Lent 3 (B) The Giving of the Law | Homily / Sermon

“God spoke all these words. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ‘You shall have no gods except me’.” (Exodus 20:1-2)

Previously in the Old Testament:
A fortnight ago we were with Noah, emerging from the Ark with God’s promise of compassion and salvation. Then, last week, we heard of the failed sacrifice of Isaac, son of Abraham, and heard of the promised sacrifice of the Son of God who appeared in all his glory. And now, this week, the God of the Hebrews, who has rescued his people from slavery, now binds them closer to himself by a charter, a pact, a covenant of love and service.

The Ten Commandments …

Here’s a good quiz for the family. Give each person a piece of paper, and ask them to write down the Ten Commandments. See who can get all ten. Try it out.

I bet some of them put down, even those who think they know their faith, put ‘Love your neighbour’ which of course isn’t one of then. And I also bet that few of them put down about coveting - and might not even know what the word means (It means jealously/envy wanting to have what others have, sort of keeping up with the Jones’. In many ways our society is built on covetousness).

Now we can deplore the fact that few know the ten commandments off by heart, and still less understand them, and yes, of course, there is a point to be made, but the reciting of words is not quite the same as living them. It’s not that the words aren’t important, of course they are, but far more important than to know the words by heart is to put them into practice.

Notice that, in giving these laws - laws which most of us, for most of the time, recognise as the basic principles of life in family and in society - God begins not by telling us what we must do - but tells us what He has done. The Law begins with the actions, the love and compassion and salvation of the Law-giver. Laws are not letters on page, words to learn by heart, but principals to put into practice.

It is one thing to know it is wrong to tell a lie - it is quite another to be outraged by the temptation to benefit from a convenient untruth.

It is one thing to know it is wrong to steal - but it is another to turn our backs on the odd scam or bargain from a questionable source.

It is one thing to know that we should keep each Sunday by going to mass - yet another to rejoice in the celebration of our faith.

And sometimes when people hear today’s Gospel - of Jesus clearly angry, furiously overturning the money changers’ tables and madly, frenetically, driving them out of the temple - people ask if this could be right? Could Jesus be angry, violent, destructive?

But Jesus’ apparent anger is not a loss of temper, but a focussing of it, a zeal for truth, a thirst for honesty, a hunger for justice, and a yearning for a faith that comes from the heart - not lip-service, not words only, not aspirations, but works, and actions, and deeds.

Lent 2 (B) Sacrifice of Isaac | Homily / Sermon

“I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17)

Last week it was Noah’s Ark, and this week the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. Or not so much the sacrifice, but the attempted sacrifice. The Old Testament can certainly challenge our understanding!

On the face of it, this is a horrific story. God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, and Abraham, out of blind faith, almost carries out the order. Only at the last minute does he hold his hand. Is this the sort of thing God does? Well, we would find it hard to say yes.

But then we must look at two stories together.

The Gospel reading tells us of another mountain. And another Son. And this time the Father is God himself. On the first mountain faith is clear, but the will of God is not. On the second mountain the voice of God speaks clearly and his Glory is revealed.

In the first reading Abraham is blessed not because of the action he did not carry out, but because of his utter devotion to God. In the ancient world, even more than today, family was everything. The clan, kith and kin, the succession, this was at the heart of the fabric of society. Abraham realised that faith in God is greater even than this.

And in the Gospel we hear that the sacrifice is not the sacrifice of an unwilling son, but the gift of God himself, in the Son. Just as in the Old Testament, God replaces the brutality of human sacrifice with the sacrifice of a Ram, so in Christ it is the Lamb of God the takes our sins upon himself.

Sacrifice is, at the end of it all, not about violence, but about love. It is not about taking a life, but about giving life. It is not about blind faith, but about the hope of resurrection, the resurrection of the One clearly seen in all his glory.

Lent 1 (B) Noah's Ark : Homily / Sermon

God spoke to Noah and his sons, ‘See, I establish my Covenant with you. (Genesis 9:8-15)

In the first five Sundays of Lent in Year B we are presented with an introduction to the Old Testament. We begin with the story of the covenant of God with Noah, and a reminder of the sign of the covenant - the rainbow. How can we understand this story, and what on earth has it got to do with Lent, with Jesus’ temptation in the desert?

Some people will look at this story and try to find the historical evidence to support it, and some of that is intriguing: in many cultures there are stories of great floods, and some archeologists have even tried to find evidence of the Ark, and the mountain on which it landed.

At the other extreme, there are those who reject the story out of hand. It is just a tale from primitive people, they say, to explain the rainbow, and a way to explain the presence of some beauty in the midst of much danger. Such people would also point out that the destruction of men, women and children alike, cities and civilisations, is very unworthy of a God of love.

For the Church though, neither of these paths are satisfactory. The search for historical detail will tell us little of use, and the complete rejection of the story fails to take it seriously at all. Even if one view or the other is true, neither tells us what the story actually means.

No, from ancient times, Christian writers have pointed out that it is the symbolism of the story which gives its underlying message, and when we consider it in this way, it’s really meaning opens us before us, like the blooming of a flower.

And so It is a wonderful story with which to begin Lent, and throws great light on the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

It sets before us the Covenant between God and the entire people of the earth. The pledge, promise, commitment of love which God makes to the humanity - despite our faithlessness and our failings, despite our suffering and our sin.

Here - just as Jesus prepares to embarks upon his ministry - his teaching, his healing, his suffering and his sacrifice - we have an account of the Ark and the aftermath. It is a tale full of sin and salvation, of destruction and compassion, of faith and hope.

It meets us on the swell of water, which washes away so much, and a small boat which saves God’s wonderful creation.
We hear echoes of the salvation of a nation through the waters of the Red Sea; it points forward to the stilling of the storm by Jesus, and his walking on the water. In the salvation of Noah and his family from destruction, there are hints already of the death and resurrection of Him who waits in the wilderness. This account, in the earliest pages of the Old Testament, prefigures already the Christian journey of baptism through water, and of the promise of eternal life.

And the 40 days on the boat, are reflected to us in the 40 days of Christ in the wilderness, and we share with them in our 40 days of Lent.

They are all a time of journeying from sin, a time of patient hope, a time of promise, a time of trial, and a time which shines brightly over us, in the rainbow, in the promise of redemption.