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Religious or Christian?
Sermon preached by David Parsons in the Mission Church
21 Jan 2007
The readings were:
I Corinthians 12.12-end Luke 4
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
On a fresh bright morning with birdsong from the trees, the first crocus, far too early, in the front garden, and the feeling that Spring is just waiting to push open the door and come dancing in, we may well feel that life is good and we are blessed.
Later in the day we may hear news of the burning of cars in Street, we may see a bearded man on a home-made video urging that law courts are legitimate targets for bombing, we may watch a government minister defending the indefensible on Question Time, we may listen to yet another discussion of global warming, and we may feel that the world is rushing helter-skelter to damnation.
If only the lovely power that we see in nature could work in the world of human beings! If only the good force that brings dead-looking winter trees into light green bud could influence our mixed-up society!
An American called Agnes Sanford once visited a young man in hospital. He had a wretchedly broken leg, with, apparently, a gap between the good bits of bone that was too wide for the leg to mend. He was very low, with no faith in anything. Agnes asked him to imagine the forces of nature - he loved the open air and the countryside - to imagine those force of nature that he knew well, coming to act on his shattered leg. According to Agnes Sanford - and I have only her word for it - the bones knitted and the leg healed.
Something was happening there that brought together the power at work in nature, and the mind of a young man; and the result was amazing.
Put that in slightly different terms: if the power of the God who created everything comes into the world of human beings, the result will be amazing.
Once I used the word 'God' I fear you may have stopped being amazed, and thought 'Yeah, yeah, we know all that.' That's why I began by not using the word. I wanted us to recover the amazement in the all too familiar words.
So let's try another experiment. Imagine one of the young dads in church being asked to read the lesson. He comes up to the lectern, reads a few verses about a person who is a key player in God's plan for the whole world, waits, and then says:
As a matter of fact, the person those Bible verses are talking about is me.
We'd say, "Come on, Kevin, you're a good bloke, but you can't go claiming something like that. We know you. You live in Orchard Road, and you went to Crispin. You don't want the men in white coats to come and take you away, do you? So just sit down quietly and we'll say no more about it."
You probably know what's coming next.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Let's put together the two points we've been thinking about so far, the power that is in nature coming into human affairs, and the local youth claiming that this power is coming in him and through him. And we have another way of looking at what was really happening when Jesus began preaching.
It's what happened when he was born, as Betjamen puts it:
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?
The power that's in nature comes into a human being.
We can pick out many occasions when this great truth was recognised. There's the story that St Matthew tells of mysterious Magi coming from far away and recognising it. There's the occasion when John the Baptist knew, at Jesus' baptism, that he was God's beloved Son. There's the first time that Jesus, with the creator's power in him, showed his authority over the laws of chemistry by turning water into wine.
These are revelations, epiphanies, of who Jesus was. That's why we call this time of year Epiphany.
And what was the revelation that the people in the Nazareth congregation had? That Jesus was taking on God's work, in a special way. And he was taking his cue from the highest point of Old Testament teaching.
Let's be honest. The Old Testament has some pretty grizzly bits in it. People who want to beat Bible-loving Christians over the head can point to God commanding his people to annihilate whole nations - ordering genocide, in fact. But there is a progression from some rather inaccurate ideas about God to some wonderful truths, so that the picture that God reveals of himself becames clearer and clearer. It's what the experts call 'progressive revelation.' And at the climax of this progress we find the later chapters of Isaiah.
Who is God? God's people began with their God being one among many. Then their God was the most powerful among many. Finally he was the only God.
What does God want of us? They began by believing that God demanded the right ritual, the right sacrifices; then they learned that he demanded justice, right conduct. Then that he demanded mercy and love rather than sacrifice. Then that he was the God who brings healing through suffering. (Contrast, by the way, the Koran, written by a single man.)
The last chapters of Isaiah contain the highest teaching both about the nature of God and about what he requires of us. It is all summed up in the figure of the Servant.
That's what Jesus picked up.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
Is this about founding a religion? I don't think so. This is about bringing the rule of God, the kingdom of God, to the poor, the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed. Religion in some circles has become a dirty word. Look at Northern Ireland, people say. Look at suicide bombers. And people equate 'religious' with 'Christian.' "You don't have to be religious or Christian to celebrate Christmas", they say. I think back to a book by Professor Hallesby which he called "Religious - or Christian?" - with a question mark. To him they were two different things. You could be a religious person, go to church, be confirmed and so on, without being a Christian. A Christian is someone who belongs to the Jesus Christ who came to preach good news to the poor, release the oppressed and so on.
Where do the Ulster bigots and the suicide bombers fit in? You could say that in some ways they have not got far in the progressive revelation of God. He is still a tribal god to them, as he was to the Israelites in the time of Eli, who took the ark, the symbol of God's presence, into battle with them. They have not progressed to the God who sends his servant
to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed.
And where are we? Are we stuck in religion - enjoying the familiarity of our Sunday morning service and our round of busy church activities - or are we Christian - people who belong to the Man who brings the power of the Creator to bear on the muddy world of human life, human society and politics?
It's so easy to slip back from the one to the other. Christians as part of their following of Christ will want to meet together, to pray together, to praise God together. He told us to break bread together in remembrace of him. But when the meeting, the singing, the praying, the building we meet in, become more important than Christ and the kingdom, then we have become religious rather than Christian. Then comes rivalry between Mission Church and Parish Church. Then comes inward looking, rather than looking out to the poor, the prisoners, the blind. Then can come tribalism, and even in the end hatred and the inquisition or the suicide bomber.
This morning we come to eat and drink with the Servant of God, the one who suffered to bring us life. How shall we come?
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Thursday 20th of November 2008
