Tuesday 24 July 2018

Sermon Opoho Church Sunday 8 July 2018 Pentecost 7


Readings:  Ezekiel 2: 1-5 Mark 6: 1-13
We pray: may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock and our sustainer.  Amen.

God said to Ezekiel: “O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And when he spoke, a spirit entered into Ezekiel and set him on his feet; and Ezekiel heard him speaking these words:  “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; ….whether they hear or refuse to hear, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”

Ezekeil was prostrate on the ground, overwhelmed with awe at the vision of God’s splendour and greatness that had been set before him.  It was too much for him to stand before. Yet God pulled him to his feet, entered into him and convinced him that his mission as was to connect with the people of Israel as God’s prophet

When Mike and I were up in Christchurch at the end of May, Matthew Jack preached on Isaiah[1] and the burning coal placed on his mouth so that, despite his reluctance, he could speak the word among the people.  Matthew linked it with the conversation of the week, the preaching of Rev Michael Curry at the wedding of Harry and Meghan – noting that the expression on the faces of the listeners there indicated that whatever else was happening, a connection of some sort was most certainly taking place – they knew that fresh words had been spoken into a most traditional place, they knew that it had disturbing implications, they knew there had been a prophet among them. Who might hear and who might refuse to hear would be matter of ongoing discussion but his words certainly connected.   

And then we have Jesus preaching to his whanau, in the place of his upbringing, his belonging – and he certainly impacted the people listening with his wisdom and knowledge, they had seen his deeds of power and were quite unexpectedly impressed by him.  But then, in a classic case of tall poppy syndrome, unable to accept this home town boy as a prophet of God they closed their ears, they took offense at him, wanting to bring him back to size, to fit who they thought he should be.  Now that is something New Zealanders would have some appreciation of?

You see, for Jesus, God had changed the terms of reference for living. What Jesus had been was no longer the defining pivot of his life, instead there are new visions, different priorities, a new lens for us to see life through. 
And those people in Jesus home town, well they were completely happy with their already established terms of reference for Jesus – child, sibling, carpenter, ordinary bloke – and so they rejected this new teaching. They did not hear, they did not believe!
Isaiah and Ezekiel weren’t too sure about the change of their terms of reference either and, though they heard the words of direction, they were most reluctant to comply with them, sure that they couldn’t possibly do what was asked of them. 

In fact, I am sure if we had a chance to talk with Most Rev. Michael Curry there would have been times in his life of faith where he wanted to cry off speaking to a potentially non-receptive or even hostile audience. The wedding may well have been one of them – who knows?

So it seems to me that there are two aspects to our readings today that we could follow through on – the need to listen to the Word in our lives and our commission as Christ followers to speak the Word so that others might have the opportunity to hear. 

Are there any alarm bells that pop up in our lives when we hear the story of Jesus reception by those he knew well, had a long history with yet who disbelieved or were perplexed by his teachings?  The disciples, Jesus’ hometown, us – all of us have times when we prefer our own perspectives to that of God’s.  Mark Edington suggests that ‘the human capacity for investing in social norms, for believing in one’s own preferences, is greater than the human capacity for faith.  And in our dark moments, it seems to be so.  And we hear in the scripture today what is a rather troubling consequence of that disbelief – that because of the people not understanding his teaching, Jesus could do no real deeds of power in his hometown.  Because of the unbelief of the people, Jesus is rendered powerless.  This point has been made several times in Mark’s gospel – last week Jairus and the bleeding women (who we called Judith) had faith enough to see in Jesus a power and truth that exceeded their understanding and gave them hope yet the disciples who had been with him for a long time were amazed at what he could do, as yet unwilling or unable to see, to be convinced of the great things that God can and will do. 
Perhaps we need to raise our expectations of God and understand that in Christ through faith (be that faith stumbling or strong) unexpected amazing things can happen. But we are needed.  We are required not just to listen but to live out our new vision, different priorities, changed understanding that Jesus brings to us.

For that is the consequence of being a person of faith – being called on to be a prophet – and that word has so many connotations for us most of which allow us to assure ourselves that it belongs to someone else.  Someone great, someone with strong oratory skills or huge passion or the command of God on them so great that they cannot turn aside.   We are talking next week after all about Jonah – classic case of the reluctant prophet.
But I want to say that it is you and me.  That we are the prophets of this time – believing in what could be and willing to be the voice, the example that leads others to that same hope.
Recognising that we will speak into situations where people will refuse to listen, preferring their own take on what is important, and all we can do is shake the dust from our feet.
Recognising that we have new terms of reference for our living and that the words we speak are a new language of hope, of care, of forgiveness and compassion and mercy.
Recognising that we don’t know where, how, on whom God’s great love will be impact through our words and actions as we live out our faith.
Recognising that it is for us, those who have known Christ for a long time and those for whom it is more recent, those whose faith is a fragile seed and those who struggle to understand yet hold stubbornly on to the thread of grace that is God – it is for us to be part of the transformation of the world in Jesus name.

I would like to finish with words from a prayer[2] that we heard at Wayne te Kaawa’s induction on Wednesday night – from the Iona community.  It begins:

May it not be long, Lord…
May it not be long before the world we pray for and the world we inhabit are one……
And continues:
May it not be long, Lord, before we feel ourselves directly addressed by your voice as those first disciples did, who heard you summon the strangest of people to the greatest of callings.
May it not be long, Lord and to enable that day to come soon, raise up for us prophets who will give us new sight for better seeing.
Raise up for us prophets who will increase our altruism and diminish our greed.
Raise up for us prophets who will spell out that God has no favourite race nor heaven a favoured language.
Raise up for us prophets who, in their own person, will bridge the gaps through which too many fall.
Raise up for us prophets who will make clear for our day the truths Jesus said in his, and who will speak with the urgency of those who have glimpsed the coming of the Lord…
And if you will not raise up for us prophets, then raise up in us that holy restlessness to get your work done and your people saved, for Jesus’ sake.
Amen

Margaret Garland



[1] Sermon May 27 2018 Coal to the Lips
http://www.knoxchurch.co.nz/sermons.html

[2]A Wee Worship Book: Fifth Incarnation”, Wild Goose Resource Group

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