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THE EASTER
SERMONS20th - 23rd March 2008
This evening we follow Jesus
Christ in a very particular way. We re-enact his actions in washing the feet of
his disciples. And we obey his command to share bread and wine together, his
body and his blood.
We are coming to the end of the story which began with the birth of a child in
Bethlehem. Emmanuel, God with us, has indeed been with us, walking the dusty
roads of Galilee, healing the sick, casting out demons, feeding the hungry,
drawing together a group of followers who are to continue his ministry and pass
on the Good News to the whole earth.
Here is a small group of friends, at supper together when their teacher gets up
, removes his outer garments and kneels before each one, tenderly washing their
feet.
Peter’s reaction shows how highly unusual Jesus’ action was. Walking the dusty
roads left people with very dirty feet. It was customary for them to be washed,
but by a very lowly servant indeed. Teachers didn’t wash their pupils’ feet,
Masters didn’t wash their servants’ feet. A wife might, as a very special act of
love wash her husband’s feet, but a husband wouldn’t lower himself to wash
hers!!! But Jesus sweeps aside all that protocol.
The foot washing is of course, highly symbolic. It demonstrates service, Jesus
humbling himself to serve, an example and reminder of our own call to serve each
other. St John expands on this theme ‘I give you a new commandment, that you
love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for
another.’ That’s our calling. And that’s how the early church grew, by
demonstrating love so that others were drawn to find out more about what
inspired those early Christians and through them came to know themselves the
love of Jesus Christ. We’re called to follow this example, not for our own
sakes, but for the sake of those who do not yet know God’s love.
And the washing reminds us of our baptism, the sacrament by which we become
members of Christ’s church. Jesus reminds us that though we are baptised only
once, we still need our feet washing from time to time, as we come to the Lord
and confess the actions which have not lived up to our promise of discipleship.
Just as Jesus washed his disciples feet, making them clean once more, so he
washes away our sins and misdeeds, giving us a fresh start, each and every time
we come to him and say ‘sorry’. That’s the service he still carries out for us,
lovingly cleansing, making fresh again.
And on this night, sharing a last meal with his closest friends he gives us
another sacrament, a meal, another sharing. He takes ordinary things, bread and
wine, and makes them extra-ordinary, his body and his blood. Part of our loving
service to each other is to share the bread and the cup. It’s to come together
as the people of God in this place and proclaim his death in the confident
expectation of his final victory.
So both actions of this final meal, the washing of feet and the sharing of bread
and wine are to give us a pattern to follow, loving service to each other and
the sharing of the sacrament. And both are done not only for our own benefit,
but also for the sake of others outside our community. So that our friends and
neighbours will know that we are Christ’s disciples; to proclaim Christ’s death
until he comes in glory. These actions both build up our community and are
integral to our mission as Christ’s disciples in the world. It’s through these
actions that others are drawn into their own relationship with Jesus Christ.
St Theresa of Avila summarised our calling in these words:
I’ve been reading a book by
Richard Harries, formerly Bishop of Oxford, in which he charts the depiction of
the Passion in art.
For the first few centuries Christians didn’t draw or paint or sculpt the
crucifixion at all. They used symbols instead, The Greek letters Chi and Rho,
intertwined representing the first two letters of Christ in the Greek alphabet,
or fish, recalling Christ’s teaching that the disciples would become fishers of
men, or an anchor to show a safe haven in the storm of life. But a crucifix, no.
Why not? Well, quite simply, because a crucifixion was such a revolting
spectacle and the one who was crucified was a scandal, someone to be hated and
vilified. Crucifixion was an instrument of torture, of social control, a warning
from the Roman authorities not to step out of line or else. So, although the
early Christians proclaimed the crucifixion, they stopped short of depicting so
dreadful an end.
Once the Roman emperor Constantine had been converted to Christianity,
crucifixion was abolished. And gradually artists started to portray Christ on
the cross. But they depicted him whole and triumphant, the victorious Christ, on
the cross, but glorious. That again was a sign of the times, theologians were
heavily involved in the debates concerning the exact nature of Jesus Christ,
human or divine or both. Only once those debates had settled down, the creeds
drawn up, the acceptance that Christ was both truly human and truly divine,
could artists start to depict realistically the real events on the cross.
Some of the most moving crucifixes, inspired often by the Franciscans, show a
very human Jesus, in terrible agony on the cross. This truly is God with us,
enduring all the pain and suffering that can come to humanity. They speak loudly
of what the cross is all about, what it does for us. Here is God, loving us so
truly and so deeply that God is prepared to live our life, share our sorrows and
our sufferings, suffering even to the point of torture and death.
There are other crucifixes which move us deeply, those that show the tree of the
cross sprouting branches and leaves and flowers. They remind us that out of the
horror of death comes the joy and hope of new life, they point to the
resurrection.
And one of the most horrific paintings of the crucifixion, a modern one, in
Richard Harries’ book is by Stanley Spencer. It is set in Cookham High Street.
Two men gleefully hammer in the nails, while Mary lies spreadeagled at the foot
of the cross, a school boy ties one of the two thieves tighter to the cross bar
and spectators look out of the windows of their houses to see what’s going on.
It reminds us of our responsibility for the crucifixion, of how we all too
easily collude with the violence that put Jesus on the cross.
So here, this afternoon, we have an opportunity to venerate the cross, to thank
God for all it does for us, to kneel at Jesus’ feet, accepting his Lordship of
our lives, perhaps laying before him our weaknesses and failings. It’s a very
physical sign and symbol of our great thankfulness, of our love and adoration
for the Lord who lived with us, shared our sorrows, died for us and who gives us
his peace.
Mary Magdalene is one of the best
loved saints. She goes to the tomb weeping and sorrowful, expecting to perform
one last act of love for her beloved friend. She comes away full of joy
announcing the stunning news to the disciples ‘I have seen the Lord’.
There are two strange things about this first encounter with the risen Christ.
First, it is a woman who has this encounter, a woman who is sent to be a witness
to the disciples, a woman who is the Apostle to the Apostles. And as if that’s
not bad enough in a patriarchal society where women were seen and not heard;
she’s a woman with a troubled past. We are told in Luke’s account that Mary
Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus. So she had been a woman
with profound health problems, almost certainly with profound mental health
problems. That makes her doubly marginalised. Yet here, at that moment when
Jesus fulfils all the scriptures, when he shouts loud and clear to all the
doubters ‘I told you so’, it is the marginalised to whom he entrusts this
message. And that’s a message of hope to all those who feel themselves to be on
the margins of society. This is not a closed club for the spiritual elite, this
is Good News for all.
The second strange thing became apparent as I was reading ‘The Passion in Art’.
As well as charting the changing images of the crucifixion, Bishop Richard
Harries also comments on a number of paintings which go under the title ‘Noli me
Tangere’, the latin for ‘Do not touch me’. These paintings depict the scene
related in our Gospel reading. And they highlight a puzzle in that account. Why
did Jesus tell Mary Magdalene not to touch him?
It wasn’t because his body couldn’t be touched, we know that because Thomas,
doubting Thomas, actually puts his fingers in the nail holes and his hand in the
spear wound. No, Jesus is real all right, he is truly the risen Christ who is
victorious over death itself.
So why when he allows Thomas to make sure that he is physically present does he
command Mary Magdalene not to touch him? The clue, I think lies in the reference
to the ascension. Jesus will only be around physically for a little while
longer. This is a transition period, he will come among the disciples
unexpectedly and then leave them just as unexpectedly. At the end of 40 days he
will no longer be physically present to them at all.
So Jesus’ words to Mary are a warning. His relationship with his followers is
about to change. No longer will they have the reassurance of his physical
presence. No longer will they be able to turn to a Jesus physically present and
ask for advice and help.
In a sense they are about to have to grow up. They’re going to have to draw on
their experience of living with Jesus, and their memories of his teaching to
decide how to live as his disciples after the ascension. There will, of course
be help. The Holy Spirit will come upon them at Pentecost, the Spirit will work
within them, helping them bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. And Christ
himself will dwell in their hearts. But, this experience of the presence of God
in their lives will be very different from their experience so far.
Living life as a Christian post resurrection, is not always easy or straight
forward. We have to learn to listen with an inner ear to the voice of God. We
have to fine tune our consciences. There are, of course some tried and tested
methods. The more we read and meditate on scripture the closer we will come to
the mind of God. The more we bring our lives before God in prayer, not simply
telling our hopes and fears but also listening for God’s voice, God’s response,
God’s help, the more attuned to God’s way of doing things we will become. The
more we share with Christian friends the more we will have our views and ideas
more truly shaped to those of Christ. The Desert Fathers promoted the spiritual
discipline of revealing ones thoughts to a wise elder. Such an elder would be
able to tell whether the disciple was thinking and acting in a truly Christian
way. The elder would dispense good advice about how to grow more into the
likeness and image of Christ. These days we might us a spiritual director or a
soul friend for such a purpose. In a sense these people stand for us in place of
Christ, as they help us become more Christ-like.
This is what it looks like to be a Christian post resurrection. And it really
does work. Look at the transformation of the disciples in those days after the
resurrection. That cowed and fearful group, meeting in secret, becomes a group
who are inspired to share the Good News out on the streets in the synagogues and
even in the temple itself. In the days leading up to the ascension, they serve a
different sort of apprenticeship. They learn with Mary Magdalene not to cling
onto Christ physically, while still holding fast spiritually. They are ready to
receive the Holy Spirit and then to go out and tell the Good News to the whole
world.
And that’s our post resurrection task as well, to declare by our lives as much
as by our words that this Jesus who was crucified, dead and buried is now risen,
alive and victorious over sin and death.
Rev. Penny Sayer
Curate, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea
| 9th March 2008 | State of the Union address |
| 2nd March 2008 | X marks the spot |
| 24th February 2008 | Inclusiveness is nothing new |
| 17th February 2008 | Hard concepts |
| 10th February 2008 | Lent - a time for choices, supermarkets and discipleship |
| 3rd February 2008 | Considering career options |
| 13th January 2008 | The Baptism of Christ |
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6th January 2008 |
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