Parish Of Opawa St Martins Blog

Sunday 11 October 2009
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Heb 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31

“St Edward the Confessor was King of England in the eleventh century and died in 1066, just before William the Conqueror invaded England. In many ways, Edward was a strange king. He was born into an interesting family. He was the son of King Canute, who tried to stop the tide from coming in. Edward was sent to France when he was ten years old because the Danes had invaded England. While he was there he became very religious and prayerful, going to church whenever he could, and singing in the church choir. When his father King Canute died, there was a power struggle in England over who would be the next king. In the end, Edward’s brother Hardicanute became king until 1042, and when he died Edward finally became king of England. Edward’s reign was one of almost unbroken peace and he sorted out big issues without battles or wars, using diplomacy instead. During the reign of the Danes when he was a child, the people of England had been made to pay high taxes. Edward abolished this system and gave many of his own riches to the poor. A court biographer wrote of him: “How great is the influence of a king who is truly the father of his people. He is remarkable for his generosity to the poor, and never happier than when giving with alms.” Edward built a new Minster for London, just outside the city to the west. This is called Westminster and his burial sarcophagus is still there where it was originally placed in the 12th century.”

In the gospel before us today a young man approaches Jesus with his anxious question. He is seeking a royal inheritance; and he wishes to inherit eternal life. Unfortunately, he is also in a theological trap which is so easy to fall into, and in which I have to admit to being in myself. He thinks the way to qualify for this inheritance is by pleasing God. So his way of living his faith is about following a formula and ticking all the boxes he thinks God expects to see ticked. “So,” he says to himself, “I pray every day and have my quiet time with God. I keep the commandments, I read my bible, and I go to the synagogue.” What we notice is Jesus’ heart goes out to him. Often when Jesus met people who were claiming to meet the law’s demands Jesus became angry. It was not so on this occasion. Something about this young man is endearing to Jesus. Perhaps Jesus sees an anxious perfectionism, rather than proud hypocrisy. What ever it is that Jesus sees in this young man, the key statement here is that Jesus looked at him and loved him.

We know the brief exchange that took place about keeping the commandments, and that the conversation culminated in Jesus instructing the young man to sell all he owns, to give all the money to the poor, and then to follow Jesus. When interpreting this passage, there is blind alley that we need to avoid. The blind alley is the trap of thinking this is only a story for the rich, and that it simply relates to giving away all our possessions and all our money. If we go down that track, we are in danger of missing the key point that Jesus is making that all of us need to hear.

The young man in this story is searching for something, something he calls eternal life. Perhaps the modern question would be, “What will make me happy and fulfilled? What is behind the drama of my desire? These of course, are the big questions. In quiet moments, in moments of sudden joy or loss, these questions stalk our inner being. “What am I really living for?”

The Wisdom literature of the Old Testament echoes many of the answers that have cast their spell down through the ages on the human psyche. Building up one’s position in society and being successful in the eyes of our peers seems to give our lives a purposeful existence. Then there is the body beautiful. This has its marketers as well and some spend mega bucks staying beautiful, going to the gym and looking forever young. The wisdom writers say that all this is vanity. The bible also has warnings about the continuous striving for progress (see the creation story in Gen 2-3). The fact is that we struggle to say “no” to progress. We always think we have to accept it and bow down it because it is always good. All these apparent sources of meaning look attractive, but they are cul de sacs that actually help us avoid facing the dark night of the soul that helps us discover what it is to simply let God be God in our lives.

The story of the rich young man then, is a story that asks us to examine the attachments of our heart that serve to prevent us encountering God, or to put it another way, “What are the things that make us think we don’t need God at all?” That’s the real point of this story. What do we need to detach ourselves from so that we can entrust ourselves totally to the embrace of God? The point here concerns the first command that Jesus doesn’t actually name but implies in his answer to the young man; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul.” Jesus can see the thorns that choke his heart (to use the imagery from the parable of the sower) and, with typical insight, Jesus puts his finger on the very thing getting in the way of his encounter with God.

Jesus is pointing to a higher wisdom. Progress, looking beautiful, accumulating money and climbing the social ladder, these things will never satisfy. The Psalmist points out that when we die we can’t take any of that with us. “Though in life they counted themselves happy, when they die their wealth will not go with them” (Psalm 49). In the end when we face death other things suddenly seen so much more important. We look back only to wonder how easy it is to be completely distracted and then we realise that we need to refocus our lives on their true meaning, which is to know ourselves as loved and held by God.

This was the dilemma in which the young man found himself today. Jesus sees into this young man’s heart. He sees how much he wants to please God and how hard he is trying, and then he names the very thing that is getting in the way, the thing the young man is attached to more than anything else. So it is with us. Christ sees the things that hold our hearts in their grip; that we are afraid of letting go of so that we can let God be God in our lives. The challenge of the gospel to let go of the things we look to for security; whether that is power, wealth, beauty, physical or intellectual prowess, or whatever. St Edward the Confessor, St Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, Brother Roger of Taizé; these people are good examples of those who have attempted to embody this detachment in their lives.

The saints and mystic teach us that the very things we keep, the gifts we cannot bear releasing, are the very things that hold us in a grip of sadness. How often have we found that the things that we thought would protect us somehow turn around to bite us and even become our bondage? For example, say we accumulate a financial nest egg, only to find we can’t trust the financial markets. The finance company collapses and we loose a big chunk of it. In the mean time, we have paid big fees to our lawyers and accountants to stop the IRD getting its hands on it. And after all that, we find that family members are doing their best to get their hands on it as well. And after we have lived through all of that, we find that there is no insurance policy strong enough to prevent death and we wonder if it’s all been worth it.

Jesus is longing for us to let go of our many securities, so that we can take hold of eternal life and enter the kingdom of heaven. We must somehow have to let go of these to pass through the “needle’s eye.” Whatever that phrase of Jesus means, it suggests an unnavigable journey, an almost impossible task.

Put yourself in the place of the rich young man today. Jesus is asking the same question of you and me. Jesus knows you and me and loves us unconditionally. Jesus sees our goodness, the image of God in us, the love of God which is his own source and his own essence, and he beckons us come to him. We have only to open our hands and hearts to receive the inheritance of eternal life; the abundant life Jesus longs to give. The only thing stopping us from taking hold of this life is the possibility that our hands are gripping some other security so tightly that you will have drop it so that you open them to Jesus. In your prayer, ask for God’s grace to enable you to open your hands and heart to him. Ask God to show you what securities you need to let go of, that you may receive what you need and that you may give to others in their need. And if the hungry are fed by your hands, if the naked our clothed and sick cared for, then you will know that the reign of God is within you.

Today is St Francis Day. St Francis is known as the patron saint of animals and the ecology. As we are all well aware, nature is full of powerful forces. Over the last few days we have witnessed the terrible tragedy in Samoa following the earthquake and tsunami. It is appropriate that we pray for all those affected. Please stand for a moment of silent prayer…

Let us pray:
God of love, we pray for all people who walk in the shadow of death, and for everyone who is suffering loss and devastation in the Pacific earthquakes and tsunami. Comfort those who mourn, give hope to those whose hope has been taken away. Make people everywhere generous with their help and aid. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we build up for the confirmation service in two weeks time we continue our focus on ways of living faithfully as Disciples of Christ. St Francis is a very helpful role model. So who was St Francis?

Francis of Assisi was person who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally. These days the thought of taking the gospel literally can have frightening connotations because of the levels of violence in our world in the name of religion. St Francis was not a narrow fundamentalist, but he actually tried to follow all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without an ounce of self-importance.
Francis was the son of a wealthy merchant in Assisi. Like most well off young men, he had everything; the 12th century version of fast cars, parties and so on. Essentially he led a frolicking life as a leader of Assisi’s youth. All this was brought to an end when he was captured and made a prisoner of war. In the face of defeat he faced serious illness in a Perugian prison. His prayer, lengthy and difficult, led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ. This is what he heard God saying to him in his prayer: “Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this, all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.” So Francis threw away all his wealth; (well actually some of it was his father’s wealth) which he gave to the poor. He famously stripped his clothes off in front of his bishop and gave them to his father, and became totally poor.
Outside the Assisi city wall, there was a field-chapel of San Damiano, where Francis went to pray and to begin building his religious community. Again in his prayer he heard these words from God: “Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down.”
Initially St Francis interpreted this to mean fixing up the bricks and mortar but after a while he saw this as a call to the vocation of looking after the poor. So he developed a deeper meaning to “build up my house.” But in the mean time he continued to give up every material thing he had, (even though his father who was demanding restitution for Francis’ “gifts” to the poor). This is so that Francis would be totally detached from material possessions and give himself wholly and freely to God. This meant he could pray “Our Father in heaven” knowing that he was totally dependent on God for everything. Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone considered Francis to be a religious “nut”. He was seen begging from door to door when he could not get money for his work, which brought reactions of sadness, disgust or even ridicule from his former friends.
But some people began to realize that this man was actually trying to be Christian. He took literally what Jesus said: “Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses, no travelling bag, no sandals, no staff” (Luke 9:1-3).
Francis’ first rule for his followers was a collection of texts from the Gospels. He had no idea of founding an order, but once it began he protected it and accepted all the legal structures needed to support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended to break the Church’s unity.
He was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of the Good News. Mostly he decided on the latter. Later, following his example, the Franciscan brothers became the most effective preachers of their time, their preaching sparking a massive wave of renewal in the medieval church. One of the reasons for their effectiveness was that for the first time, the Franciscans used pictures to tell the story of Jesus. They had stunningly beautiful frescos painted on the walls of their churches depicting Jesus’ birth, Jesus teaching and healing people, and his death on the cross. The art captured the imagination of the people then, and it still does today. St Francis was also the first person to invent the Christmas crib scene and put these in churches on Christmas Eve to be a focus of prayer. Naturally, people flocked to see these and if you go to Assisi today, the shops are full of nativity sets of all shapes and sizes.
St Francis has bequeathed to us an optimistic spiritual heritage that sees the beauty, goodness and love of God everywhere. For St Francis, the whole of creation is a bible revealing the goodness of God. God speaks to us in all we see, hear, feel, taste and smell. St Francis, better than anyone, understood the true meaning of the incarnation; God making contact with us on our level and in our language through our ordinary senses, in the visible, audible, and the tangible.
I would encourage everyone to explore St Francis way of relating to God. St Francis saw God in the whole of creation, so he would encourage us to make a fruitful mediation on the beauty of a flower, a lake, a waterful, or a mountain, the sea, or any event in nature such as a sunrise or sunset, the changes of the seasons. When it comes to reading scripture, St Francis is more likely to concentrate on events in the life of Christ rather than his teaching. He contemplated the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, his baptism, his miracles like feeding the five thousand and walking on water, his passion, death and resurrection.
Of all the saints, St Francis was one who could honestly claim that his work is also his prayer. Hospitality, feeding the hungry, caring for those in need, carrying out an act of charity either alone or with others, these practical acts of care were part of St Francis’ life of prayer.
If St Francis were alive today there is no doubt that he would be encouraging us to take action to clean up the climate. The mission committee have set up a display on one of the notice boards about this very issue, which I encourage you all to read. They have also put out post cards that can be sent to Prime Minister John Key, asking the NZ government to support a strong and just climate change deal at the Copenhagen talks in December. CWS are warning that people in poor countries are already dying because the climate is changing. One of the ten commandments says, “You shall not commit murder.” At our recent diocesan Synod Bishop Victoria asked whether we are not committing murder of the environment if our carbon emissions turn arable land into desert and wipe out coastal communities? The gospel calls us to stop killing our world and to care for our environment and if St Francis were alive today I am sure he would be at the forefront of action to care for our world.
St Francis died at the age of 44. By then he was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death, he received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side.
On his deathbed, he said over and over again the last addition to his Canticle of the Sun (first hymn sung today), “Be praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death.” He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior to have his clothes removed when the last hour came and for permission to expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord.

Today as we give thanks for his life and his witness, ask God to show you how you can embody the gospel in your life, so that you can be a living bible that others can read. Thanks be to God.