Living the Gospel

The gospel is good news for us and for the world. And the gospel also calls us to suffer. (Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Proper 17 [22] Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28.) How do we hold this tension in our life?

Sentence:

“Rejoice in hope; be patient in afflictions, persevere in prayer.” Romans 12:12

Collect:

Word of God,

Through whom the world was made

and the good news made visible,

grant us the courage and desire

to make real your living love

in the places we find ourselves

so that the world might know You

and know themselves loved. Amen.

Reflection:

The words of St Paul this week (Proper 17 [22] Romans 12:9-12 and Matthew 16:21-28.) are the basis of the blessing many of us know.

“Go forth into the world in peace;

Be of good courage;

hold fast to that which is good;

render to no one evil for evil;

strengthen the faint hearted;

support the weak; help the afflicted;

give honour to all;

love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit;

and the blessings of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

be upon you and remain with you always. Amen.” (A Prayer Book for Australia, Broughton Books, 1995.)

I often use this blessing because I need reminding, as you may need reminding, that the call to the Christian life is a call to a life of being a blessing to others and value adding to our world, of overcoming pain and suffering and evil with compassion and good rather than simply asking for blessings upon ourselves and those we love (although we do that too).

Our readings this week do not sit comfortably for many of us. They not so much contradict each other as they describe all too clearly the conundrum in which we live our lives of faith!

Let us begin with Jeremiah, the weeping or complaining prophet. I always feel a bit sorry for Jeremiah because he did have a hard time of it and was given a hard job. I would be complaining also. So, following the well established ‘lament psalm’ format Jeremiah: describes his suffering; asks quite accusing questions of God; condemns his enemies and petitions for them to be punished; confesses his ultimate faith in God; and allows for a divine response. And God’s response is something to the effect that persecution has not derailed God’s promise to deliver. Indeed, it will be Jeremiah’s perseverance that is the vehicle by which the people are won over. In the midst of injustice, Jeremiah is not to allow evil to overcome good. Jeremiah is basically told to persevere and thus to help deliver his people eventually to the promises made by God to them.

And in the gospel this week Jesus is telling the disciples that (having just worked out who he really is in the last paragraph) if they are really going to follow him it means taking up their cross and going where he is going – into the firing line! And when Peter takes Jesus aside and says “God forbid it Lord. This must never happen to you.” we know what Jesus says: “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” There is no nice way of dressing things up. To follow Jesus is to put ourselves in the way of suffering.

But why? Why suffering? I don’t know of a straightforward answer but I think there are several levels of response. Firstly, Jesus invites us into life abundant and complete which includes joy and garden variety suffering, not simply one or the other. So our life is going to be both full of joy and full of suffering, like everyone else’s. Except we are promised ultimate and eventual joy.

Secondly that there is a suffering specific to the gospel which is that if we proclaim the kingdom values of Jesus, and live them out, we shall upset people and get pushback including from the religious. Good news is not always welcome.

Thirdly there is also something about the purifying and freeing effect of losing our life for the sake of the Christ. Paul spoke earlier in Romans about dying with Christ in order that we might rise or live in him. There is a spiritual/psychic sense in which we die in order to live most fully.

But knowing that we must suffer for the gospel does not mean we can insist others suffer too and certainly not simply because they disagree with us. Jeremiah suggested that those who resist him should be dealt with severely and God told him to persevere, to keep on going!

Paul describes this much higher path to which we are called which is to live a life of love no matter what reaction we get from others. The suffering we take on voluntarily as part of the path of faithfulness and growth is not to fuel vengeance upon others. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them... Do not repay anyone evil for evil...  Beloved never avenge yourself, but leave room for the wrath of God ... No ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink ‘... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

This is a very high standard of citizenship. It is living by kingdom values and principles in the midst of this world. It is what it means to be transformed and not conformed by this world. And it is not easy. It is not natural to many of us. Nothing less than a form of dying will set us free to live such a resurrection way of life.

And we are called to this because we need that sort of love that transforms us as much as those we interact with. And this world desperately needs this standard of love. Passionately practical get-down and get-dirty love where ever the need is for this sort of love. Jesus proclaimed love in his talks and then he walked (or lived) love in his table fellowship with the dubious, and miraculous healings of the unimportant, and love to the last even upon a tortuous cross.

Love is needed wherever we find ourselves. It is not simply our left over surfeit of love and good fortune when we are at the top of the cultural and social pile and life is good and we can afford to feel a bit sorry for those less fortunate but it is the compassion of the fellow traveller when we share out of our little.

And in many ways we are in a time of transition. We in the nominally Christian west still have more than our fair share of material wealth and so we are in this sense those who have plenty who are called upon to contribute to the needs of the saints. But we are within our own nation increasingly part of a minority of believers and as such we are needing to give not so simply from our position of certainty and power and influence but from the sideline of the once were important but now are a bit irrelevant. We are called upon to be compassionate and a blessing among those who may not think us particularly relevant, good or worthy of credit but we are called to be compassionate anyway. Such a lowly calling is death to our ego and just maybe life to the Christ within.

Even so, come Lord Jesus Christ and renew our hearts with your self giving love.

Intercessions:

Creator God,

You have made us and all things in love

for the purposes of love,

instill within a desire to live in harmony

recognising all others as neighbours.

Where any of your precious ones are wounded or endangered

let us bear witness, stand in solidarity, and provide whatever care we can.

We particularly pray for all impacted by violence and fear, greed and poverty, ignorance and blindness …

Raise up and protect peace makers and visionaries

that we may live in peace and respect.

Creator God,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus, in whom all are reconciled and held together,

Bind us together with those you have called us

to serve and to learn from.

Bind up the wounded and frightened and forgotten ones.

Help us as the community of Christ to practice hospitality –

offering truth to the thirsty, encouragement and hope to the hungry,

and company on the journey.

We particularly pray for those who are lost and lonely, for those who have been injured by the church, for those who are burdened …

Grant us the grace and gratitude

to share the good news we have received

with all who are in need.

Jesus, in whom we are reconciled,

Hear our prayer.

Spirit of love and healing,

Inspire and renew us when we are weary or worried,

ignite within a dream of the kingdom come,

and revive our hearts so that we can hear the whisper of God

and the cries of this world.

In particular we pray for your faithful one seeking to make real your love in this world – in the church, in families and agencies of care, in leaders and teachers, and artists of every kind …

Come Spirit of love and healing,

fill us with passion for the good news and inspire our living.

Hear our prayer.

Living God,

Creator, Reconciler, and Spirit of Love,

Renew us in love that we might live as messages of hope in your world.

Amen. 

This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.