St Richard, Haywards Heath 3rd Sunday of Year A 22.1.23

 

As we ponder the scriptures set for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Season we see an obvious link between the Isaiah 9 passage and the Gospel we just heard from Matthew Chapter 4 quoting that very passage. The emphasis, as when it was used at Midnight Mass, is on people seeing a great light from God in Jesus Christ, but the overlap of today’s passage with the Gospel centres more on the geography. Though St Matthew’s Gospel is slanted heavily to Jewish readers his description of Our Lord’s initial ministry underlines how that begins not in Jewish but Gentile territory, in the ‘land of Zebulun! Land of Naphthali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations’ (Matthew 4:15-16). The idea of a prophet coming from Galilee would not have rung true to Matthew’s Jewish readers because this was non-Jewish or Gentile land. Our Lord begins his ministry treading ground outside the Jewish community, treading the way to the revelation of God as universal Lord and Saviour on Mount Calvary. As the second reading puts it, the rejection and crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah lies beyond human philosophy or even theology. 

The astonishing force of Our Lord Jesus Christ is his revelation of God as not just the God of the Jews but the God of all people. As witnessed in the story of the wise men we followed two weeks ago, the God and Father of Jesus has universal significance. Isaiah promises light.  Our Psalm announces ‘The Lord is my light and my help’. The Gospel recounts how that light first shone on earth as Jesus ‘went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people’ (Matthew 4:23). This good news is relevant to body, mind and spirit and has transforming relevance to everyone in every age. Christianity was and is good news that, though rooted in Judaism and spoken about through prophets like Isaiah, cannot be contained in the Old Testament. As Deacon Rebecca explained last week Jesus Christ fulfils what we find in the Old Testament. We turn first every Sunday to the Jewish Scriptures to mark what is presented and prophesied about God and understanding of these scriptures help us to understand Jesus. This is exactly true of this morning where Isaiah 9 illuminates Matthew 4 and its great invitation as ‘Jesus began his preaching with the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

The Greek word ‘metanoia’ which is translated ‘repent’ means to change direction. Our Lord changed his path into non-Jewish territory; he did so with an invitation to us and to all to change direction so as to welcome the mercy of God which reaches the parts of lives and communities no other power can access. As we hear the word of God this morning we do so mindful of its transformative power. Do you have confidence in that power which is at hand to you this morning as we gather to hear the word of God and be made part of Christ’s self offering at Mass? Such an engagement  has the power to change our lives for good if we welcome the Holy Spirit who is always at hand. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand’. As we turn afresh to God he makes his presence real to us ‘curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among us’. Disease and sickness is much among us this morning, be that of body, mind or spirit. By his death and resurrection Our Lord has countered the power of sin, sickness, bondage, death and the devil. These dark powers are real but their power is broken as we welcome the light of the Lord and see their darkness scatter. 

It may be you are struggling for the grace of acceptance as you face a new trial laid upon you. Or are deceiving yourself over a wrongdoing you need to seek forgiveness for. Maybe you need the assurance of God’s love to reach deeper into your soul. The word of God and the Blessed Sacrament are at hand for you this morning. Soften your heart. Open yourself fresh to the grace of the Holy Spirit who is God’s love ready to be poured into our hearts. Don’t be afraid to seek prayer for such healing outside Mass maybe by talking to one of our priests. We are always ready to be used in the ministry of prayer for individuals, for confession and absolution, for the sacrament of anointing. Our Lord changed direction to Galilee to bring healing and to welcome the kingdom of heaven we need ourselves at times to change our direction. 

Today’s second reading touches on the consequences of our going it alone - our sin - on the Christian community. ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ’. I am St Richard’s. I am Methodist. I am Ruwach. I am Baptist. This week of prayer for Christian Unity is a reminder how groups of believers putting themselves above the faith of the church through the ages weaken Christian witness overall. Haywards Heath has eight Christian denominations - Anglican, Baptist, Christ Church, Grace Church, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Ruwach Pentecostal, United Reformed Church. The world has 40,000 Christian denominations. Lord, have mercy! What is the answer and how can you and I be part of that? It is about each denomination coming to the foot of Christ’s Cross and admitting it exists as a Christian community only by God’s grace and mercy poured out on Calvary. This would build from you and I doing the same and by our praying for and fraternising with the other churches in our town. Why not go to a weekday or Sunday evening service in another town Church this week to do your bit to counter the sin of Christian division which does so much to undermine the good news of God’s love?

‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand’. Indeed it is - the Holy Spirit is close at hand ready to bring healing to individuals, churches and communities. Healing starts here - in the heart of an individual - where we find ourselves and love ourselves sufficiently to give ourselves. You can’t give what you don’t possess! May 2023 be a year of growth here at St Richard’s as our members gain self knowledge, self love and fresh capacity to give out to others. Our new partnership with St Mary, Balcombe places us in a privileged position to challenge churches that live for themselves. Living for yourself either individually or as churches is a receipe for death. Let’s change direction to walk as if to Galilee with Our Lord in the life giving power of the Holy Spirit and be consciously part of God’s never ending family the holy catholic church.

St John the Evangelist, Burgess Hill Pre-Lent Sunday 27 February 2022

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white…(and) a cloud came and overshadowed them Luke 9 

Years back when I was a student at Oxford a coach taking pilgrims from my church, St Mary Magdalene’s, to the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham crashed and someone died. The Sunday afterwards the parish priest preached his sermon with reference to this Gospel and I will never forget Fr Hooper’s sermon.

He presented to us, as I now present to you, how the mystery of the glorious Transfiguration is set under the dark cloud.  After Our Lord’s clothes became dazzling white… St Luke records a cloud came and overshadowed them.

As we gathered in St Mary Mags that Sunday we were reminded how God’s glory can shine brightest of all through the cloud of bereavement. We gather Sunday by Sunday to celebrate the glory of the risen Lord with pain, the pains of the church and its divisions, of the world in its godforsakenness, especially with the invasion of Ukraine and the pains of those of in our circle which are most inscribed on our hearts. Then - the glory of the Lord shines over us as we take, bless, break and share bread!

Christianity is about suffering and the supernatural - these are the two things that keep us close to Christ - the two things Lent reminds us of.

We the baptised are a dying and rising people of a dying and rising Lord.

We are a people losing ourselves to gain the Holy Spirit.

Paul expresses this beautifully in the second reading: ‘All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit’ (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Made in his image we are being transformed into his selfless likeness …from glory to glory.

Made to know ourselves, love ourselves and forget ourselves - a good motto for Lent! Know yourself, love yourself, forget yourself’ 

Know yourself - for that is the other side of the coin to knowing God. 

Love yourself - as you recognise again and again how much you are loved by God who made you. Then - and here is the struggle - forget yourself as Christ forgot himself on Calvary so he could die and rise and give us the Holy Spirit!

Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people unprepared to forget themselves, people wanting instead to be important as seems the case with President Putin. 

As Raniero Cantalamessa writes: ‘70% of the human body is made up of water, but perhaps even more than 70% of man’s spirit is made up of pride...We all long to be noticed. If we could visualise the whole of humankind as it appears in the eyes of God, we would see the spectacle of an immense crowd of people all standing on tiptoe, all pushing one another in the attempt to make themselves seen and all shouting, ‘I’m here too, I’m here in the world too!’. All this pride is, of course, just smoke that death dissipates day by day. ‘Vanity of vanities’...but its consequences are...dreadful’.

There is so much wastage in life and that does not exclude the Christian life. So much of our energy, even though we be Christians, gets dissipated in the instinctive serving of our desires or attending to our fears. The energy we put into this subtracts from all we are able to offer the Lord for building his kingdom. Our Lord needs more of our energies directed to his ends and not our own, our wills more and more directing our lives to his praise and his service.

Self-forgetfulness is a real gift of God which balances self-worth and self knowledge. I find that juggling around with these three is what the deepening of spirituality is all about. The supernatural and suffering play their part as well from God’s side…

Sometimes we need to know ourselves better, sometimes to pay attention, to be kind and loving to ourselves. There are times to concentrate and affirm the self. There are many other times when we are best off getting to work on forgetting ourselves.

As we approach Lent the Church presents to us in today’s scripture the radiant and transfigured humanity of Christ illuminated and filled right through with the life of God coupled to the invitation to be transformed likewise into a heavenly new creation. 

The Transfiguration of Christ preceding his death and resurrection provides disciples then and now insight into the beauty, glory and wondrous life of the world to come and courage to keep heading there. We are not there yet but rather in the vale of tears yet sufferings in that vale are destined to be lost in the ultimate praise and glory of heaven. 

We are the dying and rising people of a dying and rising Lord, a people losing ourselves to gain the Holy Spirit, made in his image to be transformed into his selfless likeness …from glory to glory, made to know ourselves, love ourselves and forget ourselves…so Christ may shine in us now and always! 

A happy and holy Lent!