Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-end (page 620 in our pew Bibles)The
piece of scripture that Jesus read from in the synagogue and proclaimed
"Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" -Luke 4:21
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 (page 988 in our pew Bibles)
Rejoice always! Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. A
template of the Christian demeanour towards life itself
John 1:6-8, 19-28 (page 886 in our pew Bibles) John prepares
the way. He says he is not Elijah, but Jesus says differently!(Matthew 11:13-14)
Two men –
cousins – and both are the fulfilment of prophesies in Isaiah that pre-eminent
Prince of the prophets.
This piece
from Isaiah we heard today is exactly the same extract that Jesus read in the
Synagogue in Luke 4 and said.
“What you
have just heard is being fulfilled before you”. Jesus affirmed that he was that
person that Isaiah foretold.
And in our
readings from John’s gospel we have Jesus’s cousin, slightly older than Jesus,
saying that he too is the fulfilment of the prophesy in Isaiah 40 that says;
“I am the
voice crying out in the wilderness “Prepare the way of the Lord””
The Jews
were expecting Elijah to return to prepare the way of the Lord because that is
what Malachi said would happen in the last words of the Old Testament but John
himself denied being Elijah. But Jesus saw deeper and truer and saw accurately
that John was indeed fulfilling that role;
In Matthew
11:14-15 Jesus says “And if you are willing to accept it, John is Elijah who is
to come. He who has ears to hear, let them hear”.
John’s role
was to lead people to Christ so notwithstanding acknowledging his pivotal role that we
celebrate today we do concentrate on Christ and the difference he makes to our
lives, just as John would have wanted.
So we turn to Paul’s first letter he ever wrote – the earliest Christian
writing in the New Testament pre-dating all the gospels.
Christians
are called to a life of worship. But Rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving are not
activities designated as "Sunday" activities. The adverbs are “always”, “without
ceasing” and “in all circumstances”
We are to
orientate our whole lives towards God. We are not to divide our lives into
God-related and non God-related spheres.
God is to be
glorified (given his due worth) when we are writing cheques, voting in
elections, relating to husband, wife and children, making business decisions –
as well as public and private worship.
We are also called to a life of discernment of God’s will. The Spirit is the divine
activity in life and while the Spirit’s activity is mysterious and often
ambiguous we are commanded not to quench the Spirit.
Prophets
need to be tested to see if they reveal God’s will.
This extract
from Thessalonians is a call to a life orientated towards God.
And here we
can get a strong lead from John the Baptist himself.
Here was a
man devoted to the way of God and wanted nothing more than to prepare the way
for Jesus. Christians in our culture need to do that afresh ourselves - prepare the ground for Jesus.
John
believed in Jesus even though he hadn’t experienced Jesus’ ministry. He had a
solid faith that we should seek to emulate.
John was fearless
and recognised the supreme importance of repentance – the Metanoia that Bishop
Mark talked about last Sunday – the radical conversion of one’s life.
John also
shows us how to stand firm in our faith no matter what the circumstances. John
stood firm against the king and the religious establishment, standing up for
what he believed was right. He had guts and the church needs guts now more than ever.
As
Christians we will all have our faith put to the test, and we can and probably will falter, but when we do, we can try and emulate John, and cling to Christ and stand firm to the end.
