Sermons from Rev David Jenkins - 2006

A Sermon first preached on 5 February 2006 based on Luke 5:17-26

The man lowered through the roof- 3 main areas to focus on-
Ø   Other people’s faith makes a difference
Ø   Forgiveness is a powerful ingredient of healing
Ø   The man at the centre of the story- what this incident tells us about Jesus.

Other people’s faith makes a difference. Did you notice in the story that it is when Jesus saw their faith (the faith of the man’s friends) that he began to heal the man who was paralyzed? Whether the man himself had faith we don’t know. But they did. And their faith made a difference. They showed their faith-first by bringing their friend to Jesus; and then by their determination, that, come what may, they would get him to Jesus- even if it meant taking the ceiling down!

Jesus is impressed by faith like that- faith that shows itself in basic compassion and in great determination. You know sometimes that a young child comes here to be baptized, and we might think, “What faith can a baby possibly have?” “What sense can baptism make?” But baptism is not only in response to our own faith, but in response to the faith of other people. That may be the faith of the child’s parents, of the wider family or godparents or simply the faith of the church. And such faith makes a difference and Jesus responds to it.

Sometimes you’re setting out for church and a neighbour may call out, “Say one for me”. Knowing you’re going to church, they want you to include a prayer for them. Your faith is making a difference for them. Think of some of the people whose faith has made a difference to you. Who were they- parents, Sunday School teachers, Ministers, friends or family members? Their faith has influenced your life. And you can be a positive influence on the life of other people. They can draw inspiration from your example.

People on the streets- drug addicts, alcoholics, the homeless; people in prison; those with no self respect, desperately need people who will befriend them. The befrienders may come from Youth @Act here; or a volunteer, a Chaplain, a teacher, a Social Worker, who can give to that other person their faith that that person’s life is worth living.

The second aspect of the story has to do with forgiveness. It is curious that Jesus, when he saw their faith, should say to the paralyzed man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The man hadn’t come for forgiveness but for healing. Why does Jesus speak about forgiveness in this instance? Why doesn’t he simply heal the man? This isn’t what Jesus normally does when people come to him. Jesus is deeply aware of where this particular man’s need lies.

The cause of this man’s paralysis is not simply physical. There is something more deep seated and Jesus discerns that. Something in this man’s life for which he feels he has not been forgiven (by others and by God); –perhaps his failure to forgive himself may be at the root of his paralysis. It is a graphic illustration of a profound truth that lack of forgiveness paralyses life. And wherever we are in life, forgiveness is necessary to help us to move on. Have other people forgiven us?  Do we believe that God has forgiven us? Have we allowed ourselves to receive forgiveness? Have we forgiven ourselves?

As a Christian community in this place, we want to offer what will make for healing. The qualities of welcome, acceptance and understanding will take other people forward; and will take us forward, too.  Our willingness to bring pardon into a situation of injury offers a very powerful ingredient in the process of the healing of a person’s emotions, spirit, mind and body.

We need to recognize that forgiveness is not cheap and needs to be handled with care. Some of us may have very deep hurts we are carrying. However justifiable those hurts are, may we also acknowledge that the greater the degree of forgiveness that can be shown, the greater the degree of healing that can result. The family of murdered black teenager, Robert Walker, in their tear-stained grief have wanted to find some way to restore goodness into a savage and senseless event. They believed forgiveness was an essential aspect of doing that.

How each of us handles grief and hurt is unique to us; but if we, too, can find ways of bringing forgiveness into situations of hurt, we can help to bring the healing those situations desperately need. The incident speaks about the importance of other people’s faith and of how forgiveness is a powerful ingredient of healing. What it says about Jesus is also particularly significant.

Jesus possesses considerable awareness. He is aware of the friends’ motivation; he is aware of the paralyzed man’s true need; and is he aware of what people in the crowd are thinking. Jesus is aware of our motivation, our need and our thoughts. Let us pray to be more aware as he is aware.

Jesus is deeply compassionate. His concern is to heal, to restore, to set people on their feet again. His compassion can heal and restore us, setting us on our feet. Let us pray to be more compassionate as he is compassionate.

Jesus has the power, the authority and inner strength to confront opposition, and to bring health and restoration. His action is implicitly a claim to act as God acts. In his words and actions people see God at work.

He has the power to enable us to grasp hold of constructive change in our own lives.

True power is at the service of others.

Let us pray to be more powerful in the way that Jesus demonstrates power; a power which involves awareness of others, and compassion for them.

BEING INCLUDED

A Sermon first preached on 26^th February 2006 based on Matthew 15:21-28

This story is unique in the Gospels- the only time when Jesus appears to have been reluctant to act on someone else’s behalf. He felt he needed to concentrate on his primary objective of giving just to “the lost house of Israel”, as he called them. For a while, even Jesus, of all people, was blinkered.  

I want to concentrate on the woman rather than Jesus, today; but because the incident is potentially shocking and disturbing, it may help to say here is a real person, not a plasterboard figure of perfection. Growing towards maturity involves the willingness to change.  If our eyes are opened to see where ideas from our background are not helpful, we need the courage and grace to change. The way Jesus reacts to his own need to change is instructive for us. It takes humility to recognise where we need to rethink our attitudes. Let’s learn from the way Jesus moves on in his understanding.

But what about this pretty remarkable woman? What can we learn from her? She could easily have felt excluded because she was

• A woman in a man’s world
• A foreigner, even in her own country
• A person of another faith

Have you ever felt excluded? In a minority? Someone who doesn’t seem to fit in? Someone who doesn’t belong? Have you ever felt lonely, even in the middle of a crowd? Understanding what it feels like to be excluded, might make us feel more empathy for other people in the same position. It might make us more sensitively aware and resourceful to find a way in which they can feel a sense of belonging.

Nothing excludes people more strongly than when they are classed as “them” by “us”. “Us and them” is such a powerful divide that it leads to the worst in human life- the Jewish holocaust, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, genocide in Rwanda. Our present day divisions between Israeli and Palestinian, Moslem and non-Moslem, carry on the classic divisions between black and white, rich and poor, all the divisions of class, race and belief. When these divisions are so strong and so destructive, what can break through them?

This woman broke through the barriers of racial, religious and gender exclusion,

• By being persistent
• By responding with humour
• Because she loved her daughter so much.

She was politely persistent. She didn’t give up. She saw something in him beyond his initial words. If we are to attempt to break down barriers, by helping people to see, we, too, will need to be politely persistent people. There is a kind of persistence which is counter-productive because it puts people’s backs up –a person who keeps on in an abusive and rude way.

It is sometimes said that the people who shout, who make a nuisance of themselves, who are uncompromisingly stubborn are the people who get what they want. Maybe they do; but they don’t break any barriers down and they don’t open any eyes. Polite and patient persistence is most likely to engender an atmosphere of trust and respect where issues can be seen clearly and responded to positively. Some viewpoints need to be challenged. The most effective challenges are gentle and non-aggressive ones.

This woman breaks down barriers through her sense of humour. Her own ironic sense of humour appeals to Jesus’ strong sense of humour. The gift of laughter helps to restore a sense of well being and perspective to us. Laughter can defuse tension and relax people. We warm towards those who can make us laugh.

When people from the mosque visited us here, one of the special features of that evening was the times when we laughed together. Of course a sense of humour can be powerfully destructive. The cartoons in a Danish newspaper have stirred up a violently angry response. There is a world of difference between being laughed at and laughing with. None of us like to be laughed at; but to laugh with other people can be among the most glorious and healing experiences of our lives. If humour is to make fun of anyone, it will need to make fun of ourselves.

One week after church, a little boy said to me “When I grow up, I’m going to give you some money”. “That’s very kind of you”, I said, “but why is that?” and the little chap said, “Because my daddy says you’re one of the poorest preachers we’ve ever had”.

It’s OK to make fun of ourselves. Humour can be a weapon which can wound; or it can be a bridge which helps people to relate to each other, to meet in understanding. But the reason why this woman was so politely persistent and used a sense of humour constructively, is because she loved her daughter so much.

Whatever outer confidence she seemed to have, however calmly and clearly she reacted, inside she was frantically desperate. It was the depth of her love for her daughter that led her to confront barriers of misunderstanding. If she had been acting only on her own behalf, the initial rebuff would have deterred her. For the sake of her daughter, she had to find a way through.  

Love for others can produce in us greater qualities of character than anything else. Persistence and humour may break down barriers, but nothing does so more powerfully than love for another. There are barriers of human relationship we need to break down each day. Will we do this, opening people’s eyes, helping them to see and to change, by our patient and polite persistence, our gentle humour, and our burning love?