CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE 2011

CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE 2011

I wonder if, like me, you enjoy a really good mystery story – you know, one that keeps you in suspense right up until the last page. Well for those of you who do, you would have every right to call St. John a bit of a spoil sport. 

Why? 

Well because instead of keeping us in suspense for as long as possible, here, right at the very beginning of his Gospel, he spoils things by telling us precisely who this amazing figure Jesus actually is. He gives us the answer to the mystery, to the great question posed by the Gospels – who was this Jesus?  

These verses which, once again we have read at our annual Christmas Carol service, tell us where Jesus came from, why he came, and who he was. We don’t have to wait until the end of John’s Gospel to find out: we aren’t even allowed time - as I like to do with mystery stories - to try and guess. So when we come to the truly incredible teaching, and miracles, and claims of Jesus which we find in the Gospels, we already know who it is is presenting or performing or making them: it is God himself, the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists, choosing to become one of us, offering to us a light by which you and I and everyone may see clearly why we are here, what our purpose in life is, how we ought to live and to act, and what the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists requires of us - his creation.  

 St. John, then, ’unfolds’ the mystery of the incarnation right here at the beginning of his Gospel. He does not even try to explain how God, in one of his ways of being God, is able to take on human form – certainly not in a way that would satisfy the likes of Professor Richard Dawkins (yes, in the news once again having a go at Christian belief) and other atheist scientists who refuse to believe unless, that is, they can examine God and subject him to their experiments. I’m not being unpleasant or unfair to Professor Dawkins: it is simply what he himself has said; that he cannot believe in God because God has not provided him with sufficient evidence of the kind he requires in order to believe that he exists. Now quite apart from the fact that many scientists are Christians and that some of the leading people in science today believe in God quite unashamedly, realising, from experience, that not everything in this world of ours is capable of explanation by science alone, it seems that for Professor Dawkins his scientific enquiring has become for him a kind of, to use St. John’s word here, ‘darkness’; that is to say that it is actually preventing him from seeing the light, the truth, the knowledge that Jesus brings and which can be found in him alone.

There are many forms of such ‘darkness’, but the ‘darkness’ St. John speaks of is basically anything that prevents us – because of its power over us – from seeing Jesus for whom he really is ‘the light of the world’, that is to say ‘the essential reality by which all attempts to explain the world and ourselves must be assessed or measured.’ Of course, a great deal of how God has chosen to order this world which he brought into being, as well as the way he chooses to allow it to evolve under his care, will remain a mystery to us: we will never be able to explain everything or find all the answers: God is mysterious, I’m afraid; and we just have to get used to it!     

 But the one and most important answer he has very clearly given us is that he loves us; enough to come to this world he made, to become one of us, and to show the depth of his love by dying for us. Indeed, when you come to think of it, wouldn’t we rather expect him to act somewhat mysteriously – just like Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia – still, if you don’t mind my saying, the best Christmas present adults could ever buy their children, if only because you will so much enjoy reading them yourselves, not to mention learn so much from them!

John’s Gospel gives us lots of facts about Jesus, just like the other three gospels of Matthew,Mark, and Luke, as well as passing on to us much of what he taught; but John also attempts to explain  the universal meaning and significance of it all – Jesus’ life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension -  what Aslan would have referred to as the ‘deep magic’ which our human minds could never work out for ourselves unless someone came to reveal it to us...which of course is exactly what Jesus did and is exactly why  St. John wrote it down in his Gospel, his book of ‘Good News.’ As John himself says in chapter 20 ‘these things are written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing you may have life in his name.’

What I find so striking about all the Gospels is the incredibly matter-of-fact way in which the writers give their accounts of Jesus and what happened. The Gospels weren’t science books or even biographies in the way we have come to understand biographies; rather, they are records of what reliable witnesses saw and heard about this amazing person Jesus. The Gospels were written by ordinary people for ordinary people in order to communicate a series of extraordinary events involving this extraordinary person, Jesus.

Even the method of his coming into the world that first Christmas was a mystery: exactly how God did it I cannot tell you. But what I can tell you, mysterious and miraculous though it most certainly was, is that it was God’s Holy Spirit and not Joseph who was involved: quite simply it makes most sense of the physical evidence and could not be otherwise once we realise that Jesus, the human baby, was also God incarnate. 

This coming of Jesus into the world is nothing less than the turning point of history. It must be. The question each one of us must ask ourselves is this. If I now know who exactly this Jesus was, will it be a turning point in my personal history, or will I simply carry on not paying him the attention and respect and loyalty and commitment he deserves from me?

It is all too easy to leave Jesus in the manger, so to speak, and to forget that he grew up to be a man. It’s easy to avoid his challenge – to make excuses, to avoid the obvious because it’s, well, inconvenient, pretending that we don’t have the time to consider the claims of Jesus, believing that we’re good enough without God and all those other lame excuses for dismissing him from our thinking and our lives.   Christmas can be a wake-up call! We may continue to walk in darkness – whatever is the darkness we have chosen or pushes our buttons - or we can face up to reality, a reality beyond the present understanding of science but not in conflict with it: the miraculous doesn’t contradict nature, it simply perfects it. It certainly does very much more than even the brightest minds can grasp at present, so we really should not be surprised that God’s entry into the world that first Christmas was somewhat mysterious. The key thing is to understand why he came, and then to take a good honest look at ourselves, and to do so by his standards, not our own. This is the first step to new life, to ‘life in his name’, as St. John tells us.

Today is the 4th Sunday in the season of Advent when we look forward not just to Christmas but to Jesus’ ‘Second Coming’. Next time it will be to judge us all. Will you take that risk or will you take him at his word, ask his forgiveness, and be reconciled to him?  Will you mean it when you sing that Carol ‘’ O holy child of Bethlehem be born in us today’?  By all means look at the crib scene, sing the carols; but do listen to their words and to the words of our readings; meditate on them and ask God to reveal himself to you this Christmas. He’s been doing it for over 2000 years now and ‘where meek hearts will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.’

Advent - Luke Chapter 1 verses 39 to 55.

Luke Chapter 1 verses 39 to 55.

Lets pray. Father God send your Holy Spirit upon us today that we may receive what you want to say to us. Amen.

Did you know that there are over 300 prophecies relating to Jesus in the Old Testament. We have one of them here in today’s Old Testament reading from Zechariah.

God says very clearly in this passage – “I am coming and I will live among you.” God himself, our creator, announces that he is coming to live in the world he created.

Many people wonder if there is a God. I used to. Well there is and the extraordinary thing is that 2000 years ago, as this prophecy testifies,  he came to earth as a human and lived among us.

 Of course we are in the season of Advent when as Christians we prepare for and look forward to Christmas day when we remember Jesus – God made flesh - coming into the world as a tiny baby, and we look forward to his second coming when he will appear to judge the world.

Today’s gospel reading reminds us how God came into the world and the circumstances surrounding his birth. 

He chose a young woman from Nazareth called Mary to be his mother, so let’s just remind ourselves of Mary’s story.

In the passage before today’s reading, the angel Gabriel has just told Mary that she will become pregnant with a child and give birth to a son who is to be called Jesus who will be the son of the Most High.

This is fairly mind blowing news and Mary naturally is curious to know how this will come to pass, as she is a virgin. Gabriel tells her – The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. In other words Mary’s pregnacy will be miraculous.

Some people seem to struggle with the idea of a virgin becoming pregnant but this is God we are talking about.  The bible tells us that nothing is impossible for him. The Old and new Testaments are full of stories of miracles and Jesus’ life on earth was also full of miracles.

Gabriel’s words to Mary bring another Old Testament prophecy to fulfilment.

Isaiah prophesied ; “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Immanuel means God with us.

But Mary’s wont be the only miraculous birth.

Gabriel tells her that her relative Elizabeth is also going to have a child in her old age and that she is six months pregnant.

Mary accepts everything Gabriel tells her – “I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me as you have said.”

Her acceptance is remarkable and brave. To be pregnant before you were married in those days would result in public disgrace and humiliation. But Mary’s faith in God is stronger than her fear of man.

Mary then goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

We don’t know how old Elizabeth was but clearly she was well past normal child bearing age. In fact Luke tells us in his gospel that her own husband Zechariah was incredulous when Gabriel told him his wife would become pregnant and because he didn’t believe it, he was struck dumb until his son John the Baptist’s birth.

Elizabeth tells Mary that the baby she will bear is blessed and asks why she is so favoured that the mother of her Lord, in other words the mother of her God, should visit her. Furthermore she tells Mary that the baby in her own womb leapt for joy when she heard her greeting.

If Mary had any doubts about Gabriel’s words they are swept away and she overflows with a joyful song at the wonderful things God is going to do for her and through her.

It really is just as Gabriel said; she a lowly peasant girl from a small town in Israel is going to give birth to God made flesh.

This is all well and good but what has it got to do with us sitting here today. How are we affected by this?

Well I believe that as well as being born as a baby into the world through Mary, God also wants to be born in us, not physically,but spiritually.

My favourite Christmas Carol is O Little Town of Bethlehem and one of the verses says.

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born in us today

The biblical definition of a Christian is someone in whom the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, is living.

John tells us in Chapter 14 of his gospel that Jesus said; "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My 

Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

In the same chapter, Jesus also says to his disciples shortly before his crucifixion; “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The Christian experience throughout the centuries since Jesus’ death and resurrection is that true to his word 

Jesus does indeed come and make his home with those who will receive him.

Again as O Little Town of Bethlehem puts it;

No ear may hear His coming,

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still,

The dear Christ enters in.

God wants to come into your life. He wants His Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus to find a home in you. He wants to be with you always and as well as guiding, comforting and strengthening you in this life, He wants to take you to live with him one day in heaven.

He knows exactly what you are going through in your life at the moment. He knows your hopes and fears, your worries and concerns and He loves you. But he doesn’t want to help you from afar. He doesn’t want to leave you as an orphan in the world. He wants to come into the centre of your life and guide and help you from within.

But how can this happen.

If we look at Mary’s story we are given a few clues.

First of all Mary is humble. She says in her song of gratitude to God, “he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.”

Jesus comes to those who are humble. Those who will admit their need for him. Those who will get down on their knees and say; ‘Lord my life is a mess without you. I need your help.’

God comes to those who truly want him. The proud and the self sufficient have no space for him in their hearts.

Those who say my life is fine as it is, why would I need God. He’s just a crutch for the weak.

The sad thing is that God will take such people at their word unless they change their minds and one day they will find that as well as being cut off from him in this life they are also cut off in the next.

Secondly Mary believes the message that Gabriel brings to her. She is willing to take him at his word, although until she visits Elizabeth she has no proof.

It is the same for us. We need to believe the gospel message that we hear if we are to find a relationship with Jesus.

Based on my own experience and what the bible says, I believe that God exists, his name is Jesus and that he wants to make his home with you and reveal himself to you.

No doubt others have told you the same thing. But you must make up your own mind.

Unfortunately it’s unlikely that God will send an angel to you to tell you what you ought to believe. You will therefore ultimately have to decide yourself whether the gospels and what you hear others tell you about Jesus, are true.

Of course you should exercise some discernment. My own advice is that if you hear a preacher telling you that what the gospels say isn’t true, then be very wary.

Once she’s heard and believed Gabriel’s message Mary responds with faith by going to visit Elizabeth.

And if you believe the gospel message is true, you too will need to respond to it with faith.

You will need to seek God and pray to him.

The bible tells us; Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must

believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.

So Mary is humble, she believes Gabriel’s message and she responds to it in faith.

But the most important thing that Mary does is to say yes to God’s plan for her life.

“May it be to me as you have said.”

This is the final step for us also to find a relationship with Jesus.

We need to say yes to his plan for our lives and we need to give him permission to enter our lives.

We can confess our need for God, we can believe the gospel, and we can pray, but if we are unwilling to allow God into our lives, it will block us from receiving him.

Imagine your life as a garden with a fence round it. I don’t know what the garden might look like.

Perhaps there are some flowers but quite a few weeds as well. Perhaps it’s a bit of a mess with weeds everywhere. I don’t know.

Now imagine Jesus standing at the gate to your garden. He wants to help you turn it into a beautiful garden but it is up to you to open the gate and invite him in. With your co-operation, over time he will help you to get it in order. He will be very gentle and he wont touch anything without your permission.

Will you open the gate and invite him in. Will you say yes to him?

If you do, as with Mary, God’s plan and purpose for your life can start to take shape.

God created you for a reason and he has endowed you with the gifts and talents and abilities to fulfill that plan.

In the book of Jeremiah God says; I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God has good plans for your life. He wants to bless you and fill you with his love. He wants you to experience peace and joy and fulfilment.

He wants to bless your friends and family and work colleagues through you. But he can only do that if like Mary you give your assent.

So another Christmas time is rolling towards us and no doubt life over the next week will be very hectic with loads of things to get done.

But this Christmas take a bit of time to reflect on your own life and where you are going.

Realise that there is a God and that 2000 years ago, He did indeed come into the world he created as a human being, as a tiny baby born in Bethlehem.

Remember that he wants to come into your life.

And if you would like him to do this follow Mary’s example.

Humble yourself before him and admit your need for him.

- Believe the gospel message. That God loves you and wants to reveal himself to you.

- Turn to him in faith and prayer and say yes to him.

- Invite him into your heart and life and embrace the plans he has for you.

If you do this, one day you will realise that it was the best decision you ever made.

May the living God bless you and your families this Christmas.

Amen.

Campbell's Middle East Update - SO WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST NOW?

I realise you have been waiting some time now for the fourth talk in my short series on the Middle East following my sabbatical there last year. Despite several kind urgings to speak, especially now that the Palestinians have received their pretty predictable response at the UN to their request for statehood, I have decided to postpone it until the new year. The fact is that the region has recently experienced and continues to experience such profound changes - throwing much egg on the faces of many self-styled and even respected Middle East commentators in the process - that accurate analysis and prediction are indeed hard to construct, not least because so much of the information available needs to be disinfected of the many prejudices and propaganda elements (from both inside and outside of the region) from which it suffers so much. 

However, here is a short paper considering some of the things to note and look out for as you read or see reports in the media in order to help you make a little more sense of what is actually going on there and why. I will concentrate on Egypt, Syria, Iran, and Israel-Palestine, referring in each case to the plight of Christians in those countries whom I would ask you to remember in your prayers along with, as we must, those who persecute them. I am always happy to receive any questions or comments by email.

Tribalism and foreign interference remain the two greatest constraints on political, social, and religious freedom and progress in the Middle East. For all the recent hype from Arab intellectuals and western pundits concerning the political maturity of the ‘Arab Spring’, the fact remains that these two factors exert a near stranglehold on any progress towards more democratic, egalitarian, and free societies in the region. That some Europeans drew a few lines in the sand in the last century to create new political entities has not altered one bit the essential tribal nature – even in the cities – of middle eastern society: it is still a case of ‘not what you know, but whom you know’; although, in the case of the more repressive regimes, it is more often than not neither ‘what you know’ nor ‘whom you know’ but ‘what you know on whom’ that pays the handsomest dividends! With few exceptions, loyalties are first and foremost to family and to tribe before ever they are to state or even to religion.

The presence of oil and the opportunity for arms sales mean that foreign (largely western) political ambitions will continue to trump any aspirations to statehood, democracy, and genuine religious freedom in the region if such do not fit in squarely with those countries’ economic or commercial imperatives.

Not only did US companies manage to circumvent earlier UN trade boycotts on Iraq by using third parties, the US government itself has been encouraging (actively but secretly) the Kurds to seek formal independence: indeed, ExxonMobil have already signed an oil deal there! Again, local anger at British arms sales to tyrants invites considerable anger on the Arab street – whatever the security or peace-keeping gloss put on each deal. 

Such interference completely undermines the credibility of the US and the UK in the region.

Whilst Arabs and Iranians are not astonished at the recent US sanctioned Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear experts, many do still see the US as the only hope of brokering any kind of solution to the Palestinian issue, an issue that will become more, not less, conspicuous on the foreign policy agendas of those countries recently freed from tyrannical regimes, whether or not they become Islamist or manage, against the odds and contrary to character and historical experience, to create some kind of recognisably democratic entity. Any full scale war on Iran whether by either Israel alone or backed by the US and Saudi Arabia would only serve to make the Iranian regime more stable, not less, handing them carte blanche to oppress the non-theocratic opposition and the Christian minorities, albeit that both, miraculously, are growing in Iran.  

(Paradoxically, it has been under two politically repressive regimes, Iraq and Syria, that Christians have enjoyed far greater freedom than in the countries of some of the West’s greatest allies (Saudi Arabia, for example). There, secular dictators suppressed both political and religious threats to their power but allowed considerable freedom of religious practice. This was also true to a slightly lesser extent in Egypt under Mubarak but, like Iraq after the invasion, life for Christians has become much more dangerous there now. This is one of the reasons why very few Christians in Syria, however much they would like political reform, seek the removal of Assad. It is significant to note that the protesters have endeavoured to play down the relative silence and lack of support for their cause in Damascus and Aleppo: but these two largest centres of population represent very considerable numbers. When I visited both last year, residents there made the point that they were content to do without a few western style freedoms for the sake of the stability they did enjoy.)

The Retention of Power is a huge factor when considering regime change in the region, embattled tyrants rarely going quietly unless they can take a good portion of their wealth with them: they know that once out, out; and all their many dependents with them. 

Few could not be greatly moved by the massive popular protests across the region this 

year - largely non-violent, secular, and focussing on dignity, social justice, and freedom; but Gaddafi hung on for as long as he could, the army still holds the reins in Egypt (Mubarak was an expendable figurehead) and will almost certainly fight if necessary in order to maintain its privileged position, whilst Assad still holds Syria against a toothless Arab League and a Europe and America most reluctant and too overstretched to intervene, relying on domestic fears of chaos to maintain his position. ‘Better 40 years of tyranny than one night of anarchy’, says the old Arab proverb. How long he will remain therefore is very much open to debate; it is certainly not the same situation as Libya. The failed western, war-imposed ‘democratisation’ project which led to the destruction of Iraq and the deaths of thousands of Iraqis certainly helps to keep Assad in power. Also, the Syrian opposition still remains scattered and weakened by power struggles and ideological differences: the pictures in our newspapers and on the TV do not tell the whole story by any means! But Assad has to battle against high educated youth unemployment and food shortages. It is all still very much up for grabs. And then of course there is always Iran lurking in the shadows!

Iran faces a very fragile domestic situation, more so than many other Arab states, manifesting continuing tensions throughout society on account of favouritism and corruption within the regime and growing calls for greater democratic representation from without. The regime has been deeply troubled by the non-sectarian, non-violent, democratic groundswell across the region which has given renewed encouragement to the opposition at home. This represents an ideal opening for western countries to redeem their tarnished records and render whatever support possible to the opposition. 

This, not war, is the best way forward for Israel and the US; but whether or not the hawks in the increasingly right-wing Israeli government want to see this is another matter entirely. The fact is that it suits the Israeli right and US political and economic interests to allow this very useful bogeyman to remain in power – albeit without a nuclear capability - just as it suits the Iranian regime to have the bogeyman of Israel as a major factor in the rationale for the continuance of their theocratic oligarchy. But, very interestingly, when spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei was supported by the regime in declaring that the result of the blatantly rigged 2009 election was a blessing from God and ought not therefore to be questioned, this prompted other spiritual leaders within the regime to question such exceedingly dubious theology. Evidently there are still considerable rifts within the various groupings that make up the regime. Although increasing oil revenues and with it increasing patronage of key allies and even opponents have, at least temporarily, papered over some of the cracks in the regime’s unity, increasing favouritism, mismanagement, and corruption may well prove to be the last straws and an increasingly radicalised, frustrated, and aggressive opposition eventually take to the streets once again but with much greater determination and in considerably more numbers. The underground Church meanwhile – estimated conservatively at in excess of one million Iranians – will be under greater pressure from the regime, being very useful scapegoats. The regime will continue to support Hezbollah (party of God) in the Lebanon, and in doing so provide another good reason for Israel’s reluctance to negotiate a solution to the Palestinian question.

Palestine remains anything but a marginal or forgotten issue in the region. Arab democrats, should they win the day, will be far less tolerant of Palestinian disenfranchisement than was Arab autocracy. With Israel continually seeking to put off negotiations about a two-state solution and, instead, escalating settler land grabs in the occupied Palestinian territories beyond the Green Line and dispossessing Arab residents of East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority saw their only hope for progress in an attempt to win statehood at the UN. It was never going to happen because the Israeli Right cannot, philosophically, allow it to happen: and whilst they remain in power the fact that an increasing number of Israelis can now see that their future depends not upon military domination but upon a political solution is largely immaterial. As one Jewish journalist put it to me, ‘The attacks on the Peace Now movement and civil rights organisations by the Israeli Right is reminiscent of the Germany of 1938: we are creating a new nightmare for our children and our children’s children.’ Within Shin Bet itself, settler radicalism is now seen as a major problem!   

The Palestinian Authority is in reality not strong enough either to present a united Palestinian front or to take on a far more powerful Israel at the negotiating table. It remains the case that only the US can bring sufficient weight to bear on Netanyahu and the Israeli Right: yet Obama is not only constrained by next year’s US election but also by those among his financial backers who support Israel without reservation. Even if Obama were to secure a second term it remains highly unlikely in my opinion that he would be able to apply the necessary pressure to shift the Israeli Right. Indeed I cannot see any just solution until more Israelis themselves perceive that Netanyahu is pursuing an ultimately suicidal policy and so vote him out and a more rational and reasonable cabinet in. (Sadly, the increasingly harsh, anti-democratic legislation finding its way into the Israeli statute books does not augur well!)        The US and other Arab countries could then exert their political, economic, and military will to ensure – and it is possible if they are willing to be strong – the safety of Israel within her internationally recognised legal borders. The alternative to this is simply too awful to contemplate: an increasing number of reasoning Israelis realise this and should be supported at every turn. Sadly, I suspect that the hawks, the arms industry, and the diabolical extremists on the Christian Right in the US will call the tune for the foreseeable future.

How things will now play out in the region will depend upon which of the two realities below eventually wins the day. So is your glass half full or half empty? Because of the range and immediacy of new means of popular communication – as was made only too clear in the recent revolutions – many more people, especially the educated and informed young, are now far more aware of their marginalisation and of discrimination against them. It has already been proved that tyrants can be brought down by non-violent protest if numbers are sufficient, albeit at great personal cost to some. This young, informed, but largely either underemployed or unemployed demographic bulge in the region has within it the potential - provided the West does not interfere but instead supports - to effect some incredibly healthful changes there. On the other hand, they must contend with extremely powerful, greedy, reactionary, and morally and theologically reprehensible elites both within and beyond the region who have no intention whatsoever of giving up their greed or status. So whom we support, what we pray for, and how we act is not unimportant.                                                       

Campbell Paget 10^th November 2011

Rich Young Ruler Bible Study Questions - Luke 18; 18 to 30

Rich Young Ruler Bible Study Questions - Luke 18; 18 to 30

1.The Rich Young Ruler seems to have a lot going for him in life.

Why then do you think he asks Jesus the question about inheriting eternal life?

2. He claims to have kept the commandments since he was a boy.

Is this true do you think?

What commandments do you think he may not have kept?

3. Why do you think Jesus asks him to sell everything he has and give to the poor?

4. Can you think of anything that Jesus might want you to give up to follow him.

5. If the rich young ruler were to do as Jesus suggests how do you think his life would change?

What would he lose and what would he gain?

6. Jesus says it is very hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Why do you think this is?

7. Jesus assures his disciples that they will compensated for everything they have given up to follow him.

What do you think he means when he talks about receiving many times as much in this age?

Parable of the Rich Young Man - Luke 18 verses 18 to 30.

Let’s try and picture the scene. Jesus and his band of disciples are about to leave Judea and head towards Jerusalem. This is the Young Man’s last chance to ask Jesus the question that has been troubling him. He’s done his best to lead a good life but he senses there is something missing. Perhaps he’s watched Jesus healing people and seen the love and the joy and the peace that he exudes, and realised that he is lacking something.

He’s sure that Jesus will be able to answer his question so possibly wearing expensive robes – we don’t know but certainly he is identifiable as someone who has wealth - he goes running up to him and as Mark tells us, falls on his knees before him on the dusty ground.

Pride isn’t his problem. He asks Jesus in all sincerity what he must do to inherit eternal life.

He’s not trying to catch Jesus out as others have done. He is genuine.

Jesus asks him why he calls him good as there is no one to whom the word good can accurately be ascribed apart from God. In a strange sort of way I think he is asking the rich young man or ruler as Luke calls him, if he recognises who he is speaking to?

The rich young man is kneeling before and talking to God, the one who created him and the one who knows and loves him most of all, but he doesn’t recognise this as he is still spiritually blind.

Jesus refers him to the ten commandments and the rich young man assures him that he’s kept these since he was a boy.

Certainly he’s a moral person who’s done his best to lead a good life.

At this point Mark tells us that Jesus looks at the young man and loves him.

Jesus heart goes out to him.  He is filled with compassion towards him. Here is a sincere and humble young man who has done his best to lead a moral life but sadly that isn’t enough to receive eternal life.

Jesus sees immediately the root of his problem, the thing that is blocking him from receiving the life of his kingdom.

One thing you lack says Jesus, go, sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.

Here is the answer to the young man’s question.

The thing that is causing him to miss out on eternal life is his attachment to his wealth.

This is why he feels spiritually empty and although he is doing his best to lead a good life, he still senses that he is missing something.

He must let go of his attachment to his wealth in order to receive God’s kingdom, and then he will feel spiritually fulfilled and at peace with God.

Notice the invitation that Jesus extends to him. “Then come and follow me.”

Jesus is inviting him to join his band of disciples, to be one of them.

It’s exactly the same invitation he gave to the other disciples.

Simon and Andrew and James and John left their fishing boats behind, and Matthew left his tax collector’s booth following the same invitation.

At this the young man’s face falls. Slowly he rises from his knees and goes away with a heavy heart.

He has much more than an old fishing boat or a tax collector’s booth to leave behind.

He has great wealth and status. Luke tells us he is a ruler. The Greek word means leader or official and was used of various Jewish leaders including those in charge of a synagogue and members of the Sanhedrin – the Jewish ruling council.

No doubt the rich young man realises that parting with his money will also mean letting go also of the status and influence that goes with it.  It will mean letting go of his old life as he knows it, in order to embrace a new one.

What will his friends and family think if he gives away all his money and goes off to follow a travelling rabbi and his rag tag band of socially questionable followers?

As the young man slowly walks away Jesus comments how hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom of God.

He makes the remark about a Camel passing through the eye of a needle. Some people claim that there was a narrow gateway in Jerusalem called the eye of the needle and that to pass through it camels had to take off their bags.

However there doesn’t seem to be any archeological evidence for this,  so  I think Jesus is simply using exaggeration here, as when for instance he says we should take the beam out of our own eye before trying to take a speck of dust out of someone else’s eye.

His point is that it is extremely difficult for the rich to reach a point in their lives where they want God more than they do their wealth.

The disciples are quite shocked. If this genuine humble and moral young man can’t be saved who can?

Jesus tells them that what may seem humanly impossible is possible for God. We’re not told what became of the rich young man. Perhaps one day he did reach a point in his life where he was prepared to let go of what the world could offer him and embrace instead what God could offer.

We don’t know.

But what about us? Are we so wrapped up in what the world can offer us that we’re failing to receive God’s kingdom.  Like the rich young man perhaps we are leading fairly moral lives, and doing our best to be good people, perhaps coming to church and saying our prayers but we too sense that something is missing.

We see a life and faith in others that we don’t have ourselves. We hear Campbell speak of love and joy and peace and forgiveness but it doesn’t really resonate for us. If we’re truthful perhaps there is, deep down, an emptiness in our lives.

We’re materially very comfortable but somehow our lives lack real meaning and purpose.

If we were to fall on our knees before Jesus and ask him to diagnose our spiritual malaise I wonder what he’d pinpoint as our problem.

Perhaps it would be a love of money or perhaps an unhealthy attachment to some other worldy attraction.

Perhaps it’s a fear of what other people might think.

What would my friends and neighbours and even my family think if I really embraced Christianity?

Like with the rich young man, the pull of the world is stronger than the pull of God.

God comes into the lives of those who truly want him.

We need to welcome him into our lives with open arms not while we are trying to hold onto something else.

But if I were to do this would God ask me to give away all my money?

I think it is very unlikely. Money itself is not the problem. It is the importance we attach to it that is the problem. It is the love of money which is a root of all kinds of evil.

Ideally God wants us to be generous with our money and to be prepared to give some of it to others who have a need for it.

Money can make the world a very comfortable and alluring place to be whereas people tend to find God when they become dissatisfied with the world and what it can offer them.

This is why the poor, people in prison, and those struggling with life tend to find God more easily.

This is why tax collectors and sinners were attracted to Jesus message.

People for whom the world had little to offer and who had little in worldly terms to let go of.

People tend to seek and find God when the world loses its allure and life becomes a struggle.

We see this for instance in the story of the Prodigal son. It is only when he is reduced to eating pig food that he decides to return to his father.

The sad thing is that when we are focused purely on the world we lose sight of what is really important.

The world, the physical realm we live in, what we see around us with our physical eyes, will one day pass away, and cease to exist. The spiritual realm however will remain.  As Paul says; What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Worldy wealth and possessions will pass away. When we die we can’t take them with us.

If you look at this passage Jesus is offering this young man treasure in heaven, the opportunity to enter the kingdom of God and to be saved, and eternal life.

He offers him everything the world can’t offer him but the young man chooses temporary earthly pleasure and influence over eternal heavenly salvation.

Even more than this he misses out on finding purpose and meaning and spiritual fulfilment in this life.

When Peter  points out to Jesus that they the disciples have left everything to follow him, Jesus assures them that not only will they receive eternal life in the age to come, but everything they have given up to follow him will be more than compensated for in this life.

Having a relationship with Jesus adds a new spiritual dimension to our lives – a dimension in which we can receive numerous spiritual blessings from God – love, joy, peace, forgiveness, healing, protection, joy, hope, contentment.

As we walk with God day by day and seek to extend his kingdom by loving others, he imparts spiritual blessings back to us. As Jesus said, give and you will receive. With the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Until we find a relationship with God which is what we are designed for, our hearts remain restless. But when we find this relationship we become spiritually alive.

Radio waves are all around us but until we have an aerial that can receive these waves we are unaware of their existence.

Likewise God and the spiritual realm are all around us but until we are born of the spirit as Jesus puts it we 

cannot see the kingdom of God. We remain spiritually blind.

However when we do say yes to God’s invitation to follow him, we discover this new spiritual dimension to life. We discover a whole new level of life, life in all its fullness as Jesus puts it.

We find that God exists and his name is Jesus. We find that the devil exists and that there is a battle going on in the heavenly realms between good and evil , between the kingdoms of light and darkness, and that we are called to fight in this battle on God’s side, to extend his kingdom.

We find that the bible is spiritually alive and that heaven and hell are real places that exist in the spiritual realm, the realm we will enter when we die.

Of course we must live in the world and fulfill our worldy responsibilities. We must earn a living and get the roof mended or the car fixed. We can still enjoy food and wine and hobbies and family life.

But at the same time our outlook on life will change

As Paul says;  From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

I heard a couple of guys chatting in a shop the other day about how short life was and how important it was to enjoy it and to live for the moment, to  live for one’s own pleasure.

The trouble is that those who do this frequently find that the world doesn’t deliver the fulfillment they were hoping for.  Material possessions may make us comfortable but they don’t satisfy our inner hunger. And to live like this is to ignore God and the commandment to love Him.

But what about you?

Deep down are you dissatisfied with life and hungry for meaning and purpose?

Do you want to become spiritually alive as well as physically alive.

Do you want to know Jesus and have a relationship with him?

Do you want to find the purpose for which God created you?

Do you want the things that Jesus offers this young man – eternal life, salvation, to be a part of God’s kingdom, treasure in heaven?

If you do, invite God wholeheartedly into your life?

Let go of your attachment to whatever it is that has been holding you back or your fear of what other people may think. What God thinks is infinitely more important.

Tell God that you want life in all its fullness and embrace his offer?

Say yes Lord Jesus I will follow you.

Let’s pray

Jesus is here now by his spirit.

Perhaps he is issuing that invitation to follow him to you now.

Perhaps it’s one that you’ve hesitated to accept in the past but today you would like to accept.

If you would, just say yes in your heart now to Jesus and invite him in to your life.

Amen.

‘The Parable of the Good Samaritan’- Remembrance Sunday 2011 Luke Chapter 10 verses 25 - 37

‘The Parable of the Good Samaritan’- Remembrance Sunday 2011

Luke Chapter 10 verses 25 - 37

Our Gospel reading this morning is probably the most well-known of Jesus’ parables: certainly its hero has entered into not only the English language to describe anyone who comes to the rescue of another. But this parable is very much more than just an ethical exhortation to reach out to those in need. Some of you may be wondering why I chose it for today, for Remembrance Sunday. Well, let me tell you. I did so, first, because it deals with the kind of prejudices and hatred that cause wars – so that alone, it seems to me, makes it a good choice for today: but, secondly, because it offers us a solution, an antidote to those prejudices and hatreds that fuel wars however large, however small.

The story takes place within a dialogue between Jesus and a lawyer. (Poor old lawyers; they do come off rather badly in the Gospels.) But it was not an innocent question this lawyer asked. No, if we consider the context and what has gone before, we must realise that they are out for his blood, in which of course they did eventually succeed because of his claims about himself, his claims to be God in human flesh; in short, his blasphemy.

By Jesus’ day, the idea had grown up that by keeping the law of God, a devout Jew could inherit eternal life (Heaven, if you prefer). This was a very exclusivist teaching however and went against what Moses and the Prophets had actually taught; which was that eternal life is in fact God’s gift, that he would bestow it on whom he saw fit, and that this inheritance was available to all, regardless of race: to all, that is, who would be reconciled to him – wherein of course lies the rub.

But Jesus, instead of repeating what Moses and the prophets had taught, decides to take up this popular current idea (that by obeying the law a person can make themselves acceptable to God and so gain eternal life) and pushes the lawyer’s understanding to see just where it leads. Jesus was always wanting to educate people out of their erroneous presuppositions about God and into true knowledge of him - even at the cost of his own well-being: and he assaulted any prejudices or hatred he encountered because these could have no place in his Kingdom.  Jesus, then, does not offer his own view but very skilfully gets the lawyer to think more deeply about where his, the lawyer’s, views on the law actually lead.

The lawyer – cunning chaps that they are – in reply gives Jesus Jesus’ own summary of the law. Doubtless he had heard it or heard of it. Jesus commends his knowledge but then challenges him to believe what he claims he knows. ‘You have the right belief but will you act upon it?’ That must surely always be the question for us too: it is not enough simply our knowing what we ought to do for others, or our just having sympathy for them. 

Will we act? Will we put into practice the second commandment?

Jesus is widening the discussion here from eternal life to all of life; and in his reply (verse 27) to Jesus, hasn’t the lawyer himself just stated a standard that no one, by their own efforts, can EVER fully reach?

(One of the reasons Jesus changed round the sequence in the two great commandments was because he knew that a person cannot possibly truly love their neighbour as themself unless they also truly love God. Oh yes, such an idea was as controversial in his day as it still is in ours; so we had better leave that one for another day. I am simply presenting what Jesus taught.)

So Jesus does not give the lawyer the list he wants of things that he can do: instead, in terms of keeping the law, he teaches a requirement of total commitment to God and to neighbour. Both Jesus and St. Paul teach that complete obedience to this ‘Royal law’, as it is sometimes called, is the way to get right with God: the problem, as they also taught, is that no one except Jesus has ever been able to do so! This is why Jesus (God incarnate, God choosing to be born a man) is the only solution.  He alone is able to do what we cannot do: he alone can graciously grant us eternal life as a gift through faith in him - through our humble admission that we cannot, and our grateful faith that he can.

But this lawyer, like many people who believe they do well enough on their own and deserve, by their accumulated good deeds or their success or their fine character, to inherit eternal life, persists in his belief that he can do something to gain it. He just does not realise that it is only by God’s mercy (which comes through faith in this Jesus) that he may live and inherit eternal life. He does not want to live through faith in God’s grace and mercy: he does not even know what these are. He is too proud. He actually lives by something quite different from mercy; he lives by his own good intentions and perceived ability to present himself as a righteous man before God. Human pride is indeed a most powerful force; but  how misleading it can be!

The lawyer, wanting to justify himself, wanting to hear from Jesus the then current definition of neighbour as being ‘family and friends’ (to whom obviously he reckons he has been good and can claim such) puts his next, seemingly innocent, question.                                The parable is Jesus’ response.

Jerusalem to Jericho is a 17 mile long descent through inhospitable desert. The Crusaders later built a fort half way along the route in order to protect pilgrims from attack by robbers. In the Middle East there are a whole host of different ethnic-religious communities easily identifiable by their language, their accent, and their dress. 

The beaten up, stripped naked, man could not therefore be identified: he had been reduced to a mere human being in need. The parable assumes that each passer-by could have helped. The first, the priest – priests generally fare even less well than lawyers in the Gospels! – was not only worried about the robbers but also  about making himself ritually unclean if he even approached within a few feet of a dead man.  

Were he to become contaminated, he would be unable to perform his priestly duties, he would have to go through a lengthy process of cleansing, and there would be great social stigma incurred as a result. He would be letting down his family and acquaintances. In short, his passing by on the other side shows that he was the victim of the rule book and of peer pressure. Life for him was a love restricting codified system of do’s and don’ts.  And of course there is a safety and a comfort in such systems; which is another reason why the Gospel of Jesus Christ so often falls on the deaf ears of such people. Why? Well because it demands that we submit our cosy legalism to the risky challenge of operating outside of those comforting but debilitating social and religious constraints that prevent us from keeping the two great commandments as we ought.

He passes by, and the next passer-by’s, the Levite’s, excuses would be pretty much the same as the priest.

Jesus’ listeners would have had every sympathy with both; after all, they were simply upholding the religious and social norms of behaviour. ‘I wonder who will be next along, they ask themselves.’ Jesus could perhaps have told a story about a foolish but gallant young Jewish boy who rescues the man; but no, in choosing a Samaritan, the heretical, traditional enemy, he speaks to one of his audiences’ deepest hatreds, and painfully exposes it.

Now the Samaritan was not a gentile: he was bound by the same Torah, the same Old Testament teaching, as the Jew. But he is the one who shows compassion, the one who lives out the law as Moses and the prophets had expounded it.

Almost certainly, the Levite would have known that there was a priest ahead of him on the road: this gave him in fact a kind of perverse permission to not help the man either. The Samaritan too would have known, almost certainly, who was ahead of him and that the two had not come to the aid of the man who was very probably a Jew himself. So why should he intervene? Did they know something he does not know? But no; he has compassion on the man, ‘binds up his wounds’ (the very same language used of God’s coming to the aid of the Israelites), and takes him on to Jericho and to the inn, not only at great expense to himself but also at great danger from both robbers and Jews. The Samaritan demonstrates quite unexpected love to this stranger, this fellow human being. His race is simply not an issue. This is why this parable is such an appropriate one for Remembrance Sunday: in studying it we are shown both some of the ridiculous prejudices and hatreds that cause wars and the right response to them for anyone who would follow Jesus Christ.

Jesus will not give the Lawyer his list of things to do, nor will he state who is and who is not the lawyer’s neighbour. Rather, he re-shapes the lawyer’s question, asking him – and therefore you and me – ‘to whom must we, he, become a neighbour?’

This last statement of Jesus’ is not a general admonition to good works but simply his answer to the lawyer’s question trying to justify himself. ‘You want a list of do’s and who’s? That’s not what the law is about. Here is the standard you must meet: think of the worst religious, or social faux pas you could possibly make, not only that but at great cost and danger to yourself, and then go and do it should you find any human being in need – no matter their race, their colour, their creed, their class.

Yet here is the rub. Yes, this is the standard if you want to get to Heaven by your own efforts: but who can achieve this? Our sins are not only the bad things we do but also, and perhaps on the basis of this parable we must understand that they are much more so, the good we fail to do. And always it is a failure to love – of God or of our neighbour as ourself. But with God all things are possible. And as perhaps the lawyer and the audience were beginning to realise as they studied the ministry and teaching and claims of Jesus, here was one who acted as and claimed to be the one who could give the answers to all their questions; indeed could help them to frame their questions in the right way. ‘No one’, they were wont to exclaim, ‘ever taught like this!’

The standard Jesus taught remains, even though it is impossibly high; impossibly high for you and for me because of our essential selfishness and pride, tainted as these are by all manner of religious, social, and other prejudices.

The original audience would have been in no doubt that here was Jesus, once again, not only saying to them ‘away with all your pernicious prejudices that are the cause of the enmity between us and the Samaritans and many more besides’, but also telling them something very profound about himself. They have seen him healing people, forgiving them their sins, restoring them to life. I am sure many of them must have been asking themselves how could he tell such a story, unless....’

So today, as we remember – as we always must - those who gave their lives in order that we might live, let us remind ourselves of the pernicious prejudices and hatreds that cause wars and resolve not to allow them, whatever the cost, to get the better of us; but let us also not forget but indeed open the door of our lives to the one who laid down his life in order that we might find life in all its fullness, a life that may only be discovered through repentance and faith, and which, by walking together with the risen Christ in the way of the Royal Law, leads to eternal life.

The standard set is indeed impossible for us to achieve on our own. But God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself: he has made it possible. I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ may grant us all the wisdom to see him more clearly, the humility to accept him, and the grace to walk with him day by day and no matter the personal cost to ourselves.

STUDY/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Luke Chapter 17 verses 7 – 10

1. How do you see your faith and with it your discipleship of Jesus? What is important to you? Do you picture it, first and foremost, in terms of duty and service? If not, how else?

2. How would you think others/most people answer the first question? What does faith and belonging to a Church mean to them?

3. Do you think the world sees Christian faith in terms of duty and service? If not, how do you think the world views the Church today?

4. What is the sequence, so to speak, of Jesus’ thinking here for the place in the Christian’s life of ‘doing good works’? What is the relationship, as Jesus and the New Testament writers present it, between faith and good works?

5. There is much talk these days of the need and importance for people to have self-worth and self-esteem. Where do people look for them and how do they attempt to build them? Are they always healthy? How might a Christian understand these concepts? Where ought Christians to seek such things? How important are they? Can they be an obstacle to growth in spiritual maturity?

6. Closely related to the concepts of self-worth and self-esteem is the need to be appreciated. This is in one sense an aspect of the need to be loved; but is it always spiritually healthy? What exactly is Jesus trying to help his disciples to understand in the passage?

Luke Chapter 17 verses 7 – 10 ‘The Parable of the Obedient Servant’

Last Sunday we explored the very well-known parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It is certainly one of the most well-recognised of the parables, even if its message is not always the most well understood or, more importantly, taken to heart and acted upon! As with so many of Jesus’ parables, we discovered there both challenge and encouragement: challenge to the self confident and to those who like to advertise themselves to others; encouragement to those who are honest enough and humble enough to realise that they need God’s mercy if they are to be reconciled to him - something, says Jesus, we all must do, regardless of any social or intellectual advantages, lest by failing to do so, we disqualify ourselves from Heaven.

This week we encounter a parable, the Parable of The Obedient Servant, with a significance that far outweighs the attention it usually receives. I think in part at least that is because the parable serves as a stark and sobre reminder to the disciples - and therefore to you and to me - about our position and responsibilities vis-a-vis our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: it is certainly a clear rebuttal to any who have too pally an idea of their relationship with God.

There is a tendency in some churches these days to avoid the reading or discussion of some of the more challenging passages of scripture like this one for fear that they will make people feel uncomfortable about themselves and about their relationship with God, perhaps even causing them to leave and to seek a church where they may hear only an interpretation of the ‘good news’ that comforts and consoles them; one that simply confirms them in their prejudices about themselves and in their delusions about the kind of God they are prepared to worship; a God for the modern man or woman who doesn’t ask too many questions about their lifestyle, behaviour, or priorities.

This parable, however, is a sobering reminder that duty calls; and that we must have no expectation of special merit or reward simply because we have done our duty. Luke includes it, I think, because some people and even some churchgoers still today, think that by their service of God they can somehow expect some special reward or dispensation from him. I have myself heard from the mouth of more than one churchgoer, echoing the words of Louis XIV on hearing of the defeat of his army by Marlborough at Blenheim, ‘How could God do this to me after all that I have done for him.’

But whilst this parable is indeed a sobering challenge to any thoughts of special merit on our part for what we do for God, a closer examination and understanding of its cultural background in the Middle East reveals some truths that are all too easily missed in a superficial reading or understanding, truths which do indeed serve to encourage us in our discipleship of Jesus. Jesus’ first audience were his disciples, some of whom may well themselves have had servants or slaves (the Greek allows for both translations), and he is appealing here to the common Middle Eastern understanding of the master- servant relationship. V7. He expects the answer ‘Of course not!’ Now I realise that some modern clergy will quote parables such as this one to support their argument that much of the bible is no longer relevant to modern people because society is now so different from Jesus’ day: but actually it is in a profounder understanding of the servant-master relationship, not its irrelevance, that we are able to appreciate more clearly our own relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There are two aspects to note here.

Let me deal with the less obvious one first, the one disguised by the gap between our culture and his, though less so perhaps to those Downton Abbey afficionados among you who, for all the very real inequalities and differences between ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’, recognise nonetheless the genuine concern of compassionate souls from ‘upstairs’ for those in difficulties ‘downstairs’.    Of course, if you believe that all ‘upstairs’ were incapable of compassion, and the shortcomings of all ‘downstairs’ to have been the direct fault of those ‘upstairs’, then my parallel may well not help you. 

Certainly in Jesus’ day, the master-servant relationship implied the servant’s acceptance of authority and obedience to that authority but also – and this is the vital thing for us today to understand here - a security, sense of worth, and meaning that was deeply felt on the part of the servant who served a great man.

Now perhaps that does all sound nonsense to the modern mind and to the modern worker who has just been laid off on account of the whim or gambling instinct of some investor in the City of London; but to the Middle Eastern servant, the benefits of working for a noble master were enormous. This is the first aspect of our relationship with Jesus this parable teaches us.

That relationship is very much an appropriate model for the Christian’s relationship to Christ, especially so when we consider, with the benefit of hindsight, that our Master was prepared to lay down his life for those servants whom he came to call ‘friends’: friends indeed; but friends who understood so very deeply what it was he had done for them, so that there was never any question of making claims upon that friendship; only a desire to serve him.

The disciples, then, you and I, are called to identify with the servant of the parable. Now we need to bear in mind here two phrases in particular in order to be able to understand the second aspect of the relationship conveyed by this parable: ‘special merit’ v9 and ‘nothing owing’ v10. The parable speaks of work accomplished and its results. After all of this work, is the Master indebted to the servant? Has he, the servant, earned any special merit? Is anything still ‘owing’ to the servant? It is a question that in Jesus’ day would have produced a resounding ‘no!’ in response: of course the servant, having only done his duty, can expect no special favours. But I do not think that such a response would be so automatic these days, even in some churches: sometimes there is, instead, a sense that well, actually, I do deserve special thanks or mention for what I have done for God or for the Church. (I am assuming here, of course, we agree that everything we do in and for the Church we do for God.)

I know it is natural to want to be thanked, to be appreciated for what we do: however, in my time as, first, a churchwarden and then a parish priest, I have witnessed the dangers and the damage that, believe it or not and strange though it may seem, a preoccupation with being thanked and thanking can bring. For some individuals, it really isn’t good for their souls! For others, it is their wealth that allows them to do things for the church and for God, things which others cannot do, and therefore makes those others feel inadequate.                  

I won’t labour this point; but I do find it so refreshing, as well as a sign of spiritual maturity, when I receive a hushed word or a short note from people asking me not to thank them publicly. Just to illustrate how ridiculous it can get, one clergyman told me of how his churchwardens and PCC were so concerned to thank people for their contributions to some small fund-raising event that they actually spent more on the ‘thank you’ cards and their postage than they raised for the charity! 

You see there is a very real spiritual danger to this ‘need to be appreciated’; and I think our Lord knew this only too well, which is why he warned his disciples about the dangers of expecting special merit or mention for having done, well, simply one’s duty.

But of course this parable will not make any sense to those who cannot see that the reconciliation, the salvation, won for them by Jesus through his atoning death on the cross, does demand from anyone who has truly appreciated the cost of their freedom in Christ much more than just a sigh of relief, a token ‘thank you,’ or occasional appearance in the pew. Jesus speaks here and elsewhere in terms of duty and of service, not only because that is a fitting response but because it is also a liberating one. ‘His service is perfect freedom’; and we will not discover this unless and until we take on the responsibilities of our calling as his disciples. You can imagine how such thinking strikes the modern man and woman with their rights-based priorities and agendas - as shockingly as Jesus’ question here about the servant – ‘can you imagine?!’ No, the disciple is not to be envisaged as an employee who can work and expect payment; rather, a slave for whom the master accepts total responsibility but who also enjoys total security and who, at the same time, takes up his or her cross out of a sense of duty and loyalty and thankfulness, and not in the hope of gaining rewards. Clearly this parable is talking again about salvation and good works, but also about the related topic of motivation for service and its results. It is a demand for the renunciation of all ideas of self-righteousness or the earning of favour with God through good works.

Will we not be rewarded in Heaven? Are there not elsewhere in the Gospels passages where rewards are mentioned for the faithful? Yes indeed! Jesus promises rewards - to those who are obedient without thought of reward.   You can understand, I’m sure, how alien so much of this and Jesus’ teaching elsewhere must sound; so alien, so unfair even to many people today. That is because they have not appreciated the spiritually parlous state in which they live, nor accepted the gift of freedom so costly won by Jesus for them. 

And no one can truly appreciate the peace, the joy, and the opportunity to become more truly human, more like Jesus, until they put behind them any thoughts of merit or special mention and simply offer themselves for duty, knowing that in Jesus, and in him alone, they will find any peace, joy, fulfilment or self-esteem worth having. It is a tough message; but it is also a liberating one for those who will take him at his word, take up their cross and follow him to freedom.