Epiphany 6 year A Sermon Hello out there…
from a Jewish grandfather in 1st century Egypt…
today I have a problem…my grandson Amos wants me to read to him…more of the teaching of this rabbi Jesus of Nazareth…but the next part is all about relationships even the intimate kind …and control of passions
like anger and scorn and… lust…
from a Jewish grandfather in 1st century Egypt…
today I have a problem…my grandson Amos wants me to read to him…more of the teaching of this rabbi Jesus of Nazareth…but the next part is all about relationships even the intimate kind …and control of passions
like anger and scorn and… lust…
I’m not sure little Amos is ready for this…
he’s an innocent boy… only ten years old…
what can he know of murder and adultery…
let alone lust already?
he’s an innocent boy… only ten years old…
what can he know of murder and adultery…
let alone lust already?
Oh he knows Abraham had three wives…
as it was with the ancients…and knows their names were Sarah, Hagar and Ktura…and I guess he knows it was a complicated family …because…Sarah was Abraham’s sister…actually his father’s daughter…
as it was with the ancients…and knows their names were Sarah, Hagar and Ktura…and I guess he knows it was a complicated family …because…Sarah was Abraham’s sister…actually his father’s daughter…
And Amos knows the story of the rape of Dinah …Jacob’s daughter…and the murders of retribution that followed. But I don’t think he has any idea
what rape is…
what rape is…
And …my grandson learned King David
stole the wife of poor Uriah…and then had him killed…
stole the wife of poor Uriah…and then had him killed…
Amos knows these things because at synagogue school he’s had to memorise all five books of the Torah and listen to Samuel and the Kings and the Psalms
Of murder…he knows how Cain killed his brother Abel… in a jealous rage. But I’m sure he’s never felt it…yes I grant you… maybe he had a tantrum when he was a toddler…but rage…I don’t think so…
Of murder…he knows how Cain killed his brother Abel… in a jealous rage. But I’m sure he’s never felt it…yes I grant you… maybe he had a tantrum when he was a toddler…but rage…I don’t think so…
And of course Amos knows the commandments of God against killing and adultery …but I don’t think he has any idea… exactly what happens in adultery…
I certainly haven’t told him…
I certainly haven’t told him…
And when in this illegal writing…Rabbi Jesus speaks of the dangers of the fire of hell…the word is Gehenna in our Hebrew language…this won’t be so hard to explain …Amos will know of it also from the scriptures…
He’ll know it as that vast burning garbage dump…
in the Valley of Hinnom… outside Jerusalem…
where the followers of the so called god Malloch…
long ago sacrificed their children in the fires…
…and Amos knows that legend declares at Gehenna
is a gate to the underworld…one of three gates actually …but this legend gives him nightmares his mother says …so we don’t tell it very often
He’ll know it as that vast burning garbage dump…
in the Valley of Hinnom… outside Jerusalem…
where the followers of the so called god Malloch…
long ago sacrificed their children in the fires…
…and Amos knows that legend declares at Gehenna
is a gate to the underworld…one of three gates actually …but this legend gives him nightmares his mother says …so we don’t tell it very often
I suppose some little Jewish children were there…
when this Rabbi Jesus was teaching on the mountain top …laying out his yoke…his interpretation of the Law
…and I suppose parents and even grandparents…
had to sum up Jesus teaching for them…
when they began to ask their questions as children do…
But this section of Jesus teaching…the one you heard just before… is a challenge
when this Rabbi Jesus was teaching on the mountain top …laying out his yoke…his interpretation of the Law
…and I suppose parents and even grandparents…
had to sum up Jesus teaching for them…
when they began to ask their questions as children do…
But this section of Jesus teaching…the one you heard just before… is a challenge
what can you tell a child… who knows nothing…
of lust and divorce and murder and adultery…
except from stories in the sacred scrolls?
I have prayed about this you know…and I think I will read it plainly… and then just summarise it for Amos without going into too much detail…before he can ask too many questions…tell me what you think…
of lust and divorce and murder and adultery…
except from stories in the sacred scrolls?
I have prayed about this you know…and I think I will read it plainly… and then just summarise it for Amos without going into too much detail…before he can ask too many questions…tell me what you think…
First I’ll tell him… it seems to me Amos my grandson
that this rabbi Jesus is saying… his yoke…his understanding of the will of God… is this…
that our relationships with people are more important
than our religious rituals…that sorting them out …healing relationships when their broken… should come first…
that this rabbi Jesus is saying… his yoke…his understanding of the will of God… is this…
that our relationships with people are more important
than our religious rituals…that sorting them out …healing relationships when their broken… should come first…
God’s law of love must be raised above our duties at the synagogue or the Temple.
Second…I’ll tell him… in Jesus yoke …in relationships with people…faithfulness respect and honour are due to every single human being…men and women…
and third Rabbi Jesus is teaching…
what goes on in our hearts…is as important…
as what we do…
Second…I’ll tell him… in Jesus yoke …in relationships with people…faithfulness respect and honour are due to every single human being…men and women…
and third Rabbi Jesus is teaching…
what goes on in our hearts…is as important…
as what we do…
remember Amos…the words ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart’…is repeated thirty eight times in our scriptures
Fourth… here Jesus is saying…the seeds of murder and adultery are planted in the heart…they start out as anger and lust and scorn…and they grow… to become murder and adultery…so Jesus binds these things…forbids the seeds of these in his yoke.
And lust…well…I think he’ll ask…Lust Amos my grandson…is when we forget… that a woman or a man are made in the image of God. With lust in our hearts we make them into objects of our desires…
no longer human beings made in the image of God
just things for our secret pleasure.
This Rabbi Jesus will not have it…in his followers
no longer human beings made in the image of God
just things for our secret pleasure.
This Rabbi Jesus will not have it…in his followers
And then Amos I’ll explain
the sixth thing in this teaching of Jesus is this…
to say another person is beneath us… or worthless
when we’re all made in the image of God…
is as bad as killing them…
In this teaching…Jesus is saying …we’re in some way destroying them …and when we call someone a fool… we are spitting on the image of God…
Seventh and eighth I’ll talk to him about divorce and oaths.
to say another person is beneath us… or worthless
when we’re all made in the image of God…
is as bad as killing them…
In this teaching…Jesus is saying …we’re in some way destroying them …and when we call someone a fool… we are spitting on the image of God…
Seventh and eighth I’ll talk to him about divorce and oaths.
And I will explain that the Greek culture we live in here in Alexandria…is very different from ours…
You see Amos I’ll say…one thing we Hebrews understand… is that the heart and the mind and the spirit of a human being are one…our being is one …all of it made in the image of God…
we Jews are not like the Greeks…believing flesh is corrupt…emotions a little higher and the intellect…
the mind… the highest of the high…
no we Jews believe our whole being is one…
and made in the image of God…and as the scriptures say…created good…
Amos will know that our word for this is nephesh…
This is why something felt in the heart is as good as done… that just fulfilling the letter of the law doesn’t accomplish the spirit of what God requires of us to live in love with one another.
No wonder some of Jesus followers have been kicked out of our Synagogue…if they insist on putting their relationships with other people ahead of our religious rituals…
But I like what this Jesus is teaching…don’t you?
That the judgement of God is greater than the Sanhedrin or the courts of the synagogue…
oooh…I could get into trouble there.
But I like what this Jesus is teaching…don’t you?
That the judgement of God is greater than the Sanhedrin or the courts of the synagogue…
oooh…I could get into trouble there.
Wanaka slide
But here we are two thousand years later still struggling with the same issues of the heart…aren’t we…
Everyday tempted to leave conflict unresolved …emotional debts unpaid…
As we watch TV or gossip over a cuppa aren’t we tempted to pour scorn on the heads of others and call them fools…good for nothing…
As we watch TV or gossip over a cuppa aren’t we tempted to pour scorn on the heads of others and call them fools…good for nothing…
Even in our most intimate relationships…hiding disrespect in our hearts instead of saying it out loud…
Most of us have never killed anyone…but
have we destroyed someone’s ego or abused private information to kill a reputation.
have we destroyed someone’s ego or abused private information to kill a reputation.
Yes we are only human…and Jesus knew that…of course…for he was human with us…but his teaching is as much for us today as it was for Amos and his grandfather…as a Rabbi with authority Jesus compares the Law of Moses with his new covenant… which as the prophets foretold…is to be written on our hearts…
Relationships can be male and female…husband and wife…parent and child…but they can also be Pakeha and Maori…rich and poor…government to people and nation to nation…sorting out relationships is hard work…
but it is precisely this work…to which Jesus calls us
…my prayer is that we will take seriously every word of his teaching and his call.
but it is precisely this work…to which Jesus calls us
…my prayer is that we will take seriously every word of his teaching and his call.
