Last Sundays Sermon
Today’s passage from St Matthew’s gospel comes at the end of a genealogy, tracing the earthly origins of the family of Jesus.  Matthew begins with Abraham, whereas Luke traces back as far as Adam and Eve and the origins of all humanity.  The tracing of ancestors seems to have gained in popularity in recent times and I have done some of this with my own family.  It can be intriguing to see whether we are of noble stock or whether we have a bandit in the family.  But I wonder whether the reason more people seem to be doing this is because we can often feel the effects of rapid change in our society and the wider world.  Sometimes it can leave us feeling a bit rootless;  feeling a connection with people in times past might help us to ground ourselves. 
 
It seems that Matthew wants to ground the story of Jesus within the story of the Jewish people.  Something new was about to take place, but it wasn’t disconnected from the experience and the history of the people of Israel.  All that the patriarchs had prepared and all that the prophets had proclaimed would be brought to fulfilment in Jesus.  He is the human form of the Immanuel whom Isaiah wrote about, a name which means: “God-is-with-us”.  Jesus has all the heritage that justifies his recognition as Messiah.  He is from King David’s house and line, but we see that he is also so much more.
 
The thing that makes Jesus different is that he was not only chosen by God, like David was, but was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  Today we are reminded of the way in which Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as St Luke’s gospel tells us.  She was the one who was deemed morally suitable to carry the divine Word in her womb and to bring him to birth.  We are told that this was not the work of human flesh, but the power of God at work in human life.  I am sure that God could save humanity without our help, but this is not how God chose to act.  It was through human beings that we were to be saved.  When Mary says yes to God, all things become possible for humanity.
 
Unlike Luke’s gospel, Matthew chooses to look at the scene through the eyes of Joseph.  He is revealed to us as a considerate and honourable man, who wants to do the right thing both for God and for Mary, his betrothed.  We see compassion in his decision not to subject Mary to public disgrace and punishment.  But we see something else too.  Joseph is open to God.  His sensitivity to the message of God comes through in his dream, where the angel appears to him and tells him not to be afraid and to take Mary as his wife.  The message of the coming birth of Jesus is revealed by the angel not only to Mary but to Joseph too.  So, Joseph not only listens to God, but also responds to God.  We see further examples of his obedience in the time ahead.
 
But the focus of the gospel is on Jesus.  For all that Matthew is concerned to show the earthly line of Jesus, he is keen above all to let us know that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  He is the true Messiah.  The birth of Jesus took place in fulfilment of the word of the prophet.  So, Matthew sheds new light on the passage from Isaiah 7:14: “The Virgin will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel.”  (Immanu, meaning with us and El, meaning God.). Until then, God had been seen only as the one who was “above us”.  Even now, there are still many people – and perhaps we can sometimes be among them – who retain this image of a distant God – a God who only looks down on us and counts our good acts and our bad ones.  What the gospel reveals to us is that our relationship with God is something much more intimate than that.
Further on in the gospels, we see what it means that Jesus is God-With-Us.  In fact he was given a fairly common name rather than one which was very different.  We get all kinds of wonderful names nowadays at baptisms, but Jesus was quite a widespread name at the time – a name derived from the Hebrew name Joshua, which is a cry to the Lord for deliverance: “O God, save us!”  His name proclaims his mission as the one who would save his people from their sins.
 
The kingdom of God, which is revealed to us in the later chapters is one that reflects the righteousness, mercy and compassion that we see in Joseph, the legal earthly father of Jesus.  It is Jesus who would show God’s mercy to tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, Samaritans - even to the Pharisees when they wanted to listen.  No one is judged an outsider or seen as beyond redemption.
 
Behind the genealogy at the beginning of the gospel is the story of human beings who can be good, but can also go badly wrong.  Much like the whole of humanity.  By giving the world the gift of his Son, God chooses not to condemn the world but to remain faithful to the people of his own creation.  There is always hope for you and me, because God has called and chosen us to follow Jesus, to proclaim his word and works and to experience for ourselves the compassion, forgiveness and peace that he came to bring.  In a broken and suffering world, with so many examples of human failure, this special season reminds us that God has not forsaken us but is still with us.  He is with us in Christ.  Therefore we have hope.

SUNDAY'S HOMILY TO THE QUEEN
​“To the eternal King, the undying and invisible God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”  Those words of St Paul in the first letter to Timothy, remind us that there is only one eternal kingdom. 
 
As Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years, many, although not all of us will have known no other English monarch.  Although I know that no one lives for ever, there was a part of me that somehow couldn’t imagine her no longer being the Queen.  But here we are, and now her crown passes to her son, King Charles III.
 
I find it heartening that not everything will change.  His speech following the death of his mother revealed a faith that both of them have shared.  If she was a mainstay for our country, then it seems true to say that her Christian faith was a mainstay for her. It sounds very much as though King Charles, head of the Church of England, will look to the same eternal King for wisdom and strength.
 
One of the wonderful things about our late Queen is that despite her unusual life and despite living in palaces, she liked to keep something of an ordinary life.  There were the breakfast cereals in Tupperware and the electric heater to keep her warm.  There were the endless ordinary conversations with ordinary people.  Perhaps being so close to the trappings of earthly wealth, she knew that there are things of greater value than money, status and possessions.
 
The book of Exodus speaks of a people who had lost touch with God and who looked for value in earthly things.  One of the Ten Commandments was the commandment against idolatry.  Although we associate idolatry with graven images, it is above all about putting greater value on worldly things than on God.  Those people would learn the hard way that earthly riches will not support us through times of change and of loss.  More than that, we cannot take any of it with us when we leave this world behind.  God alone is the one whose love will never let us down.  This love is everlasting.
 
From what Queen Elizabeth has said on numerous occasions, she drew her example of service from what she saw in Jesus.  Of course, it could only reflect the complete outpouring of self that is shown to us in Jesus.  She was reminded, as we are, that one of the greatest forms of idolatry is when we make ourselves the centre of our lives.  Only when we make God the centre of our lives and give something of ourselves away to others do we discover the love that is eternal.  Only then do we find a treasure that nothing else on earth can equal.
 
Our readings remind us too that the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world.  None of us are measured according to the circumstances of our birth, our intellect or our achievements.  We are of value because we are God’s children, and his love is unconditional for every one of us.  This is a love that seeks out the lost.  This love led the people of Israel away from idolatry and back to the one true God.  It sought out St Paul, a persecutor or Christians and converted him to be an ardent follower of Christ.  We find a portrayal of God’s love in the parables Jesus told of the lost sheep and the lost coin and also in the story of the prodigal son.
 
As we come to celebrate the Eucharist and to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we are reminded that no matter who we are, Christ gives his life to every single one of us.  Our late Queen shared in these sacraments.  She would have been reminded that whether we live in a palace, or in a single room, or out on the streets, a treasure awaits every one of us who lives by the example of love and service that we see in Jesus.  We are all invited to the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.  I pray that Queen Elizabeth, who now goes to her rest, will rejoice in that eternal kingdom.  May we too come to share those same riches so graciously given by the one eternal king.
 
I finish with the final verse of one of our late Queen’s favourite hymns, which gives an image of earthly kingship bowing before the King of Kings:
 
Finish, then, thy new creation;
true and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
till in heav’n we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love and praise.
 

Sunday Thoughts (14th in Ordinary Time)
I can see why Jesus sent his disciples out two by two.  Mutual support is very important in unfamiliar situations.  He tells them that he is sending them out “like lambs among wolves”.  A bit of a scary prospect, but at least the feeling of vulnerability could be shared.  Sharing the message of Jesus was going to be a challenge, but all the more so in the Samaritan territory between Galilee and Judea.
 
Perhaps we too do not find it easy to share our faith with others.  We wouldn’t normally face the kind of danger that the disciples faced in Samaria, or the later apostles in the Roman-occupied parts of the Middle East and Europe.  But we live in a very secular context.  People are often resistant to religious belief, even if they like to believe in something more than just the here and now.  Many people are indifferent and this too can be a hard thing to break open.
 
Mission can often seem like a scary word.  It seems to demand of us something that we feel unable to give.  We may be drawn to faith because it brings us peace and comfort, but trying to share that with others might seem like a step too far.  I have often heard people speak about “taking Jesus to other people” or “taking Jesus out into the world”.  But the thing that seems clear to me from the gospel is that Jesus is quite capable of making his own way out into the world and making contact with all kinds of people.  He sent his disciples out ahead of him but he would then go out and visit those places himself.  Jesus entrusted his disciples with the special mission of preparing the way.
 
We don’t know what those disciples said to people when they went out into the towns and villages.  But we do know that they were travelling light.  Jesus told them just to take themselves, with just the bare minimum of props.  It was perhaps their attitude rather than their words that mattered.  They were to expect hospitality but to move on when that hospitality was lacking.  They were called to be a peaceful presence in the places they visited.  They were also called to be a healing presence.  What they had witnessed in Jesus themselves they were to share with others in whatever way they could.  Jesus does not expect people to do the impossible, but to live out their faith in whatever way is right for them.
 
People know when our faith is genuine, because it shines through our words and our actions.  If we sow seeds of hope, of compassion and of reconciliation, then people can begin to see the person in whom our faith is based: Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Conversely, if they see Christians sowing discord, judgement and cynicism, they are hardly likely to want to stick around and see what comes next.  The good thing is that Jesus does work through human weakness.  We are not an indispensable part of the mission of God, but Jesus chooses us to work with him in showing people the kingdom of God.  What could be more special than that?
 
So that we can share what the seventy two disciples shared in St Luke’s gospel, we need to come to know the Lord as they did.  We don’t have him among us in the same form, but we know him through the words of the Bible and in the sacraments of the Church.  We can come to know the same spiritual liberation experienced by the disciples.  It mirrors the liberation depicted in that beautiful poetic language of the prophet Isaiah as he spoke of the peace and the freedom that would be experienced by the people of Israel as they emerged from captivity in an unfamiliar land.
 
St Paul also, in the letter to the Galatians, writes about the way in which the believer is set free from the constraints imposed on us by those who would stifle our true identity.  Christians are called not to live by law but by grace.  The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus are the cornerstone of our faith.  When we know our limitations and our need for God’s mercy, then we can witness to others by the words we speak and the life we live.  There are no magic words, no props, no gimmicks.  Jesus sends us out and calls us to be ourselves.  All he asks of us is that we proclaim not ourselves, but the love and the peace of the one who has called us and who sends us.  We have his promise that he will be with us wherever we go.
 
Let us pray:
Stay with us, Lord Jesus,
be our companion on our way.
In your mercy inflame our hearts and raise our hope,
so that, in union with our brothers and sisters,
we may recognize you in the scriptures and in the breaking of bread,
who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.