Sermons
Epiphany 3
Vast amounts of money in our days are spent on trying to persuade people to do certain things or to buy certain things. And although there are many ways of advocating one activity or another or of inducing us to purchase one item or another, there are really only two ways of selling something and we might call those two routes to our wallets the paths of desire and duty. The product or activity is either made to sound desirable because of its beauty or efficiency or luxury or kudos, or it is made to sound advisable because of its necessity in supplying bodily or moral or financial health.
Some products can be sold using both tactics, a good example being our fair trade bags made in India for the fruit and veg co-op. These are nice-looking products, the purchase of which may salve your conscience for your otherwise profligate use of the world’s natural and economic resources, and the carrying of which can advertise to the world your moral health, all for £2. They are selling very well. Other products really only fall into one category. Cigarettes are a good example. It would be a challenge now to advertise cigarettes as good for one’s health or beneficial in some way to society, difficult to persuade people that they really ought to smoke. Having said that, they are selling even better than our eco-friendly bags.
When it comes to Christianity the days of selling it as a duty are long gone in this country, we are in the days of allowing people to see how desirable Christianity is, or rather of returning to the original and striking methods of advertising utilized by Jesus. It is one of our principle callings as the Christian community to refresh our sense of our sheer delight and desire for the truths of our religion and to share that delight and desire with others. I would go so far as to say that if there are people who come to church because they feel they really ought to, rather than because they want to, then they may need as much conversion to the joy and delight of Christianity as those who may know nothing of it whatsoever.
Two little sayings of Jesus from today’s gospel may point us towards a pattern of sharing our faith which follows the rhythms of encounter that Jesus had with those around him. The two little sayings are: ‘What are you looking for’, and ‘come and see’. In today’s gospel John the Baptist speaks to his own followers (many of whom became the first disciples of Jesus) and he identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, the one come to take away the sin of the world, the one on whom the spirit has descended, the Son of God no-less. Now John’s followers should have been expecting something new. John had preached a baptism of repentance in preparation for the inauguration of the kingdom so when they heard John proclaiming the identity of the new man on the scene in this dramatic way, two of them decided to tag along behind Jesus to see what was going on. When Jesus sees the two men we come to the first of the two little sayings ‘What are you looking for?’. An open question inviting the two men to try to express something about their desires. ‘What are you looking for?’ And the two men, presumably a bit flummoxed by this informality say ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’, they acknowledge Jesus as teacher, but hardly as the proper recipient of that string of titles that John had come up with, and they indicate simply that they want to come along. And Jesus says ‘Come and see’. So they go with him and stay through the day listening to him and being with him. That little encounter could be taken as a pattern for just about all our evangelistic ministry, our ‘advertising ministry’ as Christians, two little lines; the gentle enquiry ‘what are you looking for?’ and the gracious invitation ‘come and see’, and then time spent together.
What those two nervous enquirers find of course is a person so hugely desirable to be with, an encounter so thoroughly enriching that their lives are utterly transformed and they get caught up themselves in being advocates for following Jesus - rushing off to find those nearest to them to tell them the news.
This needs to be our model. Our Christianity needs to be so attractive, such an obviously delightful and desirable part of our lives that we can’t help saying to people ‘come and see’. Sometimes perhaps we are better at offering that first question of Jesus ‘what are you looking for?’ without following up with the gracious invitation to ‘come and see’. That first question often goes spoken, simply listening to someone, giving them the space and permission to open-up about their lives is to make the same gracious offer but perhaps it is the second part we sometimes forget, or perhaps are slightly diffident about offering, fearing perhaps that we will be seen to take advantage of shared confidences. If you find yourself in that situation where you are talking with a close friend who is not a church-goer, or not a person of faith, but between you trust has been established, confidences have been shared and you are searching for the way in which to say something about why it makes sense for you to follow Jesus here, you might try that very simple and gracious invitation of Jesus, ‘come and see’. Not, ‘you ought to go to church’ not ‘come to church because it will make you a good person’, certainly not ‘if you don’t go to church look out’, just a simple invitation.
So, as far as advertising the faith goes, I could place a hundred adverts for our church around the parish tomorrow morning but, actually I have got about 120 much better adverts seated in front of me at the moment.