In 2000 years what little seems to have changed. The Second Epistle to Timothy could easily have been written for a 21st century audience for all that it describes:

“³For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.”            2Timothy 3:4:3-4

What a wonderful phrase; 'itching ears' is and what egotistical desires it highlights.

Christianity has always been, to some extent, counter-cultural. It may have got the upper hand in this country in the medieval and early modern period but in today's post-modern society it is, I believe, once again very counter-cultural to be a Christian and to challenge the norms that one sees around us. When Jesus and his radical teachings first burst onto the scene in first century Judea few listened to him. Even less followed him Why? Simply because Jesus' teachings were difficult for 'itching ears' to cope with. In our society, today, a society divided by wealth, class and aspiration (to list but a few divisions) Christianity seems to challenge the accepted norms too much and for the majority of the population that challenge is one they would rather not acknowledge or think about, let alone respond to.

I see 21st century Scotland and perhaps much of Europe to be very much like the first century Greco-Romano culture. Both had a focus on the individual and that individual's immediate family rather than the wider common good of the whole community or population. Individuals today, like then, are encouraged to think firstly of their own needs and wants rather than of those around them. You can see this expressed in the response to the migrant and refugee crisis in Europe. Very few people want to respond generously to their plight. Instead the first concern is how will this effect me. Helping these strangers might stop me achieving all that I want to achieve or to acquire.

Christianity, however, teaches us and challenges us to do something different. It instructs us to be welcoming and generous to the stranger and to those in any need; to be hospitable and to think of others before we think of ourselves. Dangerous stuff in deed.

This is a counter-cultural message today just as it was revolutionary in the first century - you can see why the Early Church was persecuted and many martyred for their compassionate faith. Christianity has always encouraged the development of an attitude of acceptance and outreach to others. An attitude that says that; 'all are welcome' and all are acceptable in the eyes of God and in the Christian community and that all are expected to share in what we have to offer. As St.Paul wrote:

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof and correction and for training in righteousness, so  that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, and equipped for every good work."       2Timothy 3:16-17

This implies that all of us should read our Scriptures and put what they tell us into action. If you further put St.Paul’s words with those of Isaiah and St.John (the additional readings set for today) you will also see that it is through Jesus that Scripture is expressed in its purest form and that when we encounter the living Christ we meet the ways of God face on. In doing so we are also transformed and encouraged to live a life inspired by Jesus and to copy the things he did, rather than the things we might want to do.

Scripture is rich food in deed, but it does not feed us unless it also inspires us to live a Christ-like life and in order to do that we have to try and live our lives in the ways that Jesus taught and showed us. We are to care for the orphan and the widow, to reach out and welcome the stranger and the refugee to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Basically, Jesus challenges to remember who are neighbours are and what we might need to do to make their lives more bearable and wholesome. The ways of Jesus and the Scriptures of God call us to be counter-cultural and not to be afraid of doing things differently to the ways of Society. It is a difficult path to tread but it is one that leads to a more fulfilled life for ourselves and for those around us as well. Scripture encourages us to be radical because if nothing else Jesus was radical before us.

Hebrews 5, 1-10

Immediately after this morning’s reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews come these words:

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain...”

Explaining who Melchizidek was and why the writer makes a link between him and Jesus Christ would indeed be hard, a task more suited to a Bible study than a short reflection. It would also distract us from the two simple and profound truths that this difficult passage contains.

The first of those truths is that the people who are called to the priesthood are human, yet their very humanity – the fact that they are “subject to weakness” – can make them effective in their ministry. This calling involves, in the words of Archbishop Michael Ramsey,

“caring for humanity in loving identification”

It is precisely those human weaknesses that make it possible to identify with other people, to understand something of their needs and their fears. And that is a ministry to which all Christians, lay and ordained, are called, a ministry of caring and service.

I was reminded of this when a friend phoned me while I was working on this reflection. My responses to the difficulties and fears of which he spoke was shaped my own difficulties and experiences. Those are not identical to his, and I was careful not to say “I know just how you feel” because I cannot possibly know that. What he and I share, as baptized Christians, was well expressed by Rowan Williams when he wrote that “The baptized person is not only in the midst of human suffering and muddle but in the middle of the love and delight of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

That brings us to the second profound truth in this passage from Hebrews. Jesus Christ has a full and perfect ability to care for humanity in loving identification precisely because he lived a human life and faced the profound challenges with which life and death confront us, including fear, grief, physical pain and the sense of feeling abandoned by God.

Because of that we can be sure that the mind of God knows us far better than we know ourselves and that the heart of God is full of a loving understanding of what it means to be human and how difficult and painful it can be. God truly does know just how we feel.

The compilers of the Lectionary cannot have known that this passage from Hebrews would fall on the Sunday before Russell’s ordination to the priesthood, nor that he will be exercising a priestly ministry at the Church of the Good Shepherd. The Epistle to the Hebrews may be densely argued and difficult to understand, but it ends with a resounding climax which will serve well as a prayer for Russell, and for all Christians, for we are all called to exercise ministries of love and service.

Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.   Amen.

Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Down through the ages, men and women have asked deep questions about the meaning of eternity. We have only to think about the creative arts which often reflect this.  How many plays, books and operas have been written about eternal love, eternal life, eternal youth, eternal separation?

As a lover of opera Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Verdi’s La Traviata instantly come to mind. There are others.  At this year’s Edinburgh International Festival there was a production of Dido’s Ghost performed by the Dunedin Consort. Some of you may have seen it.  In it, the story of Dido and Aeneas, originally set to music by Henry Purcell around 1688, was updated. It didn’t end with Dido’s death. The tale has been continued.    

In many churches the Nicene Creed is said ending with the familiar words “And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come”. In our own church, we remember Sunday by Sunday, those who have died with the words “Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord” and our corporate response “And let light perpetual shine upon them”. Eternity has not been forgotten about.

In his commentary on Mark’s gospel, the well-known biblical scholar, Professor William Barclay, writes “we must note how the man came and how Jesus met him. He came running. He flung himself at Jesus’ feet. Jesus confronted him with a challenge and even what appears to be a rebuttal. He did not receive the answer which he was expecting. He had great possessions. It had never entered his head to give away what he owned.  When it was suggested to him, he could not do this. True he had never stolen. He had never defrauded anyone – but neither had he ever been, nor could he compel himself to be, positively and sacrificially generous”.  That was a step too far. Some might say he was too good for his own good.

The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) comments that “the difference between ourselves and the rich young man is that he was not allowed to solace his regrets by saying “Never mind what Jesus says, I can still hold on to my riches, but in a spirit of inner detachment. But no, he went away sorrowful because he could not obey, he could not believe. In this, the young man was quite honest. He went away from Jesus.  This honesty had more promise that any apparent communion with Jesus based upon disobedience”.

Jesus recognises how tough a thing he asked of the rich young man when he looked at his disciples and said “how hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God”. The disciples were equally perplexed.

Today’s gospel challenges us about our priorities and those things which are important to us. Unlike St Francis of Assisi, whose feast day was last Monday, 4th October, I doubt we are being called to sell all that we have.  The challenge to us in asking that same question may be to share something of our riches, our time, our friendship, our love, our gifts with those around us to bring in God’s kingdom and the inheritance of eternal life just now.

We pray for all who are afraid to give and afraid to share,

For all who have amassed wealth but are poor in spirit,

For all who are suffering through the greed and avarice of others.

Lord, give us grace and help in all our needs.

The final verses 13-20 of Chapter 5 of James’ Epistle, are I believe, some of the best in his letter. Verses 13-16 give us practical things to do to help those in need and they can form a template of behaviour for all the baptised and especially all the ordained:

“13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” James 5:13-16

This advice can be summed  up as:

Pray when you are suffering

Give thanks joyfully when you are happy and don’t forget to do so

Ask others to pray for you when you are ill

Always pray for those ill and suffering

Minister to each other in word and deed -anointing when appropriate

Share your burdens and doubts with each other

Remember you are a sinner and always seek God’s forgiveness

This list includes two of the seven Sacraments - Confession or better termed the Ministry of Reconciliation (to God) and Anointing; those who are sick, in need or who may be dying. The list also charges all of us to pray daily for the needs of each other and the world. Verses 13-16 can serve as a good template for a Christian life for although unwritten or said James’ words are shot through with Jesus’ charge to all of us to love God and to love one’s neighbour as oneself. (The Golden Rule) Jesus does not charge us to love in any soppy or sentimental way but to love in ways that are pro-active, all encompassing and challenging of the status quo. Love that makes us and demands us to look beyond our selves and our individual needs to the needs of others as we reach out to them in ministry and prayer.

These three verses seem to me to sum up the whole epistle that we have read over the last few weeks, for they call us to express our faith not in mere words alone but in our actions as well. Faith without works is a dead faith. Long live an active, working faith for as James concludes; a living, vibrant faith that seeks to love and reach out to others will cover a multitude of our own sins.

Mark 9:30-37

Some years ago, an interviewer asked the comedian Ben Elton a rather fatuous question:

“Have you always been a comedian?”

Without hesitation, Ben Elton replied.

“No – I used to be a baby.”

It’s a trap into which we all fall from time to time: “I’ve always liked this…”, “I’ve always enjoyed that.”  Well, we haven’t always had those preferences, those experiences. We too were once little bundles of extraordinary potential. We have changed and developed, realized at least some of that potential.

“No – I used to be a baby.”  In today’s Gospel, Jesus confronts a bunch of people who are stuck in a particular way of thinking, and reminds them that they used to be and still have the potential to be more open, more flexible, more humble, more willing to learn, and also more dependent, more vulnerable.

And they needed reminding. Jesus has just predicted his suffering and death for the second time, and the disciples have reacted with much the same bafflement as Peter did on the first occasion. And, despite what Jesus has told them, they have spent the rest of the journey back to Capernaum arguing about which of them is the greatest.

Jesus does not despair of them. He knows that they are educable. He also knows that repetition works. Today’s passage is one of a series of lessons that he gives the disciples in St Mark’s Gospel, all of which are directing them towards a single great truth – “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Understanding that they have fallen into the trap of feeling special because they feel chosen, he explains to them that greatness is not a matter of being chosen, but rather a matter of service:

“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

He then decides to give them a demonstration of the kind of choosing that God does. He places a child at the centre of the group – and it’s important to remember that children in the ancient world had no legal status, protection or rights and were little better than slaves.

It’s a parable without words – God choosing not the special, the powerful, those with impressive CVs, but rather choosing the weak and the vulnerable, the person with no status at all.

“Look at the kind of people God chooses” is his message to men who are preening themselves because they feel that that are the chosen few. And then he reinforces the message with words:

“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Jesus chose vulnerable and inadequate disciples and challenged them to realize their potential to live lives of love and service. He challenged their “God chose me so I must be special” mentality and encouraged them to think “If God chose me, despite my shortcomings and weaknesses, then everyone must be special.”

One of the great Jewish poets of the 20^th century, Yehuda Amichai, wrote a poem entitled Tourists in which he reflects on our human tendency to be blind to the specialness of people. The poem ends like this:

...once I was sitting on the steps

near the gate of David’s citadel

and I put down my two heavy baskets beside me.

A group of tourists stood there around their guide

and I became their point of reference.

“You see that man over there with the baskets...

a little to the right of his head

there is an arch from the Roman period”…

…So, I said to myself,

redemption will come only when they are told

“do you see that arch over there from the Roman period –

...it doesn’t matter,

but near it a little to the left and then down a bit

there is a man

who has just bought fruit and vegetables for his family.”

It’s a poem about the specialness of people whom we are tempted to think of as ordinary, a plea for a child’s view of the world, for children would instinctively be more interested in the man with the baskets than the Roman archway. Yehuda Amichai is calling on the tour guide to see people in the way that God sees them and that is the lesson that Jesus is trying to teach his disciples and us in today’s Gospel. And the right response to the specialness of another person is the desire to love them and be of service to them, and since everyone is special, that means, as Jesus said, being the servant of all.