The
inconvenience of going to Church on Sunday!
S
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They replied “We are able.”
May I speak in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
James and John were good boys. They had been among the very first to leave their day job of fishing on the Sea of Galilee in their Father Zebedee’s business and they had followed Jesus.
If you can remember the sermons from the last two weeks when the rich young man was told by Jesus to sell everything he had and give it to the poor and “come, follow me” - Well James and John had just about done that. Yes no doubt –as Lorenzo reminded us last week - the family business was still there, and no doubt their Father had reluctantly had to hire other fishermen to take their places, but when Jesus said “Come follow me, from now on you will fish for people” they had faced up to their Father’s incomprehension or even rage, they had left a good steady job with a regular income and nice prospects, and they had started following Jesus around.
And they were some of Jesus’s closest friends. It was Peter, James and John –not any of the others - who went up the mountain and saw the transfiguration. It was Peter James and John who went into a private room for a miracle of bringing a girl back to life, and most intimate of all, it was Peter James and John who went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane on that first Maundy Thursday night – even if they did fall asleep when the heat was on, - they were his closest friends.
And they had a nickname. They were nicknamed “Sons of Thunder” – Boanerges by Jesus – we don’t really know why, but there was obviously something thunderous about them – they were passionate, they believed in him, they were ready to follow him any where – “Call down lightning and smite this place” they said – James and John were what you might call hard-core Christians – Christianity – following Jesus was their life.
And – not surprisingly they wanted their reward. Not money, or wealth or fame – nothing so sordid! - but to sit at Jesus’s right and left hands when he comes into his kingdom – what a request. It says lots of positive things about what they believe – it says for a start that they absolutely believe that Jesus is a king. It says that they absolutely believe that one day Jesus will rule. It says that they are absolutely going to follow him and stay with him right up to that day, and it says that they absolutely will do whatever they can to serve him, not only in this life, - not only in this kingdom, but in the next kingdom as well – in other words they are going to serve him for ever – in life and in death – as I said, they are good boys, and more than that they are devoted and loyal Christians.
And what does Jesus say when faced with this loyalty? Well he doesn’t say – thank you, how very kind, or yes I know you are faithful and true and loyal, nor is he even flattered by their total devotion, instead he moves the goalposts… they’ve already left everything, and now he makes it harder “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And remarkably they say “We are able” they would indeed die for Jesus….
And so what does this piece of Scripture say to us? We are not James and John, - we are not great apostles and saints of the past, - we are Paul and Sophie and Christian and every other first name in this church today. God has called us, - of course he has - but we haven’t had to leave our nets, we haven’t had to give up our jobs or our houses or our families to follow Jesus, we haven’t risked the disapproval of our parents to serve the poor, to be missionaries and teach abroad, or – for most of us – to be ordained. We’re just normal Christian Church of England folk – we try to live good and decent lives as far as possible, of course we do! we try – as far as we can – to love our neighbour as ourselves – we get things wrong, we sin, we don’t do all the things we ought to do and we certainly do a few of the things that we ought not to do, but we’re not murderers, or child molesters, or thieves, or even – in this church, thank God – bigots or narrow minded fundamentalists. We try, as far as we too are able, to be reasonably good Christians.
But then Jesus moves the goalposts!
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
When I ask Sophie and Christian’s parents and Godparents “Do you turn to Christ” they will – I hope! answer “We turn to Christ” . they will say that they are Christians – they’re not saying that they’re good Christians – who could ever say that – but they are claiming to be trying, doing their best. And so are all the rest of us here this morning. We come to church and we know that we are not as good as we ought to be – complacent, lazy even, unconcerned, selfish even, doubting, not quite committed even – but nevertheless when the great judgement day comes, and when the roll of life is called we hope – like James and John - that our names will be on it – not as saints, martyrs and apostles – just as Christians. We don’t aspire to sit at Jesus’s right hand, we just aspire to be there! It would be a funny Christian who enjoyed singing “O Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end” without expecting some sort of “O Jesus thou hast promised, to all that follow thee, that where thou art in glory, there shall thy servant be.”
And what does Jesus say? What does he say when we say to him “we have followed you, we have been counted as Christians” “ can we too at least enter into your kingdom” What does Jesus say to us?
He says:
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And whereas James and John could answer, almost immediately “We are able” we probably would answer “no we can’t”
For most of us are not prepared to give up everything for Jesus – or even for the cause of right, or justice or the environment or forgiveness. We’re certainly not prepared to die for Jesus – or for the causes of right of justice of the environment of forgiveness. We actually aren’t ready to make very many sacrifices at all. Christianity is lovely – comforting, cultural, inspiring, helpful – but it doesn’t really cost us all that much does it? It doesn’t really get in the way of life, does it?
Let’s just take one very small point….
There are about 500 people on the St Mary’s congregational list – but strangely, there are only ever about 150 people in church on any one Sunday. So what are the other 350 people doing I wonder? Perhaps they are visiting other churches, in which case God bless them, it’s a great thing to do to get a different perspective – but somehow in my heart of hearts I don’t think that’s where they are! I don’t think so! Just a couple of hours one day a week - not, if we’re honest a huge sacrifice for God – but one that apparently many people just do not make!
The 4th commandment says : “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” – now we’re relaxed Anglicans about this, and I’m glad we are! – If you go to Jerusalem it’s a very different picture - , the whole city slips into meltdown as the sun sets on the Sabbath –people stop driving cars, people stop turning light switches on, people stop cooking and a whole host of other things which might just possibly be called work just stop happening . Now that’s not what happens here! On Sundays we go shopping, we wash our cars if we have one, we clean the house, cook a spectacular Sunday lunch – and we’re not particularly worried about it. And neither am I – that’s not what I think the 4th commandment meanst - but what does it mean?
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” ? does it mean anything? Have we so stripped it of its formal legalism, are we so sure what it does not mean and what we are allowed to do, that it has just become meaningless? Is the Sabbath day kept holy by the people of St Mary’s?
Well I hope it is! I hope there is still some truth in the old Church of England teaching that I learned when I was confirmed that Sunday is to be kept holy, how? Especially by going to church? Is that too much of a sacrifice for a Christian to make Sunday by Sunday? Too much of a cup to drink? Too inconvenient? Too unreasonable?
Well actually, I don’t think it is.
Over this month we have been talking about giving and sharing – about thanking God for the gifts we have received and about thinking how we might share them.
We have even talked about tithing to God – 5% of our disposable income to the church, and 5% of our disposable income to other charities. But today – while I still want everyone to think about that financial sacrifice – I want us to think about tithing our life, our time, our gifts, our expertise – giving a tenth of our time in service to God, to other people, to the church – wherever it seems to fit, and it will of course be different for each and every one of us.
But I want to think about how we worship God and pray and study, not when it’s convenient to us, but when it’s inconvenient! When we have other things on, or when we’re spending Saturday night somewhere else, or when we’re tired, or stressed out or whatever. When it becomes for us a sacrifice. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Today we baptise Sophie and Christian into the Christian Church. And what joy that is – two lovely new members of our church community.
And today as we baptise them, so today each one of us is challenged to think again about what kind of a Christian we are. About what we are making of our baptism? What difference – what inconvenience does it make to our lives? What sacrifices do we gladly make because we follow Jesus – in fact when he asks us, are we able to drink the cup that he drinks, even if only a very small sip from the edge? Even if we can only do it in a whisper, can we say with James and John “We are able” – because the question is still being asked today.
The Rev'd Paul
Kennington
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