Yes or No
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Yes or No: 3rd July 2011: am: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Genesis 24 (selected verses)
- Psalm 45: 10 - 17
- Romans 7: 15 - 25
- Matthew 11: 16 – 19, 25 - 30
At first reading the story of Abraham’s search for a wife for his son Isaac strikes us as quaint and old-fashioned, and very far from the reality of the way Kiwis seek their life partners. I can’t see too many of the young people who camped overnight in the Loaves and Fishes being very happy with the suggestion that their parents actually know best when it comes to choosing such a person. And the girls are unlikely to take kindly to having a nose-ring inserted – even if the multiple studs and rings of body-piercing adornment are still the rage in some circles. What does surprise though is the way in which Rebecca is given a choice. She can say yes or no to the proposal. That would have been highly unusual in the context – and is still unusual in some cultures today. I wonder how she knew to say yes.
On listening to today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans you could be forgiven for thinking Paul has lost it! “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I but sin that dwells in me.” What is he on about? Put simply I think Paul is reflecting the dilemma we all face from time to time. On the one hand, we want to do what is right, what God wants of us in our lives. On the other, there is what is called sin, the enemy within which seems intent on getting us to do what is not right. Even though Paul seems to know what he should be doing, all too often his experience is that he can’t do what he knows to be right. It is as if there is some hidden force pulling him along; he can’t resist it. He feels trapped in his own body. He does things he does not want to do, and knows he should not be doing. So we hear Paul’s desperate cry: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
The Gospel reading from Matthew suggests things are not always obvious. Two people, both clearly people of God, behave in very different ways – yet both are laughed at. John the Baptist was a man of extra-ordinarily austere ways. Jesus was the opposite – enjoying the company of people, not averse to throwing a good party. Both are mocked by those who think they know God’s ways. As so often in the Bible, it is the least expected who recognize God – in this case, the so-called ‘infants’. Those who think they know everything, who are confident they are doing the right thing, may need to re-think. Could this or that be of God?
In a world where there are so many choices to make, and so many voices calling out, “Choose me, Choose me!” how do we make choices which we will not later regret? Someone I know and love wrote a prayer which is printed on the front page of the Today Sheet. It is inspired by the image of a tree – where the roots run deep into the ground, giving stability against the storms and winds of life. Being a living thing the branches and leaves are able to move with a suppleness that allows them to bend this way and that, but come back to stand strong and true. Coursing through the tree, from the deepest root to the highest twig and leaf is the sap – life-giving, renewing and energizing. I think this image of the tree may be of some help to us in making choices.
Christians need to tap into the wisdom of those who have gone before us. Not for nothing is the Bible, which we read every time we come together to worship, known as the Word of God. Within these pages we can hear God speaking to us. That quaint story of Rebecca and her nose ring suggests a deep wisdom about marriage. Read through the introduction to the marriage service and we find a warning that marriage is a way of life to be upheld and honoured; not to be entered into lightly; involving a serious and life-long commitment. In his longing to know how to break the stranglehold of sin, St Paul recognized that it is Christ alone who can do that. And that the freedom offered in Christ comes at the price of the cross. We need to dig deep into our Christian tradition as found in the Bible, in our services, in our hymns, our liturgy. Using the metaphor of the tree, our roots need to grow strong and deep into the good soil given us by God.
Just as the tree is able to move with the wind, often with a great deal of flexibility, we too need to remain supple and open, careful not to become rigid like the Pharisees, so criticized by Jesus. They built their teaching on the tradition of their faith, but they became frozen in time – unable to see that God works in many different ways, even through the “infants.” Some people experiencing cathedral worship for the first time might think it is inflexible, unyielding. In fact, because cathedral worship has deep roots and taps into hundreds of years of carefully thought through actions, words and music, there is a surprising openness to new things. The wind may blow and the branches bend, but a tree growing strong in the ground is quite different to a boat on the ocean in the same storm.
Allowing the sap to run up and down is like listening to the Spirit of God at work within us. One of the sounds to listen for very carefully is the voice of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Listen again to the invitation from Jesus. Think carefully about what to do with it. Know that the choice is yours. Like Rebecca you can say yes, or no.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Later in this service, the celebrant will say some special words of invitation. We hear them often. Listen today with a fresh mind and heart. Don’t just follow the crowd. Don’t just come forward to receive Holy Communion because that is what we always do. Think carefully about the invitation, about the choice you make in coming forward, about the way in which we will be sent out from here at the end of the service, about what to do with your life – whether you are at the beginning, middle or end of it.
Be thinking now how to respond to the invitation to draw near and receive the Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Will it be Yes, or No?
