Monthly Archives: October 2019

Illuminating Faith – The Church: Towards A Common Vision (WCC Study Document)

The Church: Towards A Common Vision is a study document of the World Council of Churches in 2013. The document is available here (in English), with versions in other languages accessible here.

A study guide to assist small groups in reading and considering the document was produced by the Uniting Church’s Christian Unity Working Group, and is available from the UCA Assembly web site, here.

MtE Update – October 31 2019

  1. THIS SUNDAY – All Saints Day Lunch Sunday 3 November – After Worship. As has been our practice for many years, this Sunday morning, 3 November, we will be celebrating All Saints Day with a lunch after worship. All are welcome – the more the merrier. The lunch is always a great occasion for good conversation, and for enjoying life together over good food. Most important: Please give your names to Rod or Ann if you can come. AND equally important – please talk with Ann, Mary or Mepandi and let them know what you can contribute for the lunch.
  2. The last of the Hotham Mission Bunnings BBQs for 219 will be THIS Saturday November 2 (Sydney Rd, Brunswick). Please let Joey known if you are able to assist for a period of time – particularly for any period during the busy 11.00-2.00pm time slots!)
  3. ‘Illuminating Faith’ is one way in which MtE seeks, out of its own life, to serve the wider church; this week several new resources were published, to be made known across the UCA Assembly via presbytery email lists. Have a look at the IF home page here.
  4. THIS SUNDAY October 20 we continue with our reflections from 1 Timothy — 1 Tim 3.14-16, complemented by a couple of the readings for All Saints: Psalm 149 and Luke 6.20-26.

Old News

  1. TOMORROW: ‘Religion in the University’ Seminar, November 1
  2. ‘The Bible in my Head’ is a new project with the children (and others who listen in!) on Sunday mornings, particularly as part of our ‘With the Children’ time. Over the next few months, we’ll be working to build up an understanding of how the Bible holds together. This will involve a number of images and other mnemonic techniques . Most weeks new images or thoughts will be included in the pew sheet and also on this web page, as well as small ‘pointers’ within the order of service itself as to which parts of the Bible are being used at different times.

Advance Dates

  1. Sunday November 3 – All Saints luncheon
  2. Sunday November 17 – Hymn-learning session after morning tea
  3. Sunday November 24 – Congregation meeting (2020 budget approval and ministry and mission focusses)
  4. Sunday December 1 – Responding to the 1 Timothy series: a ‘sermon feedback’ session after morning tea 

The Bible in my Head – Image 3

(See here for an introduction to ‘The Bible in my Head”)

This week’s image builds on recent weeks’. Each of these four images one of the clearly identifiable sections of the New Testament.

The meaning of these images is this:

  • Four interlocking puzzle pieces to remind ofthe fours gospels.
  • The boat on the sea to present the church (Acts); note the ‘bird/dove’-like sail motivating the boat.
  • The envelope to represent the NT letters
  • The telescope to represent the book of Revelation: looking ahead!

Back to the previous image

Forward to the next image

27 October – The Freeing Grace of God

View or print as a PDF

Pentecost 20
27/10/2019

Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

Sermon preached by Matt Julius


God, may my words be loving and true; and may those who listen discern what is not. Amen.

Today’s readings centre around the temple in Jerusalem, the temple atop Mount Zion.

The psalmist proclaims:

“O God, in Zion …
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.” (Ps. 65.1, 4)

The prophetic voice of Joel calls out a divine promise:

In the last days, “in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem … shall be those whom the Lord calls.” (Jl. 2.32)

Narrating the last days of the Apostle Paul, Second Timothy speaks of Paul:

“… already being poured out as a libation …” — the image here is one of being poured as a sacrifice on God’s altar.

And in the parable taught by Jesus:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector.”

And the tax-collector prays like a prodigal son — “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

And the Pharisee prays like an older brother — “God, I thank you that I am not like other people …”

What strikes me about these four reflections centring on the temple is how each of them speak differently about the saving work of God.

The Psalmist speaks of the temple as the place where God forgives transgressions. And from this centre point in Zion the deliverance of God opens up and reaches out to the whole world.

“O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.” (Ps. 65.5)

Psalm 65 gives us this sense of the reach of God’s saving power from the temple to the world. Earth and water, sea and sky, mountains and valleys, the teeming life of God that covers the earth, that is tended by the Great Gardener of Eden: showered by rain, carved by the natural “wagon tracks” of God’s intimate mercies through creation, overflowing joy, and abundant bounty, richness. All creation sings — from the mountains to the valleys — sings and shouts together for joy!

For the prophet Joel, the rain of creation is not simply for the grain. But becomes, in the prophetic utterance, the healing rain that reconciles and redeems in the aftermath of struggle. The lost become found. That which was consumed by hopper, destroyer, and cutter is washed away in readiness for renewal. And shame shall be no more. For the Lord our God will intervene and pour out — like a libation — an offering of the Spirit to the world: on young and old, free and slave, male and female, on flesh: the bodies sustained by the overwhelming grace of God in the food we eat, the lands we dwell in, the people who are gathered together in communities of love and trust.

Throughout today’s readings from the Psalms and the Book of Twelve Prophets we hear the effusive praise for a God who bears with God’s people. The unashamed thanksgiving to God who gathers a people in the temple, and from the temple expands the reach of saving glory to the whole world, to all people, for healing and renewal: as the Spirit is poured out, and the healing waters over which the Spirit brooded in the beginning, continue to cleanse and restore the world.

These themes of praise for God’s faithfulness continue even as the end of the Apostle Paul is narrated. The same clear ring of praise can be heard, that God has granted favour to the Apostle to the Gentiles. Though Paul was deserted in his time of defence God was there, giving him strength. And so, “To [the God of our rescue] be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tim 4.18)

Across these three readings — from the Psalms, from Joel, and from Second Timothy — we hear a note of praise: “Thanks be to God who has chosen to grant us favour, in the temple, in the world, by his Spirit, in the midst of times of defence and in the aftermath of struggle.”

Praise the Lord! For the Lord has chosen to bless us with all good things!

As if to provide a counter-voice to this effusive praise rising up to heaven with open

hearts, Jesus says:

“… the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Lk. 18.13-14)

There is a certain sense in which our Gospel reading cuts across the grain of the other readings set for today. Unlike the calls to praise that we are invited into, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector cautions us about the misuse of praise.

The two figures:

a Pharisee — a religious leader, a diligent keeper of the law, a teacher, a good man, pious and true.

and,

a tax-collector — worshipping in the temple, and so a Jewish man, trying to be pious, and yet a tax-collector: collecting taxes for the Roman occupiers, whose presence placed the Jewish people under burden; perhaps perceived as a traitor to his own people, complicit in the ongoing occupation; perhaps dishonest, taking more than he was rightfully owed.

These two figures gather together in the temple. And pray. One a prayer of praise; the other a prayer of repentance, a call for mercy. Jesus says, it was the one who prays for mercy that is justified.

What has gone wrong with the Pharisee’s praise?

At first glance the lesson seems to be one of humility. The Pharisee’s praise goes awry because he fails to be humble, emphasising too much that he is the special recipient of God’s grace, one of the chosen few. And for that reason is a Pharisee, and not like those thieves, and adulterers, or — thank God — a tax-collector.

Of course the lesson that we should be humble is the stated lesson of this parable, and so we should heed this lesson.

And yet, like all good parables, if we dig a little deeper, if we take a step back we might see something more.

This parable in Luke’s Gospel sits within a broad movement of sayings, and parables, and teachings of Jesus. From stories about lost sheep and coins — and a lost son. Banquets and managers and widows seeking justice. Mercy sought by the tormented rich man, from the one who God saves. There are themes of hospitality, mercy, and generosity: in other words, grace, running throughout these stories and teachings. I want to suggest that these themes continue into the story of the Pharisee.

The Pharisee does not get wrong the importance of praise. We have heard from the tradition we share with the Pharisee today in a Psalm of praise, and a prophetic voice speaking of God’s salvation. And both of those readings speak quite clearly about the ones God will and does choose in the temple, and in the end days.

But what about the hospitality of God? In the prayer that says, “oh, but not like the thief, or the rogue, or the adulterer, or the tax-collector — they are not welcomed in my prayer of praise.”

But what about the generosity of God? In the prayer that says, “well, I do the right thing, so I must be good; and if that one over there betrays his people, or doesn’t take responsibility, then nothing good can come of them.”

But what about the project of the great and generous God we meet in Jesus? In the prayer that says, “forgive us our sins … for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.”

It is fitting that we should read this caution about praise in Luke’s Gospel. Because Luke’s Gospel constantly pushes us to think about the open arms of God for the world. The open arms that welcome home a lost son, and warns us not to be a resentful brother. The open arms of those with plenty to give to those with need. The open arms of simple faith that welcome the grace of God into the world in surprising ways.

The Gospel of Luke is not saying that we should not offer prayers of thanksgiving. But if we must praise, let our praise recall the grace at the bottom of the well of God’s deep, deep love. Let our praise recall our freedom to be honest about our failure. Because our praise should be marked not by self-righteousness, but by the hospitable, merciful, and generous love of God.

What goes wrong with the praise of the Pharisee is that he does not see that the tax-collector too is found and held by the overwhelming grace of God. That psalms of praise that begin in the temple often open up to the whole world. That prophetic words of divine promise that begin with restoring what is lost for the chosen, often open up to the bountiful outpouring of the Spirit.

The Pharisee needs to look further along in the Gospel of Luke. When the temple gives way to a house, and the house gives way to the Spirit, and the Spirit promised by Joel gives way to a new temple: the holy communion of saints, moving out into the world with the proclamation that God’s hospitality, and generosity, and mercy: the grace of God has come into this world and embraced us all! From the waters that grow the plants, the beauty of the world we are given, the restoration we find in tender mercies, the grace of God blows through the world and holds us, finds us, loves us.

And so … let us never look to those who stand a little way off and say they are not sought by God, that we are loved and they are not, that we have received mercy and they must still be uncertain.

Let us be freed by the knowledge of God’s grace. And recall the deep praise of our ancestors. For in the embrace of God’s grace we are free to confront our failing, because even that shall not erase the generous gift of God’s love.

Amen.

MtE Update – October 25 2019

  1. THIS Sunday October 27 there will be a Safe Church workshop after morning tea. You may be one of the members required to attend this as part of our obligations as a public institution — you’ve received an email about this if you are — and other interested members are welcome; please see here for more information.
  2. All Saints Day Lunch Sunday 3 November – After Worship. As has been our practice, on Sunday morning, 3 November, we will be celebrating All Saints Day with a lunch after worship. All are welcome – the more the merrier. The lunch is always a great occasion for a good chat, and for enjoying our life together over good food. Most important: Please give your names to Rod or Ann if you can come. AND equally important – please talk with Ann, Mary or Mepandi and let them know what you can contribute for the lunch.
  3. News from the Justice and International Mission Cluster
  4. The last of the Hotham Mission Bunnings BBQs will be Saturday November 2 (Sydney Rd, Brunswick). Please let Joey known if you are interested to assist – particularly for any period during the busy 11.00-2.00pm time slots!)
  5. This Sunday October 27 we welcome Matt Julius again as our preacher, tending to the set RCL texts for the day.

Old News

  1. ‘The Bible in my Head’ is a new project with the children (and others who listen in!) on Sunday mornings, particularly as part of our ‘With the Children’ time. Over the next few months, we’ll be working to build up an understanding of how the Bible holds together. This will involve a number of images and other mnemonic techniques . Most weeks new images or thoughts will be included in the pew sheet and also on this web site, as well as small ‘pointers’ within the order of service itself as to which parts of the Bible are being used at different times.
  2. ‘Religion in the University’ Seminar, November 1

Advance Dates

  1. Sunday October 27 – Safe Church workshop
  2. Sunday November 3 – All Saints luncheon
  3. Sunday November 17 – Hymn-learning session after morning tea
  4. Sunday December 1 – Responding to the 1 Timothy series: a ‘sermon feedback’ session after morning tea 

20 October – Fight the good fight

View or print as a PDF

Pentecost 19
20/10/2019

1 Timothy 6:6-12
Psalm 40
Luke 18:1-8


In a sentence:
The good fight of faith is the struggle to let God be God

Most of us are fully aware that we are going to die. With that comes for many also the awareness – even the fear – that much of what we have done in our lives might well be mucked up by those who come after us.

This concern, of course, doesn’t need our impending death to be active for us. It might only be that we vacate a position in which we think we have done well done and then see that much of that achievement squandered or thrown away by our successor. We have fought a good fight, and then someone else seems to throw in the towel.

It takes great humility to be freed from fear of such loss, or from judgement of those who follow us. Or, to put it differently, it takes great humility to die: to have done what we had to do and then move on, without looking back, perhaps without any ‘true’ successor.

This dynamic of perceived loss is sometimes read into the letters to Timothy and Titus: the writer seems to weaken the penetrating and dynamic work of Paul, in whose name he writes. Paul is captivated by the justifying righteousness of God while the writer of Timothy seems principally concerned with the righteousness we ourselves must achieve.

We have already touched on the theme of ‘pseudonymity’ – the theory that Paul did not write these letters but another wrote them in his name. We won’t spend much time on why this theory is strongly held by many biblical scholars (check a commentary!) but, assuming the theory to be correct, why might someone engage in such an ‘impious’ act as forging letters like this. Why does ‘the Pastor’ (to borrow a name some have given our unknown author) write in Paul’s name?

The simple answer is the authority that name carries, and the Pastor plays heavily on Paul’s authority in the letter. But this is not yet enough. What is the need to add to what the real Paul had already said? The answer here is that Paul is no longer available, while the church has continued and now has new issues which require an authoritative word.

Paul wrote when the Christian movement was small and its organisation was strongly ‘charismatic’. Apostles could relate directly to the few scattered communities.

For the Pastor, it is quite different. If Christ has not come as we expected, what then are we to do? The answer is a kind of ‘settling’ of the church into an ongoing life in the world. And so the church takes on a clearer institutional order, apparently now authorised by one of those great charismatic leaders. Authority shifted from the conviction and encouragement and correction of recognised apostles to authority reflected in structure.

And so the Pastor is interested in bishops, deacons, elders and even a kind of order called ‘widows’. Orientation to the imminent coming of Jesus shifts to living lives which reflect that Jesus is Lord, irrespective of whether he might come again. Paul expects the arrival of God to vindicate Christian conviction and practice. The Pastor expects piety and peacefulness to speak for themselves.

Which of these responses to the times – Paul or the Pastor – is the ‘truer’? Were we to ask Paul, we might find that he would read these letters in his name with disdain, or even horror. There is not much wrong with what is in the letters, but there is much missing which mattered greatly to him. And yet the letters remain – for us – Scripture.

We noted in our first reflection that, ultimately, all Scripture comes to us under a pseudonym – necessarily separated from the real people who wrote it and who feature in it. We can have no confidence that we read it with a historical correctness, in the sense that we understand what the writer might have intended. This is, in part, because we are in a different time and place. Paul may not hear himself in our reading of him. In this way, we change the author as we read.

But, perhaps more importantly, all Scripture is pseudonymous because we cannot be confident that the authors themselves quite knew what they were doing. Certainly they did not imagine that they were writing Scripture. This categorisation comes later, when the church hears something in the material which makes Jesus present again. We speak of ‘Paul’ for convenience’s sake but, for the sake of faithfulness to the gospel, it is ‘Scripture’ and not ‘Paul’ which addresses us. On the breath which is the Spirit, Scripture speaks a word which has a history in such a personage as Paul but the true orientation of which is toward making history. When the Pastor claims Paul’s authority he does what we all must finally do: he ‘becomes’ Paul, becomes scriptural authority in a new situation, even if Paul would no longer recognise himself.

To preach the word, whether in words – as from a lectern – or in actions, is to say or do what matters now. It is possible that we do this badly, but even this is difficult to recognise. Hindsight only guesses at what might been better. We know that every moment is different although we never really know properly how it is different. In every moment we must speak and act, seeing only as in a glass, darkly.

This would be to almost reason to give up the game altogether, for what is righteousness if we cannot know that it is righteousness? What could keep us in the game is the true miracle at the heart of the gospel. This is the cross – which was so central for Paul, if almost totally absent from the Pastor’s writings.

The cross is the sign that, even though every ‘now’ is different from every other ‘now’, the God who alone is present to every ‘now’ is present to claim it as his own. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing – and whatever others are doing – God claims our and their ‘now’ for God’s own live-giving purposes.

The life of Jesus himself is the life to which the Pastor calls us: the good fight of faith in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness as the Pastor describes it (6.11). Faith holds that God was present to this life in Jesus. At the same time, the cross is the denigration of Jesus’ life and ministry. In the light of the resurrection, faith holds God present also to the crucified Jesus. Judged by us to be righteous or unrighteous, Jesus remains God’s.

Jesus becomes, then, two things at once: the ‘good life’ of one who is truly righteous, godly, faithful, loving, steadfast and gentle and, at the same time, he is the crucified and so at as great a distance from God as one can be.

What bridges that contradiction is nothing in Jesus himself but only the desire of God that Jesus be God’s in whatever situation he be found.

The Pastor’s call to the good fight of faith is not merely call that we be righteous and piety and steadfast and kind in a simple moral sense. Such things are too relative to the times in which we happen to live, and change with cultural seasons.

The good fight of faith is the struggle to allow God to be the one who is righteous and who justifies, the one who is kind and makes gentle, who endures and causes in us steadfastness. The good fight of faith is the struggle to allow God to be our only true successor – the one who follows and proves and justifies.

To let God be the God who made and still makes us is to die the death of the humble, and so to be raised to the life of the humble in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

Let this life be yours.

MtE Update – October 16 2019

  1. This Sunday October 20 there will be the first of an occasional series of opportunities to engage with the preaching at MtE, beginning this day with Responding to the Ten Commandments series. From 11.30 for about 45 minutes. You can refresh your memory of the series here.
  2. The Bible in my Head‘ is a new project with the children (and others who listen in!) on Sunday mornings, particularly as part of our ‘With the Children’ time. Over the next few months, we’ll be working to build up an understanding of how the Bible holds together. This will involve a number of images and other mnemonic techniques . Most weeks new images or thoughts will be included in the pew sheet and also on this web site, as well as small ‘pointers’ within the order of service itself as to which parts of the Bible are being used at different times.
  3. The latest Presbytery (Oct 15) eNews is here .
  4. If you’ve not had a look a the Hotham Mission website for a while, now might be a good time: here.
  5. ‘Religion in the University’ Seminar, November 1
  6. On Sunday October 27 there will be a Safe Church workshop after morning tea. YOU may well be one of the members required to attend this — you’ve received an email about this if you are — and other interested members are welcome; please see here for more information.
  7. All Saints Day Lunch Sunday 3 November – After Worship. As has been our practice, on Sunday morning, 3 November, we will be celebrating All Saints Day with a lunch after worship. All are welcome – the more the merrier. The lunch is always a great occasion for a good chat, and for enjoying our life together over good food. Most important: Please give your names to Rod or Ann if you can come. AND equally important – please talk with Ann, Mary or Maggie and let them know what you can contribute for the lunch.
  8. The last of the Hotham Mission Bunnings BBQs will be Saturday November 2 (Sydney Rd, Brunswick). Please let Joey known if you are interested to assist – particularly for any period during the busy 11.00-2.00pm time slots!)
  9. THIS SUNDAY October 20 we continue with our reflections from 1 Timothy — 1 Tim 6.6-12.

Other things potentially of interest 

  1. Taize Prayer, October 18

Old News

  1. We have had a new sound system update, making it possible to connect directly into the sound system via hearing aids or headphones — speak to Rod to see whether it will help you in the services!

Advance Dates

  1. Sunday October 20 – Responding to the Ten Commandments series: a ‘sermon feedback’ session after morning tea
  2. Sunday October 27 – Safe Church workshop
  3. Sunday November 3 – All Saints luncheon
  4. Sunday November 17 – Hymn-learning session after morning tea
  5. Sunday December 1 – Responding to the 1 Timothy series: a ‘sermon feedback’ session after morning tea 

The Bible in my Head – Image 2

(See here for an introduction to ‘The Bible in my Head”)

This week’s image builds on last week’s. Each of these five images corresponds to the five images from week one.

The meaning of these images is this:

  • Five ‘tear toes’ to remind that there are five books in the Torah section
  • The clock face is to remind that there are 12 books in the history/time section
  • The musical staff is to remind that there are 5 book (from the five musical lines) in the songs/poetry/wisdom section
  • The five fingers remind that there are five ‘major’ prophets
  • The 12 spaces in the egg carton are to remind that there are 12 ‘minor’ prophets

Back to the previous image

Forward to the next image

13 October – The Tenth Commandment – You shall not covet

View or print as a PDF

Pentecost 18
13/10/2019

Micah 2:1-3
Psalm 10
Romans 7:7-12
Luke 18:18-27

Sermon preached by Rev. Bruce Barber


“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of slavery, (therefore)….
“You shall not Covet”

Considering the nine weighty matters with which we have previously been confronted, we seem to be concluding not with a bang but with a whimper.  In comparison with where we have been, “You shall not covet” seems somewhat innocuous. Until we consider this. Unlike the previous five commandments bearing on how to live, “You shall not covet” is beyond all legislation. Killing, adultery, stealing, slander, even – in former generations – Sabbath observance: all have legal constraints. Break these, and you break civic law. But not the covetous spirit. It’s not for nothing that envy is held to be one of the deadlier of the seven sins. Like the power of the tongue, nothing external can control the covetous heart. Ability to keep this commandment, then, will prove to be the ultimate test.

As we have seen in our eleven-fold journey, the commandments exist positively to guarantee what we call the good life; they are not tedious moralistic fences to rein everyone in. So, the question here is: what can we do with covetousness? How can we move beyond assuming that here we encounter a merely conventional moral exhortation about the need for economic restraint?  And if we take the prophet Micah seriously, how must it sound in our day to those who are forced to rent, or are homeless, while others are not only home owners but are also paying off investment properties? Who is prepared to propose observance of this commandment to this increasingly disadvantaged population?

In any case, experience surely demonstrates that moralism never really works, which makes it all the more depressing that society has come to accept that Christian faith is only morality “slightly dressed up”- for many, unnecessarily, if not incomprehensibly. At any rate, the crisis adverted to in the commandment is way beyond legislation and high-minded approval. Only a firm theological grounding will be able to carry the day.

But let us stay with the moral dimension a little longer. The commandment reveals that the natural estimation of the “good life” has apparently become inseparable from the maximum possible consumption of things and experiences. To those trained for decades to desire change through obsolescence, or to compile “bucket lists” of new experiences, or to want new things even before the old have been partly worn out or used up – in other words, to the majority of  us – the commandment highlights the gravity of  the imminent global ecological and environmental catastrophes we now face.

At the same time, the antique quaintness of the commandment confirms that it would be a mistake to assume that covetousness is only a modern problem, as if the last two centuries were an ungodly mistake. Clearly it is not technological advances in themselves that have let loose a deluge of covetousness and greedy hearts. On the contrary, to a large extent the materialism of Western culture has realised an age-old dream, even as we are beginning to register the downside of what we call the market economy.  In this respect, we can surely be grateful for the now growing Western realisation that enough is enough, and that increasingly the critical issue is not the accumulation of resources, but rather that of their global distribution.

One way or another, it seems that every civilisation has sooner or later got around to discovering that it is a matter of diminishing returns when happiness is equated with an insatiable appetite – in the manner of Oliver Twist in the poorhouse holding up an empty bowl and begging: “I want some more”. The solution of the religions of the East, with their espousal of non-attachment, does have the advantage of rescuing people from slavery to their envies. Yet wanting nothing, when carried to extremes, leaves one not wanting help, not wanting love, not wanting God – and the name of this self-sufficiency is pride.

The ancient Hebrews saw such matters clearly. They recognised that the secular gifts made possible by the God of the Covenant are certainly worth having, but they forbade desire for them in the wrong way. So it is that here in this tenth commandment we come to the heart of what was at stake from the very beginning. That is to say, “You shall not covet” is a direct corollary of the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God…..”

This final commandment reminds us, then, that every other commandment that has come between the first and this last must be obeyed in spirit as well as in letter, with the heart as well as in the outward life. Pointing in this way to the heart as it does, the tenth commandment makes compelling the coming to grief of the so-called “rich young ruler” in the Gospel. He was able in good conscience to claim to have kept the five commandments referred to by Jesus – until challenged precisely on the ground of this tenth commandment. Hearing this, he had no option but to turn sadly away.

If nothing else, this encounter helps us to fill out more precisely one dimension of what it means to understand how we are, and will remain so while this life lasts, sinners before God. “Sin” is certainly a depressing, and, by virtue of its current trivialisation, has in our day become a useless word. But if we let Paul speak, it may possibly be retrieved. He proposes that covetousness is the very essence of sin. Who, in one way or another, can claim to have escaped this universal attachment to wanting and dreaming of something larger, whether that be something tangible, or more likely an intangible? One thinks of the envy that wells up from the subconscious accusing us of our inferiority when we wish. or wished, that we could be like X or Y or Z. The fact is that every apparent presumed lack we experience is being challenged in the call of this commandment.

Certainly, when he measured his life against it, the apostle Paul was brought into a state of deep despair. He was like the rich ruler in the Gospel, only conceivably more so. As we hear him this morning, apparently above all others, he had made scrupulous, noble and sustained efforts to keep the commandments so that he might please God. He felt that he had achieved considerable success, and had made substantial progress until the true meaning of “You shall not covet” dawned on him. So, he writes: “I had not known sin, except that the Lord said: You shall not covet.” Are we reading autobiography here, or is everyone included? Surely both – his own history, now universalised.  He proposes that this commandment brings the core of the human problem to the light of day. When we come to realise that what is at stake is obedience of the heart as well as the outward life, then the reach of the commandment is truly exposed. Here, then, is both its power as well as its weakness. The strength is that it holds up a mirror to our real situation; the weakness, that its counsel remains only negative. It forbids coveting, but it does not tell us what to do instead.

Except when it comes to us as hidden promise. A promise always awaits a fulfilment. So it proves to be when the gospel is grasped that we do not really any longer need to make comparisons between ourselves and others with regard to talents, privileges, deprivations or, at its most trivial, just “stuff”. This, Paul never tired of repeatedly saying to himself, and to any prepared to listen: “All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” This is only another way of saying that all worldly life exists primarily as a kind of currency of love – a means whereby we can exchange justice with one another on a macro as well as a micro level, and so enter into the love of the creator who, in Jesus Christ, has given his creation all things.

Were these words to be heard, that is, if they were to be lived, then not just this old commandment: “You shall not covet”, but equally all the previous nine would have been stunningly fulfilled. Indeed, all commandments – of any sort – would then be quite superfluous, for we would have truly passed from a land of slavery into the undreamt freedom of God’s new creation. Which surely warrants the only proper worth of the slogan beloved by the current Prime Minister: what could be better than this?

The Bible in my Head – Image 1

(See here for an introduction to ‘The Bible in my Head”)

This the first image for the BIMH project.

The five items represent the 5 ‘sections’ of the Old Testament: Torah, History, Poetry, Major Prophets and Minor Prophets.

The suggested association of the images to the biblical sections is as follows:

  • Tear drop: first, ‘tear’ sounds a little like ‘Torah’; second, water features at key points in the Pentateuch narrative: the wild waters at the beginning, pre-creation; the waters parted at the Exodus in the middle of the collection; and the water to be crossed (the Jordan) to enter Canann at the end (admittedly, this last occurs in Joshua!).
  • Crown: symbolising the history into and through the kings, even if not all the books in this section are concerned with the kings.
  • Musical Notes: symbolising the poetic nature of the books in this section, often songs themselves (Psalms, Songs).
  • Large Prophetic figure: symbolising the ‘major’ (longer) prophetic books.
  • Small Prophetic figure: symbolising the ‘minor’ (shorter) prophetic books.

At this stage, all that is necessary is to be able to ‘conjure up’ the sequence of images in one’s mind, associating each with the ideas above, and in the correct order. The next stage of the process adds more information to these images, so you’ll want to be sure you’ve got this much in your head already!

The second image is here:

Forward to the next image

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