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| God doesn't call the qualified - He qualifies the called. |
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SERMON LIBRARY |
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· Deacon Debbie Wesseloo (2)
· Deacon Phillip Laurings (3)
· Dean William Mosert (1)
· Reverend Angus Paterson (0)
· Reverend Graham Alexander (1)
· Reverend Joe Thompson (2)
· Reverend Lindy Rookyard (4)
· Visiting Clergy (0)
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| Date | 2010-04-18 | | Preacher | Rev. Joe Thompson | | Title | Second Sunday of Easter - Year C 2010 | | Sermon Details | Gospel: John 21: 1-19
Two weeks ago, on Easter Sunday, I was blessed to be able to walk through a WWI trench in Delville Wood where over 3000 South Africans lost their lives in the space of a week. It made me reflect on the friendships that were forged and lost in those horrible conditions – and of the friendships that survived.
A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of what it means to be a friend. Among the many answers received were the following:
"One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable."
"One who understands our silence."
"A volume of sympathy bound in cloth."
"A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down."
The winning definition read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out."
The Easter story is all about friendship, isn’t it? In the Upper Room all of the disciples vow that they will never leave Jesus, no matter what. Peter is horrified when Jesus says that Peter will deny Him three times – “No Lord surely not me!” And yet in a few hours time the Shepherd had been struck and the sheep were scattered. Peter had disowned Jesus three times, while the other disciples had deserted him.
At the beginning of today's Gospel we see Peter coping with the trauma of Christ's death by trying to put the dreadful nightmare behind him. Dazed and no doubt confused by all that has happened, and probably ashamed of his lack of friendship to Jesus, Peter reacts in the only way he can – he reverts to the familiar security of his former life as a fisherman. So he says, 'Guys, I don’t know what to make of all this - I'm going fishing.' And the other disciples join him.
Galilee is where Jesus would have met His disciples for the first time. He was the stranger who appeared from nowhere, calling to them, "Follow me!" They left their nets and their fishing to do just that. Now they had returned to Galilee, their own country, to their wooden boats. They fish all night but have caught nothing before Jesus appears to them on the shore.
Peter is in the boat, the man standing on the shore tells them to put out the net on the other side and there is a miraculous catch of fish. John says, “It is the Lord”, and the almost naked Peter jumps out of the boat in his eagerness to get to Jesus.
They haven’t caught anything until Jesus standing on the shore directs them where to put out the net. This is often regarded as a way stressing the apostles (and our) inability to achieve any results unless we do things under the guidance of Christ. Peter is practically naked which is regarded as symbolising his spiritual nakedness, his plunging into the water symbolises his purification from the sin of denial.
There is a fire on the shore and Jesus tells them to bring one of the fish for breakfast – a normal act of friendship. Jesus is restoring their friendship with an act of forgiveness – it is as if He is saying, ”Come on now lets forget what you did and just enjoy being together again.”
Of course, this leads to the crucial part of the story - the whole sequence of the three-fold Do you love me questioning of Peter and the prophesy about his death.
The three-fold question is obviously meant as a full forgiveness and rehabilitation for the three-fold denial of Jesus by Peter before the crucifixion. But it is also a reassertion of his particular role as the Shepherd of Christ’s Church and telling us about the nature of his authority. It is an authority based on love.
By healing the wounds of desertion and denial, Jesus re-gathered his scattered sheep -- his friends. He now appoints Peter as shepherd of His flock, who is to feed Christ's sheep with the word and bread of life, which are Jesus Himself.
The mission of the whole Church is to be fishers of humanity, drawing people of every nation to Christ, to gather together His scattered sheep and feed them. Our unity in Christ is celebrated in the Eucharist, which was foreshadowed in the meal on the shore.
The Church's mission is rooted in humble repentance and love for Christ and His flock. Peter, who had disowned the crucified Christ, would prove his love and loyalty by sacrificing his life for his master. The beloved disciple would show his loving commitment in a different way, as he spent his long life in contemplating the wonder of the Word of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, contemplating what it means to have Jesus as your friend…
It doesn’t matter where we are in our relationship with Jesus, He is always willing to make the effort to come out and find us. Even if it is in the everyday chores of this life, Jesus will meet us and share His love with us – because that is what friends do. They understand. You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them, pray with them – and as so many found in the horrors of the trenches, you can die with them too. Through it all and underneath it all - they see and know and love you for you. So what is my definition of a friend? Someone who is willing to journey alongside you and with whom you dare to be yourself. I probably got this from someone else, but it made sense to me on that Easter Sunday. I think it is a definition of our best friend… Jesus journeys alongside us and He is the one with whom we can dare to be ourselves.
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You, too? I thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis.
May we rejoice in our friendship with Jesus and in our friendship with one another and may these bonds grow ever deeper. Amen |
| Date | 2010-02-21 | | Preacher | Reverend Joe Thompson | | Title | First Sunday in Lent – LOVE | | Sermon Details | Gospel: Luke 6: 27-36
“Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking off our engagement. Please say that you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you!
Yours forever, Marie.
P.S., And congratulations on willing the lotto.”
We begin our Lenten preparations by looking at various themes which focus on aspects of our Christian faith. Our theme for today, as you have gathered from the readings is love. I think the more we reflect on Gods love, the more we realise how we fall short of the mark He has set for us and the more we realise our need to ask forgiveness. As we seek God's mercy by confessing our sins, we should remember the petition of the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our sins as -- insofar as -- we forgive those who sin against us.' We have no right to seek God's mercy if we are not prepared to forgive those who harm us. Showing mercy is the greatest expression of love, the best way of doing good to those who harm us.
We could have no better Lenten resolution than to forgive when we've been hurt and apologise when we have caused pain, for forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian gospel. Jesus forgives people in order to restore human relationships, to create just order, and in the end to restore humanity. Sin damages relationships and just order. The only way to repair those damaged relationships and re-establish just order is for sin to be forgiven. Such forgiveness is at the heart of the instructions: 'Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.' Following these instructions would do something towards restoring just order.
Jesus put this teaching into practice in his own life. We only have to recall the passion and Jesus’ words on the Cross: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. This is a perfect expression of the teaching he gave us. The root of the teaching is found in the first phrase: Love your enemies. Jesus is telling us clearly that we must not exclude a single person from our love no matter what they have done or will do. This is a task that will test us to our very limits.
In the Old Testament (Exodus 21;24) we read: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This Law of Moses establishing that the punishment must not exceed the offence. It might seem harsh to us but it superseded the existing understanding that in revenge you could take a life for an eye, a life for a tooth.
This is the extraordinary challenge that Jesus lays before us: To love the people around us just as He loves us, just as He loves them. The problem is IT IS SO HARD! If I use an everyday example – driving in the traffic – has anyone else noticed how aggressive everyone seems to be?
So how does Jesus expect us to react to this aggression? Our natural instinct is to hit back or retaliate to their anger by swearing at them or showing them where paradise is. Rightly, we think the aggressor must be stopped, otherwise he will think he can get away with harming us and other people. But experience tells us that retaliation tends to escalate. Each of us strikes back with a harder physical or verbal blow. The innocent victim is reduced to the tactics of the guilty aggressor. In the heat of anger we may well say or do things which we will later regret. Retaliation doesn't work. Bitter, vengeful thoughts and actions destroy our peace of mind. Deep down we all long for the peace, which can only be achieved through reconciliation.
The Greek word agape (love) seems to have been virtually a Christian invention -- a new word for a new thing (apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament). Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Jesus. It is not a form of natural affection, however, intense, but a supernatural fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is a matter of will rather than feeling for Christians must love even those they dislike. It is the basic element in Christ-likeness.
Read 1 Corinthians 13 and note what these verses have to say about the primacy (vv. 1-3) and permanence (vv. 8-13) of love; note too the profile of love (vv. 4-7) which they give. There is not much difference lexically between agape and phileo. Both involve a voluntary (I've decided to love you) and involuntary (I can't help but love you) response. One fascinating point: there is no command to love in scripture that ever uses phileo.
What we are talking about then in today’s Gospel is not some ethical system for the good of society or for our own self-interest but something way beyond this. What Jesus gives us is the very principle behind the creation of the universe: God’s infinite love for us all.
We are called to love because He first loved us… and that’s even better than winning the lottery! A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, "Dad, I'm going to get married."
"How do you know you're ready to get married?" asked the father. "Are you in love?"
"I sure am," said the son. "How do you know you're in love?" asked the father.
"Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn't feel the pain until I got home." |
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