S E R M O N CNR1072
Pentecost 3a (15) Mosman
13 Jly 2014, 9.30am
Gen 25:19-34; Ps 119:105-112; Mat 13:1-9, 18-23; Rom
8:1-11
1 TELL
ME A STORY
1.1 Australian Dreaming
Tell me a
story!
How often as
children did we sit at some one’s knee and beg for a story?
We remember
bedtime stories, funny stories, sad stories, scary stories, mystery stories and
stories we didn’t understand at the time
but we still
remembered them.
We didn’t take
to abstract lectures but we do remember the stories.
The
“Australian Dreaming” stories of the 1st peoples of this land were
like that.
Many of them
spoke of animals and birds
who behaved in
either good or bad ways.
Whenever one
saw that creature,
what that
creature had said or done came back into mind,
and one became
the wiser for it.
1.2 The Sower and the Seed (Matt 13:1-9, 18-23)
Now many of
you remember Jesus’ Parable of the Sower better than I do.
It was often
the first parable told to us.
In the Gospel
according to Matthew, it becomes the first parable Jesus told.
In Matthew,
Jesus tells the vivid story of the sower
to explain to
his 1st disciples how he is now going to speak to the people.
It is a
heartening parable
because when
we are trying to get an important message across
and keep
hitting brick walls, it is easy to feel dispirited.
The disciples
felt that no one appeared to be listening
to what Jesus
had to say.
In this story,
we see the sower scattering the seed
in an apparent
random way, a bit like letterboxing today.
What’s the
use, we complain?
We see seeds
consumed by opportunistic birds,
seeds that
can’t take root on the hard ground,
seeds choked
by competing weeds,
but there are
some seeds who do escape the birds, do take root,
and do survive
the weeds, and they flourish.
The toast we
ate for breakfast this morning
comes from
bread made by seeds that survived.
Oh yes, the
parable is meant to say that although so many will not listen,
there will be
the faithful few that take the words of Jesus in,
live by them,
and inspire others, even others yet to come.
2 ESAU
AND JACOB (Gen 25:19-34)
2.1 Two kings, one throne
The story of
the twins Esau and Jacob is one such story.
We are
familiar with the 1stborn inheriting the privileges and responsibilities.
Generally the
1stborn is fitted out for the job expecting to take on the mantle.
Occasionally,
this doesn’t happen so Plan B comes into operation.
Many here
would remember the Abdication Crisis of 1936
when K Edward
VIII announced that he could not carry out his regal duties, “without the support of the woman I love”,
leaving his
nervous younger brother with a stammering problem
to become K
George VI.
As it turned
out with the looming WW2, George became a far better king.
2.2 Shallow extrovert v reflective introvert
The story of
Esau and Jacob reflects a similar dilemma.
Again, we have
a shallow extrovert followed by a reflective introvert.
The older Esau
was an active outdoor youth, earning his father’s favour
because he was
always bringing home good meat from hunting.
The younger
Jacob preferred the quietness of the tent.
Had they been
able to read at the time,
he would be
one of those always with his head in a book.
Even so, Jacob
was calculating always with his mind on the future
compared with
the more spontaneous Esau who could only think short-term.
Rebekah could
appreciate Jacob’s worth and that planning ahead
would be a
more productive exercise than ad hoc leadership
so in a later
chapter we will find how she encouraged him
to secure
Isaac’s blessing.
2.3 What are we doing with our birthright?
We have grown
up with this story.
It now makes
us think of our birthright.
What are the
privileges and responsibilities we have inherited,
and what use
are we making of them?
It is no
secret that many of us are uncomfortable, to say the least,
that our
leaders in our country are not thinking compassionately
with the
spirit we have inherited.
The good news
of the Kingdom of God often seems to us to be far away.
Asylum seekers
are treated as disposable trash
to be swept
offshore under some one else’s carpet,
fossil fuels
are polluting our environment
when natural
energies can be made available,
services for
the disadvantaged, including the 1st people of our land,
are
continually cut back to their further disadvantage
while the rich
are encouraged to grow richer at everyone else’s expense.
Are we frittering
away our birthright for instant gratification
rather than
plan for the future of the generations
who look to us
for responsible leadership?
3 PRIVILEGE
AND RESPONSIBILITY.
3.1 Changing toward integrity and compassion
Paul’s Epistle
to the Romans reassures us this morning
that we belong
not to the flesh but the spirit
because the
life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ
has made, and
keeps making, all the difference to our lives.
This is our
birthright – our great privilege and yes, also our responsibility.
Like Jacob and
K George VI, we need to keep positioning ourselves
so that we are
fitted to make changes towards integrity and compassion
within us and
around us as far as we can.
3.2 Persevere!
Yes, we can
become dispirited when our efforts are undermined,
or fall on
stony ground or choked by competing weeds.
But, the story
Jesus first told about the sower and his seed
keeps
reassuring us that despite all that, something good will come of it, perhaps in
the lives of those who are looking to us for responsible leadership.
We can testify
that the spirit of Jesus shown to us
and embedded
within and among us
can and will
be caught if we persevere enough through the life changes
that
inevitably come to us.
We have been
given our birthright.
Let’s use it!
