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A Word in Time

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How are you working out what you believe? How helpful is the idea of weighing up Scripture, tradition, reason and experience, preferably in the company of others? Prison chaplains probably use the gift of encouragement more than any other gift. In our presence, in our words and in our actions, we offer to prisoners a version of God that says they are valued, loved, and not forgotten. We simply encourage them, and it makes a difference to their outlook on life.

But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.' (vs 18-19) Today's reading offers many ways of thinking about the kingdom of heaven. Let me suggest that one is to think of God in a kitchen, baking bread. (v. 33) The woman in the story takes a small bit of yeast and mixes it with three measures of flour. That's Jesus' simple illustration: God is mixing yeast into the dough of our lives until the whole world has risen. Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, 'I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.' Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. (vs 1-2)There is a contrast between the Word, who ‘was’, and all the things that ‘came into being’ through the Word. This recalls the language of Genesis 1, where God speaks creation into being. The Genesis account tells of God looking at creation and affirming that it was good. Here the relationship is different. The Word came to his own, but his own did not welcome him ( v. 11). The Word is also the Light, John tells us; but the Light shines over the darkness, which tries to overcome it. There is a tension, perhaps even a conflict, between the Word in eternal light and the things that came into being, whose being will also come to an end.

Today’s reading is an example of both Matthew’s emphases. The beatitudes are the opening of Jesus’s teaching ministry. But the theme is introduced in 4:17 where he proclaimed: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Here he goes on to point the way to the kingdom. Jesus then turns to a much more negative narrative in which he reverses the situation from one of love to hate. Earlier and subsequent interactions between Jesus and the religious authorities, including the Pharisees and Herodians, provide examples of people trying to work against Jesus to seek his arrest and downfall. These may be some of those who Jesus refers to as hating him and his followers. However, by the time John’s Gospel was written, it would be increasingly common for the new Christian communities to attract abuse and hatred as the persecution of those holding and expounding this new faith had started. Those listening to these words would have been all too aware that there was a growing divide between those who loved them and those who hated them and were a threat. Perhaps a clue to what's going on in Abraham’s mind is contained in verse 8 when he answers Isaac’s question "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son." Abraham is doing as commanded, but he has faith in God, and believes that all will be well. Being the obedient servant that God had recognised, Noah got on with the job in hand. No doubt his neighbours thought he was crazy. He built the ark according to the instructions he had been given and prepared for the deluge to come. He is totally obedient to God’s instructions the text tells us ( v. 22) and so the preparations are made. We are not told how Noah’s neighbours reacted to the preparations he is making. Did they question him? Did they ridicule him for looking to something he believes is coming through his faith in God? The story of the wedding at Cana only appears in John’s Gospel and is chronologically the first of Jesus’ miracles, turning water into wine. The writer refers to this as the first of Jesus' signs and it is the first of seven signs around which the first half of John’s Gospel is structured. These signs point to the glory and supernatural power of Jesus. They are to help us understand who Jesus is and enable both the disciples and the readers to believe in Jesus’ divinity.In our modern world, I wonder if we can imagine the vulnerability of those early Christian communities and the perceived threat of false prophets and teachers? There are now well established creeds and doctrines, and ways of testing out new ideas, for example through reflecting on Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. Little of this was available to those early Christians and hence the concern of church leaders as expressed in this letter. And hence we realise why it was important to claim the authority of eyewitness testimony and that direct link with the person and teaching of Jesus. Think of a time in your life when someone took an interest and showed they cared by encouraging you to be better or to go further. How did that motivate you?

So many of the traditional rules about behaviour have a negative tone – "Don’t do this or that". It shows how awfully we humans can treat each other. But ‘love’ carries many positive tones, perhaps best expressed in "Do all the good you can". What can we learn about the Lord’s purpose for the world from reading about the relationship between the brothers? How might it speak to us today?While this hatred was coming from the religious authorities, Jesus’ words make clear that the hatred is not only of him but of God, and so those who are supposed to be God’s representatives are actually demonstrating hatred for God. To underline the religious teachers' complete misunderstanding, the quote that is “written in their law” from Psalm 35:19 highlights that they have not recognised that this animosity without cause was predicted.

So where is the authority for speaking of ‘love’ in this way? It is in the Jewish law itself, at Leviticus 19.18, "Love your neighbour as yourself" (cited in verse 9). And in much of this chapter in Romans there are further practical outworkings of this grand theme. It is this story that is referenced in John 1:29 when John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God. I try to thank my staff weekly as recognising and encouraging them is part of caring for them. I know what it's like to have no encouragement at all; it leaves you questioning whether you are doing a good job and doubting whether what you are doing is right – making you feel no one cares. It’s an awful place to be, one in which you feel undervalued and unappreciated.In what instances might we find ourselves tempted to be envious because somebody displays mercy or generosity?

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