‘What is the greatest commandment?’ – 25th October 2020 – The Last Sunday after Trinity

Posted on October 25, 2020 by St Mary's

The Readings

1 Thessalonians 2.1-8

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

Matthew 22.34-end

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Sermon
By David, a Lay Reader in training at St Mary's.

O Lord, you have given us your word
for a light to shine upon our path.
Grant us so to meditate on that word,
and to follow its teaching,
that we may find in it the light
that shines more and more until the perfect day;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

after Jerome (420)

What is the greatest commandment?

As our Gospel passage opens Jesus is again being questioned by the Pharisees. I say “again being questioned by the Pharisees” as we heard last week how they and Herodians tried to trap Jesus with the issue of paying taxes to Caesar.

In the space between that section of Matthew’s Gospel and today’s Jesus was questioned by the Sadducees, a different group of religious teachers, on how the resurrection life will work. True to form his response astounds them to silence, referred to at the beginning of our Gospel today.

This can seem quite confrontational to us. There are forums in the modern church for rigorous debate on specific issues of doctrine and practice. I’m thinking of the church’s synods, at Deanery and Diocesan level and General Synod, its equivalent of a parliament. It takes specific circumstances for this debate to filter into parish life.

We have some experience of this at St Mary’s, often advocating for the ministry of the ordinary parish church, rooted in loving service and mission to a community. Or quietly affirming that the threefold order of bishop, priest and deacon are open to all. But it’s not something we do day in and day out.

For first century rabbis this kind of debate was much more common. There are 613 commandments in the first five books of the Old Testament, known in Judaism as the Torah. Working out how to apply them in life and how to view some of the more general, all-encompassing commandments in light of the specific, focused ones takes some thought and much debate.

So, while the Pharisees are portrayed by the Gospel writer as testing Jesus, it is part of the normal religious discourse. What sets Jesus apart in most of these arguments is that he often leaves the other side in the debate stunned and speechless. But we aren’t told that here. His response, to choose two commandments – love God and your neighbour – and make them both equal, is in fact a fairly standard interpretation of the commandments in line with Jewish thinking of the time.

What we could easily miss – we’re used to hearing them together – is that the two commandments quoted by Jesus come from different books of the Torah, Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” And Leviticus 19.18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.”

We all need to be reminded of the importance of these commandments, but for now I’m setting aside the first one and focusing on loving our neighbour as ourselves. It has echoes of the Golden Rule in Mathew 7 verse 12 “‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” A similar sentiment is found in the practice of most major religions and provides common cause between those of different faiths and no faith.

Yet it’s practice still seems to be a revolutionary concept. This takes many forms.

I once heard a sermon by the former Bishop of Sheffield, Jack Nichols, where he said the problem is that we do love others as we love ourselves and that we don’t love ourselves enough. There is a lot of truth to this. Low self esteem and other mental health conditions are prevalent and likely to become more so in the next six months as we face what is likely to be a very difficult winter. We all need to learn to love ourselves a little bit more. This will in turn overflow into love of others.

But it’s a fine balance between loving ourselves and allowing that self love to consume us. Between seeing ourselves as Jesus does, forgiven, loved and free, and becoming a slave to our own ego. Between overflowing with love for others and hoarding all our love for ourselves.

None of us, as individuals or institutions, gets this right all the time. A particularly live example is the debate around provision in the holidays of free school meals to children who normally receive them at school. As a school governor I know how much of a difference these meals make to the children, their health and wellbeing and their ability to learn.

If decision makers on this issue don’t go hungry and those they serve do, they aren’t loving their neighbour as themselves.

While the church is not immune to this failure to love our neighbour as ourself, we do have a calling to model it in our private, public and institutional life. By modelling it we will hopefully highlight where it is not present.

How do we tell this truth without descending into a holier than thou smug attitude? Our first reading from 1 Thessalonians offers us a blueprint. “but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts… we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others.”

This is our pattern, but not only ours. Marcus Rashford seems to be modelling this behaviour pretty well for us. He speaks from a place of experience on the issue and doesn’t seem to speak to please mortals. An MBE hasn’t stopped him advocating on the issue of child food poverty. He could have taken the award, the praise from mortals and stopped, but he hasn’t.

In Sheffield the City Council has decided it will fill the gap and provide food vouchers over the half term. They are not alone, other councils had already done so and more may follow, though time is running out.

All of these actions highlight how unjust the decision on extending free school meals was. But this also points us to a broader injustice within society. While anyone goes hungry and at the same time others have more than enough, we are not living up the ideal of loving our neighbour as ourselves.

The Church of England and the Worldwide Anglican communion of which it is a part adopted five marks of mission, drawn from the life of Jesus, and on which we are called to base the life and work of our churches. Number 3 is “To respond to human need by loving service” and those working to extend free school meal provision are doing exactly that. Responding to an immediate need with a swift response. A biblical example would be the feeding of the five thousand. We do a small part at St Mary’s in our support of the S6 Foodbank. But all of this is and should only ever be a sticking plaster.

The fourth mark of mission is “To transform unjust structures of society,”. This is what comes next. The immediate need is met, now we need to look at the structural problems which caused this need and address them. The danger is we never get here. We get stuck in responding to immediate need after immediate need, all of which should be addressed, but we never get to transforming the unjust structures of society.

Over the coming months many of us may have more time on our hands than we would normally. Much of our everyday activity isn’t possible, or is at least restricted. We can use this time to pray, to reflect on and respond to the immediate needs we see around us. But also how we might may our society more just. In doing so we will inch ever more closely to loving our neighbour as ourselves.

O Divine Master,
grant that we may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

a Franciscan prayer

The Prayers
Prepared by David, adapted from Common Worship.

Gracious God, fountain of all wisdom,
we pray for all people;
for Pete and Sophie our bishops,
and for all who teach and guard the faith.
May the word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts,
and knit us together in the bond of your love.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.

We pray for the leaders of nations,
and for those in authority under them.
Give them the gift of your wisdom,
and a right discernment in all things.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.

We pray for this community of Walkley,
for those who live, work and visit here,
and for all who seek the common good.
Speak your word of peace in our midst,
and help us to serve one another as Christ has served us.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.

We pray for those who do not believe,
and for those of hesitant belief.
Open their ears to hear your voice,
and open their hearts to receive you, the very Word of life.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.

We pray for those bowed down with grief, fear or sickness.
May Christ your living Word bring them comfort and healing.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.

We give thanks for all who have died in the faith of Christ,
and we rejoice with Mary and all your saints,
trusting in the promise of your word fulfilled.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.

Merciful Father,
accept these prayers,
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Common Worship: Times and Seasons, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2006 and published by Church House Publishing.

‘Render unto Caesar’ – 18th October 2020 – 19th Sunday after Trinity

Posted on October 18, 2020October 17, 2020 by St Mary's

The Readings

1 Thessalonians 1.1-10

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

Matthew 22.15-22

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Scripture Quotations are taken from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Sermon
by David, Reader-in-training at St. Mary's

The question raised by Jesus in our Gospel passage today is one worth considering. It’s not something many of us often think about, and it has the capacity to divide as well as unite us. We shouldn’t avoid it because of this.
How should we, as Christians, relate to secular authorities?

The passage opens with the Pharisees, religious teachers, sending followers to test Jesus. With them come the Herodians, followers of King Herod, the local ruler who governs with the occupying Roman Empire’s permission.
They begin with flattery, hoping to feed Jesus’ ego and catch him off guard. Then the question to trap him. Here is the moment of danger:
“Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

Why is this dangerous for Jesus?

If he says it is not lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor then the Herodians, whose master owes his position to the Romans, will label him as subversive, seditious and a threat to Roman authority. More than enough for his arrest and execution.

If he says it is lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor, then his disciples and the crowds gathered around him will feel betrayed by his apparent acceptance of the occupying Roman force.
It’s a no-win situation.

Jesus, aware of their intent to trap him, turns the question back upon them.
“Show me the coin used for the tax.” forcing them to handle the Roman coin used for the census tax. It would likely have had the image of the emperor Tiberius and carried the inscription “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” A problem for devout Jews who viewed the Emperor’s claims of divinity, and his image, as blasphemous. A problem also for Jesus, the actual son of God.

Jesus then questions them about the coin: “Whose head is this, and whose title?” getting the obvious response: “The Emperor’s”.

The climax of the story follows with Jesus declaring: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” He leaves the Herodians and Pharisees shocked and speechless.
Jesus appears to be separating some things as belonging to God, and some to earthly rulers. This feels like it goes against our understanding that everything we have comes from God, and we offer back to him. See 1 Chronicles 29.14 “For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you”.

It can appear as if Jesus is setting up two equal and different authorities here, Caesar and God, and that we are called to give to both with equal weight.

But the context is important.

The Jewish people were not minting coins during Jesus’ lifetime; all currency used was Roman or Greek. During Jewish rebellions against the Romans between AD 66-73 and again between AD 132 and 135 they did begin to mint their own coinage. It seems odd this was a high priority when defending against the Roman army.
It highlights how much a symbol of occupation and oppression these coins were. Which helps us see that in Jesus’ eyes these coins did not come from God, but earthly rulers.

Giving the blasphemous coins back to the Romans as tax wasn’t giving away something that was God’s. The Jewish people could, and can, follow the rules and expectations of secular rulers and society without breaking their covenant with the living God. The Emperor could have their money, but not their allegiance. The people belonged to God, not to Caesar.

How does this impact our interaction with secular rulers and authorities?

If we belong to God, then we should offer to God the first fruits of our labours, rather than what we have left over.
I’ve often wondered why the Church of England’s teaching on giving, 5% to the church and 5% to other charities, is based around gross income, the money we are paid before taxes, national insurance and pension contributions are taken off. It always seemed a bit unfair, particularly for those on lower incomes. Surely using the net value, what is left once the contributions to the state are paid, would be more just? Here is an answer: we are called to give to God from all that we are given, regardless of any given to the modern-day Caesar.

This could equally apply to our time as our money. How often do we give God the time when we are tired, at the end of a long day?

Neither of these points are supposed to add to the burdens of those who are poor in time or money, especially as time and money offered to God can take many different forms, and doesn’t always take place through the church.
How then should we, as Christians, relate to the secular authorities?

At the heart of this question is one of citizenship.

Theresa May uttered in 2016: “if you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere”. This felt odd when I heard it, particularly from someone who professes the Christian faith. It fails to knowledge people often feel ties of citizenship to multiple places. We might be citizens of Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, the UK, as well as the world.

But for Christians this goes one stage further, Paul reminds us in Philippians 3.20 “our citizenship is in heaven” and Jesus at his trial tells Pilate “My kingdom is not from this world”.

This is not to advocate a complete rejection of secular authority. HMRC, if you’re watching, I’m not telling people to evade paying tax. But we must remember that our primary allegiance is to God and our citizenship is of his kingdom.
The practical outwork of this will mean potentially coming into conflict with secular authorities over issues where our faith tells us one thing, and secular authority another. An example of this includes the Conscientious Objectors, many of whom refused compulsory military service in the First World War on the grounds of Christian pacifism and were subsequently jailed, being treated appallingly. Or more recently the members of Christian Climate Action, associated with Extinction Rebellion, engaging in civil disobedience to highlight the damage done to God’s creation, who also face criminal charges for ultimately telling truth to power.

Whether we agree with their methods or not, one has to admire their faith and recognise that their primary allegiance is to God and his kingdom. How would we react when faced with such a difficult choice?

May we set the example of Jesus, and those who have followed him with faith before us when we are similarly tested.

Let us pray:
Now to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
be ascribed as is most justly due,
all might, majesty, dominion and power,
now and for evermore. Amen.

The Prayers
prepared by Joe

With thankful hearts we bring our prayers to our heavenly Father.

We pray for the Church of Christ, for Bishop Pete and Canon Sophie, all here who lead us in worship and prayer, and all those whose time and talents are given to St Mary’s. On this day when we recall the life and work of Luke the Evangelist, we pray that the Gospel continues to be preached truthfully and widely, and that in these difficult times we find new ways to spread God’s word.