Tag: marginalised

Joy-Bringer, Isaiah 35:1-10 Advent With Isaiah 3 (Advent 3 Year A)

Isaiah 35:1-10

One popular Christmas carol, especially among American Christians, is ‘Angels we have heard on high.’ Its first verse reads,

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Unfortunately, one source of the music misprinted ‘Echoing their joyous strains’ as ‘Echoing their joyous trains.’

Source unknown. From the Church Service Typos group on Facebook.

I don’t suppose anyone who commutes would readily think of ‘joyous trains.’ I know my wife didn’t on Thursday evening when her train from Waterloo didn’t initially have a driver, when the passengers were told to disembark to find another train, only then to be told to stay on board. They left twenty-seven minutes late. Joyous trains, indeed.

But if the trains were transformed, that truly would be reason for joy.

The theme this week is ‘Joy’ but it is connected with transformation. So maybe a better title might be, ‘Joy in Transformation.’ These verses in Isaiah give five examples of the transformation the coming Messiah will bring, which lead to joy. It was something the southern kingdom of Judah needed to hear, nervous as the nation was due to the military power of Assyria, which had already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel.

But as so often in Isaiah, we shall see that no earthly king could completely fulfil the prophecy. Even with Jesus, the true Messiah, he would begin the transformational work prophesied, but it will only come to complete fruition with his return in glory.

However, in the meantime, in our in-between time, these point to our work for God’s kingdom today. There are five arenas for joy in the reading; I shall deal with each one briefly.

Firstly, joy for the desert:

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
    the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
    the splendour of our God.

In the Middle East, the people know all about parched deserts in the heat. But God will restore life to the desert as he breaks the drought and beautiful plants bloom and flourish there.

Our droughts today are often caused by our failure as the human race to fulfil the command we were given when God created us: namely to rule over the created order wisely on his behalf. Instead of caring for it, we have exploited it. Now we pay the consequences – but worse, it is the poorer nations who are suffering first and most.

As Christians, we have common cause with those who are concerned for our environment. But we have a unique reason for being involved. It is that we are doing so as stewards of God’s creation, and as a prophetic sign that God will make all things new in his creation. We agree that the world is in a mess, but we engage out of a spirit of hope, not panic.

So let us engage in our creation care as an act of worship and of witness to the Messiah who will renew the earth. And if we listen carefully, we may catch the sound of the world rejoicing, too.

Secondly, joy for the fearful:

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
    ‘Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.’

At the time of the prophecy, Israel could well have been afraid of Assyria. But as we know, fear comes in many flavours. Fear of war. Fear of death. Fear of other people’s expectations. Fear of losing someone. The list of fears is long.

In the specific context, Isaiah promises that those who are afraid of wrongdoers can take heart, because God will judge the wicked who are scaring them.

And yet there is still a universal application. It is often said – and I confess I have not checked the veracity of this – that the words, ‘Do not be afraid’ occur three hundred and sixty-five times in the Bible. One for every day of the year. You can have one day of fear in a leap year!

God does not want us paralysed by fear. He wants us animated by love. And so, he promises to banish the forces and the people that cause us to fear. The life of the messianic age to come will not be characterised by fear. It will be an eternal age of love.

And if God promises that for us, we can ask ourselves, what can we do to help remove fear from the lives of other people? Sometimes we can banish the cause of fear. In other circumstances, we may not be able to do that, but we may be able to show how to live without fear when unwelcome things happen.

I know how easy it is to panic. My body goes into panic mode before my mind catches up with the truth. For me, God’s message of peace and love comes through human beings, not least my wife. There has been more than one occasion when people who didn’t like me in churches have made up false and malicious Safeguarding accusations against me. One time, my Superintendent phoned me and said, ‘Watch your back on Sunday morning.’ Debbie has helped me be anchored in truth when lies have flown about.

Thirdly, joy for the silenced:

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.

There is more than one way of reading these words. Some take them literally as a promise of healing, and we saw in our Gospel reading from Matthew: Jesus did heal the blind, the deaf, and the lame. I wouldn’t want to deny that, nor the promise of full healing when Jesus comes again and makes all things new. I would encourage us to pray for the sick, just so long as we don’t treat chronically ill or disabled people purely as prayer projects rather than people with dignity. As the title of one book puts it, My Body Is Not A Prayer Request.

But I will say there is a wider meaning to these words. Why did I introduce this point as ‘joy for the silenced’? For this reason. Our English translations say at the end of the quote, ‘the mute tongue [will] shout for joy.’ But the words ‘for joy’ are not there in the Hebrew. The mute will shout. That’s it. People who have been silenced by those who oppress them find their voice in the kingdom of God. The persecuted are vindicated and set free. The people that society does not value are of great worth and significance to Jesus.

The early church did this by the way they gave importance to slaves and women. Jesus calls us too to value those who would not be elevated by our society. He longs for them to find their place in his family and his kingdom purposes. Let’s not evaluate people by worldly standards, but by the fact that they are loved and cherished by God in Jesus.

Fourthly, more joy for the desert:

Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

We’re back in the wilderness, but to make a different point. This time, we see the conditions coming together so that life can flourish. Water to drink. Papyrus to make documents. Reeds to make household items.

In this context, artisans, craftsmen, and business can flourish. Their raw materials are plentiful again.

And so, I want to suggest to you that one way we can be a sign of the Messiah’s coming kingdom is by supporting human flourishing, including our local businesses.

Is that a Christian thing to do? I think so. Remember how later the people of Judah were taken into exile in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles. You can find it in Jeremiah 29. In that letter, he tells these Jews who have been separated from their own land and temple that were so vital to their understanding of salvation that they were to seek the prosperity of the city to which they had been taken. Yes – even a pagan city. Go and bless the pagans, says Jeremiah: it is a sign of God’s covenant love.

Let’s cultivate our relationships with local shops and businesses. Not only by giving them our custom, but that when we do so we take an interest in them and we build relationships with them. I have known ecumenical groups of churches in a village take boxes of chocolates to every business in that village at Christmas, with a card thanking them for all they do, and offering to pray for them if they would like it.

Which shops, businesses, or community groups do you appreciate here? Can you bless them? I’m sure you can. Maybe it will provoke questions.

Fifthly and finally, joy for the temple:

8 And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10     and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

The highway of holiness, on which only the redeemed and not the unclean may walk, is surely the road to the temple in Jerusalem.

This reminds us that when Jesus is present among his people, there is joy. Yes, of course we will be reverent: I am not calling for some religious chumminess with God. But for all that, to have the Messiah in our midst will be a cause for joy and it will reflect in the way we are together in worship and in the sharing of our lives together. With Jesus, church is to be a place of joy.

Today, we only have that experience of Jesus by the presence of his Spirit within us and in our midst. But part of the fruit of the Spirit is joy! And one day, we shall all be together in the presence of Jesus and his Father, too.

It’s nice that we look forward to seeing our friends at church. But that doesn’t make us any different from anyone else. Do we have a sense of joy that Jesus will be present with us, and indeed that we are each bringing him with us to our gathering? That is what the messianic community is like.

Conclusion

Joy to the world, we sing at this time of year, the Lord is come. And when the Lord comes, there is joy. Joy for the broken, joy for God’s people and joy for all creation.

And when he comes again, the joy will be magnified and sorrow banished.

Let us, the followers of Jesus, then, also be joy-bringers.

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Mission On The Margins, Luke 17:11-19 (Ordinary 28 Year C)

Luke 17:11-19

On the day I first met Debbie face to face, I walked into her house to find her playing Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ album. She was a fan of his music, and about a year after we married she took me to see him live in Hyde Park.

It was probably the worst concert I’ve ever attended, and we walked out on it.

Admittedly, Debbie too was feeling queasy, and the next morning we learned why: our first child was on the way.

If you know Meat Loaf’s songs, you’ll be familiar with one called ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.’ It’s not a very flattering lyric that he sings about a girl:

I want you, I need you,
But there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you.
Now don’t be sad,
‘Cos two out of three ain’t bad. (Jim Steinman, 1977)

The last time I preached on this passage three years ago, I took inspiration from that song title and called the sermon ‘One Out Of Ten Ain’t Bad.’

This time (and there is some crossover with last time) I have been particularly struck by the geographical background, and what that teaches us about Christian mission.

Firstly, Jesus goes to the margins:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. (Verse 11)

Here’s the thing. Jerusalem is in the south. Galilee is in the north. There is more than one route Jesus could take. He doesn’t have to go near Samaria, but he does.

This is the border not only in a geographical sense but also in a spiritual sense. For the Jews regarded the Samaritans of their day as heretics. What they believed was unsound. But Jesus goes near them. And of course, that is emphasised by the fact that one of the ten lepers was a Samaritan.

And maybe this is a little unusual for Jesus. When he meets the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15, he tells her he was only sent to ‘the lost sheep of Israel.’ His mission is mainly to Israel. It will extend from there after his ascension.

The only comparable incident is in John 4, where he meets the Samaritan woman at the well. And the similarity there extends in that geographically Jesus didn’t need to go that way.

So, this is a deliberate decision by Jesus to go to the margins. Even if his primary call is to be with Israel, the People of God, he will from time to time loiter with missional intent among those whose beliefs are dubious.

Who are the people on the margins for us where we can demonstrate God’s love, as Jesus does here? For some of us, it’s easy to mingle among people on the margins. We have people in our families who don’t share our faith. We have neighbours. We have work colleagues.

But some of us spend so much time among the People of God that we need to take deliberate steps to mingle with others. It’s not healthy to make the church the be-all and end-all of our social lives. I know how easy that would be for me. I could spend all my time just going from one church meeting to another, if I wanted, as if Jesus had actually said (in the words of the late Gerald Coates), ‘I have come that they might have meetings, and have them more abundantly.’

For me, it has to be intentional to spend time with people outside the church. My main way of doing this is by being a member of the local camera club. It’s my hope that I can build friendships there, demonstrate God’s love by how I relate to people, and then when the time is right say something about my faith.

Can each of us ask ourselves, where is my margin between people of faith and those who don’t see life like me? What am I doing to cultivate these relationships? What can I do in those relationships and situations to show the love of God? Can I begin praying regularly for these people, that there might be an opportunity to introduce them to God’s love in Jesus?

Secondly – and related to this – Jesus works publicly:

12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’

14 When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.

All the action happens in public. They are on the outskirts of a village. Jesus responds publicly. And perhaps most significantly of all, he tells them to go to the priests.

As you may well know, in that society, for a leper to be allowed back into mainstream society, a priest had to verify they were healed. This was an ancient form of infection control. You could not risk someone coming back into the village when they could still infect others.

In other words, what Jesus did in healing the ten could be verified. And there was no shame in seeking that verification. It contrasts hugely with some of the more extreme characters in Christian healing who pray for the sick and tell them to throw their pills away before the healing has been confirmed. Allegedly, this is supposed to be an act of faith, but in reality, there are people who have flushed away their medication, only to find they were not healed in the first place.

I’m not suggesting any of us would do something so reckless, foolish, and dangerous. But I am saying that Jesus’ example here is consistent with his own teaching in the Sermon on the Mount when he tells his disciples to let their light shine before others.

We don’t need to be afraid of accountability. Let the world see what we do and evaluate it. How else can it be a testimony to God’s love? It has to be seen.

Christian witness must be in the public arena. For too long, we have treated the church like a fortress, rushed back inside it, and pulled up the drawbridge to isolate ourselves from the world.

But that achieves nothing. In fact, it leads to the further decline of the church. We need to be known in society for what we do in love for people.

Some of this happens on a large scale, way beyond small local churches, when we set up Christian schools that serve the community, or when major charities do substantial work. But should we not also ask, what are we known for as a church in this locality? We certainly have a history of blessing this village, and it’s good to keep coming back to that question. Whatever good we may have done in the past, what are we doing today outside these walls to bear witness to a God who loves the people of this village dearly that his Son Jesus Christ died for them?

Over the years, I’ve seen this in everything from a Christian GP surgery where we were patients, and which took on the difficult patients that other surgeries refused to sign on, to the outreaches to the lonely that Haslemere Methodist Church engages in. What would it be here?

Thirdly and finally, Jesus engages in cross-cultural evangelism:

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19 Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’

Some people look at this and say, oh look! A Samaritan has faith! This is a sign that God accepts people of all religions!

And this is frankly bunk. The faith Jesus commends is one that kneels at his feet and thanks him. The faith the Samaritan has exercised is in Jesus.

This is the end game for our mission, that people find faith in Jesus and confess him as Lord. We still offer love without any strings attached. We do not make our love conditional on people listening to the Gospel. But it is always our hope and our prayer that the witness of our loving acts will sooner or later lead people to put their faith in Jesus.

If anything, the story’s rebuke for existing believers is not about failing to accept that others can have faith, it is about the failure to thank God for his blessings. Yet when someone encounters Jesus for the first time like the Samaritan leper it is quite possible that his love will bowl them over and will lead to an affirmation of faith.

I have told some of you the story of how an Iranian political refugee started coming to one of my churches. He had had to escape from Iran so quickly he left behind his wife and young son – and also not knowing that his wife was pregnant with their second boy.

After a year or so with us, he asked to be baptised. I convened a meeting with him and the church member who had particularly come alongside him. Being aware that he was applying for leave to remain in the UK and that some refugees had spuriously gone through baptism to get that status, we questioned him closely about why he wanted to be baptised.

He told us about how he had never encountered teaching like that of Jesus, especially in the Sermon on the Mount. He told us that he saw Christianity treating women far better than Islam did. And then he told us a story.

‘Do you remember,’ he asked me, ‘when I asked you to pray for my baby boy back in Iran? Do you remember my wife had said he was ill, but the doctors could not make him better? And do you remember I asked you to pray for him?’

I did indeed remember. It had been a brief, matter-of-fact conversation at the coffee table after morning worship.

‘Did I tell you,’ he continued, ‘that after you prayed, my little boy got better?’

‘No, you didn’t tell me that,’ I replied with my jaw dropping. It had just been a short, simple, quiet prayer. Nothing dramatic.

‘So I know now that Jesus is real,’ he said, ‘and I want to follow him.’

We baptised him on Easter Day.

In conclusion, let me challenge you to cross some boundaries. Remember that in Jesus’ day Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. What a good job Jesus ignored that custom.

Go and bless people across the boundaries.

And be prepared, when the opportunity comes, to tell them what your faith in Jesus means to you.

Because you don’t know just how much the Holy Spirit will use your witness.

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