Keeping an Eye on the Big Picture

This sermon can be listened to here

Gate Pa – Lent 5 2018

Readings:

Hebrew Scripture:     Jeremiah 31: 31-34

Psalm:                         51:1-12

Epistle:                        Hebrews 5: 5-10

Gospel:                        John 12:2-=35

What I want to say:

What is it all about? What is life about? What is a life of faith about? What is it we are aiming for? And what does Jesus suggest it might be about?

I want to suggest that the cross exposes our smallness of thought – thought about God, and the world, and who we are in all that. The cross explores our preoccupation with ourselves and our own desires, dreams, hopes and aspirations. We are invited instead to have our imagination and our focus reoriented back to God and God’s world.

What I want to happen:

Do we want to be successful or significant?

The Sermon

1.      Introduction:

One of the Te Reo Maori courses we were often given whakatauki or proverb to translate and interpret

One of whakatauki that still remember is

Whāia te iti kahurangi

ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei

Which means something like “Aim for the smallest but most precious treasure - iti kahurangi,

but if you can’t aim that high, go for the high mountain – he maunga teitei

What really interested me was the conversation around that

people in my group, and in class

saw metaphor journey life

-           about how our priorities might change over life

o   from cars, good jobs, house, money

o   to whanau, education, marae and wider community.

all of which is good

felt like needed something more

felt like we were aiming for maunga teitei

not he iti kahurangi

couldn’t even imagine what he iti kahurangi might be

felt like our imagination was holding us back

all those good things were as far as we could go

limited

about me and my life

anything lofty like changing world – too far

go further we needed different or bigger frame of reference

2. Us

If I am honest I suspect that most time I am no different

that most of us aren’t any different

spend most time aiming for very similar kinds of things

Lent offers us a chance to re-examine what it is we aim for

maybe invites us to consider something bigger

we still need different or bigger frame of reference.

I think that this is exactly what is going on in our gospel reading this morning

3.      John

which is a bit of an odd story

some Greeks – disagreement over whether – Greekised Jews from diaspora

-          Greeks who have become Jews

-          non Jewish gentiles

go to Philip – clearly comes from very Gentile part of Palestine

-           sounds and looks approachable

Ü  goes to Andrew – first disciple in John

Ü  they go to Jesus (are Greeks there)

Ü  Jesus responds to request not with – sure

ü  or – nice to meet you, would you like a coffee

ü  but with

““The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

to which the only proper response

is – What!

Jesus is blowing their minds

they were aiming for he maunga teitei

-          something to with Jesus being the messiah

-          somehow God’s reign coming in this messiah

-          which was going to be good for them - hopefully

Ü  trouble was lot of people want him dead

ü  Jesus returned to area around Jerusalem because his friend Lazarus had died

ü  Thomas had said that that they would go with him and die with him if need be

ü  then raised Lazarus from dead – annoys Jerusalem elite

ü  want Jesus and Lazarus dead

ü  Jesus enters Jerusalem in very provocative manner

ü  on feast of Passover

ü  disciples are really not sure where all this is leading

to all this Jesus says

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

This is not what they were hoping for

not what we thought should happen here

for most of us – not what we are hoping for either

this is a very unexpected iti kahurangi

have to wonder what the Greeks did at this point

suspect they quietly backed away – they did not want to lose their lives

now Thomas’s words were coming back to haunt

4. Big understanding

Jesus was and is  offering much bigger understanding of God than people had

-          and I suspect have

we still struggle with it

In John’s gospel

invited to see God not as all powerful and all conquering

but all loving

When Jesus is lifted up on the cross

meet God’s glory

in a self-giving powerless love

sadly we often miss that

because we are so keen to move on to the resurrection

where we hope glory really lies

but in Johns gospel – all about death on the cross

John sought broaden hearers imagination

broaden their understand of character of God found in Jesus include

-          generosity

-          justice

-          love

-          mercy

-          healing

-          compassion

who

·         changing not just individual lives

·         how whole communities function

·         shattering darkness blinds us to who we all are

·         allowing us to live again as people made in image God

cross is portrayed as THE ultimate sign

acts like battle standard

all those follow The Christ look to it

reorientate themselves by it

understand their place in relation to it.

Crucifixion in John’s gospel was the moment in which our imaginations were changed,

            broadened

if we are willing

we become new people marked by

-          generosity

-          justice

-          love

-          mercy

-          healing

-          compassion

The story we heard this morning

is moment in gospel we begin to turn our focus on to the cross

begin journey to be at foot cross

Key moment

rest Johns gospel is all about the cross  

-          and affirmation of cross in resurrection

5.      Domesticated

too often

feels like domesticate this message

domesticated God

made God small again

reduced cross to death that appeased God’s anger

allow us back into God’s sight

rather than outrageous act of compassionate and generous love

breaks all that blinds and holds us down

allows this world to be all that God hoped for from the beginning

we have been offered he iti kahurangi

we choose to climb he maunga teitei instead

sometimes not even that

7.      Significant church

so where are we aiming for

he iti kahurangi – the dream of world as God created it?

or he maunga teitei – a thriving church

how does this change how we approach events of holy week and good Friday?