Epiphany 3 - On the third day

The Gospel of John stands alone when put alongside the three synoptic gospels of Mark Matthew and Luke. The purpose of the three synoptic, called such as they share a high proportion of stories covering the same events and follow a similar sequence, is clear and best conveyed in the introduction of Luke’s gospel. Chapter 1 verse 1

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

But what of John’s gospel? For many years scholars have referred to St John’s gospel as the “book of signs”.

The dangers of trying to discover secret meaning in the words of scripture are of course nothing new. Dan Brown may well have been very clever in catching the imagination and quenching the thirst of those who believe in conspiracy theories when it comes to the church and the figure of Jesus Christ but he is not alone. There are of course many who dedicate their lives trying to look deeper in to the meaning of words and search out secret rhythms and codes from what is actually written.

But with that said, and if you like having noted the danger of such a reading of scripture, there seems to be more justification in doing so with the gospel of John than with the other gospel writers who do indeed have a deeper theology to convey in the way in which they arrange the details that they find, or indeed have seen with their own eyes, concerning life of Jesus.

On the third Sunday of Epiphany, a season that explores and celebrate the revelation to the world that is Jesus Christ we read:

 “On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.”  Jn 2.1

We are not told who was getting married, a detail that would certainly attract a great deal more comment from todays journalist, but we are told that Jesus and all his disciples were there as well.  And while they are there disaster strikes.  It seems the host has run out of wine.  Now how this unfolds is important.  Jesus’ mother informs him and he doesn’t seem too pleased.  In fact, he says somewhat cryptically, “My hour has not yet come.”  But she persists in telling the servants to do as he commands.  He then spies six stone jars, six jars that were used for the Jewish rite of purification; big jars, each one holding twenty to thirty gallons. 

He has them filled to the brim and then has them draw some water and take it to the master of the feast.  When it gets there it had become wine, and not just any wine, good wine!  Everyone is shocked, they know that the usual way things work is you serve the good wine first and when everyone is a bit tipsy then you bring out the cheaper stuff and no one is the wiser. 

But here the wine Jesus supplies is the best, the very best.  And there at Cana in Galilee his glory is manifested in this miracle.

Everything that happens in our text is said to have happened on the third day and to be the first sign that Jesus performs.   On the third day we are introduced in John’s gospel for the first time to the mother of our Lord.  Remember John’s Christmas story doesn’t begin with Mary and Joseph and the angel Gabriel but with the cosmic story of the creative Word of God becoming flesh.  And it is here at Cana that we first hear of his mother. 

She isn’t even named but she plays an important role.  She is the one who directs all eyes to Jesus on the third day and then we don’t hear about her again until she appears at the foot of the cross at the end of the Gospel.  Here he tells her that his hour is not yet come but later he will say that, “the hour has come to glorify the Father.”  And the hour he speaks of is his gruesome death on the cross – where we find Mary.

We are told that the wedding feast in Cana happens on the third day, and it is the third day after his crucifixion that our Lord finds his disciples gathered in the upper room, locked away in fear. 

On the Third day he who turns water into wine, he who has given new life to his church he himself comes into their midst.  He says, “Peace be with you!”  And that is exactly what he gives. 

We gather on the third day, on the day of our Lord’s glorious manifestation, we gather as he comes in water and wine, as he comes in Word and Sacrament to give you peace.  “Peace” he says, “for you are forgiven.  Peace, for you have been washed and fed and embraced by God.  Peace for it is finished, my hour has come, you are mine.”

Later in the gospel John tells us that Jesus’s speaks of his own mission in these wonderful words “ I came that you may have life and have life abundantly”  John 10.10

In this the first sign of Jesus, and in on the third day after his crucifixion Jesus shows us what that abundant life looks like. The water of our everyday life is transformed by his love and presence into the wine of the Kingdom and through his death and resurrection that promise of abundant life means that there is no limit, no best before, no sell by date that we are so familiar with in our daily lives. For Jesus on the Third day at the wedding at Cana and on the third day after his crucifixion reveals to us the truth of his gift and promise that will stand for eternity – life, life in abundance.

Compulsory purchase order public enquiry

The long awaited Public inquiry on the west hendon regeneration has begun

"Let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream"

Amos 5.24

Epiphany 2 - Speak Lord you servant is listening

Our world and our culture are changing rapidly all around us. With new communication technology and increasing global interaction, we face a world that will be radically different from the one in which we have lived for so long..

Of course, some see the changes, any changes, as threatening. And so they move into a doomsday mode and adopt a negative view. They decry any change as a change for the worse, where some people see only problems, others see opportunities.

If that is true in individuals, I suspect it is also true of society. And it is true of the church. Never has there been more interest in religion and spirituality in this country than now. The human need to be Spiritual remains even in those societies that strive to deny the Spiritual and believe not in God but themselves. Of course, some of that spirituality is of the weird kind, and certainly not Christian. But that also tells us that there are opportunities to proclaim the Gospel.

The Old Testament reading for the second Sunday of Epiphany is the story of God’s call to the young man Samuel and his commissioning as a prophet to Israel. In many ways, this young man Samuel represents the turning of history for Israel.

The setting of this story is 200 years after the people of Israel leave the slavery of Egypt, travel through the wilderness and enter the long promised land flowing with milk and honey.

They enter the land of Canaan and as they settle and adapt to this new life, the old ways are forgotten, the old lessons of dependency on God become lost and new ways of living seem at odds with all that went before.

The priests continued to worship and maintain the sanctuaries throughout the land. They tried to keep the spiritual vitality alive. But the people could see little advantage in serving God. They became preoccupied with their own interests and their commitment to God grew dim.

And so gradually they began to forget who they were as God’s chosen people and what their mission was in the world. The new generation of children that were growing up had finally abandoned God for pursuit of their own pleasure. The Book of Judges ends with one of the most chilling verses in the Bible. "Everyone did as they wanted to do."

It is against that background that the young man Samuel enters Israel’s history

The first chapters of 1 Samuel tell us of the miraculous birth of Samuel. God heard and answered Hannah’s prayer. As soon as we hear of the birth of this child, we know that there is hope for Israel. We know that there is indeed a future and possibility simply because God has brought it about. But change does not always come easily, and we do not yet know the shape of that future.

And so the stage is set for the text in chapter three that we have heard this morning.

There are three characters in the story: the old priest Eli, the young man Samuel, and God. Too often we focus on Samuel and forget about Eli. But if we listen carefully to the story, we realize that Eli has a significant role in the story. It will take all three of these figures in the story for Israel to have a future.

Eli by this time was an old man, nearly blind. He was priest at the sanctuary at Shiloh, and likely had been all his life. In the previous chapter (2), we are told that Eli’s two sons were worthless fellows who despised the things of God. They had violated the very sanctuary of God

Eli represents Israel and the path that she has taken in allowing the things of God to grow dim, like his eyesight. Eli represents the old ways that Israel had been following now for 200 years, paths that have led to spiritual blindness and a deafness to the voice of God.

Yet there is a glimmer of hope here. We are also told in verse 3 that "the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was." It is no accident that this story takes place at night. The darkness represents the same thing that Eli’s blindness represents: the lack of spiritual vision and the failure to be God’s people.

The lamp of God and the ark both symbolized the presence of God in the sanctuary. In this story they represent the presence of God in the darkness into which Israel’s spiritual blindness has led them. In the midst of the darkness of failing vision the flame of God’s presence is still alive.

And in the darkness there is Samuel, the miracle child! The child born to a barren woman! In the darkness lies the future, just waiting for God’s presence to fan it into a new flame!

We must be careful here that we do not romanticize Samuel and make him the hero here. The story is not about Samuel. But he is the instrument of God's work.

We all know the story of God's call to Samuel. God called to him. He heard God’s voice, but did not understand. He was only a boy and had not yet learned to distinguish the voice of God from all the other voices in his life.

He went and asked Eli if he had called. Eli told him to go back to bed. Twice more this happened. Finally, the third time Eli began to understand what was happening. He explained what Samuel should do and how he should respond.

The fourth time Samuel responded to God's call, and was given the prophetic message from God. It was a message about change, about the ending of the old ways of doing things in Israel.

Although Eli can be seen as the villain in the story the truth is that he is important and was there to guide Samuel in the right direction. Even though the old ways were dying, they still had a role in guiding the new generation into their calling as God’s people. Eli enables the young Samuel to be one who will bring change so desperately need.

Eli may not be a hero, but his role was to facilitate and enable the change that God was bringing. He was the transition figure between the past and the future, the cutting edge over which the old became new.

And what of Samuel? Does he become the hero? Yes but if we look later at Samuel, even after being the prophet of God for many years, he had sons of his own. And his sons were worthless fellows, just like the sons of Eli. Eventually, Samuel himself came to the position of Eli, and faced the judgment of God on his own family and his heritage!

Samuel filled the same role as Eli, as he presided over yet another change in Israel’s history. Samuel was commissioned by God to appoint the iftt Kings of Israel first Saul and then David, an act that would bring his own leadership of Israel to an end.

So what does this mean for us?

I think that perhaps we need to realize that some things are ending. I’m not saying we have to see the church in the metaphor of a blind old man who is ready to die. But we do have to recognize that what has been will not be again. The stability and power of our Faith is not in all the trappings of our religion, but in the living God in our midst. We can easily disrupt the new work of God in the world if we try only to hang onto what has always been. Not everything needs to change, or should. But then, not everything can remain the same.

Certainly there is change in the wind. Pope Francis is challenging the Roman Catholic Church to look afresh at some of its deepest held assumptions and practices.

The Church of England is also undergoing change with the long awaited  decision to allow women not just to be priests but Bishops as well

In our Diocese we await the news in few months time of who will be our new bishop of Edmonton, taking over from bishop Peter after 15 years as our Area Bishop

And there is change here too at St Matthias and within the communities of Colindale where we see the evidence of that change all around us.

We need to listen to God in these times of change and for some of us to be like Eli, to ensure that the voice of the future is heard and the Word of God is honoured. For all of us we need to be ready to respond to God when he calls: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

The Baptism of Christ - You are my beloved in whom I am well pleased

Can you imagine what it would be like to hear the voice of God saying, "I am so very pleased with you"?

“Congratulations”

The banner with bright coloured letters ran up the Vicarage stair case complete with balloons for the home coming of baby Jesse on Wednesday night, hot on the heals of the celebration of the Magi’s visit to the stable in Bethlehem and blessing our home and the churches 20+C+M+B15

Of course we had been waiting, anticipating this moment, indeed praying for him to be well enough and strong enough to be allowed out of hospital and start to live as part of his family. Thank you for all your prayers for Jesse and Jodie these past 6 weeks, this baby has been prayed for in Roman Catholic, Coptic, Anglican and Pentecostal churches he is truly blessed.

“You are my son the beloved, with you I am well pleased” – these are the words of God not just for his only begotten son Jesus but for the whole world to hear and to share in and what could be more wonderful than to hear our heavenly father tell us this?

The joy that came with this small bundle of humanity wrapped in a blue blanket knitted for him by Angie and in a car seat that cost as much in family arguments as it did in terms of cash! was soon followed with the needs of looking after a small baby, the endless cycle of washing and feeding and all that happens in between, but that joy is still with us and in time Jesse will come to understand its full extent in his own life. It is the kind of joy that one gets from looking upon a baby be it ours of that of another that when felt never leaves us.

The first time I saw Jesse, one day old in intensive care wrapped in bubble wrap

the first prayer I said for him

the first time I held him

the first time I fed him

these are moments that cannot be forgotten, will never be forgotten will stay with me for the rest of my life and this is true of our baptism and the baptism on our lord that we remember and celebrate this morning

Baptism is a powerful sign of Gods love for us, those of us who were baptised as infants may not have a direct memory of the event, of the love being expressed and poured out in that simple ceremony but as we grow it is our hope and faith that the words of God the Father to his Son will be equally true of each one of us his sons and daughters.

Our baptism in like a home coming for through the waters of baptism we are granted entry in to the church and the promise of life eternal. In the waters of baptism we are born again in to a new family, the family of Christian people throughout the ages, and the world, yes it really is a homecoming.

In the words of God “You are my child the beloved, with you I am well pleased” we are given the assurance from


...The One who rescued us from death and destruction out of grace simply because He loves us.

...The One who chose you and revealed Himself to you when you were yet in sin, ungodly, without hope.

...The One who turned you from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the kingdom of God, from death to everlasting life.

...The One who granted you forgiveness of all your sins, who absolved you of condemnation, who breathed into you life that would never end, who assured you He would never leave you nor forsake you, who by His Spirit enabled you to call Him, "Abba, Father!"

What are we to make of that timeless voice, the voice from heaven saying "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased

What do we make of it this morning as we sit here in church and take moment to listen, to remember, to assure ourselves that we have been chosen and are loved because we, like the one on whom we attempt to model our lives, are a beloved child of God in whom God is well pleased?

When you stop to ponder this in your heart, the timing of the Father's words to His Son was incredible. This happened on the eve of Jesus' public ministry! Jesus was about thirty years old. He came to the Jordan where His cousin John was baptising.

¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ ¹² And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness”

Up to this point, Jesus hadn't performed a single miracle.

No sign had been performed by Him, or word spoken by him yet the Father himself said He was well-pleased with His Son.

Jesus hadn't successfully resisted the devil; yet the Father opened the heavens and said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased."

Before Jesus had begun any work of his Father he receives God’s blessing and love.

And this is true for each one of us when we were born, before we had done anything, even before we had opened our mouth to draw our first breath we are loved. This is true for Jesse my first Grandson, it is true of Jesus at his baptism and it is true for each one of us here and throughout the world.

What does this tell us? It tells me that what pleases God more than anything else is our intimate relationship with Him, our total submission to His Word, His purpose, His timing.

Imagine the freedom you would experience if you knew that you were already — right now and today — pleasing to God!

Would you face the challenges before you differently?

Would you enjoy your life a little more and live your life abundantly?

And so the yearning strong

With which the soul will long

Shall far out pass the power of human telling;

For none can guess its grace

Till he become the place

Wherein the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.

‘Come Down O Love Divine’   -   Bianco da Siena, d.1434.