Easter 7

Sermon, 16^th May 2010

Easter 7

Text: John 17: 20 – 26.

In the name of God – Creator, Pain-bearer and Spirit of Life and Love.

I sometimes wonder what the author of John’s Gospel would think if he heard some of the interpretations of his writings as presented in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. I imagine he would be amazed to think that his writing was still being read, studied and discussed some nineteen hundred years after his time.

It’s fair, I think, to adopt a something of a midrashic interpretation of these writings.

Midrash is a Jewish method of interpretation which conveys many layers inherent in a text. So we can believe, if we wish, that Jesus actually spoke these words and their meaning is plain. I for one find that an impossible ask. There is no doubt that these are not the actual words of Jesus as ostensibly recorded here. Preservation of speech and text was not as easy as it is today. We take for granted audio and video recording whereby a person’s speech can be recorded and stored to be replayed at some time in the future. The video camera even preserves the nuances of expression that aid immensely in interpreting the speaker’s meaning and intent. In John’s day no such devices existed and it was only through the skills of the oral traditions that particular sayings were preserved.

John wrote about the turn of the first century CE – some sixty or seventy years after Jesus’ crucifixion – at least one - maybe two generations later.

First then, the practical application of the Gospel in its own time – its “sitz im leben”.

This Gospel addresses specific circumstances that were being faced by a Christian community. The writer is urging his church to beware of internal factions and also seeks to strengthen their resolution in the face of hostility and persecution.

Barnabas Lindars, an Oxford theologian, writes," ...it is now widely accepted that the discourses are concerned with the actual issues of the church and synagogue debate at the time when the Gospel was written." The community of John was particularly strong in its criticism of Orthodox Judaism of its time. It would not have been many years since the followers of “The Way” of Jesus – the Christian sect – had been acrimoniously expelled from the synagogues.

It is only in the Gospel of John that we see these long speeches of Jesus where he speaks about himself in such divine terms. The discourses found in this Gospel are considered by many reliable scholars to have originated in sermons that are predominantly the evangelist's own composition but which may be loosely based on a saying or act of Jesus derived from the oral and synoptic Gospel tradition.

Many contemporary scholars regard the Gospel of John as more theological and certainly less historical than the Synoptics. John's picture of Jesus is very different from that which emerges in the Synoptic Gospels. In John Jesus is the pinnacle – he is very definitely presented as God incarnate and is to be greatly venerated.

So we can immediately see threads of varying layers in the text this morning.

We see how the writer is exhorting his community to stick together in the face of persecution by both The Orthodox Jews and the Romans. “Unity is strength”, he is saying. So Jesus, truly Yahweh’s Son in human form, is speaking to his disciples on the very evening of the final night of his arrest and death. He is offering words of hope and strength. He is telling them all that will befall him in the next few days.

Then, in a long prayer, he asks God to bless them and give them strength in their coming adversity. He is strengthening their understanding of him as God’s son and prays that the ancient God of Israel, his father, will uphold them and cause them to remember all he has told them about himself. He peaks in such intimate terms with Yahweh, reminiscent of the patriarchs of the Old Testament but in MUCH more intimacy. Here is a son speaking with a loving father not a servant bowing before an omnipotent God.

Across the centuries this story has gathered around it all sorts of connotations tailored for the particular time. Using the Midrashic principle we can adapt it as a lesson for our own community. There would be few communities where there is not dissent bubbling away either covertly under covers or overtly in obvious destructive acrimony between members. This phenomenon is not restricted to Christian churches of course but it is within a Christian context that I would address it.

For any community to flourish and succeed in its task there needs to be unity. Bring dissent and disunity and the community suffers and is weakened. Disunity can originate in many places and in many people. It can be deliberately broadly destructive or arise from personal and even unthinking selfishness.

There is an old Nigerian proverb that says: “The pebbles are the strength of the wall”.

So that traditional wisdom is saying that each individual is vital if unity is to be maintained. What is the purpose of this unity? The Gospel writer’s purpose was clear. In Verse 23 he explains that ‘they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me’- that is, as a son! The deepest illustration of human love – parent for child!

What a wonderful thing this sense of family is? The illustration infers a deep bond that says, “Together we can overcome all adversity”.

Another proverb; this time from Ghana – “It is because one antelope will blow the dust from the other's eye that two antelopes walk together”. What a lovely insight. It’s not what we can get out of a relationship or our community – it’s what we can do to help our friend and neighbour – even if it is just ‘blowing the dust from the other’s eye.’

Professor Mary Shore , Luther Seminary St. Paul, Minnesota points out that this morning’s text is lifted from a PRAYER not an exhortation or instruction. So, she says, “Jesus is not offering instructions to the disciples or to the church they will lead. This means, for instance, that as important as evangelism is, when Jesus tells his Father that he is asking "not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word" (verse 20) he is not exhorting the church to participate in evangelism.

Likewise, as commendable as ecumenical partnerships are, when Jesus asks that those who believe and those who do not yet believe "may be one" (verse 21), he is not exhorting involvement in ecumenical dialogue.

Jesus is not exhorting the church here. He is not instructing. He is not preaching, teaching, or rallying the troops.

Jesus is praying.”

The question is raised, “How do you feel when someone prays out loud for you?

Comforted, vulnerable, grateful, honoured, humbled, awkward but appreciative, like someone really cares? It can make us feel uncomfortable to be the focus of another’s attention – even in love.

Perhaps that is why we have so often on the past made this passage into a list of orders or instructions. We wish to avoid the intimacy of prayer.

Professor Shore adds, “If Jesus were exhorting his disciples, and by extension us, we could strive to meet his expectations then. If he were exhorting us, we would have a mission - namely, not to disappoint him. Instead, we overhear a prayer on our behalf and are not called to action in that moment as much as wonder that the Father and the Son spend time discussing the likes of us and our little community of faith.”

When someone prays for us in our hour of need it is because they love us. When God, the very Spirit of love, is part of that and responds by bringing deep peace and joy into our lives, regardless of our circumstances, we are truly blessed.

THE LORD BE WITH YOU.

The story of the transfiguration of Jesus

IN THE NAME OF GOD – CREATOR, PAINBEARER AND SPIRIT OF LIFE AND LOVE

TEXT: Luke 9: 28-36

Today we read a story which is contained in all three of the Synoptic Gospels; the story of the transfiguration of Jesus. It is a fascinating story and one’s first reaction has to be “why is this story included in the Gospels?”

To get anywhere near an answer to that question we must first set down some parameters of just what these writings that we call the Gospels are; when they were written, and why they were written. Are they meant to be historic fact or is there some other purpose? Is the culture, world view and thought processes of these ancient writers the same as our western culture and world view? How much of these writings purporting to set down a record of the very words of Jesus of Nazareth is that sort of verbatim record that we are so used to reading in this 21^st century. Is there a connection between the Gospels and the Hebrew Scriptures that we call the ‘Old Testament”?

These are just a few of the questions that we must address if we are to come to any sort of reasoned understanding of this story. They are confronting questions to many people – they are unsettling because they bring into question many of our preconceptions of Scripture that have been laid down by the early orthodox western church and have gradually set like concrete in our minds.

Rev Dr Andrew Dutney, a lecturer in theology at Flinders University in Adelaide, wrote a book with a rather intriguing title. It was Disillusionment: Reflections on the Experience of Theological Education.

I can attest that his choice of title was spot on. Doing theology did indeed prove to bring ‘disillusionment’. Some people in the classes were simply unable to cope with the necessary shift of understanding that dawned upon us when we were instructed in the history and background of the Biblical writings – and dropped out (sadly). They were simply unable to cope with becoming ‘disillusioned’.

I on the other hand found the revelations liberating. I was very happy to have my ‘illusions’ removed. It was like having blurred vision and then suddenly being fitted with a pair of spectacles – the clarity and sense that it made was almost blinding.

But back to the questions and the setting of some parameters.

Scholars agree that this gospel was written by a Gentile (non Jew) possibly at Antioch sometime perhaps during the last decade of the first century – some 60 to 70 years after the events it purports to describe. It is clear that it was written to support the expansion of “The Way” of Jesus of Nazareth beyond the traditional male controlled Jewish synagogues.

Scholars also agree that these writings are not and never were intended to be read or heard as historic fact as we now understand it. They are religious treatises based around the liturgical year of the Synagogue and their declared intention was to convert people to join the community of the early Christian churches.

Scholars also agree that they do carry some kernels of the remembered words / sayings and events of Jesus’ life. It is a great mistake though to assume that all the words and events attributed to Jesus are literal. Many clever literary devices have been used.

These are very competent writings. Luke’s Gospel relies heavily on the earlier Gospel of Mark, which in turn drew on a source now no longer extant called ‘Q’ for ‘Quelle’ – the German word for ‘Source’. This was a document which has just left traces of itself in the gospels – like shreds of mist which remain across the hills after sunup. It is universally believed to have existed about 20 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and contained some sort of written record of his words and actions as remembered by his followers.

The Gospels do draw heavily on the Hebrew Scriptures - Matthew particularly. Luke not so much as his intended audience was not the Jews in the synagogues – his Gentile audience would have found the intricacies of the Jewish traditions opaque.

Today however we read a story of Jesus climbing a mountain with three friends named as Peter, John and James. Whilst deep in prayer we read that the appearance of his face was changed and his clothes became dazzling white.

Does this scenario ring any bells for you? Remember Exodus chapter 34, our Old Testament reading for this morning? The very same thing happened to Moses. He also took three men up the mountain with him. It would be good to also read II Kings Chapter 2. In this ancient story Elijah, the other man Jesus ‘met’ on the mountain, avoids death and is taken up to Heaven on a chariot of fire – what a way to go!

There was also a tradition that Moses did not die as all humans do.

Now here they both are with Jesus in some sort of supernatural state having a conversation.

The Transfiguration is a Christological festival in the church year. (Christology is the theological study of the person and deeds of Jesus). It neatly closes off the period of Christmas and Epiphany before we enter Lent on Ash Wednesday this coming week. The two festivals complement each other in striking ways.

When we understand that in the Hebrew scriptures God's holy light had always connected the people of Israel to God's presence, the Jewish doctrinal elements in the story of Jesus' transfiguration become even more obvious. This tradition of being connected to God's light began in the wilderness, when the pillar of fire guided Israel by night and the pillar of cloud guided Israel by day. Both the fire and the cloud were symbols of the divine connecting light.

The Orthodox Church’s belief and teaching is that in the Incarnation celebrated at Christmas, the divine enters into the human world. In the Transfiguration, the human Jesus shares in divine glory.

The Orthodox Church’s belief and teaching is that in the Incarnation celebrated at Christmas, the divine enters into the human world. In the Transfiguration, the human Jesus shares in divine glory.

In the Incarnation, God takes on human form and resides with us mortals on earth. In the Transfiguration, the earthly Jesus shares the company of two great and worthy residents of heaven, Moses and Elijah.

Peter, James, and John are happy to see Jesus glorified. He had talked previously about his forthcoming suffering and death. But that was horrible, and now for at least a moment it appears that all that can be bypassed.

Jesus is in glory already, and they are with him. They want to camp out with him on the mountain. That is a natural reaction.

People seek inner peace, and they try all kinds of things to achieve it — anything that will promise much, but demand little.

In the story Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus. They know the mind and will of God. They speak of Jesus' forthcoming "exodus" or "departure," his forthcoming death and resurrection, which Jesus had spoken of before going up the mountain (see verse 22).

They confirm that this is the will of God for him.

The way of God for Jesus cannot bypass the cross.

This is at the heart of our Christian faith. Jesus has come to reveal God and redeem humanity. And the way that God has chosen to carry out this redemptive purpose is to send Jesus, to bear our sins upon himself at the cross.

Again, in the story God speaks of Jesus as his Chosen One, for Jesus has accepted his role. Moreover, the disciples of Jesus are to listen to him. What he has said about himself and what is to happen is God's will.

What he says about discipleship is also to be heeded. All his teachings about love for God and for our fellow human beings are to be observed.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord is a day that gives us a glimpse of the coming future glory of Christ at Easter. But it also reminds us that the way to Easter is through the cross.

A few verses after today’s reading (Luke 9 verse 51) Luke writes that Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem," where all that has been spoken of will take place for him.

For us Lent begins on Wednesday when we will figuratively follow in Jesus footsteps through to Good Friday and then to the joy and mystery of Easter Day.

There is another aspect of this day that I want to briefly consider – a much more personal aspect.

Transfiguration means a marked change in form or appearance; a metamorphosis; a change that glorifies or exalts.

In the ancient traditions that we have been contemplating this metamorphosis is brought about by close proximity to God.

Jesus of Nazareth, who was in close proximity to and intimate with God, changed the world and brought humanity to the point where we are able to see (albeit vaguely and often indistinctly through our blurred vision) a path that, if only we were resolute enough to follow, can take us deeper into the mystery that we sometimes perceive within us and which we call God.

God is the unfathomable mystery whose presence we as self aware creatures sense deep within our innermost being – the very Spirit of life itself – all encompassing – all permeating – universal yet so personal – the source of our love and our life.

God within us and we within God.

To quote from the commercial world, “Oh, What a feeling!”

The trouble is that one cannot be close to God without experiencing transfiguration – metamorphosis. It is an experience that sets us on that path that we must then follow no matter what life brings.

There is, like Jesus, no turning back if we are to find the rewards of God’s peace and strength in our lives.

To grasp this idea is to become changed – a different person. It means following Christ and having my world view changed from introspection (only what suits and benefits me regardless of the effect on others around me and my community) to extrospection whereby my world view has changed to be outward looking and mindful of others – my family, my community and the wider world.

If only you and I could experience such a transfiguration! What a difference it could make. The future is in our hands.

May we pray for the guidance and resolve to follow Jesus Christ through the experience of transfiguration so that we too might be found close to God and reflect some of that brilliant light into our broader communities – light that will attract those who are searching and groping in the dark for direction in their lives.

MAY THE LORD BE WITH YOU

I acknowledge use of the text Commentary from the book by Bishop John Shelby Spong, LIBERATING THE GOSPELS: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes, pg. 78-80.]