Amidst the recent controversies that have surrounded the Church of England, there have been calls for the disestablishment of the Church. Whether that’s been because census figures show that Christianity is now a minority movement in this country or because the Church’s teaching shows that it’s out of touch with the prevailing attitudes and values of modern society, the question’s been raised, Why should the Church of England enjoy the benefits of being an established Church any longer?
Being an established Church though, that is, a Church recognised by law as the official Church of the nation and as such, one that is supported by the civil authorities, has always been something of a double-edged sword. Establishment does give the Church a direct input into the political life of the nation and what it says is given publicity that other organisations couldn’t expect. It also allows the Church to enjoy certain exemptions to state law where that comes into conflict with Church teachings. But establishment also ties the Church closely to the state. Too closely for many people, so closely in fact that, for many people, the Church is, if not part of the state, then at least part of the established order of things. But the Christian faith, and the Church that proclaims it has always appealed to what we’d now call the underclasses of society, the poor, the underprivileged, minorities, all those who seem, or at least they themselves think, are getting a raw deal from society. So it can’t be a good thing for a Church to be seen by those people as simply part of a society or established order of society that doesn’t care about them.
Whatever we think about the establishment of the Church of England though, one thing that no one can ever deny is that the Church has never been called to be part of any established order of society. How can it have been, or be, when Christ himself, the one who called the Church into being, said that his disciples, those people who make up the Church, are to be in the world but not of the world? How can the Church be part of any established order of society when we’re urged time and time again in Scripture to conform ourselves to Christ and not to the world? The Church has always been counter-cultural because the faith it proclaims is counter-cultural. One of the reasons the Church has been persecuted so often during its history is that its teaching, its values and its norms of behaviour, don’t fit in with those of the society it exists in.
The Christian faith and the Church are, to put not too fine a point on it, subversive because they openly proclaim that the world has got it wrong, badly wrong, and needs to change and do things in a new, different and better way. And we see this in our Gospel readings this morning.
Today is one of those Sundays when we have different Gospel readings in the lectionaries. At St Gabriel’s this morning, our Gospel is the story of the Wedding at Cana, whilst at St Mark’s our Gospel is that part of Jesus’ teaching at the start of his Sermon on the Mount that we know as The Beatitudes. But nevertheless, they’re both readings that show the Christian faith as something new, different and better.
The Wedding at Cana is where Jesus changed water into wine, the first of what St John calls the ‘signs’ that Jesus gave to reveal his identity as the Messiah and through which he called people to faith. In the Old Testament we read that wine is a sign of God’s blessing, so that Jesus turned water into wine and the best wine, something better than the people had drunk before, shows that in Jesus, God was bestowing a very great blessing on the people, a blessing they hadn’t received before. So, although we can interpret this sign in various ways, what we see in Jesus changing water into wine is that, in Jesus, God is doing something new, something different and something better than had gone before.
St John tells us that this sign brought Jesus’ disciples to faith but being a disciple of Christ, being a Christian, is not just about giving our intellectual assent to his teachings, it’s about conforming our lives to those teachings. In other words, being a Christian isn’t just about believing in Jesus, it’s about doing what he taught us to do. Being a Christian isn’t just about proclaiming the new, different and better way Christ taught, it’s about living in that new, different and better way. And the Beatitudes tell us something of what it means to live as Christ taught. But not only that, it tells us just how very different that way is to the way of the world.
The first beatitude, or blessing, Jesus pronounces is on those who are poor in spirit, in other words, on those who know their need of God and who don’t have that ‘holier than thou’ attitude which Jesus condemned so often in the scribes and Pharisees. But what do we see in the world around us? Isn’t it true that the world today is awash with people who think that they know better than anyone else? Opinionated people who think they’ve got it all worked out and that everyone should agree with them and that anyone who doesn’t agree is wrong, and not only wrong but dangerous and needs to be ‘cancelled’ out from society so that the world can be a better place and everyone can be happy? And it’s not a new problem; how many people have we met who’ve said something like ‘I just tell it as it is’? when what they really mean is they tell it as they see it which may very well not actually be ‘as it is’.
Jesus then pronounces a beatitude on the gentle, those who show no malice or belligerence towards others and don’t look to exert their will over others but who are kind and considerate towards others. But doesn’t the world laugh at such gentleness? Doesn’t the world operate on a ‘survival of the fittest’, ‘be strong because only the strong survive’ mentality? Doesn’t it often work on a ‘put yourself first and if that means stepping on a few people along the way, so be it, that’s just too bad for them’ mentality? But isn’t this exactly the kind of thinking that leads to people like the Nazis?
Then we have the beatitude on those who mourn. But who on earth offers comfort to those who mourn any kind of loss? Family members and friends usually, but who else? Isn’t it true that the world very often offers only superficial comfort to those who mourn, a kind of ‘ saying the right words’ kind of comfort rather than ‘doing the right thing’ kind of comfort? And isn’t this because people are too busy with their own problems and chasing their own happiness to be truly concerned with the mourning and suffering of others?
Jesus next pronounces a beatitude on those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Strictly speaking, this refers to those who want to see God’s will done, those who want to see the reality of God’s kingdom on earth, but how many people don’t care about what’s right in any objective sense of the word? How many people only care about themselves, their ‘rights’ over the rights of others, having their own way regardless of whether their way is right or wrong and regardless of the consequences to others of them having their own way? How many people in the world today seem to view their opinions as the truth, even when the facts clearly show their opinions to be untrue?
Next we have the beatitude on the merciful, on those who are compassionate and forgiving. But how much compassion and forgiveness do we see in the world? Isn’t it true that an awful lot of the trouble in the world is caused because people are vengeful and lacking in compassion? Isn’t it true that problems persist and are made worse because people can’t or won’t let go of the past but cling to old resentments and harbour grudges. Isn’t it also true that when people do this and say they simply want ‘justice’ what they really mean is they want someone to pay for what’s happened to them, or even what they think has happened to them? And what is that but seeking revenge?
The next beatitude is pronounced on the pure in heart, on those in whom there is no deceit or corruption. But in the world, aren’t such people laughed at and trodden down by others in so many areas of life? Because, as we look at those who rise to the top in the world, don’t we so often see that their rise has been achieved on the back of deceit and corruption? Don’t we find that so many people speak fine words and make grand promises to climb the ladder of success, but then discard all those things, and the people who helped them, once they’ve got what they want?
Jesus then pronounces a beatitude on the peacemakers. We know what peacemakers are, and in a world as troubled as ours they should be regarded as great people, but are they? As we look at history, isn’t it true that the people we regard as ‘great’ are all to often warmongers rather than peacemakers? What is the reason we call people like Alexander, Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and the like, great men? Isn’t it because they were conquerors who sought nothing but their own glory and power and in the process of achieving it cost the lives of millions of people? And yet we call them ‘great’!
Finally we have the double beatitude on those who are persecuted for righteousness and for their faith in Christ. Here, Jesus links righteousness to faith in him. So we can see this as a statement by Jesus that those who are faithful to him are also being faithful to God. Jesus also says that we should rejoice and be glad for such persecutions for this is just what people have always done to God’s faithful, people like the prophets. This is perhaps one of the most counter-cultural of all Jesus’ teachings, that we should rejoice if people persecute us for our faith because then we’ll know that we are being faithful. But this is nothing like the way of the world is it? The way of the world is to be rewarded for doing right and punished for doing wrong. But in a world in which what’s right and wrong seems to be coming increasingly dependent on people’s own opinion, what’s right and what’s wrong is never certain. And this brings us to the difference between being blessed and being happy.
Happiness on the world’s terms is very subjective; it’s about what makes us happy, it’s about my happiness and doing what makes me happy. But being blessed in the way Jesus means in the Beatitudes is something very different. Being blessed is about being happy because we’re in a right relationship with God, or perhaps that God will make us happy because we’re in that right relationship with him. So happiness in this sense isn’t about being happy on our own terms, it’s about being happy on God’s terms. And the world doesn’t seem to be interested in that kind of happiness. But for us, it’s the kind of happiness that we should want above all other kinds of happiness. And it should be the kind of happiness we want above all others because it’s the only happiness that will truly last. The kind of happiness the world offers is fleeting and temporary. The world’s kind of happiness comes and goes, and it comes to an end when our earthly lives come to and end. But being blessed is eternal. If we can live in a right relationship with God we can be happy whatever happens in the world, and our happiness won’t end when our earthly lives end; it will go on for all eternity in heaven.
To be a Christian is to be counter-cultural and even subversive because we’re called to be what the world doesn’t want us to be. We’re called to be different. What we have to do, as Christians, is ask ourselves whether we’re prepared to be like that. Are we prepared to proclaim and live the new and different way that Jesus proclaimed and lived, even though that will put us at odds with the world? If we are then we will be proclaiming and living a better way than the world can offer. The world won’t like that, or us for doing it, but in the end, we will be blessed by God for it and enjoy the eternal happiness that Christ’s new, different and better way brings.
Amen.
The Propers for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Epiphany 4) can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 