The Real Presence

Gospel Matthew 18.15-20

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Ever heard of doctrine of Real Presence? Means in some way Jesus is present in bread and wine.

RC / Orthodox - in the Eucharist the bread and wine are objectively transformed and become in a real sense body and blood of Jesus Christ. Transubstantiation. This is my body he said. And this is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.

Methodists – Jesus Christ who "is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (Hebrews 1:3), is truly present in HC. HC is means of Grace through which real presence of Jesus communicated to believer.

Anglican – broad range of beliefs. Sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. In the Eucharist, the outward and visible sign is that of bread and wine, while the inward and spiritual grace is that of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Some say there is nothing in Scripture about Real Presence. True, you don’t find it where you expect. In Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and in 1 Corinthians 11. Accounts of Last Supper where Jesus says Do this in remembrance of me.

Rather, Real Presence is here where you don’t expect – in Matthew 18.
“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
Jesus is present with us now. The Lord is here – his spirit is with us. A confidant declaration at the start of our service of worship and thanksgiving.

Jesus is with us – imagine him sitting in the row behind you. As God incarnate, he knows you intimately. Every thought. Every deed. Every intention. All those judgements of others. All those things left undone. Nothing hidden. All revealed.

Not very comfortable, is it? Or is it actually a great comfort? A wonderful affirmation of his presence with us? Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered together in his name. At Church. Bible Study. Emmaus. Godly Play. Church Mice. PCC. All in his name.

Hold this thought – but not everything in the church is rosy. Not everything is perfect. Not everyone behaves always in a Christian fashion. Rewind just a few verses – Jesus starts with “if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault...” And if he won’t listen, take others along, and confront him openly. And if he still persists in his sin, tell it to the church.

It’s a kind of Conciliation service. Truth & Reconciliation. Dispute resolution. Notice – this is not one person against another. We can perhaps learn a lot from this teaching when we are upset about something in the Church. Not bottling up our resentment and shunning the offender, but confronting them in love, with others if need be, just as we are commanded to do here.

The sanction is stiff. ‘...whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Sounds like the conclusion is for all time. No appeal.

But God’s mercy and grace is abundant and infinite.
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

Do you believe that? If you and others agree on something, it will be given to you? Of course you must be able to ask ‘in my name.’ In the name of the One who is with us now, sitting in the row behind you. That certainly tempers the range of petitions that are right and proper. But even so, it’s a powerful promise – if you have faith enough to invoke it.

Perhaps most startling in this reading is not about answered prayer, or how to deal with communal or individual sin but this.

The presence of God with us, wherever two or three are gathered together. Emmanuel – God with Us. When? In our sin. Confrontation. Repentance. Forgiveness. Worship. Whatever we are doing in his name. It takes some thinking about.

I remember No Hiding Place. ITV series on TV in the 60’s. Starred Raymond Francis as Inspector Lockhart. I looked it up. They made 236 episodes. Some were live. Only 25 episodes survive, even in part. The title tells the story. There was no hiding place for the criminal from the long arm of the law. Just the same, as God sits on the row behind you, everything is revealed. He is with us, even at our worst times as people and as Church.

It’s ironic – the unrepentant sinner is to be treated as a pagan or tax collector. Yet this passage immediately follows Parable of Lost Sheep. And after it comes Peter’s question – how many times shall I forgive my brother?

Maybe irony intentional. Perhaps what Jesus is saying is that you never give up. You keep trying to bring unrepentant sinner back into fold. Don’t just search for an hour and give up. Don’t limit number of times you forgive. The eventual sanction is there – but that’s for God and his judgement, and not for us.

Also, this is a joint endeavour. We don’t act alone. We get together to face up to wrongdoing. And we don’t pray alone – the passage says we have to agree about our petitions and pray for them together. Only then will God answer our prayer. That’s a promise. God is with us when we gather together in his name. And God will grant what we ask – in his name – and when we agree together.

This morning’s topic could not be more fitting, as we look at the state of our Church, locally, nationally, internationally. We disagree. We are plagued by our inability to handle confrontation, disagreement and our sins. We find it hard to live together as sisters and brothers in Christ, precisely because we are sinners.

Jesus offers us a simple guide where God is on Mars and we are on Venus. He says no – it’s not like that. We are not separated from God, even in our sin. No, he is with us, sitting on the row behind, whether in agreement and harmony or in sin and strife.

This is surely the importance of the Real presence of Jesus, God with Us. Not a theological argument about the Eucharist and the words we use. But God’s grace. For Jesus, it was so vital he repeated his promise in the very last words he used. In Matthew 28:20 he says:

“...surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And here Matthew’s gospel ends. Amen.

The Secret of the Parables

Thursday 21 July – Holy Communion at St Giles

Gospel Matthew 13

When the Gospel is announced the reader says
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

   “Though seeing, they do not see;
   though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

   “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
   you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
   they hardly hear with their ears,
   and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
   hear with their ears,
   understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

A commentary on this chapter starts remarkably: this discourse is not a solution to the problem of evil in general, but a solution to the rejection of Christ in particular.

Striking – I thought this part of Matthew as all about Jesus’ teaching in parables. The heading is “Explaining Israel’s Response.”

I started sermon a fortnight ago with the words ‘Parables are so stupid.’ This from the lips of a teenager. It was about Parable of Sower. Why did sower broadcast his seed all over the path, rocks, shallow, choked and thorny soils with same abandon he use for good soil? Reason: it’s not about agriculture. It’s about spreading the Word. It’s about God’s grace, and how he treats all of us just the same, regardless of what soil type we are.

The Sower is one of only 2 parables with a clear explanation. Why doesn’t Jesus explain all his parables, so we can be sure to understand? Why does he use this form of teaching at all? Is it just so the memorable images stick in our mind? Or is it more than that?

The Sower is also all about rejection. It was told as opposition to Jesus’ message was growing. Even his own family rejected him. Only the crowds hung on his every word, and they would shortly turn and cry for his blood.

Rejection was illustrated by the poor soil types. They get just as much chance as anyone else to hear and accept the Word leading to God’s Kingdom, but for one of many reasons they do not receive it and accept it.

So when Jesus answers the disciples’ question and says: “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” – he’s not saying the message has been deliberately concealed, but that for those hearers who are distracted, or who ignore it, or are too worldly, or for whatever other reason they reject it, - to them it is a secret.

When my mother used to teach me there were jolly unfair bits in the gospels, taking them out of context they were a secret to her because she had not fully understood what they meant. For her, the workers in the vineyard were treated unfairly and should be unionised. For her, it was wrong that: ¹² Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” – but that was a literal interpretation, and not an explanation about the revelation of God’s word through parables.

What is all means is this. Only those who hear the word and do the will of God will understand Jesus’ parables. The so-called mysteries of the Kingdom are given by God’s grace through the parables, which is why the teaching they contain falls on closed as well as open ears. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear. Amen

The Sower

trinity 3 – Sunday 10 July 2011 at Cheddington

Gospel Matthew 13.1-9,18-23

When the Gospel is announced the reader says

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.

All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

It would be a mistake to think of the Parable of the Sower as teaching us anything about agriculture. Like all parables, the narrative contains messages for each of us. Teaching that applies to each of us individually. Messages that vary according to when we hear the parable, how old we are, and what is our state of mind when we engage with them. That makes the preacher’s job very hard indeed, because what I learn from this parable, here and now, will be different from what you do, and what you learn from it may be very different next week or next month.

Perhaps I can help a little with the background to the telling of this parable, without saying too much about what it means for me.

Hostility to Jesus at this point in the gospel is increasing. Here we are in chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel. Chapter 12 contains accounts of Jesus’ conflicts with the Pharisees. The Pharisees are now plotting to destroy him. They claim Jesus is working on behalf of Satan. By the end of chapter 12 we hear that Jesus is at odds with his own family. By the end of chapter 13, he will be rejected by his own native people in his hometown.

So we have this picture of almost universal hostility. Only his own followers support him, together with the poor, outcast, sinners and those on the margins of society.

The authorities and those who matter might have turned against Jesus, but the masses are still interested in his message. Large crowds follow him. So many people that he has to climb into a boat and teach them from the lake.

Jesus dresses up his message in pictures, allusions and allegory. Still, his teaching is literally down-to-earth. It’s all about seeds, growing conditions and farming. He speaks in a language that ordinary people can relate to. Most of them till the soil. Most of them are sowers of seeds themselves.

For the time being, these crowds are interested in hearing what he has to say, but we must remember that all this hostility from everywhere else is preying on his mind. So it’s not surprising the story he tells is about hostility to his words, and the many ways in which the message of the Kingdom can be neglected, misunderstood and opposed.

Did the message get through? We can’t be sure, but if the disciples didn’t understand, it’s likely many of the crowds didn’t get it either. Jesus’ immediate followers had the chance to ask for an explanation, but the crowds at large didn’t.

The clear explanation Jesus gives seems to leave little room for interpretation, unlike most of the parables which have never been interpreted definitively. But there are still questions left unanswered.

The seed is the word of God. That’s very clear. But what is the meaning of the different types of soil? Who qualifies as good soil? Soil cannot change in character, so if a person represents rocky, thin, hard or thorny soil, how can they become good soil? No amount of composting of stony ground will ever make it rich, dark and productive.

So, for example, take those who hear but don’t understand. Let’s say they are the Pharisees. They hear the word of the Kingdom but are antagonistic towards it. How can they change soil, and become receptive? Or how about the crowds? The rejoice in the Word. Through faith they respond positively, only to reject it shortly afterwards when they call for Jesus’ crucifixion. Let’s say their soil is shallow so they put down no roots, or maybe thorns sown by the Pharisees choke their immature shoots and destroy them before they have a chance to mature. How can their soil type change?

Don’t forget even the disciples themselves are shallow soil. After 3 years of hearing the Word and witnessing miracle after miracle, they fall away and desert their master when danger threatens and at his time of greatest need. So where is the rich soil? Who is faithful to the end? Are we? Is anyone?

When Jesus explains the parable, he asks the disciples whether they have understood the Word? They say ‘Yes’ but subsequent events witness to how shallow that undertaking was, and how quickly they all melted away to save their own skins. We might think we are rich soil, but in our heart of hearts wouldn’t we have done the same?

So this is where God’s grace comes in. It is unmerited. Undeserved. Unearned. The one character in the parable who says nothing and seems to play little part is the Sower. He is God. He is Jesus. She is Holy Spirit. The sower broadcasts the seed over a wide area. The sower sows much more than is required, and throws the same amount on all soil types regardless.

God, being outside of time, already knew the disciples would fail in their promises. Peter will not become a Rock until after he has denied Christ three times and repented. The other disciples will fail by making themselves scarce, so Jesus says “But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee" (26:32). Jesus does meet them in Galilee as promised, and with all authority in heaven and on earth given to him, turns them loose on the world to carry out his mission (28:16-20). So through grace, and not by any of their own efforts does the thin, shallow and rocky soil of the disciples become deep, rich and productive. 30, 60 and even 100-fold.

It’s not hard to find modern parallels. We can be distracted from hearing the Word by the cares of the world. Wealth. Possessions. Activities. Busy-ness. Responsibilities. The pursuit of goals. Providing for a comfortable future. Building barns. Making investments. Buying and selling cars. Improving what we own. Wanting more. Feathering our nest. Playing it safe.

The Parable of the Sower invites us to look again at our lives. Jesus invited us to seek his freedom. Freedom to take risks for the gospel. Emulating the Sower in his extravagant provision of seed, regardless of the likely outcome. Sowing the word in perilous places.

Our worldly assessment is that this is a waste of time. Unproductive. Inefficient. Unwise. But the Sower promises in the end a bumper crop against all the odds. 30-fold, 60-fold, even 100-fold.

⁵¹ Have you understood all these things? Jesus asked. Yes, they replied. May we, asked the same question, answer likewise and grasp the grace of God, in all its extravagant abundance, becoming good soil conditions for His Kingdom. Amen

Thursday 30 June – Holy Communion

First Reading Genesis 22.1 - 19

Abraham Tested

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham! Here I am, he replied.

² Then God said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵ He said to his servants, Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, Father? Yes, my son? Abraham replied. The fire and wood are here, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

⁸ Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together.

⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, Abraham! Abraham! Here I am, he replied.

¹² Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.

¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.

¹⁵ The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time

¹⁶ and said, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

¹⁸ and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.

¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.  

Gospel Matthew 9. 1 - 8

When the Gospel is announced the reader says
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹ Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.

² Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.

³ At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, This fellow is blaspheming!

⁴ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

⁵ Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

⁶ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . . Then he said to the paralytic, Get up, take your mat and go home.

⁷ And the man got up and went home.

⁸ When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Near sacrifice of Isaac same reading as Sunday. Quite a shocking incident, prompting us to ask whether God could possibly ask Abraham to kill his first born son – one he had waited for until old age, and the son in whom the promise given to Abraham he would be the father of many was to be fulfilled.

In the end, God provided the alternative in the form of a ram – an alternative that was not made available at the crucifixion – but the difference was that Isaac was an unwilling potential victim whereas Jesus was not.

The gospel reading however comes from just after the Sermon on the Mount. There are several miracle stories – cleansing of a leper, healing centurion’s servant, and stilling of the storm. Now Jesus leaves the neighbourhood of Gadara where he healed the man possessed of demons which entered a herd of swine, and crossed in a boat to his own town.

This is Capernaum – and the boat crossed the sea of Galilee from Gentile territory (hence the pigs). Immediately he sees a man suffering from paralysis being carried on a litter by friends of his. Presumably they are seeking out Jesus in the hope of a cure for their friend.

Jesus does not just heal the man, but pronounces forgiveness of his sins, to the consternation of the religious leaders who accuse him of blasphemy. To the scribes, Jesus has tried to do what only belongs to God.

Jesus does not at first tell the paralysed man to get up and walk. Does this mean he ascribes the cause of his infirmity to sin rather than any physical origin? It seems to indicate the suffering has a spiritual cause. We do not know, but after absolution, there is an exchange with the scribes where Jesus indicates it is as easy for him to forgive sins as to heal the man in any more conventional or expected manner.

Why does he say this? Not, I think, only because he is God incarnate and has God’s power to forgive. But more simply Jesus is saying that if he pronounces healing and the man gets up and walks, the result is easily verified. Everyone can see for themselves, and so this is a hard thing to do. Pronouncing forgiveness of sins is easy, because no one can tell whether the absolution is effective or not.

The story does remind us, though, that despite all our modern scientific knowledge, sickness is not just physical, but can have a complex web of causes and influences. Sin itself is a sickness from which we all need to be healed, and confessing our sins as we do at each and every church service is necessary and good for our souls, just as it is effective when we have wronged one another and offer contrition and restitution to them for the hurt we have caused.

Child Sacrifice? – the story of Isaac

Sunday 26 June 2011 – Trinity 1 – St Mary’s Mentmore

First Reading Genesis 22.1-14

God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

Gospel Matthew 10.40-42

When the Gospel is announced the reader says
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said: “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

How many flinched as they heard the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham? It’s told in chilling detail, building frame by frame like a TV reality drama unfolding to our horror before our very eyes.

The long journey to make a burnt offering. The wood laid on the back of a donkey. The servants left waiting as father and son journeyed on. Isaac’s question about where was the animal to be killed. The slow motion as Abraham reaches out his hand to grasp the knife.

We know it’s just a test. We are told at the outset that God tested Abraham. God knows, and we know, but Abraham doesn’t.

You probably are aware of the background, but I’ll just remind you of it. Back in Genesis 15, God made a contract with Abram. He was childless, yet God promised to make him the father of many nations, as countless as the stars in the heavens.

Abraham and his wife Sarah were well advanced in years and had given up any hope of starting a family. They had waited decades for the birth of Isaac. In this young man rested the hope of the promise given to Abraham by God, yet he seemed quite willing to take instructions from God and sacrifice his only son.

Isaac had no choice. He had no idea what was happening to him, until the point he was tied up and placed on a bonfire with his father about to plunge a dagger into his heart.

Is this the sort of God we can believe in? One who will test us to this degree of cruelty? Wouldn’t we say nowadays the whole event would leave both father and son scarred for life?

Over many years, the narrative has been preached as teaching us about Abraham’s great faith and obedience against all odds, and God’s response which is to reward him by his provision at the last moment.

Does the fact Isaac’s life is saved make the horror of the narrative any more palatable? What if Abraham’s obedience had been tested to the ultimate, and Isaac had died? What is Abraham had misunderstood what God was seemingly asking of him?

It’s a rhetorical question, because Isaac did not die, and one might say God would have stayed Abraham’s hand to save him anyway. Still we ask ourselves, must we accept the story as a lesson in ultimate obedience and faith, or do we have permission to find the whole thing troubling, because it portrays God as capricious at the very least in the way he goes about testing his creation?

One of the most pressing questions of any age – something that is constantly asked by those who have suffered a tragedy – is why did God allow this to happen to me? Why did he not prevent it? What have I done to deserve this suffering when others do not? Why do these things always seem to happen to the best of people?

There is no ready answer – none that I know anyway. All one can do is offer support and a ready ear. It doesn’t even help to say the world is the way it is, and we don’t always understand it. We just don’t have any satisfactory answers.

There’s a song by Bob Dylan about Genesis 22 that makes an connection between fathers sacrificing their children and the countless young sons who were sent to fight and to die in Vietnam by the leaders of the United States. The song illustrates the helplessness we sometimes feel but it’s not a very good comparison because Isaac did not die as God provided an alternative. But grieving parents will quite rightly ask why God did not do so to save their sons and daughters.

There is so much we don’t understand, but still our questioning faith inhabits a space framed by our underlying belief in the goodness of God who does provide and does not desire the suffering of us, his children.

This event, occurring maybe 2,500 years ago, nevertheless speaks to us of redemption. Life coming into what seemed certain death. Faith in the midst of the loss of all hope. God’s goodness breaking into near despair.

Abraham’s faith was not blind faith. He still had to recognise the alternative to what he believed he had to do. He had to lift up his eyes and not only see the ram caught in the thicket, but perceive the provision made by God as a satisfactory substitute for his son.

That same God, who is himself outside of time, was the God who could have provided an alternative to the death of his own son on the cross, but did not do so. This time the sacrificial lamb was not bound. This time there was choice, but Jesus chose not to take it. This time, once for all time, the sacrifice was a self-sacrifice for the atonement of the whole human race.

If we find the near sacrifice of Isaac troubling, how much more should we grieve over the events of Easter, whilst marvelling at the abundant grace of the God who entered our realm, became like us, and consented to die for our redemption.

Corpus Christi

Thursday 23 June – Holy Communion at St Giles

Reading 1 Corinthians 11.23-26

I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Gospel John 6.51-58

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord.
Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia.

When the Gospel is announced the reader says
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you can eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live for ever.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Corpus Christi – lit. Body of Christ – Day of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion. Held on Thursday after Trinity. Thursday – because of association with Last Supper and events of Maundy Thursday.

Many parts of Catholic world there are processions in the streets. Dates back to 13C when an Augustinian nun from Liege petitioned her bishop for a feast associated with veneration of blessed sacrament.

Last year, Vicky and I walked through part of Italy about 2 hrs. N of Rome. Came to place called Bolsena, where in 13C said to have been a miracle when bread used for Mass started to bleed. Association with this alleged miracle that Corpus Christi became firmly established.

Differs from Maundy Thursday, in that before Easter the liturgy commemorates Christ’s new commandment -"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." John 13:34, also the washing of the disciples' feet, the Garden of Gethsemane. For this reason, the Feast of Corpus Christi was established to create a feast focused solely on the Eucharist.

Corpus Christi might be associated mainly with RC and Anglo - Catholic parishes, but to dismiss it for that reason would be a mistake. Our understanding of Holy Communion and what it means to us has always been a struggle for many of us. What is going on? Is it a commemoration of certain events commanded by Christ that we should re-enact and remember, or is it much more than that? The answer depends on your church tradition. The answer is probably all those things, but our outlook and background tends to make us lean in one direction rather than the other.

Whatever our tradition, Holy Communion has in recent decades moved from a monthly service to a liturgy that is central to our worship, so for that reason alone we should think about what we are doing, what it means to us, how we are changed by it, and why it is so special. If we don’t pause and think on these things, for example today, then attending a weekly communion risks becoming routine, a liturgy so familiar that we can cruise through it, like I was saying about the Lord’s Prayer last week – it’s import can be submerged by sheer familiarity.

So after our prayers, let’s try this week to experience afresh and anew the Eucharist, to find new meaning and significance in it, and to make it truly special once again. Amen

William Tyndale

View from the Vicarage

Cheddington Village Newsletter June 2011

One of my heroes from history is a man called William Tyndale. You may never have heard of him, but Tyndale, born in 1490, taught himself 8 languages and was the first to produce an unauthorized version of the New Testament in English. At the time, churches in England only had a 1000 year old Latin version of Scripture which even most priests could not understand. Tyndale paid with his life. He was charged with heresy, half strangled then burned at the stake in Belgium. He was killed on the orders of Thomas More who was later made a saint. Ironically, only three years later, Henry VIII commanded there should be an English Bible in every church, and the version issued was largely Tyndale.

Other versions followed, but they were of variable quality until exactly 400 years ago the King James or Authorized Version was published. This was the only Bible I had when I was young. We knew no other. It was still the version I was given when made a priest in 2004. The language, of course, is unparalleled. 75% of the material is still largely Tyndale. The words and phrases have entered our collective consciousness. They have a unique beauty. The language is concise and clear. Instinctively we use phrases such as a stumbling block, kill the fatted calf, holier than thou, money is the root of all evil, physician heal thyself and so on. All from the King James Bible.

Just as you would not read an instruction manual for your iPhone in 16th century language, it is unwise to rely on such a translation for your whole reading of Scripture. For one thing, many of the words are outmoded, and many important manuscripts have been discovered even last century that correct many errors. That does not mean we should resort to some of the truly awful modern translations, several of which are still produced each year. There are beautiful, poetic, and accurate versions like NRSV and NIV you can buy which combine majesty of language, even read aloud, with good scholarship.

Likewise we should not rely solely on services from the Book of Common Prayer. They have their rightful place, although I for one, whilst admiring everything else about last month’s Royal Wedding, was sad the couple chose the 1662 service which hardly reflects a modern view of the equality of both partners in marriage.

So, whilst rightly celebrating the stupendous achievement of the martyr William Tyndale, and his legacy found in the King James Bible, we should remember that Scripture is for our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (II Timothy 3:15-17) and that, despite numerous movies, God does not exclusively speak to his world in Shakespearean English.

The Revd. Robert Wright

Holy Spirit

Sermon in the Methodist Chapel 29 May 2011

Reading Acts 17.22-31

²²Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. ²³For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, ²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, ²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him - though indeed he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”
²⁹Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. ³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

Second Reading 1 Peter 3.13-22

¹³Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, ¹⁵but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; ¹⁶yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. ²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you – not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Gospel John 14.15-21

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one;
I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.

All Alleluia.

When the Gospel is announced the reader says

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.

All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: ¹⁵‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Sermon
Holy Spirit – what do we associate with the Spirit – what is the Spirit like? – what experience have we of the Spirit? – how does relationship between members of Trinity work?

Spirit-filled worship – does that sound attractive to you? Or do you associate it with people falling down, speaking in strange sounds, waving arms in air?

In Scripture – many pictures of HS. Spirit broods over water in Creation. Psalmist asked God not to take HS from him. Mary became pregnant by HS. HS appeared as dove, as cloven tongues of fire, and as wind.

In preaching, HS is not often named or described in detail. Somehow we are afraid to do so. Our knowledge is so sparse. And what we do see, we are often very dubious about. We talk about the HS at Pentecost, but only to try and explain the Trinity. That’s hard enough. Easier to talk about a God who is creator and sustainer, or Jesus as redeemer, the incarnate God. But somehow talking of the Spirit is to tread on dangerous ground.

At Last Supper, Jesus talks about separation. Disturbing prospect. But there is comfort. He will send the Holy Spirit.

The disciples will be bereft. They will feel abandoned. But Jesus says he will not leave them as orphans. He promises to come to them in a different form. Where he is, they will be also. Because I live, you also will live he says to them.

That’s all very well for them, but what about us? They have seen and experienced the Lord. They have spent time with him. They have seen and heard him with their own eyes and ears. We have not.

So what does he promise after the resurrection? Something or someone who is present but absent. A paracletos – which is translated Advocate. παρακληπός

Does this strike you as odd? An advocate is someone who appears for you in court. It may be someone called to your side when you need help. A professional who advocates a particular cause. A person who pleads your case with authorities when you cannot act effectively for yourself.

From this you might think the Holy Spirit brings up our case before God in the hope he will be merciful. Isn’t that what an advocate would do? But that can’t be right. Think about it. Isn’t God already merciful? Has he not through abundant grace offered us the way of redemption, freely, without measuring our sins, through faith in Jesus Christ alone?

No – I believe the Advocate works in the other direction. The Advocate is the Spirit of God. He sits alongside God. The Spirit mediates God to us, not us to God.

God has already given the gift of love unstintingly through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and such love is what creates genuine life. The Spirit is the Advocate who brings the truth of that love and life to people in this time after Easter.

Didn’t Jesus do that as well? Didn’t he speak to us of the love of God? Didn’t he show us what God is like? Yes, he did. And that should not surprise us. Jesus made it clear, the Holy Spirit could not come to us until he had gone to the Father. Even in today’s reading, he says:

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

The functions might be the same, but the Holy Spirit is not Jesus, and he is not the Spirit. Jesus glorified God, but the Spirit glorifies Jesus too. Both bear witness to the truth and expose the world’s wrongs, but the Spirit did not die for our salvation. The Spirit continues the work of Christ, but cannot replace him or what he did for us.

The Holy Spirit is rejected by the world, in the same way that Jesus himself was. The world here means those people who are alienated from God. So the Spirit acts as advocate, filling our hearts, teaching us what to say and how to act, disclosing to the world the truth about the life and death of Jesus and what it means, if the world will only pause and listen.

This picture of God’s advocate is closer to the still, small voice, the sound of sheer silence, than it is to the tongues of fire or the noise of Spirit-filled worship. It’s closer to our needs – the advocate who will be with us forever. It’s more like having Jesus alongside us, inside our very being, guiding us, convicting us, speaking to us of God, than an influence that affects many people at the same time. Both, no doubt, are valid. Feeling the Spirit in our worship is important, even where only two or three are gathered together.

How will be know? How can we be sure? First, because that is the promise of Christ in John 14. Second, because as Christians we will know him, even though the world does not recognise the Spirit or the Spirit’s influence. Third, because the Spirit lives in us all the time, to be with us. All we have to do is be silent and listen. Listen for the Spirit who is there.

¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

Amen

Our Emmaus Journey of Faith

Cheddington St Giles – Easter 3 – 8 May 2011

First Reading Acts 2.14a,36-41

Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:

“Let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Gospel Luke 24.13-35

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one;
I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.
All Alleluia.

When the Gospel is announced the reader says
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.

All Glory to you, O Lord.

That same day two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Acts – written by Luke – both about surety and conviction. Acts starts

¹ In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

Luke wasn’t there – not eye witness. His gospel begins:

I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

That you may know the certainty... Peter – denied Christ 3 times – after crucifixion has no doubt. What we heard is end of his Pentecost sermon. States boldly what he saw. “Brothers, I can tell you confidently...” “Therefore let all be assured...” “We are all witnesses to the facts...”

How did apostles who denied, hid, and betrayed in such a short time come to this conviction of certainty? It was by faith, bestowed on them through Holy Spirit.

Peter’s outspoken conviction confronts the crowd who plotted Jesus’ death. They themselves are convicted. Blood on their hands. Complicit in their guilt. They were cut to the heart, and asked ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Greek verb for repentance is metanoeo. Combination of meta meaning with or after, and noeo meaning perceive or think. Repent is having second thoughts. Changing your thinking. Criticising yourself, then coming to a new conviction. This follows from inspiration of Holy Spirit in our lives and hearts.

It was a very different picture during and immediately after crucifixion. Road to Emmaus – many people’s favourite story. And mine. Like a road movie – disciples meet a stranger – turns out not to be what he seems – has a profound effect by what he says and does – brings about a turning around, metanoeo, repentance, thinking again, new conviction – whatever – but profound and complete.

It was the same day when Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty. First day of week. Two men in gleaming clothes like lightning meet the women. ‘Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen! Remember what he told you in Galilee?’

The way Peter and apostles acted could not, I think, be down to faith. Not so profound a change. Not so soon. That’s not my experience. Faith ebbs and flows. Takes time, prayer, hard work. Pitfalls. Setbacks. Revelations. Ups and downs.

Two frightened fugitives escaping. They know something of what Mary found. But 3 days have passed, and Jesus has not reappeared. They are full of despair, shattered dreams, forlorn, all hope lost.

Walking a couple of hours out of Jerusalem. Lying low. Going home. Away from the heat of retribution. Outlaws going into hiding.

Who is Cleopas? We have no idea. Except he is probably in outer circle of followers of Jesus. His companion isn’t even named. Odd. But they had close knowledge of events, and were welcomed back when returned from Emmaus with their news. So must be more than observers.

The story is full of movement. They go. They walk. They go in and eat. They turn back. Why? Because, like us each week, they have recognised Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

You see, it’s not just a road movie, an account of what happened in real time, a turning again – back to Jerusalem where the Messiah was meant to appear. No – it’s more than that. It’s a parallel of what happens in our lives. It’s symbolic of our journey of faith.

How often do we doubt? Faith grows cold. We question. The hope of redemption grows cold. We slowly walk away, back to reality as we see it? We endlessly talk. Try to make sense of it all.

But then a chance encounter. No one special. Just passing the time on the road, waiting for a plane, on a ferry, just hanging out. The stranger has to be almost forced to stay for dinner. He is keen to be getting on, but it’s night and the road is dangerous. It almost seems like the revelation is unplanned. But something makes them insistent, and he stays to break bread with them.

It wasn’t his place to break bread. That was for the host. But Jesus naturally takes the role of Good Shepherd, providing for them, feeding them, caring for his own, the lost ones who were bereft after all that had not come to pass as they had hoped.

In Luke, Jesus spends a lot of time feeding others, eating with them, spending time with people who would not be given house room by the respectable. Us, in other words. Us, in our sin.

Or you might say that Cleopas and his friend are also us. Frightened. Hiding. Weak in faith. Saddened by our diminished hope. But suddenly, our eyes can be opened. We can’t control the Holy Spirit, who opens eyes when we least expect it. And sometimes, alas, closes them.

But from this story, today, as we are about to break bread together, we may find that Jesus walks with us, and reveals himself to us. We might have a glimpse of the Lord, as we reflect on the Road to Emmaus – our road – our journey of faith. Amen

Unbelieving Thomas

Easter 2 – St Giles Cheddington

Gospel John 20.19-32

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one;
I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.
All Alleluia.

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

You may wonder
2 great readings – Holy Spirit – preachers tend to go on about Thomas. Or ask curate to preach. Why? We want to save Holy Spirit for Pentecost on 12 June. That explains why you hear sermons on Thomas on Easter 2. I don’t want to get stuck on him, but I do want to use the opportunity to ask what it means to believe.

Thomas is stuck with moniker ‘Doubting.’ For centuries. Who can blame him for doubting – he wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to other disciples. They told him about it afterwards ‘We have seen the Lord!” Would you have believed? Or would you want more proof?

Unbelieving Thomas
More correct translation of apistos - unbelieving. Favourite word in John’s gospel. Verb not noun. Says something about what it is to believe.

When we say “We believe...” e.g. Creed – we then list number of doctrinal statements. In one God. Jesus the Son. Holy Spirit. Maker of heaven and earth. Death and resurrection of Jesus. etc

Likewise – Thomas asked to believe in resurrection of Jesus without any evidence of his own eyes. No wonder he was apistos. But there came, through Grace, a second chance. Like Lost Sheep Thomas was not abandoned. Jesus, Good Shepherd, sought him out. Then Thomas entered into relationship with risen Christ for himself. Not because of what he was told to believe. But his relationship directly with the risen Christ himself.

Instead of second chance let’s say there were two stages to Thomas’s belief. First, what he was taught to believe. We have seen the Lord. That resulted in his unbelief. Then second, he entered into a relationship and saw with his own eyes. Then he believed.

What then happened is Thomas’s testimony. Not You are the Lord. Or You are God incarnate. Instead “My Lord and my God.” Thomas’s response is personal.

Two stage belief
Thomas was not the only one to doubt. When Jesus first appeared to Mary in the garden, she tells the disciples “I have seen the Lord.” Did they immediately accept her word? Did they at once respond with That’s wonderful – now we believe Christ has risen too? No – like Thomas, they wanted more proof. Seeing is believing – then they were persuaded. Again, a two stage process.

Then there was the Samaritan woman at the well. She left her water jar, and went to tell the other villagers she had found the Messiah. It was only later, after they entered into their own relationship with him, that they truly believed.

"It is no longer what you said, but we have heard for ourselves." That was the second stage.

I am the Door
Back in chapter 10, Jesus described himself as Good Shepherd. Thomas had his second chance. So do we – and a third, fourth, fifth and so on to infinity. God’s grace knows no bounds, no limits, no last chance. But Jesus also said he was the Door, or Gate to the sheepfold.

In chapter 20, disciples behind locked doors. Same word in Greek. Thura. Jesus was the door to the sheep. And Jesus miraculously appeared in the Upper Room even though the doors were secured. He became the door to the sheep, his disciples, us.

Thomas may have thought about his previous appearance in chapter 14, when he said “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus gave him a similar answer. This time, not the Gate or the Door but “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Here again we have the second stage of belief. To really know the Father through his incarnate Son.

Challenge
On this first Sunday after Easter, the real deal is all about belief and not doubt. The belief that comes from the Holy Spirit, poured out into our hearts. Through that Spirit we can pass from the first, academic, doctrinal stage of belief to the second, personal, relational.

You can believe in the resurrection all you want – and belief in the empty tomb is an essential if you are to be a true Christian. But that’s not the point.

Like any doctrine, the resurrection is just the resurrection. It’s incredible – which is another way of saying unbelievable. It could end there, except for the second stage. This is to be in that personal relationship which accepts Jesus as the Resurrection, the Door, the Gate, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Jesus says to us the same as he said to Thomas. Stop doubting and believe. Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

That means us. Amen