Free to choose service

 

A Sermon preached on Sunday July 5 (Proper 9, Year A, Track II) at St. Augustine’s, WI

Hosea 5:15-6:6, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

I seem to be preaching a lot about sin at the moment. Just a month ago, at our last baptism, I asked the question “Are we all sinners and need healing?” and answered, “Yes we are, at least we all have the capacity and inclination to sin in all its varieties.” And today, after hearing Paul tell us that sin dwells within us and that we are captive to the law of sin, it is difficult not to broach that topic!

Paul is describing something that we all know and experience. Doing what is wrong, while knowing better. It might be something minor like eating too many crisps/chips or spending too much time scrolling through social media (to mention two things if which I am guilty). But it can include behaviour and choices that cause real harm to ourselves, to others, and to our relationships. We know we should forgive and not cling to grudges, but we do, even at the cost of a friendship. We want to be patient, but we lose our temper. And at a societal level we know for example very well that our behaviour and our choices are changing the climate, that we need to move away from fossil fuels, that we need to consume less, and yet we struggle to accept that knowledge and to implement the change it implies.

This is not new and Paul’s description of the associated inner struggle is not unique. In his Metamorphoses, written between 1 and 8 AD, the Roman poet Ovid wrote “I perceive what is better, but I pursue what is worse.” The Jewish sect of the Essenes, with their base in Qumran (famous for the Dead Sea Scrolls) believed that we have two spirits within us, one of truth and one of perversity – and the latter often wins out despite our knowledge of the former. Other ancient philosophies call this behaviour “an offense against wisdom” while modern psychology refers to cognitive dissonance as one manifestation. We have different coping mechanisms. We try and rationalise our choices, we deny the facts that speak against them (e.g. “there is no climate change”), when we feel guilt and shame, because our actions are morally or ethically questionable, we blame others and practice that wonderful rhetorical tactic, “Whataboutism” pointing out someone else's faults, that are far worse than mine or ours and therefore somehow excuse me from making the right choices – that applies to countries too, by the way. But that just makes things worse. For Paul sin was not an abstract concept, but a real and present power of evils. And guilt, shame, blame, denial just make that power stronger than ever before, they feed that demon!

What can we do? It is perhaps tempting to avoid having to choose at all. One of the attractions of religious and political sects and of autocratic and dictatorial governments is that they “relieve” us of that choice, by taking the decisions for us, telling us what (and who) is right and wrong …. But that does not relieve us of our responsibility for the consequences. We cannot claim innocence for the choices made on our behalf, if they are at odds with our moral compass and the tenets of our faith and if we do not actively resist them.

God created us in God’s image and with free will, with the freedom to choose. Yesterday was the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, and the idea of inherent values, especially freedom was one of the great claims of that document: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We know of course that these self-evident truths had a very limited application at the beginning, with freedom restricted to white adult male property owners, and we know that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are still not guaranteed today for every group or person. But that does not detract from the power of that historic declaration and its value as a vision and goal reaching far beyond the USA!

So, what can we do? Being made in the image of God, does not give us the power of God. Human wisdom is also not enough, if knowing better were enough, none of us would struggle and we would be living in a perfect world. We hear Paul’s agonising cry “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) and his reply “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:25) Divine Wisdom, personified in Jesus is the answer. We choose fealty, loyalty, faithfulness, and allegiance to the liberating Lord. We acknowledge that freedom is not an end in itself. Freedom comes with responsibility. In his “Treatise on Christian Liberty,” Martin Luther wrote that: "A Christian is the most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone." We are not compelled to keep God's law to obtain salvation. Jesus already saved us on the Cross. But out of love and gratitude we follow divine law, and that includes freely and willingly serving God and our neighbours.

It sounds just as contradictory and paradoxical as Jesus inviting those carrying heavy burdens to take his yoke upon them, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) How can a yoke be easy or a burden light? For one thing, it is easy and light if it is shared. Jesus invites us to share our burden with him but also to participate in sharing with others. After our Wednesday Bible Study this week, John Webster sent me a lovely reflection by the author and theologian Charles Williams, a close friend of CS Lewis, addressing what Williams calls “acts of substitution.” “To take over the grief or the fear or the anxiety of another is precisely that; and precisely that is less practised than praised. … It is in the exchange of burdens that they become light.”[1]

Jesus’ yoke is the radical redefinition of Mosaic Law he introduces in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapters 5 – 7 of Matthew’s Gospel. “Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart.” (Matthew 11:29) What can we learn? Jesus teaches and embodies love, mercy, peace, generosity, and righteousness. These should not be difficult; they should not be a burden. They only seem to be, because society celebrates strength, brash confidence, wealth, power and winning at all costs. Jesus experienced this contradiction too.

At the beginning of the Gospel passage, he laments how people reject both John the Baptist’s ascetism and teaching of the need to repent, to turn around, as well as his own joyful and inclusive celebration of God’s kingdom. And yet these are true signs of divine Wisdom.  Jesus points us toward a better way of being human. One in which we use our freedom for our own good and the good of all. In the words of our Baptismal Covenant, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourself, striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being. At the same time, it is both difficult – because counter-cultural – and easy – as most aligned with our inmost self as well as with God’s kingdom. And it certainly is possible when we support and encourage one another, when we share one another’s burdens, and most of all when we place ourselves completely in God’s hands. As Jesus says later in Matthew’s Gospel, after the encounter with the rich young man who struggles to choose service over wealth, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Amen.

 

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[1] Charles Williams, “He Came Down From Heaven” (1938)

Saint or Sinner?

A Sermon preached on Sunday June 7 (Proper 5, Year A, Track II) at St. Augustine’s, WI

Hosea 5:15-6:6, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

We are back in what the church calls Ordinary Time again, the liturgical colour is green, which we will be using from now all the way until October! Ordinary in this case does not mean conventional or normal. It comes from the Latin word ordinalis (meaning numbered or ordered) and is used as the weeks are counted in sequence, so this week is proper 5 (and the 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost). We also now return to taking our first reading from the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures again, rather than from the Acts of the Apostles as we have been doing during the Easter season. There are two different tracks, as we call them for the Old Testament readings: One is called semicontinuous as it follows major stories and themes, read mostly continuously from week to week. Even then we can’t read all of the books as the Old Testament is considerably longer than the New! The other track, the one we are using this year, is sometimes called the Gradual or Related Track because the passages chosen are directly tied or related to the Gospel for the day.

This morning, for example, God’s words in the Book of the Prophet Hosea “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) are used by Jesus (albeit with a slightly different translation) in Matthew’s Gospel when he tells the Pharisees “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) The Hebrew word translated as love or mercy is Hesed, when used in the Psalms it is traditionally translated as "loving kindness" in most English translations.

The context in which these words are used is a little different. In Hosea we hear a call to repentance. God is disappointed with God’s people and threatens to withdraw from their lives until they repent and truly seek him. However, when they do call out to him, apparently seeking healing and restoration, God doubts their sincerity. The people are very sure that God will return; God’s appearance is as sure as the dawn after the night, as certain as the spring rains after the arid winter period! And yet they see no need to change their ways, they assume they have a right to God’s protection as long as they go through the motions. Ironically in God’s response, the theme of water is picked up to express God’s lack of conviction that Israel is really seeking Him: “Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.” (Hosea 6:4) That sounds beautiful and poetic – but simply means that the prophet, speaking for God, fears their love will melt away – it is here today, gone tomorrow. It is not consistent, not steadfast, not heartfelt.

The context of Jesus’s use of the phrase is the calling of Matthew (in other gospels named Levi) as one of his disciples. Matthew is patently unsuited to be a follower of a good Jewish rabbi. He is a tax collector and therefore both a collaborator with the occupying powers and someone who usually made extra money for himself by collecting too much! Clearly this person can be classed as a sinner. How dare Jesus accept a tax collector as a disciple, how can he invite such a man, a sinner together with other outcasts to the dinner? Jesus responds to this criticism from the Pharisees by quoting from the Hosea passage. “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’”

What are they supposed to learn? On the one hand that this is how God wants us to behave; Jesus reminds them that mercy - compassion and a loving heart - matter infinitely more to God than sacrifice, empty religious rituals or strict rule-following. You may remember Episcopal Bishop Marian Budde invoking this call to mercy in her sermon at the national prayer service at Washington National Cathedral on 21 January 2025. Speaking directly to President Trump, on the day after the inauguration, she said: “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” When Jesus invited Matthew to join him and other outcasts of his society at the table this was a visible and outward sign of such love and mercy. And as it turned out, not misguided at all! Matthew became a faithful disciple and for centuries he was even identified as the author of this Gospel. Steadfast love and mercy are however not only what God desires, but also what God promises to those who believe and trust in Him. In the passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans we also heard from this morning, Paul writes at great length about God’s promise to Abraham and through him to us that depends on faith and not on rule keeping! And in the second half of the Gospel passage, we see God’s mercy in action in response to faith when Jesus heals the women with haemorrhages (who actively disobeys rules by reaching out to touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak) and brings the girl back to life. The father and the woman showed both great trust and humility.

In his response to the Pharisees Jesus adds: “For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Based on this, and often attributed to St. Augustine (of Hippo), there is a famous phrase that “The church is not a haven for saints; it is a hospital for sinners.” So, are we all sinners and need healing? Well yes we are, at least we all have the capacity and inclination to sin in all its varieties. The service of Baptism certainly assumes this tendency. One of the questions we will ask today and that Sophie’s parents and godparents will answer on her behalf is: “Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?” And then in the Baptismal Covenant, that we all renew, we have another question about sin. “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?” It assumes that many of us, if not all, will succumb to our sinful desires and reminds us that even, or rather especially then, God’s mercy is available: if we genuinely seek it and seek God!

I think Jesus is also being a little ironic when he uses the word righteous. It is the self-righteous that he did not come to call, that is those people who think or are sure they are already in the right because of who they are, their position, their nationality, their party affiliation, or even because they are rich – which is surely a sign of God’s favour? They do all the right things, while ignoring the stranger, the poor and the weak. And that is not who Jesus wants. He wants the sinners, he prefers those who know their own weaknesses, who know they can’t just rely on themselves, who know that other people need and rely on them, who offer and seek mercy, and who know that they need to turn – again and again – to what is good in the person of Jesus Christ. To quote from another prophet, Micah (6:8): “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Amen.