16th Sunday after Pentecost-Br Andrew

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

An ECCA Parish

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily preached at Winmalee 

by

 Br Andrew on  Sunday 28th September 2014

Gospel Matthew 21:23-32

“By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

Authority is a wonderful thing to have when differences are to be settled and people are to be put in their place, yes authority can be useful. As a citizen of Judah both Civil and Ecclesiastical Bodies held authority over Jesus, just as they did every other citizen. Shortly in (Matthew 22:21) we will learn that Jesus even acknowledged the right of the Roman overlords to exact their taxes. Remember also the time that the collectors of the Temple Tax approached Peter to discover whether Jesus paid that tax, a four drachma coin was found in a fish’s mouth and the tax was paid for both Peter and Jesus – whether the Son of God had to pay it or not. (Matt.17:24-27) Today the Roman Church calls this payment Peter’s pence.

The record in today’s Gospel gives us another incident illustrating one of those situation in which a citizen was required to comply with both Civil – the Elders of the People and Ecclesiastical – the Pharisees; Courts These two Bodies of Law had come out in force to arrest this imposter who recently had disrupted a very lucrative money spinner when he threw the money Changers out of the Temple.

They wanted his piece of Paper – that authorized him to preach and teach.

The Son of Man had no piece of Paper! AND they knew this!

Every Rabbi had his right to practise as an Instructor presented  to him by the scribes, or their chief representative, after they had finished their studies at the feet of some great teacher and been solemnly admitted (the delivery of a key, as the symbol of the right to interpret, being the outward token) to that office.

The second question made sense of the first. Could He name the Rabbi who had trained Him, or authorised Him to teach?

As a human being Jesus had not gone through the usual educational and study process to obtain the necessary qualifications, his knowledge and Authority came from his heavenly Father. The Authorities knew he was a paperless Rabbi because they did not have his name in their records, they knew he could not name the Rabbi who had trained him, because there wasn’t one and therefore could arrest him at the very least as an imposter.

Jesus responds to their question “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”(21:24,25)

All in a tizz they deliberated that, although they had investigated John the Baptist and found him, let us say satisfactory as a Prophet. To say that John received his authority from God would mean that they must also acknowledge that Jesus’ Authority also came from God. To deny the former would cause the people to riot, because the people believed John was a prophet, this would be disastrous so they lied and said that they didn’t know. So they made fools of themselves implying that experts as they were supposed to be they could not determine the Authenticity of any prophet.

27…. Then (Jesus) said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things”

To the ears of the people of his time his parables were easier to understand and probably held greater depths of meaning as well as any word play that doesn’t come through to translation. For instance – as well as this being a parable it is also a metaphor.

What then did the parable of the two sons say to them? Let’s look at these Old Testament Metaphors:

·         Firstly for the Israelites the “Vine” is a symbol of (Israel's) Spiritual privileges.

·         Secondly the vineyard was a symbol of (Israel) and its promised prosperity.

Jesus, however is speaking of the Vineyard of the Kingdom of Heaven wherein he is the Vine, (John 15: ) in this Parable I am going to use the symbolism to represent both the Mission field and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Firstly the Parable itself intends the Vineyard to be the Kingdom of Heaven, the place wherein we shall finally attain our perfect spiritual relationship with Jesus. AKA the promised prosperity of Israel

The Sons represent two classes of people, the first: those who erstwhile were tax collectors and sinners but who received the Baptism of John and were converted, his/ their “NO” represents their former lives of sin and their Going to work the Vineyard their conversion and entering first into the kingdom.

The second son represents the second class of people, who were full of self-righteousness; who even after hearing John’s call to repentance had ignored it because they didn’t believe him, or that his call applied to them, the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. Yet after seeing this, they did not repent and believe him. Hence prostitutes and sinners shall enter Heaven before they do.

Later we will read that after the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. And in public too!

Now let us  compare the vineyard to the Mission field of the world we inhabit, we live in it, we work in it to bring others to know the love of Christ and the reality of the Kingdom and as we do so we grow in spiritual intimacy with him. Jesus is never far away because we are developing an intimate relationship with him that spurs us to do his will gladly.

If we were one of those who, like the Pharisees, only pretend conversion, who have not yet believed in the call to repentance we would soon discover that the Vineyard was too uncomfortable a place to be until we could face up to the darkness within us and believe, until then we try to conceal ourselves with our new clothes and good deeds.

It is not chic to be a Christian, not even a fashion statement, and small communities such as ours must explain our raison d’etre to some of the more innocent members of the Body of Christ that do not realise the necessity for safe havens. Ours, then is a double Mission - not only to seek out the lost but perhaps to make known to the greater Church Community that there is a safe haven for those who do not pass muster, even to show others that they may need to be here too.

Amen

5th Sunday of Easter - Br Luke

 

Andre-Rublev's Saviour 

Homily preached at Winmalee on Sunday 18th May  2014

Gospel John 14:1-14

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.

Amen.


6th Sunday of Easter

Homily 1st Advent - by Br. simeon

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer



In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order


Homily, 15th December 2013, 2nd Sunday in Advent, delivered by Br Simeon EFO.

Gospel:  Mt 24:37-44

“PREPARING OURSELVES WITH EAGER EXPECTATION FOR THE COMING OF THE LORD”

 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. ( adapted from a prayer by David Adam )

Today we begin the beloved season of Advent. During this time the Church, in her liturgy, gives us for our meditation an abundance of beautiful images about the coming of the Lord. We tend to see Advent as a past event, recalling the birth of Christ but if we fail to move forward from this starting point to Christ coming in glory, our Christmas celebration will be out of focus.

 A proper celebration of Advent recalls the past, celebrates the present, and yet looks to the future coming of Christ with joyful hope and confidence.  In the first part of Advent, the images are mostly about the second and glorious coming of the Lord on the last day, and they teach us the necessity of preparing ourselves now for that great day. In the final part of Advent, we meditate on the incarnation of God on earth in his birth in Bethlehem, so that we might be born anew as persons of the light.   Perched on the edge of another New Year we are invited to look at our world with the eyes of faith and realise that God has a plan and a vision for all of us.

The readings present us with a challenge, to look at life and to begin living with a new perspective. In keeping with the season’s note of expectation, they rivet our attention on the breaking of God into human history. Isaiah’s vision of a new future echoes in all our hearts as he looks forward with hope and expectation to glorious times ahead. He dreams of swords being cast into ploughshares, of unity among nations and of all peoples walking together in the peace of the Lord, who is calling us back home. It is an invitation addressed to each and every one of us. Paul encourages us to lead good and upright lives as the dawn of salvation is upon us.

In the gospel passage,Matthew is referring to the final coming of Jesus in glory and sets his call on perpetual watchfulness, to be ready for that moment on which our eternal destiny will depend. Since there is no precise forewarning as to when that event will take place, it is important to get ready here and now and not be caught idly napping in careless disregard for God, as were the people in Noah’s day who were swept away in the great flood.

Things happen when we least expect. The main thrust of the message is to be vigilant, to rectify our way of life, to admit the need to make a Christian contribution and have a proper lifestyle. A useful reminder of something we would rather forget, is that part of the gospel tradition which tells us that each one of us after death comes face to face in judgement with our God. On that occasion we will be alone and held

personally accountable for our life. Busy as we are with our daily activity, we tend to put the thought of that encounter at the back of our minds, giving it scant attention instead of using it as a benchmark and a horizon against which to measure our lives. The gospel warns us against being lulled into a false sense of security, living with only the minimal concern for how our actions appear in God’s eyes.

 Advent is a joyful celebration of the condition we find ourselves in as Christians. It announces that God is always moving towards us. He is at work in the world and in our lives, ever creative and ever renewing. The Lord comes to us every day if we are properly disposed, in prayer, in events and in other people. The good news is that we are pilgrims on the move and are going home to God’s house. The only worthwhile baggage to carry on that journey is good works and acts of loving service performed for Christ. The liturgy invites us to allow this future hope to shape our present lives. It’s an invitation to see our life as a preparation for the great call home. We have the assurance that in Christ God has opened up for us a future hope in a life beyond our time.

This seasonal call, proposing a deep change in values, beckons us to look forward to Christ’s return in glory. We need to find the time and space to stop, reflect and recognise the hope we have been given in Jesus Christ. Without repentance, forgiveness and renewal there can be no real Christmas Joy.

Amen.