Why the Good News really is something to talk about and celebrate

Trinity 3: Sunday 12th June 2005

Genesis 18.1-15, 21.1-7  |  Romans 5.1-8  |  Matthew 9.35-10.8, 9-23

The Lord promises Abraham a son; Christ died for our sins; the mission of the 12.

This is such a long and rich gospel passage upon which a thousand sermons could be preached... this is the frustration of such a full lectionary! There is much that could be said about the way in which Matthew has used this material; what it says about his community; how the gospel was understood then; how the original disciples were patterns for us and our evangelisation - being part of what it means to believe in “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church”... a church which shares its faith and talks about the Good News.

There are however some who don’t hear the gospel message of liberation very clearly - and some people think being a Christian is all about saying “no” to things...

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars.

• The first worm was put into a jar of alcohol.

• The second worm was put into a jar of cigarette smoke.

• The third worm was put into a jar of chocolate syrup.

• The fourth worm was put into a jar of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the Sermon, the Minister reported the following results:

• The first worm in alcohol - Dead.

• The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead.

• Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead.

• Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive.

So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? A little old woman in the back quickly raised her hand and said, "As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"

Is it all about boredom?

Some people think the Christian gospel is all about boring church and everlasting sermons...

Gladys was the preacher's wife and accompanied her husband each Sunday to church. One Sunday when Pastor’s Dunn’s sermon seemed to go on forever, many in the congregation fell asleep. After the service, to be sociable, she walked up to a sleepy-looking gentleman. In an attempt to revive him from his stupor, she extended her hand in greeting, and said, "Hello, I'm Gladys Dunn." To which he replied, "You're not the only one."

But as a summary, and at the bottom line this passage in today’s gospel show us that Jesus sent - and indeed still sends - out his disciples to bring in the kingdom in word and sign because of his love for human beings.

We could spent a lot of time thinking about the HOW of sharing the faith - the apostles were sent out with authority to preach, teach, heal, raise the dead, exorcise, cleanse leprosy... But maybe it would help us to think more about the WHY of sharing the faith. By working out our motivation the practicalities of WHAT we do should come more naturally.

Why bother with Church?

So why did Jesus come?, why did Jesus preach?, why did Jesus send out his 12 disciples (representing the new Israel)? why does Jesus want his modern day disciples (you and me!) to also proclaim and live the kingdom?

It’s not the recruitment drive of a cynical advertising agency to increase bums on seats and turn over... Jesus was motivated out of love for people, that they might indeed discover, explore and live out Good News.

When Jesus looked at the crowd he had compassion on them “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”.

Moved “with compassion” it says - and the word literally means “moved in his bowels” - which were considered the seat of feelings. Right in his guts. You don’t hear it said very often, but God is moved in his guts for us...

The people he saw were directionless and lost, bewildered. They didn’t have guidance, or a guide, they didn’t know which way to turn, who to trust, what to do... Plus ca change! When we look around we could equally say the same about our generation. We try and ban Bibles from hospitals in case we think we’re going to offend people of other faiths - when the truth is it’s people with no faith who are most upset...

How should we FEEL about our faith?

So what is our reaction to our generation? Are we moved with compassion as Jesus was, or are we cynical? Do we blame people for having no sense or direction? Do we write them off as feckless no hopers?

Jesus motivation for proclaiming the Kingdom of God was out of compassion. Not out of greed, or duty or guilt. So it follows that our proclamation of the kingdom is equally motivated by love for those around us.

Some quick explanations:

• Love / compassion = wanting the best for people

• The kingdom of God = God’s royal rule (in the lives of people; in institutions, organisations; geographical areas etc where God is acknowledged as Ruler and God’s will is sought)

• Proclaiming the Good News / preaching the kingdom etc = both making known through words and actions that God loves us, that God has reached out to us and that our role is to respond to that love.

1. Motivated by compassion, not greed...

So Jesus' mission, and thus ours, is motivated by compassion, not by greed.

I’m reading a very scary book at the moment called “Not on the Label” which - true to my obsession about food - is all about the production, sourcing and treatment of the food that we buy... There is far too much to tell you about - but from now on I’m surviving on a diet of just pure organic water... One of the things that struck me was about how the multinational food industry on the whole is not in the business because they care about food - they are there to make money. And accordingly if certain practices - which may have terrible effects on vulnerable and poor people, the farmers, the environment, the small businesses in towns and cities and ultimately the people who consume their food - all this is tolerated because the companies make money.

I remember many years ago reading an interview with the then head of General Motors who said “General Motors does not exist to make cars. We exist to make money.”

Given that this is the world that we are living in it can sometimes be easy to see the Church in the same terms: any call to evangelisation, to share the faith, to bring more people to a relationship with Jesus, to increase the numbers of bums on seats - all this is a cynical money making exercise for St John’s....

Well that’s not what we see in the gospels. Jesus preaches teaches and heals out of compassion for the people he sees. He weeps over Jerusalem, he gives his life for our wholeness, our peace, our Shalom. And this is our pattern. We don’t share the faith for any gain, not because we at St John’s are building an empire, or trying to make a mint, but because we want people to discover the freedom, the love, the peace we’ve found in Christ.

Good food production companies care passionately about the quality of their food - most farmers do too. Why? Because there is deep satisfaction in offering the best possible produce, pride to be taken in serving people and in a job well done.
The Church follows it’s Master’s example - we don’t try and get people into church in order to get rich quick; we are keen to share the good things we’ve found, the good things we are still only beginning to explore in Jesus Christ...

2. Motivated by compassion, not a sense of duty...

So Jesus’ mission, and thus ours, is motivated by compassion, not by greed, nor by a sense of duty...

 ..not of a sense of duty: we “ought” to do this... this is what the Church does, so, like it or lump it we should too... It’s bit like the thought of going door to door to sell encyclopaedias... Some may love it...! But for most of us we’d run a million miles.

What do you get when you cross an atheist with a Jehovah's Witness?
Someone who knocks on your door for no apparent reason.

I have in my in tray at the moment a tax form and an infamous diocesan Pink Form, both of which are glowering at me... They “ought” to be done. They need to be done. They will be done (eventually). But I’m trying to ignore them because that kind of paper work does nothing to fire my enthusiasm...

If we think about sharing the faith in the same terms as spring cleaning the attic, or washing the car, or paying a visit to somebody we really don’t like very much, or my tax form... then we are not looking at sharing the faith through Jesus’ eyes...

3. Motivated by compassion, not a sense of guilt...

So Jesus mission, and thus ours, is motivated by compassion, not by greed, nor a sense of duty, nor out of a sense of guilt.

If we’re motivated by guilt we say to ourselves: “If we don’t do this the Church will collapse”... God can manage well enough without us - he chooses to work with us, but he is not dependent on us.

St Teresa’s prayer “God has no hands but ours etc” is only half the story. Who makes the sun rise? Who makes seeds grow? Who makes night follow day, and brings the seasons in? Who heals and restores? Who forgives and cleanses? All these things and a squillion more beside, God does without our intervention and often without our help. We can be lulled into the false thought that without us God wouldn’t cope... It is not us who “converts” anybody: it’s not our job to change hearts - that the role of the Holy Spirit. Our part in God’s plan is to tell, to live, the preach, to embody his kingdom, that others may see.

Being motivated by a sense of guilt is to misunderstand what it is God asks of us.

Jesus’ mission was motivated by, and conducted in, love for those around him. Jesus brings wholeness because he sees the brokenness, the pain and the dislocation.

Sought out and loved...

The truth is that we have been sought out and loved. We have had Good News explained to us. We are beginning to realise how much God loves us, we are beginning to respond to God’s love and smile. We were in need of finding the Guide; we were in need of finding direction. God found us lost and wandering and gave us direction and purpose: he invited us to join in his work of mission.

So whatever else we may say about the HOW we choose to share the faith, or what we should expect, or what was the experience of Matthew’s community, we can be certain that the motivating factor behind God’s reaching out to us, and so our reaching out to others is, quite simply, love for those people made in God’s image and loved by God: just like you and me...
 

Fr Andrew J Perry
Rector, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea

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