Epiphany 4, 2.2.2
Text: Matthew 5.1 - 12.
Rev Paul Cannon
In a culture that is driven to buy, buy, buy, it is difficult to hear the Beatitudes as anything less than cheap blessings for a jolly life. But Jesus isn’t offering up platitudes for us to feel good.
The Beatitudes are a series of Jesus’ teachings that in fact a picture of his life. Each beatitude is a description of his own life, including 7 and 8 (vv 10 and 11). Jesus indeed suffered and died for what he said and did trusting that God would vindicate his faith.
I want to look at just two this morning but first I want to rephrase the 9 Beatitudes. What if you thought of them this way:
- Here come the depressed, they own the future.
- Here come the grieving, they will be comforted.
- Here come the enslaved, they will have the whole earth.
- Here come the ones who are starved of justice, they will be filled.
- Here come the gracious, they will be shown grace.
- Here come the uncorrupted, they will see God.
- Here come the peacemakers, they will be protected.
- Here come the oppressed, they own the future.
- Here you come, you oppressed, you wrongly accused. Take heart, they did this to your heroes whose ghosts will not die. (by Matt Valler)
The two I want to look at are:
- Blessed are the pure in heart
- Blessed are the meek
Blessed are the pure in heart. What are our motives? Are they pure?
If we were to track the words ew use over a whole week we might well be horrified. Eric Wilson an English minister was asked by his supervisor to do just that and he did monitor his words over a week. What he discovered was that most of the words he used, the words we use, the reasons behind them, are words of power, control and of seeking acceptance and approval.
We do indeed live conditioned to our upbringing and reaction to growing in our circumstances. Irritation brings anger, dissatisfaction brings overindulgence, doubt brings arrogance and pride. Life throws up all sorts of things and we react.
We need to notice the why of our words. We need to be aware of how we behave, react.
Jesus suggests that the more our motives flow from the eternal stream of profound compassion, justice, and the greater good, the happier we become.
Wilson went on to say that while we are conditioned and behave by that conditioning, there are times when we make choices, but these can come from pure selfish desire.
We have become strangers to ourselves, we don’t know ourselves, and we exist and behave accordingly. While we live seeking our own selfish gain, Jesus suggests there is a better way, that life in him is living for compassion, justice and the greater good.
This is our truest self, seeking the path of cooperation and collaboration. Our truest self desires to be connected to God. That’s why Jesus says those with pure motives will see God. We get a glimpse of God when live as pure in heart, we connect.
Blessed are the meek. Are we aware of our power? The games we play?
Something happens when you become aware of the power and privilege you hold. To realise the dignity of another person is wonderful, but we also need to know that we can destroy that dignity by our acts of omission. How easy it is to lord it over another person, or to take charge of someone’s access to knowledge or access to participation.
Power is addictive especially when aimed at others.
If we blindly refuse to reflect deeply on our behaviour we simply harden to the call of Jesus, we develop a calloused heart, we become numb to the dignity of others. To use another metaphor, we become blind to the hurt in the world around us. We harden and blame.
Jesus is saying that it is important to become aware of our power and privilege, as a result how we treat others is important.
This is ever so true right at the moment with the greatest mass movement of people in over a century, so that we have different classes of refugees seeking shelter. I was so relieved to hear the ruling of the United Nations that it is indeed a valid thing to seek the shelter of another nation when death is a reality due to lack of food and water. Then there’s the extension of our carbon footprint with the privilege to buy, to travel, to indulge are questions we need to embrace. It’s not just our choice, it effects others in the world too.
Did you know that the eight richest people in the world hold a wealth greater than fifty percent of entire world population.
So, what do we do with our power and privilege?
When Jesus says, blessed are the meek, we might be tempted to think that he’s saying blessed are you when you are powerless. But you’d be wrong, Jesus’ way is not so simple, meekness does not mean powerlessness for Jesus.
Meekness is a strategic setting aside of our power and privilege. It is way of being that reaches out to others and includes them, gives them a place at the table, enables them to receive what you receive, welcomes them when others refuse a welcome, enables them to have a voice in decisions, especially those that effect them.
Being meek is the greatest power, best exampled in people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jnr., Shane Claiborne and so on, because it is a wise and strategic use of power for the greater good of all and not for self. The meek use power with humility, and with a consciousness of others.
Every time we live that way, every time we bring a restorative justice into the world we rehabilitate the world. That’s why Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth, he means that they live into the space and make it sweeter, fairer, richer by their power for all.
What Jesus is asking in these two beatitudes is, be self aware, reflect on your language and behaviour, question how you effect others, and address those things. If you do step into pure motives and take the chance to use your power for the common good you will indeed change the world where you are.
Epiphany 1 – Baptism of our Lord, 12.1.20
Text: Matthew 3.13 – 17.
Rev Paul Cannon
The Salvadorean Priest Oscar Romero was both conservative and compliant, never questioning the behaviour of his government
Two events were significant for him. In1968 the Council of Latin American Bishops gathered in Medellin (Columbia), proclaiming the need for justice for the poor based on Biblical teaching. The second event was the tragic slaying of villagers in his own country and the murder of his close friend Fr. Rutillio Grande Garcia by the government in 1977.
This was Romero’s Epiphany, his aha moment, and led to his change of mind. He began to advocate for the poor and marginalised, and those who were being bullied, tortured and murdered by the government.
Romero later became Archbishop of El Salvador, chosen because he was unlikely to buck the government but who now stood by the poor and the victimised. He called for repentance and forgiveness.
The government turned against him. His collision course with the government resulted in his assassination in March 1980. His life became a testimony and a call for change. Many people were encouraged because of his ministry.
Radicals today are those we still shout down, ridicule, minimalize, put down and distort. Those who question governments and economics are considered suspect, trouble makers, nuts. Why, probably because they upset our comfortability, challenge our set values, and make us fearful of change. I’m so glad there is a younger generation of radical positive activists who I see as the new prophets for social justice – all under 20.
In this gospel reading we have two more radicals to contemplate.
In the upside down world of God nothing is what it seems.
The people were waiting for God to act and they Got John. Another one of those quirky and weird prophets. The son of a temple priest and godly parents who disappears into the wilderness to prepare for the work of God.
He reappears wearing animal skins and eating strange foods and preaching a strong message of forgiveness and the need to turn around. Yet in spite of his nature, his manner, his appearance, people flocked to him.
John’s preaching and baptising confronted the religious and political power of his day. This scraggly and strange character upset the ruling elite. And in the end Herod Antipas (not Herod the Great) had him beheaded on the whim of his wife. John had dared to call Herod to order, to point out what was wrong, and what should change. John took a risk and paid with his life.
Instead of cooperation, accommodation, or resignation, John challenged the powerful to renew and to turn around.
The ruling religious power saw him as a threat because he didn’t work within the expected rules or patterns. They didn’t like him preaching at the Jordan, preaching from the margins of society. The religious rulers of the day rejected John. He called them a brood of vipers, literally, “snake bastards”, vile and shallow manipulators of the truth.
Jesus later said that many in power rejected John’s call to repentance but by so doing, they rejected God’s purpose for themselves. (Luke 7.30).
And then comes the shock. Jesus joins John at the Jordan and asks to be baptised. By joining with John Jesus identified with both John’s call and message and he also identifies with the people.
It begins with Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew where the good, the bad and the ugly are all present and listed. Jesus birth is described through five disturbing dreams. His parents are unlikely people in the normal scheme of things.
Then Herod the Great seeks to destroy him. Wise Magi come to worship him. Jesus escapes death when Joseph takes the family to Egypt for refuge.
At some point the adult Jesus goes out to the Jordan and is baptised by John.
Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his public ministry. By going out to the Jordan he identified with the all of the people, the broken, with those in pain, with all our faults and failures. By wading into the water he took his place beside us.
Early in his ministry the sanctimonious religious leaders derided Jesus as a friend of gluttons and sinners. And they were right, but that was Jesus’ point. That’s where God wanted to be, and that’s where God wants us to be too, actively engaging with ministry and mission in the world around us.
With his baptism Jesus openly and decisively stands with us in our fears and anxieties. He intentionally took sides with people in their neediness and openly declared that God was biased in their favour.
Paul reminds us in the Letter to the Hebrews that we indeed have a high priest in whom we can have the utmost confidence because Jesus experienced everything we do and yet was without sin. Jesus is no weakling, he has stood the test and we can come to him in confidence that his grace is strong and real.
Jesus declared that God’s grace is available directly and immediately to everyone.
Jesus was not about power or tradition. Jesus simply invited people to change their minds and to follow in his way and to grow and develop in the grace of God, to discover a new purpose.
And in this endeavour, the voice of God affirms that this is exactly what he wants.
Jesus is the very face of God for the world and we are invited to show that face to the world.
We might not take risks like Oscar Romero, we might not be quirky like John, but we are called to stand for justice, for peace, for forgiveness, mercy and love. It will mean standing at odds with society at times and it will mean stepping outside of our comfort zones as well.
In his baptism Jesus was anointed as we are at our baptism, for God’s work in the world. It is both demanding and fulfilling. But imagine a world where we share that love and forgiveness with others and the change that can come.
Could we change the world? Yes, we can be an encouragement amidst the chaos and brokenness of people’s lives.
Through baptism we are called to serve as Christ, as radical love to the world.
Where does God want to use you in the world?
Cross Ref. Jeremiah 2.7, Jeremiah 12.4, Jeremiah 12.11, Hosea 4.1 – 3.
Text: Matthew 3.13 – 17.
Rev Paul Cannon
The Salvadorean Priest Oscar Romero was both conservative and compliant, never questioning the behaviour of his government
Two events were significant for him. In1968 the Council of Latin American Bishops gathered in Medellin (Columbia), proclaiming the need for justice for the poor based on Biblical teaching. The second event was the tragic slaying of villagers in his own country and the murder of his close friend Fr. Rutillio Grande Garcia by the government in 1977.
This was Romero’s Epiphany, his aha moment, and led to his change of mind. He began to advocate for the poor and marginalised, and those who were being bullied, tortured and murdered by the government.
Romero later became Archbishop of El Salvador, chosen because he was unlikely to buck the government but who now stood by the poor and the victimised. He called for repentance and forgiveness.
The government turned against him. His collision course with the government resulted in his assassination in March 1980. His life became a testimony and a call for change. Many people were encouraged because of his ministry.
Radicals today are those we still shout down, ridicule, minimalize, put down and distort. Those who question governments and economics are considered suspect, trouble makers, nuts. Why, probably because they upset our comfortability, challenge our set values, and make us fearful of change. I’m so glad there is a younger generation of radical positive activists who I see as the new prophets for social justice – all under 20.
In this gospel reading we have two more radicals to contemplate.
In the upside down world of God nothing is what it seems.
The people were waiting for God to act and they Got John. Another one of those quirky and weird prophets. The son of a temple priest and godly parents who disappears into the wilderness to prepare for the work of God.
He reappears wearing animal skins and eating strange foods and preaching a strong message of forgiveness and the need to turn around. Yet in spite of his nature, his manner, his appearance, people flocked to him.
John’s preaching and baptising confronted the religious and political power of his day. This scraggly and strange character upset the ruling elite. And in the end Herod Antipas (not Herod the Great) had him beheaded on the whim of his wife. John had dared to call Herod to order, to point out what was wrong, and what should change. John took a risk and paid with his life.
Instead of cooperation, accommodation, or resignation, John challenged the powerful to renew and to turn around.
The ruling religious power saw him as a threat because he didn’t work within the expected rules or patterns. They didn’t like him preaching at the Jordan, preaching from the margins of society. The religious rulers of the day rejected John. He called them a brood of vipers, literally, “snake bastards”, vile and shallow manipulators of the truth.
Jesus later said that many in power rejected John’s call to repentance but by so doing, they rejected God’s purpose for themselves. (Luke 7.30).
And then comes the shock. Jesus joins John at the Jordan and asks to be baptised. By joining with John Jesus identified with both John’s call and message and he also identifies with the people.
It begins with Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew where the good, the bad and the ugly are all present and listed. Jesus birth is described through five disturbing dreams. His parents are unlikely people in the normal scheme of things.
Then Herod the Great seeks to destroy him. Wise Magi come to worship him. Jesus escapes death when Joseph takes the family to Egypt for refuge.
At some point the adult Jesus goes out to the Jordan and is baptised by John.
Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his public ministry. By going out to the Jordan he identified with the all of the people, the broken, with those in pain, with all our faults and failures. By wading into the water he took his place beside us.
Early in his ministry the sanctimonious religious leaders derided Jesus as a friend of gluttons and sinners. And they were right, but that was Jesus’ point. That’s where God wanted to be, and that’s where God wants us to be too, actively engaging with ministry and mission in the world around us.
With his baptism Jesus openly and decisively stands with us in our fears and anxieties. He intentionally took sides with people in their neediness and openly declared that God was biased in their favour.
Paul reminds us in the Letter to the Hebrews that we indeed have a high priest in whom we can have the utmost confidence because Jesus experienced everything we do and yet was without sin. Jesus is no weakling, he has stood the test and we can come to him in confidence that his grace is strong and real.
Jesus declared that God’s grace is available directly and immediately to everyone.
Jesus was not about power or tradition. Jesus simply invited people to change their minds and to follow in his way and to grow and develop in the grace of God, to discover a new purpose.
And in this endeavour, the voice of God affirms that this is exactly what he wants.
Jesus is the very face of God for the world and we are invited to show that face to the world.
We might not take risks like Oscar Romero, we might not be quirky like John, but we are called to stand for justice, for peace, for forgiveness, mercy and love. It will mean standing at odds with society at times and it will mean stepping outside of our comfort zones as well.
In his baptism Jesus was anointed as we are at our baptism, for God’s work in the world. It is both demanding and fulfilling. But imagine a world where we share that love and forgiveness with others and the change that can come.
Could we change the world? Yes, we can be an encouragement amidst the chaos and brokenness of people’s lives.
Through baptism we are called to serve as Christ, as radical love to the world.
Where does God want to use you in the world?
Cross Ref. Jeremiah 2.7, Jeremiah 12.4, Jeremiah 12.11, Hosea 4.1 – 3.
Epiphany, 5.1.20
Text: Isaiah 60.1 – 9; Matthew 2.1 – 12.
Rev Paul Cannon
As you will remember Epiphany is coming to an understanding of something, recognising something in the moment, having an aha moment. It is a moment that changes us or our view. This story of the wise ones coming to the God child is an aha for the world, for us today.
Isaiah gives us an interesting picture in his prophetic words: Nations shall come to your light – star; the wealth of the nations shall come to you; a multitude of camels shall cover you; they shall bring gold and frankincense.
Isaiah names two of the gifts, but gives us the greatest clue that there was a large caravan of wise ones from the east – a multitude of camels shall cover you he says. Sadly Christmas cards have depicted only three wise ones because they have aligned the number with Matthew’s gold, frankincense and myrrh, believing that the number of gifts dictates the number of wise ones, it doesn’t, and Isaiah gives us a clue to a multitude.
No wonder Herod took note, three would have not raised an eyebrow, but a dozen would have, and what about more. Isaiah says a multitude of camels!
These wise ones were indeed men, they were not kings, they were astrologers, astronomers, metallurgists, chemists, diviners, philosophers, advisors. They were well educated and experienced, they practiced foreign religions and beliefs. The text names them as Magoi or Magi. And they come seeking the God child.
There are many legends around these wise ones. In the seventh century they stuck to three and named them Caspar, Balthazzar and Melchior. Author Henry Van Dyke wrote a wonderful story about a fourth wise man called Artaban, who misses the caravan to Jerusalem by tending to a Jewish man who tells him about Messiah and his story takes him by a different route, one of compassion and Samaritan work.
As astrologers they have been excited by the appearance of a unique star, which they now follow as far as Jerusalem where they seek advice from those who know the Jewish scriptures. And they are freely given directions to Bethlehem, where the star awaits them, hovering over a house where the holy family are living.
Once there they pay their respects to this child they understand to be special, and present symbolic gifts – gold for a king, frankincense for person of spiritual gifting, and myrrh for burial. Quite apt given that the gifts summarise the life of Jesus.
The aha can be many things, but have you given this story much thought?
For me it is the very fact that God keeps turning our trained expectations upside down. I cannot emphasise this enough. We have the tendency to fixate, to get stuck, not challenging what we believe by reading and listening to other views and information. We miss points when we read with old filters.
The point of this story is the fact that God has turned it all upside down.
From grizzly prophets, to suspect genealogy, scoundrel shepherds and now astrologers. I note that while the Old Testament forbids astrology, which was part of the law of Moses which you’ll find in Deut. 18.9 - 13, God brings astrologers to acknowledge the God child with gifts that point to his life. The text doesn’t condemn them, but rather honours their role. So again, God shocks the religious with what seems to be an about turn. They would not have expected that.
What is the text therefore saying? That indeed, God is for everyone, the God child is for everyone, and the Magi come and honour the child, the messiah. But we’re looking for something to make this feel right, a conversion story, a testimonial, a record of them becoming disciples and so on. God doesn’t need a formula, a story, God sees the action, not the words. The Magi come, they honour, that action speaks volumes. The pagan world has understood who this child is and they become an important part of the story.
What is also important to note is that all the religious experts that Herod gathers, and who tell of the messiah and his birth place – not one of them joins the Magi to go and pay homage. Not the high priest, not a priest, a scribe or a leader goes the six miles to Bethlehem. The religious miss the point.
Only the scoundrel shepherds and the pagan Magi worship Jesus. This should undo our fixed thinking on who’s in and who’s out. And on that matter, just notice the fires, who were some of the first on the ground with ancillary support – ethnic communities. Sikh and also Muslims groups delivering, making and distributing food and meals.
Just as Jesus’ genealogy also shows, there is no inviolable process of sacred purity. Which is good news for all, because it shows that we’re all valuable to God, and no one is excluded, we only exclude ourselves. God notices us and Jesus is his love note to us. All the scoundrels, rule breakers, outsiders, all are welcome.
This is a wake-up call, a call to how we treat people of any race or belief.
It leaves me with some challenges.
What I believe determines how I behave, I need to demonstrate that what comes out of my mouth is consistent with what I do. So If say I follow Jesus, my values must align with how Jesus lived and dealt with life.
Am I open to what God is speaking into the world, into my life now, or am filtering everything through the past? How am I discerning the voice of God?
No gift is useless, every gift I have is a gift to bring to the faith community and to use it for love.
The good news is nothing and no one is wasted in God’s economy.
What was your aha in this story?