THIS year saw an event take place in London that has not happened in Britain for seventy years — The Coronation of a Monarch. Many of us watched the live television coverage of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation, and were struck by the number of prayers said throughout the ceremony asking for God’s blessing upon the new King. Another large part of the service in Westminster Abbey involved the presentation of various symbols of Kingship, and in particular a crown, an orb, and a sceptre. Before the King was crowned, he was given an orb, representing his powers and responsibilities, and also a sceptre, which signifies good governance. Like the Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre have a Cross on the top of them. The reason that these three objects are surmounted by a cross is to signify that all power comes ultimately from God, who reigns over all. This symbolism is important. When we acknowledge Christ as King we are saying that He is above all human power and authority, and we affirm that God is supreme. We, as Christians, declare that our primary allegiance is to God alone, and not to the things of this world. 

In our first reading this morning, from the prophet Ezekiel, we see God speaking as a shepherd caring for His flock. This image lies behind Jesus’ description of Himself as the Good Shepherd in John’s Gospel (Jn 10:11-18). Jesus uses imagery from the Hebrew Scriptures to show that they are fulfilled in Him; that God’s promises are coming true. Jesus the Good Shepherd is a hopeful and encouraging image, one which we need today as much as ever. God is not absent or disinterested in us or how we live our lives, quite the opposite, as these words from the prophecy of Ezekiel show:

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak (Ezekiel 34:15-16)

This vision of care, healing, and reconciliation, is exactly what Jesus promises and demonstrates in the Gospels. This should not surprise us, as there is a continuity between the Old and New Testaments. What is promised in the Old is fulfilled in the New. The Word of God finds its fullest expression in the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ. Our Lord takes the image for His teaching from the words of Ezekiel’s Prophecy:

“As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.” (Ezekiel 34:15-16)

So this morning we come to the last of Jesus’ teaching concerning the end times: the Sheep and the Goats. It is not a parable, Our Lord does not say, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like…’ Instead, in the last section of teaching in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is looking towards the future, and to the end times. We have had teaching on the wise and foolish virgins, and the talents, to encourage people both to be ready, and to prepare for Christ’s Second Coming as Lord and Judge of all. This is what is envisaged by the beginning of His teaching:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Mt 25:31-32)

Christ comes in His glory first when He is crucified. This is the glory of God. Our Lord reigns from the tree, and our crucified Saviour will return as the judge of all. As those involved in keeping animals will know, sheep and goats need to be separated. Sheep are hardier than goats, so they can sleep outside, whereas goats need shelter at night. Normally it is easy to distinguish the two animals from each other since sheep’s tails point down, and goats’ tails point up. The sheep and the goats are two of the three groups mentioned in the text, but there is also a third group which it is easy to overlook: that is those who are in need, the least of Christ’s brethren.

When Jesus describes his criteria for judgement he says:

“‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” (Mt 25:34-36)

Here we see faith lived out, and put into action. Jesus is telling us how Christians should live in the world, making their love visible and demonstrating it in acts of service. Those who are placed on Our Lord’s right are genuinely surprised to be there. At which point Christ answers:

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Mt 25:40)

Our Lord’s brethren are those disciples who listen to His’ words, who believe in Him, and who do His will. In other words: you and me. We are to be Christ’s ambassadors, sharing the Good News of the Kingdom, and bringing His healing and reconciliation to the world. Jesus’ teaching tells us that we are called to be like Him, to carry our own cross daily, as He is about to do. This is why Our Lord institutes the Eucharist on the night before He dies, so that we may be strengthened to carry on the proclamation of His Kingdom, and His saving Death and Resurrection.

We celebrate Christ as King because He reigns from the Cross, reconciling God and humanity by His death. The throne of God is in fact the Cross. This is where Christ is raised up and reigns in glory, the glory of self-giving generous love. Christ bears forever the marks of the nails and the spear because they are the marks of love. This is the glory of the Kingdom, and we are called to share and participate in it, to make it a reality here and now.

We ourselves are not called to judge. That is God’s job. Our Heavenly Father will judge with love and mercy. Instead, we are called to love God and neighbour, to follow Him, and to proclaim the Good News of His Kingdom, today and every day. So that all creation may bow before Him and worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

TODAY, in 2023, when we hear the word ‘talent’ we understand it to mean someone’s particular skills and abilities. We all have different talents which compliment each other. Some folk have musical abilities, others are good with numbers, or have a talent for baking or flower-arranging. We all have our individual God-given talents. However, in the Roman Empire, when Jesus told the parable in today’s Gospel, a ‘talent’ was a unit of measurement. A single talent weighed approximately 30kg. This means that in today’s money a talent of gold would be worth approximately £1.5 million. That’s a lot of money! Much more than Jesus’ listeners would ever earn. By using such large sums of money in His parable, Jesus is being deliberately shocking in order to give His words a stronger impact 

The Parable of the Talents isn’t actually about money. It appears to be so, on the surface, but instead it draws together strands from Jesus’ teaching throughout the Gospel to make some important points.

“The kingdom of Heaven is like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.” (Mt 25:14)

This is a parable about the Kingdom, about how to live a Christian life here and now. It is also about what will happen at the end of time, when Christ will return, and there will be the Last Judgement. This is why today’s readings include a passage from Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians which states:

“For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1Thess 5:2)

To paraphrase Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ well-known phrase: ‘No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!’, ‘No-one expects the Second Coming!’ Except of course we do, because Jesus has told us all about it, and has warned us to be ready, like the Virgins with spare oil for their lamps in another of Jesus’ parables. 

In today’s parable, before the master goes away, he divides up his property between his servants:

“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability” (Mt 25:15)

The division of resources is not equal, but rather each is given an amount appropriate to his own abilities. The servants who have been given five and two talents each double their money. However, the person who was given one talent (still a huge amount of money), simply buries it in the ground. In the parable the servants have not earned the money they are given, but they have been given it. In the parable of the Sower, Jesus indicated that those called to the kingdom would produce different yields. These variances in our own talents should not be the basis for envy and jealousy, because our differences are gifts given in service to one another — so are the talents given to the servants of a man going on a journey. It is not unfair that they were given different amounts. Rather what is crucial is how they regarded what they had been given, and how they used their talents. 

It is clear that the servant who received one talent feared the giver. This was because he assumed that gifts could only be lost or used up. In other words, the servant with one talent assumed that they were part of a zero-sum game, meaning that  if someone wins, someone else must lose. The servant who feared losing what he had, turned his gift into a possession — it was a thing, and it was his thing. But by contrast, the first two servants recognised that trying to secure the gifts that they had been given means that they would be lost — so they put the gifts to use for the glory of God. In the same way we are all called to use our talents to glorify God, not simply for our own gain.

The servants who receive either five or two talents are both thankful and generous, but the servant who received one is only interested in power and control. At one level this servant stands for the Scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus has been criticising and castigating for their negative approach to God, using religion to control others, rather than building a society based on love and generosity. 

The parable represents God’s desire for a society in which humanity can flourish, freed from fear and greed, filled with joy and sharing the Good News. The point of wealth is not for it to be acquired for its own sake, but so that it may be a blessing to others. God wants humanity to thrive by being loving and generous to each other. This theme runs through all our readings this morning.

The servants who are assigned five and two talents are both praised for being ‘good and faithful’. They have acted morally and have demonstrated their faith. In return, they will be rewarded. The problem is with the servant who was given just one talent and hid it in the ground. He explains his actions, saying:

‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ (Mt 25:24-25)

This servant does not love his master, he fears him. He does not take care of what has been entrusted to him, because he simply sees it as a possession, a thing. This person neither loves his master nor cares for what was entrusted to him. By hiding the wealth in the ground, he squanders the opportunity his master has given him. The servant is is jealous and resentful, he controls the situation and is unable and unwilling to respond with generosity.

In contrast to this, God generously gives His own Son to die and rise again for us. He does this out of love. None of us fully deserve the gift of God’s love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. It is not something that we have earned. It is not a reward. Rather it is a transformative gift from a loving God, which we are called to receive. The God who will come to judge us, and all humanity at the Second Coming, is a God of love and mercy, whose hands bear the mark of nails, wounded for love of us. Judgement and mercy go hand in hand. If we love God, and if we love our neighbour, then we are living the life of the Kingdom, here and now, free from fear.

So let us flourish in our life together, encouraging one another, so that we may all be built up in faith, hope, and love. Together let us share in the joy of the Kingdom by living generously. Acknowledging our individual talents let us sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

‘Gwyn eu byd y tangnefeddwyr: oherwydd cânt hwy eu galw’n feibion Duw’

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God’ (Mt 5:9)

For over one hundred years people in this country have gathered on the Sunday closest to Armistice Day to give thanks to Almighty God for all who have served and died, and also for the peace in which we currently live. We give thanks for those who continue to serve and protect us, and we give thanks for the work of the Royal British Legion, who have raised money to support service personnel for over one hundred years. We wish them continued success in their important work.

As we recall the sacrifice made by people from the villages in which we live, from this country, and from all over the world, our remembrance must be an active one which has an effect on our lives. We remember the generosity of those who gave their lives to ensure that we can live free from warfare and suffering. Such generosity must leave a mark on our lives, and help us to learn from the mistakes of the past, and endeavour not to repeat them in the future.

The concept of peace is not simply the absence of war, but the right ordering of the world around us. It means living the way God wants us to live. That means living in harmony, and love, one with another. That is why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, calls peacemakers are children of God. To live in peace is the will of God. Our Creator wants humanity to flourish.

Human nature leads people to long for wealth and power, and some are willing to stop at nothing to acquire these things. Christ, however, shows us another way — the way of love and gentleness, which longs to heal and reconcile. This is what Christ proclaimed on earth, and continues to do — Jesus’ loving example allows us to experience the peace of the Kingdom of God, where wounds are healed and divisions reconciled. Humanity, it seems, while desiring peace, constantly finds itself drawn into warfare of one sort or another. Usually wars are fought for political ends, with the cost being borne by ordinary men, women and children. 

Both in Ukraine and the Middle East we see the misery and cost of conflict. We continue to pray for the people of Israel and Gaza and Ukraine. We pray for all victims of warfare: the dead, the injured, and refugees, and we pray for peace and justice to reign throughout the world. 

So is there a way out of this endless cycle? In short, Yes. The alternative is in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, who gave Himself and suffered for our sins and the sins of all humanity: past, present and future. The slaughter of millions of people which characterised the wars of the last century is an act of brutality which nails Jesus to the cross. And yet He goes to His death gladly, for love of us. It is this act of total self-giving which shows us what true love is, and how we too need to fashion our lives after this pattern of love.

Our reflections on war and peace take place within the context of a Eucharist. On the night before He died, Our Lord and Saviour commanded His disciples to do this in memory of Him, and we have done so on a hundred thousand successive Sundays. To remember His Death and Resurrection, and to be fed with His Body and Blood, so that we might be transformed into His likeness, transformed by that act of self-giving love. 

We must always remember that Jesus’ loving self-giving is done to reconcile humanity with God. While we are conscious of our failings and shortcomings and our need for God, we must always remember that we are a people who are forgiven, who are loved by God in a way which has the power to transform our lives. Our lives can be transformed when, and if, we learn to love not only our friends and family, but also our enemies. Only then can swords be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks. Only then can the peace for which people fought, struggled and died become a reality in our world.

As individuals, as a community, and as a nation, we are thankful for those who sacrificed themselves for us, and we honour their memory by treasuring the peace won at so great a cost. Christians are serious about peace, because it is the will of God, and the means of human flourishing. Each of us are thankful that we are alive today and able to give thanks for those who gave their lives for us. As part of our thankful response we are called to commit ourselves to being peacemakers in our own lives, in our community, and in our world. What greater tribute could there be to the fallen than for us to work for a world where all may live in peace and security. By doing this we honour their memory and share the treasure they have given us through their selflessness. We should be selfless and generous, following their example and the example of the Generous God, who loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us.

In this time of serious wars and conflicts around our planet we pray for all those caught up in events beyond their control. In our Church and chapel communities we pray for peace and for the love of God to fill the world, making God’s love a reality here and now. In doing so, we give sincere thanks the sacrifice of our forebears. 

We will remember them.

IN 1936 RMS Queen Mary was launched and was at that time the largest ship to cross the oceans. Through four decades and a World War she served until she was retired as a floating hotel and museum in Long Beach, California. During the conversion into a hotel her three massive funnels were taken off to be scraped down and repainted. But, on the dock they crumbled. Nothing was left of the ¾inch steel plate from which they had been formed. All that remained were more than thirty coats of paint that had been applied over the years. The steel had rusted away. While it looked fine from the outside, inside it was a different story. Appearing to be something you are not is the fundamental problem with hypocrisy.

In the Gospels the main targets for Jesus’ criticism are the contemporary Religious Authorities, and those who are hypocritical. This is because do not practise what they preach. They appear to be one thing when they are in fact something quite different.

The first reading this morning from the prophet Malachi condemns people who withhold animals from sacrifice to God and break their vows by offering something blemished. Malachi criticised the priests for not honouring God or teaching the truth. They have fallen short of what God requires of them and led His people astray, and their actions are not unlike the Pharisees in the Gospel.

Jesus comments that the Pharisees are good at telling other people what to do, but not at doing it themselves:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practise and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practise. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” (Mt 23:1-4)

Here we see hypocrisy in action: do as I say, not as I do. It is an easy trap to fall into. Telling someone to do something is straightforward, but doing it yourself so that you can be an example is much harder, it takes considerably more effort. The Pharisees unwillingness to practise what they preach undermines their claim to religious authority. They profess to be experts, teaching the Law from the seat of Moses, but their religious observance is all for show.

“They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honour at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places and being called rabbi by others.” (Mt 23:5-7)

For the Scribes and the Pharisees religion is all about show, a display of piety, and honour, power, and prestige in society. This allows them to become puffed-up with pride and self-importance. They think that they are better than others and more important. People show them genuine respect, but they have become arrogant and self-absorbed. They have fallen into the trap of thinking that they are better than they are and have forgotten the important fact that all that they have, all that they are, their talents and abilities are in fact gifts from the God they are called to serve.

“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.” (Mt 23:8-10)

Our Lord then begins to teach about humility, beginning with the titles people use. It isn’t that titles are bad in themselves, but rather the attitude which can go with them. Which encourages some to use titles to exert influence over others and misuse that power. Here we see where the Scribes and Pharisees have gone wrong, rather than using their position for good they have become selfish autocratic hypocrites, who fail to practise what they preach. They place intolerable burdens on others, while living a life of ease themselves. God the Father and Jesus Christ do not operate like this. God is loving, not a tyrant, and Jesus will soon demonstrate this love for all the world to see.

“Our blessed Lord began His public life on the Mount of the Beatitudes, by preaching, ‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the earth.’ He finished His public life on the hill of Calvary by practising that meekness: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’” [Fulton J. Sheen The Cross and the Beatitudes, 1937 p. 3]

Jesus teaching has been leading up to the key point that He is trying to make:

The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Mt 23:11-12)

What really matters is humility. It goes hand-in-hand with love of God and neighbour, and it characterises Our Lord’s Life, Death, and Resurrection. Jesus embodies love, humility and gentleness. He practises what He preaches, just as St Paul does in his dealings with the church in Thessaly. 

“For you remember, brothers, our labour and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” (1Thess 2:9)

In contrast to the corrupt Old Testament priests and the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees, in Paul we have an example of kindness and true pastoral ministry, rooted in Jesus. For Our Lord, ministry is sacrificial and finds its fullest expression in the Cross. Each and every Sunday we gather to do what Jesus did on the night before He died, so that we, the people of God, might be nourished with Word and Sacrament. Jesus gives himself for us, so that we can be fed with Him and transformed by Him, who gave Himself to death, so that we might live. 

Christ’s life and death are the greatest demonstration of generosity, given for all people, for you and me, that we all may have life in Christ. In thanksgiving we join with all the saints to sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

In the first five books of the Bible there are 613 commandments. 248 of these are positive statements: ‘You shall…’, while 365 (one for each day of the year) are negative commandments: ‘You shall not…’. That’s a lot to remember! Someone once asked two famous rabbis, Shammai and Hillel for a summary of the Law which could be recited standing on one leg. Shammai refused to give an answer to what he considered to be a silly question. Hillel, on the other hand, replied: ‘What is harmful for you, do not do to your neighbour; that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary; go and learn it’. Rabbi Hillel was the grandfather of Gamaliel, who taught St Paul, and his teaching is close to that of Our Lord in today’s Gospel.

Jesus has just been debating with some Sadducees, the Jewish aristocratic priestly sect who denied the Resurrection. He has argued that understanding God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob means that He is the God not of the dead, but  of the living. Therefore the Sadducees’ beliefs about the afterlife are wrong. These words no doubt cheered up the Pharisees (rivals of the Sadducees) immensely, so they decide to come along to see who this teacher is, and to ask Him some questions. 

‘And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”’ (Mt 22:35-36)

This is a fair question, and Our Lord’s answer is not surprising:

‘And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”’ (Mt 22:37-38)

In this answer Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, a piece of Scripture recited by Jews every single day. These are words affixed to Jewish doorposts, and begin ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one…’ This central declaration of faith in God highlights the fact that first and foremost humans are called to love God. These words define who God is, and how we should relate to Him. We are to love God because God loves us and cares for us. God’s love makes demands of us, and requires all that we are, all that we think, and all that we do to be motivated by love of God. Jesus then adds a second commandment:

‘And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets”’ (Mt 22:39-40)

By adding these words, Jesus introduced a revolutionary idea — that the love of God and the love of neighbour are interconnected and inseparable. Our Lord invites us to recognize the image of God in every person we encounter, and to love them as we love ourselves.

Through these two commandments, Jesus provides us with the roadmap to a meaningful and Christ-centred life. To love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds is to cultivate an intimate relationship with the Divine. This is an invitation to pray, to seek God’s guidance in all things, and to surrender our will to His.

This means loving our neighbours and ourselves as God loves us, with the same costly and generous love that our Creator has for us. Jesus cuts right to the heart of the Old Covenant to show that what He is teaching is the fulfilment rather than the abolition of the Law and the Prophets. We know from elsewhere in the Gospels that when someone asks the follow-up question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’, Our Lord tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, illustrating what costly love in action looks like.

This may sound straightforward, in theory, but in practice it is less so. It takes a lifetime of practice, which is brought about through three things. Firstly, our living together as a Christian community. Secondly through being fed by word and sacrament, and thirdly by living lives which put God’s love into practice. We are to live by God’s standards and not those of the world. Christian love makes no sense unless it is rooted in the person, teaching, and example of Jesus Christ. In Him we have the example of perfect humanity to live up to. We will try, and at times fail in our endeavours, but the point is that we keep trying. To love our neighbours as ourselves is a call to compassion, empathy, and service.

As G.K.Chesterton wrote: ‘when the world goes wrong, it proves rather that the Church is right. The Church is justified, not because her children did not sin, but because they do’. The Church is to be a community of love and forgiveness. Despite this phrase having been uttered many times, I suspect that all of us fail to grasp quite how radical a departure it represents. We are to love and forgive those whom we would rather not. The Church is not just a body of people like us, whom we like, where it is always easy to get on with one another. We grow in love and forgiveness when we are among people whom we may not like, whom we would not choose to be associated with. Nonetheless, we are called to love them, to forgive them, and at the same time to be loved and forgiven by them. Since the body of Christ is made up of all baptised Christians, we are talking about a lot of different people.

All human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, and are thus imbued with a fundamental dignity, and with rights. This is the foundation of human society, and it is the will of God. As Christians we have a duty to help the weak, the vulnerable, the marginalised, and the poor. These words remain as true for us today as when they were spoken three thousand years ago. They should cause us to reflect on how the society in which we live functions. Are we loving and generous towards the weak and vulnerable? To love our neighbours as ourselves is a call to compassion, to empathy, and to service.

In a world that is plagued by self-interest and division, let us heed the words of Our Lord. Let us commit ourselves to loving God with all our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our souls, while also loving our neighbours as ourselves. In this simple yet profound message, we find the essence of our Christian calling, and the promise of a life filled with God’s grace and love.

May the love of God, made manifest through Christ, guide us through all our days, and may our love for one another shine as a beacon of light in a world that so desperately needs hope and unity. Amen

SOMETIMES people ask loaded questions, in order to trap us into saying something unfortunate. If someone were to ask you, ‘Have you stopped cheating your taxes?’ answering either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ would provide evidence that you had previously, or were continuing to defraud His Majesty’s Revenue. The way to reply is to say, ‘I have never cheated’. 

In today’s Gospel the Pharisees attempt to catch Jesus out in a similar way. They begin by seemingly flattering Our Lord:

“Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.” (Mt 22: 16)

While their words appear to be complimenting Christ, they are simply trying to lull Him into a false sense of security. Next comes the important question:

“Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Mt 22: 17)

The Pharisees want to trap Jesus. If He says ‘Yes’ He appears to be supporting the Romans. This can then be used to cast doubt on His credibility, and write him off as a collaborator: He is not one of us, He is not a real prophet, a true son of Israel. If Jesus comes out against taxation they can brand Him a political troublemaker, a revolutionary, an enemy of the State. By saying ‘No’ Jesus would ally with zealots, religious extremists, and have made a provocative political statement for which He can be denounced. 

Thankfully, Our Lord is wise to their tricks:

‘But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.’ (Mt 22:18-19)

Jesus sidesteps the loaded question by asking to see the coin used to pay tax to the Romans. A denarius is a small silver coin, ¾ of an inch in diameter, about the size of a modern 5p. It represented a day’s wages for a labourer, and worth approximately £75 in today’s money.

‘And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marvelled. And they left him and went away.’ (Mt 22:19-22)

The Pharisees come filled with malice, with a desire to catch Him out, but Jesus uses this as an opportunity to show them the proper order of things. You should pay your taxes but at the same time give God what is owed to him. That is a heart filled with love, love of God and of each other, a life which proclaims this love in the service of others and through the worship of Almighty God. This is where real power lies. This is the truly subversive aspect of Jesus’ teaching. This is what He proclaims in the Temple, in the very heart of the religious establishment. Christ shows people how to live life to the full. 

Jesus does not allow Himself to be drawn into the argument about whether it is idolatrous to use Roman coins with pictures of pagan gods on them. Paying a Roman tax with a Roman coin is fine, but what matters more is rendering to God the things that are God’s. 

Jesus is asking us all a difficult question. What do you and I, all of us, render to God ‘talwch i Dduw’ in our personal lives? If we claim to be disciples, then what does that actually mean in the way we speak and act? The Pharisees walk away from Jesus in amazement, but we cannot do that. We have to follow a different set of rules, which give us lives of freedom. In the power of the Holy Spirit the Truth can be proclaimed, the truth which sets us free from the ways of the world, free to love and serve God. Jesus is opposed to either the collaboration of the Herodians or the rigourist harshness of the Pharisees, and instead proclaims the freedom and love of the Kingdom of God. Because of what God has done for us, we are able to render to God the things that are God’s ‘talwch bethau Duw i Dduw’: lives characterised by the love and generosity which are at the heart of the Gospel. This is what really matters: living the life of the Kingdom here and now.

Loving God and loving our neighbour mean living in a way which leads us to thrive both as individuals and as a group of people. It involves turning our backs on the selfishness which surrounds us, and building a genuine community, like that founded by St Paul in Thessalonica in northern Greece. Everything we are, everything we have comes from God, and our primary allegiance is to Him. Christ demonstrates this by going to the Cross for us and all humanity: to demonstrate once and for all how much God loves the world, and longs to heal our wounds and reconcile us to each other and to Him. As we are nourished today by Jesus in Word and Sacrament, may we be built up and strengthened to live out our faith and to proclaim the reality of the Kingdom of God. May we invite others, that all may come to share in the fellowship of the feast and sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

Oswald Golter was a missionary in northern China during the 1940s. After ten years service he was returning home. His ship stopped in India, and while waiting for a boat home he found a group of refugees living in a warehouse on the pier. Unwanted by anyone else the refugees were stranded there. Golter went to visit them. As it was Christmas-time wished them a merry Christmas and asked them what they would like for Christmas.

“We’re not Christians,” they said. “We don’t believe in Christmas.”

“I know,” said the missionary, “but what do you want for Christmas?” They described some German pastries they were particularly fond of, and so Oswald Golter cashed in his ticket, used the money to buy baskets and baskets of the pastries, took them to the refugees, and wished them a merry Christmas.

When he later repeated the incident to a class, a student said, “But sir, why did you do that for them? They weren’t Christians. They don’t even believe in Jesus.”

“I know,” he replied, “but I do!”

Most people like being invited to attend a party, and would greet an invitation with joy: especially if it were a wedding. There will be lots to eat and drink, music, dancing, everything you could want at a celebration. In this morning’s Gospel reading this is the image Jesus uses to introduce his Parable of the Wedding Feast. We can all sympathise with the king in the parable. He has every right to be annoyed. He has invited people, provided them with clothing, and they are either too busy to bother to come or mistreat those whom he sends to invite them.

The Good News of the Christian Faith, which this parable embodies, is one of generous hospitality: God is generous towards us, and so we are expected to be generous to one another. In this morning’s gospel, Jesus has gone to Jerusalem. He has cleansed the Temple, he has healed the sick and the lame, and is preaching about the love of God. In his parable we see salvation history condensed into a paragraph. And we see how God sent the prophets to invite people to God’s feast. However, most of the people are too busy, too concerned with matters of this world, so they ignore the prophets. Some of the prophets are killed, the city, Jerusalem, is destroyed, and still folk do not come. So God’s invitation is widened: all are welcome. 

If we turn to our own day, the invitation is still made, but many people are unready or unwilling to come to God’s banquet. They are too busy, their lives are too full. Going to a Eucharist on a Sunday morning is seen as one choice among many, with most people preferring to read the paper, wash the car, or spend time with their nearest and dearest. Lest we think that we are somehow better for being here, we can ask ourselves how committed we are We could all of us, I suspect, do more for the sake of the gospel.

In the parable the king stands for God. His servants are the prophets who are ignored, and then abused and killed. Finally all are invited, so that the Wedding Feast for the King’s Son is full. Then something strange happens:

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.” (Mt 22:11-12)

People going to a wedding would be provided with a wedding garment, they were generally made from linen. These served both to show the generosity of the host, and also to stress a radical equality among the wedding guests. It didn’t matter who you were, or how rich or poor, all were dressed in the same clothes. So what does the wedding garment mean? Honestly, we don’t know, but a best guess is either baptism, or love, gentleness, and generosity. The point is that without being clothed with love of God and neighbour, the guest cannot be there. God is generous, but God makes demands of us, and expects us to live out our faith for all to see.

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah we have a vision of the Messianic banquet, to which all people are invited:

‘On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined,’ (Isa 25:6)

These words find their fulfilment in the Eucharist, which Christ instituted on the night before He died. We have come together today to do what Christ did, and this is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. May we come to it dressed in the garment of love. Oswald Golter, the missionary on his way back home wanted to celebrate the Incarnation, the Birth of Jesus with other people. It didn’t matter that they were not believers! What was important was that what happened in Bethlehem: a demonstration of God’s love. So Oswald’s response was to be loving in return, to show refugees, on the very margins of society, that they were loved and valued too. Our faith leads us to love people, to will their good, to celebrate with them. When we live out our faith, and put it into action in our lives, theory becomes reality. 

God expects us to put our faith into action in order to demonstrate and proclaim the Kingdom of God. So let us come to the Lord clothed with love, filled with His Spirit, transformed by the Eucharist. Let us also invite others to join in the worship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

OVER the last few weeks we have read or heard a lot of vineyards in our readings. Jesus has just told a parable about labourers in a vineyard, which we heard two weeks ago, and now, this morning, two of our readings are all about viticulture. Vines are important things: they grow grapes which make juice and wine, which people drink. But more than that, at a symbolic level, the vineyard stands for Israel, the land of God’s chosen people. The metaphor of the vineyard allows both Isaiah and Jesus to talk about Israel and their relationship with God. However, they do not have much to say that is good. Our readings are telling the truth about falling short of what God expects of us, His people, who have been made in His image and likeness. 

In our first reading today, the prophet Isaiah sings a love-song for his beloved, that is, God, who plants a vineyard on a hill, having prepared the soil and cleared away the stones. These actions are all signs of love and care. God defends the vineyard with a watchtower to give advanced notice of attack. There is also a vat for making wine out of the grapes. However, the grapes are wild. Wild grapes are weeds, which grow more vigorously, and their fruit is sour, not sweet. You cannot make good wine from sour grapes. This prophecy speaks of Israel being abandoned and destroyed. This is because God expects justice, but instead, is faced with bloodshed. God looks for righteousness, but instead, finds an outcry. The Hebrew for each pair of words is similar, so the prophet is using wordplay to make the point more strongly. Israel needs to repent, to turn back to God and follow His ways.

In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus continues to teach in the Temple, after His Triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. He has told the parable about labourers in a vineyard, and the parable of the two sons, and now He recites a parable about a vineyard and a son. Jesus sets the scene in a way which clearly refers to the prophecy of Isaiah which we have just heard. The chief priests and elders would have known the prophecy that Jesus was referring to. This parable has a number of servants being sent to collect the fruit:

And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than at first. And they did the same to them. (Mt 21:35-36)

This is a description of how Israel acts towards prophets, such as Isaiah. Despite telling the truth and telling the people God’s word, they are mistreated and killed. Again and again the prophets call God’s people to repentance, to turn back to the Lord, and again and again they are ignored and mistreated. As a result, God sends His Son. As the parable continues:

Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. (Mt 21: 37-39)

Here Jesus is prophesying His own death. Soon, despite having just been welcomed into Jerusalem as the Messiah, Jesus will see the crowds turn against Him. Encouraged by the chief priests and elders (who are listening to what is being said) the people will call for Jesus’ Death. 

At the conclusion of the parable, Jesus asks the religious authorities what God will do, and they answer Him:

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” (Mt 21:40-41)

Their answer is telling. The chief priests understand what will happen, and that their actions will have consequences. They will be punished for not doing what God wants. Finally Jesus quotes from the Psalms (Ps 118:22) to explain the situation:

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” (Mt 21:42-3)

Just like the prophet Isaiah earlier, Jesus uses clever word-play to reinforce His theme. Isaiah makes the point that the words for justice and bloodshed, and righteousness and an outcry are similar. Likewise, the Hebrew words for stone (eben, as in Ebenezer) and son (ben, as in Benjamin) are very similar, there is only one letter difference. Thus, when He speaks about the stone, Jesus is referring to Himself, the Son of God.

Jesus uses the Psalms to reinforce His interpretation of Isaiah. He is letting His listeners know that He must be rejected, suffer, and die like the Suffering Servant in Isaiah Chapters 52-53. Jesus also makes clear that salvation is now not solely for Israel, but also for the Gentiles. In fact it is for anyone who produces the fruit that God desires them to produce. This is the Christian proclamation in a nutshell.

Despite Jesus’ rejection and death, it is God’s love and forgiveness that are being proclaimed to the world. The Kingdom of God is a place of reconciliation, where wounds are healed, and lives are restored. Love is the core of our faith: God’s love for us, and our love for each other and for God. This is how God transforms the world: through love. God so loved the world, a world which He created, and restored, and redeemed. We, here, are living proof of that love, and we are given the task of tending the Lord’s vineyard. How can we live out that same generous love in our own lives? We need to work together, nourished by Word and Sacrament, and live lives of love and forgiveness. We are all called to proclaim God’s love to the world, and to invite others to enter the joy of the Lord. We do this so that all may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

IS IT WORSE to refuse to do something you are asked to do, or to say that you will do something and then not do it? That is the question posed in today’s Gospel. 

Our Lord is talking to the chief priests and elders. These are the religious leaders of His day, the people tasked with guiding the people of Israel in their relationship with God. Jesus has entered Jerusalem in triumph, and cast out the money-changers from the Temple, and cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit. What we are witnessing in the Gospel is a religious reform. Those who are supposed to have brought people closer to God are shown to be resistant and rebellious; they are the problem rather than the solution. 

The chief priests and elders are concerned with authority — power and influence. What gives Jesus the right to say and do what He does? Clearly Christ does not want to answer their question, for if He told the truth He would be accused of blasphemy, so Our Lord answers their question with another question:

“I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” (Mt 21:24-25)

The religious authorities are unable and unwilling to answer the question, so Jesus teaches them using a parable:

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’, but afterwards he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir’, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Mt 21:28-31)

In the parable of the two sons, clearly the one who overcame his initial reluctance and actually did the will of his father, by working in the vineyard, is the example for us to follow. This son experiences repentance, and changes his behaviour to do what is best for him. He starts out as being stubborn, rebellious, and disobedient — but the important thing is that he repents. The other son begins with an outward show of respect. He appears to be a dutiful son, addressing his father as Sir, but he is basically a hypocrite, as his actions do not match his words. True obedience is not in outward displays of respect, but in doing the will of God.

The point Our Lord is making is that the chief priests and elders appear to be doing the will of God, and keeping the Law. However, they are in fact very far from the ideal, and are puffed up with pride and self-righteous indignation. This is why in Jesus’ reply to them He refers to tax collectors and prostitutes.

Two thousand years ago, tax-collectors and prostitutes were seen as the lowest of the low in society. The first were viewed as swindlers, the second as sexually immoral. Both, however, were on good terms with the Romans, they were certainly not the kind of company a religiously observant Jew would keep. And yet, despite their sins, these are the people who are willing to repent. They are aware of their need for God, and they understand that God loves them. They believe that God will be merciful, will heal their wounds, and will welcome them into His kingdom. By recognising that it is more important to do the will of God rather than simply to say that you will, the religious authorities highlight their own hypocrisy and are condemned by their own lips. They have been told by John the Baptist what God wants, but they have ignored him, and now when Jesus tells them the same message they will also ignore the Lord their God.

The chief priests and elders will soon call for Jesus’ death by crucifixion. This is a demonstration of humility and obedience by Our Lord who dies for us, offering His Body and His Blood to heal us, and give us eternal life in Him. As we prepare to receive Him, may we have the humility to let Him transform us into His likeness. May we be conscious of our need of God, and our need to turn back and follow Him, so that we may have life in all its fullness. May we prepare to enjoy God’s closer presence and sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

A CHILD stands in front of their mother with an unhappy look upon their face. ‘But mummy’ they cry, ‘I want some pudding!’ The mother explains that they must eat their dinner first. However, the child remains unconvinced, and as they become aware that they are not going to get their own way, they say the immortal words: ‘It’s not fair!’ At one level, many of us would prefer sponge and custard to Brussels sprouts. It’s just more fun to eat. As we give thanks to God for the harvest, we are mindful that we live in a world where people go hungry. At a deep level we are all concerned by matters of fairness. Our God gives us a vision of justice, where in the words of the Magnificat: ‘He puts down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble and meek’.

Our readings this morning all have something of a paradoxical quality to them. Both the Scriptures, and the Christian concept of God, are rooted in paradox. The ability to hold two contradictory views should be impossible and yet it is not. There is a good reason for this: God is a mystery, knowable, yet hidden; understandable, yet beyond our grasp. It can sometimes be a struggle to understand these paradoxes. Whilst this struggle is part of the process of coming to know God, we also have accept the fact that our mental efforts can never be enough. We simply have to experience the mystery.

The prophet Isaiah proclaims the Divine message to bring Israel back to God: 

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts (Isa 55:6-7)

The message is clear and simple. There is a right way to live and a wrong way. The prophet’s task is to proclaim God’s message, to call people back:

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isa 55:7)

God longs to treat humanity with compassion, and to forgive our human failings. He is a God of love and mercy, both in the Old Testament and in the New. In Scripture there is a consistent message of how God creates everything, sees that it is good, and loves what He has made. Our Heavenly Father is generous and loving because that is who He is. God cannot be otherwise. 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord (Isa 55:8)

If God were to think and act in a human way then all we could expect would be punishment for having sinned and fallen short of what is expected of us. However, God shows divine justice and mercy, and so we can put our hope in His love to heal and restore us. To an extent that we, as humans, cannot even imagine:

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:9)

We are able to experience the mystery of divine love through the Church and her Sacraments, which are effective signs of grace that manifest God’s generous love in the world. These are just a part of the mystery of God’s love for us which we can never fully comprehend, this side of Heaven. 

In our second reading this morning, St Paul is writing to the first Christian community that he founded in Europe. He is under house arrest in Rome, facing trial and execution. It is a joyful letter, arguably his most joyful letter, despite being written as Paul faces martyrdom. As a society we have become more afraid of death and dying, and the subject of our own end is something many of us would prefer not to think about. For Paul, however,

to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil 1:21)

The Apostle states that if he lives, he will live in Christ, and he will proclaim the truth of the Gospel with his words and with his deeds. Paul believes that if he dies it is gain, because his death will bear witness to Christ, having shared in His suffering and death. Paul has hope in the resurrection to eternal life in Christ.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues His teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven with the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. Our Lord explains that God’s Kingdom is a place where human values are turned on their head: 

So the last will be first, and the first last. (Mt 20:16)

This is why the first labourers to be paid are those who have only worked for one hour. By the time the labourers who have toiled the full twelve hours come to be paid they expect to be given more, even though they agreed on the standard wage for their day’s labour. The parable is fundamentally about salvation. Salvation is a gift from God and not a reward for work done by humanity. We cannot earn it, we have to receive it from a loving and generous God. Likewise there are no grades of salvation, just as there are no classes of Christian. We are all one. Jesus’ Jewish audience believed that they were God’s chosen people, and this could lead to the perception of Gentiles and converts as being something lesser. However, such a view is opposed to the values of the Kingdom of God where all are equal. 

This equality is a radical statement by Jesus. It is a clear declaration that God’s grace is abundant and inexhaustible, and is freely offered to all who accept it. There is no such thing as a higher rank of Christian. God treats us all in the same way and loves each and every one of us. Though I serve God and His people as a priest, I was not chosen for this role by being a better Christian in the first place. Clergy are not superior Christians. All the baptized are equal in the sight of God. This morning’s gospel reminds us of the important truth that salvation is the free gift of God, which we receive in our Baptism and which is strengthened through the Sacraments of the Church. We cannot earn our way to Heaven!

We often forget the fact that Heaven is full of people who have sinned. However, they are loved by God and love God, and trust in His mercy and forgiveness. The more we experience and understand the overwhelming love and generosity of God, the more marvellous it becomes. To repeat the prophet Isaiah, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. 

As Christians we need to respond to God’s generous love. If we are to be truly thankful then our gratitude should affect who we are and how we live our daily lives. As we give thanks to God for another harvest safely gathered in, we share what we have, so that our harvest offerings will feed the hungry, and bring joy to those in need. By doing so, we put our faith into practice and make the Kingdom of God more visible. United with all creation, we sing the praise of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen. 

PEOPLE living in cities in the Ancient World were especially concerned with two things: crime at night, and the thought that their house might be burned down by a fire. These are real understandable fears. The emergency services were not well-developed in the Ancient World. However, cities did have a night watch who functioned as a combination of a police force and fire brigade. It is to such an office that God appoints the prophet Ezekiel in today’s first reading. Ezekiel is to be a night watchman, someone who is vigilant against fire and crime, someone concerned with safety and people’s well-being.

Prophets exist to speak warnings to God’s people, to show them where they are going wrong and to show them how to get back on the right path. The role of a prophet is to call sinners to repent from their evil ways. Through the prophet God calls His people back to Him. Though people are, then as now, wayward they are given a chance to repent, to return to the ways of human flourishing. The choice is a stark one: life or death. It is important, and a lot depends upon the choices we make. This is why the central proclamation of the Church is to call God’s people to repentance: to turn away from sin, and to turn back to God. 

Today’s second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans continues the Apostle’s advice on how Christians should live out their faith in their lives. Living a Christian life is a difficult thing to do, and for two thousand years Christians have struggled to do it well. As followers of Christ we are called to love God and to love one another. Paul quotes from the Ten Commandments to make the point that the basis for the moral code found in the Mosaic Law is Love. If you love someone then you will not do such things to them. To love is to will the good of another, to make the right choice, one which leads to human flourishing.

Paul can see the wider significance of what he is encouraging people to do. The Church knows that Jesus will come to judge the world, so Paul is encouraging Christians to live moral lives. The first Christians were surrounded by a decadent and morally corrupt society, just as we are today, and have been for two thousand years. Human nature is surprisingly consistent. We, however, are called to live differently. In our baptism, we put on Christ, and we were clothed with Him, sharing His Death, but we were also raised to new life in Him. We pray for the strength to live that new life, here and now! This is how we should prepare to meet our Redeemer, when He comes again.

How do we deal with problems as a church? This is an important and difficult question — people make mistakes, and we need to deal with them, so that we can all grow together in love. This morning’s Gospel shows us how, in a number of clear simple steps:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” (Mt 18:15)

First, we should approach the person in private. If they listen, and presumably admit their mistake and ask for forgiveness, or try to put things right, then that is an end to the matter. They are reconciled, and the matter is forgiven and forgotten. Problem solved.

If this does not work, Our Lord instructs us to take one or two people, so that there are witnesses. If this does not work, it becomes a matter for the church as a whole. If the person at fault still refuses to listen, they are excluded, not as a punishment, but so that they may have another opportunity to think things over, to admit that they are wrong, and to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. The point is not to cast people out, but to try and keep them in, and give them all possible opportunities to repent and be reconciled. In worldly terms this provision is generous. The church, which Christ founded, is meant to do things differently, as Jesus says:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (Jn 10:10)

God wants us all to have life in all its fulness, which includes healing and reconciliation. The world, however, often sees things in terms of punishment and retribution, whereas the church views things in terms of restoration. Our God is a God of justice and mercy. This is why Jesus goes to the Cross willingly, to bear our sins, and to heal our wounds. We cannot sort out the problem of our sin and woundedness on our own; if we could we would not need a Saviour. 

This is why Jesus reiterates His teaching about sin:

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Mt 18: 18) 

This is a reality because of all that God has done for us in Christ. The Church exists to continue the redemptive work of God within the world. Through God’s forgiveness we can be truly reconciled and the healing, which can become a reality in our lives. Jesus says in the words which follow:

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. (Mt 18:19)

Through God’s reconciliation we can make requests in prayer, and those requests will be answered. God hears our prayers. In addition, as a Christian community we can be encouraged by Christ’s presence in our midst:

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (Mt 18:20)

Christ is among us, here and now! We gather to celebrate the Eucharist because Jesus told us to. And we receive His Sacramental Presence in the Eucharist, His Very Flesh and Blood, so that He may transform us; so that we may have a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet and be built up and strengthened in love, both here and now. We have the medicine for which our souls cry out. This is the healing which Christ accomplishes on the Cross, He longs to pour out His Love on us, so that we can know true freedom, true joy, and true love, in Him. So let us come to Him and let His Grace transform our lives, so that we, and all creation, may give glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen. 

THESE DAYS, WHENEVER we turn on the news, or open a newspaper, it becomes clear that good news doesn’t sell. Bad news does. This can lead us to think that the world is in a bad way. In many ways it is, though the solution is not necessarily what journalists or politicians would have us believe. None of us like giving or receiving bad news. Good news is much more straightforward, and easy to pass on, especially when it cheers people up. All three of today’s readings focus on delivering difficult or unpleasant news, things that people don’t want to hear. The vocation to be a prophet, like Jeremiah, is not an easy one. Prophets are tasked with telling people the plain, unvarnished truth about themselves and also about God. Their words can be quite difficult, even unpalatable. Most (if not all) of us would rather not hear hard truths, but we need to, if we wish to learn the truth and grow spiritually. 

It, therefore, comes as no surprise that in today’s first reading the prophet Jeremiah is feeling rejected and miserable. He has been prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, but, because this has not yet happened, he is seen as a fraud. Jeremiah starts to doubt God, and yet he still has a burning fire within himself to call God’s people to repentance. However, when he is mocked, Jeremiah feels let down. From a human perspective this is a  completely understandable response. The prophet, however, has a job to do, he must speak out, whether the people listen or not.

Last week we heard Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Following on from this, Jesus tells His disciples what must happen to Him, explaining that:

He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Mt 16:21)

Jesus’ words must have come as something of a shock to His followers. This isn’t what is supposed to happen to the Messiah. So Peter takes Jesus to one side and tells Him off! Like the other disciples, Peter cannot understand what needs to happen. He has forgotten the prophecies like Isaiah 53 which tell of the Suffering Servant. Peter cannot take it in — he does not want Jesus’ prophetic words to come to fruition. This is a very understandable response. We too do not want such appalling things to happen.

Next it is Peter’s turn to be rebuked, when Jesus says to him:

“Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mt 16:23)

In just a couple of verses Peter has gone from being the rock upon which the church will be built, to being Satan, the deceiver, the devil, and a stumbling block. In this short time Peter has run the whole length of the spectrum, from getting things right to getting them totally wrong. There are no half-measures with Simon Peter. He jumps in with both feet. Whether he gets things right or not, he is certainly committed, and through this commitment Jesus sees Peter as a future leader. However, on this occasion, His disciple’s inability to understand what Jesus is saying has led him to try and oppose the will of God. Peter, the Rock, has become a stumbling-block, an obstacle, something to trip over. This is because Peter can only see and understand things in human terms. God, however, has something else in store. Jesus’ death on the Cross is inevitable for the simple reason that God loves us that much. However, the Cross is not just for Christ. It is for each and every one of as Christians: we are all called to bear it ourselves.

As believers, we are tasked to take up our Cross and follow Jesus. We should, however, be under no illusion; this is no easy thing. We cannot manage to do this on our own, we have to do it together, as a community, relying upon God, while loving and forgiving each other. All the power, all the wealth in the world, is worth nothing compared to finding true life in Christ. Worldly things cannot save us, they cannot give us eternal life, they cannot wipe clean our sins. Only Jesus can do this. Only in Christ can we have true life — life in its fullness. Only if we discard our old self by following Him, can we discover the wonder of what human life can really be.

Thus the Church, in following Jesus, offers a radical alternative to the ways of selfishness and sin. This alternative has the power to change the world through being conformed to Christ by becoming Christ-like. We can do this together, by living out our faith and encouraging others to do so; by living lives of profound love, something that is difficult, and costly, and wonderful.

Today, through listening to God, in prayer and by the Word of God, the Bible, we are reassured that God loves us, and our Heavenly Father will help us throughout our lives. We are also strengthened by receiving Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion. This is food for our souls, which enables us to be built up in love.

In the Letter to the Romans, St Paul describes what love in action looks like. We are guided as to how to put our faith into practice in our lives. By living out the love and forgiveness which we have received, and by turning from the ways of the world we become members of God’s Kingdom. This world cannot save us, only Christ can do that. Equally, the ways of the world cannot give us true happiness, or eternal life. Earthly promises are false and empty. Only Jesus can give us what we long for: to be united with God forever. Only Christ can transform us, and this transformation lies at the heart of the proclamation of the Kingdom. Only by losing our life can we find it.

Words cannot express just how earth-shattering and transformative Divine Love is. It is a profound mystery, in the fullest sense of the word. God’s love and mercy are greater than anything we can know or imagine. We may keep making mistakes, but God’s love is unconditional. We cannot earn such love, it is freely offered to transform us. Our faith, therefore, is the work of a lifetime. Day by day God’s grace can perfect our nature, if we are humble enough to let God be at work in us.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, let us turn to the Living God, to be fed by Him, and with Him, to have new life in Him, so that He can continue to transform our human nature and follow His example. Let us take up our Cross, and joyfully sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen. 

ONE TRUTH about dogs is that they are motivated by food. If you want to get a dog to do something, rewarding them with a treat usually guarantees a result. Dogs enjoy our company, they like to be with us, and spend time around us. Also, if at all possible, they like to share what we are eating. It makes them feel part of a pack, part of a family. Dogs like our scraps. Certainly our whippet does! Feeding our four-legged friends titbits is an endearing image, but the use of this image in today’s Gospel is somewhat problematic. 

Our Lord has been engaging the religious authorities, the Scribes and Pharisees on matters of religious law. In particular, what makes a person clean or unclean. Jesus heads North-West from near Capernaum up to the Mediterranean coast of Syria. As they travel, He and His disciples meet a Canaanite woman who is clearly distressed. She begs Him:

“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” (Mt 15:22)

The mother is desperate, her daughter is very ill, so she asks someone with a reputation for performing miraculous healings to help her. The woman addresses Our Lord as the Messiah, and begs for mercy. This seems quite straightforward, but Jesus’ response is strange and troubling: 

‘But he did not answer her a word’ (Mt 15:23)

This is not the sort of detail one would invent. It does not show Jesus in a very favourable light. Not only is Our Lord silent, but His disciples beg Him to get rid of the unnamed woman:

“Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” (Mt 15:23)

They see this anxious mother as a nuisance, a distraction, someone to be ignored. Jesus answers them saying:

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt 15:24)

Christ states that He is the Jewish Messiah, sent to save the Jewish people. Taken at face value this position appears to exclude non-Jews, and at this time the dividing line between Jews and Gentiles was a strict ‘Us and them’. This idea is challenged by St Paul who says in his letter to the Galatians, ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Gal 3:28).

The distraught mother, however, is not deterred:

‘But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”’ (Mt 15:25)

The woman continues to ask for the Messiah’s help. Her daughter is unwell, and she needs healing, which only Jesus can provide. The Canaanite woman’s plea for assistance provokes a response from Our Lord:

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” (Mt 15:26)

This appears to us both rude and xenophobic, but at that time it was perfectly normal for such terminology to be used. The mother, however, is undeterred, and counters by arguing as follows:

“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (Mt 15:27)

She takes the characterisation of Gentiles as dogs, and uses it to her own advantage. The Gentile woman may be seen as being unclean, in the eyes of the strict Jews, like a dog. But even dogs can expect to be fed something from their masters’ table. She perseveres to ask for a crumb of support and healing, and her perseverance is duly rewarded: 

‘Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.’ (Mt 15:28)

This awkward and drawn-out encounter ends with faith being rewarded with healing. In addition, Jesus goes against the exclusive Jewish position, held by the Scribes and Pharisees, showing it to be false. Rather than stating that healing and salvation are for Jew and Gentile alike, as Paul does, Matthew’s Gospel, like any good storyteller, does not simply tell, but rather shows through example. 

This is radical Good News. God offers salvation and healing to both Jew and Gentile alike. The Christian Church is inclusive, it does not exclude people. The reward for the Syro-Phoenicean woman’s faith and tenacity is God’s healing. The first reading from the prophet Isaiah sees God’s promises offered to all who wish to try and live holy lives. It ends with the words,

“these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isa 56:7)

Through His prophet, God promises to gather all peoples to Himself. This is the inclusive vision of the Kingdom which is brought to fruition, first in the healing of the Syro-Phoenicean woman’s daughter, and later in the Church. As Christians we recognise that that we cannot earn God’s mercy, instead it is offered to us. In a few minutes, in our service, we will declare that:

We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your Table. But you are the same Lord, whose nature is always to have mercy:

God is merciful. Like the daughter in the Gospel we need God’s merciful love to be poured out upon us. We long for healing, and we experience this through the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Our Lord’s Body and Blood. Like the Syro-Phoenicean woman we need to recognise that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, and that while we are not worthy, nonetheless God loves us and heals us. We come to Calvary, to that altar where God is both priest and victim, and where humanity is healed: Jew and Gentile alike. 

St Paul was profoundly aware of this inclusive aspect of the Church, even though it flew in the face of his religious training as a pharisee of the school of Hillel. Paul knows God to be faithful, but his life’s work was to proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom to Gentiles, to non-Jews. God is merciful to all, and longs to see all people reconciled to Him, and each other. Rather than simply making a pronouncement, Jesus shows His disciples the new reality of God’s Kingdom, and leads them from being exclusive, to becoming inclusive and welcoming. 

The woman’s prolonged encounter with Jesus in today’s Gospel, is a metaphor for the life of faith lived out by Christians. The Christian life requires perseverance. It is the work of a lifetime to be transformed by God. This is to prepare us to enjoy being with Him forever in the next life. So may we, like the Canaanite woman persevere in our faith, and come to sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

The Canaanite Woman detail from Folio 164r of Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry  

ONE DAY WHEN I was about seven years old, I was in Cardiff for the afternoon with my parents. As we walked past Cardiff Castle it was clear that there was some sort of military display going on. A Parachute training tower had been erected next to the battlements, and you could be strapped into a harness, attached to a rope, and jump from the battlements into the arms of a burly Sergeant Major of the Parachute Regiment. Being a young boy I was extremely keen to do this. It sounded like great fun! My parents were considerably more afraid than I was, but thankfully let me go ahead. I trusted the military hardware, sauntered up to the battlements, jumped off into the air, and was caught by the NCO. I suspect that now I would probably share my parents’ concerns, but at the time my yearning for adventure overcame my fear. 

Fear is a natural emotion. We are hard-wired to feel it. Fear keeps us safe, warning us about potential dangers. However, while a small amount is healthy, too much can easily paralyse us. Today’s Old Testament Reading depicts an encounter between the prophet Elijah and God. Such an encounter should be one characterised by trepidation. God tells Elijah to go out of his cave and stand before the Lord. However, God is not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, instead:

‘after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.’ (1Kings 19:13)

God visits Elijah in the still, small voice. God does not shout, He whispers. God is gentle. To quote the prophet Isaiah:

‘He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench’ (Isa 42:2-3)

The gentleness of God looks forward to Jesus Christ, our gentle Saviour. Archbishop Michael Ramsay put it well when he said, ‘God is Christlike, and in him is no un-Christlikeness at all’. When we see Jesus, we see God; when we hear Him speak, we hear the voice of God. We can know who God is — the Creator and Redeemer of the universe — through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Today’s Gospel begins with the aftermath of a miraculous feeding of more than five thousand people. Our Lord tells His disciples to cross over the Sea of Galilee while he dismisses the crowds. Having done this, Jesus spends time alone in prayer. Christ understands the need for a balance between work and rest. Our Lord’s ministry is possible because of His intimate relationship with God the Father, maintained through prayer. Jesus is the example we all need to follow where our spiritual life is concerned. 

Then, around 3 o’clock in the morning, Jesus makes his way across to the disciples: 

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” (Mt 14:25-27)

We would all share the disciples surprise and fear at the sight of someone walking on water towards us, especially in the middle of the night! Jesus encourages the disciples, who have been having an extremely difficult crossing. The wind is against them, so they are having to row the boat across the Sea of Galilee:

‘the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them’ (Mt 14:24)

Even for professional fisherman who lived and worked on the water, this is hard work. The disciples have been struggling to cross the lake, and then they are faced with terrifying sight. They are tired, and scared, and it is dark! So Our Lord encourages the disciples. This provokes a response from Peter

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. (Mt 14:28-29)

Jesus speaks a single word to Peter, ‘Come’ He also speaks this same word to each and every one of us as Christians. He wants us to come, to follow Him, to be close to Him, to live out our faith in our lives strengthened by prayer. Will we trust Jesus enough to follow Him? Peter has faith, he trusts Our Lord, steps out of the boat and comes to Him. When Peter is distracted, things start to go wrong.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt 14:30-31)

When Peter’s fear displaces his faith he begins to sink. However, when he trusts Jesus to save him, all is well. This is, however, not the end of the night’s events.

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Mt 14:32-33)

Jesus brings peace, and calms the storm, so that the disciples can cross safely. Afterwards, they worship Him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’ The climax of these events is worship. This is what we, as humans and as Christians, are made for. We are called to worship God, by our love and by our prayer, so that all of our lives are an act of worship, which draws us ever closer to the source of life and love.

Jesus brings peace to our troubled lives by His offering of Himself on the Cross. We worship Him as the one who can bring hope and healing to our lives. Christ saves each and every one of us, taking the sin of the world upon Himself so that we might be freed from fear and death. That same sacrifice will be made present here today, when we the people of God, are fed by God, with His Body and Blood. We are strengthened and brought close to Him. His is still small voice which speaks of peace, peace for our hearts and our world.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us trust Our Lord above all else, and be living witnesses to His Kingdom. Let us love our Lord, and encourage others to do the same, so that they too may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

WHEN I was a child I always wanted new Lego sets. It was my favourite toy. I’m sure you can all remember that feeling when there was something, a toy or book, that you longed for. How you saved up your pocket money, or anything you got for your birthday, and finally you could have your heart’s desire. It’s a powerful emotion, which creates a strong memory, and it is the idea behind most of Our Lord’s teaching in the Gospel this week. 

In the Old Testament reading God makes a promise to Solomon: Ask me for something and I will give it to you. Solomon does not ask for wealth, long life, or for God to smite his enemies. Instead, King Solomon asks for wisdom: the ability to discern between good and evil, so that he could rule God’s people wisely. Such a sensible and altruistic request reminds us that God gives us gifts so that we may be a blessing to others. Our talents are for the flourishing of society rather than for our own glory. Solomon begins from a place of humility and total dependance upon God. He doesn’t know what to do, and the task of ruling is beyond him. But, because he relies on God, wonderful things happen. 

We find a similar idea expressed in Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

‘And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.’ (Rom 8:30)

The key to it all is being Christ-like, conformed to the image of Jesus. When we live Jesus-shaped lives, when we are loving, and care for others, not only are we living as God wants us to live, but we become walking breathing advertisements for the Kingdom of God. Holiness of life is attractive, it gives us a glow, a bit like the ‘Ready Brek’ kids in the classic television advert. As Christians, we pray that we may be filled with the Holy Spirit, and live out our faith in a way which proclaims the truth of the Kingdom and the newness of life in Christ. Our collective experience over the last few years has taught us what really matters: the communities in which we live, our family, our relationships, the people we love. These things cannot be bought or sold, but are of infinite value, because they are rooted and grounded in love. Only by living out the same costly love and reconciliation shown to us by Jesus Christ can we have any hope of achieving anything. Jesus’ teaching isn’t theory, but something we need to put into practice in our lives. Relationships are characterised by giving love and offering forgiveness. This is how we all grow together as a community. The transformation starts with us, we have to be the change we want to see. Change starts with conversion, turning towards our loving God, a God whose arms are flung wide to embrace the world upon the Cross.

In the Gospel, Our Lord describes His followers in this way:

“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Mt 13:52)

The mixture of treasure, both old and new, is a metaphor for Jesus’ teaching. It is old: because it is rooted in Jewish scripture and tradition. At the same time it is also new, a brand new way of living, which offers the world something different. That is to live for others, and to lay down our lives in the service of God and His people. Christ’s teaching is revolutionary, and continues to present an alternative to the human desire for power and control. Jesus puts our flourishing at the centre, so that each and every one of us thrives.

Over the last two thousand years Christians have made mistakes, and continue to do so, but they do not detract from our aim to make the world a better place. In this morning’s Old Testament reading Solomon begins well. He will go on to be a wise ruler, but later he loses his way. He strays from the path, and does not follow God’s commandments. But thanks to Jesus healing the sin of humanity on the Cross, we can have forgiveness, learn from our mistakes, and continue to build up the Kingdom of God.

Our Lord also describes the Kingdom of Heaven as like treasure in a field. It is an image which resonates with our local history. The legend of buried treasure led people to blow up the bluestones near the spring on the outskirts of the village. Some folk will do anything to find treasure! That is because they equate wealth with power and happiness. In today’s parable the Kingdom is understood as having a similarly attractive quality. You would be prepared to do anything to obtain it.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Mt 13:45-46)

Pearls are radiant, lustrous, and shiny and found growing in mussels and oysters. They are valuable because they are both beautiful and rare. Because of its value, the Pearl is a metaphor for living a Christian life. The Kingdom is something we should prize above everything else, and pursue with a single-minded resolve.

We have been given an example to follow: Jesus. But the truth is that we aren’t very good at living up to His standards. It is easy to just spread a bit of gossip, to harbour a grudge and so on. There are thousands of little ways to undermine the Kingdom, and we all fall into them, despite our best intentions. The point is not that we fail, but that we keep trying. That is why the Christian Faith is the work of a lifetime. It involves many years of failing, seeking forgiveness, and trying to live out the Kingdom. This is something we cannot achieve on our own. We need God, just as Solomon does. We also need each other: a community of faith,  which we call the Church. Together, as people of faith, we can offer the world the healing and reconciliation it longs for and needs, now more than ever. God’s love, lived out in our own lives, is the pearl of great price, the treasure which is both old and new. Jesus’ teaching is two thousand years old, and yet it is lived out anew in the lives of Christians every single day.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us value His example above all else, and be living witnesses to His Kingdom. Let us love our Lord, and encourage others to do the same, and join us in singing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

WHEN we walk, cycle, or drive around the countryside, from time to time our eyes are met by fields of vivid yellow flowers. Rapeseed is a member of a family of plants that includes both cabbage and mustard, which we grow to produce oil. The wild mustard envisaged in today’s Gospel is a plant that can grow from a tiny seed, just 1mm in diameter, into a plant 9ft high. Most of us think about mustard solely as something to accompany our Sunday lunch, but Our Lord uses it as an image to describe the Kingdom, for its vigorous growth, and as a place of shade, safety and security.

Following on from last week’s parable of the Sower, Jesus continues to teach people using parables filled with agricultural imagery. In the first the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a field containing both wheat and weeds. 

Our Lord then uses another parable to describe the Kingdom:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Mt 13:31-32)

Mustard seeds may be small, but can grow into a large plant, in only a year. The parable is about something small becoming something large, a story of the growth of the Church. Indeed, what started two thousand years ago as a handful of people, has grown into the world’s largest religion, counting billions of people among its members. Likewise, the parable of the leaven is about how bread dough increases in size and volume when yeast is added to it. It is encouraging and positive.

The parable of the wheat and the weeds is more complex. The weeds of the parable are what is known as darnel or cockle, which is hard to distinguish from wheat, but is potentially poisonous if eaten, even causing death. They were a serious problem. Indeed to plant darnel in a wheat-field was a crime under Roman law.

Rather than getting rid of the weeds and damaging the crop, both are left until the harvest. It is very tempting to want God to act immediately, and especially when we want God to act. Thankfully God’s plan is a bit more long-term. Which means that we need to wait. Waiting isn’t much fun. The world around us tells that we can have anything we want, when we want it. Thankfully, our experiences over the last few years have shown us that this is not always the case, and that is a good thing. As the old maxim states, ‘Patience is a virtue’. In the parable we see that God is patient and compassionate. God loves us, and His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts like ours. Rather than making God be more like us, we have to try to be more like God: loving and patient. As humans we will make mistakes, which call us to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, so that we can continue to grow in holiness. It takes time. There isn’t a magic wand which can be waved to make instant holy Christians. By God’s grace it is the work of a lifetime. I know that I’m not there yet. I’m still very much a work in progress. And that is ok. The message of the parable is that God is patient, and that we need to be so as well. It is difficult, but our experience has taught us that patience is a good thing, and that we will need to continue to be patient, with each other and ourselves, as we try to live our lives and to continue to make the kingdom a reality here and now.

We help to make God’s kingdom a reality by proclaiming that Jesus comes to save us from Sin, Death, and Hell. He does this first by telling the Good News of the Kingdom, and secondly by dying for us on the Cross, bearing the burden of our sins, and overcoming the power of death and Hell, and rising again to New Life. The Church preaches Christ Crucified, and offers salvation in and through Christ alone. Sins can be forgiven, and new life is offered to all.

Let us pause for a moment to consider something important. In the Gospel, the time for the separation of wheat and weeds is not yet. There is still time: time for repentance, time to turn away from Sin, and time to turn to Christ. The proclamation of the Kingdom is one which calls people to repent, and to believe. We are called to have a change of heart, and to turn away from the ways of the world, the ways of selfishness, which alienate us from God and each other. This is not merely an event, but rather a process, a continual turning towards Christ, and reliance upon His love and mercy, a turning to Him in prayer, being nourished and transformed by our reading of the Bible, and being nourished with the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.

The Good News is that all of us have time to make sure that we are wheat and not weeds. Ours is a generous and a loving God, who longs to see His people reconciled, healed, and redeemed. The fact that the wheat and the weeds can grow together until the harvest collected is done for the sake of the wheat, lest it be pulled up by accident. Ours then is a patient God, who provides us with the multiple opportunities for repentance, time to turn our lives around and follow him. And the Church, just like the world is made up of people good and bad. We are all on various stages of a journey, and we are given all the chances possible to rely on God’s transforming grace in our lives.

Today’s parables provide a hopeful message, a message of healing and reconciliation. God does not simply give up on us, but rather does all He can to make sure that we are wheat and not weeds. It is the wonder of the Cross, that God sends His Son out of love for humanity, love of you and me, to suffer and die for us, to show us the depth of His love. Jesus rises from the tomb so show us that death is not the end, to give us hope. It is the best news there is. And we are told about it now, so that we can do something about it, and we can share the message so that others can hear, and repent, and believe, and live new lives in Christ.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be the wheat that enables those around us to know and love our Lord. So that they too may come to sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

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ONE of the notable features of our parish are the spectacular Tractor runs which regularly showcase farming machinery old and new. Tractors have revolutionised agriculture over the last one hundred years. But there are still people who can still remember fields being ploughed by horses, and seed being scattered by hand rather than from a seed drill. So until fairly recently, nothing much had changed since the time that Jesus taught people the Parable of the Sower.

Our Lord uses images and stories which his audience would easily understand, as they were recognisable from their daily life. A large crowd had gathered to hear Him teach, so He goes out in a boat so that they can hear him easily. Jesus’ teaching is straightforward:

“A sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds ate them. Others fell on rocky ground, and immediately they sprang up, but when the sun rose they were scorched and withered away. Others fell among thorns, which choked them. Others fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 13:3-9 paraphrased)

Christ’s imagery is instantly recognisable to anyone with experience of gardening.  Birds peck at seeds, and there is a constant struggle with weeds a. Likewise, if your soil is poor or thin, then plants cannot develop the roots to find water, and can easily be scorched by the sun. The point is not the sower wastes seeds, but where the seed falls into fertile soil then it produces a wonderful and huge harvest. 

Jesus’ disciples seem to not understand what is going on, and a conversation ensues:

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” (Mt 13: 10-11)

Our Lord’s reply seems strange, because the meaning of the parable seems quite straightforward and easy to comprehend. Clearly something else is going on here.  Jesus goes on to explain what He means:

Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ (Mt 13:14-15)

The prophecy of Isaiah which Our Lord fulfils tells the story of salvation history. It relates how Israel turns away from God, and does not see or hear what God is doing, to call them back to His loving embrace. Whereas with Jesus, the people have an opportunity to both repent and be healed. This is the core of the message of both John the Baptist and Our Lord. It looks forward to Christ’s Passion and Death which is the great act of healing, freeing us from our sins and reconciling us with God and each other. Thus, the disciples are unable to fully understand what Jesus means, until after His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Then, in the light of these events, Our Lord’s words make sense, they can be understood. Christ’s self-sacrifice is an act of love and healing, poured out on the world, central to the proclamation of the Kingdom, as envisaged by the Parable of the Sower.

Jesus then interprets the parable for his disciples. The seed is the word of the Kingdom, the soil is our heart. The weeds are the cares of the world. The parable represents the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, by Jesus, and His disciples, and applies to us today as much as it did to its first hearers in Galilee nearly two thousand years ago. Being a Christian is not easy. Life gets in the way, we get distracted by things, or the soil of our hearts is not deep enough for the Word to grow in. We need to both hear the Word and also understand the Word. Then it can bear fruit in our lives. When we understand the message of repentance and healing which Christ’s Death and Resurrection offer to us, and accept it, then it bears fruit in our lives. We can hope and trust along with the apostle Paul that,

‘the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.’ (Rom 8:21)

Jesus offers us glorious freedom. We can have a truly loving community in and through Christ, who has taken our sins upon Himself, and reconciled us to God and each other. It allows us to live in an entirely different way to the ways of the world. And in the growth of the Church we can see the New Life and miraculous harvest which God offers. Ours is an extravagant God, a generous God, a God who loves us.

Many people of our generation are reluctant or scared to accept God’s love. They have become inherently suspicious of the idea of a free gift. The only way that they can be encouraged to accept it is by seeing, in the lives of people around them, examples of how the free love of God affects our lives. We need to live out our faith and reflect God’s love in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be the good seed that enables others to know and love our Lord, and come to sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

ONE of the most wonderful things about dogs in general, and whippets in particular, is their ability to sleep. Despite being both fast and agile, they can, and often do, spend the vast majority of the day and night curled up and snoozing. They know how to rest, and if there isn’t anything better to do, they will do just that. We live in a world which prizes long hours of work and effort, and it can be easy to forget that, like a whippet, we too need to rest. 

Mae Iesu cynnig y gwahoddiad hwn, Jesus offers this invitation:

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30)

Our Lord offers rest to the weary. If we trust Him, then Christ will give us what we long for. Trust and humility go hand in hand: we recognise that we are not in control, and leave things in God’s hands. The yoke and the burden which Jesus offers is the Cross. He calls us to take His yoke upon ourselves. This is an act of submission, becoming like oxen pulling a plough. This image naturally leads us to think of Jesus carrying His Cross to Calvary. Paradoxically this is our rest, the easy task, this is the Kingdom of God. 

This doesn’t make sense, and it is not supposed to, because it is radically different from anything we are used to. It is the opposite of worldly, selfish ways. Jesus is inaugurating a gentle humble Kingdom, which shows up the ways of the world for what they are: empty and destructive, sinful and selfish, only concerned with power and domination.

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord makes a profound and perhaps surprising statement:

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Mt 11:25-26)

The key to the Christian Faith is Trust. Our faith is not a logical problem or a cryptic crossword that we need to solve, but first and foremost it is a relationship with the God who loves us, and longs to see us flourish. As a society we struggle to trust. We have become bruised, bitter and cynical. Instead we need to have simple child-like trust in God. Jesus’ teaching begins with gratitude. He gives thanks to the Father, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. The prayer Christ gives us (The Our Father, Ein Tad) starts by recognising both who and what God is, God who is the beginning and end of all things. It is a model for our prayers and our lives as Christians. We need to be grateful people. God has hidden things from the so-called wise and intelligent, those who think that they know it all, and do not pay any attention to Jesus’ words. The Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel exemplify this. They are religious authorities who are unable and unwilling to recognise both what they are offered and who is offering it to them.

Instead, Jesus has revealed the truth to children, simple, trusting souls who know their need of God. The key then is humility, as shown by the first reading from  the prophet Zephaniah. And for this our primary example is the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ. God humbled himself to share our humanity, so that we might share His divinity. Through being reliant upon God, and not ourselves we can be rid of the ego, the sense of pride which says, ‘you can do it on your own’. Instead we can put our trust in someone who has been entrusted everything by the Father. In other words, we are in Jesus’ hands, and can rely upon Him alone, safe in the knowledge that all will be well.

Christ bears the burden of our sins, the sins of the world, of the past, the present, and the future, upon Himself on the Cross. The message of the Gospel is to lay down your burden, to rest in the Lord, to bear His yoke and learn from Him. We do so with child-like trust in the God who loves us and saves us. We do so with humility, knowing our need of God, to cast ourselves upon His love and mercy. We cannot win our way to heaven, or gain salvation through our own efforts but rather in and through Christ, through our Baptism, nourished by His Word and His Body and Blood, so that we can have life in Him.

There is something truly refreshing about the simplicity of the message: Our Lord says to each and every one of us, to the whole world: lay down your burdens and find life in all its fullness in Christ. We are offered rest, not simply as a break from work to recuperate, but rest for our souls. We hope to experience this fully in Heaven, where we can rest in God for eternity, but we are given a foretaste of it here and now in the Eucharist.

Jesus gives Himself to us, so that we may we may live in Him, our soul’s true rest, trusting Him and following His example of humility, embracing the Cross, which is our only hope, and turning away from the empty promises of the world, to the source of life and hope. Freed from the burden of our past misdeeds, to live in the freedom of the Kingdom, both now, and forever. 

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, may we learn to be humble like Jesus. Let us take His yoke, find His rest, and be united with Him forever, so that we all may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

IN the 1990s there was an advert on British television for McCain’s Oven Chips which you may remember. In it a young girl was asked: ‘Sophie, who do you love more: Daddy or chips?’ Sophie’s Dad then pinches a chip off her plate, at which point the little girl answers: ‘Chips!’ The ad was endearing and amusing, but it relates to a central question of today’s Gospel: Whom do we love more? It is difficult question to answer. Naturally we love our family and friends. They are important to us. At the same time, Our Lord’s question challenges us to see what is really important.

Jesus tells His disciples:

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10:37-38)

Our Lord is using this extreme statement to make a point: God should be the most important person in our life. God should come first, before everything and everyone else. This is not to say that family is not important, just that our relationship with God is primary. There is no room for half measures. To follow Jesus is to take up a cross: to embrace pain and suffering for His sake. While Jesus is preaching the Good News of the Kingdom in Galilee, His mind is on the Cross. Christ knows what His mission entails — the pain, agony, and isolation. He calls us to follow Him, to be willing to lay down our lives just as He did. Jesus is also quoting here from the prophet Micah:

‘for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.’ (Micah 7:6-7)

The Kingdom of God makes demands on its followers. It disrupts established patterns of behaviour and relationships, because the Kindom is a new thing. As Christians, our primary allegiance is not to our family on earth, but rather our family in Heaven.

Our Lord then deepens His teaching with a paradox: 

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10:39)

To follow Jesus is to walk the way of the Cross, and to embrace suffering. We find our true life in Christ. We lose it for His sake, and in losing it we find it. The point is that we remain ‘in Christ’. Thanks to this relationship nothing else matters. And yet, because of our relationship with Jesus, we receive from God all that we could ever want: including God himself, united to us for eternity.

In this morning’s epistle, St Paul is filled with this hope. Because we are united to Christ in our baptism we share in both His Death and His Resurrection. While this is a good thing in itself, it also has a purpose:

‘We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.’ (Rom 6:4)

Christians are called to live new lives in Christ. Walking in newness of life means living in a different way. To put it simply, our life and our actions, as well as our words need to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. If people can see Jesus in us, they will follow Him. Our faith needs to be authentic and lived out daily. This explains why Jesus in the Gospel passage stresses showing and receiving generous hospitality. 

Generous hospitality lies at the heart of this morning’s first reading, from the Second Book of Kings. The Shunammite woman is generous towards the prophet Elisha, and provides him with food and a place to stay. Elisha wants to reward her hospitality: 

And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. And he said, “At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant.” (2Kings 4:14-16)

God makes the impossible possible, and the woman is blessed with the child she longs for. Likewise in the Gospel, those who are generous are rewarded. Generosity is a hallmark of the Christian community because through it we follow the example of God, who gives His only Son to live and die and rise again for us. It is not surprising, therefore, that in this morning’s Gospel Jesus talks about welcome: hospitality, making people feel at home and comfortable is part of who and what we are as Christians. Today in our Christian Community we show hospitality and generosity to those in need by our collection for the local food-bank. Today’s Gospel highlights some of the many paradoxes of our faith: Jesus can make us feel both spiritually uncomfortable and challenged, and yet, at  the same time, comfortable, loved and accepted. We are loved and challenged by God so that we can live out our faith together, in the knowledge that our reward is secure: it comes from God, and is to be united with God. Thus we can put God before all else, because He is more important. Only God can promise us eternal life in Him. This is surely the greatest possible act of hospitality: to offer to humanity the very thing that our souls long for, the source of our being, our hope and our salvation, bought through Jesus’ Blood on the Cross and freely offered to all who turn to Him.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, may we value God above all else. Let us invite others to know Him and love Him, and be united with Him forever, so that we all may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

At the moment, whenever we turn on our television, our radio, or open our newspaper there seems to be a new thing to be afraid of. As well as disease, war, extreme weather, economic turmoil, and environmental destruction, we now have Artificial Intelligence (AI) to worry about. People living two thousand years ago must have had equivalent worries because Our Lord’s most repeated command is, ‘Paid ag ofni’ ‘Do not be afraid’. At its heart, Christianity is a religion which seeks to release people from fear. Fear can easily control us and how we think and act. Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom seeks to free people from fear, enabling faith in God. More than anything else in the Bible, God tells His people not to be afraid. This is because fear is such a common and powerful human emotion. If left unchecked it can quickly turn into paralysing anxiety. Fear can stop us doing things. The fact that God calls us not to be afraid is rooted in the idea that we can trust Him, and know that whatever happens, our hope and our identity is found in God.

Despite the threat of imminent persecution, the prophet Jeremiah remains unwavering in his faith in God:

‘For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.’ (Jer 20:13)

Jeremiah puts his trust in a God who will both vindicate him against his many enemies, and also keep him safe. This will be demonstrated most fully on the Cross on Good Friday and the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. It is this realisation which also underlies St Paul’s confidence in this morning’s epistle. 

The Gospel for today is a speech of encouragement given by Jesus to the Twelve before they are sent out on mission. Somewhat surprisingly, rather than offering encouragement for the present, it looks towards the future, to a time when the Church will face persecution.

Our Lord speaks of the future because God knows everything. Nothing is hidden from Him, and He, not humanity is the ultimate judge. Christians are called to be open, to tell the truth with boldness, and without fear of consequence. We have a duty to say to the world, ‘You’re going the wrong way’ ‘Repent, turn around, and follow God’. Rather than being afraid of the consequences of following Christ, what matters is our ultimate destination. Do we want to be for and with Jesus, or against Him? It is a simple, stark choice. 

Our Lord then stresses humanity’s value in the eyes of God:

‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.’ (Mt 10: 29-31)

We are valued because each and every one of us is made in the image and likeness of God. Also, God loves us and wants to see us flourish in this life, and enjoy being close to Him in the next. We can trust Our Heavenly Father in the knowledge that the promises of this world are fleeting and of no real value. What Christ promises us is of God and will last forever. It is a glory which can never fade.

Jesus can make such promises because He is God, and because in His Passion He will face torture and death for love of us. Christ refers to God as ‘Our Father’ ‘Ein Tad’, which reminds us of the Lord’s Prayer and that Prayer is our greatest weapon against fear. Prayer deepens our relationship with God, and gives us the strength to live out our faith in our lives.

At the end of toady’s Gospel passage, Jesus makes a promise:

‘So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.’ (Mt 10:32-33)

We acknowledge Christ in our baptism, and should continue to do so throughout our lives. To follow Jesus we need to die to sin, we need to turn away from all the selfishness which separates us from God, and from each other. Instead we are called to live out the radical love of the Kingdom: a love which forgives, a love which thinks of others before ourselves. This love is not something we should understand simply in individual terms; it affects us as a society. Each and every one of us needs to live lives that are not enslaved to sin, but instead we should live as slaves for Christ. His service is perfect freedom: freedom from the ways of the world, and freedom to live the new life of the Kingdom of God, here and now. 

We are called, as a Christian community, to live out our faith together. We are charged to pray for each other, and support one another. We can rely upon God’s grace, that free gift, which we do not deserve, but which has the power to transform us, and conform us to the image of His Son.

For two thousand years the Church has been changing the world, one soul at a time, so that God’s will may be done, and His Kingdom may be formed here on earth, as in Heaven. Christians are radicals, and revolutionaries who believe that the Love of God can transform our Human nature. We believe that water, bread, and wine are the most powerful things we have. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, they wash us clean, and feed us by becoming the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We must, therefore, not allow fear to take over our lives. Instead, we put our trust in the God who loves us, the God who saves us. Freed from fear, and rejoicing in the new life of the Kingdom, we proclaim His truth. We invite others to know Him, so that we all may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

WHEN I was out for a walk this week I noticed that the sheep in the field near the path had been shorn. The time for shearing sheep is a significant occasion in the agricultural calendar, and an important part of rural life. We shear sheep as a sign of our care for them. In the same way the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels is pastoral: He cares for people and responds to their need. Nowhere is this made more clear than in the beginning of todays Gospel: 

‘When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Mt 9:36)

In his Gospel, Matthew uses a Greek word (esplanghnisthê) which means to be moved deep inside. This is a gut feeling, a feeling of compassion, of love and care. Like sheep without a shepherd, the crowds can wander aimlessly. They require direction; they need help. Sheep need shepherds. Nowadays we are used to seeing sheep in enclosed fields, and wolves, thankfully, are not a common sight on our hills. However, two thousand years ago in the Middle East, things were very different. There was no barbed wire, although thorn bushes could be used to make a similarly impenetrable barrier. Wolves, jackals, and stray dogs would all regularly prey on sheep, who needed protection. Shepherds were either professionals, or teenage boys who were not strong enough for work in the fields (for example the young David when summoned by Samuel). Kings of Israel were often compared to shepherds. Later, however, because of the involved nature of caring for sheep, shepherds came to be seen as ritually impure in Israel. They were both exalted and lowly: at the top of the social hierarchy, and at the same time, at the bottom.

Our Lord has compassion on the people who need care. He speaks to His disciples and says:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” (Mt 9:37)

The labourers Jesus has in mind are the twelve disciples — those who He is about to send out to care for God’s people. Their mission is a pastoral one:

‘And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.’ (Mt 10:1)

The disciples are charged with the task of healing mental and physical illness as well as demonic possession. These words remind us that our God is a God of healing, who desires to see humanity flourish. However, we, like sheep, have an amazing ability to wander off down the wrong path and get lost. The role of the Church is to carry on the disciples’ mission of bringing God’s healing to all who turn to Him.

The Gospel then names the twelve Apostles. Names are important, they are the way that we recognise each other. We are known by our names, which are given to us at our Baptism. The Church has always been a community where we are known to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. In the same way we are known by God. 

The Twelve are sent out by Our Lord who gives them specific instructions:

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Mt 10:5-7)

At first sight Jesus’ instructions appear quite exclusive. We must however, remember that looking after the lost sheep of the House of Israel is just the first step in the Church’s mission. Soon after the focus will widen considerably! The process begins with the restoration of Israel, with twelve apostles representing the twelve tribes. They are to encourage Israel to ‘Repent and believe’, and to manifest the healing power of God’s saving love. 

‘Indeed the whole earth is mine but you shall be for me a priestly people and a holy nation.’ (Exod 19:5-6)

These words apply to us all. We are called to be priestly and holy. We are told to honour God and worship Him, to offer prayer and sacrifice, and to encourage others to do the same. We do these things by being close to God in our reading of Holy Scripture, our prayer, and our participation in the sacraments — especially Baptism and the Eucharist. 

Christ has compassion (tosturiodd), on His flock and gives them the shepherds  (bugeilaid), that they need and want, and who guide and direct them along the right path. Shepherds feed their sheep, and even lay down their lives for them. Jesus’ entire life and ministry points towards His Death and Resurrection, where He lays down His life to reconcile humanity to God and to each other. This understanding lies behind Paul’s argument to the Christians in Rome in today’s Epistle. The Eucharist makes the holy people of God. This is because in the Eucharist we are fed by Christ and with Christ. We are fed with the Lamb of God and we are given a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet.

Today Christ gives himself for us, so that we might be healed in body and soul, and come to share in His Divine life. Through His Body and Blood we are reconciled to God and each other. We are called to share His compassion with others, so that all people may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

THE American statesman, Benjamin Franklin is usually credited as the author of the phrase, ‘but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ Taxation is one of life’s certainties. But if we are honest, most of us don’t really like paying taxes even though we know that we have to, and that life would be miserable if we didn’t. In the Ancient World taxation was privatised, and people would bid for contracts that were auctioned off to the highest bidder. In order to recoup the cost of getting the contract in the first place, people would be overcharged so that the tax collectors would not be out of pocket. It sounds harsh and cruel, and it explains why tax-collectors are generally looked down on in the Israel of Our Lord’s day. People disliked the Roman conquerors, and they disliked their taxes even more, knowing that part of what they paid was simply repaying a bribe. 

So when Jesus comes across Matthew the tax-collector, he is a hated figure. Nonetheless Jesus calls him:

‘and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.’ (Mt 9:9)

The whole scene is over in a few words. Matthew leaves everything and follows Jesus. It’s quite matter of fact, but his whole life changes in this brief encounter. Matthew is someone on the margins, a despised figure, not part of polite society, and yet he is called to be close to Jesus, and to play his part in sharing the Good News of the Kingdom of God. In a society where social respectability is important, Our Lord turns these expectations on their head.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mt 9:10-11)

The religious authorities, the Pharisees who are responsible for interpreting and teaching Jewish law are deeply unhappy with what Jesus is doing. He’s hanging round with the wrong sort of people! People who are ritually impure, people who should be shunned. 

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9:12-13)

Our Lord is opposed to the self-righteous and judgmental attitude of the Pharisees. Jesus is the Divine Physician who has come to heal our wounds, and to restore our relationship with God and each other. Christ accomplishes this at Calvary, where he offers Himself as both Priest and Victim on the altar of the Cross. Jesus quotes from the Old Testament, in particular Hosea 6:6, which is also the first reading today. God desires mercy, steadfast love. On the Cross, God will demonstrate both mercy, and the sacrifice which ends sacrifice: where God offers Himself for love of us. 

Jesus has already pointed out that only people who are sick need physicians. All of us need what Christ offers us. Jesus has not come to call the righteous but sinners: people who fall short of what God wants. The Pharisees, on the other hand, think that they are righteous because they follow the Law of Moses. This makes them self-righteous at best. They too are sinners, just like the tax-collectors and other people dining with Jesus, but they cannot see it. They are afflicted with a spiritual blindness and pride which, in turn, dulls their relationship with God.

The pharisees are judgemental. They think that they are better than someone else. It is a common human failing, which all of us can and do fall into. It leads us to think that we are better than we are, and ultimately to rely upon ourselves rather than God. Sinners, however, know their need of God. This is why they are close to Jesus, eating and drinking with Him. Our Lord is merciful towards them, and through this mercy they are able to begin the process of turning their lives around. 

In today’s second reading, Paul is reflecting on the example of Abraham, as a man of faith, who does not doubt that God will keep His promises. Here we see a model for living the Christian life — trusting God. God calls us all to follow Him, and we do so knowing that we are loved by God.

While we are used to images of the Messiah, the anointed saviour of Israel as something of a Davidic superman, bringing peace and freedom from tyranny. It is important to remember that this is not the only image to be found in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. In the tractate Sanhedrin in the Talmud, a discussion of the legal system, we find the following story:

Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi came upon Elijah the prophet while he was standing at the entrance of Rabbi Simeron ben Yohai’s cave … He asked Elijah ‘When will the Messiah come?’ Elijah replied, ‘Go and ask him yourself.’ ‘Where is he?’ ‘Sitting at the gates of the city.’ ‘How shall I know him?’ ‘He is sitting among the poor covered with wounds. The others unbind all their wounds at the same time and then bind them up again. But he unbinds one at a time and binds it up again, saying to himself, ‘Perhaps I shall be needed: if so I must always be ready so as not to delay for a moment.’

While we are used to talking about a broken humanity, one whose wounds need healing, it is all too easy to forget that God shows us vulnerability in being born as a baby in Bethlehem, someone who needs to be cared for and nurtured. In His Passion Our Lord receives 39 lashes and the wounds to His hands, feet and side. When Jesus appears to Thomas, He shows them to him. Having ascended to heaven Christ still bears these marks, so that as the King and Judge of all, He still bears the wounds of love. 

In the Incarnation, God became what we are so that we might become what He is. Unlike ordinary food, which when we eat it, becomes part of us, we eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ so that we might become what He is. We are fed at His table with Himself in order to become the community of God’s love in the world. We share in His life, and share that life with others, as a foretaste of the life to come, in heaven, where that love will be poured out upon us forever.

Ours is a generous God, who does not even spare His Son. God gives Himself for us gladly. This generous and loving nature is shown most fully when we are fed with the Body and Blood of Christ, God’s very self. Given to heal us, so that we may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.