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| Andre-Rublev's Saviour |
Homily preached at Winmalee on Sunday
18th May 2014
In the Christian faith, we believe
that Jesus, was, is both human and divine.
That he was, is, the second person of the trinity. An integral member of the Godhead. As it says in the creed, of the same
substance as the Father. But did Jesus
know this? Did he tell us this, or is this simply the theological construct of the
early church fathers and mothers? Something which was written to distinguish
the faith from Judaism? Can we see
proof? The answer is really quite
simple.
Indeed if we ever want some indication
from the scriptures that Christ knew who he was, here it is. “Philip. He who
has seen me has seen the Father.” And “I am in the Father, and the Father in
me?” This of course to the Jews was
blasphemy, and it was this above all that caused them to want him dead. But to us it’s not blasphemy – its proof.
But what does it mean. After all Stephen as we heard in the reading
from Acts was so convinced of the truth of this that he died for this belief. As did countless martyrs through the
centuries, especially during the horrible Roman persecutions.
It means quite simply that Jesus was,
is, God. He was always aware of the thoughts
and actions of the other members of the trinity. Now I know this sounds like I’m about to
embark on a dissertation on the Trinity – I’m not. I’m going to leave that for another day.
Instead I do want to focus our attention today on the passage that’ seems to
me, to indicate that Jesus was so aware of who he was, that he gently
castigated Philip about it.
The question is of course, do we
believe it. If I was to be honest I
would have to say, given the number of people who no longer come to church, who
seem to want to flee from, or deny the faith – the answer is no. This is not only sad, it’s tragic. The human race cannot survive without
faith. And in our desire to have some
sort of faith, people today have replaced “the way the truth and the life” with
other beliefs. Some of which are not
really faiths but distractions. Put bluntly, they are simply replacements for God. How terribly, terribly empty and bereft that
is.
But Jesus give us an out, an escape
clause for those who find it just too difficult to believe in his divinity.
“Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me
for the very works’ sake.” So if the
words can’t convince you, look at the deeds.
Looks at the miracles and believe then.
This should be easy, then, for us who
live in what is generally called the post-modern era. We just won’t believe anything unless it can
be proved. So the miracles Jesus did,
should be proof enough to keep us happy.
But no, these are now questioned.
Interpreted as myths, exaggerations, allegories, or people try to find a
medical explanation for the healing.
They will grasp at anything that will allow them to deny, yes deny,
Jesus’s divine nature, and thus deny God.
After all, if the record is faulty,
then we need not believe. And therefore the faith is meaningless and it is
devoid of anything that would make it genuine.
And then the logic goes, we can abandon it, treat it as outdated, out of
touch with reality and irrelevant. Make no mistake when we do this, then we allow
the evil one to enter and rule. And that
is not something that we can, or should, treat lightly.
In spite of what the modern world may
think, evil is not to be glorified, it is to be opposed. For evil destroys - it
does not create. Evil leads us to dark
places where deeds are done in secret, where light is shunned and spurned. These are all places where people can hide
and not be honest or responsible to themselves, or to others. In these dark places, people do not love each
other, they feed on each other, they destroy each other; they cause death. And we only have to look around us and will
all too easily see the deathly fruits of evil.
So what are we to do in the face of
evil? We are to ask God to help us, to
guide us, to protect us. Jesus said: “Whatever
you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.”
We of course are often too afraid to
ask. Don’t be. It is when we seek that we find, when we
knock that we are admitted and when we ask, that we receive. So have courage, ask for help in overcoming
evil, in dispelling the darkness, in consigning evil to the empty void where it
belongs.
