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Trinity
Rev'd Philip Heak
What is it to be a servant of God
I’m so glad we have the record of the Disciples in the Gospel. They always make me a little bit more at ease with the shortcomings of my own Christian life.
This morning we heard of James and John putting their foot in it. Jesus had just been blessing the children saying that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
- He had told the rich young ruler that to love he had to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor.
- He had plainly told the disciples that they were going to Jerusalem where the Son of man would be betrayed, mocked, flogged, killed and in three days rise again.
All quite wonderful happenings but, to the disciples, it does seem that Jesus may as well have been talking to a brick wall.
So we have James and John asking Jesus if they can sit at his right and left hand. The disciples’ impudence and lack of understanding is beyond belief.
How could two people who are so close to Jesus miss the boat so completely? Did they forget the encounter with the rich man that occurred just before their request? Or the encounter with the little children?
And have they not heard Jesus’ own prediction of what was soon to happen to him? In light of all of this, their request is truly astounding.
So incredulous was this request that St. Matthew, writing a few years later than Mark, said it was James and John’s mother who makes the request – not the disciples themselves.
Jesus’ loving response is to take the opportunity to contrast earthly greatness with divine greatness. Earthly greatness is defined as having power over, whereas divine greatness is defined as being servant to.
Eighteenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker, said
“God has three sorts of servants in the world: some are slaves, and serve Him from fear; others are hirelings, and serve for wages; and the last are sons [and daughters], who serve because they love.”
A slave is someone who has no will of their own. They serve because they fear. Don’t misunderstand. God does not have any slaves – but sometimes we behave as if we were slaves.
“Some people approach the extra mile with an attitude that makes you wonder if they just inadvertently missed the previous exit.”
God will punish me if I do something wrong. If I do this I won’t be punished. To act out of slavery is to have no love or joy in the doing.
A hireling is a person who works solely for material reward. They work because they get paid but it never goes any further than that. Work is carried out in the hope of reward.
There is a sense of that in the question of James and John “Make us sit at your right and left hand.” Are they saying that they deserve this?
A hireling serves for their own needs. There is a hint of that when we do something to be seen by others, so that we get approval.
If you do a good turn to show what a good chap you are, expecting gratitude or admiration as a reward, you are behaving like a hireling.
A young fellow who worked in an investment house was impressed and very appreciative at the interest his business associates took in the news that his wife was going to have a baby.
Every day one or more of them would drop around to his desk to inquire: “How’s the wife doing?” “What does the doc say?” “Any news, old man?” “Many more days?”
He did not know that every man in the office had a bet upon when the baby would arrive. The interest in his affairs really concerned a greedy desire to win the office bet.
The hireling is only interested in what they can get for themselves – neither the slave nor the hireling act out of love. One acts from fear, and the other for reward.
In absolute contrast to this the the Sons and daughters of God serve with Love.
This is what God truly desires. To love God.
It’s not a request but, in the Bible, it’s a command.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deureronomy 6 v5
The Bible says that people are made in the image of God, and that God is love. Its pages are full of people driven by love, responding to love, and obeying God in love. If Jesus Christ is the primary subject of the Bible, then love is the theme.
The word love appears in the Bible hundreds of times, and though it is not the most used word in the Bible, it is one of the central themes and driving forces of God’s Word. In the NIV for instance the word love appears 686 times.
The most famous passage about love is in 1 Corinthians,
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
To do something from love is to not count the cost. To not look for reward. Love serves because it loves! The greatest act of love in history was when Jesus Christ died to pay for the sins of the world.
But what is it to love God?
CS Lewis puts it this way,
“People are often worried. They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer ….. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do? When you have found the answer go and do it.’ When you behave as if you love someone, you will presently come to love them.”
Love, real love demands actions. Jesus was very clear about this when he said
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
A legend says that the great violinist, Niccolo Paganini willed one of his marvellous violins to the city of Genoa on condition that it must never be played. The wood of such an instrument, while used and handled, wears only slightly, but set aside, it begins to decay. Paganini’s lovely violin has today become worm-eaten and useless except as a relic.
Christiany without love for God and neighbour becomes worm eaten and useless.
As Lewis said, If I were sure that I loved God what would I do? Figure it out and then go and do it.
So who are you?
The slave, the hireling or the one filled with love.
Perhaps we are one or two or even a mixture of all three. Thank goodness we know that the disciples continuously got it wrong, because we are going to get it wrong as well but with God, all things are possible.
Are you a slave? You can be set free.
Are you a hireling? You can be brought to a place where you do not seek reward.
Do you act from love? Well, none of us can love perfectly. Only God’s love is perfect. But our faith tells us that that love of God, boundless, vast, beyond all measure, will transform us to be what God has intended us to be. God’s children.
I’ll conclude with the words of our Lord in John 14
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth.”
Rev'd Philip Heak
A man who had attended church for 25 years, a respected man, a leader in the church, came to the pastor and said, “Pastor, I’ve got something to tell you. I’ve never told this to a soul and it’s extremely difficult to tell you this now, but my wife and I have had a fight every day for the past 30 years of our marriage”.
The pastor was taken back, he didn’t know what to say to the man. Playing for time to gather his thoughts, he said, “Every day?”
“Yes, every day.”
“Did you today before you came to church?”
“Yes.”
“Well, how did it end up?”
“She came crawling to me on her hands and knees.”
“What did she say?”
“Come out from under that bed you coward and fight like a man!”
Today’s gospel leaves many of us uncomfortable for one reason or another. It doesn’t come across as good news.
It makes us uncomfortable because we have what sounds for all the world like Jesus’ absolute prohibition of divorce. Many preachers would like to bypass this text on this day, preach on marriage only at weddings, and not have to talk about divorce at all.
That’s enough to cause us to squirm if we have a divorce in our personal background or as part of our family history.
The discussion gets started because some of the Pharisees are out to get Jesus. They want to trap him in his words and so destroy his credibility. So they ask him whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. (No, there is nothing about a woman divorcing her husband.)
Jesus knows this question is not an honest inquiry. These Pharisees are not interested in his opinion, but in testing him, defeating him
Jesus essentially turns everything on its head and says the real problem of the world is “Hardness of heart”. Hardness of heart is the problem not just for a few people, but for everyone.
Hardening, Hardness of Heart
To better understand the causes and solutions for a hardened heart, it’s important to appreciate the broad biblical meaning of the word “heart”. The Bible considers the heart to be the hub of human personality, producing the things we would ordinarily ascribe to the “mind”. For example, Scripture informs us that grief, desires, joy, understanding, thoughts and reasoning and, most importantly, faith and belief are all products of the heart. Also, Jesus tells us that the heart is a repository for good and evil and that what comes out of our mouth – good or bad – begins in the heart.
The heart, in effect, is the whole person in all of his or her distinctive human activity as a thinking, planning, willing, feeling, worshiping, socially interacting being.
And, of course, when the person is not living according to God’s will, it is the heart that is described as darkened, rebellious, callous, unfeeling, or idolatrous.
Anyone’s heart can harden, even faithful Christians’.
But “how does a heart become hardened?”
First of all, the heart “becomes hardened through painful experiences, through harsh experiences”. This is the situation of those who “have lived a very painful experience and don’t want to begin another adventure”. This is just what happened to the disciples of Emmaus after the Resurrection,
“‘There is too much, too much commotion, so let’s get away from here, because…’. — Because what? — ‘Eh, we were hoping this would be the Messiah, He wasn’t there, I don’t want to delude myself again, I don’t want to create illusions!’”.
This is a heart hardened by a “painful experience”. The same thing happened to Thomas: “No, no, I don’t believe it. Unless I place my finger there, I won’t believe it”. The disciples’ hearts were hard “because they had suffered”.
A second reason the heart becomes hardened is our ego. It’s when we “become closed inside oneself: making a world within oneself”. You know the legend of Narcissus who was so enchanted by his reflection in the water that he fell in and drowned. Work, play, hobbies, TV, parish life dare I say it – all of these and much more can lead us into a very introspective world, where there is no room left for anything except the self. Note that all of these things are good in themselves, but its easy to allow them to be the be all and end of all.
A third reason is insecurity. It is experienced by those who think: “I don’t feel secure and I am trying to hang on to something to be secure”. This attitude is typical of people “who really stick to the letter of the law”. This happens, with the Pharisees, with the Sadducees, with the doctors of the law in the time of Jesus”. They would have objected: “But the law says this, it says this up to here…”, and thus “they would make another commandment”; in the end, “the poor souls, they were leaning on 300-400 commandments and they felt secure”.
It is so easy for any of us at any stage to have a hardened heart.
To recap:
In biblical terms the heart, in effect, is the whole person in all of his or her distinctive human activity as a thinking, planning, willing, feeling, worshiping, socially interacting being. All that we are comes from the heart.
Painful and harsh experiences, being caught up into our own world, and insecurity all contribute to our hardness of heart.
And when that happens we become locked in a virtual prison constructed in part of our past hurts, ego and insecurities. It’s as if we are a hose with a kink in it that only allows a trickle of water through.
But can our hardened hearts be softened?
The answer is yes, but through the Holy Spirit alone. The Holy Spirit can soften our hearts, allow the living water to flow freely.
Pope Francis wrote:
“You can take a thousand courses in Christianity, a thousand courses in spirituality, a thousand courses in yoga, Zen and all these things. But all of this will never be able to give you the freedom of the Son”. Only the Holy Spirit “moves your heart to say ‘Father’”; He alone “is capable of casting out, of breaking this hardness of the heart”
So I’ve tried to show that when the Pharisees attempted to trick Jesus with a question about divorce, Jesus turned everything on its head. He pointed to the real problem of the world – the problem is our hardness of heart. The solution is the Holy Spirit.
So, ask the Lord for the grace to love: that He “save us from the slavery of a hardened heart” and “lead us to that beautiful freedom of perfect love, the freedom of the children of God, which the Holy Spirit alone can give”.
Rev'd Philip Heak
Whenever I’m in an airport luggage hall I worry about lost baggage – was it left behind, did it arrive from another destination. I’m always slightly relieved truth be told that my bags arrived, unlike those ones …..
I’m sure someone can tell me, but what happens to that lost baggage? Is it left there until someone eventually coming back into Dublin sees it? Is it moved on by the carrier and reunited with a joyous owner? Is the case and contents auctioned off for charity ……. Or maybe some of it just gets left behind ….
There are so many areas in our lives that we can feel lost.
Where do you feel lost? Is it when we encounter a new situation where everything is unknown? Is it as you stare at a computer screen not knowing whether the new fangled technology will gobble you up.
Or maybe it’s the newest mobile phone, which promises to do everything including keeping track of your washing up liquid, but you cant work out for the life of you how to make a call on it or save a contact!!
Of course, emotionally we can feel lost as well. That is the serious point. Many years ago, when I was a child, I remember being lost at M&S. I still remember the feeling of panic when I realised that I could not see my parents. In truth they were on the other side of the clothes rail. That was one time when I knew I was lost.
Another time, I didn’t realise. I was at the Lion park and was quite happily wandering around in the reptile area. The bus left without me and I hadn’t a clue until later one of the assistants came and asked me if I was ok. The story didn’t end there. Turned out that the youth camp bosses, didn’t realise I wasn’t there until they got the phone call from the lion park. It worked out well however because that night I had hot chocolate made with real milk, whereas everyone else had theirs made with water.
So there are times when we are lost, and know it. And times when we are lost but don’t know it.
There is however one thing, that both knowing that we are lost and not knowing that we are lost hold in common. Whenever we are found, the joy is there.
People who have been set free from an addiction, often talk of how they never realised how enslaved they were until they were able to give up. People who have been in chronic pain, and have had some sort of procedure to lessen the pain, often talk of how liberated they feel.
There is a great joy in being found.
When Jesus talks of the necessity of cutting our hands off if it cause it to sin, he is not talking literally. Hes making a point that if we have something in our life that is keeping us from a closer relationship with God, we should cut it out. Some of you may have heard of Mari Quando. She is a house organiser and her mantra is that is something no longer brings you joy – recycle or repurpose it.
Jesus is more than a Marie Quando but the point is that true joy is only to be found in a close relationship with God. If there is something in your life that threatens that relationship with God then cut it out.
The joy is echoed in the next hymn we will sing. John Newton was the author of “Amazing Grace”. Perhaps to better understand the hymn and the joy of being found, we can look at who he was.
Very few people know the real life story of John Newton, who was born in 1725 and died in 1807. He could best be described as a Naval deserter from “Her Majesty’s Navy”, an atheist, a slave trader, stubborn, very disobedient, with a vicious temper. His mother, who was a deeply religious woman, died when he was seven years old and he was sent to a private boarding school. (He was kicked out of this school.)
John’s father was a sea captain. He joined his father on his ship at a very young age, learning navigation, sails, and winds. He spent five years on this ship. He later served on many boats, including the Royal Navy (which kicked him out), trade ships and slave trade ships.
John had many harrowing escapes while at sea. He also had many positive signs and at the last minute his life was spared. However, it was on the slave ship “Greyhound” that he had his greatest awakening. Heading back to England, it ran into a vicious storm that really battered the ship and the weary crew. They fought hard to keep the ship together. The supplies were very low and they wondered if they could survive another day.
Finally, they thought they spotted land, only to realize that it was a mirage. John asked God to have mercy on them as they were nearly out of all food and water.
Finally, they saw land and it was Northern Ireland. They got a great reception from the people. After examining the boat, the carpenters and shipbuilders stated the boat would not have survived another day. The “Greyhound” had not been heard from for 18 months and was assumed lost at sea. Try to imagine being on a small boat, no radio, no one to help you but God.
Because of the grace that changed John’s life, he made six attempts to be ordained a minister. Finally, at the age of 39, he became a parson. He wrote a number of hymns, and his real life experiences are reflected in “Amazing Grace”.
Rev'd Philip Heak
I must admit, that anytime I go to a restaurant, and the meal is presented in a silver platter, I always think of the story of John the Baptist, and secretly hope that there is no head underneath the platter.
Today we are going to learn about Herod, Herodias, Salome and John the Baptist. To say it’s a juicy story filled with intrigue and scandal, is to do it an injustice. 
There are two Herods in our Gospels. Herod the Great, who was alive at the time of Jesus’ birth and who ordered the murder of the Innocents and Herod Antipas the Herod of our Gospel reading today who had John the Baptist killed and was complicit in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
The story that the gospels, as well as the Roman historian Josephus, tell is that he is the Herod who got into deep political controversy with John the Baptist.
John was mad at Herod for several reasons; but the one that really stuck in John’s craw was Herod’s marriage to Herodias. Herodias was both Herod’s brothers wife and Herod’s niece. And his divorce and subsequent marriage to Herodias had caused a disastrous war and loss of life.
John publicly accused this famous couple of “adultery and incest” and that was enough to turn Herodias practically purple with rage.
Herod was too scared of the people to execute John, so he had him thrown into prison.
But fear was only part of the picture. He was fascinated by John and couldn’t help sneaking out in secret to hear John ranting in his old, dark prison cell.
The portrait Mark paints is of a man who is transfixed with the very thing he fears and despises. “When he heard him,” Mark says, .. .he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.
Unfortunately this fascination was not enough to convince him to change his life; and the day Herod decided to throw a birthday party for himself to end all birthday bashes, he unwittingly set in motion forces the consequences of which he could never have foreseen.
The undercurrent of all of this was that the end was coming to Herod – his evil deeds would get the better of him, even though he did not know it at the time.
Apparently, it was a banquet done in a fashion bound to impress all of Herod’s political cronies and enemies and to offend the religiously scrupulous.
The climax was when Herodias’ daughter Salome, who was actually Herod’s niece as well, danced an apparently suggestive dance that was meant to arouse Herod and make him vulnerable to suggestion.
Salome’s mother saw it as the chance she had been waiting for. Caught up in the moment like a dirty-old man and macho ruler, Herod gave in to both his lust and his pride by following through on an oath to Salome to give her anything she wanted. Herodias made sure that it was John’s head on a platter that “she wanted”; and that, as they say, was the end of John the Baptist.
Or so everyone thought.
By the time Mark tells us this story, John has been dead for some time and Jesus has been actively preaching his own message throughout Galilee.
Although Herod apparently didn’t know Jesus, he knew that something equally as powerful as John was stirring out there among the people.
…when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”
This is what Mark wants to tell us. Herod is consumed by guilt over what he has done.
Evil will bring about its own demise.
Herod’s own actions have engendered in him a deep-seated fear about the results of his deed. He interprets what he hears about Jesus by imagining John having come back to get him. He is becoming imprisoned in his own fear.
His own evil is beginning to destroy him. – like Stalin whose own bodyguards didn’t go near his body for hours in case he was still alive! Or Hitler, trapped in a bunker by all accounts having lost control of himself.
Nor is this merely a story to tip us off about what is likely to befall Jesus in the end too.
Of course, a similar fate is going to befall Jesus, as it befalls anybody with the courage to speak truth to the powerful. But that is not something Mark’s church would ever have questioned.
They would have had one very pertinent question though – that still resonates today.
Would following Jesus and speaking the truth to loveless power ever make any difference in the end?
The answer, Mark gives us, is an overwhelming YES.
Mark says that even defenceless, unarmed, de-capitated, dead men, like John the Baptist, come back to haunt the powerful of this world.
Jesus died on the cross, but his resurrection brings eternal life to billions of people. When Jesus was crucified, death did its best to destroy him, but instead the death of Jesus brought life through his resurrection.
Evil, the privation of Good. Evil is ultimately, is self-defeating.
If we look to our own world history, we can see too that EVIL does ultimately destroy itself, although it does seem to be the tragedy of the human race, that another evil will be raised in its stead.
However, that should never stop us from supporting what is right. The Desmond Tutus, the Mahat Ma Ghandis and the Martin Luther Kings of this world, dare I even say it the Charles Stewart Parnells and Daniel O’Connells of this world show that right can and will prevail.
Mahat ma Ghandi, had a deeply held conviction of non violent protest – Gandhi had a profound belief, not just that love would eventually conquer, but that evil would defeat itself. “When I despair,” he said,
“I remember that throughout history tyrants and dictators have always failed in the end.”
Herod Antipas eventually fell from grace and ended his days in exile in Gaul. In a bitter irony, what little we know of him, comes from the words of the Gospel that ultimately, he tried to repress.
Somehow, I doubt if any of us today will be having our Sunday Dinner presented to us on a silver platter but please remember from the story of John the Baptist, Herod Antipas, his wife Herodias and daughter Salome. It teaches us that evil will ultimately destroy itself and Good will triumph. Following Jesus and speaking the truth to loveless power will transform this world in the end.
As the Easter Anthems put it
Christ once raised from the dead dies no more:
death has no more dominion over him.
4 In dying he died to sin once for all:
in living he lives to God.
5 See yourselves therefore as dead to sin:
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
6 Christ has been raised from the dead:
the first fruits of those who sleep.
7 For as by man came death:
by man has come also the resurrection of the dead;
8 for as in Adam all die: even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Rev'd Philip Heak
One of the most anticipated events in terms of easing of Covid restrictions was hairdressers and barbers re-opening. It is so lovely to be able to go and get haircut.
As my hair grew longer during lockdown, I thought I looked quite cool…
But eventually I cut it…
And then I looked like this….
But recently I returned to the barbers and while there, we were talking about Covid Hair. The barber said he hadn’t seen too many bad bad covid hairs. Then he joked about the story of Sisyphus. “Who?” I said. “Sisyphus”, he laughed, “have you never heard of him”, “No”, I said, so he told me the story.
Here it is.
Sisyphus was a cruel Greek king who was punished to push a large boulder up a steep hill, only to find it rolling back on nearing the top.
Ever since, he has been known for pushing the rock tirelessly till eternity.
I couldn’t help but draw parallels between the myth of Sisyphus and our Gospel reading this morning.
In Mark 6, we find Jesus returning to his hometown, but his family members and local community leaders could not see the value present in this Nazareth boy.
Jesus’ relatives and fellow citizens could think of him only as the local carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon and they take offence at him.
Problem with rolling the ball up hill is that we can’t see what is ahead. – That’s what happened in Nazareth. People are not able to see more about Jesus than their own little world. Jesus is simply the Carpenter’s son.
Mark’s Gospel provides us with a telling comment regarding Jesus’s reaction.
“He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
Sometimes, in our Christian lives we can feel that our faith is just like endlessly pushing a huge boulder up a hill. Just when we think we’ve got to the top of the hill, we go rolling on down again. It’s just like the nursery rhyme
“When they were up they were up. When they were down they were down. When they were only half way up they were Neither up nor down.”
If our faith constantly feels like an endless cycle of pushing that boulder, I don’t think that is a healthy place to be. I don’t think that is where God would want us to be, so how do we navigate that boulder.
I want to concentrate today on just Two words that may be helpful
Expectant and Active.
Expectant
Expectancy is a vital part of faith.
I remember going to see BB King. The man oozed charisma. He came out played one note on Lucille and the crowd applauded for what seemed like 5 minutes. Amazing. Reflecting on it now – the crowd were excited and expectant – and as part of that we were amazed.
Expectation is part of faith. Part of being able to look ahead and see the bigger picture and the things of God.
If I pray, for instance, without being expectant, how will I see that the prayer has been answered? If I read the Bible without being expectant of hearing God’s word, I’m just pushing that boulder up the hill.
For our faith to have expectancy we have to look beyond the boulder.
Practically speaking – when we pray, listen, expecting that God will speak to us.
When we read our Bible – even if it is a passage we’ve known from childhood or adolescent years – expect to see something new.
As we wake each day, Give thanks for the day that the Lord has made and be expectant.
When we attend public worship, expect to hear a message.
The people of Nazareth lost a great opportunity by not listening more carefully to their neighbour and relative – whom they knew only as Jesus, the carpenter son of Mary. They had no expectancy of anything that they thought they already knew.
That was their boulder and they could not see beyond it. That was their lack of faith.
So, expectation. Be expectant in your faith and you will be amazed at what God is doing for you.
The second word is “Active”.
Faith is not primarily passive. Faith is active. I can have passive faith in a packed parachute on the ground, but it takes an active faith to put on the parachute and jump our of a moving plane.
At some stage, a decision has to be made that Faith is something that we are going to do, not just say. For instance, I know that I should pray more – that is passive. I get up 10 minutes earlier every day to pray – active.
I would like to go to church every week (passive)
I go to church every week (active)
I should give more to charity (passive)
I give €10 a week to charity (active)
Faith is active. It’s an active decision to behave and do things in a certain way.
For the people of Nazareth their faith was passive. They went to the synagogue, prayed as they would normally have, listened to perhaps the reading of the Torah and some of the prophets. I’m sure that they were quite happy with that. But they could not go beyond that.
An active faith would have seen that someone greater than the prophets was in their midst, not just the son of a carpenter, but the Son of God, the Messiah to whom all the scriptures pointed.
But no, there is no active faith and in fact it becomes negative when they take offence at Jesus and we read he could do no miracles there except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them.
So as I said two words that can help navigate the boulder of live. Expectant and Active.
In your faith be expectant – in your faith be active.
Take it one step at time and gradually you will reach the top of the hill. Need to pray, find 5 minutes a day and just start. Need to be more active in reading the bible – same thing. Don’t try it all at once. That ball can be pretty heavy.
One day, one week, one year at a time and you will discover that little by little the extraordinary things in life will become noticeable. Expect to see God at work and you will. Move from a passive faith to an active one.
SO back the barbers – I didn’t tell you why the barber told me that particular story of Sisyphus.
He was talking about hair and the way it grows back. Cut your hair, it grows back, just like the boulder getting to the top of the hill and rolling down again. We may have the best haircut one week, but another few weeks of months and we’ll be back to square one. The solution – another trip to the barbers or hairdressers.
If you feel that your faith is like pushing a huge boulder up an unending hill. The solution – be expectant and be active and trust that God will help you navigate that boulder.
Rev'd Philip Heak
“I am prepared to meet my maker. Whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”
Winston Churchill (politician)
Death is something that on the one hand we are intrigued with, but on the other horrified with.
For instance, if I want a long Vestry meeting – all I need to do is table something to do with the graveyards…
But, on the other hand, most of us know the sheer pain and hardship that the death of a loved one brings.
The Gospel reading today brought us face to face with one of the hardest types of death. The death of a child.
The story is so tragic.
A synagogue ruler named Jairus had a little girl who was dying. He begged Jesus to come to his house and heal her. Jesus agreed to accompany Jairus but was detained when he stopped to heal someone else. A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years.
Meanwhile the little girl died – she was 12 years old.
When Jesus arrived at the house he told the mourners that the little girl was not dead but just “asleep.” They laughed at him. Jesus sends them away and with the child’s parents and three of the disciples he gently raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead and heals her.
I don’t think I agree with Churchill about the Maker’s ordeal of meeting people. Jesus in this passage, not only meets people and walks alongside them, but he loves them and he heals them.
In that short passage from Mark 5, entitled in the NIV bible as a dead girl and a sick woman, there are multiple deaths or types of death:
- The girl
- The sick woman
- The parents
- The community.
The Little Girl
It seems that the girl had been
sick – at the point of death – when Jairus goes to Jesus. She is 12 years old, so not quite a child, but Jairus’ words “My Little Girl” suggests a frailty – perhaps a long term illness. Perhaps she was an only child, but we know from Mark’s account that as Jairus is coming back to the house with Jesus, the beloved little girl dies.
The Sick Woman
This woman had been bleeding for 12 years – we’re not quite sure what the illness was but it did mean that she was ritually unclean and anyone who touched her was also unclean. Her death was to be one of shame, one of suffering at the hands of many doctors who made things worse.
The Parents
Like the death of any child, the death of this little 12 year old girl is a death also to the parents. Death of dreams, hopes, aspirations, joy. In a recent article in the Irish Times the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, spoke in his own experience of the death of two of his children,
“In the aftermath of that you’re obviously knocked out: you’re very, very down. You feel for quite a while that your spirits will not lift. It was April 1st he passed away. The birds are singing, but you don’t want to hear that at six in the morning, and yet that’s what you hear. I thought I’d never say that I hate the sound of the birds singing. But that passes in the medium term.”
Jairus must have been desperate – who would leave a death bed to search out a doctor. Also, he goes himself – he doesn’t send a servant.
His child is dying. She is dying—he says it repeatedly, Mark tells us, dying, dying — and then he says, “Come and lay your hands on her, that she will be healed and live”
Death of hope in the community
As Christians we believe in life after death –
At the time of Jesus it was not so clear cut. People “weeping and wailing loudly,” as Mark describes it. This is unassuaged grief. Remember its not the the twenty-first century but the first century and people apparently hadn’t started yet saying things like “It’s really a blessing” or “She is in a better world now” because for the most part they didn’t believe in any better world but just some sort of limbo world under the earth where the ghosts of the dead drift like dead leaves.
Instead, they wept and wailed because they didn’t have it in them to pretend that the death of a child is anything but the tragic and unspeakable thing that it is, and Jesus didn’t say anything to make them change their minds, didn’t tell them that it was God’s will or anything like that. What he did instead was to say something that is difficult to understand.
“The child is not dead,” he said, “but sleeping.”
The crowd can’t possibly understand what Jesus means. Their hope has died with the death of the child and so they laugh at him.
So we have four types of death in this short passage
- The girl’s physical death
- The parents’ type of death caused by their unimaginable grief
- The woman shunned and dead to society because of her illness
- The community’s death of hope
Into this ordeal, in utter contrast to all of this death, we have the figure of Jesus. He is the one figure of hope in all of this tragedy.
He immediately leaves the crowd to go with Jairus.
He stops with the woman and heals her. He ignores the well-intentioned advice of the those who said, the child is dead – no need to come. He pays no attention to those who laugh at him. Instead, he disperses the crowd leaving only the little girl’s Mum and Dad and three of his closest disciples.
A key verse right in the middle of this passage are the words of Jesus to Jairus. “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” And it seems that Jairus, his wife and the disciples do just that.
Faith is the willingness to trust God when the pieces don’t fit.
“Don’t be afraid, just believe.” And look what happens.
Death is destroyed.
The little girl is raised from the dead. Not only that but she is fully healed from her sickness. Able to walk about the room and eat.
The woman, dead to society/worship for 12 years, is given new life. A life where again she can mix and socialise with people.
The community, who were so wrapped up in their grief that they laughed at the one who would bring life, are now forced to acknowledge that there is something even stronger than death at work here.
And the parents. Their grief – the grief for the death of a child is transformed.
“Don’t be afraid, just believe.”
For me, the enormously moving part of the story is when Jesus takes the little girl’s hand and says, “Talitha cum‘—”Little girl, get up”.
Suddenly we ourselves are the little girl.
Little girl. Old girl. Old boy. Old boys and girls with high blood pressure and arthritis, and young boys and girls with tattoos and body piercing. You who believe, and you who sometimes believe and sometimes don’t believe much of anything, and you who would give almost anything to believe if only you could. You happy ones and you who can hardly remember what it was like once to be happy.
“Get up,” Jesus says, all of you—all of you!—and the power that is in him is the power to give life not just to the dead like the child, but to those who are only partly alive, which is to say to people like you and me who much of the time live with our lives closed to the wild beauty and miracle of things, including the wild beauty and miracle of every day we live and even of ourselves. “Get up, don’t be afraid, just believe.”
It is that life-giving power in Jesus that is at the heart of this tragic story about Jairus and the daughter he loved. It breaks through the ordeal of the death of the little girl, the woman who had suffered with bleeding and social isolation for 12 years. It’s a power that transforms the grief of the parents and shows the crowd that in Jesus, there is something stronger than death.
The power of new life, new hope, new being, that whether we know it or not. It is the power to make it through the ordeal.
It is the power to get up even when getting up isn’t all that easy for us anymore and to keep getting up and going on and on toward whatever it is, whoever he is, that all our lives long reaches out to take us by the hand.
It is the power of God that helps us not to be afraid, but to believe.
To believe that when we are done with the ordeal of life and we die, that He will gently take us by the hand and say, “Child,” I say to you Arise.”
Advent
Rev'd Philip Heak
Every now and again I delve into a book of Peanuts cartoons that I’ve had since a child. You know what they are Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
I came across this one ….
I can understand Charlie asking Lynas what he is doing.
But Lucy. Will cursing the darkness do any good. “You stupid darkness.”
It would be strange indeed to curse the darkness and yet not light a candle to give light.
Advent and Christmas is a strange times of year for many of us.
A time in which, as we prepare for the coming of the son of God, we often feel down, disappointed, and anxious;
2020 has exasperated this. Many are worried and anxious – understandably so.
How do we keep our family safe. Will we be able to see our families this year. Or our friends.
For many the runup to Christmas is a time in which instead of feeling joy, we feel despair,
A time in which instead of rejoicing, we fret and worry and this year is even more difficult.
To give you a personal example. Nothing too serious, but I trust that you will understand where I’m coming from.
I’m worried about the Christmas services. It’s not the safety aspect – I know that our churches are safe and that everything possible has been done to minimise any risk. Numbers in each building will be limited and the pre-bookings are going well. We’ve gallons of hand sanitiser, there is certainly no problem with ventilation or 2 m distancing and we’ve spare face masks for those who need them.
No, what worries me is the fact that we won’t be able to sing Carols. One of my sermons from a few years ago was entitled “Can you imagine a Christmas without Music.” Hey presto – we are almost there. I’m having to plan worship for Christmas without singing. It tempts me to curse the darkness,
“You stupid Covid.”
Surely there is a contradiction here ….
This is the season of good news, the season of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord, the season of celebration, of rejoicing, of praising God for what he has done, and what he is doing, and what he will yet do.
Singing is part of what we usually do. Nothing beats Silent night at the midnight Communion, Hark the Herald on Christmas Day- or children singing Away in a manger.
The contradiction is that Christmas will still happen even if we can’t sing.
The Good news of Jesus born on Christmas Day as Emmanuel, God with us remains true and that is something that we can rejoice in.
So really I should not be grumbling about it – I should carry on doing my best to celebrate the birth of Christ. I should just get on with it and be happy that as God’s people we are free to gather to celebrate firstly Advent and subsequently the great festival of Christmas.
The message this Sunday from both Isaiah and John the Baptist is “Prepare the way of the Lord!”
Get with it. Get an attitude! See what is really happening! Prepare ye the way for God! Look for his coming in power! Make his paths straight!
Know that the time of vindication and of peace is at hand! Rejoice and be glad – for while there is darkness in the world – there is also light, and the light is stronger than the darkness, the darkness cannot overcome it.”
There is so much good around us.
There is so much power and righteousness at hand.
What does Linas say to Charlie Brown.
It is better to light a single
candle than to curse the darkness…
A candle has been provided to us. A light has been granted unto the world, and it ‘s power is unquenchable.
God lives. God is here. And God is coming here.
You can see it in the face of a new born baby,
You can see it in the gaze of young lovers,
You can see it in the look of old married couples,
You can see it within your own hearts,when you take time to look.
God will accomplish his purpose.
The kingdom will come.
The question for us is
Will we be a part of the fulfilment of God’s purpose?
Will we light a candle?
Or will we curse the darkness?
Epiphany
Rev'd Philip Heak
A little girl reached that terrifying time of day when her mother would turn out the lights in her room and leave her for the night. Afraid of the dark and of being by herself she cried out for her mother to stay. Being a woman of faith, she reassured her daughter that God would be with her through the night. ‘But, Mama,’ she cried, ‘I need a God with skin on!’
The Gospel reading today helps us put a skin on God. Namely by describing some of the places that Jesus visited and what he did.
To help us consider this, I’m going to examine some of the places mentioned in our Gospel reading. I trust that it will help you put skin on to the scripture narrative.
First let’s have a look at a map of Palestine.
Population was between 1.5 – 2million people. Ruled by puppet rulers on behalf of the Romans.
Fomerly called Caanan, the whole area was called Palestine but as you can see it’s not really a unity.
To the South we have Judea – site of Jerusalem, Jericho, the Dead Sea or Salt sea as it is on the map, and the Judaen Desert.
In the middle we have Samaria, which was non Jewish and then to the North we have Galilee, which was where Jesus spent most of his ministry.
Galilee itself was quite separate from Judea. Economically, Galilee was relatively prosperous. Compared to Judea, it had better agricultural land and resources such as fish.
It was predominantly Jewish, but there were quite a few Greek influences and cities They spoke their own version of Aramaic, which Judeans would make fun of. Judeans also generally thought that Galileans were lax in their observances of Religious rituals – in other words, not as Jewish as they should be …..
One commentator wrote that for a Galilean to be in Jerusalem, they were as much a foreigner as an Irishman in London or a Texan in New York. His accent would immediately mark him out as “not one of us,”
The second place name we have is Nazareth. That is where Jesus grew up. The people of Nazareth were essentially farmers, so they needed space between the houses for livestock and their enclosures, as well as land for plants and orchards.
Nazareth would have had a population of around two to four hundred in antiquity, that is to say, several extended families or clans.
The families who lived there eked out a living, paid their taxes, and tried to live in peace. They were observant Jews, so they circumcised their sons, celebrated Passover, did not work on the Sabbath, travelled as pilgrims to Jerusalem, and valued the traditions of Moses and the prophets.
Understanding the faming background of Nazareth helps us to see how Jesus found many of his parables. Who else but someone living in a rural area could tell the parable of the sower.
It is from Nazareth that Jesus moves to the third place name we have in our Gospel reading.
Capernaum.
Let go back to the map for a minute.
These days Caperaum is about an hours drive from Nazareth, so probably about a days walk.
In Biblical times Capernaum was one of the main trading villages in the Gennesaret area which was a vibrant populated and prosperous part of Palestine and was inhabited by about 1,500 people many of whom were fishermen. The village was thought to have prospered from the 2nd century BC to the 13th century AD when it reverted to a simple fishing village until the 1800s.
The town is cited in all four gospels (Matthew 4:13, 8:5, 11:23, 17:24, Mark 1:21, 2:1, 9:33, Luke 4:23, 31,7:1, 10:15, John 2:12, 4:46, 6:17, 24, 59) where it was reported to have been the hometown of the tax collector Matthew, and located not far from Bethsaida, the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. Jesus may have had a house here or at least stayed in the house of one of his followers.
He certainly spent time teaching and healing there. One Sabbath, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit (Luke 4:31–36 and Mark 1:21–28). Afterward, Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever (Luke 4:38–39). According to Luke 7:1–10 and Matthew 8:5, this is also the place where Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion who had asked for his help.
Capernaum is also the location of the healing of the paralytic lowered by friends through the roof to reach Jesus, as reported in Mark 2:1–12 and Luke 5:17–26.
And of course, in our reading today, as Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee, after moving to Caperaum, he calls the first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John who were all fishermen.
So we have looked at four different place names. Palestine, Galilee, Nazareth and Capernaum. I hope that you can understand better the context in which Jesus lived.
Palestine itself was not really a unity but was divided between Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Galilee, the region where Jesus lived, looked down in by those who lived in Judea, but economically prosperous. Nazareth, the farming village where he grew up. Capernaum, the fishing town where Jesus based his ministry and called his first disciples.
Remember that story of the little girl who was afraid of the dark but who wanted a God with skin on. Well, for me, knowing a little more about these places helps to put a skin on the accounts of the teaching, miracles and life of Jesus.
He lived in real places with real people and real experiences. I can understand how someone was brought up in a rural community, could see the things of God in agriculture and farming. I can appreciate how the divide between Judea and Galilee, with Samaria in between, prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. I see how someone who had chosen to live by a lake in a centre for fishing would call people to become fishers of men and women,
Most of all, I can trust. I can trust that in the reality of my life and the reality of your life, Jesus, the word made flesh, will be with me as he also is with you.
The writer of Matthew’s Gospel sums it up,
“23 Jesus* went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news* of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.”
Lord, in every need let me come to You with humble trust saying, “Jesus, help me.”
In all my doubts, perplexities, and temptations, Jesus, help me.
In hours of loneliness, weariness, and trials, Jesus, help me.
In the failure of my plans and hopes; in disappointments, troubles, and sorrows, Jesus, help me.
When others fail me and Your grace alone can assist me, help me.
When I throw myself on Your tender love as a father and saviour, Jesus, help me.
When my heart is cast down by failure at seeing no good come from my efforts, Jesus, help me.
When I feel impatient and my cross irritates me, Jesus, help me.
When I am ill and my head and hands cannot work and I am lonely, Jesus, help me.
Always, always, in spite of weakness, falls, and shortcomings of every kind, Jesus, help me and never forsake me.
Amen.
Rev'd Philip Heak
In a recent survey a somewhat exasperated young father describes parenthood as “always filled with joy, but sometimes not much fun.”
Most parents today could probably relate to his words. For being father or mother, with all its wonder and joys, is not easy in any age. Good parenting invariably entails a great deal of giving and self-sacrifice – which as we all know is “sometimes not much fun.”
That father’s remark somehow is an interesting comment as we reflect today on our gospel account of the calling of the disciples – particularly James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
“Immediately he called them,” Matthews gospel tells us of Jesus and these two seemingly inseparable brothers, “and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.”
What must Zebedee have thought – or maybe sputtered – as he saw his otherwise perfectly sensible sons all of a sudden get up and leave their nets and their chores?
And to do what? Why, to follow a little-known itinerant preacher no less; and without so much as a “Tell Mom we will not be home for dinner.” Not much fun in that for Zebedee, one supposes, as the hired men meanwhile stare open-jawed in amazement at this little family drama unfolding before their very eyes.
Apparently parenthood and family life was no simpler 2,000 years ago than it is nowadays.
Commercial fishing was – back then and is still today in many places – a family business in which each member of the household has his or her important role. It is fair to say that fishing for a living – a lot of hard work – was not always fun.
While a family-run fishing business might not have been the most glamorous profession in ancient Israel nor have put one into the highest echelons of Hebrew society, it was nevertheless a respected profession and a solid means of income and support for one’s family.
So to follow Jesus – as admirable as that may seem from our advantaged perspective 2,000 years later – also meant for James and John the giving up of a not-insignificant trade or profession.
As they say, people will always need to eat. The troubling conclusion also seems almost unavoidable:
Following Jesus might well mean leaving parents and family and the security and comfort of a good job or career. By the way, how Zebedee was supposed to manage without the assistance and support of his sons we simply do not know from the gospel account. “Follow me,” indeed.
But “Follow me” is precisely what Jesus at the Sea of Galilee says to that other pair of brothers, Peter and Andrew, also fishermen. His call to James and John must certainly have sounded a similar note.
Even now, there are probably few words in all of Christian scripture more demanding than these two: Follow me.
Jesus gives no explanation for his challenge. Nor does he give his followers or recruits a clear business plan of sorts for his own start-up ministry.
He makes no promise of success and riches either. His vision statement –– is only that his disciples will come to “fish for people.”
And can there be much future in that?
Curiously, the disciples are not portrayed as having agonized over their decision to drop everything and follow our Lord. They did not first go home and sleep on it or discuss it at length with family members, friends or village elders.
They did not check their bank accounts or savings. And surely, if they had approached their local parish priest for advice, they would most assuredly have been sent back to Zebedee forthwith.
There is a tantalising hint that because Zebedee is mentioned in the Mark’s Gospel, that perhaps the Gospel writer knew him. Perhaps, Zebeddee at some later stage, likewise took up that call, “Follow me.”
Still, there is something energizing and exciting in the response of these first disciples.
Perhaps in leaving hearth and home, they comprehended at once the larger family of humankind to which Jesus was calling them.
To “fish for people” is, after all, about community – and family. And, though not always fun, as the disciples were themselves later to discover, it is most definitely about joy – the joy of bringing the Father’s love to others sorely in need of the Good News of the gospel.
Most of us have, no doubt, from time to time dreamed of dropping everything and heading off on some personal journey of discovery – until we sit back and calculate the cost, come down to earth, and get back to work and reality.
Few of us today would leave our net, much less our Internet, to follow in the footsteps of James and John, Peter and Andrew – or Jesus himself.
Yet our Lord’s challenge to the disciples of so long ago remains there to test us still today – just those two words:
“Follow me.”
In some sense, our challenge and task is perhaps even greater than that of those impulsive young followers of Jesus. For most of us are called to follow our Lord at the very same time we are challenged to remain where we are – at the side of family and friends. Yet, perhaps paradoxically, accepting our Lord’s gospel imperative invariably leads us to others, to “fish for people,” even if we never leave home.
What the early disciples must have instinctively known is what we must not forget – that in following Jesus we leave everything but lose nothing.
That is “the good news of God” that Jesus and his disciples proclaim with great joy throughout Galilee – and through us across our world today as well.
Parenthood as “always filled with joy, but sometimes not much fun.”
Probably even the disciples’ own father, Zebedee, could find joy in that.
In following Jesus, we give up everything but lose nothing as we heed that call, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
Lent
Rev'd Carol Hennessy
Through the spoken word may we hear the living word of Christ our Lord.
Lent, a season that calls us to repentance, in which we change our vestments to purple, a colour associated with mourning. It is a sombre season, and this may resonate with many of us today. It has been about a year since our worlds were completely changed. It has been a year of grieving mourning routines – a year of adjusting to new ways of gathering, whether by phoning a friend or talking to our families by Zoom. A year of limiting in-person gatherings to protect each other and the most vulnerable. A year of many changes, regardless of where you find yourself on this life journey.
And maybe this Lent, you decided to do some self-care or take on a specific spiritual practice. If you did, great! And if you did not, that is great too! With a pandemic raging and all the unprecedented events, it is important to be kind to ourselves. It is important to be present with all these changes and feelings.
Current news and the social unrest of this past year have probably left us with the same request as the Greeks in today’s gospel: ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’. Now, we do not know much about the Greeks in this story., Andrew and Philip did not know what to do, but Jesus made sure to respond.
Of course, right before this passage, many people had witnessed Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb, so they wanted to meet and listen to this man. Lazarus was drawing crowds, and this understandably caused much concern among many, including the religious authorities.
Similarly, this pandemic has highlighted our desire to ‘see’ or experience Jesus. We have come face-to-face with the ways in which our world continues to oppress, but it has also lifted new movements to create opportunities to correct what has been wrong for so long, maybe we needed to slow down and give more time to people. Our Old Testament lesson reminds us that the Lord will forgive Israel. A radically new future is presented. Maybe this is a time of God forgiving our communal sins and making way for a radically new future. For perhaps trying to ignore the realities or experiences of those whom we label as outsiders. Allowing this sin to separate us from God and others.
This pandemic has allowed us to see what privilege looks like and whom it benefits. And this has left us wondering what it looks like to serve the Father. Jesus says that those who serve must also follow. Today, we are serving the Father by loving our neighbours, by listening to those voices telling us that they are not doing well. We are following Jesus by protecting our neighbours.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus heard the voice. Some thought it was thunder and others an angel, but they all heard something. And like the crowd, we may sometimes confuse the voice, or even deny it. But Jesus reminds us that this voice is for our benefit. That we must pay close attention to what God is doing and saying.
This year has been one of much listening. We have heard the voices of so many, whether listening to NPHET or the government. We have heard the stories of families in need. We have heard the voices of anger, despair, and rage. We have heard the voices of the marginalized, the once forgotten.
What if we found God in these voices, too? Today, we can decide to be intentional about listening to these voices. We educate and inform ourselves in what matters to those who do not look or think like we do. We make space to welcome them into our lives, our communities, our Churches, and our families. We welcome them in authentic ways that leave nothing to the imagination – because our actions make clear statements that we embrace all.
As we come to the end of this Lenten season, can we stop and wonder where we have heard that voice? From whom the voice came? Or even with whom have we shared this voice?
In answering and understanding these, we will also find love. We find forgiveness. We find that even amid chaos, there is love. Even in our struggle, we will find love. We hear God saying that we are enough – that listening to God’s voice is transformative and healing.
Yes, it has felt like an extremely long season of Lent, but Easter is coming. We believe in a God who gives life. We believe that joy comes in the morning.
Perhaps we have been feeling like this unrest will never end. Although we are slowly coming to a new normal, we know that nothing will entirely go back to what it used to be – nor should it. Be reminded that the same Jesus who cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ will do the same with us even when we do not see it. Even now, God is calling us with a loud voice, saying, ‘Come out!’.
Bishop Michael Curry reminds us in his latest book, Love is the way, ‘The journey is always a struggle, but the movement is always forward’. There will be days when we will not get all the work done, days when we will not know which voice to listen to – but God will remain with us. We must take our time when listening to the voices around us and decide where we can find God in them. We must decide to love because we know that hate is too much to carry. We must continue to say ‘We wish to see Jesus’.
Be reminded that we are not alone. Remember that God delights in our particularities and that God sees our struggles. God recognises all of who we are and all of what we experience. We have the example in Jesus, who also offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save. Jesus is the example for us to follow. So, offer up your prayers, your loud cries, and tears, knowing that God hears them, knowing that we belong to a God whose compassion blots out our offenses. We serve and follow a God who sees our transgressions and loves us the same.
May the God who saw your tears yesterday and heard your silent prayers today provide and care for you in ways that cannot yet be described. May the voice sustain you, may love guide every part of your life, and may the loving and liberating Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ give you peace. Amen.
Rev'd Philip Heak
What impressive buildings have you visited? Perhaps Dublin Castle, Christchurch cathedral, St Patrick’s cathedral – or further afield, the Sagriada de famillia or the World trade Centre,
For me it was Egyptian temples especially, Luxor and Isis.
The setting of our Gospel reading today is at the temple in Jerusalem.
You can see here a magnificent model of the temple and Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.
As you can see it was a massive structure.
Normally a city of 100 to 200 thousand people, three times a year on the pilgrim festivals of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, Jerusalem’s population swelled to 1 million souls.
On these occasions this small ancient city had to cope not only with the throng of people but also their sacrificial animals and offerings, necessitating temporary increases in food supplies, accommodation, ritual bathing facilities, and all aspects of commerce.
The temple was not some sort of quiet cathedral. It was a place of meeting and hustle and bustle.
On their arrival pilgrims could hear the sounds of the Levites who sang and played musical instruments at the entrance.
The pilgrims would circle around the Temple seven times and then watch the various rituals, sit under the columned porticos that surrounded the plaza and listen or talk to the rabbis.
The Temple area was divided into various areas for study, sacrifices, libation etc. and further divided according to a social hierarchy for gentiles, women, Israelites, Levites and Priests.
It is into this magnificent, inspiring building that we find Jesus in the scene of our reading today.
In John’s Gospel, at the start of his ministry, Jesus enters the temple courts and in a memorable act of drama, he drives out the moneychangers and animals.
The cleansing of the temple sets the scene for much of Jesus’ ministry. Someone who stands against exploitation. It sets him up immediately against the religious establishment, that would eventually lead to his arrest and charge of blasphemy and execution.
It’s fairly straightforward to see the connection between Jesus’ actions and as to why the religious authorities would want him safely put out of the way.
That is one interpretation, and to be fair it makes sense. However, as always with Jesus there is a lot more to his actions, than what we can take at face value. Lets look at the context.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus first sign which precedes the cleansing of the temple is the turning of water into wine – This was more than a party trick. Jesus had the old and empty water purification jars filled with water.
The transformation into wine, was a sign that Jesus was initiating something new and radical.
After the cleansing of the temple, Jesus has the visit from Nicodemus and he tells Nicodemus that nothing short of being born from above, will enable someone to enter the Kingdom of God.
Empty jars are filled, People are given new birth, the temple is cleared. There has got to be a connection.
John 2.24 is almost a throwaway line but very important to help us understand what is happening “Jesus knew what was in men.”
In other words, Jesus knew what was in the heart of men.
Jesus knew what was in all men.
What is the Heart of people?
“Heart” does not mean the emotions (though it includes our emotions). It refers to our inner orientation, the core of our being. This kind of “heart” is what Jesus was referring to when he told us to store up treasures in heaven instead of on earth, “for where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Matthew 6:21) This is the “heart” Jesus was worried about when he said “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.” (Matthew 15:19)
This is the ancient meaning of “heart” in biblical usage, but we actually retain traces of this meaning in contemporary English. When we say to someone “my heart goes out to you,” we mean something more than a feeling of concern. If said sincerely, it communicates a sense of solidarity with someone. It means more than “I understand” (our intellect). It means more than “I sympathize” (our feelings). It means something like, “I stand with you in this.” It is an expression of a fundamental choice.
The cleansing of the temple by Jesus, takes a whole new perspective, when we think of it as being to do with the heart of people.
Lets look at the story of the cleansing of the temple from a HEART perspective.
1: Temple complex
At the heart of the temple is the tabernacle, the holiest of holies. God is at the heart of the temple…. At the time of Jesus, the temple was at the heart of Judaism. It was the only place where sacrifice could be offered. It was a magnificent symbol of God who had chosen to be with his people.
At the centre of the Temple was the holy of holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple where the ark of the Law was kept. It was the holiest place in Judaism. Only the High Priest was allowed to enter this inner sanctum, and then only once a year, on the Day of Atonement.
So strict was the law governing entry to the holy of holies that the High Priest had to wear a belt around his waist so that in case of his unexpected death he could be pulled out without anyone else entering.
2: What lies outside the Holy of Holies?
Walls – to keep people out, they could see the tabernacle, but they could not enter. They could only circle outside. And within the outer courts was where you would find the Money changers, merchants, exploitation… In other words outside of the Holy of Holies is what Jesus drives away.
3: Lets take this further.
Imagine that the temple is your heart. At the centre of your heart is a space for God. This is the heart where Jesus tells us to store up our treasures.
However, outside of that, there are numerous barriers, set up that prevent us from reaching that central God place.
We can guess what those barriers are?
Fear, guilt, self-doubt, hurtful experiences, lack of healing, anger, jealousy, wrong thoughts, wrong actions.
All of those and more, build up barriers that stop us connecting with the space in our hearts that God has reserved for himself.
The problem is that in the hustle and bustle of life, we very seldom have a chance to identify those barriers that are set up around our hearts. That’s why it is so important to take a little bit of space each day for yourself, a little bit of space for Godly pursuits.
It is into this heart space, into this temple that – Jesus enters. Empty water jars are filled, we are born again from above. Jesus drives away the barriers and we are left with a new indestructible temple. The temple of Christ’s body.
When Jesus, cleanses the temple, it points towards him cleansing our hearts. This is no Jesus meek and mild, he does not simply say “Please leave” He binds a whip of chords and drives the impure out.
No longer are people to be separated from the heart of God, by temple walls, barriers and ineffectual sacrifice.
Christ himself becomes an indefilable everlasting temple, through whom we reach the heart of God.
It takes the power of God to do that.
So, how is your heart today.
Remember that at the centre of your heart is a space for God. A temple of the Holy Spirit.
If you are like me, you will have many barriers to opening up that space that we may store our treasures in Heaven. The only way for those barriers to be broken down, is through the power of God and the eternal temple of Jesus Christ, the only one who truly know what is in the heart of people.
“After he was raised from the dead, the disciples realised what he had meant.”
Jesus knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
Rev'd Carol Hennessy
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer.
A businessman boasted to his local Rector, ‘I would like you to know I am entirely self-made man, Rector’. ‘I am glad to hear you say that replied, the Rector. ‘It absolves God of a load of responsibility’. You know, we do concentrate an awful lot on that four-letter word ‘self’. We all know people that have a smart phone that can take ‘selfies’ which many young people engage in with their friends. Of course, it is good to be self-controlled, self-possessed, and self-reliant. One of the most popular books in the nineteenth century was Self-help, by Samuel Smiles, recommending working class people to labour at self-education, so that they could climb up the economic and social ladder.
People are now well educated and have social skills but we also need to be self-confident, self-assured, with self-esteem and a good image, with a proper sense of self-worth – though that is a gift that other people must give to us when they praise us for our selflessness. Self-confidence helps shy people not to be self-conscious. But we need not to be self-absorbed, self-assertive, self-centred, self-congratulatory, self-indulgent, self-opinionated, self-pitying, self-righteous, self-satisfied, or self-seeking!
So, we can see, when Jesus tells us that anyone who wants to follow him must deny themselves, there are a few things about ourselves we must affirm – our self-confidence is good if it comes from a certainty that God loves and enables us – but there is an awful lot, too, that we need to deny. We must deny that concentration on self which thinks that we are the most important person in the world and forget the needs of others. Deep down within our being is a longing to be accepted for the people we are, and nothing gives us greater pleasure than to hear it said that we are popular, well thought of, highly regarded and good company. Sometimes we wonder what friends are really thinking of us. Are we sending out the wrong signals? There is the temptation to behave in a manner that makes us more acceptable in the eyes of others. The great news of the Bible is that God accepts us as we are, with all our faults and failings and we do not have to pretend.
On the road to Caesarea Philippi Jesus puts the question to his disciples: ‘Who do people say I am?’ They come up with various suggestions ranging from John the Baptist, Elijah, to one of the prophets. On posing the question for a second time Peter, who shared Jesus’ life intimately, spoke up and said, ‘You are the Christ’. Peter may have got the answer correct but he had no idea of the humiliation involved in being the Messiah. When Christ went on to state that he would have to suffer and be rejected, Peter would have none of it. This ran contrary to his expectation of the Messiah as a spectacular figure wielding military might, who would be strong and victorious and crush Israel’s enemies. His reaction was to try and talk Jesus out of journeying to Jerusalem.
The sharpness of Christ’s rebuke must have taken Peter by surprise. It was like a door being slammed in his face. Jesus did not want Peter’s clouded understanding to lead the other disciples astray. His mission on earth was to restore a broken world and that meant journeying on the rough road to Calvary. Nothing would prevent him from following God’s way of doing things. God’s plan for the salvation of the world would only be reached through the suffering and the death of Jesus on the cross. To suggest otherwise was to forsake his ways.
Peter strikes a chord within our hearts because we do not want to get all that close to suffering and we tend to avoid pain at all cost. We are inclined to run away from the harsh realities of life, to escape into a dream world, to opt for the comfortable and avoid getting caught up in difficult situate ions. However much as we try, we cannot keep running through life pretending that troubles are not really there. Eventually suffering catches with us and there is nothing for it but to face the trouble we never imagined would come our way. The pain may be the loss of a family member or the mental anguish that stems from a broken relationship. In our distress we voice the inevitable reactions. Why me? It is so unfair. What have I done to deserve this? We all have tried to live a good life.
Human suffering remains an enigma. No situation in life is more certain to focus our minds than the presence of suffering. Down the ages, thinking minds have agonised over the problem, but to no avail. We are all baffled because there has been no world created and loved by God. The only explanation that makes sense comes from looking at the image of the dying Christ on the cross and knowing that he was victorious over death. His cross is a reminder of his willingness to share the pain and grief that afflicts us and it teaches us that, out of the most terrible situations, God can draw goodness and new life. In our darkest moments, it is important to follow in the footsteps of Christ who gave meaning to suffering by filling it with His presence. No situation, no matter how bleak, is beyond hope for the followers of Christ who by His suffering, death and resurrection made all things new. What is important is our attitude towards pain as it can make or break us. Borne with faith, the trials that life brings can become a blessing and help us to see ourselves more clearly. Sorrow and suffering can fashion us into people who are more compassionate and understanding that we had ever dreamt possible. Perhaps it is best summed up by the beautiful words penned in prison by Oscar Wilde: ‘Where sorrow is, there is holy ground. How else but through a broken heart may the Lord Christ enter in?’ We must accept that God’s way of doing things runs contrary to our expectations. Our Lord’s teaching is for real life and real life can be extremely difficult. Amen.
Rev'd Carol Hennessy
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
This Valentine’s day people will probably have either sent or received a Valentine from someone as it is the day when people show their affection to another by sending cards, flowers, and other messages of love. But have you ever wondered the meaning behind those cards and gifts? There is a true-life story full of love, sacrifice and commitment.
The holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th Century, Pope Gelasius 1 replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day. It came to be celebrated as a day of romance from about the 14th century.
Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 by the Emperor Claudius. According to legend, the priest signed a letter ‘from your Valentine’ to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness. Other accounts hold that it was St. Valentine of Terni, a bishop, for whom the holiday was named, though it is possible the two saints were actually one person. Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.
Claudius believed that recruitment for the army was down because Roman men did not want to leave their lovers or families behind, so he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Thousands of couples saw their hopes of matrimony dashed by the single act of a tyrant, and no one seemed interested in standing up to the emperor. But a simple Christian priest named Valentine did come forward and stood up for love. He began to secretly marry soldiers before they went off to war, despite the emperor’s orders. In 269 Emperor Claudius found out about the secret ceremonies. He had Valentine thrown into prison and deemed that he would be put to death.
As Valentine was awaiting execution, he fell in love with a blind girl who happened to be the jailer’s daughter. On the eve of his execution, with no writing instruments available, Valentine is said to have written her a sonnet in ink that he squeezed from violets. Legend has it that his words made the blind woman see again. It was a brief romance because the next day Valentine was clubbed to death by Roman executioners.
St. Valentine gave his life so that young couples could be bonded together in holy matrimony. They may have killed the man, but not his spirit. Even centuries after his death, the story of Valentine’s self-sacrificing commitment to love was legendary in Rome. Eventually, he was granted sainthood and they picked February 14 as the day of celebration because of the ancient belief that birds, owls and doves began to mate on that very day.
Formal messages, or valentines, appeared in the 1500, and by the late 1700s commercially printed cards were being used. The first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s. Valentine commonly depict Cupid, the Roman god of love, along with hearts, traditionally the seat of emotion. Because it was thought that the avian mating season begins in mid-February, birds also became a symbol of the day. Traditional gifts including flowers, particularly red roses, a symbol of beauty and love. While giving a gift and card, having a candlelight dinner, and sharing special words of love are all important, the true spirit of Valentine’s Day needs to last throughout the year.
And so, we pray:
Loving Father, we pray for an open heart and mind so
That we may recognise and be grateful for all the love in our lives
We pray that we might find a new sense of wholeness, joy and peace in your love
So that we may grow in love thought-out our lives
Give us grace to trust in your loving plan for us
So that whatever our circumstances over the course of life
We may know that we are not alone, and we are loved by you, our loving Father, who is full of tenderness, mercy, and compassion.
AMEN.
Rev'd Philip Heak
Did you ever wonder why the saying “Home Sweet Home” isn’t “House Sweet House” ? I think the answer is quite obvious. The word “home” has a much deeper meaning that is far more intangible.
Like many of you at times I wonder at the fabulous spaces that I see of houses in glossy magazines, and houses redesigned on TV.
One thing strikes me quite often whenever I swoon over fabulous designer spaces. Yes, they’re gorgeous. Yes, they’re mesmerizing. Yes, they make me long for a cleaner, more pulled together design in my own home.
Yet one thing is absent from all of those images, regardless of how perfect they are on the pages of a glossy magazine. Those images, those spaces, and those houses are just not home. A house is just four walls and a roof, but a home is made up of everything else inside.
A house may be decorated from floor to ceiling with the finest furnishings money can buy. But that will never ever make it a home. A home is a sanctuary. Home is comfort. Home is inviting. Home is a refuge from the world. When we don’t have that – life is almost unbearable.
Let me tell you a tale of two houses. These are the best of houses, these are the worst of houses. See if you can tell me which is a home.
One of those houses is straight off the cover of one of those glossy house magazines.
Its floors gleam with fresh wax; its walls are bright with unspotted hues; its drapes, its paint, its furnishings are all color-coordinated, with not one clashing item.
Tasteful accents are here and there, the windows are specially treated with an electron layer that repels dust and haze both inside and out. The lighting is on sensors, so that as the day darkens, selected lights come up, slowly and gradually, keeping a soft glow in the room no matter what is happening outside.
In fact, it little matters what happens outside, for the room is controlled, sealed off.
Across a carpet, on which, mysteriously, no footprints appear, stands a group of people. Their clothing coordinates with the decor of the room.
They are elegantly accessorized, their teeth line up in perfect smiles, and their hair is styled and shaped.
They are speaking with one another, but very carefully. Very cautiously. Cool; calm; and collected. They remind you of the answer to the old question, “How do porcupines hug each other?” “Very carefully.” That’s one house.
The other house is straight off the cover of Antiques Road Show. Its floors, so far as we can see them, could use attention, particularly where the dog’s toenails have scratched. Its walls have on them some small grimy hand-prints, about so high, and its furnishings are a mixed bag of early orange 60s 70s and a bit of the early 80s.
Its drapes sag a little, its paint is cracked here and there, and where the magazines have been piling up, there is a coffee cup, half empty, and a pizza box, half full.
It’s a little dark, as one of the light bulbs is burned out, and the other is hidden by someone’s sweater, pitched over the lamp in a hurry to go answer the phone.
On the other side of this room I see some people talking. It seems very animated. It’s loud; in fact, it’s an argument. They are raising their voices and waving their hands.
One of them has her hands on her hips and is giving it the old foot-stomping effect. And another is shaking his head as vigorously as his old neck will allow.
Sort of tense over there. Heated. Stressful!
Which of these houses is a home? Truly a home? Perhaps neither. I will not ask you which yours is like. I know which one mine is like;
For I know where home is.
Home is where the stresses are brought and are dealt with. Home is not a museum-like perfection; home is where the issues of life get fought out, but they can be resolved, because home is where somebody loves you.
Home is where somebody puts up with you. A house is just a shell, a showplace, a facade; a home, as the poet Robert Frost said, is where, when you go there, they have to take you in. A house is not a home.
God wants to give us a home. God wants to give us what we need to make our houses homes. He want to give us the sweetest of homes.
That’s what God did when He chose to come in Jesus Christ and make His home among us. A house is not a home; God wants more for us than a house. God wants to give us a home.
The Ikea catalogue has a message on the front: “Designed for people, not consumers.” In the photograph, some young people are having a fun, unfussy dinner at a crowded table. There are dishes piled on a cart and a guitar is leaning against the wall.
The Ikea catalogue sits on top of a pile of catalogues with photographs of sterile rooms and furniture that has never been touched. The messier way of life, Ikea suggests, is not just less expensive. It is more human.
God’s agenda is people, making a home for Himself among people. God’s business is making a home in the messiness of our lives.
God’s agenda is lifting up the fallen, binding up the brokenhearted, healing the wounded, forgiving flawed. God will not be impressed with outside appearance; but He will bless us if in the rough and tumble of our lives, we find a need and fill it.
We find a weary heart and comfort it.
We find a hopeless mind and fill it with imagination. We find a lonely life and fill it with love. We find a wandering soul and bring it home. God is always about: building lives. Making homes, not just houses; making people, not monuments.
For, so says John the evangelist, there was a day when God came to His own home, but His own people would not receive Him. There was a day when He came to live where He belonged, but those to whom He came turned Him away. They were too perfect, too Styling living magazine
But to those who trusted Him, to those who knew their houses were not in order, to those who received Him, to them He gave power to become His own.
Men and women, hear all the mystery and all the wonder of eternity in this one majestic sentence:
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Rev'd Philip Heak
A little girl asked her mother, “How did the human race appear?”
The mother answered, “God made Adam and Eve and they had children, and so was all mankind made …”
Two days later the girl asked her father the same question.
The father answered, “Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.”
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, “Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?”
The mother answered, “Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his!”
- Ask congregation for qualities that make a good mother. Record responses on flipchart.
- Ask mothers in the congregation how they feel they measure up to these qualities?
- How would they describe themselves as mothers?
The notion of what leads to success and happiness in our world seems to have a lot to do with looks, wealth and having a successful career. But these are not the qualities that God looks for in us. God is far more concerned about the qualities that are mentioned here on the board, the qualities that make a good mother.
I’m sure most mothers would admit being a mother isn’t easy.
Long hours, little time to themselves, responding to the various demands of the family, it’s hard. Nor is it the most glamorous job in the world, but it is without doubt one of the most important jobs anyone can do, because mothers provide love, attention and care to their family.
SHOW VIDEO – American but good
In the video we’ve just seen, the perspective that the mothers had of themselves was very different to the way their children perceived them.
I think this often happens with the way we view God, our perspective gets distorted. We are so used to using male language and imagery to describe God, but forget that the Bible often describes God as being like a loving, caring mother who nurtures and protects her children.
If we look at all those qualities we mentioned about what makes a good mother, these are also the qualities that describe what God is like.
As truly God is our Father, so truly God is our Mother
Julian of Norich
And just as God is both father and mother to us all, we too, regardless of whether we are male or female, married or single, have children or not, are called to be like God, like a loving mother or father, being there for people, caring for them, and giving of ourselves without asking for anything in return.
And just as a good parent never stops loving their children, so God never stops loving us.
That is why Paul prayed may you “understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep God’s love really is.” (Ephesians 3:18)
Or as the children’s song goes, God’s love is very wonderful, so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t get under it, so wide you can’t get around it, oh wonderful love!
So whether you are a mother, or not, forget the world’s misleading notion of success and happiness, and instead think about the values that matter to God.
Easter
Rev'd Philip Heak
Once there was a church that had the phrase ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’ on a sign above its iron gate.
The church and its message intrigued a young man, so he decided to go there on Sunday. He was not welcomed. No one spoke to him, or smiled, or offered him a handshake. After the service he left in a puzzled state.
As a parish, we like to think, or at least hope, that we are welcoming. That may well be true, but my experience of the pandemic, that churches seem to have been largely irrelevant to the news / media / politicians and world at large, makes me wonder.
Has it ever occurred to you that Sunday morning can be the most exclusive, segregated, and separate time of the week?
Many of our churches do not look anything like the communities that we live in, the supermarkets we shop in, or the places we go …
All week long we encounter people who are not like us, but often on Sunday we attend a church that consists mostly of people like ourselves.
Now to be honest, we don’t often do a great job of loving people like ourselves, so how are we to apply it to the majority of people who have no interest in church?
There are exceptions, of course.
But a lot of times, the love that our churches offer is a far cry from our reading, John 14:
15 ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments
We know what Jesus commanded was, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
This is not a phrase easily dismissed.
Jesus’ entire ministry, including his passion and resurrection, hangs on this phrase, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’.
Jesus loved people in a radical way.
Today he would be – and often is – in the supermarket talking with the people on the tills, the stockers, and the customers finding their way through a bewildering array of products.
He is there because that is where all the community goes to buy food. He is there because that may be where a lonely newcomer to town gets a smile at the till, or even a query, “Have you been here for long? Welcome.”
But what about church? What about that Sunday morning experience that is often the place where we see only familiar faces, only people like us, only people we know?
Is Jesus there? Of course he is, but he is there to welcome the stranger – whoever walks in that door timidly and tentatively looking for new community.
Are we ready for that? Do we seek those persons? Would they be welcomed, truly welcomed here?
We’ll find out I guess when our churches re-open next week. There is a huge challenge for all of us as members of the church to love and allow ourselves to be loved and show people that they have value. Whoever walks though the door of our churches will be welcome and loved. Now that’s a challenge.
Not long ago the young man who had visited the church and was made to feel like an outsider was back in the town and walked by the church he had visited on that Sunday. It had been many years.
The sign “If you love me you will keep my commandments” still stood above the iron gate. Then he saw that the church doors were boarded over, as were many of the windows.
The church was obviously closed and looked as though it had been for some time.
There was a for sale sign there as well, In the small print it read, “development opportunity!”
He walked on, wondering what had happened.
We can draw our own conclusions, but if that church had lovingly welcomed him and others instead of being closed to what God was sending them on frequent occasions, the end of their story might have been very different indeed.
Perhaps we could say this prayer
Welcome to our church family,
I’m glad that you could come
I’m honoured to share this day with you
As we worship God’s risen Son
I hope that God has touched your life
As we worshipped side by side
And that you left this place today
With the peace of God inside.
Rev'd Philip Heak
Robert Redford was asked once “Are you the real Robert Redford?”
Well, today in our Acts reading we heard a real story that is about seeing and believing.
The Acts reading today, Philip and the Ethiopian is all about encountering the reality of the Good news of Jesus.
There are a number of questions that I want to touch on today.
- Who is Philip?
- Who is the eunuch?
- Who do we see?
- What do we see?
First though, lets recap the story.
Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he encountered the Ethiopian eunuch, the treasurer of the Queen of the Ethiopians The eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home.
Sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah, he was reading Isaiah 53:7-8. Philip asked the Ethiopian, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He said he did not and asked Philip to explain the text to him. Philip told him the Gospel of Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. They went down into a water source, Philip baptized him.
So lets do the who’s who.
Who is Philip first of all?
There are two Philips in the Bible. Philip the Apostle, a disciple of Jesus and Philip the evangelist.
It’s Philip the evangelist that we are dealing with today.
PHILIP, “the evangelist”, is first mentioned in the Acts (vi. 5) as one of “the seven” who were chosen to attend to the administration of charity to the poor widows. . After the martyrdom of Stephen he went to “the city of Samaria,” where he preached with much success eventually reaching Caesarea.
Here some years afterwards, according to Acts 11 he is described as “the evangelistand he entertained Paul and his companion on their way to Jerusalem; at that time “he had four daughters which did prophesy.”
Looking at the Who, Philip the evangelist is obviously someone who had a gift for the spreading of the Gospel. He was someone who open to the promptings of the spirit and he felt the gospel was for everyone.
Who is the Ethiopian eunuch?
Ethiopia in Bible times is more akin to Sudan, not modern day Ethiopia. He was possibly Nubian, a people who still live to this day in Egypt. They are very distinctive with black skin and deep blue eyes,
The Ethiopian Eunuch, who is unnamed is a Royal Official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians.
Candace is not the name of the Queen but actually a dynastic title title. ”“Candace, queen of the Ethiopians” is a, like Pharaoh king of Egypt or Jabin
So we can say Ethiopian Eunuch was likely an official in Kandake/Candace Amanitore’s court, and was from the Nubian kingdom of Meroe, located in modern-day Sudan.
Today, a series of pyramids in Sudan mark the remains of the kingdom of Meroe.
Who is he. Well, he had been to Jerusalem. Probably what people called a God fearer. He was most likely not Jewish, but would have believed in one God. The passage he is reading is Isaiah Isaiah 53: A passage that speaks of the suffering servant.
Perhaps he identified with that passage because he himself would have been often an outsider.
As non-Jewish, he was only allowed in parts of the temple and he would have been restricted in what he could do, More than that as a Eunuch, he was part of a minority and black and foreign. Probably seen as a curiosity by most people. Here was a man, who despite his position, would have no offspring, no wife or intimate contact. And in many ways he was excluded from society.
Who do we see in the story:
We see the picture of a convert.
If we look closely at the passage, we can see that the Ethiopian had already some knowledge of Christianity. He knows that baptism is important. He has been on a journey.
He’s been to Jerusalem and now he is going home. He is still searching and that is why he is reading Isiah. Perhaps he had bought the scroll of Isaiah whilst in Jerusalem He is trying to understand.
God then sends him a messenger in Philip. There’s no doubt in the passage that God sends Philip to speak to the man.
Philip asks him what he is reading and then gently explains his questions. The Ethiopian then responds.
If you remember the person who asked Robert Redford are you the real Robert Redford. Well, the Ethiopian sees the real truth of the Gospel.
He then sees water and asks to be baptised. He is baptised and goes his way with great joy.
What do we also see?
We see God in control: God knew that the Ethiopian was searching and he sent Philip to show him the truth.
We see a God who is welcome to everyone: the eunuch was an outsider in every sense. Black, foreign, and a member of a sexual minority but Philip is sent to specifically seek him out.
It’s a simple story, but so many different layers of truth. Robert Redford was asked, “Are you the real Robert Redford.” Well this is a story of someone encountering the real Gospel.
A Christian in the first century met a man from Sudan on the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza. His name was Philip and he told the Ethiopian Eunuch “the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). That man responded in faith saying, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:37).
May we also respond likewise.
Rev'd Philip Heak
Prayers & Reflections at each of our Parish Union’s places of worship.
St David’s
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he has given us a new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
St John’s
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has given us new life and hope.
He has raised Jesus from the dead
God has claimed us as his own.
He has brought us out of darkness.
He has made us light to the world.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
St Columcille’s
Here are words you may trust.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead:
he is our salvation, our eternal glory.
If we die with him, we shall live with him;
if we endure, we shall reign with him.
If we deny him, he will deny us;
if we are faithless, he keeps faith.
For he has broken the power of death
and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel.
St David’s
Welcome this Easter Sunday. It’s difficult to conceive that this is the second Easter that our churches have been closed for public worship, but I know that you are with us in Spirit. The message of Easter is one of victory and hope. Surely we stand today in a position of hope, as we win this fight against the Coronavirus. As St. Paul says, “We being many are one body, for we all share in the one bread.”
Maudlins
Christ our passover lamb has been sacrificed for us.
Let us therefore rejoice by putting away all malice and evil
and confessing our sins with a sincere and true heart.
When our faith
stands at the grave,
grieving for a stone that’s rolled away,
forgive us.
When our faith is short of
understanding
though the truth is there to see,
forgive us.
When our faith, beset by doubt, sees
no further than an empty tomb today,
forgive us.
Bring to mind the cry of Mary,
‘I have seen the Lord!’
and grant us faith to believe!
May the God of love and power
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by his Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.
St David’s
COLLECT
Almighty God,
through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
you have overcome death
and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
Grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Maudlins
Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep
God, give us eyes to see
the beauty of the Spring,
And to behold Your majesty
in every living thing –
And may we see in lacy leaves
and every budding flower
The Hand that rules the universe
with gentleness and power –
And may this Easter grandeur
that Spring lavishly imparts
Awaken faded flowers of faith
lying dormant in our hearts,
And give us ears to hear, dear God,
the Springtime song of birds
With messages more meaningful
than man’s often empty words
Telling harried human beings
who are lost in dark despair –
‘Be like us and do not worry
for God has you in His care.
St John’s
“This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another” (John 13:35)
Dear Lord, Jesus brought healing during his ministry on earth.
He healed the sick and brought the dead to life.
By his own death and resurrection he brings the promise,
hope and means of healing to us all.
Now we need his healing more than ever.
We need not only the healing from physical illness
brought on by the COVID-19 virus but healing for
human hearts, communities and world society.
Open our hearts that we may not turn in
on ourselves and our own needs.
Let unity, compassion and care mark us all.
Inspire us to serve the poor and abandoned.
May we use our skills in service of others.
May more fortunate countries come to the aid
of those less prosperous.
May we be concerned less about public image
but more about doing the right thing.
St Columcille’s
“He is not here, he is risen.”
When everything was dark
and it seemed that the sun would never shine again,
your love broke through.
Your love was too strong,
too wide,
too deep
for death to hold.
The sparks cast by your love
dance and spread
and burst forth
with resurrection light.
Gracious God,
We praise you for the light of new life
made possible through Jesus.
We praise you for the light of new life
that shone on the first witnesses of resurrection.
We praise you for the light of new life
that continues to shine in our hearts today.
We pray that the Easter light of life, hope and joy,
will live in us each day;
and that we will be bearers of that light
into the lives of others.
Amen.
St David’s
“The risen Christ came among his disciples and said, Peace be with you.”
As the world sings triumphant cries to heaven over death that you conquered, help us, Lord, tomorrow as well, when the dresses are put away and the candy is all eaten and on with life we go let us not forget.
The celebration of your resurrection over death is a celebration of life that should continue well beyond today; it is beyond the sign of spring, beyond the lily, beyond new lambs grazing in open fields.
Resurrection is a daily celebration over fear; Fear of tomorrow, fear of our yesterdays, fear of what shall become of our young our old our unborn. Resurrection is replacing fear with physical action.
This alone, the most touching and profound of your signs that fear is dead and belief in you brings, not just hope but life.
What better living parable could You have brought? All fear death. All. Even in the garden, You took on our fear if for only moments, it was as real as our fears can be real and You knew then that this single enemy must be destroyed.
And, You sacrificed your life, leaving those who had been comfort, and follower; You left them behind, to conquer fear.
I shall cling to this now, and the tomorrows given me.
Peace and thanksgiving lifted unto you.
Amen.
Christ by whose love Christ was raised from the dead,
open to you who believe the gates of everlasting life.
Amen.
God the Son,
who in bursting the grave has won a glorious victory,
give you joy as you share the Easter faith.
Amen.
God the Holy Spirit,
whom the risen Lord breathed into his disciples,
empower you and fill you with Christ’s peace.
Amen.
Exploring Servanthood
Trinity 20 (B)
Rev’d Philip Heak
What is it to be a servant of God
I’m so glad we have the record of the Disciples in the Gospel. They always make me a little bit more at ease with the shortcomings of my own Christian life.
This morning we heard of James and John putting their foot in it. Jesus had just been blessing the children saying that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
- He had told the rich young ruler that to love he had to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor.
- He had plainly told the disciples that they were going to Jerusalem where the Son of man would be betrayed, mocked, flogged, killed and in three days rise again.
All quite wonderful happenings but, to the disciples, it does seem that Jesus may as well have been talking to a brick wall.
So we have James and John asking Jesus if they can sit at his right and left hand. The disciples’ impudence and lack of understanding is beyond belief.
How could two people who are so close to Jesus miss the boat so completely? Did they forget the encounter with the rich man that occurred just before their request? Or the encounter with the little children?
And have they not heard Jesus’ own prediction of what was soon to happen to him? In light of all of this, their request is truly astounding.
So incredulous was this request that St. Matthew, writing a few years later than Mark, said it was James and John’s mother who makes the request – not the disciples themselves.
Jesus’ loving response is to take the opportunity to contrast earthly greatness with divine greatness. Earthly greatness is defined as having power over, whereas divine greatness is defined as being servant to.
Eighteenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker, said
“God has three sorts of servants in the world: some are slaves, and serve Him from fear; others are hirelings, and serve for wages; and the last are sons [and daughters], who serve because they love.”
A slave is someone who has no will of their own.
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