Sermon.
4 September 2016. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford.
Trinity
15 (Year C)
Deuteronomy
30.15-20
Luke
14.25-33
It's
that time of year again: Happy New Year! Some of you may just
remember that 1 September is the new year of the Orthodox Church.
And, if we were Orthodox, today, 4 September, would be special too,
and not only because it's a Sunday (but that too). Today is the Feast
of St Moses, or Righteous Moses the Gd-seer. So, let us look at the
reading today when (by tradition at least) Moses is speaking. That's
the First Reading, from Deuteronomy.
First
a word about Deuteronomy as a whole. People think and feel different
things about Deuteronomy. Bluntly, of the five Books of Torah, or
Books of Moses, it's is unlikely to be people's favourite. It
consists largely of commandments, rulings and ordinances. 'Law' as
we've traditionally called it. There's very little story. Not like
Genesis, with the stories down from Eve and Adam to Joseph. Not like
Exodus, with the story of, well, the exodus, the miraculous flight of
the People of Gd from slavery. What's more (what's worse, many would
say), the laws of Deuteronomy are not novel, and so not even
interesting that way round. The very word 'Deuteronomy' means (in
Greek), the second Law, the second giving or hearing of the Law,
which means it repeats old laws even as it tweaks them.
So
far, so uninspiring, you may be thinking. But there is another way to
think about this Book, which says it is exciting. You have to look at
the bit of story that is there. The whole people are gathered on the
top of a mountain, looking down onto... what? The Promised Land.
Moses in particular is told to take a good look. This is because Gd
says he (Moses) must die before entering the Land of Promise. But
before he dies, Moses retells his and the people's story out of Egypt
and to this point. This means retelling the laws, not because Gd or
Moses are fussy, but because they form their constitution for the new
country. They too make the point: the People finally are on the point
of entering the Land of Promise, the Land of their dreams, the Land
of Gd's dreams for them. If we think of the Children of Israel as
children, and as children asking Gd and Moses, 'Are we nearly there
yet?', the answer is clear: 'Yes! Yes, we are nearly there!' So pay
attention, and make the most of the wonderful opportunities - and
existential challenges - that are about to be yours.
If
we can catch some of that excitement, we can also better appreciate
other good things in Deuteronomy. For example, we have in this Book
and in this Book alone, the most solemn proclamation in Judaism,
which Jesus honours and quotes more than once: 'Hear O Israel, the
Lord our Gd, the Lord is One'. And... another gem would certainly be
today's reading. I'm thinking of...
I
call heaven and earth to witness against you today
that
I have set before you life and death,
blessings
and curses.
Choose
life
so
that you and your descendants may live.
Choose
life!
Words
that have rung out throughout history since they were first
proclaimed. Anyone thinking of 'Wham!'? T-shirts? Or maybe
Trainspotting. (I know that Trainspotting is about addicts who choose
not to choose life... except that in the end, they do.) Maybe these
references are too old for you (you're more tuned into the trends
than me). But I'll tell you: if you have anything to do with tackling
addiction, or preventing suicide, or care of unborn children for that
matter, it's overwhelmingly likely you will hear, sooner rather than
later, 'Choose life!'
So:
good! Here is a positive message from Deuteronomy which anyone –
'religious' or not – might resonate with. We all know that there
are times in our lives – maybe lots of them – when we face
choice between a blessing and life and a curse and death. And it is
good to be reminded that, always and everywhere, we are (when faced
with that choice) free to choose life. Free to choose life and what
makes for life.
But
I can't quite stop there (sorry). Because there is another side to
the choice Gd through Moses sets before us, between life and
blessings, and death and curses. Deuteronomy – it needs to be said;
I must not hide this from you – is clear about what the blessings
in question are. Blessing means plenteous and rich food, wealth and
children, peace and security. Blessing means success and status. And
blessing means victory in battle. If you don't believe me, read the
verses around today's passage. And there's this from an earlier part
of Deuteronomy:
And
it will be, if you will diligently obey My commandments which I
enjoin upon you this day, to love the Lord your Gd and to serve Him
with all your heart and with all your soul, I will give rain for your
land at the proper time, the early rain and the late rain, and you
will gather in your grain, your wine and your oil. And I will give
grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be sated.
You
see? The message is: 'obey Gd and the very weather will be kind to
you. You will be full. Be obedient and do well. Enter the land of
milk and honey, and you will be a Big Cheese!'
And...
that is a problem for us. I hope it's a problem for us. I hope it is
a problem... because we don't believe it. We surely don't believe
that people of faith, inasmuch as they are faithful, are promised
worldly or visible success. This, for many reasons.
In
the first place, there are other strands of the Old Testament which
insist it is not like that. Most obviously (but not uniquely), the
whole of the Book of Job is about how a righteous person can suffer.
And for us, looking to Jesus, we see in him one who was tortured to
death as a common criminal – and so who was in the world's eyes
anything but an evident success. What's 'worse', Jesus today tells us
that it is not at heart different for us. We too have to take up our
cross, be vulnerable to 'failure' in the same ways.
Another
thing. If we think Gd blesses righteous people with success, ease and
comfort, we are already close to seeing suffering as being deserved.
We might even think that people who are obviously disabled in some
way deserve their disabilities. Well, this coming week will (thank
Gd) put a huge spanner in those mental works. What am I thinking of?
I am thinking of the Paralympics, starting on Wednesday. The
Paralympics - where every competitor (we can be pretty confident)
will at one time or another have been thought of as 'disabled', where
'disabled' means 'not able to succeed in life properly/normally', but
rather 'victim', and as someone 'with special needs' as in 'specially
needy'. It might even mean that the disabled person is a 'burden' to
'hard-working' and 'normal' families. They may be thought of as
'heroes' – but that is likely to be patronising nonsense ('ah,
bless them'). They will not be thought of as being the very image of
success, ease and status, and so of blessing.
And
yet, here they are. They say '(Expletive deleted...) Go away, you
with all your pity and fears. We're going to do it any way. We will
become the best people we can be, whether it fits your preconceptions
or not.
The
Paralympics are of course a British invention, and we can be proud of
them. And our most successful Paralympian to date was...? Mike Kelly,
who between 1976 and 1988 won 16 gold medals, and 2 silver. As a
world-record-breaking swimmer. His story was that he was paralysed
after a fall from a ladder, and took up swimming as therapy, as
physio. And he came to see that he was good at it. He had the courage
to have faith in himself, whatever the world thought. For him, and
for so many other people preparing for Rio or living surprising and
courageous lives in other ways, I say: [sign] Alleluia.
Well,
of course, it's not that simple. I've oversimplified Deuteronomy.
I've made too easy a contrast. After all, I've already hinted that
Deuteronomy is a tragedy too. Remember that its central character,
Moses, a giant of faith, is actually a 'failure'; he fails to lead
his people into the Promised Land. But he is no less revered for
that.
In
any event, let us today here the commandment – or rather the
invitation – which resounds from today's reading through the
centuries:
Gd
calls us to choose life.
We
are free
(in
ways big and small, dramatic and mundane, public and hidden)
to
choose life and what makes for life.
And/but
the blessings that come with life may not take standard forms.
More:
the blessings that come with life will not take standard forms.
Our
blessings may include the things that other people call - and will go
on calling – our 'disabilities'.
More:
our blessings will include what gets called our 'disabilities'.
But
they are truly blessings too.
So
I wish us a happy and holy New Year, and Feast of Moses.
And
indeed a happy and holy Paralympics.
Amen.
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