It can’t have escaped the attention of many people, not only in this country but throughout the world that, last Thursday, Queen Elizabeth II died. And that’s really not surprising because our late Queen was a figure of truly worldwide standing, respect and affection. But if her death has been felt across the world, it’s a truly momentous event for us in this country. Queen Elizabeth has been our Queen for 70 years and so most people in this country will never have known another monarch and only those in their mid-70s and older will be able to remember the last time someone other than Queen Elizabeth sat on the throne of this country.
Not surprisingly then, the Queen’s death has been called the end of an era. But, as we come to the end of this era, we’re also aware that the end of what’s been called the second Elizabethan Age of this country, marks the start of a new age. The reigns of King Charles I and King Charles II are known respectively as the Caroline and Carolean Ages, so the Accession of our new King, Charles III, will begin a second Caroline Age, or second Carolean Age. And what this reminds us of is that the end of one thing marks the beginning of another. It reminds us that the old is replaced by the new.
Of course, when anything changes, especially when something important in our lives changes, people can be nervous and perhaps apprehensive about what the change will bring to our lives and mean for our lives. And that’s quite understandable. The old, what has been, is something we know and understand, it’s something we’re probably comfortable with, whereas the new is not known, it’s uncertain and, on the whole, people aren’t comfortable with uncertainty and the unknown.
By strange coincidence, last Thursday morning, about 9 hours before the Queen’s death was announced, I was in St Gabriel’s School to lead Collective Worship (that’s a school assembly to most of us) and I spoke about these very things; the end of the old marking the beginning of the new, and the uncertainty and nervousness that can cause us. In the context of the school, of course, I spoke about the change of class, about moving up to a higher year in school. I spoke about the nervousness that can cause because moving up a year means having new teachers and also means moving on to new and probably harder things to learn, something that might cause a lot of nervousness for those who found the work they’d done last year difficult. But I also said that with the new school year comes a new opportunity.
In the context of the school, I said that opportunity was to improve, to be better in this new school year, than in the old school year. And I said that was perhaps especially important for those who might have struggled in some way in the old school year because the new school year gives them an opportunity to put that behind them and make a fresh start; to work hard and to be better this year at the things they found difficult last year. And if you’re wondering what any of this has to do with worship, I then said that this idea of putting the old behind us and making a fresh start is very much at the heart of the Christian faith and something we read a lot about in the Bible.
If we read the Old Testament, on the whole, it’s the story of the people of Israel and their attempts to be God’s people. They didn’t find that very easy at all, in fact, on the whole, it’s something they never really managed to learn how to do and be. But, nevertheless, God gave them opportunity after opportunity to put their past mistakes and failures behind them and to start again. He sent them teachers, the prophets, to tell them what they were doing wrong and to tell them how to do what God wanted from them. But while the people of Israel might have had a bit of enthusiasm for change initially, that soon wore off and they showed time and time again that they found it much easier to carry on in their old ways, even though those old ways were wrong. And so, eventually, God sent his own Son to actually show them by his own example what they were doing wrong and show them by his example how they needed to change if they were going to be and live as God’s people.
This morning’s Gospel contains two parables that explain exactly what Jesus came into the world to do – to seek out and save the lost, as Jesus himself put it. In other words, to give people the opportunity to change for the better, to let go of their old, sinful ways, to put those things behind them and start again by living as God wanted and intended them to. But, as we also read in this morning’s Gospel, that made people nervous.
At the very beginning of Jesus ministry, in the first chapter of St Mark’s Gospel we read that the people,
‘…were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”’
And in this morning’s Gospel we read,
‘Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”’
So Jesus was saying and doing things that were new and different, and that made people very nervous indeed, perhaps especially those who had a vested interest in the old, familiar things. And so, as they couldn’t stop Jesus or shut him up by showing him to be wrong through argument, they decided to stop him and shut him up permanently by having him put to death. But, if they thought by doing that they’d preserve their old ways and save them from being overtaken by new ways, that was the biggest mistake they ever made because, ironically, it was in trying to stop Jesus and shut him up that they ensured his words and ways would become the words and ways for millions of people throughout the world.
It is ironic that Jesus was put to death as a pretender to the title ‘King of the Jews’. That’s something he never claimed to be, even though it’s something that, as the Messiah, he actually was. But through his death and Resurrection, the old understanding that the Messiah was the King of the Jews, gave way to a new understanding that the Messiah is the King of all people who believe in him, whoever and wherever they are. Through his death and Resurrection, the old understanding that the Messiah was the Saviour of Israel gave way to a new understanding that Jesus, the Messiah, was the Saviour of the whole world. Through Jesus’ death and Resurrection, the old understanding that only the people of Israel could be God’s people gave way to a new understanding that all people could be God’s people. And through Jesus’ death and Resurrection, the old order of sin and death was replaced by a new way of life and the promise of eternal life for all who are prepared to accept the new way that Jesus’ gave us.
Of course, the fact that God sent his Son into the world to offer us this opportunity to make a new beginning doesn’t mean to say that the old ways are gone forever; we know that’s not true, and we only have to look at what goes on in the world around us to see that. It doesn’t mean that those of us who’ve accepted Jesus as our King, our Lord and our Saviour don’t slip back into those old ways from time to time because, as we all know, we do. But what the new way that Jesus gave us does mean is that all is not lost if and when we do slip back into old ways.
The most wonderful thing about the new way Jesus gave us is that, even if we do lapse in our living out of the way that Jesus taught us and showed us and slip back into old ways from time to time, we can always start again with those past lapses and mistakes put behind us and written off. The most wonderful thing about the new way Jesus gave us is that he has already paid for our lapses and mistakes through his suffering and his death on the Cross. We don’t have to pay for them again, all we have to do is repent of our sins, to show genuine regret and sorrow for them, and make a real effort to be better in the future, and if we can do that then we can start again with a clean slate. Other people may hold our past mistakes against us, and they very often do, as I’m sure we all know, but God doesn’t.
In his poem, The Everlasting Gospel, William Blake sums these ideas of the resistance of those who preferred the old ways of sin and death to the new way of forgiveness and life given to us through Jesus Christ. He wrote,
The Moral Virtues in their Pride
Did o’er the World triumphant ride
In Wars & Sacrifice for Sin
And Souls to Hell ran trooping in
The Accuser, Holy God of All
This Pharisaic Worldly Ball
Amidst them in his Glory Beams
Upon the Rivers & the Streams
Then Jesus rose & said to Me
Thy Sins are all forgiven thee
Loud Pilate Howl’d, loud Caiphas Yell’d
When they the Gospel Light beheld
It was when Jesus said to Me
Thy Sins are all forgiven thee
The Christian trumpets loud proclaim
Thro’ all the World in Jesus name
Mutual forgiveness of each Vice
And opened the Gates of Paradise
The death of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has brought one age to an end, but it has opened up the new age of King Charles III. The late Queen will be a hard act to follow, but that doesn’t mean the new King can’t do that. King Charles is not his mother so no doubt some of his ways at least, will not be her ways, they will be new ways for a new King. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t be good ways. Some people have said that the new King should have stepped aside from the Succession and allowed the Crown to pass to his son, William. No doubt some people will criticise the new King for anything he does differently to the old Queen, but I hope that we will not be among them. Christians, of all people, should know that new starts and new ways can be great opportunities to be better than we were, so let’s give the new King that opportunity. Let’s give him the chance that God has so often and does so often, give us.
Amen.
The Propers for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Trinity 13) can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 