Tag: cross

Sunday 27th September

Simon’s reflection for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost

What do you find encouraging in today’s readings? I invite you just for a moment to reread the verses of the letter to the Philippians, verses 5 – 11; the ones that begin: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus….” There, have you read them? Good, then I’ll continue.

Now, I’m no biblical scholar and I don’t know enough to assess the different arguments among scholars about biblical texts. I do however believe that understanding the bible properly and with the help of good scholarship can strengthen our faith rather than weaken it, but what I want to say is what I know of that passage deepens my faith and is something that really encourages me. I’ll tell you why but first a bit of background.

The letter to the Philippians may consist of 3 letters put together. The letter or letters were written around the mid-50s AD, around 20 odd years after the death and resurrection of our Lord. Paul is writing them from prison, probably in Ephesus, and his purpose is partly to encourage the Christians of Philippi to bear with the sufferings they face and to see God at work through them, just as Paul, as a prisoner, is doing.

Many people think that the verses you read at the beginning were part of a hymn that was known by Christians at the time. There is a theory that this hymn was written in Aramaic, the language Jesus would have spoken. Paul of course wrote in Greek. Whether the words were written in Aramaic or whether St Paul composed it, I do not know, but, here’s what I’m trying to write about, what I find amazing is the things those Christians believed about the man, Jesus of Nazareth, so soon after his death!

Of what human being would anyone say that they were in the form of God and had some sort of equality with God; that they “emptied themselves” first by being born, which implies that they existed with God before birth and secondly by dying on a cross? To what human being would God give all power and authority? How did these first Christians come to believe such remarkable things about a human being? What had happened to make them believe such things?

Now some may say that people believed all sorts of things in those days. Well yes that is true. Other ancient cultures were inclined to call their ceasars or their pharoahs or their emperors  “gods” but I don’t know of an example from antiquity of anyone describing a convicted criminal as a god, do you? After all, one of the main things that is corroborated about Jesus’ life outside the bible is that he died on a cross. Jesus suffered a humiliating and degrading criminal’s death; the ancient equivalent of the scaffold or the electric chair!  I suspect those who died in such a way in those times would normally be thought of as life’s losers rather than “gods.”

Moreover, the people who first started thinking these things about Jesus were not Greeks or Egyptians or Babylonians but Jews. They were steeped in a culture which didn’t accept that men or women were “gods.” They had a strong history of opposing idolatry. Their own kings, even the greatest ones like David and Solomon, were not described as gods in the bible but, rather as very fallible human beings.

So, I still find it amazing. Something must have happened which made those people believe such things and I believe that something was the resurrection.

Paul says that the power that was in Christ can be in us. So while he is asking the Phillipians to imitate Christ’s humility and self-sacrifice, he is also saying more than that. “Let the same mind be in you as was in Christ Jesus” He speaks of the sharing of the Holy Spirit among Christians. He is saying that God can form us into more Christ-like people and a more Christ-like community, if we let Him.

Now perhaps in a way that can sometimes be even more difficult to believe, that God can be at work within us especially when we get things wrong so often.

But it does say that Christian discipleship is about more than simply being loving and kind to one another. It is definitely about that, but in order to do that we need to believe and trust in the one who emptied Himself out of love for us. We need to work at loving our neighbour and loving God at the same time as they both feed into each other. We need to let Jesus teach us what genuine love and genuine authority are and we need to learn from him.

Maybe discipleship is a bit like learning to dance. To do it well we need to learn and practice the steps but who wants to dance without music? Our relationship with God is the music. Amen.

SIMON’S REFLECTION for the 13th SUNDAY after PENTECOST

People often say “we all have our crosses to bear” and by those words, they are usually referring to the fact that no-one is exempt from suffering in some form.

“Into each life some rain must fall” as they say. Fairy-tales may end with the words “happily ever after” but we need to realise that “happily ever after” is in reality for the hereafter. We all face problems in life from time to time, from sickness of ourselves or loved ones and for many other reasons and of course, how could we be entirely happy when we look at the suffering and injustice in the wider world around us. At the moment living through these difficult times, these things are even more apparent to us perhaps than normally.

There are no short cuts to a “happy ever after” in this life. That doesn’t mean that this aspect of life should overshadow everything else. There is still joy and happiness in this life but we can’t expect to feel that all the time.

But important as all that is, it is not what Jesus is talking about in his words to Peter and the disciples in today’s gospel. Jesus is not talking about the general unhappiness that comes to everyone at times through life, he is talking about the suffering and sacrifices that will come to those who choose to follow him.

His words are a corrective to the over-excitement of Peter. I’m sure the other disciples probably felt the same over-excitement. Today’s conversation follows on from the conversation we read about last week in which Peter recognised that Jesus was the messiah. Jesus confirmed Peter’s insight but he then tried to take the disciples a step further to understand what it means to be God’s messiah and to warn them that the opposition already building against him will lead, in the end, to his death.

Peter’s horror at Jesus’ words shows that this is not the picture of what was going to happen next that he had in his head. Peter, no doubt, had a triumphalist vision of what it meant that Jesus was the Messiah. That vision was in line with the popular imagination of the time. Peter pictured a King David figure, who would restore Israel and then usher in a “happily ever after.”

The prophet Jeremiah could have told him differently. In our Old Testament reading we heard one of Jeremiah’s laments which reflect his struggles with what God has asked him to do. Jeremiah, called as a young man, had to tell his people that their sins were so great that God was going to send a punishment upon them. They would be sent into Exile. It was a message that would bring him persecution and that would be rejected.

The joy Jeremiah initially felt at his call has turned to distress and a feeling of abandonment. Yet he knows that in the end, God will vindicate him.  It is a vivid picture of the cost of true service.

In morning prayer last week, the readings focussed on Acts chapter 7, the account of the stoning of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Stephen’s speech illustrates the early churches understanding of the fate of the prophet s in the Old Testament; an understanding which may well have come from Jesus.

Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets are themselves rejected by the generation they are speaking to, even if their message may later be revered and accepted by subsequent generations. The early church saw all of this history of the rejection of God’s messengers as pointing to the ultimate rejection of the Son of God who was put on a cross.

Jesus then is warning his disciples that that they too will face troubles and rejection and some of them will face literal martyrdom if they truly follow him.

Elsewhere, Jesus says that if our following of Him, brings us trouble that actually may be a sign that we actually are following him. “Blessed are you when people revile you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” So when the troubles come our way that may come from being true to our calling and genuinely serving others whether that is easy, as with friends, or difficult, as with enemies, we should rejoice!

So what are the costs of our discipleship? What are the crosses that we bear through following Jesus? They may be everyday things that come out of our helping with the task of looking after a church or helping to look after each other as the people of God. Sometimes they can just be the boredom of doing seemingly thankless tasks. Someone once said that the test of a vocation is our acceptance of the drudgery it involves! Sometimes, it could be the difficulties that will come our way by trying to reach out with the love of God into our community.

St Paul gives a concrete example of what it means to follow Jesus in the way that we behave. He exhorts his Roman readers to practise a genuine love which is more than just words; a love, moreover, which is more than the world expects and which even extends to forgiving enemies. The whole of this reading could be summed up with the words “overcome evil with good” which is what Jesus did on the cross. All these are difficult teachings to follow and remind us how hard it can be to follow Jesus.

So we are called to be realistic about the cost of discipleship but that should not put us off. There are deep, deep rewards to discipleship too though they come to us unsought. Sometimes the most difficult things in life are also the most rewarding. If we are really passionate about a cause we will not let the cost put us off.

If we look back to the days when the pandemic we are going through was at its height earlier in the year, among the most exposed to danger for obvious reasons were doctors, nurses and those working in the medical profession. It’s very touching then that that experience has not put off young people putting themselves forward in record numbers for medical careers.

If a course of action matters to us enough we will accept the sacrifices which may accompany it. Whatever sacrifices we accept for Jesus are as nothing compared with the sacrifices he has made for us. Christ’s sacrifices show us that we are a cause that is very, very dear to him. Amen.