Beyond fear and exclusion

Epiphany 2 year A Sermon 08
God’s talking to somebody.

Through the prophetic voice in our sacred texts...

"You are my servant, Israel...in whom I’ll display my splendor...but more than that... I’ll also make you a light for the Gentiles...that you...
may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

God’s talking to somebody. Through the person of Jesus...

‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill can’t be hidden…let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works…
and give glory to your Father in heaven.’

You’re a light...a chosen people... formed to reflect the glory of God’s love...for all the world.

A few weeks ago... we established in the story of Jesus baptism...how he comes to understand his identity... taking on...taking over...
the mantle of Israel as the Son of God...
the servant of YWHW...taking the nation’s...
covenant responsibility upon himself...


From where Jesus stands in the first century...
Israel had retreated from its mandate...retreated into itself... behind a wall of arrogance and fear and exclusion... A nationalistic wall... of ethnic purity and divine favour...

believing God’s salvation...God’s shalom...
was for them...not the rest of the world...

From where Jesus stands...Israel is deaf to its divine calling... and unable to reflect...divine love into the world...

not that their election is used up...Jesus is desperate to reach the lost sheep of Israel...
but from where Jesus stands...Israel’s election as the servant of God...is diabolically misdirected.

But Jesus is a good Jew and a rabbi...
and from where he stands...it’s a given...
that God’s purposes would be fulfilled...
if not by Israel...then by a new Israel
God was forming.

In this season of Epiphany... we’re reminded that not only did Jesus see himself taking on the mantle of Israel...but today in his Sermon on the Mount...
Jesus speaks clearly of his followers in language formerly used... only for the nation of Israel...
He asks his followers to be salt and light...
city and lamp.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It’s no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled. You’re the light of the world. A city on a hill... can’t be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand...and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before humanity, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Jesus chooses the historic symbols of Israel’s covenant to address his followers...
Not one person listening to Jesus... would miss the ancient meaning in his words. They’d all memorized them from their youth... just as their ancestors had... for thousands of years.

Originally the Hebrew people carried...
their calling to be a sign and a light to the world...
as a covenant people...their ancient symbols of Temple and shining menorah...
a constant reminder to them.

At it’s dedication...King Solomon prays even the architectural majesty of the first Temple... would be a sign

‘so all the peoples of the earth… may know your name and revere you, as do your own people Israel…

And the people of Israel…are to reflect the light of God’s love to the world…by example…
by light…and not by force…by how they lived and how they treated the voiceless and the outsider.

This is brilliantly symbolised in Zechariah’s vision of a flaming menorah… another potent symbol of Israel’s calling to be a light to the world.

An angel explains God’s message in the vision…
Israel will accomplish its task:
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit." [pause]

And just as all rabbis do in the first century...
Jesus gathers around him... those who would live under his yoke...
who’d live out his understanding of scripture
and his understanding of Israel’s calling...
to bring salvation...to bring the Shalom of God...
to the rest of the world

The purpose of their existence as a people...
is to reflect God’s love into the world...
Israel’s vocation as the servant of God...
as the son of God...gave them a mission to all humanity...

And Jesus’ incarnation and identity... bind him...
not only to the Jewish people... but to all humanity... including...people of other religions... or none.

In his book... a Generous Orthodoxy...
Bryan McLaren puts it this way... ‘I’m not saying
all religions are the same...it doesn’t matter what you believe...truth is relative blah blah blah...
I’m saying that because we follow Jesus,
because we believe Jesus is true...and because Jesus moves... toward all people in love and kindness and grace...as his followers...we do the same.’

Our identity as Jesus disciples ‘mustn’t make us afraid of, superior to, isolated from, defensive or aggressive toward... or otherwise hostile’...
to people of other faiths.

Another great Christian writer David Bosch reminds us ‘We can’t point to any other way of salvation than Jesus Christ; at the same time...
we can’t set limits to the saving power of God...
we appreciate this tension and do not attempt...
to resolve it.’

If others aren’t convinced of Jesus divinity or his saving message of Shalom...we simply move on... just as Jesus told his disciples to do. We honour the humanity of our brothers and sisters who aren’t convinced...rather than calling down fire from heaven on them...as Jesus told his disciples not to do.

My friends...we are the gentiles...to whom the light has been shone......
and as McLaren says ‘if through Christ...
God risks all for us... then we must do the same
for people of other religions. They are our neighbours and everything Jesus said about neighbors applies to them...Even if they approach us as enemies...

to be faithful to Jesus... we must love them...
and never let their status as non-Christians...
reduce them to non-neighbors.’

Paul...a Jew among Jews... a Pharisee of the Pharisees... who persecutes and mistreats the earliest Christians... Paul has a change of attitude...
when he’s confronted with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.

Paul has a change of heart and religious culture which leads him to embrace his mission to the gentiles and say in his letters
‘let us do good to all people...’

Jesus taught and Paul shows us...
that to be part of the new Israel...
Jesus sees himself shaping ...
to be a part of this new covenant people...
you have to change your attitudes...

We have to change our attitudes.

As followers of Jesus...we’re here to reflect the love we’ve received... out into the world... to share it with all humanity...to seek to understand their stories...
to laugh and eat and work with them.... to play
with one another’s children and hold each others babies and savour one another’s hospitality.

‘We’re here to be their neighbour...
according to the teaching of Our Lord.
And doesn’t Jesus tell us...if we aren’t good neighbours... they have no reason to believe or even respect...
the saving message of Shalom we carry.

Just as in Jesus day in the vast reaches of the Roman Empire and just as in our day in our own community...everyone has a faith of some kind...even atheists...beliefs and attitudes they’ll sometimes defend to the death... rather than change...

But if the purpose of our existence as a people...as a community of faith... here beneath these mountains and beside these lakes...
is to be a light to the world around us...
if we are now the new Israel... then we must ask ourselves who are the gentiles?

What attitudes do we harbour toward them? What attitudes do we need to change?

By telling his followers to be a light to the world... Jesus is saying

‘You are the light of the world’ ..

You are the new Israel...custodians...
of the new covenant...now go and be it...living lives... that reflect the glory of God’s love to the world.’