Trinity 2 2017 Learning from God’s Providence
The Collect
O LORD, who never failest to help and govern those whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love; Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle 1 St. John iii. 13.
MARVEL not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
The Gospel St. Luke xiv. 16.
A CERTAIN man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
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The Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin is in his second year as Bishop of Kensington, in England.
It is not easy to be a Christian in the 21st century, especially if you are in countries where Christians are targeted for death by either the government or powerful hateful groups within the country that gain honor, power, and financial strength by killing Christians.
In the U.S. and in England, Christian from many denominations found it difficult to follow some of their leaders from the days of the “enlightenment” down to our own times, not because of danger of physical harm, but because they were being led to spiritual death by denial of basic Christian teachings regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ and basic morality and family life.
Though there has been a flight from nearly all churches during the last century, there are rays of hope arising in the darkness.
Graham Stuart Tomlin (born 1 August 1958)[1] is a British theologian, author and Church of England bishop. Since September 2015, he has been Bishop of Kensington, an area bishopric in the Diocese of London.
Tomlin was born in 1958.[2] His father was a Baptist minister. He was brought up a Christian but confessed he became an atheist during his teenage years. Tomlin attended Bristol Grammar School in the 1970’s then to college at Oxford. He went into the insurance business for a time . . . .then, in spite of the rising agnosticism in England even among some church leaders, he found he was drawn to Christ and to the whole church including the Apostolic Fathers, the great teachers and liturgical traditions.
Tomlin attended seminary and gained advanced degrees and wrote doctorate theses on St Paul, Blaise Pascal, and Martin Luther. He became a professor and eventually Principal of colleges and wrote books that indicate to me he has faith not only in the Christ of history, but also as continuing in the Church, the Body of Christ to this very day. One of his first major books that was published in 1999, entitled “The Power of the Cross”; he explores how St Paul, Luther and the skeptic philosopher Blaise Pascal taught the meaning of the Cross in their times.
It is interesting that Tomlin chose Pascal as one to explain the meaning of the Cross. Both Tomlin and Pascal had been atheists, studied nature and philosophy, had become influential Christian teachers, and both had life altering experiences that led them to devote their lives to Christ.
In spite of the rapid fading of the influence of the Church of England, it appears there may be a revival in the making.
A revival led by a Bishop with the understanding that Tomlin has is not one dimensional, appealing only to emotions, or to a sense of unity for a community, or a love of things enjoyed in past times.
Bishop Tomlin, like St Paul and Blaise Pascal looked deeply into the nature of the world and the things and people in it and in a sense came to the end of themselves in their search. They needed more than their own understanding.
St. Paul was like that; he had been a persecutor of Christians. He watched St Stephen die, and while dying prayed for the soul of St Paul, “Do not hold this sin against him.”
In Acts it is written that after Paul approved of the stoning of Stephen that a persecution was mounted against the Church in Jerusalem and the apostles were scattered. While Christians mourned Stephen’s death, “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”
This was one deeply angry, self-righteous, murderous man. But God was not done with the life of St. Stephen or of angy Saul of Tarsus later named Paul.
Having been filled with anger, and while “still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9)
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
Saul of Tarsus had come to the end of himself. He had been well educated in the law of Moses and the traditions of his people in Jerusalem. He worked well with the leaders of his nation and as well with the Roman authorities. He saw Stephen and the Christians as threats to all that he revered and held dear. He feared once again the walls of Jerusalem might come down and the temple destroyed. He was deeply angry because Stephen and the others would not listen to him, and flagrantly proclaimed that God had risen Jesus of Nazareth from the grave. That message was, to Paul’s mind ungodly and also a political threat the possible cause of an insurrection that would bring Roman armies to Jerusalem.
So Paul with dragon’s breath breathed out his threats, his hatred until – he saw the light.
The heavens were opened and like Isaiah he could say, “I saw the Lord.” Paul later did say that as he related his Damascus Road encounter with the risen Christ.
On day 1 of his conversion he could not speak confidently. He was out of breath from his anger – I suspect nearly strangled by his bile. He saw a flash of light -- he fell to the ground. He heard voices, “Why are you persecuting me?”
Did he hear St Stepehn’s voice in his conscience? Did the sight of stones pummeling Stephen’s body flash through his mind as he lay on the ground trying to make sense of what was happening to him?: I saw heaven’s light . . .I heard a voice say, “Why are you persecuting me??”
Paul could only mumble . . . .Who. . . .Who. . Who are you? . . . .Lord?
Unlike many of the calls to conversion that are issued by some revivalist preachers, Paul, though he saw the light, was not instantly saved or converted or made an evangelist.
He had been a very angry, even murderous man. The light came to him not kindly . . .as in the hymn we sing. . .Lead kindly light. It came like a bolt from heaven driving him to the ground and Paul dazedly responds to the charge against him. . . Who, are you? Are you the Lord?
Paul thought he had been doing God’s business, to hear the charge that he was persecuting heaven was unimaginable. Are you the Lord? Was all he could say.
Paul was not instantly transformed by making a good confession or saying a prayer. He was stricken dumb and was blinded by the bolt from heaven. He was led by his fellow travelers to Damascus where another disciple, named Ananias had a similar, though less violent revelation from God. Ananias was informed that he must overcome his fear of Paul, his fear of persecution and death and go to pray for this creature who had killed his Christians friends, both men and women.
Ananias, after being prodded, and told emphatically Go – did as he was told.
Paul was healed of his blindness and regained his voice. But he still had a way to go before he could become Paul the Missionary, evangelist and Apostle to the Gentiles.
After a few days, he began witnessing to Jewish synagogues that Christ was risen and he had met Him. Paul met with some of the disciples in Jerusalem, but had to be hurriedly removed from Jerusalem to escape the ongoing persecution of Christians. Those who had been victims of Paul’s hateful persecution, rescued him. They returned him to is hometown, Tarsus. More time passed, during which he could absorb more of the meaning of what had occurred.
Then Peter, the aging apostle, experienced a vision that showed him that the Good News was not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles, even the hated Romans who ruled them. As a result of the work of Peter and others, Barnabas became a missionary to the Gentiles and went to Tarsus to enlist Paul in the cause. Barnabas and others who had been victims of persecution made their way to Paul to bring reconciliation.
Many days and many miles had passed by in Paul’s life from the time he witnessed the stoning of St Stephen until he and Barnabas began the first missionary journey around the Roman world. Paul’s conversion and subsequent entry into ministry for Christ has been summed up in an old Gospel song: “Once I was blind but now I can see, the light of the world is Jesus.
The whole world was lost In the darkness of sin,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in.
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me.
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!
You have often heard me say the definition of sin is separation – separation from God and from his creation and other creatures.
Paul had been separated from other Jews – the Christian Jews. He and his fellow Jews had been separated from the Gentile world. The Gentile world was separated from the Heavenly Father.
In the short little chapters of the Acts of the “Apostles, we see how quickly separation of Christians from Jews, the persecuted from the persecutors, and Jews and Christians from Gentiles, and indeed of all men and women from all others and from their Creator was overcome. The rift was no more. Those in harmony with God and all his creation were called simply Christians at Antioch and have been called such to this day.
Consider again the first line of the Epistle for today: The Epistle 1 St. John iii. 13. MARVEL not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
The Christians at Antioch were enjoying new life in Christ . . .knowing from experience they had passed from persecution and death to life. . . .because of brotherly love.
Those Christians from the first century that we regard as Saints were not heroes invented by the imagination of those who wrote their stories in the little pamphlets in our New Testament: the Gospels, the Letters and Acts. If they had been imaginary heroes they would have been like our modern media heroes: Batman, Superman or the Lone Ranger, Harry Potter, Super woman or James Bond.
As we read through Acts we see that those who forgave and rescued the murderous Saul of Tarsus and thus changed him into St Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles were not extraordinary people, they were simply Christians, men and women living out the life of Christ in their own time by loving and serving their Lord and one another..
The lightening bolt from heaven that brought Saul to his knees not only revealed the Creator to the murderous man, it also showed him his destiny. Acts 9:16 Our Lord Jesus when He appeared to Annanias instructing him on how to take care of the stricken Saul of Tarsus both physically and spiritually also said of the man who would become St Paul : I “ will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
We think of Jesus as we read the words of Isaiah the prophet that He would be “a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief.
So it was also with St. Paul -- stricken by a lightening bolt from heaven – more enlightenment than he could handle at the time, he had to face those he had persecuted, acknowledge their rightful fear of him, then receive their food, their nurturing gifts, their prayers and kindnesses. Proud Saul had to accept charity. He was no longer in charge of his own destiny and he knew it. Paul had come to the end of himself.
Then he had to acknowledge his own sinfulness, his separation from the Creator and His creation. He later wrote, “I’m not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God!”
Our Lord indeed showed Paul “how much he must suffer” for the name Christian.
The Book of Acts, written by Luke the Physician a long time associate of St Paul, ends with Paul St Paul in Rome awaiting trial. From notes in some of his Letters, Paul may have been released from the that trial and then went on another missionary journey from Rome around the Medit. Sea to Spain then to Crete and Greece was arrested again and after trial was put to death.
In death as in life, Paul followed the Lord who appeared to him on Damascus highway and who indicated he would be shown what he must suffer as a Christian.
Caius in his Disputation Against Proclus (198 AD) mentions the place in which the remains of the apostles Peter and Paul were deposited: "I can point out the trophies of the apostles. For if you are willing to go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies of those who founded this Church".
Jerome in his De Viris Illustribus (392 AD) writing on Paul's biography, mentions that "Paul was buried in the Ostian Way at Rome".
In 2002, an 8 foot long marble sarcophagus, inscribed with the words "PAULO APOSTOLO MART" ("Paul apostle martyr") was discovered during excavations around the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the Via Ostiensis. Vatican archaeologists declared this to be the tomb of Paul the Apostle in 2005. In June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI announced excavation results concerning the tomb. The sarcophagus was not opened but was examined by means of a probe, which revealed pieces of incense, purple and blue linen, and small bone fragments. The bone was radiocarbon-dated to the 1st or 2nd century. According to the Vatican, these findings support the conclusion that the tomb is Paul's.[99][100]
It appears that researchers using the tools of modern science, have verified the ancient traditions that Paul was buried at Rome, he was not a fictional hero. His life and death causes us to say with St. John what Paul learned from experience. Under the perpetual guidance and providence of God we say:
MARVEL not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
