Category: Ordinary Time

When they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighbourhood.

During our time of enforced lockdown, we are told that many people are suffering from increased levels of mental illness. Even in our modern world, people speak of those who are afflicted in this way as ‘wrestling with their demons’. Such people might be seen as having the storm in yesterday’s reading raging within them, rather than battering the physical world in which they live.

Today, Jesus encounters two stricken souls who are definitely wrestling with the demons that are making them feared outcasts from their own local community.

As we might well expect, Jesus demonstrates his power over such malign forces. He cleanses those who are afflicted, sending them symbolically into the ritually unclean pigs that were grazing on the hillside. 

In a very few steps, we have seen Jesus moving from his authoritative teaching on the hillside to his demonstrations of divine authority over all that destroys the calm of our God-given lives.

Just imagine what it was like. This itinerant preacher comes into town with a whole new message. Alongside his preaching and his teaching, he demonstrates the power and the love of God by healing those who are fearful and diseased. Wouldn’t we, like most who encountered the human Jesus at this stage in his ministry, want him to stay and guide us to happier and more fulfilled lives?

Or … is it more probable that we would be like the people of Gadara? Isn’t it more likely, in our sophisticated modern way, that we would view him with fear and suspicion, with doubt and scepticism? 

What Jesus did on that hillside, was to bring his healing touch to a gentile (that is, non-Jewish) community. He was uncompromising in the way he used the ‘unclean’ pigs as a vehicle for removing that which was causing so much harm. But … he did bring miraculous healing into their midst.

But … their fear, and perhaps their anger at the destruction of a herd of pigs, overtook their sense of awe and wonder.

Those people of Gadara made their decision. They decided that, they could not cope with facing the challenge of having Jesus in their midst. They saw him and then they begged him to leave.

Where are we in this story? We know the truth of Jesus. But … are we in reality constantly asking him to leave us alone, instead of facing up to the challenge he presents in his unfailing loyalty to both God and us?

In 1998, the Christian composer, Margaret Rizza, set some simple words by the priest and author, David Adams, to music. That hymn has the prayer-like quality that we more commonly associate with the chants of the southern French community of Taizé.

At the beginning of the music, we are not offered the more normal speed direction of ‘allegro’ or ‘andante’; instead the single word ‘tranquil’ is offered.

The hymn is written to be repeated ad lib … we are being told to repeat it as many or as few times as we might want … or need.

David Adams’ words are these:

Calm me, Lord, as you calmed the storm;
still me, Lord, keep me from harm.
Let all the tumult within me cease;
enfold me, Lord, in your peace.

In November 2018, I went on the Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Towards the end of our pilgrimage we were taken on a boat trip across the Sea of Galilee. With no warning at all, a strong wind blew across the land-locked lake. Suddenly the boat rocked and water splashed over the sides. For the briefest of moments we knew a fraction of the uncertainty that manifested itself as fear in the disciples.

As quickly as the wind gained strength, so it abated and calmed. The sun came out again and we saw the jetty where we would soon land.

There are many times in our lives when the wind suddenly gains strength and all of our certainty and confidence drains from us. It is in those times that we need words like those of David Adams to help us focus on the certainty of Christ’s power to bring calm and equilibrium back into our lives.

Sometimes the squalls pass quickly … perhaps, in those moments, the instruction to repeat ad lib will only involve four, five or six repetitions of those calming words.

At other times, the squalls quickly turn into storms, and may even escalate into hurricanes or tornados. Then we need that instruction to repeat ad lib, perhaps for days and days.

Whatever strategies we feel we may have to cope with the storms of life, too often we forget that Jesus is there with us.

So … why don’t you join me in memorising these simple words?

Then, when the storm strikes, we have a powerful tool for keeping us focused on the one who loves us and will always be with us, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

So, Jesus has sat on the mountain and taught, outlining a new way of relating to God and our fellow human beings. Jesus has come down from the mountain, like Moses, bringing God’s love and power into our midst. Jesus has healed a member of the Jewish community. Today we read of Jesus healing a gentile. Not just a gentile, but a Roman, one of the greatest enemies of first-century Jews. If the crowds were shocked at Jesus touching the Jewish leper, how much more profound must their shock have been when the same divine healing power was extended to a Roman officer?

For me, there are two key words in today’s reading: faith and authority.

No one can doubt the faith of the Roman centurion. How many of us have ever been able to demonstrate even half as much faith? We live in a modern ‘rational’ age where the simplicity of faith is constantly being challenged by the laws of science. We want to believe with a blind and trusting faith, but we constantly pull back from the cliff’s edge, and we constantly allow questions to get in the way. Just as we struggle with praying, so we struggle with following God in a spirit of blind and humble obedience, even though we may want to with our whole hearts.

And why should we try to let go and place ourselves in God’s hands? Because God created us in his own image and God loves us. It is as simple as that. We need to learn that all authority in heaven and on earth rests with God. 

The problem with managing our way in and out of lockdown, or coping with isolation and shielding, or planning for the uncertain nature of the days to come, lies solely in our inability to trust God. We want to manage, cope and plan, but we want to do those things on our own terms. Yes, we want our churches to re-open and we want to gather in prayer and praise, but we want to do that on our own terms. Are we ready for God to say to us, Let’s just re-think that and see how it fits in my plan?’

As we continue our journey through Matthew’s gospel in the coming weeks we are going to be presented with many such challenges. Let us all pause now, pray to God and ask for his strength to trust in his teaching, in his power to restore and renew us, and in his power to lead us on new paths.

Our readings for today and tomorrow recall events that took place immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, and they both concern Jesus’ God-given authority to heal.

Today’s short account presents us with Jesus restoring and renewing a sufferer from leprosy who was also a member of the Jewish faith. In this act of love and cleansing Jesus demonstrates the inclusivity of the Christian message.

In Jesus’ time the term leprosy was used as a catch-all term for a variety of diseases. What each disease had in common was their contagious nature and their ability to disfigure. They also resulted in social isolation. Nobody would willingly approach a ‘leper’, and a sufferer was not allowed to approach anyone else. We have come to call this self-isolation, social distancing and shielding; first century Jewish society described it as being untouchable.

The ‘untouchable’ nature of leprosy makes it all the more shocking when we read of Jesus touching the leper. How those who witnessed this scene must have recoiled in horror!

But, what about the leper? Imagine the thrill of simple, unfamiliar human contact. Imagine his surprise at the stirring of a long-forgotten memory – the loving touch of another human being (perhaps the first for years). Imagine feeling God’s restoration and renewal flowing through his body.

Of course, that restoration and renewal also involved re-integration into normal society. It also placed a responsibility on the shoulders of that leper: the responsibility to accept God’s healing touch and to share it with others.

Are we up for that challenge?

Are we ready to let God lead us through these strange times into his time of renewal and restoration?

Are we ready to share the Good News of Jesus’ healing touch with others?

Matthew’s gospel can be split into five great blocks of teaching. The first (chapters 5-7) being the Sermon on the Mount. Today we come to the end of that Sermon.

Our journey through this great moment in Jesus’ teaching ministry has been subtly punctuated, by Matthew, with many references that place Jesus firmly where he should be – at the heart of the age-old sweep of Jewish law and tradition. But, today, there is a real twist.

Up to now we have heard Jesus’ words and seen him pointing us in a new direction. Many centuries of interpretation have been overlaid with human ‘wisdom’. The simple message of faithful and obedient love of God has become confused and obscured by human routines and requirements. Jesus rounds off the Sermon on the Mount by warning us that if we hear his words and then follow a different path through life, well, then, we are just plain stupid! We are just like the man who builds his house on sand; we should not be surprised to see it all fall around us when the rains come.

As Jesus’ first audience was listening to his words, they could have turned their heads and seen Herod’s men working towards the completion of their rebuild of the Temple. This great house of God, they believed, would stand for ever. In fact, it would be destroyed by the Romans just a few years after its completion – just as Jesus predicted.

Jesus is warning us about trying to confine God’s love, power and truth within human boundaries. 

We have spent much time outside our man-made churches this year. 
How have we used that time?
Have we drawn closer to God?

Or, are we waiting with the bricks and mortar to try and reinforce the false barriers that we so readily erect between us and our loving Creator and Father?I pray that our prayers and devotion have taken us nearer to, and not further from, the God who loves us all.

The opening of today’s reading must seem like a complete contradiction of Jesus’ earlier teaching that we should not judge and condemn others, but it isn’t really. The talk of dogs and swine always causes confusion because it sounds so condemnatory, but is it?

One interpretation of these words requires us to put them back into the context of Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been guiding us, steadily and systematically, onto a path that will lead us into a closer relationship with God, our Father in heaven. The terms ‘dog’ and ‘swine’ were common terms for gentiles in Jesus’ times. The gentiles were those who did not understand the importance of all that was holy in the Jewish world; they were those who did not understand what it means to see God as the loving Father of all.

This may sound as though Jesus was trying to institute a spiritual and theological ‘closed shop’. He was not! We know, that in his Great Commission, Jesus will send us out to all corners of the world to baptize all who would come to him – no matter who or what they are.

Today, Jesus is summarizing all that he has been teaching. Today, he is reminding us to make sure that we know what is holy and good, and then to use that knowledge to establish and strengthen our relationship with God. 

Once we understand, then we can become true, faithful and effective disciples of our risen Saviour.

Then we can lead others through that narrow gate.

It is easy to condemn others – to point the finger of blame – to ask why others are not as good as us. This is the situation that Jesus is addressing in today’s reading. Jesus is drawing attention to the casual judgements and condemnations that we all indulge in on a daily basis. Jesus is drawing attention to them, and then telling us to: Stop it!

In the context of last week’s readings, we can see that Jesus is speaking about the old ways of engaging with God. But, to stop there is to ignore that Jesus is talking to us too. Yes, us, in our modern, sophisticated twenty-first century world.

There are so many things that cause us to condemn and judge: politics, morality, economics, the environment, what should and should not be opened as we come out of lockdown, to name but a few. We all have opinions, and we all fall into the trap of seeing our personal opinions as sacrosanct; we use our own prejudices as the yardstick against which we choose to judge and condemn others. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us not to do!

Of course, Jesus is not telling us that we should not have high standards. Rather, he is reminding us that we need to make sure we apply those standards, first and foremost, to ourselves. Jesus calls us to stop focusing on the shortcomings of others, whilst wallowing in our own failings and sins.

Do you remember last week’s reading when Jesus taught us how to pray in a new way?

The challenge for today is contained in that prayer: And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Lord, guide us in our thinking and in our interaction with others, that we may love as you love.

The message contained in yesterday’s reading  was so important that that is where we start today.  Today it is summed up in just a few well-known words: You cannot serve God and wealth.

The readings this week have challenged us to examine our relationship with our God and with those amongst whom we live out our daily lives.

Jesus understands that all this will require an enormous leap of faith.  All of our human instincts fight against putting ourselves in such a vulnerable place as Jesus describes in his Sermon on the Mount.  Two thousand years on, we are just the same, if not worse, than those amongst whom Jesus lived out his earthly life.  We have more personal wealth and we have developed an even greater sense of greed.  Our wealth and our ‘need’ for more and more things has evolved to a stage that would have been far beyond their wildest imaginings.  We also live in a society where commitment to God, even a superficial commitment, is not seen as important by so many.

Of course, that is the spin we are constantly being offered by the media, but is that true?  During our period of lockdown many churches, including those in our own benefice, have gone on-line. We have journeyed into the world that encourages us to put wealth before God.  Perhaps you are one of those who think that the church does not belong there, but, during these times, contact with church websites, and the wide range of spiritual resources that have been made available through them, have been accessed by many, many more people than normally attend our churches.  There is a spiritual need in this world, and there are still so many who want to come to know God, even if they do not put that desire into words.

In today’s reading Jesus gives us a recipe for supporting those who worry about the challenges of the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is telling us to stop worrying, even though he knows that that is one of our favourite pastimes.  Jesus is telling us to trust God and to keep everything in the perspective he sets for us.

Our challenge is to live God’s life of humble generosity and love.

Our challenge is also to lead others along the same path.

Are we up to the challenge?