8th June: 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Hos. 6: 3 – 6, Rom. 4:18 -25, Matt. 9: 9 - 13
Words cannot measure the boundaries of love for those born to new life in Christ Jesus
These words, taken from this morning’s opening prayer must surely offer great hope and encouragement to those who bring children to baptism today. Is it possible to imagine a greater gift that we could give to a child or to anyone else? Words cannot measure the boundaries of love for those born to new life in Christ Jesus. And, of course, we sell ourselves short if we forget that this is the promise that we all received at our own baptism, no matter how recent or long ago that was. There is an oft-quoted pseudo-fact that we only use 10 per cent of our brain’s immense potential but, although neuroscientists may wile away the hours debating this contentious assertion, very few of us are able, I suspect to claim that we fully appreciate or experience the fullness of God’s love for us. Just ask yourselves, for how much of each day are you aware of God’s love for you, or do you appreciate His action in your lives?
If we need evidence, this morning’s epistle and gospel readings provide it in abundance. St Paul, in his letter to the Romans, reminds us of God’s miraculous expression of love for Abraham, making him the father of countless generations when both he and Sarah were well past the age of child-bearing. Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah was not much younger (the book of Genesis tells us that “it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women (18: 11b)), but God was able to fulfil the promise that He had made to Abraham 25 years previously, when He had uprooted him from a successful and stable life in Haran, that He would lead him into the Promised Land and make of him a great nation (12:2). Although we may sometimes question whether God is likely to work this sort of transformation in our own lives, we do need to be mindful of Abraham’s absolute faith and obedience. How many of us at the age of 75 would be prepared to pack up our family and possessions, abandon our home and set off for an unknown destination at God’s command? How many of us, having waited all our life for the gift of a child, would be prepared to accept God’s demand that that child should be offered in sacrifice? Abraham was and perhaps that is why God blessed him so richly.
The tax collector Matthew shows us another facet of God’s love. There is no suggestion in our Gospel reading this morning that God worked any miracle equivalent to that experienced by Abraham and Sarah when Matthew responded to Our Lord’s call but, for him, the transformation from hated outsider to valued friend and disciple must have been equally miraculous.
We need to remember that Matthew was a complete outcast. His own people hated him, not only because he collaborated with the Roman oppressors in collecting taxes from his countrymen on their behalf, but because he also collected far more money than the Romans demanded to line his own pockets. He was a traitor and a sinner and no self-respecting Jew would have had anything to do with him, but the Saviour of the World, the very epitome of love, selflessness and virtue, called him to join His band of friends and followers and honoured him by eating at his house. Although Matthew probably had more money that he knew what to do with, his occupation meant that he was deprived of all the things that we all need but which no money can buy: love, respect, acceptance, but Jesus, despite his sinfulness and his unworthiness bestowed these upon him in abundance. Although we may not be able to bring ourselves to believe that God will work miracles on the same scale as Abraham in our own lives, we can believe that through His Son, Jesus Christ, He is just as eager to welcome and befriend us as He was to welcome and befriend the tax collector, Matthew. Like Matthew, however, we must be prepared to accept His invitation and to respond to His love.
This requirement to accept and to respond can, of course, be very demanding in our own time. Perhaps because many of us have far more in the way of material possessions that did the people of Our Lord’s own time, we may find it almost impossible to turn our backs on the comforts of life and to follow an uncertain way. In these modern and allegedly enlightened times there is a great deal of cynicism about the role of God in human lives, where gods are worshipped they tend to be the man-made gods of wealth, possession and status, and we may come under a great deal of peer pressure to follow the common herd rather than responding to the promptings of God, and this is why we are all so dependant on the gift of the Holy Spirit, given to us at our baptism.
The sacrament of baptism is perhaps one of the most evocative because there are so many parallels between the ways we use water in our everyday lives and the ways in which the Holy Spirit strengthens and encourages us. We are all well aware that water is essential for life itself: although we can go for days without food we soon begin to suffer if we are deprived of water for even a few hours. When the Phoenix probe landed on Mars recently, scientists were eager to search for evidence of water because without water the search for signs of life would be pointless. In the same way the Holy Spirit is essential for us to live out our lives as Christians.
We depend on water for cleansing and in the same way the Holy Spirit can cleanse us from our sins enabling us to be at one with God once again.
We depend on water, mixed with a variety of ingredients, for refreshment: the Holy Spirit can provide us with refreshment when we are worn down by the trials and tribulations of this world.
Some of us, especially the over 60s, swim to keep our bodies healthy and strong: so too the Holy Spirit can keep us healthy and strong in our faith.
As we baptise new members of our Church, we pray that they may be strengthened for their earthly pilgrimage by the Holy Spirit so that they may come to recognise that Words cannot measure the boundaries of love for those born to new life in Christ Jesus
