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Sermon: The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany (C) - 14th February 2010
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping
Readings: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26
There comes a time when a leader must stand up and outline what he believes and where he/she is going. Luke’s gospel has a long introduction, explaining the coming of Jesus and the events surrounding his birth and early life. But the time has now come in Luke’s gospel for Jesus to explain himself and to give details of his mission.
The way Luke tells the story, he is presenting Jesus as another Moses who has come to rescue his people. Luke’s aim is to indicate the importance and the significance of Jesus for Israel. but from the picture he paint, far more than just Israel will be impacted by Jesus’ mission.
Luke uses ideas and images from the Moses story to tell his story. It begins with Jesus assembling the twelve disciples. Bach when I went to school if you could assemble eleven boys you knew you had enough for a soccer or a cricket team. If you had a few more you played rugby. In the sporting world numbers mean things. So it was in Jesus day. Normally, a teacher would gather around him three or four students or disciples and teach them for several years. But Jesus deliberately chose twelve. There had been twelve tribes of Israel. But ten of those tribes had been consigned to the pages of history by Jesus’ day. Only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah had survived. But by choosing twelve Jesus was sending the message that his task was the restoration of Israel. Now there would be a new twelve, a new or a renewed Israel under his leadership.
Then we are told that Jesus took the twelve to a level place. Why are we told that? Why would Jesus do that deliberately? When we consider the size of the crowd that was with him, going to a level place would normally be the wrong place. Elsewhere we see Jesus taking note of the acoustics, getting into a boat and mooring out from shore so all could hear him. But here, Jesus gathers a large crowd onto a level plain. He does it because Moses did it. The people of Israel gathered on the plain before Mt Sinai when Moses received the Law. What was about to take place now was an event of such importance that Jesus re-enacts this Exodus event.
Though this seems such a Jewish story with the twelve and this Exodus re-enactment, Luke is quick to point out that the implications of this story go much further. We are told of a great crowd of disciples, a great multitude of people from Judea and Jerusalem. But then we are told of people coming from Tyre and Sidon. These are not Jewish cities. They were never a part of Israel. Sidon is a long way north of Galilee and on the coast. The god of Sidon was known as a god of healing. Yet it was not far from Tyre and Sidon when Jesus healed the daughter of the Syrophoenecian woman. The locals in the area were greatly impressed by this miracle.
And so the great crowd of people that surrounded Jesus on this level plain included a significant number from outside of Israel. The impression that Luke gives is of a large group of people that goes beyond the borders of Israel. The idea is that the world is watching Jesus on this day. When Moses drew together a large crowd he gave them the law, the ten commandments. So now with this gathered crowd, what does Jesus have to offer?
Just as Luke uses sweeping statements to describe this great crowd with “all of Judea” so Luke describes Jesus healing ministry. “All in the crowd” were trying to touch him. And power came out of him and he “healed all of them.” This was an amazing display of Jesus’ power. Again we have a contrast with Sinai. There the people heard the voice of God and trembled. But now the power of God is demonstrated in these many healings.
But the demonstration of this power is to show the validity of the teaching that’s to come. Having seen the healings the crowd would conclude that God was with Jesus and therefore, what he would say could be trusted. But what is it that Jesus does say? With the build up that Luke gives this sermon, it must be significant. When Moses went onto Mt Sinai he received the Ten Commandments – ten rules to explain how the people of God should live. In Deuteronomy we find lists of blessings for those who remain faithful to God with a list of curses for those who disobey.
But Jesus takes this teaching one step further. He addresses those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who weep and those who are hated. We can be sure that what he is describing is most of the people standing before him. This was their experience of life. In Jesus day most were poor, most were hungry. In a world of disease and high infant mortality, grief was a common experience. What Jesus is describing is the world as they knew it. Yet he is telling them that their world will be turned upside down. To those who were poor, they would receive a kingdom. Those who were hungry will be filled. those who wept would laugh. Those who were hated would receive a heavenly reward. In other words Jesus is describing a whole new world that he is bringing in.
They say that Barack Obama made some big promises so that he would be elected President, but what Jesus is announcing is a new world and a new way of living. First, there is the promise of the most wonderful blessings from God, but also the expectation that we will live as a part of that new world. That is explained in two ways. First, we have the warning of curses for those who are rich, or full, or laughing or are well-liked. There is nothing wrong with any of those thing unless we stand in the way of this new world order. Second, there is the expectation that we live as citizens of this new world, in that we live like Jesus lived. Later on Jesus teaches, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” We can dismiss such commands as naïve and unrealistic until we remember that that was how Jesus lived, He went to Calvary with the curses and the jeering of the crowds ringing in his ears.
So Jesus is announcing the coming of this new world. It is good news in terms of the blessings it will bring. But it includes a warning in that we will be expected to live as citizens in this new world. I love the films made my Clint Eastwood. One reason is because they usually contain a strong message about redemption. His latest film continues that theme. “Invictus” is about the early days of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. Here the prisoner has become the president. For all South Africans, their world was turned upside down. But that raised the question of how should they live? What kind of government would Mandela lead.
Many believed the blacks would treat the whites as badly as the whites had treated them. But Mandela wanted something different. His grand plan was for a multi-coloured state. It sounded good in theory. But Mandela had to point out constantly that the theory was not enough. It had to be worked out between each citizen, each neighbour. People had to begin to change how they treated each other. The macro theory was not enough. It had to be sorted out at the micro level as well, with each person having to decide to treat each other in a new way. Enemies had to learn to become friends. People had to begin to trust those they had usually hated. Well, you’ll need to see the film for yourself. But it wont’ be enough for us just to rejoice in the glorious heavenly hope that Jesus has promised us. We need to consider how we will live in this new world of love, forgiveness, trust and reconciliation.