27th January 2008SEXAGESIMA
Fr David Cherry
Isaiah 9 : 1 – 4 ; I Corinthians 1 : 10 – 18 ; Matthew 4 : 12 – 23
And Jesus said to them : Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
To follow is to find yourself falling into company and keeping company with those who are wanting something more, hardly knowing what at times, but something to do with God and wanting a place in him.
Does one understand in order to believe or believe in order to understand?
Our education, the way we are shaped, become who we are, formed, takes
place in a culture. We are always being in-formed by being told
something or by our experiences of something.
For example, I do believe that the world is round but everywhere I go,
except for undulations in the country-side, it does appear to me, on
the whole, quite flat. I rely on the expertise of
others. I have put my faith in them. Members of the flat earth
society are now quite rare. Believing in the expertise of
others is a starting point.
But if I was unduly bothered about how the earth was round and insisted
that I, myself, were able to prove it, first-hand as-it-were, before I
could believe it, I would either have to make a study of it myself (and
quite quickly discover what I found at school that I wasn’t
bright enough!); or I could become an astronaut so that I could at
least see it from out there which wouldn’t be very practical
either.
Faith then, is something natural. We believe all sorts of things
(and it is amazing what some people do believe! * see Dorothy Sayers quote at the end) and coming to some
sort of understanding happens later. Our culture in-forms us,
shapes us. Being created by a Creator, belonging to the human
race, or a particular culture is not a matter of choice. It
happens to us. We receive it. Later on we question it, test
it out (find what is beneficial, change culture, move to another
country if need be!). But from the beginning we are exposed to
the experience of others, allowing it to inform, to shape our thinking
and way of life. We are always being shaped by our
‘commerce’ or ‘intercourse’ with what’s
going on around us.
So belonging and believing is prior to understanding.
The disciples who came to Jesus in last Sunday’s Gospel are asked
‘what they want’. They have no idea and ask Jesus
where he lives. For St John this is an important question. It
both signifies that they don’t really know what they want but
they want something – and thus an awkward reply. But it is
also profound: where are you in relation to us; where are we in
relation to you? Can we entrust ourselves to you to form us? These
questions are what some theologians call the ‘geography of St
John’s gospel.’ What is the ground of the connection
between us?
But we need to notice, that they are already following him, in
motion. They have fallen into company with Jesus, caught like
fish. They are enticed by the dawn of something new: to
them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung
up. And only after the Resurrection will they be able to look
back with hindsight and begin to make sense of what was happening to
them; and record it in gospels.
The darkness that Isaiah speaks of, in which people walked, is a
metaphor of course. Darkness which blinds and you don’t
know that it is or was darkness until you are in the light because
darkness is an absence of light. The disciples in today’s
gospel are being invited to join The Way. ‘Follow
me.’
In the light of the Resurrection they will discover what blinded their minds, what darkness looks like:
“Aha! Now I see what we were being drawn out of; and invited
into. I see the culture of dog eats dog, the culture of shame and
sin, the brooding cruelty of selfish gain because I have been brought
into a great light and delivered from fear; and I am living in a new
culture of grace which is still coming about by the Holy Spirit in the
world. The understanding comes with reflection –
backwards. For now you need to follow.
But how? Well, perhaps one might begin by asking questions such as these:
What has shaped who I am?
What am I exposing myself to that is shaping my attitudes and assumptions?
Who or what is shaping me?
Who and what is being formed in me.
It’s not easy in a divided Church. So it’s good to be
reminded in today’s epistle, just after the Octave of Prayer for
Christian Unity, that the Church in Corinth was already divided into
factions in St Paul’s day. Who can I trust to shape and
help me?
And it isn’t easy in a secular society. On a clergy development
day, one priest spoke about the tide of religious belief going out from
our society and culture; and just being there waiting for it to come in
again - reminiscent of Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’
:
its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar
Retreating to the breath
Of the night-wind down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Who can I believe, how will I be shaped in my believing. Who is believable?
The other evening with some South African friends we were talking about
the boredom of Sundays in Calvinist South Africa, when everything was
shut; not a drop of alcohol could be bought after 1pm on a
Saturday. There were only two things to do : go to Mass …
and then the beach. You could, of course also read, or listen to
the radio. No telly! Thank God for Church, the tremendous
occasion of it, which became the summit and well-spring of my young
life. (I was a strange child, captivated – religion got
me.) And then as a student, on Good Friday, everything stopped, not a
corner-shop was open I found myself in a packed church, creeping
to venerate the cross alongside Colonel Garvey who clicked his heels in
salute; and Mrs Limmer who curtsied to her Lord; and waifs and strays
who hadn’t anything better to do. So I was shaped.
Follow me and I will make you fishers of men, says Jesus. To
follow is to find yourself falling into company and keeping company
with those who are wanting something more, hardly knowing what at
times, but something to do with God and wanting a place in him.
It was and is through baptism that we joined this company we call the ‘gathered people of God’, the ekklesia,
the Church. (We don’t go to Church, we are the
Church. The Church gathers to celebrate the sacraments, its
ritual, to rehearse its stories). We were reminded how we were
brought here before Mass began in the Asperges. You are already a
follower. You are already on the road, The Way (as the early
Christians said). God is at work in you. You are being cleansed,
sanctified, being shaped for heaven. You may be questioning, but you
already belong to this vast company with a history and a culture, and
music, with a wisdom of understanding and experience.
The more we in habit it, the more it will inhabit us. The
more time spent about the things of God, the more God’s light in
us, through us, will draw others.
Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
________________________________________________________
* On the subject of what we believe too easily and unquestiongly,
listen to Dorothy Sayers quoted by PD James’ in an article in the
Tablet 26th January 2008:
Q. What does the Church think of God the Father?
A. He is omnipotent and holy. He created the world and
imposed on man conditions impossible of fulfillment. He is very
angry if these are not carried out. He sometimes interferes by
means of arbitrary judgements and miracles, distributed with a good
deal of favouritism. He is rather like a dictator, only larger
and more arbitrary.
Q. What does the Church think of God the Son?
A. He is in some way to be identified with Jesus of
Nazareth. It is not his fault that the world was made like this
and, unlike God, the Father, he is friendly to man and did His best to
reconcile man to God (See Atonement). He has a good deal of
influence with God, and if you want anything done, it is best to apply
to Him.
Q. What does the Church think about God the Holy Ghost?
A. I don’t know exactly. There is a sin against him
which damns you forever. But nobody knows what it is.
Q. What is the doctrine of the Trinity?
A. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the whole thing incomprehensible.
Q. What does the Church think of sex?
A. God made it necessary to the machinery of the world, and
tolerates it, provided the parties (a) are married and (b) get no
pleasure out of it.
The final question, “Wilt thou be baptised in this faith?” received and expected and uncompromising.
A. “No.”