St. James and Works: a Sacrament of Faith?

I still remember as a teenager first coming across St. James’ rather cranky assertion that faith without works is dead and wrestled with that.  Did not St. Paul write that faith is what saves and that “not a result from works”?  (My understanding is a bit more exact and adamant now that God saves “by grace through faith.” Eph. 2:8, 9)

It took me a while to digest St. James.  Calvin’s dictum that faith alone saves but faith that saves is not alone was helpful.

But it was not until this week that I came across another enlightening take of St. James from Dr. Benjamin Bernier of Providence Reformed Episcopal Church, Corpus Christi:

James tells us that Faith without works is dead. Faith and works, theory and practice, the sacred and the profane, are not separate spheres as it is commonly presumed. They relate to each other as the body to the spirit, in such an intrinsic way that we may characterize their relationship as sacramental.

As we know from our catechism and The Offices of Instruction, a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward invisible grace.

So, I would like to propose to you that the relationship between faith and works is sacramental in nature.

Works are the outward and visible expression of an inner, invisible body of belief, which defines both the inner character of our souls and the profile of our whole lives.

Accordingly, faith and works are inseparable. They are like the fruit to the tree, different aspects of the same thing, the truth, and the love of God in faith and practice.

It had not occurred to me before that good works are a sacrament of faith.  But it makes sense.  And we know from St. Paul that faith is the gift of God. (Eph. 2:8)  Perhaps works out of true faith, like the traditional sacraments, are also gifts of God and manifestations of invisible Truth.  At least that is food for thought on this Eve of the Feast of St. James, the brother of our Lord and the likely author of that difficult Epistle.

And on this Feast of St. James, may God bless you both with faith and with good works flowing out of your faith, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

By the way, the rest of Fr. Benjamin’s sermon may be found here and on YouTube.

The Good Samaritan Revisited

I have a confession to make.  There are a few Bible passages that come up in worship and teaching often and prompt me to think with a tedious sigh, “Oh.  That passage again.”  Yes, that response is sinful and disgusting.  And the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is the Gospel for the 13^th Sunday after Trinity, has been one of those passages.

But I am glad to say the Lord and two excellent sermons on this parable disabused me of that putrid attitude.  First my Rector used the occasion to preach against false notions of social justice prevalent today.  I am encouraged by this and other signs of push back in ACNA.  He also noted that the inn symbolizes the church, something I had either forgotten or missed.

Then I read Sunday’s sermon at Pusey House from the Principal, George Westhaver.  I found it a delight, full of history and interpretation that is new to me.  The significance of traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, the connection between the Gospel and Epistle lessons for Trinity 13, interpretations of the two denarii – these are among the new (or forgotten) things the sermon taught me.  And, yes, the Principal’s thankfulness for the lawyer’s question also made me smile.

Need I say more?  Read his sermon! (It can also be found at the Pusey House site.  Be aware that his sermons are prepared for delivery more than for reading.  There may be an occasion abbreviation or typo.)

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TRINITY 13 2020, The Good Samaritan Jesus Christ, Pusey House

Now which of these three was neighbour….

 

The hero of the Gospel story is obviously the Samaritan who cares for the injured man. But the Samaritan is not the only one for whom we may be grateful, we may also be grateful to the lawyer and his questions. People have many jokes about lawyers, but here lawyer is a kind of hero also. Who is my neighbour? The Lawyer’s questions alert us to an important challenge. How do I recognize my neighbour, know the call to love? We’ll look at the answer in a moment, but notice – both the lawyers questions were asked in part for bad reasons. We are told that lawyer wanted to tempt Christ, and that’s what the devil did. And then, we are told that he wanted to justify himself, which is what the Pharisee from Gospel a few weeks ago did, and we know that this is dangerous also. But, in the mercy of God, even these bad motives are turned to good. Thank God for the lawyer, not only for the good in his question, but also for the way the Lord Jesus turns bad to good, death to life. We pray or we ask questions of God for many reasons, and sometimes, with bad and good mixed up in or hopes and in our motives. Yet, if we take questions to Christ, if we persevere in our desiring and asking, we have a good hope that even our confused motives will be turned to good. I may pray for peace of mind, and don’t get it. And then, I am given grace to see that I don’t know the things which belong to my peace, then I see that the Lord is calling me to change so that he can give His peace.^[1]

Some of you will have heard me speak about how his parable is presented in the stained glass of Chartres cathedral. When great Gothic cathedrals were built, filled with stained glass. In golden age of late 12^th and early 13^th, when glass of Chartres and Canterbury was made, most of these cathedrals had a Good Samaritan window. 

The Good Samaritan window is the paradigmatic window of the classic age of stained  glass--why? 

On the one hand, the message of the parable is clear and straightforward. The one who is neighbour to the injured man is an outsider. The Jews looked at the Samaritans with hostility and distrust, and with some good reason. The parable teaches us to see in the outsider our neighbour, one stamped also with the image of God. We are warned about the forms of prejudice or hostility that lead us to deny the common humanity which we share with those different from us. This is of course true, but when the parable was preached on in the ancient Church, most commentators did not begin here. In the Gospels, Jesus is sometimes called a Samaritan, a term of abuse. When we ask who is neighbour to the man in need, the answer the early commentators on this passage gave first was Jesus. They saw in the parable a description the human need, and a description of the fulfilment of the promise in Christ.

 

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. 

This is not just any journey. This is a journey from the city of promise, to the city of the curse. Jericho was a cursed place in the OT. It was a favourite retreat of Herod the Tetrach, who killed John the Baptist, and Jericho was near the traditional site of the Temptation of our Lord. The route from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious as being infested by thieves, a dangerous route. Why would anyone want to leave Jerusalem, the place of the temple, the city of promise, to the city of the curse? If that sounds like a strange question, why would any one of us not chose things which belong to our peace? Well, it’s not so easy is it? We get confused, envy seems like justice, lust seems like love, idolatry seems like enlightened free choice, and even hatred can even dress itself up as hurt feelings. 

We can find ourselves on the way to Jericho almost before we realize it. We may feel trapped, chained. The very things we hate about ourselves come out, again, the very things we confessed and desperately wanted to get rid of, again we find ourselves on the road to Jericho. Sometimes, we don’t think that we’ll go all the way to Jericho, but we can’t stay cooped up in a city of peace, joy, and faith all the time, can we? That wouldn’t be human, or it doesn’t seem that way anyway. This journey describes humankind which fell away from God, and each one of us choosing the wrong thing, finding ourselves, somehow, on the road to Jericho again. This certain man is Adam, every man, and us. When we make that journey, we always fall among thieves. Sometimes we convince ourselves that it won’t work out that way. But, when we give ourselves to hatred, or divisive anger, or contempt, we always loose something of ourselves: the thieves stripped [the man] of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. This is a picture of the life-sapping character of sin, of all choices against the love and wisdom of God. 

 

Next we come to the part of the story where we are most tempted to self-righteousness. 

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite,

On a human level, of course the priest and levite, the religious experts, should stop. We may feel convicted here, and see how we have done the same thing. Ironically, this is a problem more of those who are really trying to live well. The trouble is that our efforts to do the right thing can lead to a certain contempt for those who are in trouble. 

But there is also a deeper truth here. The priest and Levite aren't heartless, they’re just not capable of helping the man. They are the law and the prophets. They can see the man in the ditch, they can see that he has fallen among thieves, they can see that he needs help, but they are not the Saviour. This old interpretation explains what might seem like an odd choice for the Epistle. The Epistle describes the relation of promise and law, what the law can give, and what the Christ will do. St Paul says that the law was a kind of schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. At the same time, it’s not enough  to be given a law, or a code of practice. The law needs to enlivened by the Spirit, by the goodness which the prophets embraced and preached: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law.

The priest and the Levites are the Law which reveals why it is a bad idea to go to Jericho, but a law which cannot heal the deep wounds which we get on the way there, they cannot give life to the dead or the half-dead.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him

The Good Samaritan is the one who is the perfect neighbour to the man in need, or, to speak more generally, the perfect neighbour to humankind in need. According to the early interpreters of the Bible, Augustine, Origen, Ambrose, for example, this Samaritan is Jesus Christ. The Good Samaritan is the one who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and took the road of this present life. He is the seed of Abraham in whom the law and the promise is fulfilled. In the words of Pusey’s mentor and confessor, John Keble, out of love for us, "He made Himself a Samaritan, one who was despised and an outcast of the people."^[2] Christ took the road from Jerusalem to Jericho to be our fellow-traveller, and he falls among thieves for us. In the great Good Samaritan window in Chartres, the certain man gives his back to the smiters, he opens not his mouth, the thieves are like the vicious soldiers in a passion painting, all the while the cross-shaped tree waits for the noble weight of the limbs of the Son of God. 

The Good Samaritan, Jesus Christ does not pass by. He falls among thieves for us, but the viciousness of this un-love has no power over him. He rises from the dead to come to look for us, wounded, and half-dead (note well – only half dead). He pours in wine: this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. The good Samaritan does not pass by, he finds each one of us, "binds up our wounds, pouring in oil and wine, healing our past sins and giving us grace".^[3]

What happens next? 

The Samaritan puts the man ‘on his beast’.

In the tradition, this beast is the human nature which the Son of God takes on. Human nature had become beast-like, but the Word becomes flesh, and then carries us with this flesh.

Another interpretation is that this beast is, you know this of course, this beast is the clergy.^[4] By the grace of God, our Lord can use the most stubborn animal to serve his purposes of love, even the clergy. 

The fathers heard the inn as a description of the Church. In the two denarii they saw the treasure of the Gospel, the Old and New Testaments, the two great sacraments, baptism, and HC. Our Lord departs, but it is his treasure, his Word, the sacraments of His life, which sustain us. 

This is, of course, a very brief tour of a very rich parable, rich with the treasure of the Gospel.

Which now is neighbour to him that fell among thieves? First, it is Christ. We are blessed to see the love of God which searches out the man in the parable, but which searches out each one of us on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is his love in us which sends us out to love and to serve. 

Who is the Good Samaritan? This is tricky. 

In a phrase worthy of Stalin, Roger Hallam, one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion, was heard telling his followers that 'the people that run society, run big business, run governments, run the elites' are fully responsible for the 'climate catastrophe'. The solution? MPs and business owners who do not support his understanding of caring for the environment 'should have bullet put through their heads'. Hallam presents his work as saving humanity. That sounds like work of Good Samaritan. But his words reveal something more dangerous and dark, a hatred of at least some of the people he wants to save. 

Some of the conversations about race in recent months show the other problems. Martin Luther King and so many of the great champions of racial equality saw this promise as an expression of the Gospel, of the equal but different dignity bestowed on every person made in the image of God, created to love and to enjoy God’s goodness. On the one hand, we are invited to renew this search for the dignity which God intends. On the other hand, some use language which suggests that some have more dignity than others, language which encourages resentment and division, which condemns the past but shows a great blindness with regard to the present. 

We are living through strange political times, and we need the probing questions of the lawyer in the parable, who is my neighbour, and above all the grace and wisdom of GS JC, a love which conquers hatred and death, and which turns the bad in our mixed motives, to the good wine of his grace. Whatever enables us to see one another, to really see, through eyes of GS JC, this comes first. Then, raised up and enabled to see, with ears unblocked and tongue loosed by the grace of God, then  we can, with the lawyer in the parable, Go and do likewise. 

Let us come to have our wounds bound up, to have grace poured in, to have our eyes open, and to see and love one another in the inn to which the Saviour takes us. 

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[1] Sometimes, if we get exactly what we pray for, it would be like our heavenly father giving us a stone when we need bread. That change is part of how the lawyer’s mixed motives are turned to good, for him and for us. Ask for something, we get something different, important not to go on as if there is no mercy of God, no goodness of God in the different answer, or, from the reading this past week, maybe the struggle is where we find God’s strength in our weakness. Both too simplistic, perhaps. Finding God’s mercy and God’s wisdom in the answer we didn’t want to get is important, key to learning to grow up in our life of prayer. 

[2] Keble Sermons, Trinity XIII-end, p. 22.

[3] Keble.

[4] Thanks to Fr Jonathan Beswick for this.

Sermon for Presentation of Christ in the Temple - "We Are All Jews"

If today, February 2^nd, 2020, you were to ask someone, “What day is it?”, he or she would likely answer, “Sunday.” And of course it is. If someone is alert to it being February 2^nd, he might answer, “It’s Groundhog Day.”  If he enjoyed numbers, he might note that it’s 2-2-2020.  Or if that person is a football fan, the answer for February 2^ndthis year is, of course, “it’s Super Bowl Sunday.”

Those are all correct answers.  And Super Bowl Sunday is certainly a feast day in the secular American calendar.  But for some reason, it is not to be found in the Book of Common Prayer. 

Instead the Book of Common Prayer has today as the day of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.  And so it has been in the church since the 6^thor 7^thcentury if not before.  In times past, this was a major feast day especially in the medieval Western church.  The custom of blessing and distributing candles and then processing with the lit candles became especially popular in the medieval church to the point that Candlemas became a common name for this day.  Some more high church congregations still break out the candles today as did my Oxford home away from home, Pusey House, this morning.  

So today many are still observing the Presentation with enthusiasm. But it is safe to say that it is not as well observed or as well known today as in times past.  Even for some in this pious congregation, to hear that today is a holy day called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple might be a surprise. 

So what is today about?  Well, if we were having Holy Communion, the Gospel would be from Luke 2:22-40.  That passage tells us all about the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple, so let’s turn there.  (And if you don’t have a Bible handy, you can find this passage in our Book of Common Prayer on page 250.)

And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to presenthimto the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. (v. 22-24)

We see here Mary and Joseph, with the baby Jesus, obeying the Mosaic Law in two ways.  First, forty days after the birth of a son, the mother is to become ritually pure by the sacrifice of a lamb or of two doves. For this reason, today is often called the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The option of two doves is a concession in the Law for those too poor to afford a lamb.

Mary and Joseph could not afford a lamb so they offered two doves. But, although they probably did not know it, Mary and Joseph werepresenting a lamb; they were presenting Jesus the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. 

By the way, it is interesting how so much of the Mosaic Law, the Torah, is a foreshadowing of what God was going to do through Jesus Christ.  This is only one such case.  The Law designating a lamb to be presented for sacrifice 40 days after the birth of a son foreshadows Jesus, the Lamb of God, being presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth. 

The second requirement of the Law observed here is that every first born son was to be offered to God.  BUT remember that the Lord does not like human sacrifice.  So the first born was to be presented then redeemed by making a monetary offering. (Numbers 18: 15, 16)

Note the humility of the Holy Family.  Mary knew that her birth was different, a virgin birth by the operation of the Holy Spirit just as it had been announced to her by the angel.  And unlike other children, Jesus was not a sinner.  So there was hardly any need for purification.  But they complied with the Law anyway.

As for Jesus being presented to God, how do you present God to God? But in this and in any number of ways, Jesus and his parents complied with the Mosaic Law.  Remember that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.

Up to now, if one had been there, Jesus and his parents probably seemed like any other family of modest means fulfilling their religious duties in the Temple.  But then something very different happens.

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose namewasSimeon; and the same manwasjust and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

If these words seem familiar, it is because this is the Nunc Dimittis which we sing at Evening Prayer.  Simeon proclaimed Jesus as the Salvation of God and as the Light of the World, and we do so also.  In this significant way, we remember the Presentation of Christ in the Temple every time we do Evening Prayer. 

Continuing…

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, thischildis set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And shewasa widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but servedGodwith fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

St. Paul, while making a defense for the Faith before King Agrippa, said these things have “not been done in a corner.” (Acts 26:26) He was referring mainly to the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ.  But the same could be said about the birth of Christ.

Not only did angels proclaim his birth to shepherds, and the shepherds passed on that proclamation.  A star proclaimed him in the East.  Magi came from the East and proclaimed his birth in the courts of Jerusalem. And now as the baby Jesus is presented in the crowded Temple, two prophets, Simeon and Anna, greet him and proclaim him also. 

By the way, do you notice echoes of Christmas in the Presentation of Christ in the Temple?  You have a baby Jesus.  You have Mary and Joseph. You have the theme of light. Remember Simeon proclaimed him a light to the Gentiles in the Nunc Dimittis. In Christmas, in Epiphany, and in the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, you have people of all sorts, Jews and Gentiles, shepherds and magi and prophets coming seemingly out of nowhere saying, “It’s Him! It’s the newborn Savior! It’s the newborn King of the Jews! It is Christ the Lord!” 

It’s no wonder that for some, Christmastide does not end until today, forty days after Christmas, on the Feast of the Presentation of Christ.

And you think I am bad about prolonging Christmas!  I will have you know I took my Christmas tree down only two weeks after Epiphany.

But echoes of Christmas do continue into the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and really throughout the church year.

The passage on the Presentation of Christ concludes:

And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

And this prompts me to make two very practical and somewhat difficult applications of the Presentation of Christ.  This is such a rich episode and passage – so much could be said!  And kick-off isn’t until after 5! But I will be merciful and confine myself to two matters.

First, note that Jesus, though unique and sinless and divine, Jesus grew. Jesus matured.  And his growth into maturity was a process.  Luke makes this point again at the end of the next passage about Jesus returning to the Temple at age 12:

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.  And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Luke emphasized biographical detail more than the other Gospel writers.  And there surely was curiosity around about the childhood and youth of Jesus. There certainly was later on when a so-called Gospel of Thomas came out.  Of course, it was neither a Gospel nor written by St. Thomas. But it supposedly has episodes from the childhood of Jesus.  And in it, Jesus is something of an obnoxious Superboy; whose super powers were causing such problems that neighbors pleaded with Joseph and Mary to take Jesus and move away.

Luke lets us know it was not like that.

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

In other words, Jesus was a good neighbor. Neighbors were glad to have him around.

And as unique and perfect as Jesus was, his growth was a process. He grew; he increased in wisdom and in stature.  He was not Superbaby or Superboy.  Not only that, remember Jesus did not begin his public ministry until he was about age 30.  Now if anyone was ever entitled to take shortcuts to maturity, it was Jesus Christ.  Yet he did not.

If God saw it as necessary for Jesus to growinto godly maturity, how much more is that the case for us!  To become godly men and women of God is a process.  That process is part of sanctification.  And just as physical growth and health is an everyday process, so it is with sanctification.  It’s much more than just one morning a week for us – and  for our children.

A whole series of sermons could be preached on this process of sanctification, of growth into Christian maturity.  So I will confine myself to pointing you to an excellent passage on raising children, Deuteronomy 6: 6, 7.  This is the Lord speaking:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Raising and teaching children into Christian maturity is an everyday process.  And so is tending to our own learning and Christian growth.

At this point, I want to speak especially to the youth and young adults here this morning.  So if you were up too late last night, wake up and listen up!

You might think that teaching children is a parent’s responsibility, and you’re right; it is.  But teaching children is also your opportunity.  Children really look up to older youth and young adults like you.  They watch you, and they listen to you.  And as I see often in this congregation, they love you and want to be with you.

What an opportunity to teach these children that so look up to you!  And I’m not saying you have to have an organized Bible study with them – although that might be a good idea.  But use everyday life and everyday opportunities to teach them from God’s word both in what you say and in what you do.

But guess what is necessary to teach God’s word to the next generation.  Youneed to learn God’s word.  You need to read and study the Bible just about every day. We study the Bible, not just for our own benefit and growth – although that is certainly important: we read and study the Bible so we can teach the next generations.

So let us not be lazy about this, especially you men.  I say this because I’ve been around long enough to see that men are worse about spiritual laziness than women are. That may be sexist for me to say that, but I don’t care; I’m right.  And when men are lazy that way it does great harm to the generations that come after them.  So I plead with you men, young and old, fathers and future fathers, big brothers, uncles and older friends, do not do that to the next generations.  Don’t drop the ball!  

Yes, I have to remind myself of that as well.

So this is a vital way we all need to be more like Jesus -- to learn from scripture and to grow into Christian faithfulness and maturity as an everyday process, not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others, especially for the benefit of the next generations.

The second point I want us to note – and forgive me for stating the obvious – Jesus and his parents were Jews.  And they were observant Jews, “perform[ing] all things according to the law of the Lord.”  Sometimes it is easy to miss the obvious, but let’s not miss that Jesus was Jewish.  And because of the Incarnation, he remains Jewish.  When Jesus ascended to the Father, his humanity was glorified but it was not wiped away. Instead he took his humanity, our humanity, into the presence of the Father to be our Intercessor.  And that humanity includes his Jewishness.

And beyond that, all of the Old Testament and most of the New Testament was written by Jews.

So, friends, there is no place for anti-semitism among God’s people.  Again, forgive me for stating the obvious, but it has to be said given the resurgence of anti-semitism in the West – there is no place for anti-semitism among God’s people or in a decent society.  Given the Jewishness of Jesus, to be anti-semitic is really to be anti-God.

A year ago, I stood before you and expressed my concern about the resurgence of anti-semitism in the West.  In the year since then there have been some encouraging developments and some discouraging ones.  If I may venture into British politics, I am encouraged that one factor behind the results in the recent General Election is that many rejected the anti-semitism that has been running rampant in one of the two major parties there. To their credit, even many longtime supporters of that party voted differently this time in part because they were rejecting anti-semitism.  There has to be a political cost to politicians who coddle anti-semitism, and I am glad that was the case in the U K General Election. And they have set forth a good example for us here in the United States. 

But a few weeks after that, in New York City, there was a rash of violent attacks on Jews during Hanukkah.  And the response of authorities there was often to let the attackers go right back out on the streets.

As I said a year ago, it is beyond sad that we in the United States and Europe still have not adequately learned the lessons of the past.

Instead, let us remember and be like Roddie Edmonds.  The following is from a Fox News story in December 2015:

It was January, 1945 and Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds had a gun to his head.

The commandant of the Stalag IXA POW Camp near Ziegenhain, Germany, ordered Edmonds, of the 422nd Infantry Regiment, to turn over the Jewish-American soldiers under his command. Edmonds and his men – Jews and non-Jews alike – stood together in formation.

"They cannot all be Jews," the German said, looking over the more than 1,000 POWs.

"We are all Jews," Edmonds responded.

"I will shoot you," the commandant warned.

But Edmonds had his own warning: "According to the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes."

The commandant stood down.

Those four words uttered by Edmonds echo 70 years later, as a testament to the solidarity he and his men showed to their Jewish brothers in arms. And because of that, Edmonds’ name will be etched in history when he becomes the first American soldier to receive the Yad Vashem Holocaust and Research Center’s Righteous Among the Nations recognition and medal.

Only four other American civilians have received the honor – Israel’s highest for [Gentiles] who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II.

Edmonds saved an estimated 200 Jewish soldiers, whose chances of survival if turned over to the Nazis were slim.

Instead of cooperating with Nazi anti-semitism, Roddie Edmonds stood his ground and said, “We are all Jews.”

Let us follow his good example and stand our ground against anti-semitism.

And in all of life let us follow the example of Jesus Himself, who with perseverance and patience, by God’s Holy Word and by the Holy Spirit, grew every day into godly maturity and faithfulness.  May we all, young and old, do likewise by his ever present help for His glory, for our sake and for the sake of the next generations. 

Amen.

Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Henry Parry Liddon and the Political Sermon that Wasn’t

I’ve just completed readingThe Life and Letters of Henry Parry Liddon by John O. Johnson. Before reading it, about all I knew about Liddon is he was a friend of Dr. Pusey and wrote his biography.

So I was deeply impressed and moved to read of Liddon himself.  What a godly and dedicated man!  His example moved me to reexamine what I am doing with my life.  And he was gifted man as well.  He was recognized as one of the best preachers in England, and his sermons often packed out large churches.  Yet he was modest and self-critical.  And he turned down a bishop’s mitre a number of times.

Liddon was involved in the politics of the day, especially as they touched the Church of England.  He and Gladstone were good friends.  Yet he rarely discussed politics during his sermons.

In Life and Letters, there is a diary entry from Liddon that reflects this wisdom as well as his English humor (and which follows up yesterday’s post well.):

December 3^rd[1876] – A large number of people came to St. Paul’s this afternoon expecting a political sermon.  I disappointed them.

Would all Christian leaders so “disappointed”.

The Gospel and Culture: Paul in Athens and Corinth

At my church we’ve been slowly going through 1 Corinthians in Sunday School.  And on my own time I have been reading, listening and thinking about the divisions among evangelicals and among Anglicans on issues concerning social justice – and on how The Evangelical Church of What’s Happening Now (TECoWHaN) is handling said issues poorly.  So when we got to 1 Corinthians 1:17, I saw that it might have some application to these issues.  Writing to Greeks, who greatly valued philosophy and wisdom, Paul wrote, “For Christ [sent me] to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”  And he went on to more or less repeat his commitment to this approach and explained why he took it.  We shall attempt to return to that in due time.

As I was reflecting, it occurred to me that his activity and address in Athens, found in Acts 17:16-34, also reveals much about Paul’s approach to preaching the gospel in the Greek culture.  Even better, the passage shows him in action.  He at first glance appears more sympathetic to Greek culture with its emphasis on philosophical wisdom than he appears in his first letter to Corinth.  But a closer examination reveals a consistent approach that gives important principles in preaching and ministering to a non-Christian (or post-Christian) culture.

We could begin our examination in either city, but since Paul visited Athens first, let’s start there.

While in Athens, “his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16) Paul made himself aware of the cultural landscape of Athens.  But he did not allow it unduly to shape his Christian worldview (as TECoWHaN is so prone to do).  Instead his Christian worldview shaped his response.  Part of that response was to see the idolatry of Athenian culture as wrong and offensive.

St. Paul was no multiculturalist.

But his further response was not to withdraw from the culture but to engage it.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.  And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” (17:17-19)

Paul learned enough about Greek culture not just to oppose it but to engage it and to do so in such a winsome way that the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were among those who wanted to converse with him.  Paul made his listeners want to hear more. But note that although he spoke to Athenian culture, he did not conform to it.  His gospel message was still “strange” to them.  And it continued strange to them as we shall see.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.(17: 22, 23)

Paul began with common ground in order to gain further the openness and interest of his listeners.  But then he immediately pointed out areas relevant to the Gospel where the prevailing culture was mistaken.  He told them God was not who they thought He was.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (17: 24, 25)

In other words, God is not needy like pagan gods.  Today, Paul might have pointed out that God is not a social justice warrior revolutionary, nor a flag-waving super-patriot. God is not of man’s making; nor does he conform to cultural whims.

Paul then again utilizes common ground followed by again criticizing the prevailing culture’s views about God.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for [And now he quotes two Greek poets, the first likely Epimenides of Crete, the second Aratus.]

          “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

 as even some of your own poets have said,

          “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.(17:26-29_

And now Paul proclaims that man and his culture must get in line with the truth of God, the Gospel, and notthe other way around.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”(17:30-31)

And on this Gospel, St. Paul will not compromise.  But there is a problem.  For reasons I will not get into here, the resurrection of the dead struck the Greek mindset as absurd and not something for which to hope. (And the same could be said for much of increasingly secular Western culture today.)  Paul, a learned man, surely knew this.  But he did not back down. He communicated to Greek culture as winsomely as he could, but he would not compromise the truth of God to please anyone.

Therefore he got a mixed response which brought his discourse to an end.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (17:32-34)

God brought fruit out of the faithful preaching of His truth even if it did clash with the prevailing culture.

And thus we should not follow the chameleon ways of The Church of What’s Happening Now, but follow the godly example of St. Paul.  We should become aware of the culture around us.  We should communicate and relate to it as best we can.  

But we should not compromise God’s truth.  We do not allow the culture to erode or twist our faithful holding to the truth and our communication of it.  We communicate the truth of God clearly and call men of whatever culture to get in line with it.  And if the culture doesn’t like it, then the culture doesn’t like it.  Jesus is Lord, not any culture of man.  We do not compromise or twist the truth of Jesus.  

Yes, that may result in unpleasantness.  Remember all the Apostles, save St. John, were martyred. But nonetheless the Gospel of Christ is to be preached to all cultures; it is to appease none of them.

30 Pieces of Cereal

Rumors that in this past Sunday’s sermon I said “thirty pieces of cereal” instead of “thirty pieces of silver” are salacious and impertinent.

I will not even dignify such calumny with a denial.

The Gospel According to Isaiah, a sermon for Trinity 5

The Gospel According to Isaiah

Trinity 5, July 21^st, 2019

Psalm 42

Joshua 24:1-5, 13-25

Acts 8:26-end

My sermon title this morning may be causing some raised eyebrows.  If I were really naughty, I would ask you to turn to the Gospel According to Isaiah.  You may find it between the Book of Hezekiah and 3^rd Philipians. But, of course, there is no book in the Bible called The Gospel According to Isaiah.  But is there a Gospel according to Isaiah?  Yes, there is.

Isaiah, perhaps more than any other Old Testament prophet, set forth the good news of what God was doing to do through Jesus Christ, and that over 600 years before Jesus walked the Earth.  This is why when we get into the Advent and Christmas seasons, so many of our readings are from Isaiah.  And Handel’s great work The Messiahquotes Isaiah several times. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was very much proclaimed centuries before by the prophet Isaiah.

So it was God’s providence that when St. Philip came to the chariot of that Ethiopian court official, as told in Acts 8, he found him to be reading from Isaiah, from the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah 53 to be exact.

And when the Ethiopian asked about whom Isaiah was writing, Philip began with Isaiah 53 and told him the good news about Jesus Christ.

We do not have much detail in Acts 8 of exactly what Philip said, but the Ethiopian official was convinced.  So much so that when he saw some water – and being in the desert it might have been a very small body of water – he asked, “What prevents me from being baptized?” Apparently, nothing.  For St. Philip baptized him right then and there.

Now I said that we don’t have much detail of what Philip told the official.  But we do know that he taught from Isaiah 53.  So let’s look back at that chapter and see part of what so convinced the Ethiopian.

We’ll start with verse 3:

       He was despised and rejected by men,

              a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

        and as one from whom men hide their faces

              he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jesus was certainly despised and rejected.  The religious leaders despised and rejected him.  His teaching sometimes drove away more people than it attracted. In his hometown, his teaching nearly got him thrown off a cliff!

Reading on:

       Surely he has borne our griefs

              and carried our sorrows;

        yet we esteemed him stricken,

              smitten by God, and afflicted.

       But he was pierced for our transgressions;

              he was crushed for our iniquities;

        upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

              and with his wounds we are healed.

       All we like sheep have gone astray;

              we have turned—every one—to his own way;

        and the LORD has laid on him

              the iniquity of us all.

Years ago, I read this passage to a group of bright Junior High kids.  But I was tricky.  I did not tell them from what book I was reading.  So I read and then asked them, Is this from the Old Testament or the New Testament?

The kids rightly perceived that this is the Gospel; here is taught that One would die for our sins, taking the penalty for our sins upon Himself.  So most answered that this passage is from the New Testament.

Of course, they were incorrect. Isaiah is in the Old Testament. I had managed to trick even those clever teenagers.  But in a very significant way, their thinking was right on target.  For here we see Jesus dying for our sins . . . over six hundred years before he did so. 

Even the significant detail of Jesus being “pierced for our transgressions” is here in Isaiah. On the cross, Jesus was pierced at his hands and feet.  And after he died, while still on the cross, a soldier pierced him on the side with a spear to see if we were dead.  Out of that wound came blood and water.  A whole sermon could be preached about that wound alone. But a prevalent ancient interpretation has the blood and water signifying the benefits of Christ’s passion being poured on us through the sacraments of baptism and the Holy Communion. But we will have to leave that subject for another day.

Isaiah also wrote, “Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.”

We can have peace with God only because Jesus became our peace by going through the Hell of that crucifixion for us.  

St. Paul frequently referred to the peace with God that we have through Christ.  For example, in Romans 5:1, he wrote that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peacewith God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In Ephesians 2:14, he wrote that “He Himself is our peace.”

Being an excellent Jewish scholar, St. Paul no doubt was greatly influenced by Isaiah.  And Isaiah frequently used the word “peace,” the Hebrew word “shalom”,in his prophecies. The familiar title for Jesus, Prince of Peace, comes from Isaiah, earlier in chapter 9.

Reading on in chapter 53:

       All we like sheep have gone astray;

              we have turned—every one—to his own way;

        and the LORD has laid on him

              the iniquity of us all.

Again, that is the Gospel right there.  And both the bad news and the good news is presented.  We have all gone astray by choosing our sinful ways over God’s ways.  But Jesus took the penalty for our sin.  The scripture here and elsewhere even describes it as Jesus taking on our sin upon himself.  St. Paul did this in a particularly radical way in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The Father so “laid on him the iniquity of us all” that Jesus became “sin on our behalf.” To go too much deeper into that would be to go into great mysteries that have not been revealed.  But what great torment and anguish Jesus must have experienced on the cross as he bore all our sin.

Look at how much of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have seen in Isaiah already!  And we’ve only looked at a very few verses.  Time will not permit us to look at all the rest of this 53^rdchapter.  But lets look at some highlights.

Verse 9 is remarkable:

       And they made his grave with the wicked

              and with a rich man in his death,

        although he had done no violence,

              and there was no deceit in his mouth.

That is a strange prophesy: “They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death.” Yet this was fulfilled with remarkable detail in the death and burial of Christ.

Those who were crucified were those the Roman authorities considered the lowest of the low among criminals.  So when the crucified finally died on their crosses, they usually were not given honorable burials, but were disposed of in an area set apart for executed criminals.  Their graves would have been with the wicked.  And that’s where Jesus’ body was going if a few of his friends and followers did not intervene.

And one of those who intervened was Joseph of Arimathea.  He was a wealthy man with a new, unused tomb; and after getting Pontius Pilate’s permission, he had Jesus buried in his new tomb.  Thus the body of Jesus was “with a rich man in his death.”

So we see a strange prophecy fulfilled in detail by the burial of Christ.  Moving on from the burial, verse 10 is also a perplexing prophesy:

       Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

              he has put him to grief;

        when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

              he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

        the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

So “it was the will of the Lord to crush him.”  Yet “he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;” and “the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”  That is perplexing.  And when this prophesy was fulfilled it perplexed many yet again.  For this is a prophesy of the death andresurrection of Christ condensed in one verse.  For he suffered a crushing death – in fact, one of the awful tortures of crucifixion is that it was difficult to breathe. But then he lives to see his offspring, which includes us children of God saved by his grace.

And Christ’s work of saving us is wonderfully summarized in verse 12, the last verse of Isaiah 53:

       Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

              and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

        because he poured out his soul to death

              and was numbered with the transgressors;

        and he bore the sin of many,

              and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Christ was victorious, is victorious, and will be victorious at his second coming. But first, on the cross, “he poured out his soul to death” for us; he “was numbered with the transgressors” for us; “and he bore the sin of many” including us.  And now, having paid the price for our sins, and having defeated death for us by rising from the dead and then ascending into heaven, he now “makes intercession for the transgressors,” including us.

All this in just one chapter of Isaiah.  No wonder God arranged it so that the Ethiopian official was reading from this 53^rdchapter of Isaiah when St. Philip came along.  For the Gospel is right here.

And we haven’t gone through the rest of Isaiah, much less the rest of the Old Testament.  

Such detailed prophesies of Isaiah and of the rest of the Old Testament raise a bold question – why did God do this?  Why did God practically proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus Christ?  God wasn’t just showing off, you know.  Why did God do this?

Now we should be careful and reverent about asking such questions.  For who knows the mind of God?  But with some careful confidence, I think we can see part of what God was doing.

In Isaiah’s day, one important purpose of God was to give hope during a dark time.  Yes, God’s people were being ravaged by their own apostasy and by invasions and exile.  But God was not finished with them yet, and through them would come the Messiah who would be the hope of the world.  So God foretold his purposes to give them hope.

When Jesus did die and rise from the dead, Jesus sought to enable his followers to grasp fully what he had done, and that he was for real, that he really did rise from the dead. And he used the Old Testament in doing so.

Now we might think that would not be necessary.  After all, between the Resurrection and the Ascension, Jesus was right there with his disciples a number of times.  Yet what Jesus had done in dying for sins and then rising from the dead was so outside the expectations of the disciples that they needed help to see that the risen Christ and all he had done was for real.  This sometimes happens to us, that some event can be so awful or so wonderful that it can take a while to sink in that it’s for real.

That was the case with the disciples.  We see this in the Gospel of Luke, beginning in 24:36:

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

So you see that even with him standing before them, they needed some help to comprehend that it really was Jesus, and that he had bodily risen from the dead.  Let’s see how Jesus helped them to comprehend. 

And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

So we see that he gave them a very physical demonstration, letting them touch him, showing them his wounded hands and feet and even having snack before them.  Now look what Jesus did.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance forthe forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem….”

Jesus taught them the Gospel from the Old Testament.  He used the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms to verify that what they were seeing and experiencing was for real.  Even while the risen Christ was with them, the Old Testament served as verification of the Gospel and indeed taught the Gospel. 

And so it is with us today.  As we’ve seen this morning in Isaiah 53, the Old Testament proclaims the Gospel.  And we impoverish ourselves, as some Christians do, if we neglect the Old Testament.

Today, the Old Testament still serves as verification of the Gospel.  God proclaimed centuries ahead of time what he was going to do through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.  And not in vague terms but in detail, such as Jesus being pierced, such as Jesus being buried in a rich man’s tomb although executed as a criminal. And we haven’t even mentioned other details prophesied in the Old Testament, such as the virgin birth, such as he being born in Bethlehem, such as his betrayal for thirty pieces of silver, such as the soldiers casting lots for his clothing at the cross, and more. God proclaimed the Gospel in marvelous detail centuries beforehand.  And then he did it.

The Old Testament thereby serves as a great weight of evidence and assurance that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the invention of man.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not even the invention of the church. Instead, as St. Paul wrote, “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” For in it the righteousness and love and grace of God Almighty is revealed.  As Rich Mullins sang in his great song “Creed”:

I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God
And not the invention of any man.

Thanks be to God that he has so wonderfully confirmed the truth of Gospel, not only through the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ – although that is more than wonderful enough – but also through proclaiming the mighty and humble acts of Christ hundreds of years before he walked the Earth.

Thank God for the proclamation of the Gospel in the Old Testament.  And, yes, thank God for the Gospel according to Isaiah. Amen.

Let us pray.

BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.