesus and defeat for evil. So, where the Sinner is in control in our lives, living in the Saint means sharing with Jesus in the experience of passion and death. It is painful and humbling, but where our cry rises to heaven united with the cry of Jesus, there God breaks the power of evil and gives new life.
So let’s be clothed in Christ. Let’s choose always the attitudes and behaviours of the Saint. And let’s practice this in each present moment of our lives, because practice makes perfect!
Sunday 20th June 2010 – Trinity III, proper 7
Readings: Gal 3: 23-29 Luke 826-39
Recently my daughter Caroline was in a dance show, so I went along to watch her dance. The show was based on a book called “Peter Pan in Scarlet” which has been written in 2006 as an official sequel to the story of Peter Pan, the little boy who has adventures in Neverland, and who never grows up.
Now the story of Peter Pan ends when Peter Pan’s arch enemy, the evil pirate Captain Hook is defeated by Peter and falls into the jaws of a crocodile. Peter Pan in Scarlet is all about Peter Pan, who carries on living in Neverland, wearing the scarlet robe that was formerly worn by Captain Hook. And as the story develops Peter Pan slowly takes on more and more of Captain Hook’s personality. He becomes angry and selfish and difficult. His gang of friends, “The Lost Boys” find him harder and harder to live with. Peter begins to dream the dreams of Captain Hook and to take on his desires, and all this because he is wearing Captain Hooks cloak. Peter Pan’s situation gets worse and worse until he realises the problems the cloak is causing him. He casts off the cloak, and from that point, although Peter has become very ill, everything starts to get better. The premise is that somehow, by wearing someone’s clothes you slowly become that person.
So in what way is that true? Last night we had a very enjoyable curry night to raise money for the charity “Warwick in India”. I wore the Indian clothes that I bought eight years ago in New Delhi. Did wearing Indian clothes make me more Indian? Well I don’t know? I certainly felt more Indian. And certainly, if I was more Indian, I would wear Indian Clothes more.
Well this all seems like the realms of fairytales. But in our epistle reading today Paul said, “As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ”. And Paul is forever using this idea of putting on things which are good, like we might put on clothing, in order to make ourselves good. When we get up on a morning we have to choose the clothes to put on. In the same way we can start each day by choosing our attitudes and behaviours for the day. In different parts of the New testament Paul tells us to put on the armour of light (Rom 13: 12), the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 13: 14), the imperishable, immortal body (1 Cor 15: 53), the whole armour of God (Eph 6:11, see also 1 Thes 5: 7) and the new self, the new man ( Eph 4: 24 Col 3: 10). It seems that Paul is always urging us to put on good things, holy things, good behaviours as we would put on clothes. These things might be external to us, they might come from God rather than from our own nature, but they have a positive effect on us, slowly changing us into something better. And Paul often talks about Christians as being changed and transformed. He says that we are transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor 3: 18). Eventually, wearing these good things like clothes, they make us Christ like. Paul says, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2: 20).
Equally Paul is always telling us to put aside bad things; to lay aside the works of darkness (Rom 13: 12). This is important because the opposite can also happen. If, when we get up in the morning, we choose to put on evil things and bad behaviours then evil grows within us. In our gospel reading we heard of a man processed by many demons. He was in a most terrible state, completely under the control of his demons, but Jesus still managed to heal him.
In the church we are all Saints and we are all Sinners. We all have Christ within us, especially since our baptism, but we also all have a tendency to sin, to rebel against God. Paul is urging us always to cloth ourselves in the Saint. Always live by the Saint, adopt the attitudes of the saint, the behaviours of the Saint, to think of the good of others, like the Saint. And this is important, because the Saint who grows within us has a future that is eternal and blessed. It can only get better. When we choose to live in the Sinner then we are building for ourselves a future that is in opposition to God. This might seem easy in the short term, but in the end it can only perish and decay and die.
And of course it is not just in the morning that we have to choose to live by the Saint. We have to do it in each present moment of our lives. It is the behaviours and attitudes that we are choosing right now in the present moment that have an effect; not our good aspirations for tomorrow. When I was training for Advanced Driving Test I often found that I had my hands in the wrong position on the steering wheel. As soon as I noticed, I would put my hands back in the right position and carry on. And sometimes this was really hard, I just felt that I could not be bothered. But the more I did it, the more natural it became to me and now I find it easy, instinctive even. Well in the same way I try to train myself always to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to live each moment in the Saint. And over time that too becomes for natural and instinctive.
But what about the times when we just can’t do it? What about the times when, like the demoniac we are dominated by unruly forces within us and we can only choose behaviours which are bad and destructive. Or perhaps the problem is with the people around us, or the society we live in, and we find ourselves constrained towards violence and injustice. Well, in my opinion, this happens all the time and the key thing is to continue to live in the Saint, even when the Sinner is in control. Jesus, in his passion and death, seemed to be overpowered by the forces of evil. It seemed that they had overcome him completely and killed him. But Jesus’ cry went up to heaven. God revealed the Resurrection; new life for Jesus and defeat for evil. So, where the Sinner is in control in our lives, living in the Saint means sharing with Jesus in the experience of passion and death. It is painful and humbling, but where our cry rises to heaven united with the cry of Jesus, there God breaks the power of evil and gives new life.
So let’s be clothed in Christ. Let’s choose always the attitudes and behaviours of the Saint. And let’s practice this in each present moment of our lives, because practice makes perfect!
13 June 2010
The Golden Thread
Sermon preached at St Mary the Virgin, Lapworth at 11am Mattins
Sunday 13th June 2010 – Trinity II, Proper 6, Year C
Readings: Ps 32, 2 Samuel: 11: 26- 12: 10, 13-15, Luke 7: 36 – 8: 3
Flower festival in Church.
Our readings give us two stories of sin and repentance.
In our Old Testament lesson we heard the middle part of the story of David and Bathsheba, the beautiful wife of Uriah the Hittite. And it is a pretty salacious story, well worth reading in full starting from 2 Samuel chapter 11. Basically David commits adultery with Bethsheba, gets her pregnant and then goes to great lengths to try and cover this up. The cover up fails, so David assigns Bathsheba’s husband Uriah to what amounts to a suicide mission in one of Israel’s battles. Uriah is killed and David takes Bethsheba as a wife and she bares him a son. The prophet Nathan confronts David with his sin. David repents, the Lord forgives, but nevertheless says that David’s new son will die on account of David’s misdeeds. The son becomes ill, so David enters into an intense period of fasting and pleading with God. After seven days the child dies. David gives up his fast and carries on with his life, restored in his relationship with God.
Then in our gospel reading we heard about the sinful woman who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints them with expensive ointment. The text suggests that this woman may have been Mary Magdalene, but it is far from clear and biblical scholars spend a lot of time debating whether or not it was her. But the point is that Jesus says she loves him a lot because she has been forgiven a lot, and her tells her to go in peace. Elsewhere Jesus says that, just as the doctor comes for the benefit of those who are sick, not those who are well, so he, Jesus, comes for the sinners more than for the righteous people. These words of Jesus are very reassuring to us as we become aware of all our own sins and inadequacies.
So what do we mean by sin? Well sin is rebellion against God. Sin is turning away from God, refusing his love, and setting our own agenda and priorities independent of God. And sin causes damage. God created us in love, and sets before us a journey towards fullness of life in heaven. He wants to bring his creation in us to fulfilment, he wants our good, he wants to share the life of heaven with us. When we rebel against God and go our own way, we put all these good things in jeopardy. Like David and like Mary Magdalene we have to repent and return to the Lord, and seek to walk the path that he sets before us. We have to give up on our own ideas and do the things God wants of us.
And just as we might use a sat-nav to guide us on a journey here on earth, so we should listen to that still, small voice of our conscience to guide us on our spiritual journey towards heaven. Sin is like making a mistake on the journey, doing something different from what the sat-nav says. Sometimes we might make a mistake and perhaps it is not very serious. The sat-nav immediately re-computes the journey and takes us via a slightly different route. We might loose a little time and energy, but the consequence is small. Sometimes we can make a serious mistake and find ourselves heading in altogether the wrong direction. The sat-nav probably blares out at us, “turn around as soon as possible, turn around as soon as possible.” In the same way our conscience tells us when we are going against God. It calls us to repent, turn around and accept God’s love, to trust in him and his plan for our lives. But however badly we go wrong, the sat-nav can always recomputed our route and find a way to take us to our destination. In the same way our conscience can always lead us back towards the destination that God has planned for us.
And we must not underestimate the depth of God’s mercy. Sometimes we are aware that we have made so many mistakes. Our journey has been endlessly disrupted by failures and wrong turns. We look back over our lives and it is like looking at the underside of a tapestry riddled with lose ends and knots and with no clear pattern. But just occasionally God allows us to catch a glimpse of the front side of the tapestry, the side that is visible from heaven. Suddenly we can see a clear pattern. Suddenly we realise that despite all our stumbling and failings, a beautiful tapestry has been created. And as we look back at this tapestry that our lives have woven we see that it is consistently held together and made good by the love of God, by his mercy, by his perseverance, by his willingness to suffer for us in Jesus. God is the ultimate master craftsman. His love is like a mysterious golden thread running through every part of the tapestry, making everything good. Even our mistakes have somehow been woven into the design by this mysterious golden thread.
Now I think that this is most beautifully illustrated in the flowers of this flower festival. The theme is Deus Caritas Est; God is Love. And each of the 34 arrangements illustrates some different aspect of God’s love, from the most spiritual (the fruits of the spirit) to the most practical (documents and treasurers in the antique chest). And if you look carefully you will see winding its way through the whole collection a golden thread. Often the golden thread is very fine, and hardly visible, sometimes it is thicker and clearer. But it is always there, always strong enough, and it binds the whole collection together in a beautiful harmony, like the heavenward side of the tapestry of our lives.
So do have a look at the flowers before you leave church today. See if you can see the golden tread that runs through all the arrangements. And as you look think about the love of God as it runs through our lives. And let’s try always to live our lives in harmony with God’s love, co-operating with all that he does in our lives and working with him to weave the most beautiful tapestry for our own good and the good of those around us. Amen.
Sunday 13th June 2010 – Trinity II, Proper 6, Year C
Readings: Ps 32, 2 Samuel: 11: 26- 12: 10, 13-15, Luke 7: 36 – 8: 3
Flower festival in Church.
Our readings give us two stories of sin and repentance.
In our Old Testament lesson we heard the middle part of the story of David and Bathsheba, the beautiful wife of Uriah the Hittite. And it is a pretty salacious story, well worth reading in full starting from 2 Samuel chapter 11. Basically David commits adultery with Bethsheba, gets her pregnant and then goes to great lengths to try and cover this up. The cover up fails, so David assigns Bathsheba’s husband Uriah to what amounts to a suicide mission in one of Israel’s battles. Uriah is killed and David takes Bethsheba as a wife and she bares him a son. The prophet Nathan confronts David with his sin. David repents, the Lord forgives, but nevertheless says that David’s new son will die on account of David’s misdeeds. The son becomes ill, so David enters into an intense period of fasting and pleading with God. After seven days the child dies. David gives up his fast and carries on with his life, restored in his relationship with God.
Then in our gospel reading we heard about the sinful woman who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints them with expensive ointment. The text suggests that this woman may have been Mary Magdalene, but it is far from clear and biblical scholars spend a lot of time debating whether or not it was her. But the point is that Jesus says she loves him a lot because she has been forgiven a lot, and her tells her to go in peace. Elsewhere Jesus says that, just as the doctor comes for the benefit of those who are sick, not those who are well, so he, Jesus, comes for the sinners more than for the righteous people. These words of Jesus are very reassuring to us as we become aware of all our own sins and inadequacies.
So what do we mean by sin? Well sin is rebellion against God. Sin is turning away from God, refusing his love, and setting our own agenda and priorities independent of God. And sin causes damage. God created us in love, and sets before us a journey towards fullness of life in heaven. He wants to bring his creation in us to fulfilment, he wants our good, he wants to share the life of heaven with us. When we rebel against God and go our own way, we put all these good things in jeopardy. Like David and like Mary Magdalene we have to repent and return to the Lord, and seek to walk the path that he sets before us. We have to give up on our own ideas and do the things God wants of us.
And just as we might use a sat-nav to guide us on a journey here on earth, so we should listen to that still, small voice of our conscience to guide us on our spiritual journey towards heaven. Sin is like making a mistake on the journey, doing something different from what the sat-nav says. Sometimes we might make a mistake and perhaps it is not very serious. The sat-nav immediately re-computes the journey and takes us via a slightly different route. We might loose a little time and energy, but the consequence is small. Sometimes we can make a serious mistake and find ourselves heading in altogether the wrong direction. The sat-nav probably blares out at us, “turn around as soon as possible, turn around as soon as possible.” In the same way our conscience tells us when we are going against God. It calls us to repent, turn around and accept God’s love, to trust in him and his plan for our lives. But however badly we go wrong, the sat-nav can always recomputed our route and find a way to take us to our destination. In the same way our conscience can always lead us back towards the destination that God has planned for us.
And we must not underestimate the depth of God’s mercy. Sometimes we are aware that we have made so many mistakes. Our journey has been endlessly disrupted by failures and wrong turns. We look back over our lives and it is like looking at the underside of a tapestry riddled with lose ends and knots and with no clear pattern. But just occasionally God allows us to catch a glimpse of the front side of the tapestry, the side that is visible from heaven. Suddenly we can see a clear pattern. Suddenly we realise that despite all our stumbling and failings, a beautiful tapestry has been created. And as we look back at this tapestry that our lives have woven we see that it is consistently held together and made good by the love of God, by his mercy, by his perseverance, by his willingness to suffer for us in Jesus. God is the ultimate master craftsman. His love is like a mysterious golden thread running through every part of the tapestry, making everything good. Even our mistakes have somehow been woven into the design by this mysterious golden thread.
Now I think that this is most beautifully illustrated in the flowers of this flower festival. The theme is Deus Caritas Est; God is Love. And each of the 34 arrangements illustrates some different aspect of God’s love, from the most spiritual (the fruits of the spirit) to the most practical (documents and treasurers in the antique chest). And if you look carefully you will see winding its way through the whole collection a golden thread. Often the golden thread is very fine, and hardly visible, sometimes it is thicker and clearer. But it is always there, always strong enough, and it binds the whole collection together in a beautiful harmony, like the heavenward side of the tapestry of our lives.
So do have a look at the flowers before you leave church today. See if you can see the golden tread that runs through all the arrangements. And as you look think about the love of God as it runs through our lives. And let’s try always to live our lives in harmony with God’s love, co-operating with all that he does in our lives and working with him to weave the most beautiful tapestry for our own good and the good of those around us. Amen.
06 June 2010
Widow of Nain
Sermon preached for 9.45 Holy Communion (BCP) at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton
Sunday 6th June 2010, Trinity 1 (Proper 5) Year C
Readings: Gal 1: 11-24 Luke 7: 11-17
Bullet Points Only
Some particular features of this miracle (the widow of Nain)
- nobody asked Jesus to do it, it is complete gift done from his own initiative
o God’s free gift
- But what made Jesus do it
o considerable number of people with the widow
o the cry to heaven goes up
o people are drawn in by love, to love more
o examples I have experienced
- Jesus’ motivation is compassion
o contrast many of Jesus’ miracles are in response to faith
o seem to be aimed at building up faith (although he asks for secrecy)
o in fact this miracle seems to have the effect of building faith
- What is overcome is death – biggest obstacle
o but the son will die again
The miracle looks back – parallels to Elijah and the widow’s only son (1 Kings 17: 23)
- gave him to his mother
- a great prophet has arisen
Miracle looks forward– build up to the question from the followers of John the Baptist
“Are you the one who is to come”
- Miracles show power of Jesus over nature – sickness, death and devils
o these things are ultimately overcome by Jesus
- miracles are pointers to the kingdom of God
- point to the new heaven and the new earth of Rev 21
o no longer any crying or sadness or pain or death
How do we respond
- allow our faith to grow
- solidarity with those who suffer – in prayer and support
- trust Jesus, the one more powerful than death
Sunday 6th June 2010, Trinity 1 (Proper 5) Year C
Readings: Gal 1: 11-24 Luke 7: 11-17
Bullet Points Only
Some particular features of this miracle (the widow of Nain)
- nobody asked Jesus to do it, it is complete gift done from his own initiative
o God’s free gift
- But what made Jesus do it
o considerable number of people with the widow
o the cry to heaven goes up
o people are drawn in by love, to love more
o examples I have experienced
- Jesus’ motivation is compassion
o contrast many of Jesus’ miracles are in response to faith
o seem to be aimed at building up faith (although he asks for secrecy)
o in fact this miracle seems to have the effect of building faith
- What is overcome is death – biggest obstacle
o but the son will die again
The miracle looks back – parallels to Elijah and the widow’s only son (1 Kings 17: 23)
- gave him to his mother
- a great prophet has arisen
Miracle looks forward– build up to the question from the followers of John the Baptist
“Are you the one who is to come”
- Miracles show power of Jesus over nature – sickness, death and devils
o these things are ultimately overcome by Jesus
- miracles are pointers to the kingdom of God
- point to the new heaven and the new earth of Rev 21
o no longer any crying or sadness or pain or death
How do we respond
- allow our faith to grow
- solidarity with those who suffer – in prayer and support
- trust Jesus, the one more powerful than death
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