GOD'S INVERSIONS

 

Sermon delivered on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, the 25th January 2009 by Fr. Nicholas J.G. Sykes in the congregation of St. Alban's Church of England, George Town, Cayman Islands.

 

Scriptures: Jeremiah 1: 4-10    Acts 9: 1 - 22    S. Matthew 19: 27 - end

S. Matthew 19: 30 "Many that are first will be last, and the last first."

THE GREAT SHAKE-UP

In the great song of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Magnificat, we read, "He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away." We might consider what the Blessed Mother envisaged by such words. Who did she have in mind, and by what means would such reversals be effected? No doubt these were the words of a song of the Holy Spirit within her and it is unreasonable to expect her to have been in a position to provide us with a full analysis. Perhaps one sense of the words was consciously applied by her to the occupying forces of the Romans, but perhaps also she was thinking of those powerful Jewish interests that were entrenched in their power either at the behest of the Roman authorities or as a result of deals made with them. Mary was declaring that in the impending birth of the son of Elizabeth, John the Baptist, and of her own Son, there would be what we might call "a big shake-up", and looking back on it we are aware, as perhaps she was not at the time fully aware, that the personal and social ramifications of the shake-up were much more far-reaching than the political implications alone. In any event, whatever His mother's concept of the words might have been, Jesus' words in our text today form their expression at its most succinct: "Many that are first will be last, and the last first." In today's Gospel the expression comes at the end of Jesus' teaching to His own disciples about the rewards and responsibilities of sharing His rule, "judging" the twelve tribes of Israel. Such rule would be exercised in the age of consummation, in the regenerated world to come, by those who had followed Jesus in the present age. Thus many of the rulers in this age would be the ruled in the next. Many that are now in first position in the world's pecking order will be last, and some that now are at the bottom of the heap, will get to the head of the queue.

THE TEACHING OF JESUS

It is instructive that today's Gospel passage from St. Matthew chap. 19, at the end of which occurs our text, follows the record of Jesus' encounter with the rich young man who was not prepared to submit his possessions to the claims of the Kingdom of Heaven upon him as expressed by Jesus. In St. Luke's Gospel this rich young man is referred to as a "ruler", though it is not known what he ruled over. But this man forms the primary object of Jesus' lesson here. Here was one who was "first" (a ruler) in this age who was heading for the last position in the age of consummation, the regenerated new world, our eternal destination. He had everything going for him, as we say, but he was missing the mark still. On the other hand the fishermen, the tax-collector and the other lowly members of the community who had left that behind, and now followed Jesus as His itinerant disciples, were going to be the rulers in the age to come. And this is the kind of strange statement that proves to us that Jesus was not just an exceptionally good man. Jesus said, "In the new world, when the Son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." How could He make such statements about Himself and His followers and be sane, if He were not who He said He was, the divine Son of Man, the Son of God? If He were merely a man and not also the Son of God, such statements would seem to indicate He had delusions of grandeur, delusions that He called His disciples to share. Someone might argue He was trying to compensate for the lowly position of His small band in the community. But that does not fit either the fact of His widespread following and attention or the evident extraordinary toughness of His own character. The alternative is to conclude that the words Jesus was speaking, extraordinary though they were, were the plain truth. His humble associates were to rule with Him in the age to come. "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek." The first, such as the rich ruler, would be last. The last, such as the fisher-folk and tax-collector that followed Him, would be first. God's great inversion, through Jesus, was proceeding. Our universe was turning upside-down, rotating on the axis of Jesus. Each one of us is challenged to ask the question: after such a rotation, where will I be placed?

THE CALL OF JEREMIAH

Each lesson from the Old Testament and the New describes the turning-point in the life of one who was called to be a disciple. In the Old Testament lesson Jeremiah receives the word of the Lord at the start of his ministry declaring that even before he was born, God had a profound and intimate knowledge of him, and had set him apart for a special purpose. That purpose was now set forth: he was to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah himself sees that to be an extraordinary inversion: he is too young and inexperienced and has no speaking skills, he feels. Even later Jeremiah continues to be the most self-questioning of prophets. We who are baptised into the death of Christ Jesus, know too, often enough, our own weakness and frailty, but believe that the dying and resurrection of Jesus has forged a special link between our weakness and the unconquerable strength of God. The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, and has the way to make us strong at our point of greatest weakness.

THE CALL OF ST. PAUL

The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul is the only calendrical commemoration of a conversion. That alone speaks of the importance of this particular event for the life of the Church, as well as for the life of Saul. The mighty young religious ruler with authority to extradite Christians to Jerusalem for trial on account of their belief was strangely floored before he reached his destination. He was told at first to go on in the same direction he was already going; his journey to Damascus had been planned divinely, and not just by himself. But that journey was to proceed in an entirely different fashion from what he had intended. He who had been the leader of the band of persecutors, was now led by the hand, blind and helpless. The first of persecutors had to become last, before he could rise again and become first in the apostolic reconciliation of the Gentiles to God, to whose work all of us today are heirs.

LEAVING ALL BEHIND

So if God turns things and people around in this life, as evidently He does from all we have considered, let us remember that none of us has immunity from the process. The first have often become last in our own time, and the last first. Then how much more is this likely to be true for the age of consummation, the regenerated world to come? Jesus spoke plainly of what He knew. Have we followed Him to the point of leaving behind what is dear to us but holding us back from God’s declared purpose for our lives? My Father, He said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. Through His Cross Jesus left all this world’s praise and approval behind, but gained Resurrection. Where then will we be placed, in the greatest inversion of all?