[This sermon was preached at St Barnabas Northolt Sunday 20th October 2024 - Trinity 21 Year B (Proper 24)]
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[Making the sign of the Cross] We meet in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Would you all like to try that? [get them to make the sign of the cross]
A month or so back Kerrie and I visited Paris- which got me thinking about the beautiful Cathedral of Notre Dame which so tragically burnt down in 2019.
When the fire was finally brought under control and the first pictures were released you could see the scared remains of the roof up and down the main aisle.
But at the far end, on the high altar stood the golden cross amidst the debris. Why did the cross remain while so much of this international treasure was destroyed?
The simple answer is that the wood in the roof has a much lower kindling point than the gold covering the cross. But there is more to it than that. Why after 2000 years are we still celebrating the death of a man on a cross amidst the debris of human folly? (1)
We have a huge cross hanging from our ceiling in St Barnabas [point to it]. The cross is the central most important symbol of Christianity—for good and for ill. In the past churches were often built in the shape of a cross. People buy and wear all sorts of crosses. Round their necks; lapel badges; in their ears [miming it]. The building is full of crosses - I think there are well over a hundred of them in St Barnabas. (2)
And - as we did when we just began this sermon - many Christians Anglicans, Lutherans, Orthodox and Catholics make the sign of the cross as part of their worship. That goes way back. The early Christian writer Tertullian, the North African lawyer-theologian who lived around 200 AD wrote:
“At every forward step,
at every going out,
When we put on our clothes
and when we bathe
When we sit at the table to eat
when we light the lamps.
Yea, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign of the cross.” (3)
“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”
The Trinity and the Cross - the two things that we celebrate when we do “In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit” - are the two distinguishing marks of Christianity. The two things that make us different from other religions.
In our Gospel reading James and John picture God as powerful and majestic. They have read Old Testament books like Enoch and Daniel - with their depiction of a “Son of Man” who is a majestic Divine King - eg Daniel 7:13-14 “Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
They had heard Jesus describe himself as the Son of Man - and they wanted in. , ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ (Mark 10:37)
Now we think they are crass and stupid - but that is what people were expecting at the time.
As the historian Tom Holland puts it -
“The utter strangeness of all this, for the vast majority of people in the Roman world, did not lie in the notion that a mortal might become divine. The border between the heavenly and the earthly was widely held to be permeable. Divinity, however, was for the very greatest of the great: for victors, and heroes, and kings. Its measure was the power to torture one’s enemies, not to suffer it oneself.” (4)
For James and John - they expected the Divine Son of Man to come in glory. A great warrior king who defeats his enemies. They have read Enoch. They have read Daniel.
They can’t understand what Jesus is talking about when he says “can you drink the cup that I drink and be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with” - which we get refers to his death.
But that idea was too shocking for the ancient world. As the powerful and beautiful prophecy in Isaiah 53 makes clear - when people look at someone being tortured to death on a cross, they wouldn’t think “that must be God” - they would think “we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted”
That is a view still held today.
Muslims for example do not believe that Jesus actually died on the cross - the Quran says he was swapped for somebody else - because God could not allow his messenger to be treated in that way.
In the ancient world- there were two pictures of deities - capricious polytheistic ones like Zeus - who would happily saunter down to earth to impregnate young women - or the monotheistic Great Sultan in The Sky - distant and majestic and utterly removed from the affairs of human beings - the God of Plato or Mohammed.
But Jesus is not the great Sultan in the Sky.
He is the one who loved you enough to come down and die.
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For all the great thought systems of the world, the issue of sin is a big one.
(I apologise in advance if I have got the nuances of what our friends in other religions believe wrong - if so please do correct me afterwards)
For all the great thought systems of the world, the issue of sin is a big one.
For buddhists the issue is desire - we steal things because we want them- but similarly we suffer pain or loss because desire not to feel that way. If only we could meditate until we stopped being bothered all would be well.
For Hindus - if we do good in this life we shall be reincarnated as someone higher caste - while if we do bad we shall be reincarnated as someone lower caste. So your status in society is all about whether you were a good or bad person in your last life.
For Muslims and Jews there is a belief in an afterlife which we will enter if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds.
But there is a problem with all these solutions to THE PROBLEM.
Let me give you an example. You at St Barnabas are about to be looking for a new vicar. So let me quote you something from a sermon by a Candadian priest for a parish in a similar situation -
“We’ve all been praying for a new Rector. I have a few suggestions: This first man I would suggest is a great preacher of Righteousness, but he also has a drinking problem. If you don’t vote for him, you just rejected Noah.
My next suggestion for Rector: He is well off, so we don’t have to worry about paying him, he’s got a lot of faith, he’s also a polygamist and a liar. Would you vote for him? If not, you just rejected Abraham.
Well, let’s go my next suggestion. This next candidate is very well educated, he is in his 80’s but he is very spry, a born leader, but a man with a past – (most people in their 80’s have a past. More past than ahead!) and this guy’s past is murder. His name: Moses.
OK, one last try: How about someone who is musical, someone who is worshipful, someone who steals another man’s wife and then murders the husband. So, you’re going to take a pass on David!
That’s why we’re having trouble finding a new Rector. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody sins.” (5)
As it says in our first reading from Isaiah 53:6 - “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way.” Or as it says in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the goodness of God”
A traffic cop ran into trouble while investigating a routine traffic mishap. His problem began after he had interviewed witnesses, arrested one of the drivers, and written up the accident report. He suddenly noticed that the offending motorist was chewing on something that wasn’t gum. He was eating the report! The officer reached for the disappearing paper, only to get his hand caught in a bite that lasted about 2 minutes. Despite his efforts to retrieve the report, it was destroyed. But the delay was only temporary. The patrolman tracked down the witnesses again and recompiled the damaging evidence.
We may not be so brazen as the guilty motorist in covering our sins, but we all do it, just the same:
1. We make excuses for ourselves ("that’s just the way I am")
2. We point at other and cry that they were guilty too... (like the child who cries: "but he hit me first")
3. Or we compare ourselves with someone else: "I’m just as good as..." (6)
We can make all the excuses in the world - we but we can’t escape from the difficult truth “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way.”
So if we are honest with ourselves -in any solution that is based on distant heavenly judge weighing up our deeds - any solution where our good deeds have to outweigh our bad deeds - we would be screwed!
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But this is the point of the Trinity - a God who steps down from his throne , who loves us enough to become human and pay the price. “For the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” (ISaiah 53:5)
An American business man enjoyed the famous Passion Play at Oberammergau.
After the play, the man went backstage to meet the actor who portrayed Jesus. As they talked, the man saw the cross that the actor carried in the play. Before the actor had a chance to stop him, the business man handed over his camera and said, "Hey, take a picture of me carrying the cross." He bent over and tried in vain to lift the huge cross to his shoulders.
With sweat rolling down his face, he turned in frustration to the actor and said, "I thought it would be hollow; why is it so heavy?" With a smile of compassion the actor answered, "If I could not feel the weight of it, it would be impossible to play the part." (7)
Some people say that our forgiveness is a free gift. The problem with Free gifts is that we don’t value them properly - Our forgiveness if not free. It cost Jesus his life on the cross.
There was a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from 2 years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room, nary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned.
As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence, "Doctor, when do I die?" (8)
The little boy assumed that he would have to give ALL his blood so his sister could live. Obviously not. But Jesus did give ALL his blood so that we could live.
Some people say that our forgiveness is a free gift. The problem with Free gifts is that we don’t value them properly - Our forgiveness if not free. It cost Jesus his life on the cross.
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And the result - total restoration.
“By his wounds we ARE healed”
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, (Hebrews 5:7-10)
A preacher tells this story “For years I had a couple of old 10 carrot gold rings in my bedroom night table. They both carried with them bad memories. They were part of the past.
But I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out because they were worth a bit of money. One day I had an idea. I went to a Jeweller and said, Could you melt these down and make one good ring for Muriel out of it. She said she could. Well, the new, restored ring is 18 k gold and much, much more beautiful. And when we look at Muriel’s new ring, we give thanks for restoration. We are never the same after we commit a major sin, but we can become better. We can be restored.
God wants to do the same for you my brother, my sister as I was able to do to those rings. Perhaps because of sin you have been discarded to somebody’s night table, but God has something better in mind for you. He wants to melt you down, refine you, reshape you, and then make you even better than you were before.” (9)
Another story - In a small town there was woman who was crazy. Everyone knew it because she had the habit of talking to herself in public and it was known that she believed she even talked to Jesus - and was spoken back to. A new Vicar came to town and, hearing of the crazy woman, thought that he might be able to make her face reality.
One day, as he saw her walking down the street he spoke to her and eventually got around to asking, "I hear you talk to Jesus."
"Yes," she replied. "Jesus and I talk for just hours and hours."
"Would you do me a favor?" the minister began. "Could you ask Him something for me?"
"Why of course," the old woman responded.
"Would you ask Jesus what the last sin was that I confessed to Him?"
"Certainly," she replied.
The next day, the vicar saw the crazy woman just down the street and so he approached her asked, "Well, did you talk to Jesus last night?"
"Why, I surely did," she squealed.
"What did He say was the last sin was that I confessed to Him?" the vicar coyly asked.
Without hesitation she replies - "Why, He said He didn’t remember." (10)
Our sins on the cross are taken away from us so thoroughly that God doesn’t even remember them.
[first time round: say this at normal speed]
You don’t have to earn your way out of it: [Making the sign of the cross] Jesus has paid the price for all the bad stuff you have done on the cross. And - God is Father Son and Holy Spirit - God isn’t the distant Sultan in the sky - [making the sign of the cross] he is the one loved you enough to die.
I invite you to make that ancient sign that goes back to at least the time of Tertullian in 200 AD - and remind yourself of the two unique features of Christianity -
[second time round - saying this a bit slower to enable people to join in:]
You don’t have to earn your way of it [Making the sign of the cross] Jesus has paid the price for all the bad stuff you have done on the cross
God is Father Son and Holy Spirit - God isn’t the distant Sultan in the sky - [making the sign of the cross] he is the one loved you enough to die. amen
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(1) From a sermon by Canadian Anglican Priest Fr Alvan Lewis on this site
(2) inspired by a sermon by Lutheran priest Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson on this site
(3) From a sermon by Canadian Anglican Priest Fr Alvan Lewis on this site
(4) Professor Tom Holland in the Spectator April 2019 https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-way-of-the-cross/
(5) From a sermon by Canadian Anglican Priest Fr Alvan Lewis on this site
(6) Sermon by baptist pastor Jeff Strite on this site
(7) Ibid
(8)From the book, "Written in Blood," by Robert Coleman.
(9)) From a sermon by Canadian Anglican Priest Fr Alvan Lewis on this site
(10) Sermon by baptist pastor Jeff Strite on this site
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