Differing Feasts Differing Leaders

Reflection on Sunday's Reading for Proper 13: Matthew 14.13-21

I saw a T-shirt not so long ago with the infamous words printed in big bold letters 'Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Furher'. Below the words was the face not of Hitler but of Christ. 'One people, one kingdom, one leader'. It was a clever Christian pun. Words of the most evil dictator given new meaning so as to embody a Gospel vision.

Adolf Hitler won hearts and minds on a truly grand scale. His crazed speeches, the dark theatre of the rallies, and the Nazi vision of a new world persuaded many millions to passionately follow him. His tyrannical path led not a new world but an abyss of death and suffering on a scale never seen before. Right up to May 1945 this delusioned mind not only believed he was the Furher, the leader, but that in some mystical way, he was Germany itself.

With less of the resources and not so much meglomania Herod Antipas may not be on the same league as Adolf Hitler. But Matthew the evangelist places two feasts side by side to seemingly to contrast the cowardly destopic rule of Herod with the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. First we have the execution of John the Baptist whose personality and ministry appears to unnerved Herod and aggrevated Herodias. This was done during birthday meal of a king titilated and manipulated by a girl's exotic dance. In the next passage we have the miraclous feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness by Jesus.

One is a rich banquet filled with powerful people, movers and shakers in the kingdom. The other "feast", is a rag bag collection of people following a new prophet into the middle of nowhere. Both gatherings were probably not that officially kosher, groups and individuals who normally would not be seen together.

The ones who followed Jesus we are told came into the wilderness with with nothing. This in itself is extraordinary and gives us a window into to the effect that Jesus had on people. How many of us would gladly march into the middle of Dartmoor without so much as a packed lunch or raincoat AND bring our families with us?

We can't unpick the motives of these people in running into the wilderness for the man from Galilee. Were they looking for cure to their infirmities? Did they expect to march on Jerusalem and overthrow the Romans? Did they want to hear this man's extraordinary teaching? Certainly Matthew want us think of Jesus as a new Moses, drawing a new people into a wilderness. Like their ancestors they will experience God's providence and witness manna, bread, from heaven. Remember it was in the wilderness that the Hebrews were tested and formed. It was here that God gave them the commandments and sealed the Covenant. From a disperate bunch of ex-slaves, underdogs and refugees God forged a people. It was their defining moment, and remains to this day. "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Furher."

Sometimes reading the gospel a word pops out at us that we probably hadn't seen the significance. We become so familiar with the text that we casually skim over the surface. For me the word that suddenly popped up is in verse nineteen, and the word is 'grass'. Why mention grass at all? "And he (Jesus) ordered the crowd to sit down on the grass." To dwell on this I have to think of the climate of the Israel. A deserted place for us in the UK would probably be moor land or some barren fields with lots of grass. But in Jesus' own land grass is not so prevailant. So to mention grass cannot be so casual a remark. The land of deserted place would probably be dry and arid, hot, and barren. So the reference grass signifies to me springtime with its symbolism of growth, renewal, hope. The environment is emulating the miracle. Jesus is God's springtime.

In this springtime we can intially come to the Lord, like those disciples, with very little to give to the multitudes, two fish and fives loaves. And if you feel like this, you are not alone, I experience this sense of inadequacy, daily. I see it when I flick through the news channels and look at the effects of the global food problems. I find myself despairing What can I possibly give that would make any difference? I see it when I look at the task of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. I sense beyond all the hype of secularisation ordinary people remain spiritually hungry and stuck in the neon wilderness of modernity. Statistically our church institutions seem to have so few resources to make any real impact. Its so frustrating!

But the Gospel story presses me on to offer what little I have. I believe Jesus says to each of us "They need not go away; you give them something to eat" (Verse 16).

Smooth Sailing Saints

Short Commentary and Sunday Sermon on Romans 7:15-25 and Matthew 11.16-30

With lots of conference space the seminary held a weekly AA meeting to which some students went along as part of their pastoral placement. In the introductions one member talked about his struggles to keep to his work - he was a guitarist. A new member, a rather goofy local vicar, invited him to come and play at their church and join the choir "We'd love to see you for the family service!" This quiet humble man gently mumbled that he might just do that. The group went silent. People began to roar with laughter. The vicar had invited to his Sunday liturgy - Eric Clapton. Probably the world's most celebrated guitarist.

Listening to chapter seven of Paul's letter to Romans much of it seems foreign to our modern ears. "I do not do the thing I want to but I do the thing I hate." We might think that Paul had a problem with self-esteem and that he really needed to go on a course to build himself up? It is a shame that we did not begin with verse 14; it reads, "We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am un-spiritual, sold as a slave to sin. " Again, I cannot imagine that if one went to a New Age practitioner, we would get that, since the Mind, Body and Spirit philosophy, is that we are all somehow "spiritual".

If you have ever read Cold Comfort Farm, or seen the TV adaption, you may think I am about to deliver an impression of the fiery preacher of the Quivering Brethren, "Are you quivering yet brothers? Do ye not feel the scorching flames of hell licking?" I don't think I would pull this off with much authority since even my toddler son giggles when I tell him off. But I think the gentler wisdom of Dickens would be good to reflect on. "Know your debts!" The words of advice given to David Copperfield at the beginning of his adventures. The debts here, are more than just money, but about knowing ourselves as we really are - not kidding ourselves. The Proverbs say, "A wise man knows himself". In Scotland, people say in the Our Father, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive those indebted to us."

So within Paul is a spiritual warfare. Not because he is a doom and gloom preacher or self-tortured but because he has come to know the glory of God. The difference between Paul and the modern man, is that Paul measures goodness by Jesus Christ alone. We tend to think of ourselves as good on a scale of averages. "I'm as good as the next bloke" But what if the bar was not some statistical average but Jesus Christ? Then as Paul says, we realise that "All have fallen short".

The AA programme I mentioned at the beginning starts its 12 steps with step 1 as "We admit we are powerless over alcohol (or whatever)—that our lives have become unmanageable." You could replace the word alcohol with any addiction and even with the word 'sin'. And let us not imagine sin as an unhelpful word but as about understanding ourselves as we are. Sin surely then means the separation between God and neighbour? "Am I my brother's keeper?" said Cain of Abel who he secretly murdered. Sin then describes a compulsion we all have to pull ourselves away from communion with God and our fellow human beings.

Many alcoholics never get to step 1 because they cannot admit that they are powerless. In doing so , they never receive power. This I believe is a key to living a grace filled life. In my last parish George (I have changed his name) was a chronic alcoholic. He drank litre bottles of cheap cider every day, his liver was barely functioning, he lost his wife and his employment. He looked like a skeleton and an old man. Yet he was younger than me. It took him years to hit rock bottom. It happened one night, when he rang our door at 11pm in floods of tears, scared witless because he was booked in for an intense AA residential programme. Thank God. Months later we met him again. He was a changed man when he walked through the doors of the church. He still retained the scars but he had stopped drinking. It was only by admitting that he was powerless had be been able to receive power. He isn't morose, he's full of joy, yet he understands his addiction, his sin. George took me to his house and up in his bedroom he showed me a poster that had helped me survive. It was the famous footsteps dream.

Jesus harshest words are for the smooth-sailing saints. We missed verses 19 to 24 in Matthew which listed the towns and villages. But they rejected any thing that rocked the boat; John the Baptist - too gritty pious - Jesus Christ - a drunk and a glutton who mixes with sinners. They were the sinners and it was people like them who stitched him up on Good Friday. We also missed verse 14, one of my favourites, which tells us that the kingdom of Heaven is being stormed by violent men and violent men are seizing it. Who are the violent men?

The Greek for violent can also be interpreted as enthusiastic. So what Jesus is probably saying is the ultimate insult to the religious self-righteous. They are being taken out of God's plan and are no longer in the front-line. The front-line of God's revolution is these new enthusiasts, people in other words, who have become spiritually powerful by acknowledging that they are powerless. They have experienced rock bottom and been lifted up.

Your Hired

The latest series of the Apprentice remains compelling viewing as the show approaches its end. Who will win - who will be fired? I find myself watching it and wondering what would I do in such and such task? How would I personally rise to the challenge without hopefully becoming a thug in the boardroom? The scary part of the show is that when you are fired then that is that and you take your bags and go home then and there. No time is lost.

Do I believe that God has hired me? Yes, I do. A few weeks a go I recalled the story of being 17 when a friend knocked on the door and said "I'm going to be a priest!" and I replied out of blue I replied "So am I?" It was as sudden as that. Yet I don't feel that God hired me at that point, as extreme as that was. I hold that God hired me on June 10Th 1972; the date of my baptism. And the task? The challenge? The task is the task God gives to every Christian, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in making earth Heaven.

Levi, or Matthew, was hired very suddenly. Jesus said "follow me" and he did, leaving his controversial employment. We can only speculate why Matthew responded so specularly? Could it be that in his profession he had little else to lose? Or maybe, if any of us came into the presence of Jesus Christ our hearts would feel moved to do something then and there, a snap decision.

The task for the baptised in this century is monumental. Believe you me, the challenges of secularisation and climate change are going to rock our societies like never before. How will the Christian children of this century help the spreading of the Gospel and the work of making earth into heaven? We cannot just leave the faith formation of our children to someone else. The Church cannot shrug and say it is the parents and the parents cannot shrug and say it is the Church? There has to be a creative partnership. This means that the Church values the creative input of young people and their leadership. It also means that parents need to buy into the concept of children being spiritual. I quite frankly believe that if we dont do this the Church of England, and other denominations like it, will CEASE to exist in twenty odd years time. Cease to exist!

Ephesians 6, is my favourite Bible reading. "Put on the armour of God." Its about making a conscious effort to be a Christian and not just drifting. I want to give you an example here. The EU directive on employment was put into force in the UK under the Employment Regulations Directive December 2003 for Religion or Belief Discrimination. It states that Employers need to make provision for prayer rooms. I told my last congregatin this. A gentleman and new convert in my last church took up saying daily prayers of Morning, Midday, Evening and Compline prayers. He went to his employer, Cine World and asked for a prayer room. Why not! Guess what, he got a space allocated. Not the best, but he got one. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to start knitting our own prayer mats and showing our employers our prayer books. Once they know we are praying at work, they'll know we Christians, they may start to be a bit more ethical, and they will know we are serious.

The wonderful thing about being hired by the Almighty is that he his a far better employer that Alan Sugar, even though he does like us to be equally candid in the boardroom. The rewards are eternal. However, we should be careful, and take the work of God seriously, lest we find ourselves at some future date at the pearly gates, duly, fired.