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John 3:13-17

There’s a moment in Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest when Miss Prism, the governess, admits to having written a novel. Cecily expresses the hope that it does not have a happy ending, and Miss Prism says:

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”

In fact, as opposed to in fiction, the good often end unhappily. The world is full of innocent suffering – look no further than Gaza, where children are dying for lack of food, for evidence of that. And on Holy Cross Day we reflect on the supreme example of innocent suffering and of self-emptying love.

Today’s Epistle explores that idea of self-emptying love. 

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself…”

What Paul is saying is that Jesus chose to accept the limitations of human life, including our vulnerability to suffering and our mortality. The Cross is a reminder that even our most painful experiences, physical and emotional, need not separate us from the love of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way: 

“Through every event, however untoward, there is access to God.”

He was in a Gestapo prison when he wrote those words, and he was executed shortly afterwards.

Today’s Gospel explains why Jesus emptied himself. It offers the whole Christian message in a few verses. Jesus foretells his own death on the Cross:

“…so must the Son of Man be lifted up…”

And then speaks of God’s purposes:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

In that single sentence that Jesus utters the little word “so” – 

“…for God so loved the world...”

Words can have several meanings, and, over time, they shed some meanings and gain others. I have no doubt that the teenagers with whom I once worked as a teacher would understand the word “so” in this context as meaning “very much”.  They would say “That’s so unfair” or “That’s so the right thing to do”, and I once overheard, at a bus stop, one girl saying to another, “That’s so my bus.”  

To read this verse from St John’s Gospel as meaning “God loved the world so very much that he gave his only Son…” would not be a misunderstanding, for the Incarnation and the Passion of Christ are evidence of the extent of God’s love for humankind and on Holy Cross Day we are reminded of the extent of God’s love. 

But that isn’t what the word translated as “so” in today’s Gospel actually means. A more accurate translation would be “God loved the world in this way – he gave his only begotten Son…” Jesus is commenting on the nature of God’s love, and only indirectly on its extent. And what he is saying about the nature of God’s love is firstly that it is self-giving – it involves God coming into the world to redeem it and accepting the human condition in all its joys and sorrows. Secondly, he is telling us that God’s love is universal. The world, in the original Greek, is “kosmos” – not just Planet Earth but the whole of creation. “God so loved the cosmos…”, not “God so loved members of a particular race”, nor “God so loved the citizens of a particular nation state, nor even “God so loved followers of a particular faith”. Because it is universal, the love of God is also unconditional. 

But unconditional love requires a response, and the response may or may not be forthcoming. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

The second half of this verse is often used as an argument that salvation is only possible for Christian believers, for those who assent to the doctrines of the Church. 

That seems to me to be a dangerous narrowing of God’s purpose, as though God were saying “Respond to my love by agreeing with me on the fundamentals of Christian doctrine.” That’s a misunderstanding of the Greek word translated here as “believes”, for that word isn’t merely or even mainly about assenting to propositions. It’s more about trust and response and the kind of understanding that comes from experience. 

When we humans love, the response we hope for is not that another person will agree with us on all issues, but rather that someone else will love us. The purpose of God’s self-giving, self-emptying, universal and unconditional love is, surely, to evoke from human beings a love of exactly the same kind. To believe in Jesus is to respond to him with that kind of self-giving, self-emptying, universal and unconditional love. And that leaves open the possibility that those who have never heard the Christian Gospel, and those who have found aspects of Christian theology baffling and unacceptable, may nevertheless have responded in the way that the self-giving, self-emptying God both shows us and seeks to evoke in us.

Miss Prism’s preferred type of fiction involved the good ending happily, and the bad unhappily. In the light of Easter, the Cross isn’t the story of the supremely good person ending unhappily, for self-emptying, self-giving love triumphs in the Resurrection and today and every Sunday is a celebration of that.

I am pleased and privileged to have been given the opportunity to speak to you this morning about the passage from Deuteronomy, which to me is one of the most significant passages in the whole of Scripture.

You need a bit of background to help you see where this passage is coming from. In the course of leading the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years, Moses at one point seemed to rebel against God. He took credit for performing a miracle himself, rather than attributing it to God’s love, holiness and power. Because of this, God told Moses that he would see but would not enter the Promised Land.

As Deuteronomy begins, the Israelites have arrived on the verge of the river Jordan, in sight of the Promised Land on the other side. They are about to cross over that river. The whole book of Deuteronomy purports to be Moses’ last words to them before his death. Moses of course did not write the book of Deuteronomy. It was probably written or compiled about six centuries after his death. But the authors of the book chose to write using Moses’ name to give weight to their writings, to try with his name to recall Israel to their heritage. 

So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses recalls all that God has done for his people, all that they have been through and all that they have been taught by God. He reminds them of the covenant with God and of the commandments given to them through him by God on Mount Sinai. Now the people of Israel face a new beginning, a new way of life. For more than 40 years they have been pilgrims. Now they have reached the goal which God set for them. They are about to become the possessors of land. They will have homes. They will sow and plant and harvest. They will live in a stable community. God’s will for them is that they should enjoy these new blessings.

In the course of those 40 years, Moses has seen how his people will be tempted, how they are likely to go astray. So what he gives them in these concluding words are urgent and compelling basic guidelines for how they must now learn to live in this stable community, as land owners.

 Moses sets before them a stark choice: life and prosperity, or death and adversity. Life in this context means far more than actual physical existence. Israel’s life must be centred on their God. They must at all times remember his holiness, his power and, above all, his unfailing love for them. They must always remember all that God has done for them in bringing them out of Egypt and giving them this land flowing with milk and honey. They must respond to God’s goodness with praise and thanksgiving, by worshipping only him, by walking in his ways, with entire obedience to his loving commands. In other words, they must allow their lives to be transformed.

Israel’s life is not, cannot be, just the separate lives of individuals. They are the people of God. Transformation of life must be not only of the lives of individuals but also of the life of the whole community. Observing God’s commandments, decrees and ordinances, which earlier in Deuteronomy Moses has recalled, means living in the love of God, but also living in loving harmony with other people. Those who are materially blessed have a responsibility to share with those within their community who are less so. Compassion and generosity must underpin their communal relationships. And this applies also to the poor, the widow and the stranger from abroad, those who are land-less; they too must be cared for.

They now must also have a care for the land, and for animals and birds. This relates to the ownership and right treatment of land, but even more to the fact that the land, the animals and birds are also part of God’s creation and must be seen and respected as such.

 It is right, it has always been God’s will for his people, that they should inherit the land, that they should enjoy the material blessings of a settled life. But it must be a “holy materialism”, underpinned by love of God and of others, and by the constant awareness that all “matter” comes from and belongs to God. 

 If the Israelites fail, if they turn to worship other gods, if they cease to remember the love of their God and to obey his commandments, they will lose it all. That will lead to adversity and death. They will not live long in the Promised Land. 

What Moses is telling them to do, to put it in New Testament terms, is that in the Promised Land they are to create the Kingdom of God on earth. That is life. Think how much of Jesus’ life and teaching reflects this. He healed the sick. He fed the hungry. Think also of the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.  Most importantly, Jesus gave us the two great commandments: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself. In contrast, see how completely the scribes and Pharisees had lost sight of Moses’ teaching. Their concern was not for a right relationship between God and one’s neighbour, but for strict adherence to rules and regulations, many of which were man-made and no part of the original law.

The message of this passage is not simply an ancient one addressed to people of long ago. That is what I find so exciting: these authors of many centuries ago are speaking to us. We too today face the stark choice between life and death. It is right that we should fully enjoy all the blessings of this life which we have been fortunate enough to receive in the stable community in which we live. But we must constantly remember with thanksgiving that we owe these blessings to our gracious and loving God. And we must remember our less fortunate neighbours, not only here in Edinburgh, but in Gaza, in Syria, in Africa for instance. And the condition of life or death remains the same: obedience or disobedience to the voice of God who calls us and all people into loving relationships with himself and with each other.

Therefore choose life.

Many years ago now when I was the priest at St.Mary’s, Dalmahoy a strange event happened one Christmas Eve. The Midnight Mass at that church was always very well attended – literally standing room only because of the Country Club just up the hill. This particular Christmas Eve was no different, it was packed. In fact worshippers in the aisle had to file out the back door and walk round to the front door and enter again to allow the altar party to get into the sanctuary. It was an amazing atmosphere and it seemed to take for ages for the church to empty at the end of the service.

Among the last to leave were a well dressed, and rather attractive couple who greeted me like a long lost friend – I had a mental block and could not remember their names. They, however, obviously knew me and we blethered for a while - with me desperately hoping they’d give me some clue as to what their names were. As this couple made their goodbyes the woman presented me with a beautifully wrapped box – which for some reason I thought contained a Christmas Pudding! As she gave me the gift, I recall, that she said to me: 

‘We always give presents to our friends but we never think to say thank-you to or give a present to our priest. Happy Christmas.’

I was very touched and carefully took the present home to open before retiring to bed. When I opened the gift it was not a pudding but a beautiful, hand-crafted ‘Baccarat’ glass Angel of the Annunciation. 

Bizarrely, I had been ‘haunted’ by the idea of angels for many months and this  gift seemed to crystallise all my thoughts about angels and I have wondered since if in that couple I had ‘entertained angels, unaware’?

You may have had similar experiences, those times when you engage with someone, even for a brief time, such as in the queue for a Festival event, oral the bus stop, and that brief experience seems to change your life forever. The person whose comments helped to clarify your thoughts or whose actions brought something into clearer perspective for you. These people for me ‘angels’. Whether or not they are heavenly angels is a moot point but what is important is that their transient interaction with us is blessed and holy.

This is what I think the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is getting at. The whole of the passage read this morning contains, I think, some of the most beautiful phrases in the Bible:

‘Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers…do not neglect to do good 

and share what you have..’                    Hebrews 13

To quote just a few but all held together by that first sentence:

“Let mutual love continue.”

The gift of love which we can give and receive, hold close and share can be a powerful and life enhancing gift. It is a gift that is always different and like a diamond contains many different facets by which we can reflect and refract the light within each other and thereby experience something of the ‘Being' we know as God.

Love really does change everything but it can be dangerous too. Those deprived of love do not grow up into well rounded, open individuals. Those betrayed by love can grow bitter and ‘bleed from the soul’ if not loved again. Those smothered by love can grow selfish and self-seeking. So while love can be life enhancing it has to be respected and treated properly.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us to remember others less fortunate, to be content with the blessings we have, to be concerned for those in positions of leadership and to remember that the love of God, as expressed in Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

Acts of love be they by those known or unknown are those events that shape and guide our lives and open us up to the unexpected encounters with the living God.

At all times try to live your life to the full, love much and never shut your self off from the opportunity of receiving love, especially from angels unaware.

Mulling over today’s Gospel, my butterfly mind lit upon James Bond’s recipe for the perfect vodka martini – shaken but not stirred. Bear with me for a few minutes, and you’ll see why. 

In this passage from Luke, we read about one of Jesus’ many healing miracles. It’s helpful to see all those miracles as steps towards bringing God’s creation to perfection, as foretastes of that perfection. Or, to put it in Biblical language, as the inauguration of the Kingdom of God. It’s also important to see the healing miracles as examples of divine compassion in action. That God in Jesus is at work is clearer in the original Greek than in our translation which says that after Jesus laid his hands on her:

“…immediately she stood up straight…”

In the original the verb is passive. A literal translation would be

“…immediately she was straightened up…”

Divine compassion responds to human suffering and divine action puts right what is bent and imperfect.

I’m also struck by the unusual nature of the miracle. The unnamed woman doesn’t ask for healing. She doesn’t reach out to Jesus or touch him. There is nothing in Luke’s account to suggest that she believed that healing was possible. She is simply attending the synagogue on the sabbath. Her healing is not the result of any striving, effort or expectation of hers. It’s divine compassion in action, the Grace of God reaching out to her. 

There are two contrasting responses to the healing. First, the leader of the synagogue. He is clearly shaken by what Jesus has done, shaken but not stirred. He is shaken by his belief that Jesus has broken the law by working on the sabbath but not stirred either by compassion for the woman’s long experience of disability or stirred into rejoicing at her healing. He tells the congregation:

“There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 

That word ought is very important. The leader of the synagogue is suffering from what the Christian psychiatrist Frank Lake called “hardening of the oughteries”. He is making the strictest possible interpretation of the sabbath laws. His religious instincts are all about control, rather than about freedom. Significantly, Jesus picks up on that word ought and makes it an important part of his response. He first makes the point that the sabbath laws allow people to have compassion on their animals by untying them and giving them water to drink and then he says:

“And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 

Jesus is speaking of a divine loving necessity, of God’s purpose to heal, to reconcile and to liberate.

Too many sermons have been preached on this passage which have criticised the Jewish faith for being over-legalistic and have suggested that Jesus was condemning that. Yet the Gospel writer makes clear that Jesus was working within the Jewish faith tradition. He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. That’s what Rabbis do. He refers to the woman whom he has healed as a “daughter of Abraham”. He’s speaking and acting within that faith tradition. But he understands that tradition more fully and more generously than the leader of the synagogue. The story reminds us that tradition can be a trap when it should be a springboard. Tradition should be what shakes and stirs us, but it can lead to hardening of the oughteries.

I said that there were two contrasting responses to the miracle. The second response is that of the woman herself and of the rest of the congregation. We read that the woman praised God and that 

“…the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”

There’s an echo of that at the end of today’s Epistle:

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.”

The writer of Hebrews is clear that Kingdom of God cannot be shaken, but that worship should be a context in which we are. Unlike that fictional vodka martini, we can both be shaken and stirred; shaken out of any hardening of our oughteries and stirred into compassionate responses towards those who are marginalised or suffering.

Readings

1^st Reading: Hebrews 11:29-12:2 29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace. 32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect. 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Gospel: Luke 12:49-56

49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’ 54 He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Reflection

Today’s readings are not easy to listen to. The first one from  the Letter to the Hebrews is downright ‘Hammer Horror’ stuff and the Gospel talks about Jesus causing division in families and communities. They are certainly not the most joyful of readings! Yet, in their own ways, they actually speak of faith. The faith of our ancestors who stuck with God through thick and thin and eventually saw a better time. This is most especially true with the passage from Hebrews. The epistle begins by re-telling the stories of the early Hebrews and how their faith in God led them out of slavery in Egypt and out of the hands of those who sought to oppress them. Not all of them survived this persecution but as the author of the epistle suggests those who died won a place in heaven because of their unwavering faith in God. As you read this passage from Hebrews you do get the impression, that although they had a miserable time of it all their faith gave them hope for a better future in the world to come.  It is the first two verses of chapter 12 that seem to give us the most hope for the future:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

'So great a cloud of witnesses surround us.' This phrase finds its way into the Scottish Prayer Book (1929) in the proper Eucharistic preface for saints days. It seeks to tell us that we inhabit a world in which the living and the dead come close in Christ:

“Who in the multitude of thy saints hast compasses us about with so great a cloud of witnesses, to the end that we, rejoicing in their fellowship, may run with patience the race that is set before us, and together with the receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 

This is the concept that we come closer to those both living and departed is most strongly expressed in the celebration of the Eucharist. For in that celebration and commemoration both Earth and Heaven embrace each other in the bread and wine which in turn represent the body and blood of Christ. As we pray together in the Eucharist, we bless and hallow the bread and wine; and in doing so it comes to signify the presence of Christ among us. In the Eucharist we unite our prayers with those of Christians around the world not only of today but of all those who have gone before us and now reside in the full presence of God continually praising him.

‘Holy, holy, holy Lord!

Is the song that is sung both in heaven and here on Earth. It is the song of that; ‘great cloud of witnesses’. The prayers of those who have gone before us envelop us and our prayers just as much as our prayers envelop them and in the Eucharist the reality of the voice of prayer that is never silent is heard at its loudest.

We all look up to and admire certain people in our lives and in our nation for a whole variety of reasons. These people form part of the cloud of witnesses that we can know and see now and their examples can encourage us in our times of trial. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author reminds us to look to the saints and martyrs of the past for encouragement in those difficult times we face, as well. Stick with God, the writer says; follow Christ’s ways and you will be able to run the race that is set before you. In doing so you will be able to cast your sins aside and as you run the race of life and faith you will be drawn closer to Christ, who sets before us the ultimate example of self-sacrifice and self-giving.

When the going gets tough, don't give up but remember those who have gone before you and keep on going or have another go because it is in the times of difficulty that the example of the  ‘Cloud of Witnesses’ will help you the most.