7th Sunday After Epiphany - Br Simeon EFO

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily preached at Winmalee:

 by Brother Simeon  Sunday 23^rd February 2014

Gospel:  Mt 5:38-48

“You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is Perfect”

“O Lord, open our eyes To behold your presence. O Lord, open our ears to hear your voice. O Lord, open our hearts to receive your love.
O Lord, help us to behold, to hear and to receive you in Word and Sacrament
That our mouths may proclaim your praise.” Amen.

 “You be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect”. This sounds like an impossible command but should we understand it as a command at all? Would it not be more helpful to consider it as an invitation to share in the life of God? Jesus is not ordering us to be perfect like some policeman ordering us to cross the road. He is sharing with us the secret of His life.

Jesus declared the highest possible standard for His followers: they must be “perfect.” “You be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The righteousness that Jesus demanded is nothing less than complete conformity to God’s perfect law in everything a person is and does. Jesus is concerned, not only with our behaviour, but with the righteousness of the heart, also. The scribes and Pharisees considered only the outward compliance. With Jesus’ standard who would ever claim to have reached it?

The very nature of the kingdom of God as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount drives us to despair of ourselves in living this kind of life so that we will turn in faith to Jesus Christ and find new life in Him to live as He lived.

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of life in the believer as we make ourselves available to His indwelling presence. God produces in us by His power what we cannot do ourselves. It is the product of the new life of Christ in us (Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:13). This way only God can possibly get the glory because we can live it only by His power.

This righteousness is God given. But Jesus also went a step further and declared; “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The statement is in the form of a command; “You shall therefore be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

You may be asking, “Then why even try to become perfect?”

The main reason is because that is what God commands of us, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

To be perfect is to reach the goal for which a person was designed. Jesus calls His disciples to become mature, reaching the high standard God has for them. We are to be constantly pressing on toward attaining that goal.

Another reason is because with the new life of Christ in us we want to become like Christ. We are a new creation, and all things have been made   new. We have received as a gift from God an imputed righteousness that was purchased for us by Jesus on the cross. It is impossible for us to be saved without this righteousness that God alone provides for the believing sinner.

The only way we can be completely conformed to the law this side of eternity is by this imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). No human being can earn this righteous standing before God. There is nothing we can possibly do that will atone for our sins . There is no human detergent that can cleanse the guilty conscience and make a person right with God. Nothing can wash away our sin but the blood of Jesus. Jesus poured out His blood on our behalf.

Do we become sinlessly perfect so that we never sin again in this life? No. We will sin and God has provided a cleansing that works and restores our fellowship with God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” will be satisfied one day when we enter into glory with Christ Jesus in heaven. It will be realised in us when we see Jesus face to face in glory. It will be perfectly fulfilled when we see Jesus and not before then.

Jesus demanded the sincere devotion of the heart to God. We must love Him with all our mind, heart and personal being. If we truly love Him we will keep His commandments.

In the Christian life we always have before us something for which to strive. No matter how far we have progressed in our spiritual life there is still more to conquer. We must bring every thought, every attitude and every behaviour into subjection to Christ.

Though we will never be perfect in this life, we are to aim and strive at Christ-like character. By God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit we are to move toward that goal every day of our life.

Our goal in ministry whether we are clergy or laity, or even just the ordinary Christian,  is that “we may present every man complete (perfect) in Christ”.

Amen.

Homily, 2nd Advent by Br Luke EFO.

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily, 8th December 2013, 2nd Sunday in Advent, delivered by Br Luke EFO.



There are times, aren’t there, when what we read in the Scriptures just seems to shout at us? They just seem to confirm that the task we have before us is the right one. Today I think is one of these times. The Gospel reading today is about John baptising people. He is giving them a new start in the faith journey.
For us Christian’s baptism, is the start of our faith journey as followers of Christ. For Pentecostals, it is the full immersion in the water of baptism that signifies their being “born again”; and is the necessary precursor for them to receive the Holy Spirit. For the traditionalists, baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity is enough. But in either, or both scenarios the act of baptism is an act of faith and results from, and leads to, commitment. And it is from that act of faith that a journey starts. So today we are staring something new. We have stepped out in faith, much like a baptism and we are starting to walk a path we believe Christ set before us. And like the faith journey that stars with baptism, so too must this new beginning today be a start not an end.
John warns those coming to be baptised that the simple act of baptism is/was not enough. The act must be followed by commitment. If we are simply baptised and then do nothing to walk as a Christian, then we may as well not have been baptised in the first place. Jesus tells us there are two great commandments: The first, is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and with all your soul”. That is hard enough, but then he adds the second. “Love your neighbour and yourself”. For some of us it is hard enough to love ourselves let alone the persons next door, or the person we know to be our neighbour. Yet this is exactly what Jesus asks of us. That act of love, starts with our faith journey and doesn’t stop.
Now, you know, I have no doubt that the next time we read this passage of scripture the Holy Spirit will focus us on a different part of the passage. Or perhaps give us a different perspective on the same words we have just heard. For some of us this may be uncomfortable, but I think this should not alarm nor surprise us. This is the nature and purpose of the Scriptures. They are there to inspire, guide, encourage and challenge, confront and shock us and that won’t happen if every time we read them, we have the same response.
So while we start something new today, it is not enough for us just to be here today. We need to ensure we walk the path we have been shown and so we need to be here each week. To show both the commitment and the love that Jesus asks and calls us to. It won’t be easy, but then nothing of real worth ever is.