Sunday 27 July 2014

Sixth Sunday of Trinity


As I read through the Old Testament and Epistle readings, I was struck by the contrast between people, who withhold from one another, and God, who does not withhold but gave up his own Son for us and with him also gives us everything else.

The story told in Genesis is that of the family chosen by God in order to bless all the families of the earth. It is worth reminding ourselves of this, because as the story unfolds, that family does not show itself to be especially promising raw material. Abraham’s grandson Jacob is a cheat and a deceiver, who exploits his twin brother for personal gain, withholding food to him in order to extract privilege, and at his mother’s encouragement goes on to exploit his father’s disability in order to secure a position over his brother. This Jacob then flees from his brother’s anger, runs for his life, runs to the house of his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother. Laban welcomes him, but proves as scheming as his sister Rebekah, exploiting his nephew in order to secure a husband for both of his daughters.

This account is problematic for us, as to our minds it presents women as mere property. We need to look past our own sensibilities in order to see this very different, ancient culture; and if we can do so, we will see that both women are loved, and that both men take seriously the need to secure a future for Leah and for Rachel. Nonetheless, there is deception upon deception going on here, and as the story unfolds the sisters will continue to vie for the attention of their shared husband.

And nonetheless, God will work through all of the mess of human relationships, of men and women acting out of their insecurities and self-interest. God will work in and through all this to turn a family into a nation of tribes, and will work through the mess of the rivalry of twelve brothers to save the great Egyptian empire and surrounding peoples from seven years of severe famine.

It is a story of human unfaithfulness and God’s faithfulness, and it is our story.

‘We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,’ we heard read out today. This is a difficult verse to translate. In a footnote the alternative possible translations are offered: ‘God makes all things work together for good…’ or ‘in all things God works for good…’

One rule of thumb where a verse can be read in more than one way is to hold all possibilities as revealing different facets of truth. If all things work together for good, it is not immediately apparent. Nonetheless, God is committed to working through the struggling of humanity against humanity in order to reconcile all people in and through his Son Christ Jesus, the Nazarene who was handed over to a scheming humanity who would condemn him to death, handed over in the ultimate expression of God being for us not against us, raised from the dead and interceding for us.

Because death could not contain him, we can be confident that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not being forced to flee our homes, as our brothers and sisters in Mosul are being forced to flee their homes. Not being shot out of the sky. Not the First World War whose centenary we are about to mark, or the wars that rage in our world today. These things are not good – they are not God’s good and pleasing and perfect will for his children and his world – and yet God is at work to enfold those who have died, and those who have taken life, together within his loving purposes.

God's goodness is so good that it not only sustains human goodness but also, ultimately, redeems human wickedness. Both are necessary in our world.

While we wait, while we live in the midst of the unpromising raw material of grace, we find ourselves at times, and certainly at times like today, not knowing how to pray. There are no words. Here, too, God does not withhold himself from us, but pours out his Spirit in our hearts. The Spirit interceding on our behalf with and within us. Christ Jesus interceding for us at the right hand of God in heaven. And God, creator and judge of all, for us not against us.

Scripture is very honest about the human condition and experience of suffering. These things should not surprise us. Yet, however dark the world becomes, despair does not get to have the final word. For the final word is that word-made-flesh, God-with-us. That word is Love.

So today let us renew our daily decision not to withhold ourselves from God or from our neighbour, but to give ourselves, generously,

to love our enemies,

to work towards the reconciliation of divided communities,

to give love voice.