Ordinary Time?

Texts:  2 Corinthians 4:13-5.1 and Mark 3:20-35

To watch this sermon, please click here: https://youtu.be/-IvZg0lZOZ0

So, my brothers and sisters, here we are in Ordinary Time, once more.  Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Trinity and Corpus Christi have passed, and we slide into the week-by-week contemplation of the everyday teachings of the Scriptures.  Our gaze shifts away from the dramatic narratives of the great feasts that have inspired us, and we settle into a period of diligent study, and quiet effective practice of our faith.  Ordinary Time.

Which is perhaps why the Lectionary gives us, this morning, such a smorgasbord of theological ideas to pursue!  As a preacher, my task is to focus on that which I judge to be most useful to you at this time.  And this morning, I have quite a lot to draw from.

Perhaps, we could consider the debate between Jesus and the Scribes, who accused him of casting out demons by the power of the devil?  It’s certainly a fascinating topic – and it leads to Jesus announcing that there is one sin, and one sin alone, which can never be forgiven.  He means the sin of ‘blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’ – which often puzzles many people.  

I could, perhaps, remind you of the importance of ‘context’ in understanding any biblical text.  The context here is that the work of healing is ascribed not to the Great Healer (the Divine Spirit of God) but instead to the Devil.  That indeed is blasphemous talk.  It would be like saying that the Devil is the author of Love.  Or that God is the author of disobedience, hatred and war.

We need to hear this stern warning of Jesus.  To describe anything hateful, violent or evil as the work of God is indeed a heinous blasphemy.  Anyone, for example, who believes that God approves of, or instigates war, or sickness, is treading on dangerous ground.

It’s fine to say that religions are the cause of many wars, because, regretfully, there is truth in that statement.  But to suggest that God either approves of such conflict, or worse still that he desires it, or even foments it, is blasphemous indeed.

It’s fine to wonder why God does not always answer our prayers for healing from sickness or disability.  But to suggest that God causes it, or that it is perhaps a direct punishment for our sins is blasphemous stuff.

But you know all that.  We’ve covered such ground many times before.  So what else, as a preacher, might I focus on from today’s readings? 

Perhaps I should focus on the idea that a house divided against itself cannot stand – which, of course, Jesus talks about in relation to the crazy idea that his ministry somehow stems from the Devil. This is, of course, one of those great ‘Truisms’ which we hear (and don’t ponder) because it is so plainly obvious. 

If we were the kind of church in which there were different theological factions arguing against each other; or if our PCC was divided over some great policy issue; or if half our choir was threatening to walk out because of the Rector’s choice of hymns – then perhaps this would be a good text for us to consider in depth, together.  But, I have to tell you, I have rarely encountered such a harmonious, kindly, co-operative group as Christians we have here at St Faith’s.  So I’d really be preaching to the converted.  Wouldn’t I?

So, perhaps we should focus on the little story at the end of the Gospel, in which Jesus widens the scope of what the word ‘family’ means.  He says, ‘Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother’.  He invites us to look beyond our narrow, human understanding of what the family is.  He invites us to see each other as not just fellow-worshippers, or even fellow travellers on the road to faith, but as actual family.  A few weeks ago, we sang ‘Brother, Sister let me serve you’ (which is why I didn’t chose it for today).  But it conveys something of the depth of the relationship which Jesus calls us into:

I will weep when you are weeping,

When you laugh, I'll laugh with you;

I will share your joy and sorrow

Till we've seen this journey through.

But you know all this.  When you care for one another, with phone calls to the lonely, or by meeting up for friendship’ sake, or by holding one another in prayer, or supporting the needy through the Discretionary Fund, then you are living out exactly how Jesus calls us live.  When you welcome to our family table those who are not like you, those who are of a different race, or a different sexual preference or gender identity, or a different intellectual ability, or even a different understanding of God, you are being exactly the kind of real family that Jesus is talking about.

So, perhaps there is little from the Gospel reading that we desperately need to consider this morning.  Perhaps I should just shut up, and sit down….

…Or….perhaps we could just take a few final moments to contemplate the words of St Paul, written to a church community not unlike our own, which we heard in our first reading.  Paul wants his readers not to lose heart.  He knows how much has been achieved by those early Christians, battling against the forces all around them to bring the Kingdom to fruition.  He wants to encourage them to press on, to keep on living as Christ has called them to live.  He wants them, by God’s grace, to keep on extending that Kingdom to more and more people, so that there may be even more thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

And that’s my prayer for us, at the beginning of this ‘Ordinary Time’.  Let us keep on loving one another, my sisters and brothers.  Let us keep on inviting others – even very different others - around our family table.  Let’s keep on weeping with those who weep, and laughing with those who laugh.  Let’s keep on proclaiming and demonstrating the radical, life-changing Love of God!  And perhaps, then, we will discover that Ordinary Time is not so ordinary after all!  Amen.