One of our central beliefs as Christians, and one that we share with Jews and some Moslems, is that we, human beings, are created in the image and likeness of God. We believe that because we read it in the Scriptures, in the first Chapter of the book of Genesis. But what does it mean to be made in the image and likeness of God?

Over the years, there have been lots of ideas put forward about how we might understand what the image and likeness of God means. Quite obviously, I think, these ideas don’t suggest that we share some kind of physical characteristics with God, we don’t look like God in a physical sense. So what people have suggested is that we share some other type of characteristics with God. One of the most well-known, and popular in a sense, of these ideas is that, like God, human beings have the ability to love.

If we think about it, that does make sense because we say that God is love and so, if we are made in God’s image and likeness, we should be able to see at least something of God’s love in ourselves and in others. But, of course, whilst we know we can and do see that, at times, we also know that we don’t always see the image of a loving god in human beings. And that’s usually attributed to another characteristic we believe we share with God, free will; our ability to choose.

That’s seen as an essential part of our creation in the image and likeness of God because without free will, we can’t love. I’m sure we all know that from our own experience. We don’t always choose whom we love; as the song says, sometimes we can’t help falling in love. But we can’t make anyone else love us. Regardless of how much we love someone else, whether they love us in return is up to them. It’s their choice because they have the freedom of will, to choose.

We see all this played out in the life of Jesus. It was out of love that God freely chose to send his Son to earth to save us and show us the way to live in loving relationship with God and one another. It was out of love that Jesus freely chose to undertake the ministry that God had entrusted to him.

And it was out of love that Jesus freely chose to suffer and die in accordance with God’s will.

But none of that forced others into believing Jesus or loving him in return. Jesus loved them, but they were free to choose whether to return Jesus’ love or not. And we know that a lot of people chose not to return his love. Instead, they rejected his love and crucified him. But even that didn’t stop Jesus from loving them.

So if we want to know what it means to be a human being created, and living, in the image and likeness of God, we simply need to look at Jesus. And if we want to be true to our creation in the image and likeness of God, and be what we were created to be, we have to try to be like Jesus.

I’m sure we all know that. Being a Christian means to be Christ-like, it’s all about trying our best to be like Jesus, to live according to his teachings and to follow his example, and if we’re not prepared to try our best to do that, there’s really no point in being a Christian. If we’re not prepared to try our best to be like Jesus, we’ll never be any more than a Christian in name only. But even if we do try our best to be like Jesus, we know that we often fail. And the reason we fail is usually because we don’t love as we should do. We don’t love as God loves us and that’s most often shown in our failure to love our neighbour as Jesus said we should and as he did. That’s not to say that we don’t love, but how many of us love, really love, those who don’t love us, let alone those whom we know don’t like us or even hate us? How many of us could really follow Jesus’ example of love from the Cross:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

It’s easy to love those who love us, and it’s easy to love those we like. It’s not so easy to love people when we know that they don’t love us or don’t like us, it’s even harder to love them when those people do things that we don’t like, especially if those things are done at our expense. But, as Jesus also said,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  

Jesus’ teaching there is clear enough and if we’re going to be Christians, people who are like Christ, people who are not only created in the image and likeness of God but who show God’s image and likeness in their lives, we need to act in that way. And yet how many times, in the course of some argument or disagreement between Church members, have we heard someone in the Church say about another member of the Church, ‘We don’t want their sort here.’? It shouldn’t happen, especially amongst Christians, but it does. I could give you example of parishes in which entire groups of people have not been wanted in a church, and been clearly shown that they weren’t welcome when they have been in church, for no other reason than the part of town, the ‘rough’ part of the parish, they happen to live in. How can that kind of behaviour possibly be squared with Jesus’ teaching and example? What kind of image of humanity does that kind of behaviour show to the world?

Sometimes, of course, people in the Church do act in ways that aren’t acceptable and they can and do cause a great deal of hurt and damage both to other members of the Church and to the image of the Church and the Christian faith. And when that happens, something should and must be done to deal with the problem. But the answer isn’t to take the easy way out and resolve the immediate problem by simply throwing people out of the Church. The answer is to show people the right path and to try to bring them back to the right path, and to bring them back into the fold. And that applies equally when these things happen outside the Church too, in whatever area of life they happen. Again, as Jesus said, he didn’t come into the world to condemn, but to save; to seek out and save those who were lost. And we in the Church are called to follow his example.

And that is Jesus’ example. We know that he went looking for those whom other people wanted nothing to do with; tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners of all kinds, the poor and the sick, those possessed by demons, lepers, those who were considered unacceptable in the community. He even loved such hated people as Samaritans and Romans.

Jesus sought these people out. He associated with them and befriended them. He even called some of them to be his disciples. He was criticised for it, but he did it anyway because he loved them as God loved them. And so Jesus showed what it is to live as a human being made in the image and likeness of God.

We’re called to be like Jesus, to live by his teaching and to follow his example. And the closer we can follow him, the more like him we’ll become. It’s not easy and we won’t suddenly be turned into the kind of dazzling figure that Jesus displayed at his Transfiguration. But we will be changed and become more like him. We’ll be changed in the way St Paul describes in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, a case of

“…reflecting the glory of the Lord, …being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” 

So if we can follow Jesus more closely and love as he loved, we will be changed and become more like him. And the more like Jesus we become, the closer we’ll be to the people we were intended to be, people who were created in the image and likeness of God and who show that image in their lives. 

Amen.

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The Propers for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Next Before Lent) can be found here.

Entrance Antiphon

Come, let us worship the Lord.
Let us bow down in the presence of our maker, for he is the Lord our God.

The Collect

Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings

Missal (St Mark’s)         Job 7:1-4, 6-7
                                   Psalm 147:1-12
                                   1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
                                   Mark 1:29-39

RCL (St Gabriel’s)         Proverbs 8:1, 22-31
                                   Psalm 104:26-37
                                   Colossians 1:15-20
                                   John 1:1-14

 

When we study the Scriptures, and by that, I mean think and pray about them and perhaps use a commentary on them to deepen our understanding of them, rather than simply read them, we soon realise that a lot of the stories we read in the Scriptures have multiple meanings. There’s the story itself, there’s the meaning of the story, and then there’s the lesson the story teaches us if we apply the meaning of the story to our own lives. But very often, there’s more than one meaning to a story in the Scriptures, there are multiple meanings that we can see, and hidden meanings too, meanings within meanings, and each meaning has its own lesson for us. And this morning’s Gospel is just such a story.

The story itself, of course, is quite a simple one. Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord so that he could be consecrated, designated as a holy child, which is what they were expected to do in the Law, because Jesus was their first-born. And whilst they’re at the temple, they meet two people, Simeon and Anna, both of whom make a great fuss about the baby Jesus. We’re not told what Anna said, but Simeon had some quite extraordinary things to say about him. And then they go home. So it’s quite a simple story and, on the surface, it has a clear meaning; it’s about doing what the Lord expects of us. That is the clear meaning because we’re told four times in the story that what Mary and Joseph did was done according to the Law of the Lord, and we’re told that they only went home,

“.. when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord …” 

So the obvious lesson for us in this story is that we should follow in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph and do what the Lord requires of us. But there’s another, perhaps not quite so obvious meaning to this story, and if we see it, and take its lesson to heart, it’s one that will help us enormously in doing what the Lord requires of us.

We find this other meaning in the actions of Simeon and Anna. We’re told that Simeon was righteous and devout, and that Anna was always in the temple, where she worshipped God “with fasting and prayer night and day”. So these were two people who prayed regularly and did what the Lord required of them in their lives. We’re also told that “the Holy Spirit rested” on Simeon, and that he went to the temple when he did that day, under the guidance of the Spirit.

We’re not told that Anna acted under the guidance of the Spirit, but it’s perhaps implied that she did because we’re told that she also came to the temple “at that very hour”. 

What the story of Simeon and Anna tells us about them is that they were two people who were looking for God in their lives. Not only that, but they were also expecting God to enter their lives. And because they were looking for God and expecting God, they recognised him when he did enter their lives. They believed that God had spoken to them through his Holy Spirit, and they believed what the Spirit had told them. And because of all these things, they recognised God in the infant child of two lowly, needy people whom they saw in the temple that day. And what that teaches us is that we have to look for God in our lives. We have to expect God to enter our lives. We have to believe that God will and does enter our lives. And we have to do all those things if we want to be able to recognise God when he does enter our lives. 

A few years ago, when I was serving in another diocese, the diocese published some material as part of a ‘mission initiative’ (these things don’t only happen in the diocese of Manchester). One of the stated aims of the initiative was to ‘help people find God in a graceless world.’ I was quite surprised that a diocese would publish something like that actually, and even more surprised that a bishop would put his name to it, which he had. Because to say the world is ‘graceless’ in a Christian sense, is to imply that the Holy Spirit is not present, or at least not active in the world, and that is heresy. I actually said to a clergy colleague that I was surprised that the bishop had put his name to such a heretical document. It didn’t do me much good to be honest because, sure enough, what I’d said was reported back to the bishop, but not in the way I’d said it. As I understand it, what was said to the bishop was ‘Fr Stephen Smith says you’re a heretic!’ which, quite obviously, didn’t go down too well with him. Once it had been pointed out to him why I’d mentioned him in connection with heresy, I believe the bishop did admit that he hadn’t actually read the document properly when he put his name to it and that it did contain ‘a rather unfortunate choice of words’.

Now, I understood what that document was trying to say. But the problem is not that the world is graceless, that the Holy Spirit is not present and active in the world, the problem is that most people aren’t looking for God in their lives. They don’t look for God because they don’t expect God to enter their lives and because they don’t believe he will. And because they’re not looking or expecting and believing, they don’t recognise God when he does enter their lives. It’s not that the world is graceless, it’s rather that grace isn’t sought, expected or believed in and so it’s not recognised for what it is when it comes our way. And because it’s not recognised it’s not used. And because it’s not used, it can’t help us do what God requires us to do.

That’s a problem in our society generally, where so many people either don’t believe in God at all, or if they say they do, don’t allow that belief to affect their lives in any way. It’s a problem in a country in which, for example, almost 60% of the population say they’re Christians, but in which less than 5% attend church services. But I think it’s a problem even amongst people whose Christian faith is more than merely nominal.

If we think about our own lives, how many times have we been faced with a problem, for which we’ve struggled to find an answer, but the problem has actually been resolved or answered unexpectedly, or in a way we didn’t expect? I’m sure we’ve all been in that situation at some time in our lives. I know I have, and I know other people who come to this church have, because they’ve told me about it. But when we have been in those situations, how often have we simply thought that the solution to our problem has just been the result of good luck, or coincidence, that our problem’s been solved, or at least eased, because something’s happened at just the right time? But isn’t it possible that those have been times when God has entered our lives? That he has had a hand in the solution to our problem? There have probably been many times in our lives when we’ve thought that we’ve simply been lucky, when in fact, God has entered our lives and we’ve not realised it because we’ve not recognised him.

How many times in our lives have we read a passage of Scripture, or sung a hymn, something that we’ve read or sung so many times before that we know it by heart. And then, suddenly, we see something in the words that we haven’t seen before and we come to a new and much deeper understanding of what we’re reading or singing about? That happens a lot too. But when it does, why do we think it’s happened? Do we think it’s because we’ve known this story or hymn for so long, and we know it by heart, so we haven’t really been reading it properly before, and that now we have, we understand it a bit better? Or do we believe that this sudden revelation has come to us by grace, that it’s the Holy Spirit who’s visited us and opened our eyes to really see and understand these words, perhaps for the first time?

When we see and meet and talk to other people, how often do we simply see and hear another human being? Of course that is what we see and hear, but how often do we see and hear God speaking to us through that other human being? When we speak to someone about our faith, for example, do we simply see and hear another person who goes to church, just like us? Or do we see and hear someone who might have an understanding of what it is to be a Christian that we don’t have? Someone who, through their experience of God, might have insights that we don’t have but that they could share with us, if only we believed they might have them and looked for them so that we might recognise them? Do we see each other as ways through which God enters our lives and speaks to us?

And when we see people in need, do we see God entering our lives in and through them? We know we’re called to love our neighbour and that Jesus said that what we do for others, we do for him, but do we really see Christ in those in need? We might see the suffering of those people mirroring the suffering of Jesus in some sense. We might, and probably do see an opportunity to use grace and do what God requires of us when we see and hear about people who are suffering and in need. But do we really see God entering our lives in those people? Do we look for God in those people? When we see people who are suffering and in need, do we just see their faces, or do we really see and recognise the face of Jesus, in their faces?

There are so many ways that God can and does enter our lives. But if we’re waiting for him to appear, unmistakably, in dazzling light and with thundering voice, we’re probably going to disappointed. God usually comes to us in much quieter, gentler ways that are not so easy to recognise, and are much more easily missed. So if we’re going to recognise God when he enters our lives, we have to look for him, we have to expect him to enter our lives and we have to believe that he will enter our lives. If we can do those things, then we’ll be much more like Simeon and Anna and be better able to recognise God when we see him. And we’ll be much more like Mary and Joseph too in being better able to do all that God requires of us.

Amen.

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The Propers for The Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas) can be found here.