Guest sermon, St Ignatius, Hendon

Scripture readings: Isaiah 8:23-9:3, 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 and Matthew 4:12-23

The Way of the Sea, or Via Maris, was a well-worn trade route: an elongated S, that ran from Egypt, in the south, northward along the Mediterranean coast ...

before cutting inland, across the territory of Zebulun where you will find Nazareth; and on, northbound through the territory of Naphtali where you will find Capernaum ...

on, round the top of the Lake where Jesus would call his first disciples ...

heading northwest to Damascus. There, the Way of the Sea met the King’s Highway, coming up out of the wilderness to the east of the Promised Land, on its way round the fertile crescent, through Assyria and Babylonia, and Persia beyond.

The Way of the Sea begins in Egypt. Among a people who forgot their story; forgot that they had been saved by Joseph; forgot their debt of gratitude to his family. And where his family, too, the children of Israel, had forgotten their story — forgotten that Yahweh had promised to give them the land their forefather Abraham had sojourned in — and, tired of the nomadic life, had settled for the land of Goshen instead. And there, for a long time, they were captive to comfort. It took pain to remind them who, and whose, they were. When Moses led them out of Egypt, it was not along the Way of the Sea, but across Sinai towards the King’s Highway — though, even then, it took them a generation to learn the way.

Coming in from the wilderness, the twelve tribes settled the middle-section of the Way of the Sea. In time, they became a kingdom; then two kingdoms. By the time Isaiah spoke, a metaphorical sea had swept in from Assyria, sweeping Syria and Israel away. By the time Jesus called his disciples, Jerusalem had been breached by Babylon, another wave. After seventy years of exile, the people had returned, in three successive waves led by Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, along the King’s Highway and the Way of the Sea. But then the Greeks had swept in, and, in the wake of Alexander the Great, had parted the Way of the Sea between two dynasties, at its southern and northern ends. And then came the mightiest wave of all, Rome.

By the time Matthew wrote, Jesus had lived and died, risen and ascended, and his disciples had started to spread out from Jerusalem, south along the Way of the Sea through Judea; north along the Way of the Sea through Samaria, and beyond, joining routes heading off to the ends of the earth. And at the northern-most staging-post on the Way of the Sea, a zealous young man named Saul was stopped in his tracks by a bright light, the glory of the Lord blazing on him.

The Way of the Sea cuts through the Holy Land — and through Holy Scripture. Travelling its length, we retrace our steps through the exodus and exile, the great defining moments in the history of God’s people. And in proclaiming the gospel of peace, Matthew records that Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum — from Zebulun to Naphtali — to fulfil the promise spoken through Isaiah. It was a deliberate act, by a man who was familiar with scripture and who understood his own life in the light of it ...

... and not only his own life, but the lives of others, too. There on the shore of the Lake on the Way of the Sea, Jesus invites Simon and Andrew and James and John to step into a bigger understanding of life. At first glance, it looks like the disciples give up fishing to follow Jesus; but the more you read the Gospels, the more you see that it wasn’t a clean break, that the earthly business of catching fish and the heavenly business of catching-up men and women and children into the kingdom went hand-in-hand, in their vocation, their call. But they were invited to locate their story within the story of God’s mission in the world, to bring freedom to the captives and homecoming to the exiles, and to be a blessing to all peoples. And Jesus extends the same invitation to us, too.

Today has been designated, by Pope Francis, the first annual Sunday of the Word of God. A day devoted to “the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God”. A day to reflect on the gift of Holy Scripture, entrusted to us, and its place in our lives. And today, I would encourage you to read scripture, eagerly and diligently. Read it privately, asking, where are there parallels in my life? You see, trade routes such as the Way of the Sea and the King’s Highway weren’t single roads, like the M1; they were more like parallel routes running in broadly the same direction, like the M1 and the A19. It doesn’t matter that your life isn’t identical to that of Isaiah or Jesus or Paul. Learn to see how your life sits within the bigger story, by familiarising yourself with the big story. Read scripture privately, but in conversation with others who know your story and the big story, and can help you discern where they intersect.

And read scripture publicly, so that as a community we are caught-up in that story. Ask, where are we, as a congregation? Where is our wider community? Are we in Egypt, having settled for the familiar, having forgotten the promises God has made, in danger of forgetting our story? Or perhaps you are holding on to the promises of God, even though there is little to suggest that they might be fulfilled in this place imminently? If so, bless you for your faithfulness: you stand on the shoulders of giants. Then again, perhaps we are on the road to Damascus, utterly and graciously confronted by Jesus? Or is it time for us, like John, to lay our lives down; or, like Jesus, to embrace a new season of activity, and seek others to draw into that alongside us? I don’t know how your communal story intersects with scripture; but I know that they do intersect, and that the gift of scripture is map and compass for our journey.

More locally, the Bishop of Durham has designated 2020 a Year of Pilgrimage for the churches of Durham Diocese, of which our deanery is part. Four new pilgrim routes have been commissioned: one, the Way of Learning, passes through Sunderland on its route from Jarrow, via Monkwearmouth, to Durham Cathedral. Some of us might walk some or all of it together. Or find other ways to journey on the Way together, diverse in our expression of church but one in Christ Jesus — ways such as inviting me to preach here this morning.

May my words have been an encouragement to you. And, again and again through 2020, may you discover, afresh, the living Word revealed in the written Word.