WWJD?

Short homiley based upon Mark 2.23-3.6 and 2 Corinthians 4.5-12

WWJD; what would Jesus do? I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase and the wristbands...and the t-shirts. It’s become a cheesy slogan, the butt of many jokes -  but there is merit in it! There’s a joke amongst clergy and I’m sure elsewhere, that when asking “what would Jesus do?” cracking a whip and kicking over tables is always an option, as is breaking the rules.

In today's gospel we see again Jesus the rule-breaker, the Jesus who riles up the authorities in the name of doing not only what's right but what makes sense. 

I married a couple on Friday and the evening before I told them that the rehearsal was to try and ensure that things went smoothly, and whilst there were some things that should be done in a certain way, and things that tradition dictates, that they shouldn't get hung up on the details, to do what felt right for them. The only thing that mattered for that wedding was yes, getting the legal bits right, but mainly it was about the reason they were here, the very deep love they share and the commitment they were making because of that.

I think we see this in churches a lot- and in other institutions- we do things because it’s the way they're done, the way they've always been done, the way the rules say they should be done, and I’ve been guilty of this myself. We should always be examining why we’re doing what we're doing, if it makes sense, what sort of message it gives out and what it says about the God we worship if we believe he's more interested in rules than people.

In the reading Jesus believes It’s more important to feed people than obey the rules and he believes the right thing to do is heal someone rather than leave them and by doing so break the Sabbath rules. Both these acts could be interpreted as work, forbidden on the Sabbath. I know what makes the most sense to me. 

When we have rules for the sake of the rule itself, and when keeping that rule means people suffer, we become Pharisees. The ability to change and evolve is the wonderful thing about the Church of England; we’re able to examine our rules and practices and change them if needed. Giving equal weight to scripture, tradition and reason means we can grow and change for the better by examining what we do through these lenses. 

And we must remember people. People have to be at the heart of everything we do and all the decisions we make. If sticking to the rules leads anyone to suffer then the rules need to change. If your response to why we’re doing something is ever “because that’s the way it’s done” or “because that’s the way we’ve always ways done it” I implore you to stop, think, and examine if it’s really the way we should be doing it. I’ve had to do this recently and it’s really eye opening and liberating. 

Going against the crowd or breaking the rules is always worth it if means you’re acting in a more compassionate way. Rules which exclude or harm anyone need pulling apart. To paraphrase St Paul from today’s readings: make Jesus visible in you; in your actions and choices. What would Jesus do?

Love Isn't Control

Short Evensong homily based on Ezra 1 and John 7:14-36

There’s a lot of confusion in this evening’s gospel reading as people are trying to figure out who Jesus is- is he the Messiah? The Jewish people, and the temple officials are both puzzled by this man, not knowing how he knows the things he does when he’s just some bloke from Nazareth. How could he possibly be the messiah?

The way Jesus deals with this is not in an authoritarian way but an encouragement to get people to think about who he is and what he’s doing. Is he just Mary and Joseph’s son or is there more to him? He tells us he’s a product of where he’s from and the one who sent him, meaning he’s more than a simple man from Nazareth.

He’s learned much, I’m sure, from his mum and dad but his real power, the tools he needs to fulfil his ministry and purpose, are from God. Jesus is saying “look at me, I’m a simple man from an insignificant village so how can the things I’m saying or doing be from anyone else but God? I’m not educated, I’m not rich, I’m not anyone. Draw your own conclusions. Look at the evidence and you decide who you think I am”. Jesus rarely spoon feeds us.

There is so much we can learn about God from this. Firstly the encouragement to doubt, reason and think for ourselves. Institutions of religion and Christianity in the past have attempted to supress this. It’s been about rules and control, much like the Pharisees, and so far-removed from what I believe God intends for us.

God wants us to engage our minds. Religion which operates just within a set of overly-prescribed rules, or at the other end of the spectrum just attempts to engage our emotions, is not a true reflection of God. We’re designed to be curious, inquisitive and questioning. It’s the only way we can fully engage with God.

Ours is a relationship of love. If a relationship is built upon control that is not love. If any of you, like me, are fans of The Archers you’ll probably be aware of a recent change in the law which now defines coercive-control as abuse, for which you can be prosecuted. Jesus opposes the Pharisees control and his encouragement to think and question makes our relationship with the divide more rounded and whole.

Secondly it’s an encouragement to not judge people by how they appear but by the fruit they bear. If we look at the basic facts Jesus is an uneducated man from an insignificant place, but when we look at what he achieves we know he is much more than that. We can’t judge anyone on face value, but on the fruit the bear, evidence of God at work through them by what they produce in the world.

We may see people claim to have no faith and yet clearly see God reflected in them. Others may claim to lead a devout and god-focused life and yet their behaviour and choices say otherwise, like the Pharisees.  We can examine ourselves in this way- how do I appear, what do I want people to think of me? Is this reflected in the fruit I bear and the choices I make?

Finally it’s a reminder that all we need comes from God. We see this in the passage from Ezra where God sees people in a position to achieve what he needs them too and he stirs them up, giving them the ability to pull together and do what needs to be done. Everything Jesus needed to fulfil his ministry came from God, not his upbringing, education or the place he was from.

So God gives us everything we need to bear fruit in the world, but also to keep questioning, looking for the signposts of where He’s at work, and how we can be part of that.

Breaking the rules

This sermon was preached this morning at St Michael's Flixton. The readings were Isaiah 58:9b-14, Psalm 103:1-8, Hebrews 12:18-29 & Luke 13:10-17.

Why do we come to church? Is it something you ever think about? Do we come out of a sense of duty- something we feel we should or ought to do? Or do we come out of ritual or habit- it’s what we’ve always done? Do we come for community- to be part of something bigger, to get a sense of belonging? Or do we come because we feel we’ll experience something of God in this place?
Whatever your own reasons are, they probably contain a little bit of each of these, and of course it’s scriptural.
In Hebrews chapter 10 we hear of the importance of meeting together and encouraging each other; Matthew 18 contains Jesus famous words that when 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, there he is; In Acts 2 the apostles gather for prayer, teaching and breaking bread.
It was also scriptural for the Jewish people that Jesus is teaching in front of in today’s gospel to attend structured worship. There were a lot of rules around the Sabbath laid down in Levitical law. We know that Levitical law was and is extensive and contains instruction on every area of life.
Yet in today’s gospel we see Jesus, the same Jesus who said he hadn’t come to abolish the Law, break one of the Sabbath rules. Healing was classed as work, which may seem odd to us. The definitions in Jewish teaching about what is and isn’t work have been pondered and debated by scholars and rabbis for thousands of years. I’ve nursed orthodox Jewish patients who couldn’t press their nurse call button on the Sabbath because using something electrical was forbidden under their understanding of the Law.
The minutiae of these definitions may be baffling- even to Anglicans with our rules and rituals- but there are reasons for it. Keeping the Sabbath, to this people, was all about putting a special time aside to remember and be with God. Even though the extent of the Law reached every part of life, the Sabbath was the time when all other things were put aside and it was about God and only God.
Following the law to the letter stemmed from the exile- The Hebrews believed they were sent into exile as a punishment for not following the rules and so there was a fear of “not getting it right” and being punished again.
This might help frame just how controversial it was for Jesus to break the rules. And it wasn’t the first time. At this point Jesus has already allowed his disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath, because they’re hungry, and has healed a man’s withered hand, also in a synagogue on the Sabbath. In the next chapter he does it again, healing a man with dropsy.
This repeated rule breaking tells us one thing, whatever point Jesus is making here it’s an important one, and it’s not about healing. Those of you who’ve heard me speak about healing miracles before may remember my belief that whenever we see a healing miracle in the gospels it’s never about the healing, it’s always about something Jesus is trying to reveal to us about God.
In the narrative we see a synagogue leader so keen on rules he could very well be part of the CofE! He says:
"There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."
He’s a proper jobsworth! But Jesus points out the hypocrisy of it, that there are other things, none of which reveal anything of God, which people do on the Sabbath for mere practical reasons- who would deny their animal water because of the Sabbath rules? None of them. Yet Jesus’ revelation of the power of God in healing the women is not condoned.
This is where we find something marvellous to celebrate in our Anglican tradition. It can be a bit fuzzy to define what we, the Anglican communion are. Those who’ve thought about these things have defined it as a triangle, with each side of the triangle having an equal share in what defines us. Those three sides, and you probably will have heard this before, are Scripture, Tradition and Reason.
This trinity, like the eternal trinity, are held in tension together, forever dancing and circling each other, intertwining to help us figure out our beliefs and our theology.
In this story of Jesus healing a woman in the synagogue we have tradition and scripture on one side, telling us that he’s broken the rules, done the wrong thing, but then reason comes in and puts a twist on whole situation.
The reasonable question to ask is what does each situation reveal of God? On one hand we have the rules, set in scripture and carried through tradition, and on the other we have a women healed in a place where people have gathered to learn about God.
The attempted enforcement of the rules here makes God seem small, confined and constricted. The healing reveals a God of power, a God who can’t be confined or defined by us and our institutions. God isn’t defined by the church, we should be defined by God.
It’s built into the DNA of the church of England to give equal weighting to reason, tradition and scripture even when these things are at odds with each. 30 years ago I wouldn’t have been stood here, with this collar on, preaching to you. Tradition and Scripture were quite clear: women lived under the authority of men, and as such were not authorised to be ordained. It wasn’t our place.
Yet reason leads us to re-examine scripture for the time and place we find ourselves. The bible isn’t a holy rule book. It’s the story of humanity’s relationship with God, and revelation of God through Jesus Christ. This revelation isn’t closed off or finished, it’s ongoing, through re-examining scripture in our own context. Through this process has been born liberation theology, black theology, feminist theology, queer theology.
Ongoing revelation means the voiceless have found their voices, and found their place in God’s kingdom.
By accepting that what’s contained in scripture is an ongoing conversation between the text and our context we accept that it’s not about trying to define or restrict God with a set of rules but seeing where he’s at work in the world. This has been brought to the fore in recent years as we’ve seen scripture and tradition under debate in regards to sexuality, which made headlines again recently as a priest from our diocese resigned his position and married his male partner.
Tradition says one thing, reason another, and scripture is interpreted and re-interpreted by those on both sides of the debate. Are we, in these debates, trying to contain God? Make him small, make him conform to our image of him? Or are we looking beyond our beliefs and expectations? Opening our eyes to where God is revealed right before us?
At the end of today’s gospel reading the people who witness Jesus’ miracle aren’t siding with the religious leader, they’re rejoicing at the miracle they’ve witnessed. My challenge to us is to do the same- look for where God is moving in the world and celebrate it!
The writer of Hebrews tells us we’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Nothing that humankind can say or do can shake God or God’s kingdom- he’s way bigger than that. Rules, Ritual and even the church can’t define God, or know God’s mind or will. He’s not made in our image, we’re made in his, and he is indeed a consuming fire.
A fire of power, a fire of joy and a fire of love.
To go back to my opening question, I come to church to try and catch a bit of that fire, having that Sabbath focus of time just for God. If we can each leave this place with a bit of that fire within us, it lights us up in the world.
When we re-examine scripture we see that the Sabbath isn’t about the rules or traditions, it’s about seeing where God is and shifting our focus to that place, shifting our focus away from all distractions and for a short time delighting in God, celebrating God, worshipping God, and most importantly, expecting to encounter God.