Preparing The Way
Sermon
I recently watched a biography of Sir Winston Churchill on television. As a young child of about seven years of age, he had a really tough time at an awful school where the boys were kept in check through a reign of terror, and where the young Winston particularly came under fire because he dared to ask questions. As soon as his mother discovered what was happening she made sure he was removed from the school, but by then he'd already suffered. However, his painful memories of school days didn't prevent him becoming a great leader of the nation, and I find myself wondering whether that early school experience, awful as it was, actually prepared him for what he was to do later in life. Perhaps he needed that suffering in order to toughen him to withstand the rigours of leading a nation in a time of war.
It seems that God has so arranged and organised human lives that all our experiences, both good experiences and bad experiences, can be used both for our own personal growth and for God's purposes. On many occasions I've met people who have suffered the most appalling and painful bereavements, where you might expect those people to completely lose all faith. But although that might have been their initial reaction, somehow or other these people have actually either come to faith or had their faith remarkably deepened, through their bereavement. I don't believe God sends personal suffering, but God can and does use it for our own personal growth.
Perhaps this comes as no surprise, for God used the suffering of Jesus to enable every human being to grow. Even Jesus himself grew spiritually through his ordeal, for his crucifixion resulted in a glorious and unexpected resurrection. And we humans always have the opportunity through any suffering we might experience, to grow and to change just as Jesus grew and changed. Our sufferings prepare us for what is to come. At the very least they can give us much needed strength, and for some people sufferings lead to much more than that.
St Paul sees the whole history and culture of the Jews in the Old Testament as a preparation and prelude to the revelation of Jesus as Saviour of the whole world. In today's reading from Romans, St Paul selects appropriate Old Testament passages to show that it was quite clear that Jesus was destined to be the Messiah for Gentiles as well as for the Jews.
The letter to the Romans was probably written somewhere around AD 57. There was already a Christian church in Rome founded before Paul's visit there, although we don't know who founded it or how it began. It probably contained both Jews and Gentiles, for the Roman historian Suetonius mentions an edict of the Emperor Claudius around A.D. 49 ordering the expulsion of Jews from Rome in connection with "Chrestus." This was probably a dispute in the Jewish community over Jesus as the Messiah. According to Act 18:2, Aquila and Priscilla (or Prisca, as in Rom 16:3) were among those driven out from the Roman church and Paul, writing from Corinth, may have learned about conditions in the church at Rome from them.
So Paul's letter to the church in Rome calls upon all the Christians to "live in harmony with one another". The big obstacle to unity at this time was the issue of circumcision. Jews were set apart and knew themselves to be the Chosen People because of the sign of circumcision. All male Jews were circumcised as a sign of the contract or covenant between the Jewish race and God, so that anyone who wasn't circumcised would be outside God's care. Needless to say, this was a huge stumbling block to adult male Gentiles, who wanted to accept the new religion and to be part of it, but who refused circumcision.
The Jewish Christians led by James and other elders in Jerusalem, proclaimed that it was impossible to be part of God's family without accepting his sign of circumcision. Paul on the other side and supporting the Gentiles, proclaimed that although it was necessary in the past, circumcision was now unnecessary. Jesus was the supreme sign, God's new contract with human beings which superceded all previous contracts. All that was needed to be a child of God, was faith in Jesus Christ. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus, anything else was superfluous.
Paul claims that circumcision, and indeed the whole of the Old Testament, was but a prelude and a preparation for the coming of God on earth in the person of Jesus. Christ, Paul says, has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. And Paul goes on to spell out in detail exactly where these promises about the Gentiles are to be found in the Old Testament, and exactly what they say.
We don't have the same arguments today over circumcision. But we need to remember that in the past, people risked their lives and their reputations so that we might worship freely. Starting with St Paul and the Gentiles in the early Christian church and going on through the Inquisition and the Reformation, the way has been prepared for us by courageous Christian ancestors. In our time, some of us in our turn have helped to prepare the way for generations of women priests yet to come. And many in the Christian Church today are fighting different battles in order to prepare the way for those called to be God's children. The current battle is over gay and lesbian Christians, especially gay and lesbian priests. Whatever you may think on the issue, look at the way those who passionately believe in the cause lay their own lives and reputations on the line in order to prepare the way for those who are to come. This is a real witness to Christ.
Perhaps one of our prime tasks as Christians is to prepare the way for others. And perhaps we might never know quite what way we're preparing, or quite who we're preparing it for. Perhaps we're not even conscious of preparing the way. But all our actions and our very quality of being affects the way things are. The presence in this world of every single one of us has repercussions, and as Christians we need to make sure that the repercussions we cause are good and are making the way smooth for those who come after us.
Even Jesus needed a herald to prepare the way for him, and we have certainly needed people to prepare the way for us. Now it's our turn to make things as ready as we can for future generations. We can do that by daring to stand up for what we believe in, by holding fast to the faith and by pushing forward the frontiers of Christian knowledge and Christian belief. It may be that a golden calf or two of dearly held and traditional belief is torn down in the process and that will be painful, but if we're ever to reach anything approaching ultimate truth we need to continue to question our beliefs and traditions. People who stop questioning tend to drift away from the truth because they tend to hang on to human structures rather than on to Christ.
So this Advent, as we prepare for the coming of God into humanity at Christmas, let's also follow the example of the Old Testament and prepare the way for those unseen Christians who will come after us.
It seems that God has so arranged and organised human lives that all our experiences, both good experiences and bad experiences, can be used both for our own personal growth and for God's purposes. On many occasions I've met people who have suffered the most appalling and painful bereavements, where you might expect those people to completely lose all faith. But although that might have been their initial reaction, somehow or other these people have actually either come to faith or had their faith remarkably deepened, through their bereavement. I don't believe God sends personal suffering, but God can and does use it for our own personal growth.
Perhaps this comes as no surprise, for God used the suffering of Jesus to enable every human being to grow. Even Jesus himself grew spiritually through his ordeal, for his crucifixion resulted in a glorious and unexpected resurrection. And we humans always have the opportunity through any suffering we might experience, to grow and to change just as Jesus grew and changed. Our sufferings prepare us for what is to come. At the very least they can give us much needed strength, and for some people sufferings lead to much more than that.
St Paul sees the whole history and culture of the Jews in the Old Testament as a preparation and prelude to the revelation of Jesus as Saviour of the whole world. In today's reading from Romans, St Paul selects appropriate Old Testament passages to show that it was quite clear that Jesus was destined to be the Messiah for Gentiles as well as for the Jews.
The letter to the Romans was probably written somewhere around AD 57. There was already a Christian church in Rome founded before Paul's visit there, although we don't know who founded it or how it began. It probably contained both Jews and Gentiles, for the Roman historian Suetonius mentions an edict of the Emperor Claudius around A.D. 49 ordering the expulsion of Jews from Rome in connection with "Chrestus." This was probably a dispute in the Jewish community over Jesus as the Messiah. According to Act 18:2, Aquila and Priscilla (or Prisca, as in Rom 16:3) were among those driven out from the Roman church and Paul, writing from Corinth, may have learned about conditions in the church at Rome from them.
So Paul's letter to the church in Rome calls upon all the Christians to "live in harmony with one another". The big obstacle to unity at this time was the issue of circumcision. Jews were set apart and knew themselves to be the Chosen People because of the sign of circumcision. All male Jews were circumcised as a sign of the contract or covenant between the Jewish race and God, so that anyone who wasn't circumcised would be outside God's care. Needless to say, this was a huge stumbling block to adult male Gentiles, who wanted to accept the new religion and to be part of it, but who refused circumcision.
The Jewish Christians led by James and other elders in Jerusalem, proclaimed that it was impossible to be part of God's family without accepting his sign of circumcision. Paul on the other side and supporting the Gentiles, proclaimed that although it was necessary in the past, circumcision was now unnecessary. Jesus was the supreme sign, God's new contract with human beings which superceded all previous contracts. All that was needed to be a child of God, was faith in Jesus Christ. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus, anything else was superfluous.
Paul claims that circumcision, and indeed the whole of the Old Testament, was but a prelude and a preparation for the coming of God on earth in the person of Jesus. Christ, Paul says, has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. And Paul goes on to spell out in detail exactly where these promises about the Gentiles are to be found in the Old Testament, and exactly what they say.
We don't have the same arguments today over circumcision. But we need to remember that in the past, people risked their lives and their reputations so that we might worship freely. Starting with St Paul and the Gentiles in the early Christian church and going on through the Inquisition and the Reformation, the way has been prepared for us by courageous Christian ancestors. In our time, some of us in our turn have helped to prepare the way for generations of women priests yet to come. And many in the Christian Church today are fighting different battles in order to prepare the way for those called to be God's children. The current battle is over gay and lesbian Christians, especially gay and lesbian priests. Whatever you may think on the issue, look at the way those who passionately believe in the cause lay their own lives and reputations on the line in order to prepare the way for those who are to come. This is a real witness to Christ.
Perhaps one of our prime tasks as Christians is to prepare the way for others. And perhaps we might never know quite what way we're preparing, or quite who we're preparing it for. Perhaps we're not even conscious of preparing the way. But all our actions and our very quality of being affects the way things are. The presence in this world of every single one of us has repercussions, and as Christians we need to make sure that the repercussions we cause are good and are making the way smooth for those who come after us.
Even Jesus needed a herald to prepare the way for him, and we have certainly needed people to prepare the way for us. Now it's our turn to make things as ready as we can for future generations. We can do that by daring to stand up for what we believe in, by holding fast to the faith and by pushing forward the frontiers of Christian knowledge and Christian belief. It may be that a golden calf or two of dearly held and traditional belief is torn down in the process and that will be painful, but if we're ever to reach anything approaching ultimate truth we need to continue to question our beliefs and traditions. People who stop questioning tend to drift away from the truth because they tend to hang on to human structures rather than on to Christ.
So this Advent, as we prepare for the coming of God into humanity at Christmas, let's also follow the example of the Old Testament and prepare the way for those unseen Christians who will come after us.
