In the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen,
Our Gospel this morning begins in the place where we left off last week, looking at Christ as the Bread of Life, and how we are fed not only by the food of heaven, the sacrament, but also by the word of life, the bible.
Bishop Mark spoke about how we can celebrate the past and what has brought us to this point, but that it wasn’t about living in the past, instead we need to look forward, and continue to strive to be the people of God in this place, by serving one another and the people of our community.
As we pick up the Gospel this morning, Christ is continuing to teach the crowds about the importance of looking beyond their worldly existence and focussing on their eternal salvation. But they are far too concerned with grumbling amongst themselves and have missed the point of His teaching,
‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’
The people of that time had concern for one thing only, themselves, they didn’t want to be concerned with this child of Joseph, who was in their view nothing more than a simple carpenter.
I wonder how much of the following discourse was actually taken in by the people stood around, who were angry and infuriated by this young man’s words? We will no doubt hear more about this next week, as the lectionary continues to explore this part of the Gospel.
But for now, we know from our own personal experiences that when we get angry or annoyed by something that is going on, the more frustrated we feel by the situation, the less open we are to listening, we become entrenched and we take in very little about what is happening.
Given that the disciples were there watching this exchange take place, did they comprehend more of the words, and did they see that Christ was beginning to lay the foundations for a new way of understanding their relationship with God, which would ultimately see them hear these words again on the day we now call Maundy Thursday, and ultimately His perfect sacrifice on Calvary?
All very important questions, which deserve our attention, but as I looked at the way that the lectionary writers have joined this Gospel reading with the epistle to the Ephesians, I think there may well be something else that we are being encouraged to focus on in our scripture this morning, because as the Gospel shows us how easily the cause of pain and hurt can grow in a place, Paul helps us to think about how we need to respond.
I often think it’s a shame that we don’t have access to the letters that were sent to Paul, as it would give us a frame of reference for his replies, which are at times brutally honest and blunt.
Paul doesn’t mince his words in this passage, he has clearly seen and heard about the behaviour of the new converts and is ready to speak some sense to them.
Now there are two ways in which we take this scripture. The first is very easy, we say, oh its Paul off on a rant again, and the people in Ephesus must have been a right set of characters.
Seeing the scripture in this way turns the letters into a history text, and we fall into the trap of judging them on the information that is presented to us. Essentially, it’s reduced to a good juicy read.
However if we read the scripture in that kind of way, then please let me be as blunt as Paul, because it means we have missed the point and purpose of scripture.
The second way is based upon the three pillars of the Church, Scripture, Reason and Tradition, which the influential theologian of the early 16th Century Richard Hooker said, these three must be integrated to help us to understand how we apply the scripture to our own lives.
This means that as we read Paul’s letters, and essentially the guide books he wrote to the various fledgling churches, they were not meant for us to read as mere history, but more for us to understand the enormity of the commitment that we have made as we became followers of Christ, Christians.
Now I could spend time going through each line of this epistle in detail, and even then I am sure that each one of us listening to these words could add a variety of tales and stories from our own experiences.
Some would be experiences with those who hold no faith, but there would also be others which would include our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Lies, unfettered anger, gossip, malice, hatred, bitterness, slander.
These are just some of the words that describe all manner of experiences that are as rife in the world today, as they were 2000 years ago. We only have to take a look at the news to see the unsavoury things that are happening.
Now there may be some who are thinking what’s that got to do with me? Perhaps it doesn’t, perhaps you don’t have a strong opinion on what is in the news. However, if the situation was closer to home, something that was emotive for us, then we become more invested in what’s happening.
Now I could give you a number of examples, which would most certainly push buttons for people here today, but I am not going to. In fact quite possibly, by just saying this there could be those sat among us who are already on edge.
This is what Paul is talking about in our epistle. He isn’t saying don’t be angry, he’s saying that there are times when we are going to get angry about situations that present themselves to us in life, but he is imploring us to deal with them in the proper way.
Christ teaches us how to do this in Matthews Gospel, He says Speak to the person one-to-one, confront the thing that has caused you grief and hurt, and talk it through with the person that has aggrieved you. If that doesn’t bring restoration, take others, and if all else fails tell the church as a last opportunity for reconciliation.
But what isn’t being said is if someone upsets you go and tell your friends, those who will no doubt support you and get you more agitated, to the point that this issue, which could have been easily resolved now takes on a life of its own.
What follows next is a game of Chinese whispers, the gossip that is spread is distorted away from the truth, and ultimately ends with someone getting hurt, it prevents relationships prospering, and creates unnecessary barriers, which prevent things from being accomplished, and continues to escalate out of control.
The body of Christ, the church is broken and unsurprisingly fractures begin to form which begin to hurt everyone, innocent bystanders are drawn in and whilst its easy to say that forgiveness should be given, the practicalities of achieving this become almost impossible because all that is left is a gaping hole of distrust and disharmony.
That as Paul so clearly wrote, is where we make room for the devil to get in and cause even more damage, it’s not coincidence that in John Gospel he is called ‘The Father of Lies’
But Paul, gives the Ephesians and us the antidote, be imitators of God, follow his path, his principles, if someone does you wrong, don’t berate them and tell all and sundry, we are called to love one another as Christ loves us, which means that we owe them the opportunity to be reconciled through their heartfelt apology and our forgiveness.
This is always the best way forward, and for the most part restoration is accomplished. Many comment in how the Benefice is working well together, and that many old wounds have been healed, and whilst this is good news to be celebrated, we must also remember that rot can set in again, and just as we have been working so closely together during the Pandemic, we must remember that now that we have begun the return to our three parishes, we continue to be called into closer relationship with our brothers and sisters at our sister churches.
If we can continue to grow and develop from all that has been learnt since March last year, then we as three churches, one benefice will continue to grow stronger together as we strive to be all that he wants us to be as we Share Christ with Littleborough.
Amen.
