Sermons

Fourth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday 5 July 2009

James, Bishop of Knaresborough

Readings: 2 Corinthians 12 v2-10; Mark 6 v1-13

"Who is this, that even the winds and waves obey him?" "Who is this?"

That was the big question in the reading from Mark's Gospel a couple of weeks ago. You could say that it is the big question raised throughout the Gospel. Though no one asked it, perhaps because they were overcome by amazement, the question posed by last week's reading from Mark would have been, "Who is this who can raise the dead to life?" "Who is this?"

The big answer to the big question of who is this comes (as you might expect) towards the end; well, literally at the end in one respect. The answer comes on the lips of a Roman soldier who sees Jesus die. The soldier isn't just a casual observer! This guy is one of those who put Jesus to death. In other words, the answer comes on the lips of a stranger, the recognition comes from an enemy. This is what the Gospel says: "Now when the Centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!" "Who is this?" "God's Son:" one who shares the identity of God. It's important to note that it was in the manner of his death that his identity was most fully revealed: to the extent that even a stranger, an enemy couldn't ignore it. That's something to think about, deeply.

That climactic recognition is in marked contrast to today's reading, where the question would have to be something like, "Who is this who could do no deed of power on his home turf?" Well, the answer is that he was someone who was very well known. He was identified as the son of Mary, as a brother. He was familiar as a craftsman. They thought they knew all about him, they thought they knew all there was to know about him; they'd got him labelled; they'd got him summed up and tied down. Jesus calls this unbelief. That doesn't mean that they doubted his existence. They knew him, but they weren't open to anything more, they didn't expect anything more; they couldn't allow anything more. And so he could do no works of power amongst them.

I wonder if we sometimes slip into being like the people from Jesus' home town? The question for us might go something like this, Is he so familiar, is he so much part of the fabric, is his story so well known, is he so contained within the words of our services that we restrict what he can do amongst us? Is there plenty of knowledge about Jesus, but a lack of faith? We think we know, so perhaps unawares we cease to believe, to expect, to trust?? And does that result in him being able to do no deeds of power amongst us? Jesus might just be that bit bigger than we imagine, bigger than the words we use about him, bigger than the church, bigger than the universe………

Faith is about being open to that something more, isn't it? If it is so blindingly obvious to an enemy in the way that he dies, can't his friends see who this is and so what he can do??

I want to suggest that it is one of the key tasks for us as disciples and as a church to be addressing that question, Who is this? And as we work with the issue of his identity, to find that our faith grows and deepens, to the point of allowing him, expecting him to do great things in us and amongst us and maybe through us.

It is when we've begun to grasp who he really is - and as a present reality, not a historical figure - that we begin to be ready to be sent as his partners, as his witnesses. "He sent them out two by two and gave them authority…."

They were sent out as believers, people who had experienced what he was capable of and whose faith was manifested in asking that question, "Who is this…?" Perhaps more than that, they were sent out as people who were to share in the identity of Jesus. So, at the heart of what they were sent for was call people to repentance as Christ was doing and demonstrate Christ's power for good. They were to call people to repentance: that is, to invite people, to cause people to think again, to reconsider who and how they were, to present to them the possibility of change. I guess the question we could ask ourselves is, when did I last invite someone, cause someone to think again about who and how they were, about where their life was leading them, about the things that matter most? That's a question for us all to consider: me and David and Louise and Diane included!

This partnership with Jesus, this sharing in the identity of Jesus, is not just a matter of saying, calling, urging, inviting. It's not just a matter of words. It is a matter of showing; showing, demonstrating that Christ does have power over the forces of evil, that Christ can bring release from our 'destructive compulsions,' as Rowan Williams has helpfully described them; that Christ can enable people to get it together. I think that it's the showing that it works that will help people think again and start to believe, to trust the Good News.

So, hey, I want to invite the candidates for Confirmation to allow Jesus to do a deed of power, to expect Jesus to do a deed of power in them. And then to be sent out believing what he can do, sharing in his identity in some sense, to show other people that it works, that it really works!

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay