Author: CCW

“Ye see with what large letters I write unto you with my own hand”

Paul’s words have a kind of directness to them, a way of catching our attention, even as he catches our attention yet again when he tells us that he bears in his body “the marks of the Lord Jesus”. Remarkable words, large words, words written, as it were, in the body of our humanity.

The Epistle reading complements wonderfully the Gospel reading. Jesus, too, catches our attention by way of strong words – “behold”, “consider”, “seek” – words which are nestled around his equally arresting and thrice repeated command, “be not anxious”. This, too, captures our attention.

Yet our anxiety gets in the way of our paying attention to anything. It describes much about our present condition. We are quite simply anxious about a multitude of things which we are utterly uncertain about what to do. What to do about the refugee crisis? What to do about the global economy? What to do about fire protection service in our rural communities? What to do … the list goes on. And because it does we are utterly paralysed by our anxieties.

What is the problem? What Paul and Jesus are saying and saying quite strongly is that the problem is with us. We are too much with ourselves. We are anxious precisely because we cannot face ourselves. But that seems utterly paradoxical. We are too much with ourselves and yet we cannot face ourselves? Precisely.

That is why we need the strong, strong words of Christ in the Gospel and the witness to such strong words in Paul’s large letters and his claim to bear in his own body “the marks of the Lord Jesus.” This Gospel is a powerful affirmation of the only real counter to our self-imposed anxieties. Why and How? Because it reminds us that this is God’s world and that we are his creatures, made in his image, who only live when we live for his glory – not, notice, for our own self-aggrandisement; not, notice, for our own security and comforts, isolated from the problems of the world, as if that is all out there, far away, and a problem for others who, shall we say? are just not like us. No, says St. Paul, “I bear” and so must we bear in our own bodies “the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Suffering not anxiety should be what defines us. Precisely what we don’t want to hear and yet these are the large letters, the strong words written for us to read even in the very body of our humanity, “the marks of the Lord Jesus.”

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“And one … turned back …giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.”

We are still on the road to Jerusalem with Jesus, it seems, at least in the logic of St. Luke’s Gospel. And, intriguingly, we have yet again a story that concerns a Samaritan, just as last Sunday’s Gospel presented us with the parable of the Good Samaritan. And once again, the Gospel is coupled with an epistle reading from Galatians. There are relatively few references to the Samaritans in the New Testament – mostly, these two Gospel stories read back-to-back on Trinity 13 and 14, and the powerful but long, long Gospel story in John’s Gospel about the woman at the well of Samaria, a story read appropriately enough as the second lesson at Morning Prayer on The First Sunday after Epiphany every other year. Why? Because it makes something known about Jesus and about human redemption.

We are made aware in that story about a tension between Jew and Samaritan best captured in the unnamed woman’s remark to Jesus, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” And yet, we also see that such cultural and religious differences are transcended in a larger view of human redemption and divine compassion. “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” she says. The result of her witness is significant. “Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” Jesus stays there for two days, “and many more believed because of his word.” First, her word and then, his word. “They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.” The whole scene is a powerful witness to Jesus as the Redeemer and about the compassionate and yet compelling nature of human redemption. We are actively drawn into the story in order to make it our own. We see, too, how the Samaritans are brought into the pageant of redemption.

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