Sermon preached by the Revd Phill Ball, Sunday 15th April 2012
Our topic this week in
the Discipleship series is SHARING. Or rather in
Discipleship the issue of loving and sharing!
With all that Jesus did
for us, and shared with us all, over his ministry, in his teaching and
emphasised over this Easter season; let us all consider sharing in our risen
discipleship lives.
Now to pinch a phrase
from Michelle of the French Resistance in Allo Allo, Listen very carefully I shall say this
only once!
If we need an example of
loving and sharing, once again we only have to look to God, and to the example
of Jesus his son.
God shared his whole
creation with us, and shared what it was to be truly human, by coming to live
as one of us, in Jesus his son.
He shared and knows what
laughter, joy, excitement, responsibility, love , families, and of course shared and knows what oppression, pain
sorrow, loss, rejection, and injustice and a painful death are all personally like,
he shared them all as Jesus, and he shares it all with us now, if we let him in
our hearts.
God shared in Jesus’
death, in his glorious resurrection on
Easter day, and shares with all who will ask him the new life of God through
Jesus, for God has already shared our suffering and our deaths.
Lets look at an example
from the Bible, lets look at one of the disciples asked to follow and share
with him:
Matthew as we know him or
Levi the sinful and hated tax collector as the people at the time knew him!
For the Gospel writer Matthew was one of the Friendless- Matthew the
tax-collector had no friends among any respectable folk. Hardly surprising, when
he cheated most of them with his excessive tax demands, they often demanded
far more than was necessary to line their own pockets, and collected money to
pay the brutal roman army of occupation.
Matthew had hung around on the edge of the crowd
when Jesus was speaking, and
he liked what he'd heard, as Jesus shared.
Wistfully Matthew thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if
I could live as Jesus is describing, a life of kindness and sharing with others and
acceptance by God?
But there was no chance of a sinner and tax-collector being
accepted into that sort of society.
So he was caught off guard when Jesus turned to him
and said, 'Follow me!'
Like a young woman who has received an unexpected proposal of marriage, he was lost for
words. 'What can I say?' he stammered. Jesus smiled. 'One word will do,'; 'Yes,' answered Matthew.
'Oh yes, I will follow you wherever you
want me to!' Then, what should he do next? he wondered.
What he really wanted to do was throw a party.
But Jesus would surely never come to a party where
the only guests were the
outcasts and despised like Matthew
So Matthew went off into a daydream, preparing for Jesus a
shared banquet in his heart. Jesus startled him again, asking,
'What are you
thinking about,
friend?' 'W-w-well, I dreamt I was giving you a banquet. Oh, not a real
banquet, you understand - it was a banquet in my heart.'
This time, Jesus laughed out loud. 'I've never been
to one of those,' he chuckled. But 'I'll accept your invitation. But you'll
have to be a big-hearted
person if there's going to be room for me and all your tax-collector friends!'
And when Jesus sat at dinner
in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples'. So the
location and sharing, had moved from Matthew's heart to Matthew's house, but
people were astonished at the company Jesus kept, and who he shared his life
with.
It took them a long time
to understand that the Saviour of the world loves the outcast and those with a shady
reputation, just as much as he loves the celebrities and the VIPs, and the respectable.
He enjoys parties, and he's happy to go to a
party with anyone who invites him, in their home or in their heart. Jesus is
the friend of sinners and the ordinary, to him their all special.
Have you ever invited Jesus to share a
banquet in your heart?
Or others to share what Jesus offers all who
will answer yes?
No, really, it's a very serious question.
Where does Jesus come in your life?
Do you leave
him behind in church when you go home? Do you only think about him when you're being po-faced and
respectable?
That isn't enough. This isn’t a sharing discipleship…
Jesus wants to be with
you and share in the whole of your life.
He wants you to open
your heart, and share all your hopes and fears with him, Share your anger and your joy, your triumphs and
disasters.
So why not give Jesus a party? A shared banquet in your heart is quite good
enough for starters.
Jesus wants to be your
close friend, your bosom pal. He wants you to consult him over all your
decisions, and thank him for all your successes, and share all your disappointments as
well.
That's a cause for
celebration, surely isn't it?
But like Matthew we all
have to decide to follow and to have that party in our hearts, and to share
Jesus with others.
To paraphrase an old
Saying,
Love wasn’t put in your
heart to stay , love isn’t love till its shared and given away!
Finally, lets consider
another example- these lovely eggs…. Given to me.
Should I keep them all,
count them, eat them, feel smug, and be respectable, or as we should do share,
as Disciples of Christ called to follow and share?
I’ve made my decision,
how about you?
I’m sharing…Amen. Share eggs out- pew by pew.2 bags per pew- open and share sisters and
brothers.
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