Proper 11 St Peter’s 20 July 2003

Revd Mark Bonney

I will resist any temptation to give a blow by blow accounts of the excitements of General Synod last week – suffice to say I think that people were feeling the strain and pain of the whole situation through which we have and are passing and as a result were very well behaved. 

The events that have captured so many column inches in our newspapers certainly cause me to reflect on what I’m about and what it means to be the Church and what it fundamentally means to be Christian. And those are very good questions also to ask when we have a baptism taking place – what are we baptising Adam and Grace into this morning? 

What we’re clearly not baptising them into is a cosy little club – though is sometimes what people want the Church to be. There is a strain of thinking that would suggest that keeping as many people as happy as possible for as much of the time is what a church leader’s role should be – but that of course isn’t a recipe for anything very challenging or prophetic ever happening. It’s not just big evangelical parishes that can exercise cheque book influence – I’ve known ordinary parishioners say, “well if he does that I’ll stop my stewardship giving”. 

In his address to the General Synod the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us of some vital basics that I pass on to you all. First of all – what makes the Church is the call of Jesus Christ and our response to that call and our recognising that call in each other. We gather together here this morning for a number of reasons – some may have got out of bed thinking, “shall I shan’t go to church this morning?” – but underlying all of that is the call of God.  

I’m here not because I want to be, nor because I have to be because it happens to be my job but because God has called me, because I accept the invitation he gives me; I acknowledge all that Jesus has done for me and I’m drawn into Christ’s living Body the church – we all have to admit from time to time that that’s a company of sometimes unlikely people – but let’s rejoice at that and work together. 

We grow as a church as we work at ways of recognising within each other the fact the we’re all called by the same God and Saviour – the language and doctrine of the church is there to help us dance to the same tune. And there are basic identifying acts of the people of God which tell us that the life of Christ is ours:  one of those vital ones is baptism where we are called to let go of the self-protection that we cling to – and that letting go and giving of self is celebrated and deepened as we respond to the invitation of the Risen Christ to share at his table in the Eucharist. 

That may all sound quite lovely – and it’s a wonderful, wonderful gift – but as our gospel this morning suggests the outworking for us ordinary disciples and followers of Christ isn’t always quite so simple. Those of you who read the reference for this morning’s gospel passage will notice that a great chunk has been missed out of the middle – the missing chunk is the feeding of the 5000 and the walking on the lake – the reason is that after today the lectionary leaves Mark’s gospel and moves to John 6 for the next 5 Sundays where there will John’s accounts of the feeding and the crossing of the lake. In fact the omission today of those stories allows us to pick up a point that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

The disciples have returned from their mission and told Jesus what they have done, and says to them “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” You can imagine the sigh of relief – but they get no rest … there’ll be 5000 to be fed, a storm to endure and crowds to be healed. Jesus isn’t threatened by any of this – he has compassion on them because they are like the Israel of past as reflected in our OT reading – sheep without a shepherd. Jesus responds to his mission and feeds them. The reaction of the disciples is somewhat different. “Send the people off to the farms and villages round about to buy something for themselves to eat.” 

The gospel writer draws a sharp contrast between Jesus and his chosen followers: patience runs out for them, but not for him. The sick are brought to him from the whole district and all who touched him were healed. And here we come to the important point for reflection - in Mark’s gospel it is Jesus who is destroyed by his mission; he brings life through dying. And it is the disciples who save their own lives, but do not hear the message about the resurrection – that is given first of all to some women.  

This reflects a challenging paradox at he heart of Mark’s gospel – it reflects a challenging paradox for those to be baptised this morning – and it presents a challenging paradox for all of us who gather here –called by God, answering his call and struggling to be the church and the Body of Christ. And that paradox is expressed in Mark’s gospel in 8:35 – “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it”.