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Sermon preached by the Reverend
Canon
Andy Knowles
Third Sunday of Lent, 7th March 2010
Texts:
Isaiah 55.1-9 and Luke
13.1-9
Thank you for your
welcome.
The
question posed by your series title is s good one:
‘Why be a
Christian?’
Why put yourself
through the challenge and sacrifice and (who knows?) embarrassment of
being a follower of Jesus Christ in our 21st Century world?
We don’t
need God for our daily bread – we go to Tesco’s or
Sainsbury’s or Asda for that.
We don’t need morals
for acceptance by our peers: we all know nobody’s perfect and if you
have a few issues to resolve you can always sign on with a counsellor.
We don’t
harbour mediaeval fears of hell fire - and heaven, as in angels and
harps, sound tedious in the extreme - as does ‘eternal life’ .
. .
So – why be a
Christian?
It’s a very good
question.
And I suppose we
might answer it in different ways at different times of our lives.
Last year, on two
occasions, I found myself standing on the shore of the
Sea of Galilee.
And I realise, quite
starkly, how much my life has been shaped by the events in that very
place.
My name – Andrew – is that of the fisherman who Jesus called from his
boat and his business to be a disciple and apostle. I realised how
my sense of the call of Jesus
to be a disciple has always been modelled on that call to Andrew:
that Jesus comes to
us –
whoever we are and wherever we are
and calls us, by
name, to follow him –
to share his
example, his teaching, his joy, his suffering –
until eventually we realise – as Andrew and Peter and all the others did
–
that they are no longer servants, but friends .
. .
*
But then
there’s another strand of reflection by which we might decide to be a
Christian
and that’s our intellectual enquiry
into the value and meaning of life.
Our reading from the prophet Isaiah this morning
put the question perfectly:
Why do you spend
your money or that which is not bread
and your labour
for that which does not satisfy?
This is a question
that many of us try to swat away
for the whole of their lives. It’s the big question about what I’m
actually doing here:
the choices I’m making
with this one, unique, precious life –
The
only life I will have, so far as I know –
the only time I will have
the only relationships I will have –
Am I
happy with it?
Is it
satisfying?
Or is it, as the
prophet asks,
like so much junk
food?
Taking my resources
but without returning value;
without providing nourishment .
. .
‘Is that it?’
asks Bob Geldof – in the title of his autobiography –when all’s done, is
that it?
*
Why be a
Christian?
Is it the Sunday
School romance of Jesus calling me – by name?
Is it the mid-life
sinking feeling of ‘What’s it all about?’
A critic would have
a field day with both those reasons for committing to Christ!
I think
Richard Dawkins said to a bishop in a radio conversation:
‘Why should I listen
to you, just because you say you have an imaginary friend?’*
I thought he scored
a telling point there!
*'Imaginary
friend'
Richard Dawkins, scientist, staunch atheist and author of books
including The
God Delusion, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that (Cardinal Cormac
Murphy- O’Connor’s) comments carried no weight. Referring to God as an
"imaginary friend", Mr Dawkins said: "When talking to a politician you
would demand proof for what they say, but suddenly when talking to a
clergyman you don't have to provide evidence, "There's
absolutely no reason to take seriously someone who says, 'I believe it
because I believe it.'”
[BBC website 9 May 2008]
*
So why
be a Christian?
Let’s
start again.
I have here a little
radio.
I know nothing of
how it works; but I know that it
does work.
If it
has a live battery
and I turn it on and tune it –
it works
It gets me Radio 5
Live with tolerable clarity and I listen to news and sport
when I’m in the bathroom
or the garden
or doing the ironing
or taking a nap after lunch .
. . It’s
what it’s for .
. .
And
the same principle comes to mind when we ask what
we are for.
If you think of the
forces and circumstances that have shaped us: the carbon strings forged
in the hearts of dying stars
that have provided the building blocks of our life.
The
untold millennia of evolution
on this
planet alone; and the incredible stories of endurance and
survival:
the tides of history
and the networks of relationships
that have enabled you and me
to step into life today –
it is quite amazing and wonderful.
But the
point about the comparison with the radio
is that we are perfectly equipped
to tune into the meaning of it all. Far more than any other creature we
know.
Human beings can
observe and wonder and find immeasurable pleasure
in this world and universe
in which we find ourselves.
Some scientists who
are also Christians
have gone so far as to ask whether we are in fact in an anthropocentric
universe:
a
universe that has been specifically created
so that we can come into being.
John Polkinghorne –
professor of particle physics and a priest – ponders that question.*
*
‘The
Way the World Is – the Christian perspective of a scientist’
(Triangle, 1983);
‘Belief
in God in the Age of Science’
(Yale University Press, 1998).
And one
of his former students – Martin Rees
now Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal –
although not a Christian, still thinks our existence is pretty amazing.
His book ‘Just Six Numbers’ shows how very lucky we are to be here.**
**Just
Six Numbers – the deep forces that shape the universe
by Martin J Rees (Phoenix,
2003).
Martin Rees writes:
At the start of the twenty-first century, we have identified six numbers
that seem especially significant. Two of them relate to the basic
forces; two fix the size and overall 'texture' of our Universe and
determine whether it will continue for ever; and two more fix the
properties of space itself:
These
six numbers constitute a 'recipe' for a universe. Moreover, the outcome
is sensitive to their values: if any one of them was to be 'un-tuned',
there would be no stars and no life. Is this tuning just a brute fact, a
coincidence? Or is it the providence of a benign Creator? I take the
view that it is neither. An infinity of other universes may well exist
where the numbers are different. Most would be stillborn or sterile. We
could only have emerged (and therefore we naturally now find ourselves)
in a universe with the 'right' combination. This realisation offers a
radically new perspective on our Universe, on our place in it, and on
the nature of physical laws.
An example:
 1
(to do with the strength of gravity)
The
cosmic number omega measures the amount of material in our Universe -
galaxies, diffuse gas, and 'dark matter'. Omega tells us the relative
importance of gravity and expansion energy in the Universe. A universe
within which omega was too high would have collapsed long ago; had omega
been too low, no galaxies would have formed. The inflationary theory of the Big Bang says omega
should be one; astronomers have yet to measure its exact value.
Why be a Christian?
Maybe because, to
know God –
to know God as clearly and fully as God can be known –
is to find the core relationship of our life –
to find – or be found by – the purpose for which we exist.
This ‘knowing God’ – living in the company, love and purpose of God –
is the very reason for my existence –
and the purpose for which I am made.
It would be
extraordinary and wonderful enough just to be alive – to be alive in
this world for a while
and to be conscious of it
and to respond to its challenges and delights as we do –
But to realise that
even this great universe
in its vastness and awesome beauty
is just the shop-window – the first evidence and demonstration –
of the existence of an almighty creator God –
And, further, that
this God has revealed himself most specifically and completely
in a humble, wise, healing, loving, utterly self-giving life –
the life of Jesus of Nazareth –
I begin to realise more deeply
why it makes such sense to be a Christian .
. .
*
And
there is more . .
.
Today’s
Gospel reading gives us a sample of the DNA
that runs through all of adult Christian faith.
Taken from Luke’s
record of the life of Jesus,
it has three sections:
1. In the first,
Jesus is being told
about an episode of extraordinary brutality.
The
Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate,
has caused
some Galileans to be slaughtered
and commanded that their blood be mixed with their own sacrifices.+
+
Information about Pilate comes from the writings of Philo and Josephus.
He is described as insensitive, cruel, ready to use brutal force to keep
order, and incompetent. Brutality was the norm for people in his
position. Pilate was recalled to Rome for brutality, even by Roman
standards, when he massacred a group of Samaritans at
Mount Gerizim (Austin Cline about.com).
It’s a Roman/
Gentile atrocity against Jewish lives and Jewish sensibilities;
and an oppressed, occupied people are powerless to do anything
about it.
The
question for Jesus is: How can God allow such things to happen?
Jesus responds: ‘Did
they deserve it? No they didn’t
Is it just? No it
isn’t.
But beware, because
such things can happen to anyone,
whether they deserve it or not.
Never
mind about whether life is fair or just;
make sure that you are right
with God.’
2. The second episode in this short extract from the
Gospels
is about an industrial accident.
A tower being built
has collapsed –
the building
programme too hasty;
the health and
safety regulations ignored –
and eighteen people
have been killed.
The
question to Jesus is, Did they deserve it?
Is anybody to be
brought to book?
And Jesus replies,
‘Such things happen –
of course they didn’t deserve it –
at least, no more than anyone else’ –
But learn from it
that your number may come up
at any time;
and turn to God now, while you have the opportunity .
. .’
*
And
finally, the curious case of the fig tree without any figs!
A man plants a fig
tree in his vineyard and –
finding it bears no fruit – discusses its fate with the gardener.
To dig it up, or give it another chance – that is the question!
Although we don’t
know the colour of Jesus’ eyes
or what he had for breakfast,
we have evidence that he was partial to figs. I think he really liked
them.
And the fresh, ripe, first figs – the
bikkurim –
were tokens for the Jews of their whole harvest.*
*
Hebrew:
ביכורים,
lit. ‘First-fruits’
There’s
something between the unripe and the well-ripened fig – and that’s ‘bikkurah’,
which means the first ripe fig. It’s the bikkurah that’s brought as an
offering to God at the beginning of the summer: the best, sweetest and
most delicious figs. The
plural – bikkurim – is used for all first fruits; for the whole harvest
offering.
As the man looks for
a return on his investment –
a harvest of figs –
so does God come to us
and asks:
‘What are you doing with this
life I have given you? Are you finding your meaning and purpose and
fulfilment
in knowing me –
in opening yourself
to the fullest and most joyful life imaginable
by becoming friends
with my Son?
Because
if not – if you haven’t yet taken this step and entered this quality of
life - there is still time!’
Andrew Knowles is
Canon Theologian at Chelmsford Cathedral.
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