How Does God Come To Us?
Sermon
Those words about the flood in today's gospel reading, are particularly poignant in light of this year's flooding in our country, and in previous years terrible flooding in Honduras and Bangladesh and other places. Listen again: "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away."
Nobody lost their life in Britain because of the floods, even though for many it was catastrophic and some people lost businesses and homes. But the flood suddenly came and swept them all away a few years ago in Nicaragua and Honduras. Those that were left were probably deeply traumatised byt the experience, which may well haunt them for the rest of their lives. For how could you come to terms with a trauma so sudden and so terrible, in which your family, your friends, your home and your livelihood are there one moment, but the next, swept away?
If the second coming of the son of man is like that, as these words suggest, it will be really terrifying. How does this tie-in with the idea of a God of love? How could a God of love deliberately cause his beloved children such terrible trauma? Presumably if God is God, he can choose the manner and the time of his coming. Presumably there is no need for his coming to be terrifying.
Matthew goes on to say, "Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." But it would have made no difference to the Hondurans if they had been asleep or awake. No human power could have prevented that terrible loss of life. The force of nature was far too strong for mere humans. So if the Day of the Lord, the second coming of Jesus is like that, what difference could being awake at the time make?
It all sounds so much like a fait accompli, something which has already been decided. Whether we're awake or asleep, if it's like an earthquake or a hurricane or a flood, one person will be taken and the other left. It's always that way with huge natural disasters, and we never have any control over that.
But this isn't the way in which God usually approaches his people. And it isn't the way in which Jesus usually approached people. Although Jesus was often challenging, he was usually gentle and he was always loving and caring. He cared about individual people and allowed them to choose whether or not to follow him.
In fact his anger and violence were so rare, that they were particularly noted. The incident in the Temple, where he swept out those who were desecrating the temple, is highlighted in every gospel. And although he could be violent verbally, especially towards the Pharisees, such as when he called them "whitewashed sepulchres", there are no other recorded incidences of his physical violence. And no incidences of violence against human beings.
When God's spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost, after the death of Jesus, it was seen as tongues of fire and a mighty rushing wind. But these powerful symbols were not destructive of life, but quite the reverse. They brought life. And yet this occasion, when God's beloved son had been destroyed by evil forces, was surely an occasion when God's spirit might have been expected to be destructive.
Even in the Old Testament the presence of God is often seen in terms of powerful symbols, but is seldom destructive of life. And these symbols are almost never destructive of life in an arbitrary fashion so that one is taken and another left.
Thus Moses met God by a burning bush, but was not destroyed by God. And Elijah cowered in terror in the mouth of the cave during an of earthquake, a raging fire and a terrible hurricane, but met God in a whisper afterwards.
After God destroyed the earth through the famous flood, he promised Noah that he would never again destroy the earth in such a way. And he put his rainbow in the sky as a sign of that promise. We still see that rainbow, so the promise still stands.
So what is this passage about? Why these terrifying words from the mouth of Jesus?
Soon after this passage Jesus is arrested and tried and executed. Perhaps the huge storm clouds hanging over him at this point are reflected in his words. When I have to face something major, all my thoughts and words and actions are affected. It's as though the worry is reflected in the way in which I react to other people. Even though I'm usually completely unaware both of my reaction and of the underlying anxiety.
Perhaps it was like that for Jesus. Perhaps because he was facing such terrible trauma himself, he saw that trauma reflected in the universe.
But Jesus may be saying something important about the way in which God approaches us now. Perhaps Jesus is saying something about being spiritually alert. Something about the desire to hear God's voice, the desire to respond to him.
Sometimes when I'm deeply absorbed in what I'm doing, I don't notice time passing. Everything can pass me by. The family can talk to me, but I simply don't hear them. I'm wrapped up in myself and my activity and at the time, nothing else seems important. The problem is I can miss important things. Because I'm so absorbed and I fail to listen, I fail to pick out the important from the trivia when people speak to me.
It's easy to get like that about life. To become so absorbed in life activities, that God can pass by hundred times and not be noticed. Especially if God is not heralded by loud trumpet calls or earthquakes or fire, but is simply a gentle whisper on the edge of consciousness.
And despite today's gospel passage, my experience has been that God seldom appears like a great flood or a hurricane and or an earthquake, but it is much more like a whisper. A whisper so quiet and so casual, that it's easily missed. If this is so, only those who are spiritually alert will notice God.
But if I discover I have somehow missed God, then that feels like a huge disaster. It feels like a flood or hurricane or earthquake in its proportions. I rage against God because he hasn't answered prayer. I question why he isn't with me. I question his very existence because I see no evidence of his power. But all the time it's me who has missed God, not God who has missed me. I haven't been alert to his voice or his presence, and so have blamed him for his absence.
Life without God is a huge disaster. Jesus was facing just such a disaster as this when he spoke the words read to us today. For him it was a sort of Advent season, waiting for the axe to fall.
For us, Advent is a time of waiting, a time of stepping back and tuning in to God. But if we're able to tune in properly, then for us, Christmas is just around the corner. There is no axe waiting to fall on us. Disaster will be averted, and if we wish to do so, at Christmas we shall know the presence of God in all its wonder, love and beauty.
Nobody lost their life in Britain because of the floods, even though for many it was catastrophic and some people lost businesses and homes. But the flood suddenly came and swept them all away a few years ago in Nicaragua and Honduras. Those that were left were probably deeply traumatised byt the experience, which may well haunt them for the rest of their lives. For how could you come to terms with a trauma so sudden and so terrible, in which your family, your friends, your home and your livelihood are there one moment, but the next, swept away?
If the second coming of the son of man is like that, as these words suggest, it will be really terrifying. How does this tie-in with the idea of a God of love? How could a God of love deliberately cause his beloved children such terrible trauma? Presumably if God is God, he can choose the manner and the time of his coming. Presumably there is no need for his coming to be terrifying.
Matthew goes on to say, "Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." But it would have made no difference to the Hondurans if they had been asleep or awake. No human power could have prevented that terrible loss of life. The force of nature was far too strong for mere humans. So if the Day of the Lord, the second coming of Jesus is like that, what difference could being awake at the time make?
It all sounds so much like a fait accompli, something which has already been decided. Whether we're awake or asleep, if it's like an earthquake or a hurricane or a flood, one person will be taken and the other left. It's always that way with huge natural disasters, and we never have any control over that.
But this isn't the way in which God usually approaches his people. And it isn't the way in which Jesus usually approached people. Although Jesus was often challenging, he was usually gentle and he was always loving and caring. He cared about individual people and allowed them to choose whether or not to follow him.
In fact his anger and violence were so rare, that they were particularly noted. The incident in the Temple, where he swept out those who were desecrating the temple, is highlighted in every gospel. And although he could be violent verbally, especially towards the Pharisees, such as when he called them "whitewashed sepulchres", there are no other recorded incidences of his physical violence. And no incidences of violence against human beings.
When God's spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost, after the death of Jesus, it was seen as tongues of fire and a mighty rushing wind. But these powerful symbols were not destructive of life, but quite the reverse. They brought life. And yet this occasion, when God's beloved son had been destroyed by evil forces, was surely an occasion when God's spirit might have been expected to be destructive.
Even in the Old Testament the presence of God is often seen in terms of powerful symbols, but is seldom destructive of life. And these symbols are almost never destructive of life in an arbitrary fashion so that one is taken and another left.
Thus Moses met God by a burning bush, but was not destroyed by God. And Elijah cowered in terror in the mouth of the cave during an of earthquake, a raging fire and a terrible hurricane, but met God in a whisper afterwards.
After God destroyed the earth through the famous flood, he promised Noah that he would never again destroy the earth in such a way. And he put his rainbow in the sky as a sign of that promise. We still see that rainbow, so the promise still stands.
So what is this passage about? Why these terrifying words from the mouth of Jesus?
Soon after this passage Jesus is arrested and tried and executed. Perhaps the huge storm clouds hanging over him at this point are reflected in his words. When I have to face something major, all my thoughts and words and actions are affected. It's as though the worry is reflected in the way in which I react to other people. Even though I'm usually completely unaware both of my reaction and of the underlying anxiety.
Perhaps it was like that for Jesus. Perhaps because he was facing such terrible trauma himself, he saw that trauma reflected in the universe.
But Jesus may be saying something important about the way in which God approaches us now. Perhaps Jesus is saying something about being spiritually alert. Something about the desire to hear God's voice, the desire to respond to him.
Sometimes when I'm deeply absorbed in what I'm doing, I don't notice time passing. Everything can pass me by. The family can talk to me, but I simply don't hear them. I'm wrapped up in myself and my activity and at the time, nothing else seems important. The problem is I can miss important things. Because I'm so absorbed and I fail to listen, I fail to pick out the important from the trivia when people speak to me.
It's easy to get like that about life. To become so absorbed in life activities, that God can pass by hundred times and not be noticed. Especially if God is not heralded by loud trumpet calls or earthquakes or fire, but is simply a gentle whisper on the edge of consciousness.
And despite today's gospel passage, my experience has been that God seldom appears like a great flood or a hurricane and or an earthquake, but it is much more like a whisper. A whisper so quiet and so casual, that it's easily missed. If this is so, only those who are spiritually alert will notice God.
But if I discover I have somehow missed God, then that feels like a huge disaster. It feels like a flood or hurricane or earthquake in its proportions. I rage against God because he hasn't answered prayer. I question why he isn't with me. I question his very existence because I see no evidence of his power. But all the time it's me who has missed God, not God who has missed me. I haven't been alert to his voice or his presence, and so have blamed him for his absence.
Life without God is a huge disaster. Jesus was facing just such a disaster as this when he spoke the words read to us today. For him it was a sort of Advent season, waiting for the axe to fall.
For us, Advent is a time of waiting, a time of stepping back and tuning in to God. But if we're able to tune in properly, then for us, Christmas is just around the corner. There is no axe waiting to fall on us. Disaster will be averted, and if we wish to do so, at Christmas we shall know the presence of God in all its wonder, love and beauty.
