A number of years ago, I applied for a post in a Hospital Chaplaincy. In the end I didn’t get the post, I lost out to someone who had more experience in that type of ministry than I had, but I was shortlisted and got to the final interview stage of the appointment process. I’ve never forgotten that interview, not because I found it particularly hard in any way but because of a question I was asked during the interview.  The interviewing panel was made up of an NHS Manager, the Lead Chaplain of the Hospital Trust and a suffragan Bishop of the Diocese, and at one point the NHS Manager asked me what I liked most about parish ministry. I said dealing with people. He then asked me what I liked least about parish ministry and I immediately gave him exactly the same answer, dealing with people. He looked completely bemused by that answer and even more so because as soon as I gave it the Lead Chaplain and the Bishop started laughing.  

I’m not surprised though that someone who hasn’t had experience of parish ministry would find those answers puzzling because it does sound contradictory to say that both the most and least pleasurable aspects of something are exactly the same. Nevertheless, they are accurate answers, and they’re answers that all parish clergy would understand and that most would probably agree with, which is why the Lead Chaplain and Bishop at that interview started laughing when I gave those answers.  

Something that’s often said is that the Church would be a wonderful thing, if only it wasn’t for the people. Of course, that is a nonsensical thing to say really because if there were no people there wouldn’t be a Church., The point is though, that it is the people who make up the Church who can make both being a member of the Church such a joy at times but who can also make being a member of the Church such hard work at times.  

And being a member of the Church should be a joy, for all of us. Speaking as a priest, I get to share in some of the joyful moments of people’s lives, baptisms, weddings, anniversary celebrations and many other happy times and occasions.  I get to help people through difficult times such as illness and bereavement, which if not exactly a joy is certainly a great privilege. And I get to see people grow and develop as people and in faith too. And one of the great joys of my ministry has been to see members of my congregations offer themselves for ordination to the priesthood. 

Another great joy of my ministry has been the opportunity to go into schools and work with children. So, there are many, many ways in which dealing with people can and does make being a member of the Church, and being a priest, joyful. And yet, as we all know, people can be very hard work at times. And the clergy no less than the laity. One of the great friends of my life was Fr Neville Ashton who I know many of you will remember. He was the person responsible for bringing me back to the Church as a teenager, the one who more than any other encouraged my vocation and a great and long-standing personal friend of mine too. And yet there were times when I found him hard work, absolutely infuriating even, and I know that there were times when he could have said the same about me.   

So how do we, as Christians, deal with this, this paradoxical situation of the Church’s people, our fellow members of the Body of Christ, being both the best and the worst aspect of being a member of the Church?   

I think it’s helpful to remember that Jesus called his disciples ‘friends’. We are his friends and if he sees us as friends then we ought to see each other as friends too. It has been said that a true friend is someone who knows everything about us, both the good and the bad, but likes us anyway. That’s the kind of friend we have in Jesus because he sees us as we really are, the good and the bad, but likes us anyway. And if that’s the kind of friend Jesus is to us, that’s the kind of friend we should be to one another.  That’s easier said than done though but one of the ways we can be that kind of friend to our fellow members of the Church is by being the forgiving people we’re called to be. 

I know it’s often said that, when someone’s done something we don’t like, we should forgive and forget. But I think that’s a bit of a cop out. One of the ways people try to deal with difficult situations is to try to forget them. But if we forget, how can we possibly know that we’ve really forgiven that person? How can we forgive someone when we don’t remember what it was they did or said?  People also use forgetfulness to avoid responsibility for the wrong they’ve done. How often have we come across a situation in which someone’s done something we didn’t like but, when we’ve said something about it, they’ve said that they don’t remember it?  

True forgiveness actually requires a good and honest memory especially for us, as Christians, because this is the way God forgives us. As we read in last Sunday’s Gospel, when we stand before the Lord, we’ll have to answer for what we’ve done. There is no forgetfulness in God.  

What there is, is a true remembrance of all we’ve done, the good and the bad, but the bad is not held against us because the penalty for that has already been paid in the blood of Christ. God and Christ know everything about us but like us anyway. They remember all the bad we’ve done but because of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, they treat us as though we hadn’t done it. That’s really what it means to say our sins are forgiven, that they’re remembered but they’re not held against us and don’t affect our friendship with the Lord. And that’s the kind of forgiveness we’re called to show and the kind of friends we’re called to be to one another.  

It must be said though, that on a straight reading, this morning’s Gospel suggests that forgiveness has its limits. To treat those who won’t listen, that is, unrepentant sinners, like Gentiles or tax-collectors suggests that such people should be shunned, perhaps even expelled from the community. But on a wider reading, this morning’s Gospel should be seen as a process, an attempt to establish the truth of what has happened and a call to repentance and reconciliation. Very much then, a call for honest remembrance of wrongdoing so that there can be forgiveness and on-going friendship.  

But of course, rather than having to remember sins so that they can be forgiven, it would be much better if those sins hadn’t happened in the first place because then there would be no need of forgiveness. And so, while we are called to be a forgiving people, we’re called first and foremost to be a loving people. And love is the highest and greatest of Christian virtues because sins, all sins, are simply the result of a failure to love. 

All of us, at times are guilty of not loving God and our neighbour, or at least not loving them enough and as we ought to. That’s why we’re all sinners. That’s why we, people, who can be the best part of the Church and the cause of so much joy in the Church, can also be the worst part of the Church and cause so much unhappiness and trouble in the Church.  

I know that some people, for whatever reason do seem to enjoy being at the centre of some problem or other; they almost seem to thrive on trouble and drama. But for most people that isn’t the case. Most of us want to be much more the cause of joy than of unhappiness. Even so there are times when we get into disputes with people and have fall outs with them. But when that happens, we have to be honest with ourselves about what we’re doing and saying. And being honest about these things we then have to stop and think. 

Before we do another thing or say another word, we need to ask ourselves, “Would I be happy if someone did or said this to me?”                                    And if the honest answer is ‘No’ then don’t do it or say it. 

Of course, there will be times when we have to say or do something that the other person isn’t going to like, and morning’s Gospel tells us how to deal with those situations. But there will also be times when we don’t have to do or say anything, no matter how much we might want to. For example, taking someone to task because you’ve found them helping themselves to money from a donation box has to be done; blaming someone for that without evidence perhaps because you simply don’t like that person very much, most definitely shouldn’t be done. So, we have to be honest, and we have to be loving. If we were the loving people we’re called to be it would there would be much more joy in the Church and a lot less trouble   because, as St Paul says,  

‘Love does no wrong to a neighbour…’   

As I’ve said, people can be, and are, both the best and the worst thing about the Church. But I’m sure that the vast majority of us do want to be counted among the best, so let’s be the friends to one another that we’re called to be. Let’s do our best to like one another is spite of the good and the bad that exists in all of us. And when things do go wrong let’s be the forgiving people that we’re called to be so that we can put our problems behind us. And above all, let’s be the loving people Christ commanded us to be so that we’ll have less to forgive and be forgiven for in the first place. 

Amen.    

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Propers for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 6th September 2026

Entrance Antiphon 

You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; 
treat your servant in accord with your merciful love. 

The Collect 

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, 
look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, 
that those who believe in Christ 
may receive true freedom 
and an everlasting inheritance. 
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
God, for ever and ever. 

Amen. 

The Readings 

Ezekiel 33:7-9 
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9 
Romans 13:8-10 
Matthew 18:15-20 

Prayer after Communion  

Grant that your faithful, O Lord, 
whom you nourish and endow with life 
through the food of your Word and heavenly Sacrament, 
may so benefit from your beloved Son’s great gifts 
that we may merit an eternal share in his life. 
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. 

Amen.  

If someone were to ask you who you think Jesus is, what would you say? Many of us might give the same answer that Simon did in this morning’s Gospel and say that Jesus is Christ and Son of God, but we might also give other answers. We might say that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour or that he’s our Heavenly Advocate. Perhaps we’d say that he’s the One who takes away our sins, or the Good Shepherd. In fact, there are lots of ways we could answer that question and answer it correctly. But however we answered that question, and no matter how correct our answer was, there’s a sense in which we’d still be left with the same question, ‘Who do you say Jesus is?’ Because all the answers I’ve mentioned, answer that question by giving Jesus a title or a role, all of which do say something about who we believe him to be, and something about what we believe he does, but who is he? How do we answer that question in such a way that we can really get a handle on him, and on his earthly life and his ministry and his teaching? 

This is a very important way we have to try to answer this question because it’s in these terms that we have to try to make Jesus understandable to people who don’t really know who he is at all. It’s an essential part of proclaiming the Gospel, in fact, because there’s no point in telling someone who knows little or nothing about Jesus who Jesus is by giving them a list of his titles and roles because they’d mean little or nothing to them. So we have to say who Jesus is in ways that they will understand before we can move on to titles. And if we think about it, isn’t this exactly what we see both in this morning’s Gospel reading, and in the Gospels in general.  

This morning, we heard Simon Peter’s great confession of faith that Jesus was “Christ, the Son of the living God.” But this wasn’t something that Simon came to understand immediately. As Jesus said, it was revealed to him by the Father, but it was an understanding he came to only after he’d spent time with Jesus, after he’d heard Jesus speak and seen him at work. In other words, Simon Peter came to understand who Jesus really is, after he’d already come to knew who Jesus is in a more everyday sense.  

And if we take the Gospels as a whole, we see that they’re written to explain to people who Jesus is in that way, so that they might come to understand who he really is and so come to faith. We see this in the way that the evangelists used what they knew about Jesus because they almost certainly edited the stories, so that Jesus could be seen to be addressing the concerns of the people the evangelists wrote for. Mark, for example, which was probably written for a largely Gentile readership, shows Jesus as a man of action, for ever on the move, pressing on with the Father’s work. Matthew, on the other hand, which was probably written for a Jewish Christian readership, shows Jesus as more of a great teacher, perhaps especially the great teacher of Israel. Luke, again written for a Gentile readership, shows Jesus as someone who cares for all people, not just for his own people, the Jews. John is different because it explains at the very beginning who Jesus is, the Word made flesh and then goes on to expound on that by showing Jesus a worker of great signs. Jesus often speaks of himself as “I am” in John’s Gospel which is how God called himself to Moses at the Burning Bush. John’s is the most theological of the Gospels, as we might expect as it was the latest of the four Gospels to be written, and it seems to want to appeal to both Jews and Gentiles, to bring them to a deeper understanding and faith but also, being written after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, to show that Jesus is the new focus of worship for all God’s people.  

As we look at the history of mission and evangelism, we invariably see that this is the way it’s worked. Missionaries and evangelists have taught people who Jesus is by showing how his teaching and example fit in with and meet their needs concerns. And then, once people have come to understand who Jesus is in that sense, they’ve been able to come to understand who he really is and so come to faith. It’s a process; we adapt the way we speak about Jesus so that we can assimilate his teaching into the new situation, and we try to change old ideas to accommodate Jesus’ teaching so that eventually, hopefully, Jesus’ way replaces the old way.  

This process can work both ways though and if we engage in mission and evangelism, we have to make sure that we know Jesus well enough that we don’t allow other ways to be assimilated into his teaching and his ways to end up accommodating other ways. This is always a great danger and, unfortunately, it’s something that does happen all too often and it when it does, the end result is the blind leading the blind – people who don’t really know Jesus themselves, giving people who don’t know him at all, a distorted image of him which, in turn, means they can never really get to know who he is.   

For example, although many of the things Jesus said were very political in his own time and place, he didn’t advocate any earthly political system. He only kingdom he ever spoke about was the kingdom of heaven. He rather spoke about our individual and collective duty to fulfil the Great Commandment, our duty to love God above all else and to love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves. Inevitably, this involves caring for those less fortunate than us. We also know that Jesus and his disciples had a common purse and that the disciples continued this practice in the very early Church. And so, Jesus has often been called the First Socialist and people have used this idea to promote that particular political ideology and system. On the other hand, I remember once hearing a TV interview with a very well-known American evangelist who said that Jesus was not a socialist, that “Jesus believed in private property, in capitalism and free enterprise”; that “Jesus believed in the American Way.”  

Those are just two examples of other ways being assimilated into Jesus’ teaching and then passed on to other people as his teaching. But it’s a very widespread problem because it’s something we can all do at times at least. We do it because we think we know Jesus, and we believe ourselves to be acting in good, Christian ways, when, in fact, what we’re really doing is acting in ways that we, or that our society thinks are good, or at least acceptable. I think we do that quite a lot actually because it’s one of the ways we try to absolve ourselves from our sins. We might think what we do is acceptable because everybody else does it. We might think it’s not such a terrible sin because it’s not as bad as the things other people do.  And how often have we heard people say something along the lines of,  

“Well, I know Jesus said such and such, but there’s more than one way to interpret that.” 

Or, even worse,  

“Well, I know Jesus said such and such, but what he really meant was…” 

And then we go on to give our explanation of what we think Jesus meant, which is perhaps nothing more than what we’d like him to have said.   

I don’t know how many of you saw or remember the BBC adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles from the early 1980s but there’s a scene in one of the episodes that I think sums up just the kind of problem I’m talking about. The archdeacon, Dr Grantly, and his father-in-law, another clergyman, Rev.  Harding, are discussing a pending lawsuit regarding some financial irregularities in the Church. The archdeacon expresses the view that some people will not be happy unless the Church gives all its’s money way and he asks what then would become of the Church? Rev. Harding says it’s something he’s sure Jesus Christ might approve of at which the archdeacon angrily responds,  

“Jesus Christ has nothing to do with it!” 

And this is the great problem. If we’re going to proclaim the Gospel we have to make sure that what we say, and do, has everything to do with Jesus Christ. We have to make sure that we know who Jesus is, not just that he’s the Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Saviour and all the other titles we ascribe to him, but who he is in terms of what he taught and what he did during his time on earth. Because it’s only if we really know who Jesus is in those terms that we can help others to know him too.  

Amen.    

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Propers for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, 23rd August 2026

Entrance Antiphon 

Turn your ear, O Lord, and answer me; 
save the servant who trusts in you, my God. 
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. 

The Collect 

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful 
to unite in a single purpose, 
grant your people to love what you command 
and to desire what you promise, 
that, amid the uncertainties of this world, 
our hearts may be fixed on that place 
where true gladness is found. 
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
God, for ever and ever. 
Amen. 

The Readings 

Isaiah 22:15, 19-23  
Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8 
Romans 11:33-36 
Matthew 16:13-20 

Prayer after Communion  

Complete within us, O Lord, we pray, 
the healing work of your mercy 
and graciously perfect and sustain us, 
so that in all things we may please you. 
Through Christ our Lord. 
Amen.