Grove Green 22.03.2015

Readings:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
John 12:20-25

Do you ever wonder how famous Jesus was when he was alive? I know that sounds like a silly question but in terms of where he ministered and when he lived, it could be said that outside of Palestine he probably wasn't well known. And yet in the Gospel of John we have this account of a group of Greeks coming to meet Jesus. They go to Philip, who goes to Andrew who both go to Jesus and ask if he will meet with them. And then frustratingly we never find out if Jesus met with them.

But Jesus says something important at this point. He says now is the time for him to be glorified. What Jesus is saying is that by having Gentiles or non-Jews recognising who he was, the Kingdom of God was breaking out of its Jewish roots. I like to think Jesus then sat down with the Greeks and had a good debate over the nature of the world, but that’s in my head.

The new covenant Jeremiah talks about is also about how the Kingdom of God would break out of its Jewish roots. Jeremiah is talking about how God would bring all of his children back together to live together where God is so ingrained in who and what they are that will no longer have to teach each other about God. It is a wonderful prophecy that would be fulfilled through Christ.

One of my favourite phrases at the moment is: “we are people of the now and not yet”. We are part of the Kingdom of God that has been established on earth by Jesus but it is not yet completely here. We only have to look at all the suffering and strife in the world around us to know that God’s Kingdom has truly taken over. 

But I have to ask the question, are we as a church, any closer to being that community that no longer has to teach each other about God because he is so entrenched in our lives that when we see each other we see an image of God. And if we have to ask this question we have to ask the question of why aren't we there yet. What do we need to do to be a community that reflects the kingdom and love of God? 

I think we have three things we need to do:

1) We need to bring and give to God all the hurt and pain we have felt over the last few years. As a local church you have had lots of hurt and heartache and that pain and grief can hang around necks like a millstone. Until we can give that hurt and pain to God we will never really be able to be that community that shows the love of God.

2) We need to ask God to forgive us for holding onto our hurt and pain. Robin Williams starred in a movie called “What dreams may come”. The premise of the movie is that we create our own happiness or our own misery.If we go to God and repent of holding onto our hurt, we will be able to start to heal.

3) We need to start to love each other. I mean truly love each other and not just on a Sunday. So how do we love each other? Let’s start by doing little things like leaving a few chairs out for those us who aren't that steady on our feet. How about offering to set up in the morning so that it’s not always the same people doing it? Or simply giving someone a card that says “thinking of you”? Little things and little changes go a long way to demonstrating God’s love.

I see the Jeremiah and John passages as both a challenge and a promise. A challenge to live the way God wants us to and a promise that it is possible to live a life that God wants us to. The question for us then is: Do we want to?

Amen