Pentecost 17

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.  Amen.

The reflection today starts with Paul’s second Letter to Timothy, where he writes some extraordinary words to the follower, Timothy, to remind him of the courage of his grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice, whom he names and honours for their faith in standing against the disapproval of his father and bringing Timothy to faith:

I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is with you….for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.’ (2Tim.1.6-7).

I wonder what these words mean to you today, in a world where extremes are becoming our new ‘normal’.  How do we take God’s side, choose God, rather than the variety of other ‘sides’ presented to us in our daily lives, which distract us and turn us away from God?  The questions include: Do we support Christian nationalism and violence, do we support Israel or Palestine, two states or one, the hostages or terrorists, the Russians or the Ukrainians, do we support the reality of climate change,  or do we support nothing and stay silent because every time we speak we might offend someone: the list is endless and often, it is easier to choose a human side to please those whom we want to impress or love, but which over time, leads us away from God.

What does the spirit of power, love and self-discipline look like as God’s gift to you?

The combination of readings today, from Lamentations, 2 Timothy and Luke bring together a number of ideas which we can weave together to make sense of what God is calling us to do today as God’s gift in this troubled world. 

Reading the Book of Lamentations, shows us the very broad highway we can find ourselves on in the Lament which takes 5 chapters to give its message; as the singers of the Lament, the prophets, resist the call to take simplistic, human, ‘them or us’, views over what has happened to Israel after the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE.    The book of Lamentations takes the argument all the way to God, seeking to engage differently with God about blame, punishment, and repentance.  It also considers God’s own response, which most of those singing, find unsatisfactory, as God’s apparent logic and behaviour don’t make sense, and are not understood or experienced as being helpful, either then or now.  The book closes with a community lament to God, suggesting a time after the frenzied catastrophe of the fall of Jerusalem, when those remaining in the land, have to try to carry on and survive the war’s deprivation, rebuild lives, and learn how to live once again.

It sounds familiar to all of us, whether we’re in Ukraine, Sudan, or Gaza, Afghanistan, Iran, the US or Australia, or in other places where the status quo is breaking down and we find ourselves in new territory, without work, housing, savings, family, land, country or faith.  This is still the story of the First Nations people and the question they still ask, like us: ‘What do we do next?’ 

We also ask ourselves: What didn’t we do, when it mattered?  How could it have come to this?  Why didn’t we listen, look, respond in time, why didn’t we recognise what was happening?   The Lament singers tell us:

‘Judah has gone into exile in suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress… her foes have become the masters, her enemies prosper…’

And the singer goes on to suggest this is because:

The Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.’ (Lamentations 1: 3,5)

Yet, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus shows us a different way of looking at the world and its brokenness and God’s response; where Jesus lovingly tells us, it is not God’s punishment but humanity turning away and persisting with choices leading to death rather than life.  He said (Luke 17:1):

‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!

It’s not just about evil and suffering having overtaken us, it is not about God punishing us for our sins; Jesus is focussed and clear about behaviour which is based on love and which he is teaching to all who will listen. God’s love and our own, is built sturdily on our capacity for repentance and forgiveness as we follow in Christ’s example and as God does for each and every one of us. 

And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent’, you must forgive. (Luke 17:4)

There is no other way through this valley of grief and sorrow.  Judgement, vindictive punishment, vengeance, contempt and hatred will not build better lives and they do not create love or repentance; it will not bring a harvest of forgiveness and a new beginning.  It is impossible to grow such a harvest out of cruelty and vengeance, power and control.   If there is one thing we must reflect upon, its this: hatred, revenge, choosing offence and stirring up trouble based on our own expectations and entitlements will always sow more trouble, which will come home to us with more suffering.

How many generations are we going to inflict such suffering on because of our unwillingness to end the cycle of violence, and learn to talk and live in the way of God’s peace.   We say very clearly today, and every day:  we choose God, we choose Jesus over everything and everyone else. We choose God over winning the argument, doing someone down, repeating gossip and unkindness, over vengeance and fear. We choose God over everything else in this world. 

Paul was writing to Timothy while he was in prison.  Paul knows his suffering at the time of his writing is because he is not ashamed of God and he refuses to blame God for humanity’s failures and he refuses to reject God to make life easier for himself.  He urges us and Timothy, to:

Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us [while] relying on the power of God.  (2 Tim. 1:14, 8).

Sisters and brothers, God’s way is the only way to bring peace, hope, justice and love to this broken and chaotic world.  Let us bring the power of love and self-discipline to this challenge, and walk with Jesus all the way.   The Lord be with you.