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Twenty Third Sunday of Year A

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 this morning’s first reading. He 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. 

This week’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.

Having shown the Church how to live, Paul widens his focus, to reinforce something we heard last week: 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

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, justas 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. This morning’s Gospel shows us how, in a number of clear simple steps. 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. If this does not work, Paul instructs us to take one or two people, so that there are witnesses, and 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. 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! 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 who whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty, glory, dominion and power, now and forever. Amen. 

Posted on by atfurse

The Second Sunday before Advent: Mk 13:1-8

There was a time when you would see men walking around with sandwich boards, which declared, ‘The End is Nigh!’ It would be all too easy to mock them, or write them off as crackpots. They do, however, make a serious point. For all Christians, after Jesus’ Ascension, we are waiting for Jesus to come again, as our Saviour and our Judge. It might be today, or in a thousand years from now, but He is coming, and we need to be ready. We need to be prepared to meet Him. It is why, in the Season of Advent, which will soon be upon us, we consider the two comings of Jesus. The first is as a baby born in Bethlehem, the second will be as Our King, Our Saviour and Our Judge. The two comings are linked, and we need to be ready for both. 

People nowadays are worried by many things: Britain’s departure from the EU, the President of the United States of America, the threat of nuclear war, global climate change, the end of the world. The latter part of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first are full of dire warnings of impending doom. It’s scary stuff, it really is. But as Christians we know that whatever happens, we are loved by and saved by God, that we, and all things are in His hands. It can be hard to hold onto hope like this, but we can. 

The buildings of the Temple complex were soon to be destroyed by the Romans. The single most holy place in the world for Jews was about to be destroyed. It’s a frightening prospect, but it teaches an important lesson: not to be overly concerned with the stuff of this world, as it isn’t as important as we tend to make it. The disciples can’t quite understand that yet, but they will, in time.

What’s more important for Jesus is that the disciples aren’t led astray into strange beliefs, or following false Christs. The last two thousand years have seen some very strange versions, some might say perversions, of Christianity. What we believe matters, because it affects how we live our lives, it helps us give right praise to God, rather than something distorted, ugly and man-made. When Mark wrote his Gospel there were lots of strange ideas floating around about Jesus, and there still are today. It was a time of great uncertainty then, as now. There were wars and natural disasters which portend the end times. Christians were facing persecution then, and they are now too, all over the world. We are more likely to face indifference than persecution, but it knocks your confidence somewhat. You want hope and comfort, and the promise of something better. 

And we have that in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, and who rose again to show us that we have the promise of eternal life with God, ‘For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified’ (Heb 10:14). This is truly good news to a troubled world. It is the heart of our faith, and the source of our joy. Peter and Andrew, James and John want to know when it will take place. Jesus doesn’t tell them, but he gives them signs to be alert for, so that they can be ready.

I wasn’t a boy scout, but their motto ‘Be Prepared’ is a good one, especially for Christians, because Jesus is coming, and we need to be ready to meet Him. It is good to think about this as we prepare to enter Advent, the penitential season which looks towards Christmas, and our yearly celebration of Jesus’ birth. It is truly amazing thing, that God should be born as one of us, to save us from our sins, to give us the hope of Heaven. We need to prepare for it, because it is important: not the turkey and tinsel and the rampant consumerism, but the Incarnation of the Word of God. It changes the world, and has been doing so for the last two thousand years. We also know that Jesus will come to judge the world. It’s tricky that one, knowing that we will be called to account for what we have been, said, thought, and done.None of us deserve to go to Heaven, but God is loving and merciful, and forgives our sins when we are penitent, He gives us another chance when we make a mess of it. We keep doing it, and God keeps forgiving us, so that we can try to do what God wants us to do. I find such generosity staggering. The world around us can be judgmental, it likes to write people off as no good, as failures. Thankfully God isn’t like that, and the church shouldn’t be either. We have to be a community of healing and reconciliation, so that we can offer the world an alternative. It is both liberating and exciting to that you and I are part of it, and hopefully we want others to be as well. 

‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’ (Heb 10:16). The author of the Letter to the Hebrews quotes Jeremiah (31:33) to show us how Scripture is fulfilled in the Person of Jesus, who makes a new covenant with His Precious Blood on Calvary. God makes it possible for us to live this new life, triumphing over sin and death. Christ does this for us, what can we do for Him?

We can be ready to meet Him, and we can live the life He wants us to live, not worry whether Christ will come tomorrow or in a thousand years.