History
is full of examples of people who have been converted, in an instant, to faith
in Jesus Christ. One thinks of St. Paul;
one might think also of several members of our own Parish. History is not full of examples of people who have become, in an instant,
shining examples of Christians virtues - for that is always a gradual process,
tightly coupled with our sanctification - the gradual process of our becoming,
through God’s grace, holy.
Two
weeks ago, based on part of the Epistle reading for that Sunday, "God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble," I preached on the
theme of humility. Upon reading the
Epistle and Gospel for today, my first thought was that we are presented with
the very same topic. In the Epistle
reading, St. Peter is encouraging his readers to have compassion, love,
blessing, courtesy, and various other character traits that, at first glance,
would seem also to fall under that great Christian virtue of humility. And the Gospel reading for today is the episode
where Jesus tells the tired fishermen, under Simon Peter’s leadership, to cast
their nets into the lake where they had just toiled all night and caught
nothing. After complaining about the
suggestion, very possibly thinking to himself, “He may be a great preacher and
teacher, but what does He know about fishing?”, Peter and his companions follow
the Master’s instruction, and, lo and behold, a catch bigger than their nets
could handle. Peter’s response, “Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”, is certainly full of humility, though
we could also discuss many other aspects of what his character make-up was
going through at that point. His
response might sound like his conversion was sudden and complete; however, the
remainder of the Gospel records tell us that he was to be for some time,
fickle, like shifting sand, before his faith was sufficiently steady for him to
be the “rock on which the Church was built.”
We
could easily spend much time reviewing either the Epistle or Gospel, as they
both present us with encouraging thoughts or examples which we, as followers of
Jesus, are exhorted to emulate. However,
let us focus on the Epistle, remembering that it was written by the very man
who had some time before said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O
Lord.” This alone is worth much wonder -
that the fairly crude fisherman, Simon Peter, would have his life changed so
much that he produced such marvellous letters, so full of memorable phrases as
they relate to Christianity.
In
the Epistles of that other great Apostle, St. Paul, we are accustomed to
finding presentations of moral codes. In
some respects, the first Epistle of St. Peter, from which our reading occurred
today, is a kind of a prolonged moral code: so much so that some modern scholars
have come to believe that this letter was written originally, perhaps not as a
letter at all, but rather as a homily, addressed to candidates for baptism and
confirmation. It may very likely have
been intended as an instructional lesson to describe to them the moral
characteristics of the good, the Christian, way of life.
I mentioned above that the portion that we heard read this morning might call us to consider the Christian virtue of humility; however, if we read it more carefully, we see that St. Peter begins with an exhortation to true courtesy. Christians cannot all expect to think alike always, but we should all “have one mind” in that we should all recognize the same purpose. We are all seeking the same end, so we should indeed exhibit the capacity to interact with each other in love. If we are all in that frame of mind, then we should never be tempted to use bad language towards each other - or anyone for that matter. We shall be naturally, as God intended, kind and gentle - in the truest senses of those words. The end result of such courtesy is that our humble-mindedness will keep us from any thoughts of violence, either in mood or deed. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? The world would be a much better place if all could live by such a code, wouldn’t it?
Now
I’m not going to break the rule of the seal of the confessional; but, this
letter, this homily from St. Peter speaks exactly to a point that is heard
consistently in confessions - many, if not most of us, are so prone to reacting
quickly and even angrily towards others when we perceive that they have done
something that, at the least, catches us off guard, and at the most, is, in our
perception, offensive. Which is to say,
perhaps very often, outside of these walls, our reaction is not courteous,
compassionate, of one mind. How can we
change our behaviour to react with the courtesy of which St. Peter speaks
today?
We
might observe, quite correctly, that the desirable virtues that we seek are
gifts from God, and that He encourages us to ask these things of Him. That is certainly true, but does this not
fall into that area where we must also recognize that, neither are we just
puppets whom God will change into better puppets when either He sees fit or we
ask Him, nor can we presume to look upon God as our cosmic errand boy Who will
just automatically do whatever we ask Him?
These virtues are gifts from
God that it is right and proper for us to desire; but, there is also some effort required on our part. We have been given, all of us, free will,
abilities, talents. Does not God, Who
also gave us those things, expect us to use them in co-operation with the other
gifts that we might seek from Him?
Therefore,
we must reasonably ask, how do we, in co-operation with God, become more
courteous, so that our automatic response is one of charity rather than anger,
of compassion rather than judgement?
Well, that will be different for all of us, but the most essential thing
is for us, as much as we are able, to carry a thought that St. Paul presents to
us in his letter to the Church at Philippi, “Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus.” That, of course,
might sound like an impossibility; but the desire is that, with the Spirit of
Christ in us, guiding us, directing us, encouraging us, we can only behave
better in all circumstances.
Just
before the service began today, Patricia (Pat Bell) came to me and mentioned
that, based on the readings, today would be an excellent Sunday as well for the
short quotation that Gary Sokolyk sent to me, and that I included in my sermon
two weeks ago. If we recall, it made the
point that a primary reason we come to church is so that our pride may be
overcome, and that we may become more courteous, more humble in all circumstances.
I
have mentioned before that there is a bit of jewellery, popular for the past
several years among young Christians, that bears the acronym, “WWJD”, which
stands for, “What would Jesus do?”
Personally, I feel that it would be better rendered WDJD, “What did Jesus do?”; but the underlying
sentiment is the same - a desire to always behave as our Lord did. And there is where we should begin. It will take effort on our part, involving
our free will, and talents, and abilities, so that we catch ourselves in all
situations so that we behave with true courtesy and humility.
When
we, with God’s help, reach such a point in our daily lives, then we will have
come in our behaviour, especially by today’s standards that are increasingly
anything but courteous, to a point where to others we are clearly and
desirably, “in this world, but not of it.”
A little later in today’s reading, after he has quoted from Psalm 34,
St. Peter asks the question, “And who is he that will harm you, if ye be
followers of that which is good?”, which is his own way of telling his readers
that their behaviour, in this world, will have a positive impact on those
around them. This is very often a
powerful evangelism tool, without our even thinking of it as such.
This
might all sound a little bit dreamy and unachievable in a fallen world - not
the part of our becoming, with God’s grace, people who will always react with
true courtesy, as history is full of holy women and men as examples
(aside). But history also tells us that
the world has not always respected the better behaviour of truly courteous and
humble Christians. And St. Peter
acknowledges that that is going to happen, even when we “follow that which is
good.” He writes, “But and if ye suffer
for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled; but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” These are the words that closed the reading
today; at first glance perhaps confusing.
In a nutshell, his encouragement is that, even if someone is so evilly
disposed as to treat truly courteous Christians very badly, said Christians
must rest confident that God will see them right in the end, always also
remembering the exhortation with which he begins the passage, "not
rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise
blessing."
It
is an interesting question as to whether St. Peter was thinking merely of the
possibility of an ill-tempered neighbour, or whether he was thinking of the
more sinister threat of official persecution, such as had already begun when he
wrote this letter, and still occurs in very many countries around the world
today. In either case, the point remains
the same: God will look after His own, and there is no need for His children to
be afraid. Indeed, if we suffer, not for
any evil, but for the good that we have done - such as our profession of
Christianity, or our efforts to show Christian neighbourliness, courtesy and
charity to others - then we ought to be happy rather than sorry or
frightened. We shall at least be
following in the footsteps of our Master, who din no sin whatever, and yet He
was put to a cruel death. Our
consolation will be that, through sharing His experiences, we shall be able to
enthrone the Lord Christ more securely in our hearts. And if we are one with Him in His apparent
defeat, then we shall be, as He promised, one with Him in His ultimate triumph.
THE ANNUNCIATION OTTAWA 2006 CLRK