Jesus : Urgent, blessing and the future
This evening’s readings (Isaiah 51:1-4, Galatians 3:1-9, Matthew 15:21-28) focus very much on faith and beliefs, and also act as a reminder of the blessings of faith. Our faith is traced back all the way to Abraham as the Prophet Isaiah urges us to look at him and his wife Sarah, and see the blessings they received for their faith – they trusted in God, they followed a path that looked foolish at times, and yet God made him a father of a nation.
God will bless us if we trust in him… And Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, is making a similar point, albeit rather more bluntly ! As the Church has begun to take off, systems and structures have started to be made, new rules have been brought in, often for good reason, but rules that have started to get in the way of the practice of faith… And then in the gospel from Matthew we hear of the faith of the Canaanite woman, and how her incredible faith results in Jesus healing the woman’s daughter.
St Augustine wrote that ‘Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.’ In other words the effects of God are all around us waiting to be seen, but we have to make that step to God – he has stretched out his arms as far as he can, he has even given his Son to die for us, and now he asks us just for one small step…
There’s a great story I’ve mentioned before about a man who fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree branch on the way down. In desperation the man shouted out a prayer, "Is anyone up there?" to which a reply came, "I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about because I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause followed and then the man said: "Is anyone else up there?"
Lent is traditionally a time of reflection, a time of self examination, repentance and a time to seek transformation in our lives, but Lent is also a time when we reflect on the glory of God and the benefits of faith, and very often we forget those things.
Listening to the Radio in the week, the Director of the Comic Relief Charity was talking about their appeal this year. It was put to him that in this difficult economic climate perhaps this year they could expect less money for their appeal. But he answered that he felt the opposite seemed to be happening – so far sales of the merchandise is up, and he wondered if this was because people were recognising their own problems, but in doing that they were also recognising the needs of others, often even worse off than themselves.
He felt people were moving away from a selfish self obsessed mentality and moving to being kinder and more compassionate. And that is so often what happens in times of adversity – problems bring out the best in people – we only have to look at how people rallied around each other in war times, how people support and strengthen each other in times of illness or grief.
This sort of care is important at crucial times, but it’s also typical of the mentality many people have of faith – it’s there as a last resort – God is there but we don’t need to be in touch until we need him!!
C S Lewis wrote that, ‘You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to tie a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?’
Faith is not intended as a place of last resort ! John Calvin said that, ‘Faith is not a distant view but a warm embrace of Christ...’ The Christian faith is about a relationship, a very personal relationship with someone who loves us and who cares about everything we do, every moment of every day.
And so faith is necessary and faith is urgent – it is intended for now, not as a crutch to be grasped at only in times of need.
And faith is also a blessing… There’s a story of a man who was asked how he was one morning, and he replied that he was carrying some heavy burdens. Concerned, the other man asked what the problem was – and the man replied that there was no problem – his was a wonderful burden. It was an overabundance of blessings for which he couldn’t find enough time or words to express his gratitude! Seeing the puzzled look on the face of the other man he continued with a smile, "I am referring to Psalm 68, which fully describes my condition. In that the Father in heaven reminds us that He 'daily loads us with benefits.'"
The blessings of God are very powerful and very personal – I hope that every one of us knows a particular time when we have felt blessed, when he have felt especially loved, supported or sustained, encouraged, strengthened, hopeful or joyful, when we have felt at peace, knowing that God is with us on whatever journey we make. These are the blessings that God gives us and that he wants us to enjoy…
So we have thought about faith as necessary now, faith as a blessing, and the other aspect I want to think about is faith as the future. Rabbi Lionel Blue, on thought for the day this week, said that when he is asked for proof of faith he replies, ‘You are the proof’, and as the hands and arms, legs and feet, and the mouthpiece of Jesus, we must be living proof of Jesus…
We live in an increasingly and depressingly secular society where faith, and it seems in this country particularly the Christian faith, is being marginalised – and if it’s important enough to us we must be the people that ensure that that never happens. Small erosions make a difference – not too many years ago Christians were regularly called on to comment on all kinds of different issues, Christians formed parts of panels in local communities and in Government debates and discussions, Christmas in town and city centres meant that there would be lights depicting mangers and kings and of course the baby Jesus… Now, only a few years on, we have to look harder for those things…
Jesus can make a difference to our lives – we hopefully feel that difference, we see it in other Christians, and Jesus can make a difference to the world today as well. Our sharing of the Christian faith is not an inconvenient imposition on the lives of others, but a desire to extend the hand of love, compassion and fellowship… to extend the hands of Jesus out to people who will receive many blessings from knowing him…
I have talked about faith as urgent, faith as a blessing and faith as the future, but for every time I have used that word we could replace it with Jesus… The need for Jesus is urgent – he is for now, not for the future, he is for times of joy as well as times of hurt or sorrow… Jesus is a blessing in our lives and Jesus is the key to the future – a key not perhaps to constant happiness, but the key to true peace and contentment, the key to hope and the key to knowing and feeling his love surrounding us every moment of every day. AMEN
God will bless us if we trust in him… And Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, is making a similar point, albeit rather more bluntly ! As the Church has begun to take off, systems and structures have started to be made, new rules have been brought in, often for good reason, but rules that have started to get in the way of the practice of faith… And then in the gospel from Matthew we hear of the faith of the Canaanite woman, and how her incredible faith results in Jesus healing the woman’s daughter.
St Augustine wrote that ‘Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.’ In other words the effects of God are all around us waiting to be seen, but we have to make that step to God – he has stretched out his arms as far as he can, he has even given his Son to die for us, and now he asks us just for one small step…
There’s a great story I’ve mentioned before about a man who fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree branch on the way down. In desperation the man shouted out a prayer, "Is anyone up there?" to which a reply came, "I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about because I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause followed and then the man said: "Is anyone else up there?"
Lent is traditionally a time of reflection, a time of self examination, repentance and a time to seek transformation in our lives, but Lent is also a time when we reflect on the glory of God and the benefits of faith, and very often we forget those things.
Listening to the Radio in the week, the Director of the Comic Relief Charity was talking about their appeal this year. It was put to him that in this difficult economic climate perhaps this year they could expect less money for their appeal. But he answered that he felt the opposite seemed to be happening – so far sales of the merchandise is up, and he wondered if this was because people were recognising their own problems, but in doing that they were also recognising the needs of others, often even worse off than themselves.
He felt people were moving away from a selfish self obsessed mentality and moving to being kinder and more compassionate. And that is so often what happens in times of adversity – problems bring out the best in people – we only have to look at how people rallied around each other in war times, how people support and strengthen each other in times of illness or grief.
This sort of care is important at crucial times, but it’s also typical of the mentality many people have of faith – it’s there as a last resort – God is there but we don’t need to be in touch until we need him!!
C S Lewis wrote that, ‘You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to tie a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?’
Faith is not intended as a place of last resort ! John Calvin said that, ‘Faith is not a distant view but a warm embrace of Christ...’ The Christian faith is about a relationship, a very personal relationship with someone who loves us and who cares about everything we do, every moment of every day.
And so faith is necessary and faith is urgent – it is intended for now, not as a crutch to be grasped at only in times of need.
And faith is also a blessing… There’s a story of a man who was asked how he was one morning, and he replied that he was carrying some heavy burdens. Concerned, the other man asked what the problem was – and the man replied that there was no problem – his was a wonderful burden. It was an overabundance of blessings for which he couldn’t find enough time or words to express his gratitude! Seeing the puzzled look on the face of the other man he continued with a smile, "I am referring to Psalm 68, which fully describes my condition. In that the Father in heaven reminds us that He 'daily loads us with benefits.'"
The blessings of God are very powerful and very personal – I hope that every one of us knows a particular time when we have felt blessed, when he have felt especially loved, supported or sustained, encouraged, strengthened, hopeful or joyful, when we have felt at peace, knowing that God is with us on whatever journey we make. These are the blessings that God gives us and that he wants us to enjoy…
So we have thought about faith as necessary now, faith as a blessing, and the other aspect I want to think about is faith as the future. Rabbi Lionel Blue, on thought for the day this week, said that when he is asked for proof of faith he replies, ‘You are the proof’, and as the hands and arms, legs and feet, and the mouthpiece of Jesus, we must be living proof of Jesus…
We live in an increasingly and depressingly secular society where faith, and it seems in this country particularly the Christian faith, is being marginalised – and if it’s important enough to us we must be the people that ensure that that never happens. Small erosions make a difference – not too many years ago Christians were regularly called on to comment on all kinds of different issues, Christians formed parts of panels in local communities and in Government debates and discussions, Christmas in town and city centres meant that there would be lights depicting mangers and kings and of course the baby Jesus… Now, only a few years on, we have to look harder for those things…
Jesus can make a difference to our lives – we hopefully feel that difference, we see it in other Christians, and Jesus can make a difference to the world today as well. Our sharing of the Christian faith is not an inconvenient imposition on the lives of others, but a desire to extend the hand of love, compassion and fellowship… to extend the hands of Jesus out to people who will receive many blessings from knowing him…
I have talked about faith as urgent, faith as a blessing and faith as the future, but for every time I have used that word we could replace it with Jesus… The need for Jesus is urgent – he is for now, not for the future, he is for times of joy as well as times of hurt or sorrow… Jesus is a blessing in our lives and Jesus is the key to the future – a key not perhaps to constant happiness, but the key to true peace and contentment, the key to hope and the key to knowing and feeling his love surrounding us every moment of every day. AMEN
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