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Once
again we are in shock at events in our own city, at people whose hatred leads
them to murder complete strangers. Our prayers this morning are with the
victims and their families, with others throughout the world who suffer similar
things, and with the police and those who try to keep our city safe. And, as
taught by Jesus, our prayers must also be for our enemies and those who wish us
harm, that they may repent and come to a true understanding of the God who
loves the world he has created.
This
attack, in election week, strikes at the heart of our society. The different
political parties have alternative visions of the future and different ideas
they want to implement, but all of the mainstream ones at least are motivated
by a commitment to work together in a democratic society for the common good. If
we don’t agree with them, we don’t need to demonise them, but simply to vote
for someone else.
As
Christians, whatever may take place in the world, we can still be confident in
the vision of the future that opens up today, the day of Pentecost. The Holy
Spirit of God is sent with transforming power upon a little group of disciples,
sending them out to change the world. Pentecost gives a new possibility for
humanity in which all the ancient divisions of race and culture are overcome,
and all peoples can be gathered in unity, understanding the mighty deeds of God
each in their own language.
Saint
Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians this morning tells us about the new
future for humanity that the Holy Spirit makes possible. This is more than just
a tick list of spiritual gifts.
We
might miss that because for some reason the Lectionary begins today’s extract
part way through Paul’s argument. There’s a bit missing from the beginning, in
which Paul says, “I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit
of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’
except by the Holy Spirit.”
St Paul
is contrasting two different cultures, contrasting world views, one of which is
characterised by cursing – even to the extent of saying that ‘Jesus is cursed’.
That is, it is the culture that assumes that people who end up on crosses are
cursed. It is a culture of violence defined by the victims it casts out. It is
driven by accusation, blame and fear. At its heart is a false conception of God
as the one who curses. At its most extreme, it leads to the murder of innocent
people enjoying a night out. But any culture that treats other people with
contempt, as being of lesser value than ourselves, is slipping dangerously into
that world view.
The
crucified Messiah, the outcast God, is incomprehensible to a culture that needs
to make victims. But the Holy Spirit enables us to see through that to the
truth that Jesus really is Lord, to see that God in Christ takes the place of
the victim. Jesus shows us what God is really like. In the man hanging on the
cross he takes on himself all the cursing of which the world is capable, and in
his resurrection gratuitously gives back to us, not a curse, but the blessing
of forgiveness and new life in the Holy Spirit.
Today’s
Gospel reading from John is set on the evening of Easter day, the day of the
resurrection. The disciples have locked themselves away out of fear. The last
time they had seen Jesus had been Good Friday, when most of them had deserted
him and run away. The authorities surely would not stop with killing Jesus, but
would want to eliminate all traces of the movement he had started. No wonder
they locked the doors.
Then
that morning had come the bewildering news that the tomb had been found empty,
and Mary Magdalene even claimed to have seen Jesus and talked to him. To the
disciples this must have seemed like a ghost story, with the scary dimension
that the ghost now apparently roaming abroad was that of a man whom they had
abandoned to his death.
Fear
and blame, the spectre of a curse, haunt this scene. But when Jesus comes into
the closed place of their fear, he doesn’t say to them, “I’ve got you now!”, or
“how could you have let me down so badly?”. No. He says, “peace be with you”.
And they rejoice. The risen Jesus inhabits a world in which there is no fear,
no blame, no curse. In coming to the disciples he draws them into that world,
and frees them from their fear.
And he
sends them to draw others into that world too. He breathes on them the Holy
Spirit, and sends them, as he was sent, on the Father’s mission of forgiveness
and reconciliation. The Holy Spirit is given to the Church, as St Peter says in
his speech today, so that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved”.
This is
the alternative world, the different story of being human, into which we have
been drawn by God’s Holy Spirit, and into which we are called to draw others,
too. Love, in place of fear. Forgiveness, instead of blame. Blessing, not curse.
The gathering of all people into God’s Kingdom, in place of a culture of
violence defined by the victims it casts out.
“As the
Father has sent me, so I send you”, says Jesus. As the people of God we are
sent by God’s Spirit, bearing God’s Spirit, to bring reconciliation and peace,
to enlarge the reign of God’s love in the world. This is the alternative world
we seek to inhabit, the different way of being human we seek to live, every
day, in every situation. We are the Pentecost people of God and we are here to
change the world.
This
week we have a particular way to do that as we consider how to vote in
Thursday’s election. St Paul sees authority in human societies as reflecting
the authority of God, to be exercised for the common good, and it’s a huge
privilege, something unknown in the New Testament, that ordinary citizens have
a part in how society is ordered and governed.
Now of
course it is not the business of a preacher to tell you which party to vote
for. Christians can and do support all of the mainstream parties. But it is my
business, I hope, to encourage you to take your responsibility seriously and
reflect on how best to use your vote for the common good, to build a society
that is a blessing, not a curse, a society that seeks peace and reconciliation,
that draws in the marginalised rather than casting out more victims.
And
when it’s not election day, we still need to live in the alternative world of
the Holy Spirit, in all of our daily lives and encounters, especially when fear
stalks our streets. In ways that may be great or small, seen or unseen, we are
called to be those who enlarge the reign of God’s love and make known the good
news of Jesus Christ our Lord.
So let
us pray and commit this week to the Lord.
Risen
Lord Jesus, come in to all the closed places of our fear. Breath on us your
peace. Renew in us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Send us in peace, send us in
forgiveness, to enlarge the reign of your love in the world. For you have
conquered death and hell, and are alive and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
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