Sermon 17th March 2024 – 5th Sunday in Lent
Text: John 12:20-33 – The voice on an angel
Some people like to watch the ABC for their news – others like to watch
Sky News. Some like to read The Age for their news – some prefer the Herald
Sun. It’s the same news but perhaps different commentary and even different
focus. Much like 2 people barracking at the football following different teams.
They watch a free kick being paid – if it’s for your team you believe the
umpiring is fair. If the free kick is against your team – the umpires are
biased favouring the opposition. It’s what we call perspective.
You see the same thing – experience the same thing – but you process it
differently. We have an example of that in today’s Gospel reading. A voice came
from heaven. The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Different
perspectives understanding the same voice. To some the voice of an angel
(comforting) – to others the sound of thunder (frightening). But what was
different?
Perhaps we get an understanding of it from our Old Testament reading: The
days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I
made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the
Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it
on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This new covenant will be written not on stone like the Ten Commandments
but in our hearts.
It’s probably why, when Jesus was asked, what is the greatest
commandment, he said – love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your
neighbour as yourself. These are commandments followed by the heart and not by
the letter of the law on stone. So when I look at the Old Covenant written in
stone and it says – you shall not murder, I feel vindicated because I haven’t
murdered anyone. But in his sermon on the mount Jesus says: “You have heard
that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who
murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry
with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment”.
This helps us to understand why some people can read the Bible and it’s
just words on paper – and not very enticing. But when read with the heart it is
the living word of God. But having our hearts imprinted with God’s new covenant
also helps us in our daily journey through life. So when I’m not sure which way
I should go or what action to take – I look to God’s covenant written in my
heart – am I loving God and my neighbour. How do I love God and my neighbour. So,
the heart covenant doesn’t just speak about what actions break the commandment
but it puts a conviction onto our hearts to not just not murder but to help our
neighbour in need.
As you read Luther’s explanation of the commandments this is what you
find. For example, his explanation of the 5th commandment – you shall not kill We
are to fear and love God so that: We do not hurt our neighbour in any way. But
help him in all his physical needs. So not hurting our neighbour is the letter
of the law – the law written in stone. But helping our neighbour is the law
written on our hearts. The heart covenant is where we hear God’s voice – his
Holy Spirit - and we listen to it as the voice of an angel.
Our old covenant nature wants to resist it. Like the Priest and the
Levite on the road to Jericho who cross the road when they see a fellow
Israelite presumably dead. The old covenant didn’t allow for them to touch a
deceased body or it would disqualify them from temple duty. They heard God
speak to them as thunder – anyone who touches a dead or unclean body becomes
unclean and cannot serve in the temple. So they didn’t help their neighbour in
need. But a Samaritan follows his heart and not the old covenant that this man
is my enemy. The old covenant spoken with thunder - “You have heard that it was
said, ‘Love your neighbor[ and hate your enemy.’ The new covenant – the voice
of an angel: But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.
We see Jesus frequently challenging the old covenant by eating sinners
and tax collectors – the unclean – breaking the Sabbath by healing on the
Sabbath asking them, “Which is lawful on
the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” The heart law of the new covenant or the old
covenant law written in stone. But they remained silent Freeing a woman who
should have been stoned because of her adultery under the old covenant of
Moses.
And that’s why before his arrest and death Jesus says – a new
commandment I give to you. Love one another as I have loved you. This puts
enormous responsibility on us. To love
as Jesus loves us. When you look at yourself and see what Jesus loves – could
you love someone else with the same love? It means that the world will come to
know our God because of what they see in us. Love one another as I have loved
you and by this all will know that you are my disciples.
If our behavior is considered a reflection of the nature of God, what
are we saying about God when we don’t love. When we are no different to anyone
else? But it is a challenging environment to live out our Christian faith these
days. And it has to do with perspective like our gospel reading. To some, the
thought of Christianity is like thunder. It frightens them like it did in the
Old Testament when God appeared to the people in lightning on the mountain: When
the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the
mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said
to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak
to us or we will die.” But to others it is the voice of an angel. A voice they
have been needing. A voice that brings hope to them.
The difficult task for us to knowing when the right time is. But to
again refer to St Peter which I did last week: In your hearts revere Christ as
Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the
reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, So
our challenge – is our voice to others a voice of thunder with the old covenant
with the law written in stone. Or is our voice to our neighbour a voice of the
angel bringing healing and hope through the new covenant written in our hearts.
Jesus said – this is my body and blood of the new covenant. A covenant where he
gave his life for us – and says to us – go and do likewise.
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