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Sermon: Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (C) - 18th July 2010
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping 8 & 10am
Readings: Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-29; Luke 10:38-42
“Who is this man?” Right from the time that people knew the circumstances of Mary’s pregnancy, many would have been asking this question about Jesus. The shepherds and the wise men soon after his birth, and the teachers in the temple being challenged by the 12-year boy from Nazareth, would have asked themselves and each other that question. And as people saw his miracles and heard his parables, as they tried to come to grips with his challenging teaching and observed the way he responded to those who tried to trip him up, they would have wondered who he really was. As the down-and-out and the disreputable experienced his care, and as the powerful found themselves under pressure from him, they asked, “Who is he?” Is he a teacher, a prophet, a miracle-worker, a healer? Or is he a trickster, a manipulator, a blasphemer, a servant of Satan?
The belief amongst powerbrokers that he was a blasphemer and a threat to the system led to his crucifixion. Some already believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of God (whatever that meant). And when the story of his resurrection began to spread, the question had to be asked all over again.
Of course, the question has been asked ever since. Church leaders and theologians tried over the centuries to clarify the details, and councils sought to distinguish between truth and heresy. And so the question continues to be asked today. Some dismiss the story of Jesus as mere fantasy, nothing more than a myth. Musicals present him as a clown or a tragically misguided man. Others use him to develop a whole range of agendas. And even his followers find themselves arguing when they try to answer that question: “Who is this man?”
Ultimately, we must come back to the New Testament if we are going to get any real answer to the question. We can find sufficient evidence elsewhere to agree that he was a real person, and to confirm the outline of his ministry. There is external evidence of his death, and of the growing belief in his resurrection.
But only in the New Testament will we find any understanding of Jesus that goes back to eyewitnesses, and is based on the experience of those who knew him. If we reject that, there is precious little to go on. We can make up our own version of Jesus, we can pick and choose our own ideas of what we think Jesus might have said and done, but what is the point, what is the value?
The apostle Paul believed himself to have been commissioned for the task of making the message of Jesus Christ known to all kinds of people, and in particular the Gentiles. What did he base his understanding on? Well, he was converted within 3 or 4 years of Jesus’ death, and it is reasonable to assume that he had the opportunity to see and hear Jesus himself – although at the time he would have been horrified rather than impressed. He got to know many of the apostles and other disciples. He knew his Old Testament, which interlinked with so much of Jesus’ teaching and his claims. He clearly had an outstanding mind. He had his own unique encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and apparently he had other extraordinary spiritual experiences. And he believed that he had the guidance of God himself through the Holy Spirit, and apostolic authority as a witness of the risen Jesus.
In his travels, Paul bore witness to the message of Christ, and in his letters he sought to build his readers up in their understanding of that message and its implications. We find some of that teaching in today’s reading from the Letter to the Colossians. Although there are always arguments about these things, I believe that he wrote this letter only about 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. At the time, there were developing a range of ideas about who Jesus was, many of which were reactions to other religious and mystical ideas going around in the community. A growing idea was that God was so holy that there was no way of approaching him except through a whole collection of intermediaries, each one a bit closer to God than the previous one. Where did Jesus fit in? Paul’s answer cuts across all that.
He makes clear the divinity of Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible God: if we want to see God, we look at Christ, who reveals God to us. He is the firstborn of all creation - not the first-made of all creation: he is not created, but is appropriately called God the Son, sharing the very nature of God himself.
And as the firstborn, he is the heir, the owner of creation. Indeed it is through him, says Paul, that creation came into being. John tells us the same thing in the opening words of his Gospel. And in fact, it is through him that all things hold together. Later on, we are told that God in all his fullness is to be found in Jesus. This man, so loved, so hated, so misunderstood, is nothing less than God experiencing human existence, God becoming one of us.
Paul also makes clear the headship of Christ. He describes Christ as the head of the body, which is the church, the family of all his followers. Christ is the source of its very being. He is the firstborn from the dead. His resurrection is the basis of the very existence of the church, the source of its hope. But if God is holy, and we are mortal and fallible and sinful, how can we reach God? Because Christ has reconciled us to God through the blood of the cross: not just forgiveness in the sense of not being punished for our sins and failures – this is real forgiveness, the restoration of the relationship with God for which we were originally made.
We were estranged from God, we were hostile in the sense that our natural desire was to do our thing rather than put God first: but through Christ we can be presented as holy and blameless and irreproachable before him. So Paul presents to us Christ the Saviour, whose suffering brings us salvation, indeed brings us to God as his beloved people, not as his enemies.
Paul presented a big picture of Jesus, who is God with us, God for us. Of course, it can sound like a lot of complex doctrine. Does it really matter? Why not have our own ideas, and leave it at that?
Paul was very clear that what we believe matters. And what we believe about Jesus really matters. Why? Because if we don’t a sense of what we believe, we will go off in all directions, and end up in confusion, and lose hold of Jesus himself. Because our understanding of Jesus gives us the basis of our relationship with Jesus, and the basis of our hope. Because our understanding of Jesus gives us the clues for our direction in life and the way we will live and act.
The way we live is a reflection of what we believe. If we believe in a vengeful God who calls us to be instruments of that vengeance, we may well justify terrorism and violence in his name. If we believe in a God of love and righteousness, who reaches out to us in our frailty, we will see that it is important to do good and show love to others. If we believe that Jesus’ teaching has divine authority, we will see the relevance of its challenge to us today. If we believe in a God who understands and forgives, we will trust in his love rather than desperately try to ensure that we do enough good works to make ourselves acceptable, always wondering if we’ve done enough. If we believe in a Saviour who suffered to bring us God’s blessings, we will be in a better position to hang in there when suffering comes to us, for we know that God does not abandon us when we suffer. If we believe that we have an eternal hope in Christ, we shall be able to find a more complete perspective on the problems and struggles of this life.
Paul challenges his readers to continue, securely established and steadfast in the faith, and not to shift from the hope promised by the Gospel. Our faith is not simply in human theories. Our faith is not simply in doctrine, important though it actually is.
And incidentally, doctrine is not a weapon with which to beat people around the head if they don’t see things our way. Rather, it is the understanding which enables us to know Jesus and to appreciate all that he has done for us. It gives us the basis for going on in faith, and holding on to the hope we have in Jesus.
Our faith is in Jesus himself: Jesus who is the Christ, the Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ who reveals God to us, but who also will bring us as his precious friends into the fullness of God’s presence, and the fullness of his eternal blessings. It is Christ whom Paul proclaims: it is Christ in whom our faith stands. May we keep getting to know about Jesus, and keep getting to know Jesus better. Of course we don’t have all the answers, but the one who gives us the answers we need has come to us. Indeed, Paul says, Christ is in us: he is our hope of glory. May we then continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope of the Gospel. Amen.