Sermon for RCL 24 C, Luke 8:1-3

Sermon for the XXII Sunday after Pentecost, RCL 24C

To be preached at St. John's Lancaster on 20 Oct 2013, God willing.

Luke 8: 1-3

Jesus with his followers on the road in Galilee
Does anyone know what film this shot is from?

Most of us here have been in church for a long time, and we have heard the explanation of this parable of the seed several, if not many times. And so today, I have elected to look at the brief prologue to this parable of Jesus. In it, we see the purpose of Jesus as he traveled on this earth, “to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God.” That immediately raises the question, exactly what is the “Good News of the Kingdom of God?” To answer that question properly, we need to travel back to the beginning of human history. God, in his beneficent mercy and love, created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them and declared them to be good. He then created us in his image with reason, and freewill, and the ability to give and receive love, that we might have purpose as the stewards of the garden which is this earthly paradise. The Scriptures tell us that in those early days, he walked with our ancestors in the garden and communed with them directly. But then the most terrible thing happened. Following the example of those angels who had rebelled against God, and at the instigation of their leader, our grandmother Eve and our grandfather Adam succumbed to temptation and partook of the forbidden fruit. Their decision to rebel by believing that their way was better than God's way set the stage for tragedies unforeseen and broke their direct fellowship with God. When God pronounced the consequences of their actions to the players involved, he promised Eve that one day one would be born of her seed who would destroy the power of the tempter and overcome death itself to restore us to full fellowship with God. The Bible in another place calls him “the second Adam,” who will restore our species to God's original plan and purpose, banish death forever, and restore the paradise that was. Over the centuries prophets, inspired by God, spoke of the one who was to come and accomplish these wonderful things. It was not only the prophets of the Jews who heard this truth of the deliverer. Pagans, and philosophers of other nations, like the Magi of Christ's birth narratives, discerned through the revelation contained in the design of nature and in the yearnings which led to their own myths and legends and understandings that God in his love would give all people the opportunity to be restored to him. Finally, St. John the forerunner, the cousin of Jesus Ben Joseph, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, declared that the Kingdom of God was at hand as he declared “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world! Repent, and be baptized for the remission of sins, for the Kingdom of Heaven is come!” That in a nutshell is the Good News. The prophesies are fulfilled, The deliverer has come, and we proclaim deliverance to those held captive in those illnesses and behaviours, and addictions, and habits, and systems which are contrary to God's way in Paradise. The Kingdom is come, and Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, is the means by which God has brought this deliverance, this reinstatement with God, this salvation into the world.

At this point, we must insert a caveat, “let the buyer beware.” The Good News of the kingdom of God is a conscious and rational belief and affirmation of the fact that God the Father, the first person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, rebooted all of time and history by sending Jesus, the second person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, to live and die and be resurrected as a real live human being, joining in a mystical but real way the divine and human, that our sins might be washed away and we might stand justified before God through the efficacy of his own promises and love. The evidence of this transformation is demonstrated to all who will put aside their presuppositions and rebellious attitudes and ways and will see the difference this truth has made as the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, maintains and inspires and enables those who have received this wondrous Good News to live as the Children of God. There are those among us in the modern church, and they are many, who downplay, redefine, or even deny the theological and historical truth that is the Good News of the Kingdom of God. They substitute for it those good works which necessarily flow from the transformation we experience when we acknowledge the truth of the Good News and confess and forsake our sins, purposing to live our lives in accordance with Biblical teachings. They do accomplish many good things, but they fundamentally redefine the nature of our Faith, and they deny the historic proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Flee their teachings as you would a fire or an act of senseless violence. Their message seems so benign, because it is cloaked in good works, but the ultimate impact of their teaching is eternal, because it fundamentally denies the role of Christ in our salvation and bypasses the revealed truth of Scripture.

With the “Good News” identified, and the caveat explained, I think it is instructive to look at the examples of the people who traveled with Jesus that day. In their lives and in the choices they made, they give us some idea of how we might, indeed how we ought to do evangelism.

1. The proof of their message was in their transformed lives. St. Luke tells us that several of them had been set free from evil spirits and infirmities. Like so many others throughout history, people who had known them in earlier days noticed a change that could not be accounted for apart from God's touch. Their behaviour and the difference in their new lives gave credence to their message. Does the constancy and holiness of your life prove the reality of God's transforming love?

2. They proclaimed the “Good News” wherever they went, and were not ashamed to be identified with Jesus. Are you and I willing to do as much? I'm not talking here about the right to wear a t-shirt or a piece of jewelry, or to have a poster in my cubicle, although those things could be construed to be a part of this. I am talking about a sense of morality, of right and wrong, which stands up to selfish comments or control oriented behaviour in family, social, or business relationships. I think of a willingness to be the odd man or woman out when you stand against cruel humor presented at the expense of those who cannot defend themselves. I think of the willingness to say, “I cannot participate in that program or course of action because it conflicts with my faith,” whatever the personal cost may be. I think of the determination to do what is right and just, remembering that in Hebrew theology those two concepts are flip sides of the same coin. I think of that quiet witness as I make the sign of the cross in a restaurant and bow my head for prayer, or calmly read my Bible on an airplane or in a park. I think of taking the time to commit my own transformation at God's hand into a rational and communicable form, and my willingness to share with others what the Father has done for me through Jesus the Son in the power of the Holy Ghost.  Are you willing to be identified as a sibling of Jesus, wherever you go?

3. They supported Jesus and his ministry with their resources. Certainly money was a part of that. It takes money to take a crowd of two or three dozen people on a multi-day walking tour of the Holy Land, or of anyplace else. But they also gave of their time, and their energy, and their influence. Am I, are you, willing to back up your words with money, to donate your time and talent, to invest your emotional and intellectual energy, and to expend your influence, to spend down your quid-pro-quo resources, so that all people might hear the “Good News of the Kingdom of God?” Funding good works, which necessarily flow from the Good News is a part of this, but are you willing to fund and staff getting out the story that “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life?” Good works are necessary, and we are called to support them, but we must always remember that it is the message of God's love and grace which transforms and delivers us from sin. The good works follow. Do you support those missions and agencies which proclaim that “Good News” to those who have not yet acknowledged Jesus as Saviour and Lord?

That pretty much covers the prologue for today. I hope it has given you some things to think about, to pray about, and to act upon. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.