Sermon at Parish Mass 2nd Sunday before Lent 2022

 

Genesis 2.4b–9, 15–25

Revelation 4

Luke 8.22-25

Our readings today take us from a garden, to a storm, by way of a scene of heavenly worship. I suppose, after Storm Eunice, and the chaos it has caused in our gardens and parks, we might find readings about gardens and storms resonate with us today.

The Church of England, in these two Sundays before Lent, chooses readings along the themes of creation, this week, and Transfiguration, next week. These help to remind us that the Christ, whose footsteps we will follow through Lent and Passiontide, is the Word of creation through whom all things were made, and is the Light of God who has come into the world.

And, so, the common thread running through these readings is that they speak to us of Christ. Indeed, it is Christ himself, the Word of God, who speaks through all the words of scripture when they are read in the community of the Church. But, of course, the words of scripture are very diverse. There are many different kinds of writing in the Bible and we need to be attentive to what sort of thing it is that we are reading, and how we can hear the voice of the living Christ speaking through them.

We began today with the reading from Genesis about the Garden of Eden. This is the second of two different creation myths recorded in Genesis. A myth, as a kind of literature, is not something that is false, but something that seeks to convey true meaning under the form of a grand symbolic narrative.

The Garden of Eden is a place of harmony and peace. Everything that is created lives and belongs together, all is good and pleasant. The one thing that is not good is that the man should be alone, and so the Lord God makes companions for him in the animals, and finally in the woman who is born from his opened side.

This is a companionship that seeks union: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh”. And yet, as we know, sin and division enter in through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. These destroy the original harmony of creation, and create an obstacle to the return to union that human beings seek.

Creation, in the scriptures, is not so much something that happened at a point in time long ago, but is more an ongoing project, a work in progress. The “In the beginning” of Genesis has a rich meaning in Hebrew: it is that which is true in principle, and continues to be true even when it is obscured. What is “original”, in the Genesis myths, is what creation is striving to be.

We see this continuing work of creation when we read the Gospels. The Word of God through whom all things were made has come into the world, to complete the work of creation and to restore that unity and peace for which we were created, and for which we long. The ancient story of Eve being born from Adam’s opened side is echoed in John’s Gospel, when the side of Christ the new Adam is opened on the cross, and out flow blood and water, the sacramental tide of Baptism and the Eucharist that gives birth to the Church, the new Eve, represented by the Mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple who stand beneath.

The unity and peace for which we were created are finally made possible in Christ, who unites all things in himself. The healings and miracles that were the signs of his presence in the world show that, in Christ, the work of creation is being healed and brought to perfection. So when Christ, in today’s Gospel reading, rebukes the wind and waves and saves the terrified disciples, he restores the original harmony and peace of creation. “In the beginning”, that which is true in principle, creation is good.

But the word of Christ, who speaks through the scriptures to us, comes to us with a challenge: “where is your faith”? Our recognition may be slow, as it was with the first disciples, but in Christ the creator and redeemer are one and the same. As the scriptures are read in the church, at the gathering for the Eucharist, he stands before us, the living one, the conqueror of death. We are invited not simply to learn about him, but into a living relationship with the risen Lord. In him we are indeed made one; in him we are indeed saved from sin and death.

And this is true whatever is going on for us. With the eye of faith, we can look back at Genesis and see God preparing our redemption even before everything went wrong. In the beginning, God is the redeemer. And, in the midst of the storms of life, God in Christ is with us, still.

There will be storms in our lives. Creation is still a work in progress. We look forward to the final vision where all creation is gathered in worship, in the new heaven and the new earth. But in this life, as Our Lord tells us, we will have troubles. Storms and crises can come upon us unexpectedly, and we can find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and helpless.

But in the midst of these times, Christ is still with us. He may seem to be asleep in the bottom of our rickety boat that is in danger of sinking. He may seem even to be absent or uncaring. But he is there, still. Christ, who is the Word of creation and the redeemer of the universe, is with us, no matter what. He stands before us, and asks “where is your faith”?

He does not ask us for certainty. We are not asked to pretend that we don’t have troubles. We are not asked to be strong when we are weak. We don’t have to know how it will all end. But Jesus does ask us to have faith. Faith that the creator and redeemer are one and the same, that he is the living Lord, Jesus Christ, who is with us even in the darkest storms of life. And faith, as St Paul tells us, that all things in the end will work together for good, for those who love God.