'Jesus shapes us to be fully human' by Rev. Allister Lane

17th July 2022

Amos 8:1-12

Luke 10: 38-42

The prophet Isaiah really lets the people of Israel have it!

He ramps up his fury to the point exclaim some of the most terrifying words of judgement in the Old Testament.

He is pointing out the problems of what was going on:

greed, selfishness, dishonesty, obsession with economic gain.

The crescendo of judgement at the end of this passage is the most terrifying consequence all: alienation from God.

The people will no longer hear God’s word:

11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,

   when I will send a famine on the land;

not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,

   but of hearing the words of the Lord.

… they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,

   but they shall not find it.              (Amos 8:11-12)

How do we hear this passage?

Perhaps like me, this judgemental tirade makes you uncomfortable.

I believe this judgment is actually good news.

It is gospel.

God is committed to good purposes,

God rejects evil and upholds justice for all.

In being totally consistent, God declares judgement as part of ‘delivering us from evil’.

And although the judgement of sin and evil separates us from God, in Jesus Christ God comes to us in grace to redeem and reunite us.

Thank God we don’t have to ‘run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord’ –

God’s Living Word has come to us.

This links to the Gospel reading, where Jesus praises Mary for paying attention to his word; prioritising the truth he gives.

Mary shows us that full and faithful discipleship is about being willing to be spiritually shaped by Jesus.

Mary shows us that full and faithful discipleship is about listening as well as acting.

Last week we heard Jesus teach about the need for action.

When Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, he was insistent on the importance of action accompanying ideas.

With Mary and Martha Jesus emphasises action without listening is equally futile.

By presenting these teaching moments of Jesus together, Luke affirms full and faithful discipleship is about love of neighbour AND love of God.

So what does this tell us for how we live today?

We live in a noisy and chaotic world – perhaps you’ve noticed!

·      Disturbing gun violence and ram raids are an almost daily occurrence in Aotearoa New Zealand.

·      The covid pandemic is made worse by vaccine confusion and conflict.

·      The war in Ukraine blasts on, with the potential to turn nuclear.

·      We are bombarded by misinformation – not knowing what sources we can trust.

This week marked the 27th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide.

50 newly identified victims were farewelled at a memorial service.

We have a connection to this horrific conflict.

The tapestry of The Last Supper was gifted to St John’s in the 1990’s by a Bosnian refugee family that this church sponsored.

The tapestry was stitched by the father of one of the adult family members.

The father remained behind in Sarajevo and did not come to New Zealand.

He worked on this tapestry during the siege of Sarajevo, which took place from 1992 to 1996. He did it whilst sheltering in a basement during the relentless shelling of Sarajevo.

Today, there are others sheltering in other basements.

We live in a noisy and chaotic world.

The problems may seem too far away and too hard to fix.

But scripture tells us it is important how we live.

We are to act where that’s the right thing to do (half-dead person in a ditch).

We are to listen to the word of Jesus, which the Holy Spirit declares afresh.

Jesus tells us how we live matters:

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.’ (Matthew 7:24)

Jesus, the Word of God, is our rock.

We are to build our lives on him.

In this noisy and chaotic world the only thing that we can fully trust with our lives is the truth of Jesus. 

This is what we trust, and the best thing we have to share with the world.

Jesus offers abundant life shining through his eyes, love given in his deeds, truth expressed in his words.

We need to sit at his feet and learn all we can from what he says, what he does, and how he sees us.

We need to hear him saying awkward things like:

if you want to save your life then give it away,

pray for your enemies and bless those who curse you.

do not store up wealth on earth, for treasure is heaven.

We need to watch him:

refuse to condemn a woman caught in the act of adultery,

touch with his own hands a diseased leper,

eat with taxgatherers and other sinners

We need to be there when he

commends a widow giving her last 2 coins in the offering,

forgives those who drive in the nails of the cross,

and speaks directly to the emptiness of a weeping woman: “Mary!”

To live abundant life is to learn from Jesus how to live;

to sit as his feet and absorb his grace.

Without that we will end up being absorbed into the fads and fashions of the world around us.

So, if you desire to be a full and faithful disciple, continue to read the Bible, to pray, to worship together – learning abundant life as you are spiritually shaped by Jesus.

How might you do this during the week?

Will you make time to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen?

Maybe I can offer a suggestion to try something a bit different to help focus yourself on attentive listening…

There is an ancient Christian practice of facing east (literally/physically positioning our bodies toward the east) as a practice of anticipation; a posture of being ready to receive.

To ‘orient’ yourself is literally to face the East – where the sun rises.[1]

Facing in this direction is a spiritual posture of attentiveness;

looking toward Jesus, the Risen Son, the Living Word of God.

Can you imagine how this practice of orientation might open you to be ready to receive from Jesus, as you allow him to shape you?

Give it a try.

Face in this direction (physically);

look toward Jesus (in faith)

orient yourself

and experience what you need from God:

truth

restoration,

nourishment,

and hope.

[1] It is linked to the prophetic tradition we hear in the reading from Malachi:

“you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.” (v2)

‘Sun’ is spelt S-U-N, and where do we see the sun rise? (East/Orient)