Date: 15^th February 2009

Preacher: Richard Dingley

Churches: Draycott and Rodney Stoke

Readings:

Proverbs 8, 1 & 22-31

Colossians 1, 15-20

John 1, 1-14

Second Before Lent

Heavenly Father, may our hearts be open to your truth as revealed by your Holy Spirit in your Word; and may that truth be lived out in our lives to your honour and glory. Amen.

As I am sure you will have noticed during the meditation times this morning there really is a uniform theme throughout all the four passages of scripture we have heard this morning. All are dealing with the absolute supremacy of Jesus. He is pictured by St. John as the Word of God, as that part of the triune God who was and is both the creator and re-creator of the universe as well as it’s redeemer. This is revealed both in the salvation that the life and death of Jesus made possible for us and in the fact that the whole of creation is renewed daily through his energetic activity in nature.

To enlarge on this there is perhaps no better place to start than with the reading from St. John’s Gospel, chapter 1. John, in those sonorous and impressive words with which he begins his story of the meaning of the life and death of Jesus tells us that the Word was with God and indeed was God. He leaves no room for doubt. The signs he will give in the following chapters and the teaching he relays make it quite clear that this is truth, and that this conclusion is based on his personal experience of living and watching Jesus. Jesus he tells us is Truth.

This is foreshadowed in the reading we heard from Proverbs where the Old Testament writer tells us that the Word was set up from everlasting, from before creation began; before there were any seas or mountains, before he had made the earth or created the soil. It is a majestic early picture of the pre-eminence of the Word – to again use John’s term.

St Paul emphasises the same point when he tells the Colossians that by him (Jesus) all things were created, both visible and invisible and, with typical Jewish emphasis he says this again in the second half of the verse in slightly contrasting words by saying all things were created by him and for him. Then in the following verse Paul goes on to add that in him all things consist! Jesus is responsible for holding the universe together; for keeping it ticking! So we see that together these passages give an awesome picture of the majesty and power of Jesus! His absolute supremacy!

Having dealt with creation Paul goes on to say that Jesus is also the head of the body, the church. Jesus who was the beginning was also the first born from the dead so that in all things he is pre-eminent! If true then the things that Jesus taught are true, his word, as The Word, is reliable. His teaching is the bottom line of the Christian faith. Belief therefore is crucial; he is the one who will give judgement when he forecloses on this age and renews it to bring in the new, eternal Kingdom. As such we need to believe the truths that he teaches, the facts do not change FOR God does not change. We may like to put our own interpretation on Scripture but in the final analysis it is Scripture that will judge us and our personal preferences will not count! It is not up to us to make a comfortable image of God in our likeness or to “pic-n-mix our beliefs but we are to worship and adore the one who is not only the creating force in the universe but the one who brings us to eternal life. He did not suffer the ignominy and pain of the cross to redeem us, to pay the penalty and buy us back to himself, except that there was not other way. But this gift of life only came to us as we believe in his work on the cross and follow in his footsteps. Jesus is the only peacemaker between us and God; a work he accomplished by the blood he shed on his cross, verse 20, so reconciling all things to himself whether they be in heaven or on earth. There is no other way for he said “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

It is this sacrifice for our sins that we celebrate as we come together weekly for the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is this pre-eminence that demands our dedicated discipleship. It is his gift of love and power in our lives that enables us to be his followers – to be called his disciples. It is the faith that makes us Christian!

Father God, strengthen our faith and trust in you and enable us to live for your glory in the light of your majesty. Amen.