TRINITY XI, Year C: August 19 2007

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
Preacher: Dn David Neaum

I stand before you today as a newly ordained deacon and this is the first time since being ordained that I will preach the gospel to you. Little St Mary's has a defined liturgical role for the Deacon, they walk in carrying the Gospel, and they proclaim the Gospel by intoning it in the midst of the congregation. The deaconal role takes seriously the Word of God, and this recognises that a deacon is ordained to the particular responsibility of proclaiming the gospel, ministering in the liturgy of the Word. These ministrations are not just liturgical but include preaching the gospel which is a continuation of the gospel's proclamation by expounding, making sense of and finding ways of applying the good news of Jesus Christ here in this place, to this congregation. And the good news that I have been given to preach, to expound upon and make sense of is "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division". Good news indeed.

Now there is just a little irony in this for the deacon is also the one who invites the congregation to offer one another a sign of God's peace. And furthermore, the deacon is the one who invites us at the end of the mass to go in peace to love and serve the Lord. The deacon invites us to give and show the peace we have been given through our reconciliation with God in Jesus Christ, and invites us to go forth into the world in the peace of Christ. Yet in the Gospel for today Jesus, who we call the prince of peace, says "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division". What can this possibly mean?

Well, luckily for me our commitment to the lectionary means that we are given a psalm and two further readings from scripture. This is an invitation to read scripture in light of scripture, to let the Gospel be interpreted through a reading from the old testament which looks forward to and anticipates its fulfillment in Christ, and also through a reading from the epistles which start to expound the good news for the communities to which they were written. And so I turn back to the reading from Jeremiah where the Lord asks

"Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off?" and it is as if the Lord is asking the prophet Jeremiah himself, "Jeremiah, am I a God that is close to you personally, but not a God that is close to others also? Do you think that I do not see their wickedness? Do you think I do not know that the false prophets speak words of comfort to ease the conscience of disobedient Israel?" God's response indicates that he does indeed see these things for he says "Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. For what has straw in common with wheat? Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?"

Fire and hammer, images of judgment, for God's word, when faithfully spoken, calls into judgment the lies of the false prophets, and calls into judgment the nation that turns its back on the Lord. God's word, by comparison, calls into judgment human words and actions. And so we find that God's Word incarnate in Jesus Christ calls us into judgment. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus humanity has been reconciled with God, we have been saved by being brought into a new relationship with God that is characterised by peace, peace that is itself the fruit of that reconciliation, forgiveness and love. But although we believe that our faith in Jesus as Saviour is justifiable, that we really are in a new relationship with God, we do not yet live in perfect peace. This is why the deacon invites us to confess our sins in preparation of hearing the word of God anew and receiving him afresh in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

The letter to the Hebrews recounts the faith of Rahab, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, of David and Samuel and the prophets who despite their faith did not receive what was promised. The early Christians believed as we do that they had received the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises in Christ, and they recognised that apart from faith in Christ none of those who came before them could be made perfect. There is a sense in which they recognised that we are all bound up in this together. In Christ we are reconciled with God, but we are not just individually reconciled with God, we are also called to be reconciled with one another. We are called to share God's peace with one another. The letter to the Hebrews calls Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith because our faith is not yet perfect. So as we look to Christ as the perfecter of our faith we recognise that in light of Christ's perfection we are called into judgment. God's Word, perfectly spoken in the faith of Jesus, calls us into judgment. We are not yet reconciled with one another, and the perfection of our faith is dependent upon one another.

God's Word in Christ Jesus calls into question our habits, our ways of thinking, our flawed relationships, our imperfection. In light of the perfection of Jesus and the perfect peace of reconciliation we are called to in Christ Jesus we recognise our divisions for what they are, sin and hubris. "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." In light of the peace we have been offered in Christ, not only do we recognise the divisions within our families, but the divisions within our communities, our world, and our very selves. We are called into judgment, called to question who we are, called to recognise where we are divided and estranged from ourselves, from one another and from God. It is easy to see this in world politics, it is easy to see this in the Anglican Communion, but what about here in this community? What about in our own families? What about within our very selves? To stand in judgment is a call to conversion, to re-conversion, to turn again towards God and the reconciliation with God, with one another and with ourselves that is our perfection in Christ. This is the hard spiritual discipline of confession.

"How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?" said our proscribed psalm for today, "Give justice to the weak and the orphaned, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute". Rescue the weak and the needy. We are all bound up in this together and our divisions are under judgment. The perfecting of our faith means interpreting our present times in light of Christ's perfection, to recognise and confess our divisions rather than being open to the charge of being hypocrites, of professing what we do not practice. And this practice must start with ourselves, with our families, with our church community. We must be open to judgment ourselves so that we may turn again to affirm our faith and to receive afresh the peace we have been given in Christ. And this is exactly what we are preparing to do now in saying together the creed and in the Eucharist. Then, in the name of Christ's peace we must call into judgment the world in which we live.

So when we go forth in the peace of Christ at the end of this mass, let us take with us the sword of division, God's Word that is like fire, God's Word that is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, let us cut through hypocrisy, let us break the yoke of injustice, and let us burn with indignation when we see God's peace distorted by deceit and half-truths. For our perfection depends not just on our individual faith and relationship with God but on all of God's people near and afar, for God sees all and apart from them we shall not be made perfect in Christ.